By Drew Smithfield, on March 11th, 2014 If you’ve ever watched HGTV or spoken to a REALTOR®, then you probably already know there are a million and one ways to renovate your home and increase its overall value. But what if you don’t have a million hours to work on fancy home improvements, or a million dollars to spend?
Here are five easy ways you can increase your home’s value, without breaking the bank or breaking your back.
- Dig in the dirt. First impressions are incredibly important when it comes to marketing your home, and the exterior of your house is the first thing potential buyers will see. If interested buyers notice that the exterior looks neglected, they might assume that the inside has suffered the same fate. The type of landscaping is largely a matter of your personal preferences; just make sure that your yard looks tidy and cared for.
Another way to increase the aesthetics of your home’s exterior is by upgrading items like windows, shutters and siding. While this can be more expensive than a small landscaping project, these are things that will probably be noticed immediately.
- Light the way. Lighting can actually help rooms of your home appear more spacious, so it is especially important to have good lighting in smaller rooms. Improving your home’s lighting is a very quick and easy way to make things look warmer and more appealing. You may also want to look for energy-efficient lighting solutions – and that goes for both interior and exterior lights.
Outdoor security lighting, such as floodlights and motion-activated lights. Provide an additional way to make your home appear appealing – and safe. Plus, a well-lit home can help deter burglars since they’ll have fewer shadowy places to hide.
- Use wireless services. Nothing makes your home look messier than a tangle of wires. By using wireless devices (keyboard, mouse, cable box), you’re making your home look sleek and modern. You can find Internet bundles with wireless services – you’re saving money and showing visitors to your home that it’s modern and keeping up with technology trends. Plus, the money you can save by bundling your home services can go toward something else – like fixing up some facilities.
- Fix up the facilities. If you don’t have the funds for an extensive interior remodel, start with the bathroom. Real estate experts largely agree that remodeling your outdated bathroom is a good way to instantly improve your home’s marketability. Perhaps it’s because buyers are impressed that someone would put so much effort into such a small space. Regardless, installing new tile, buying a fresh shower curtain and stripping out that bubbled wallpaper is a good place to start.
- Improve energy efficiency. Many people are interested in conserving energy and saving money, especially with ever-rising energy prices. If you can market your home with energy-saving solutions, you will be a step ahead of the game. There are many ways you can improve your home’s energy efficiency, including sealing up cracks, improving insulation and installing programmable thermostats. If you like the idea of a long-term investment in making your property greener, consider planting a couple of trees. Believe it or not, having shady trees near your home can reduce your home’s cooling costs by up to 40%.
Energy efficiency isn’t just for inside the home, though. You can switch out incandescent light bulbs for compact fluorescent, halogen and LED bulbs in your exterior fixtures. Roofing, siding and windows are all available in energy-efficient models and can help you save money on your overall energy costs, even if you have to put a lot of money up front.
There are also do-it-yourself methods. If you can’t afford to upgrade every window in your home to an energy-efficient model, consider adding weather-stripping and strategically applying some caulk. Certain window treatments and coverings can even help keep your home cooler in the summer months and warmer in the winter.
By Tom Branch, on February 23rd, 2014  2012 and 2013 were great years for the real estate market. We saw a solid recovery with increasing sales prices and a reduction in inventory sitting on the market. So here we are in the spring of 2014. We have lots of buyers looking for homes but few homes for sale. In some price ranges, homes going on the market are selling in hours.
I spent the past few weeks working with a first-time buyer looking for a home between $150k and $180k in Allen, Plano, McKinney, and Frisco. He made offers above list price on 3 different homes only to have the seller accept an even higher offer. It reached the point that we had to be out on the first day a home came on the market and make the offer that day. The good news is he is now under contract on a home.
If you are buying a home, you have to move fast and you have to make good, solid offers. The days of “low-balling” are over. “High-balling” is the new norm in the greater Dallas area.
If you are thinking about selling your home, there has not been a better time in the past 5 years. In this market you can get top dollar and sell in the shortest amount of time. Visit www.collinhousevalues.com for a quick online valuation of your home.
Contact us at 214-227-6626 if you have any questions or need additional information.
Photos: Licensed from iStockPhoto
By Tom Branch, on December 23rd, 2013  While finding a home with a tennis court is not common in the greater Dallas Fort Worth area, they do exist. A home with a tennis court typically sits on a very large lot as the court measures 78 feet by 36 feet in size but requires 120 feet by 60 feet to give space for over-runs. This drives up the price of the house. While you may find homes with tennis courts in the $300k range, most of them are substantially higher.
