Old Home vs. New Home: What's Right For You?

You might not be thinking about moving now, but that day will come sooner than you expect. When it does, you’ll be glad you’ve thought ahead about which is best for you and your family – a brand new home or one with previous owners...(More)

Painting Your Home for Fun and Profit

Thinking about painting your home but don’t want to make mistakes that could lower the value? Here are some helpful suggestions...(More)

What Will Someone Pay for Your Home?

Setting the best selling price for your home is not always the same thing as setting the right selling price. And, just checking comparable home sales is not the complete solution...(More)

Managing Your Important Papers

Everyone has vital papers that are not always kept up-to-date; some clutter up our homes far too long. Manage your important papers properly, and you may even wind up with extra file space...(More)

Old Home vs. New Home: What's Right For You?

Whether your next move will be to a larger home or a smaller one, there’s one decision that always has to be made: Do you prefer a newly built home or an older one? There are no right answers, as each has pluses and minuses; it all boils down to what you prefer.

The Case for Existing Homes.

With an older home, you have a better idea of how your investment will fare. The neighborhood is settled and has a track record of appreciation and market appeal. While past performance is not a guarantee for the future, it is a helpful indicator.

Older homes are typically closer to a community’s center, which can mean shorter commutes and lower gasoline costs. They are also far more likely to have mature trees and added features such as fences, landscaping, and window treatments – all of which reduce the overall costs of moving in. Despite these additions, existing homes tend to be less expensive per square foot, depending on the neighborhood.

There are definite differences in homes according to when they were built. Homes built in the last 15 or so years, will have more generous closets, baths and kitchens than those built 50 years ago. It all depends on what home features are most important to you.

The downside of purchasing an existing home is maintenance and repair. As appliances, plumbing, electrical and HVAC systems age, they all need repairs. A professional home inspection can alert you to any immediate concerns, which can then impact price negotiations. The older a home, the more maintenance and repairs you can expect over time. However, you can request a home warranty in your purchase contract to protect you from unexpected repair bills.

The Case for New Homes.

Walking into a sparkling new home, with no nail holes in the walls or smudges around the light switches, has great appeal – it’s a clean, blank canvas that you can make your own just by moving in. No one has painted the kitchen bubble gum pink or pasted cartoon cutouts to the walls in the upstairs bathroom. There are no mistakes to undo.

In a new home you can also expect the latest in energy efficient appliances, modern fixtures in kitchens and baths, and a more open layout with touches like flueless fireplaces and media niches.

The materials used in new homes tend to require less maintenance, insulation is usually more effective, and heating and cooling systems meet the newest efficiency standards. If you select a house before it is finished, you can even pick many of the details yourself – from wall colors to cabinetry to light fixtures.

However, all this efficiency and modern architecture comes at a price. But, since everything is brand new, you can expect fewer repair and maintenance bills.

So, which will it be – new or old? The choice is yours to make. And the only right answer is what’s right for you.

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Home owners refurbish, redecorate, and renovate like never before. Influenced by a tidal wave of home improvement programs, they also make bolder choices in color and décor. Where once the safest choice was beige walls with white ceilings and trim, now people want to see color when they look at a home. In fact, while first-time home buyers are more comfortable with neutral shades, experienced home shoppers prefer to see more fashionable colors.

People actually look better surrounded by color and will feel happier in a room where color blooms. So, don’t let potential resale value stand in the way of selecting the colors you want to live with. In fact, since color influences moods, selecting the right color for a room’s purpose can actually enhance its appeal both for you and for potential buyers in the future. Here are some suggestions that could actually add to your home’s resale value.

• Dining rooms: Consider red, which stimulates the appetite and produces feelings of warmth.
• Bedrooms: Blues and greens are both relaxing, calming colors found in nature and inducing to a peaceful retreat.
• Kitchens: Yellows heighten a sense of sunshine and warmth.
• Entry halls: Continuing the exterior color scheme makes the entry hall more welcoming.

As a general rule, select vibrant tones for rooms where you want more energy and the “wow” factor, and go with paler shades where you want a calmer environment.

Paint can also be used to enhance the proportions of a room. White paint makes ceilings seem higher, while darker shades keeps lofty ceilings from seeming quite so far away. Lighter colors also make a room appear a little larger.

Of course, colors come in and out of fashion. Avocado, harvest gold, and tangerine still shout 60s and are popular choices for people who collect mid-century furniture if no one else. Gray and mauve put your home squarely in the 80s. Today’s newest colors are watery greens and blues as well as spicy oranges and yellows.

Anytime you pick the color of the moment, you risk dating your homes decor. If you want to be sure to pick colors with lasting appeal, make a visit to the library. There you’ll find many books with pictures of classic and historic homes. Pay particular attention to the wall colors of homes decorated with furniture that reflects your taste and you can’t go wrong.

Most of all, remember that fresh paint gives you the most decorating impact with the least investment – it’s like dressing your home in a brand new outfit, and it’s just about as easy to change.

