There are many things a home owner can do to increase the value of their home. This can be done on the interior or the exterior of the home, from do-it-yourself for the smaller projects to hiring a contractor for the larger jobs. You can give your home a face lift a little at a time. Most home owners don’t have the finances for a complete over haul done all at once. To most people, their home is their largest investment and they would like to keep it in prime condition. Although the price of your home is mostly determined by the current market conditions, there are several things you can do to maximize your homes value.

1. Decorative moldings can be used throughout the home for interior to exterior, to trim doors, floors, walls, windows, fire places and ceilings. These moldings can be found at practically all home improvement stores and are fairly easy to install to enhance the look of any room.

2. Kitchens tend to be the greatest investment that many potential buyers look at the most. Replacing cabinets and counter tops, can be done gradually at your own discretion or you may choose a more creative way to improve the old ones by painting the cabinets and replacing the knobs or handles.

3. Vinyl windows are a great way to increase the value of any house. These windows function better than the old wooden windows by opening for easy cleaning and they conserve more energy in the months when heat or central air will be used the most. They do not require painting and they can really make a house look beautiful.

4. Adding a new roof can make a very strong impression. The roof is the first thing people see and this can play a strong role in how much your house will sell for. A new sturdy roof provides protection from leaks that make ugly stains on the ceilings in your house that can lead to more damage.

5. Installing vinyl siding, if you don’t already have it, this can add up to $10,000 to the value of your house. If you have fairly decent vinyl siding already, you can hire a power washing company to clean the siding and give your house a fresh new look.

6. Painting the interior or exterior of a house can transform a house completely with a few coats of paint. You can be as colorful and creative as you like and you can take your time doing so, one room at a time.

7. Flooring absolutely makes the difference in any room. Whether you use linoleum, tiles, wood or carpet, a new floor can make all the difference.

8. Adding new appliances such as a refrigerator, stove, dishwasher, washer and dryer can greatly improve the value of your home. Along with adding a new water heater, furnace and central air unit.

9. Exterior landscaping can enhance a homes value by keeping a well maintained yard to adding strategically placed flowers and shrubs. You can also plant an attractive garden or install a small fish pond. Deciding to install or replace a fence along your property line will also be a great attraction to potential buyers, especially the ones who have children.

10. Adding a new deck is a great asset to the exterior look of your home. These can be made from a variety of wood and sealed to preserve the natural appearance. A new deck will provide the outside recreational area to grill out, while relaxing in a comfortable patio set and enjoying the great outdoors and fresh air.

Adding value to your home can be as simple and as affordable as you want it to be. Most improvements can be accomplished a little at a time, all depending on your time and budget. Smaller improvements can be made by simply adding potted plants along the stairs up to your freshly painted front door or by adding a small table or work of art in your foyer.

A visit to the home improvement store or looking through magazines can spark creativity when remodeling your home. Even if you have no idea where to start, one spark can lead to another and another, until before you know it, you have created a beautiful home that you may never want to leave.

If you’re considering selling your home with out the use of a realtor, then you need to understand that there are conditions backed by laws of the state and federal government governing the sale of your home. By following the rules and regulations you will save yourself money, time and later possible unpleasant legal ramifications. All of these conditions must be investigated and settled before you attempt to advertise your home for sale. Ideally make sure you understand first the full responsibility of selling your home independently before you place your home on the open market, and realize that this is the first step in the process of home selling.

Most states in the US require that if you’re selling your home whether through a real estate agent or as a FSBO (For Sale by Owner) you must give to a potential home buyer a Seller Disclosure of Property Conditions form. This form discloses information about your property that would affect the living conditions or the resale able value of the home. Disclosure of property conditions includes any past or current problems with the property. Check out the different categories of property disclosure, and make sure that you list the necessary information required under each one. This list may or may not include issues that you would need to be concerned about, so make sure to check with your state and local agencies for complete information.

House Systems – Includes areas such as plumbing, electrical, appliances, doors and windows, security system, pool, sprinklers, sump pumps, cooling and heating.

Foundations/Structures/ Basements – Includes leaking and repair issues and drainage problems surrounding the house.

Roof – Includes age, leaking and repair issues, second and new roof installation, time frame of roof repairs, and when or how often the roof leaks.

Land/Drainage – Includes soil permeability issues such as drainage or flooding problems, or are there any other water sources such as a lake, spring or creek.

Boundaries – Includes survey issues such as boundaries of property line, markage of known property lines by what means, such as moveable property stakes as rocks or trees. The allowable property easements for your area, as well as any other obstructions to property such as encroachments by other property owners.

Water – Includes source of water and water pressure issues, and purification systems and tests conducted on water quality.

Sewer System – Includes how property is serviced for sewage waste, such as septic, public utilities or cess pool. Dates of inspection and known sewer problems.

