If you want to increase the value of your home there are certain things that you can do to make sure that you get the most for your money when it comes to the sale of your property. One barrier to activities that increase the value of your home is that you only have so much time and money that you can invest before the home goes on the market. Take a look at these tips to increase the value of your home by quite a lot. 

Clean Out Your Home And Stage It 

You don’t need to make expensive changes to your home in order to make an appearance. If you take the time to clear out the clutter of your home and stage it, it will look like a brand new place. No one wants to see piles of papers, dog toys, and crumbs as they walk through a potential home that they might buy. The difference that cleanliness and a little maintaining of your home makes can be huge. 

Make A Great First Impression

Messy yards and exterior issues on your home can really cost you quite a bit when trying to sell your home. If things appear disarrayed and broken around the outside of the home, you need to clean it up before you sell it. To add some spice to your curb appeal, you can do things like add some potted plants to the front of the yard. This is so simple, yet can make such a huge difference.

Pay Special Attention To Your Kitchen And Bathroom

Doing something as simple as adding fresh paint to the bathroom and kitchen can really add a lot of charm to your home. While you may not have the funds to do a complete renovation of these rooms a simple “cleanup” of the spaces can help.    

Hire Professionals

As much fun as DIY jobs are, sometimes hiring a professional can really make a huge difference. If you’re not too keen on the type of job that you’re undertaking you should really hire a professional.

Another professional that you may want to hire is a real estate agent to help you sell your home. Realtors are experienced in marketing homes and understand the complete process from home showings through the closing on the sale. While you may think that you can sell the home on your own, you’ll get a much better return if you leave it to the experts.

As you can see, these simple actions are a great way to increase the value on your home when you’re ready to sell. Take your time, and get a better return on your property investment.

When everything is online, it’s hard to discern when getting up, leaving the house, and checking out a home can be helpful. There’s so much information regarding real estate online; you probably want to pick and choose when and where you go to see a home. Even if you’re nowhere near being able to buy a home, you may want to check out open houses to help you in the future.

Looking at real estate is fun. You can dream of living in a neighborhood on the street you may never be able to afford. There are many advantages to checking out open houses. 

You’ll Understand How Far Your Dollar Will Stretch

The type of home that you can afford, and the type of home you want may not be in the same ballpark. If you take a look at different open houses, you may be able to see where your budget takes you. Even if the market changes, you’ll be able to match your expectations with your wallet. As you know what’s out there, you’ll be able to hone in on what you want in a home. 

From here, it will be easier to work with a real estate agent because you’ll be able to give them a better idea of what you want when the time does come to buy a home. 

It Will Be Easier To Hire An Agent

As you go to open houses, you’ll meet more real estate agents. These agents can become potential hires once you do get more serious about buying.

You’ll See The Market Firsthand

Besides understanding how much house you can get for your dollar, you’ll be able to get an idea of how many buyers are actually out there. If you’re seeing many other potential buyers at open houses, you may be facing quite a bit of competition when you head out to buy a home of your own. When the competition is high, you’re looking at offering above asking price for houses. You could even get into bidding wars. A lot of other buyers doesn’t mean you should back out of buying a home altogether, but just enter the market with caution. 

You Can Discover New Areas

By exploring open houses, you may find a neighborhood that you love that wasn’t on your list before. How can you get to know an area if you have never spent time there before? 

You’ll Learn Where You Need To Compromise

By looking at different houses, you can see the potential (or lack thereof) in many homes. If you can see where you’d be willing to compromise long before the home search is on, your search will be that much smoother   

One of the most used rooms in the house is the bathroom. You do spend a lot of time in there. You want your bathroom to be an oasis of sorts. Making changes and renovations to your bathroom will not only make you happy but make potential buyers for your home happy as well. Below, you’ll find some trends to keep your bathroom stylish and a place that everyone wants to spend (at least some) time in. 

Beware Of Design Trends

There’s a lot of trendy designs that just aren’t timeless. They don’t look very good in a bathroom after the initial install and tend to give the bathroom a drab feeling after awhile. Whether it’s a crazy color scheme or something bland that lacks texture, you need to think about the longevity of a look before you go after it in your bathroom. Some trends to look out for:

• Too much white
• Too little in the bathroom
• Funky color schemes
• Gigantic bathtubs
• Certain kinds of tile and finishes
• Hardware accents

Really, the bathroom needs to be about balance. There are trends that come and go. Some people are more receptive to certain designs than others. This is because their needs are suited. Take the his and her sink as an example. Many designers are shying away from this trend. For your routines and needs, this could be exactly what your bathroom needs. No hotlist can tell you what’s best for you.

Storage Is A Necessity

If you do only one thing in your bathroom, make sure that you have enough storage. There’s quite a bit that needs to go in the bathroom like toilet paper, towels, cleaners, medicines, as well as bath products like soap and shampoo. 

Add Pops Of Color

If your bathroom has all white tile and you don’t have the time or the resources to actually change the tile, you should try and add pops of color where you can. It’s simple to do this with towels, floral rugs, curtains, and even bath accessories. You can really vary the color in the room and make it special. This is one renovation that doesn’t cost much to do but can make a big difference.       