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Remember Goldilocks? Homebuyers are just as particular. They want the price to be just right. Determining that “just right” price for your home not only takes thoughtful research, it also demands a dispassionate attitude towards your home and an honest evaluation of your own capacity for patience.

Everybody wants top dollar for their home, but determining that amount can be tricky. Set the price too high, and your home could languish on the market for ages. Make it too low, and you’re not getting your full return on a major investment.

You’ve heard the all-too-true mantra: Make your first price your best price. However, what that price is depends on several different factors:

• How fast do you want to sell your home?
• What are homes selling for in your area?
• How does your home compare to the “typical” home of your neighborhood?

Check out comparables.

Checking comparables actually means looking at the sale prices of similar homes in your neighborhood. If you want to do the legwork yourself, you can access public records maintained by your county for property assessment and taxes.

Even when your county has these records online, this takes a lot of time. However, the information will provide you with the size of the house and lot, current assessed value and sales price history. Unfortunately, this information is usually a couple of months old by the time it is posted.

A real estate agent can do all this legwork for you, and come up with more current information. Since you are looking at the selling prices of homes in your own neighborhood, you might be able to add information that the hard data does not include. Divorces, corporate moves, and estate settlements can all impact a home’s selling price.

The more information you can gather, the better you can determine what your own home should sell for.

Evaluate your home.

Making an honest, unemotional appraisal of your own home is often the hardest step. It might help to start with a professional home inspection. This can alert you to any hidden problems in your home’s structure or systems. Most home sales include a professional inspection these days, and it’s far better to know of potential problems in advance rather than have an unwelcome surprise cancel a good sales contract.

After you have the results of your home inspection, take a long hard look at your home’s décor as well – particularly the bathrooms and kitchen. Outdated fixtures will bring the desirability, and price, of your home down. On the upside, enhancements you have made to your home such as landscaping, renovations, fencing, etc., will add to your home’s value.

Bring it all together.

With the comparables in hand and an honest appraisal of the condition of your home, you’re almost ready to set a realistic price for your home. However, there’s still one more vital consideration: how fast do you want your home to sell?

If you are in a hurry to move, or simply know you don’t have the patience to wait for that perfect offer, don’t consider a price that would put your home on the high end for your neighborhood. Instead, select a price that will entice buyers to react quickly.

If time is not a consideration, you can wait for just the right buyer and ask for a somewhat higher price. However, selecting a selling price that is simply too high for your area will most likely result in frustration and no buyer in sight.

Every home sale is unique – just like every home. There’s probably someone searching right now that could find your home is just right for their needs. Just do the research to make sure when that person walks through your door, the price is just right, too.

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Managing Your Important Papers

Managing important papers may not sound exciting, but having the right information in the right place in an emergency is certainly a relief. Most of us keep important documents in files or envelopes, but how current are those records? Use this checklist to organize, merge and purge your important papers effectively and efficiently.

• Never simply throw away any financial records. Shred anything with account numbers or other financial data.

• Keep passports, birth certificates, citizenship papers, adoption records, marriage and divorce papers in a fireproof box at home. If you have a safe deposit box, make copies and store them there.

• Your lawyer should have your will and living will, but keep a copy of both at home where someone you trust can access them.

• Save your old tax returns – and all supporting receipts and documents – for six years. Anything older can be thrown away.

• Consider consolidating your bank accounts so you can see your financial information easily in one statement. Bank statements should be saved for three years and then shredded.

• Keep warranties in plastic sleeves in a three ring binder. Divide the binder into sections such as vehicle, kitchen appliances, electronics, etc., depending on your needs. It will be easy to find a warranty when you need it and replace it. Some warranties require proof of purchase, so add your receipt to that pocket. Review the notebook occasionally to get rid of outdated warranties.

• Insurance policies can also be maintained in a notebook or in individual files. Keep all policies until they expire or are redeemed.

• If fire, flood or another catastrophe should damage your home, good records are crucial for insurance claims. With modern technology, creating a household inventory is fairly simple. Take photos of each room from different angles, as well as close-up photos of more valuable insured items. Burn two CDs or DVDs with all images – one to store at home and another to keep in your safe deposit box.

• Maintain a record of all home improvements and their costs. When you sell your home these costs should be considered when determining any profit. These records then become part of your income tax file for six years.

• Individual medical records should be kept together, including receipts and insurance payments for all medical care and prescriptions. This is also a good place to keep a copy of your living will. Maintain medical records for six years.

• Unless you have tax-deductible items on your credit card bills, shred them after the next bill comes in.

• Keep a record of all stock, bond, and mutual fund purchases and sales – including the date and price. After a sale, transfer the appropriate information to your income tax records.

• A file of old resumes and employment records will help you to easily recreate or update your resume. This is a good place to maintain education records as well.

• Automotive records should include title and bill of sale. You may want to maintain bills from repairs and maintenance to share when you sell the vehicle.

For most families, a portable file box is adequate to contain all these records. The key to keeping files updated is not to delay putting an item where it belongs. As soon as it comes into your hands, file the document. It is just as easy to go straight to the file as it is to place those papers in a holding bin for later. This way, you will know exactly where your important papers are when you need them.

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