| |
| |
|
Real Estate Information |
|
|
Selling Houses: Flooring & Feelings
Buyers think they love Italian tile and other hard floor surfaces, but they actually feel happier when they're walking on softer surfaces such as padded carpeting and padded laminate. Even so, you'll want to give some serious thought to the floors in your home if you want to sell quickly, and for the highest profit. Flooring Colors for Quick Sales Choose neutral, light colors for floor surfaces, because they won't clash with a buyers' furnishings. Buyers can easily paint over colored walls, but changing floor surfaces is much more difficult and expensive. Therefore, the colors you bring into play when staging your home for resale is best left to areas other than flooring. Hard Floor Surfaces and Marketing Psychology Always weigh the cost vs. benefit ratio before making flooring decisions. For instance, tile floors in bathrooms increases property value and sales appeal, but learning to install tile floors takes time, and the cost can be prohibitive. However, many types of linoleum simulate tile surfaces, and your cash outlay for professional installation will be considerably less. Using carpet instead of hard flooring in bathrooms saves even more money and ties spaces together for a more spacious feeling, such as in a main bedroom suite. Install kitchen flooring before you install new appliances. Usually, you save money by hiring the same installers to put in new hard flooring and carpeting. However, that can also be a balancing act, because you want to finish painting and construction prior to installing carpet. Carpeting and Buyers Before making the decision to replace stained wall-to-wall carpeting, try cleaning it first. I tested a trick suggested by my carpet company owner on the badly-spotted bedroom carpet in one of our investment properties. Following her advice, I sprayed Windex directly on the spots, scrubbed gently with a brush, and then wiped with a wet rag, and the spots disappeared! Buyers love new carpeting, especially if they get the chance to pick it out. If the existing carpeting is truly awful, rip it out and clean the floors. Then, if the home doesn't look too terrible, some investors find it worthwhile to offer the house for sale at that point and offer a carpeting allowance. Personally, I think properties show much better with all flooring in place, so we always install it. Earth Friendly Flooring Upscale buyers love cork and bamboo flooring. They're environmentally-friendly choices, because both are easily renewable. Cork oak trees aren't destroyed; the bark is harvested every nine years, and they can continue providing bark for 200 years! Buyers love cork's feeling of softness under their feet, and cork flooring provides a great sound barrier. Bamboo is both sustainable and beautiful. It's actually a member of the grass family and is one of the fastest-growing plants on Earth, growing to full maturity within five or six years. Buyers love the distinctive look of bamboo. Natural bamboo colors range from light tan and caramel to honey browns, and the subtle grain patterns accent both linear and horizontal planes, adding visual depth and making rooms look larger. Using the concepts of Design Psychology, you'll either choose simple or elegant flooring for your home, depending on your prospective buyer's income level, and employing Design Psychology strategies will help you create floors that buyers won't be able to wait to walk on barefoot! (c) Copyright 2004, Jeanette J. Fisher. All rights reserved. Professor Jeanette Fisher, author of Doghouse to Dollhouse for Dollars, Joy to the Home, and other books teaches Real Estate Investing and Design Psychology. For more articles, tips, reports, newsletters, and sales flyer template, see http://www.doghousetodollhousefordollars.com/pages/5/index.htm
MORE RESOURCES:
Google News |
|
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
How To Realistically Get Started As A Real Estate Investor When it comes to real estate investing, most beginners find themselves with plenty of desire, a little bit of knowledge (from books, seminars, online message boards or something like that) and in most cases they have little or no money to get started with. Does this sound like you? If so you are not alone. Fixing Houses: Using Psychology for Profits Real estate investors who specialize in fixing houses for profit gain new insights from Interior Design Psychology ideas. Increase your profit potential in the new buyer's market with these new transformation strategies. Buyers Closing Cost Buyers, borrower, closing costs can be divided into two categories. Nonrecurring closing cost and recurring closing cost. Conditions Are Right For Buying The