According to WikiPedia, “Tennis is played on a variety of surfaces and each surface has its own characteristics which affect the playing style of the game. There are four main types of courts depending on the materials used for the court surface: clay courts, hard courts, grass courts and carpet courts. A North/South orientation is generally desirable for outdoor courts to avoid background glare at dawn or dusk. Orientation should also take into consideration other structures and features on the site, neighboring property, vehicle and pedestrian traffic, and prevailing winds.”
Click here to see all homes for sale in the greater Dallas Fort Worth Metroplex with tennis courts.
Contact us at 214-227-6626 if you have any questions or need additional information.
Photo: Licensed from iStockphoto
By Tom Branch, on December 18th, 2013  Homes for Sale with Boat Docks in the DFW Metroplex
We recently were talking to a couple relocating to the Dallas Forth Worth Metroplex. They wanted to live on a lake but were surprised to find that many of our local lakes do not allow boat docks or lifts.
Most of our lakes were built and are maintained by the Army Corps of Engineers (COE) and the land surrounding these lakes are also owned by the government. While many homes are lake-front and have access to the water, the COE does not allow docks or lifts to be built. A few properties have boat docks that are grandfathered.
While many lakes do not allow docks, there are a number that do allow them. Wood County in east Texas has a series of lakes that are owned by the county. Boat docks and lifts can be built with a simple lease from the County. Lake Lewisville (just west of Frisco) has a public marina where boat docks can be leased.
Click here to search for all homes for sale in the DFW Metroplex with boat docks or lifts.
Contact us at 214-227-6626 if you have questions or need additional information.
Photo: Licensed from iStockPhoto
By Tom Branch, on November 5th, 2013 I was talking with some potential buyers yesterday. They have been sitting on the fence for a couple of years watching the market. With rising home prices and interest rates, they now realize they missed the best time to buy.
While prices and rates are up, they still have more buying power today than at almost any time in history. And rates are only going to go up. They have to go up in order to get the private sector to invest in mortgage back securities.
Let’s take a look at a typical move-up buyer in our market. The couple makes $135,000 per year or $11,250 per month. Let’s also assume that the maximum front-end qualifying ratio is 35% or a $3937.50 monthly payment.
The chart below depicts the amount of buying power this couple has at a number of different interest rates.
As rates climb, the amount of home they can purchase decreases rapidly. A 3 percent increase in interest rate results in a 21 percent reduction in buying power. This assumes that housing prices remain stable. Rising prices over time further dilutes their buying power.
There is still time to take advantage of the historic low rates and relatively low housing prices.
Click here to search for Dallas area homes for sale.
Photo: Base photo licensed from iStockPhoto
By Tom Branch, on March 26th, 2013  It happens more and more these days—the phone rings or an email arrives with somebody looking for a single level townhome in the greater Dallas area.
Single level townhomes are relatively rare in the area. Townhome lots tend to be narrow with 25 to 28 feet being typical. The small lot size usually dictates that the builder has to go vertical in order to get a reasonably sized townhome to fit on the lot. Larger lots are possible but land prices and material costs (larger foundations and roofs) drive up the cost of single level townhomes.
Most of the available single level townhomes are older but a couple of new townhome builders do build single level townhomes when they can find the larger lots. The most recent run of single level townhomes was built by CB JENI Homes in The Settlement at Craig Ranch. Demand was so high that the builder completed and sold all 39 townhomes in about a year and a half.
With the baby boom generation reaching retirement, many are selling their larger homes and moving into smaller homes and townhomes. Townhomes are especially appealing because the owners associations often takes care of all exterior maintenance and lawn/landscape care.
Click here to see all single level townhomes for sale in the greater Dallas area.
Contact us at 214-227-6626 for more information.
Photo Copyright 2012 Imaged2Sell
By Tom Branch, on February 7th, 2013  One of my agents was out working in our Lexington Park sales office today. A potential buyer and his agent walked in to see one of our floor plans. After walking it, they “hated it.” We have several different townhomes available and so they were shown two other floor plans. They absolutely loved one of them. All seemed right with the world.
They walked back in the sales office and were discussing price. The model they like is just a little over $200k. They told my agent they wanted to purchase it for $150k! When asked why the offer was so low, they responded, “It’s a buyer’s market.” My agent politely told them that this was not going to happen and they went on their way.
Attention Buyers…You missed your chance to steal!
The buyer’s market in the greater Dallas area ended in January 2012. Prices have been on the way up and inventory levels are at record lows. Multiple offers are back as well.
The good news is that interest rates have remained low (they are creeping up) and you still have a chance to get a great home with low payments.
While you missed the bottom of the pricing cycle, you can still take advantage of the low interest rates to purchase a home.
Click here to search for homes for sale in the North Dallas Suburbs.
Photo licensed from iStockPhoto
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