Construction/Remolding - Includes information on any new buildings or remolding to existing structure, and the necessary building permits.

Homeowner’s Association – Includes information of any homeowner’s association rules and guidelines.

Miscellaneous – Includes many areas to numerous to list, but some areas of information encompasses testing for radon gases, termite damage, abandoned under ground storage areas such as septic tanks or cisterns. Issues such as warranties, legal actions, or weather related damage such as tornadoes.

Just as important as you’re state and local laws is the federal laws that regulate selling your home. Two issues of primary importance are disclosing lead paint and the conformity to the fair housing laws. According to federal law you must disclose if your home was built or remodeled before 1978. This law was passed and is now enforced by the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) because of test results that show that lead based paints can cause detrimental affects on human health, especially in babies and small children. Lagging mental function and stunted growth can occur if sufficient amounts of lead based paints are consumed or particles inhaled. Disclosure of test results and the opportunity to test is federal law. Also, fair housing laws require adherence to the selling of your house, although if selling as FSBO the regulations are a bit more lax. The Fair Housing Act, under the Civil Rights Act of 1968, requires that sellers may not discriminate when selling a property. Discrimination is not allowed based on race, color, national origin, religion, sex, familiar or handicapped status.

Another area to consider before you advertise your house for sale is how to weed out the lookers among the potential serious buyers for your home. Many FSBOs can request that buyers become pre-approved by a financial institution before a bid will be accepted. During the home tour you can set parameters too by inquiring on the buyer’s ability to quickly obtain financing. You might not want to wait while they must sell their house first in order to buy your house in a timely manner.

Sticky decisions concerning the contract should fully spell out the conditions of the sale, such as any deposits that are required and the ability of the buyer to have their deposit returned. Protection is provided to both when a contract is clearly written for both parties, as for example the ability of you to keep any monies from a buyer that backs out because of an unjust cause. Always make sure to consult an attorney when writing up your contract to sell your home. Remember too that laws fluctuate from state to state and being prepared is the best defense against an unsold home.

Real estate appraisal – is that the real one?

Real estate appraisal or property valuation is the process of determining the value of the property on the basis of the highest and the best use of real property (which basically translates into determining the fair market value of the property). The person who performs this real estate appraisal exercise is called the real estate appraiser or property valuation surveyor. The value as determined by real estate appraisal is the fair market value. The real estate appraisal is done using various methods and the real estate appraisal values the property as different for difference purposes e.g. the real estate appraisal might assign 2 different values to the same property (Improved value and vacant value) and again the same/similar property might be assigned different values in a residential zone and a commercial zone. However, the value assigned as a result of real estate appraisal might not be the value that a real estate investor would consider when evaluating the property for investment. In fact, a real estate investor might completely ignore the value that comes out of real estate appraisal process.
A good real estate investor would evaluate the property on the basis of the developments going on in the region. So real estate appraisal as done by a real estate investor would come up with the value that the real estate investor can get out of the property by buying it at a low price and selling it at a much higher price (as in the present). Similarly, real estate investor could do his own real estate appraisal for the expected value of the property in, say 2 years time or in 5 years time. Again, a real estate investor might conduct his real estate appraisal based on what value he/she can create by investing some amount of money in the property i.e. a real estate investor might decide on buying a dirty/scary kind of property (which no one likes) and get some minor repairs, painting etc done in order to increase the value of the property (the value that the real estate investor would get by selling it in the market). So, here the meaning of real estate appraisal changes completely (and can be very different from the value that real estate appraiser would come out with if the real estate appraiser conducted a real estate appraisal exercise on the property).
A real estate investor will generally base his investment decision on this real estate appraisal that he does by himself (or gets done through someone). So, can we then term real estate appraisal as a really real ‘real estate appraisal’?

The real estate bubble is a much discussed phenomenon used to describe a situation in which property values, both or either commercial and residential, expand very rapidly. The result is an over-inflated market that sees buyers purchasing property at prices far above standard value while fearing the market will burst and property values will plummet as fast as they rose. Buying in such a market can be risky for those who cannot afford to lose on their investment.

It’s difficult to say what qualifies as a bona fide real estate bubble and what is just a hot market. There is no quantifiable standard to identify a real estate bubble and so we are left to depend on experts to tell us which areas of the country are experiencing a bubble and which areas are not. However, not even the experts can agree on the difference between a bubble, which is risky and unstable, and a boom, which has less risk of a rapid downturn. Some mortgage companies and other organizations with an interest in the real estate industry study the market and produce reports to help buyers identify potential windfalls and potential pitfalls by naming cities with what they determine is the greatest chance of a bursting bubble.