Higher Priced Home You'Ve Always Wanted Higher interest rates and home prices in the past have kept home owners from purchasing larger homes. The current real estate market conditions, however, are encouraging for many home owners who want to "buy up" to higher priced homes with more to offer. Buying Real Estate Thats Not For Sale Buying real estate can start with a look in the newspaper, a visit to a broker, or a search online. These are all good ways to find your next investment property. How to Find the Sweet Spot in Real Estate Investing Psssssssssst, Want to know a great way to make FAST money in real estate? Listen closely now because this tip is definitely cashable.. High Profit Real Estate Investing--Make a Good Deal Every Time! Knowing what a Good Deal is - Is the Key to Success inReal Estate.Dear Investor,Take this little survey: The most important key to Real Estate Success is:1. If You Move Yourself You'll want to take some items in your own car when you move, and that's true whether you're hiring a mover or doing the job on your own. You'll hand-carry jewelry, medications, house plants, pets and a suitcase for each family member. Real Estate Investing - Maximum Leveraging of Your Money At this moment, you have access to some amount of money, from the extremes of only pocket change to the reserves of Bill Gates or Warren Buffet.Suppose you want to invest your funds into some vehicle that will multiply the return. Selling Your Own Home - Pet Issues If you are selling you own home, you need to consider the effect of pets. People who are working with a real estate broker are sure to get coached about the potential negative effect of pets. Many Ways To Make Money In Real Estate! Real Estate is a multi-faceted investment arena - there are MANY different methods to earn money from different niches in real estate. One or several may work for YOU!Here's the typical experience: "buy your own residence and sell it when its all paid off and you want to retire, oh my gosh look at all the money its worth". Nobody Loves A Landlord The typical landlord starts off life as a lighthearted real estate investor. The investor isbrimming with enthusiasm and is determined toacquire some single family homes that will beattractive to renters. Real Estate Investments Real estate investments come through a variety of different options. However, whether it is a vacation property, a first home, an early retirement house, or a rental property that you find appealing, real estate investments are all the rage, and are quickly becoming one of the safest investments available, especially in our less-than-perfect economy. Is a Vacation Home Right for You? Many of us dream about owning the vacation home in the Mountains, or on the Lake or Ocean. A place where one can retreat periodically from the hustle-bustle of everyday life. Family Feud with an Auction Deadline - Adventures in Probate/ Estate Purchases One of our investor students told us of an interesting probate deal or "adventure" they're working on now and while it's a good story, it also illustrates lots of the ins and out of probate or estate issues and purchases.The Seller (we'll call him Scott) co-owned this house with his mom, and he co-signed on the loan with mom. An Estate Planning Primer An estate plan can be designed by clients and their professional advisors to achieve the client's personal and financial objectives. Or, it can be an arrangement imposed upon survivors by state intestate succession laws if someone dies without a valid, up-to-date will. Finding Structural Problems During Escrow - Upscale Home Example When buying and selling homes, the property purchase is often subject to a satisfactory home inspection being done. Now and then, a home inspection uncovers severe structural problems. Chapter One FSBO the Russ Miles thriller/mystery novel Chapter OneShe reached the phone on its second ring. "This is Tami!" She confidently answered. Getting Ready to Sell Your Property We all have had the experience of someone important coming to the house and whether the visitor is an in-law, an old friend, or business associate you know the drill: Have the house in "show" condition.For investors the situation is much the same: First impressions count!!!! Even though you may not be able to tell a book by its cover, you'll probably pay more for a book if the cover is inviting, and attractive. Late Mortgage Payments Sabotage PMI Cancellation There's something you should know about PMI!Private mortgage insurance is commonly referred to as PMI. If a buyer makes a down payment of less than 20% of a home's value the lender will insist that a premium for PMI be added to every monthly payment.
|
| home | site map |
| © 2006 TIGER MEDIA |
