Yesterday on Housecall, we discussed ways to increase your home value with indoor décor. Today, we're focusing on what you can do outside the home to give it an added monetary boost. Curb appeal is everything when it comes to selling your home, and that means your home’s exterior needs to be in optimal condition. In fact, 71 percent of prospective home buyers...
Contributed by Kristin Belt If you’re like a lot of homeowners today, you might be tempted to chalk decorating choices up to personal preference and think they have little to do with home value — but this is a mistake. Whether or not you’re planning to sell your home soon, here’s what you need to know: the right decorating choices not only make your home...
Coined by Verl Workman, moderator of RISMedia’s recent webinar “Yes, You Can List 100 Homes a Year!” and founder and CEO of Workman Success Systems, the “unfair competitive advantage” describes the one asset that elevates an agent above all others in his or her marketplace. As attendees soon learned, webinar panelists Bob Sokoler and Martin Bouma have the...
Despite the continuous cycle that drives housing, there’s one commodity, arguably more valuable than any other, which remains impervious to the ebbs and flows of the market, relentlessly in demand while in an ever-present glut: information. The problem? To get it, we’re accessing a muddled Internet, where information, including real estate know-how, can come from...
Contributed by Shahar Giladi All you have to do is count the number of driveways with a hybrid vehicle, and you can see at a glance that Americans are embracing the eco-friendly lifestyle. However, a Prius in front of the house is just the beginning. More and more homeowners are opting for sustainable features in the home as well. Eco-friendly amenities often add...
Contributed by Jessica Kyriakos Sometimes when planning to sell a house, in the name of renovating interior living spaces, updating bathrooms, replacing appliances and adding decorative touches throughout the bedrooms, homeowners leave outdoor curb appeal as a last priority. While of course the inside of a home is important, sellers make a big mistake when they neglect...
If your neighbor wrapped up his house and trees in aluminum foil, you’d probably think one flew over the cuckoo's nest, but that’s exactly what one Florida man did recently, lighting up his street and befuddling his neighbors. Piotr Janowski of Tarpon Springs, Fla. dangled foil off his trees and draped his home in aluminum, including the utility box and meters,...
Prospective homebuyers may see a few more weeks of near-zero mortgage rates following news that the Federal Reserve will maintain its current interest rate policy. Economists have long anticipated a rate change in September of this year. “The (Federal Open Market) Committee anticipates that it will be appropriate to raise the target range for the federal funds rate...
A few weeks ago we asked our followers on social media about the strangest items they've ever seen in a listing. The responses were off the charts in terms of number and hilarity, so we'd like to thank everyone who participated! Below were some of our favorite submissions: "Used to do foreclosures and in one house in a relatively nice, upscale neighborhood, I...