 

Remember What Sells

More neutral colors tend to sell better no matter what room of the house we’re talking about. It’s fine to mix neutral colors with pops of something bolder, but don’t go overboard. Remember that when someone goes to buy your home, they want to make it their own as well. They probably can’t achieve that with a lime green bathroom.

If there's one thing more stressful than moving it's moving over long distances. Moving far away often means new jobs, new friends, and a new way of life. It's a big change that doesn't need to be made any more difficult by a complicated moving process. In this article, we'll cover some ways to prepare yourself for a long distance move so that you can rest easy knowing you're ready for this new chapter of your life.

A new home, a new lifestyle

If you're moving across the country you probably don't know where to begin when it comes to preparing yourself. A good place to start is with the basics of daily life. Ask yourself these questions before you start packing:

• Do I have the right clothes? You don't need a whole new wardrobe before you move, but you don't want to brave a Northeast winter with just a sweatshirt either.
• What can I get rid of? Think about all of the items you have and how much you use them. If you haven't used something in a year there's a good chance it's not worth hauling across the country.
• How much space will I have? If you're moving into a house bigger than the one you have now you might not need to part with many bulky items. If not, consider having a yard sale before you move.
• Do I know enough about where I'm moving?  When moving to a new place, you'll want to know where the closest hospitals, gas stations, and grocery stores are. Explore Google Maps and websites for the area you're moving to to get to know the place beforehand. Write down important addresses and telephone numbers.

Create a timeline

With all of the changes that are about to happen in your life, odds are you'll get overwhelmed with many of the details of moving. Create a moving timeline, whether it's in an app on your smartphone or on a piece of paper. On this timeline, write in dates you'll need to accomplish certain items by. Here are some sample items for your timeline:

• Pick a move-in/move-out date by today
• Choose a moving company by today
• Sell or donate unwanted items by today
• Sign paperwork and exchange keys today
• Donate clothes by today
• Going away party by today
• Pack up office by today
• Pack up living room by today

Packing your belongings

When packing for a long distance move there is more pressure to do it right and not forget anything. Follow these packing tips to ensure a safe travel:

• Take inventory. Use an app that helps you categorize your belongings. Check off important items as they're packed and cross them off as they're unpacked at your new home.
• Pack one room at a time. This will help you keep everything together and ensure you don't forget anything. It will make unpacking much easier.
• Don't forget to label all your boxes. Keep that Sharpie in your back pocket at all times.
• Communicate. Make sure everyone who is moving with you and helping you move are all on the same page when it comes to packing so that no details are overlooked.
• Use extra padding. A longer drive means more opportunities for something to get broken along the way. Pack boxes full and put fragile items on the bottom of the truck.

If you were to look at a photo of a suburban neighborhood from the 1950s and one from today, you would notice many similarities. The houses have gotten much larger, but they still have perfectly manicured lawns and milky white fences. American culture has come a long way since the days of nuclear families. An emphasis on conservation and environmentalism has added recycling bins to many of our homes. But by and large our backyards remain mostly unchanged. Some people are electing to deviate from those norms to make their homes and yard more eco-friendly. Part of that change has been to adapt natural landscaping techniques that make your backyard seem less chiseled-out and more a part of its natural environment. With proper planning and care, natural landscaping can give your yard both a modern and natural look, and it won't look messy or overgrown. Here are some tips to get you started on natural landscaping in your backyard.

Native planting

A big part of natural landscaping is understanding your local plant life. Planting flora that is native to your area is not only helping your yard look more natural but also helping your local plant and wildlife. Often we bring in "exotic" plants and flowers without understanding the ecological issues that can arise from invasive species, both on other plants as well as on the local animals. So what are some ways you could alter your yard to house more local plant life? That depends entirely on your taste and on your local flora. If you live in a coastal, warm area, you might choose a sand or shell path in your yard that leads through tall grasses. If you live inland it might make more sense to choose stones or pebbles for your walkway and a variety of shrubs, flowers, and grasses for around the yard.

Lawn dividers

You won't find any white picket fences naturally occurring in the woods. But nature has its own barriers that can be adapted for use around your property. Vines, trees, bushes, and even rocks can all be used as natural barriers. People have used rock walls to mark of their property for centuries, and for good reason: they last forever (with some occasional maintenance) and they compliment the natural environment of your yard.

Make your lawn livable

Your lawn should be hospitable for your plants, your local wildlife, and for you. Using natural wooden benches, tree swings, and maintained paths will make your backyard look like the walkthrough gardens that we see in old English manor houses. But you should also keep in mind the birds, bugs, and other animals that will frequent your yard. By not using chemical insecticides or weed killers you're already helping your local wildlife thrive. But you can attract even more birds by setting inconspicuous feeders in the trees around your yard.

What's to gain from natural landscaping?

Aside from looking nice, natural landscaping has countless other benefits. When you're growing plants native to your area you know the plants are predisposed to grow well in your yard. That means less maintenance, watering, and less money spent buying replacements for dead plants. You'll be helping the local wildlife fit in, and you'll be helping yourself by giving your yard a refreshing, natural look.