Homeowners who buy in a real estate bubble situation risk putting themselves in an undesirable financial situation, particularly if they have very low equity in their home. Equity is how much of the home you own, as opposed to the portion owned by the bank or other lending institution. If you have a lot to pay off before the home is truly yours, and the bubble bursts, you can find yourself in a position where you are paying off a significant debt on a property that can no longer fetch the same or higher value you paid for it. Of course, such a loss is only theoretical unless you actually try to sell your home. Property values fluctuate up and down on a regular basis, with both dramatic increases and decreases in value, so if you can stay in the home until the value rises again (even if it doesn’t go all the way back up), you can avoid significant losses when it does come time for you to move. If you are forced to move before the market becomes more favourable, you could find yourself in a negative equity situation, which will affect your ability to buy your next home.

The situation is less serious if you have greater equity in your home, or if you have the financial ability to absorb a loss, in which case a bursting bubble situation is more of an irritant than a financial catastrophe.

If you’re a person of average financial means who wants to buy a property in an area that may be undergoing a real estate bubble phenomenon, do so from an informed position. Be aware of the potential for loss and measure carefully the pros and cons of going ahead with your planned purchase. Do a little homework before you jump into a purchase: follow the local market for a couple months and track fluctuations; take note of any sale trends, and pay attention to what the experts (conflicted as they may be) report about the area in which you are interested. Use all of the information you gather to help you determine whether your potential positives outweigh the potential negatives.

Practising common sense can help you survive a bursting bubble scenario in the best possible shape. For example, it is wise to minimize your overall debt load to help you manage your financial burden if you are forced to move at an inopportune time. Invest your equity and any unexpected financial gains into improving the value of your home rather than in luxury or impulse buys. Most real estate experts agree that you can recoup between 80 and 90 percent of your investment in remodelling a kitchen or bathroom when it comes time to sell your property. Of course, your best protection is to purchase a home with excellent re-sale potential to minimize possible losses if real estate values plummet unexpectedly.

Foreclosure begins when a property owner defaults on the mortgage of a property, mainly due to financial difficulties or the inability to keep up with the mortgage payments for some reason or another. In the event that a property succumbs to a foreclosure, it’s most likely that the property has not been maintained as it should have been. This means that perhaps the roof is in dire need of repair, a damaged foundation or the landscaping has been severely neglected, or a number of other maintenance or repair issues that may be costly. Some foreclosure homes may only need a fair amount of TLC. The amount of repairs needed or required for the foreclosure property may greatly reflect on the asking price. A major fixer upper may be offered at a lower than normal price, whereas a property that is in fair condition may go for a price just the below the market value.

When a mortgage lending institution decides to foreclose on a property, they will file a notice of default that will become a public record for all buyers who are interested in locating foreclosed properties for purchase. There are many places buyers can look to find foreclosed properties such as: various web sites on the Internet, real estate agents or brokers and real estate magazines.

Once the buyer locates a foreclosed property they are interested in, the buyer can assess the public records and check for any liens on the property. Most liens that are placed on foreclosed properties are for unpaid taxes. Interested buyers should also check the values of the neighboring properties before entering into a contract, to make sure they would be getting a fair market value.

Novice buyers may be interested in checking out bank owned foreclosure properties. These bank owned foreclosure properties may prove to be at lower risks to the novice buyer. With bank owned foreclosure properties, there are usually no tenants to evict, no liens against the property and no past due taxes.

Some lending institutions may be eager to sell their foreclosed properties and may offer to finance the foreclosed property to the buyer at a low market rate or with a small down payment. If the lending institution has already done an appraisal, the interested buyer may not have to pay an additional appraisal fee. Most lending institutions that are eager to sell a foreclosed property may also include title insurance that generally removes most of the risks that come with buying properties early on in the foreclosure process.

The more experienced buyer may decide to find a pre-foreclosure property owner about to go into default and offer to buy the property for a portion of the difference between the property equity and the market value. This may be an acceptable offer to a property owner who doesn’t want to end up losing all of the equity that has been invested in the property. Some pre-foreclosure property owners may offer bargains to a persistent buyer. This is mostly because at this stage, credit collection agencies are constantly hounding the property owners, who would in turn want to resolve these issues to avoid any further harassment.

Buyers may sometimes find that contacting the owner of a pre-foreclosed property can be difficult. Usually by this time, the property owner may not have any electricity or a telephone. Sometimes these pre-foreclosed property owners may also be difficult to deal with directly, due to a drug or alcohol addiction that put them in their situation in the first place. Some owners may also be hostile to the buyer or unpleasant to deal with because they are bitter and frightened about losing their home and perhaps they have no other place to go. Some of these owners may even see the buyers of their foreclosed properties as their mortal enemy and may do some extra damage to the foreclosed property before evacuating the premises.

Many foreclosed properties are normally sold at prices close to the assessed value. Depending on what city or neighborhood the buyer is interested in, what the neighboring property values are, how long it has been on the market and what amount of work needs to be done to the foreclosed property will greatly reflect on the asking price.