Home Selling

What to Fix Before Selling Your Home

As you consider what to fix or change before listing you home, consider your market. In a buyers’ market, you’ll likely need to do more work and improvements to help your home to stand out from the many others for sale. In a sellers’ market, you still want to put your best foot forward but with fewer homes on the market, you face less competition.
The Consumer Housing Trends report found that sellers who fetched above list price tackled expensive and messy renovation projects before selling, rather than passing them on to buyers. These sellers were about 50 percent more likely to modify the home’s floor plan or finish off a basement than the average seller. Approximately 20 percent were more likely to renovate a kitchen or repair a roof, and 8 percent more likely to complete a bathroom upgrade.

Kitchens
Some obvious kitchen to-dos if you chose to: Replace that 20-year-old refrigerator that doesn’t match the other appliances. Fix the grout around the sink. Install a new faucet. If your countertops are damaged and need to be replaced, go for granite. Despite what you’ve heard about it being out of fashion, it still brings in buyers and money. Freshen the room up with a new subway tile backsplash.

Bathrooms
According to a mid-range bathroom remodel is one of the easiest ways to get the most return for your money. Mid-range means about $3,000 to replace the toilet, light fixtures and maybe add a new or double sink. A bathroom remodel of this type results in a $1.71 increase in home value for every $1.00 spent on the project. Some other quick fixes: Refinish your cabinets, change out mirrors, and upgrade hardware and lighting.

Curb appeal and landscaping
Want to make a great first impression on home shoppers? Start with cleaning up: Washing windows and walkways, trimming bushes and trees, mowing the lawn. Landscaping in front and back can pay off in a quicker sale and higher price. Tidy up garden beds and add colorful pots of flowers to make your home look well-loved.
Is your front door looking weathered? Replace it, or at the very least paint it. A new mailbox can pack a big visual punch and replacing your house numbers can freshen your home’s look. Check here and here for more ideas.

Painting
Nothing makes your home feel fresh and well-cared-for than a fresh coat of paint, inside and out. And it’s one of the best investments you can make as you prepare to sell. This is one job where hiring a pro might make sense, especially if you want to list soon. Painting is labor-intensive, involving lots of prep and ladders, and it can take weeks.
Outside, it’s smart to keep your color scheme simple and neutral. You want your home to stand out from your neighbors, but not because it’s purple. Reserve bright colors for your front door.
Inside, a neutral palette and simple finishes will give the new homeowner a fresh start. A nice white ceiling also makes rooms seem bigger. Here’s some help for picking your paint colors.

Floors, nooks and crannies
Is your flooring worn or dated? This is a case when a significant upgrade could make sense. Hardwood floors can be refinished and will add value to any home while engineered hardwoods can be a cost-effective alternative. Removing old carpet is another simple way to freshen your home especially if you have hardwood floors beneath.
Other improvements can help your home appeal to buyers: Improving your attic space, refreshing your entrance, replacing your garage door and updating siding.
And a few inexpensive, last-minute touch-ups can make a difference. Just remember that some improvements are likely not worth the money (beware of swimming pools!), so if you’re in doubt, ask your agent what’s driving sales in your area.
And make sure to tell your agent about improvements that might not be obvious: New wiring or insulation, energy-efficient windows, new plumbing or sewer lines that are not obvious. These improvements may be worth including in your listing description and worth calling out to the bank’s appraiser.

Funny Garden Moments, Gardening & Landscape

Wild Turkey in Hiding

It happened Sunday morning as I notice the dogs looking out the east windows. I happened to glance through the window that looks over the back yard when, from the corner of my eye, I briefly saw a large brown object, behind the lilacs. I went outside and something was still lurking behind the lilac hedge.

I went outside and noticed all the cats were staring at this shadow. I should probably have a stick in the other since I had no idea if it was rabid skunk, a hungry raccoon, or the beaver is back to chew on my willow tree, 5 feet from the house (that was the night I went out at 2 o’clock at night with a broom whacking it on the head chasing it to the creek). He never came back, however, the tree is still in bad shape.

I reversed direction. The shadow reversed direction. Thinks it’s smart, I thought. We finally met face to face between the lilacs and the fence. It wasn’t a furry animal after all. It was a bird, a huge bird — it was wild turkey. I had a wild turkey in my yard! At this point I’m not sure who was the more surprised — the turkey or me. We stared each other down for only a moment before the turkey’s nerve failed. It panicked and ran over to the corn pile, hopped the gate and started eating (not that scared after all, just hungry). The garden sure is an interesting place.

Funny Garden Moments, Gardening & Landscape

My Dark Side of Gardening

I have a dark side. I’m ruthless when I must. I don’t like admitting this even if it is a character trait that’s admired in some quarters — sport, business, shopping, but in the garden? Sadly, yes. To be a successful gardener, it’s essential to be ruthless. Plants will test your patience. They can be fickle, stubborn, uncooperative, and downright frustrating.

Give some an inch and they’ll take over your garden; give others their own premium location and they sulk. It’s too bad plants aren’t sentient enough to realize that if they don’t grow as expected in my garden, there are severe penalties — and I’m a tough love judge, three strikes and you are out judge, a hanging judge. In fact, I make Judge Judy look like Mother Theresa on valium.

Insensitivity goes a long way in garden care. Don’t get me wrong, there’s plenty of opportunity for rehabilitation, and the three strikes and you are out policy is relaxed if it isn’t three consecutive strikes, which a few plants appear to have figured out. They play dead for a couple of years then give a gold medal performance. I praise them, I reward them with extra fertilizer, and then the following year they look like they fell off the final sale rack outside the grocery store. What do you do?

I must accept it’s not always the fault of the plant. It might have had a lousy childhood in a greenhouse or nursery, or it could be in the wrong type of soil or in the wrong location. The soil in this area is alkaline. Stick a Rhododendron or azalea in soil that’s too alkaline and it will refuse to grow well. If a plant likes sandy soil, it won’t appreciate clay for its roots. Some like moist soil, others like it dry.

It might be too hot, too dry, too wet, too windy, too sunny, or too shady for a particular plant’s liking. There are variations between species. For instance, blue or green hosta prefer more shade while the gold or yellow types like more sun. Therefore, even though I may be ruthless, I take all these factors into consideration before sentencing. For instance, I have clumps of daylilies that I seem to recall adoring, but they’ve begun to annoy me and will have to be dug and divided, or even disposed of.

If I’ve done everything possible to provide perfect conditions for a plant and it still doesn’t bloom or show any sign of enthusiasm, it’s into the discard heap. I planted two hydrangeas on the east side of the house last year and every three days, they go limp, so more water all summer long. Nothing takes more water than these, I am thinking these plants have got to go. So yes, I’m ruthless when it comes to gardening.