Category: Guest Blog Posts

Top 10 Ways to Add Value to Your Home

Posted on by John Conde

It can be a daunting prospect putting your house up for sale. There are lots of uncertainties, from a fickle housing market, to whether you’ll get enough viewers through the door and, ultimately, how long it might take to get any offers rolling in. Whilst you can’t control everything, there are lots of ways you can make your home more attractive to potential buyers, and add value to it. Here are 10 of the hottest home improvement tips to add worth to your abode.

An Attic Conversion

Potential homebuyers find the prospect of an attic conversion an attractive proposition, with it adding about 20% to the value of your property. But, again, make sure it is well designed and laid out, and that access to the loft is easy and you can stand up fully when inside!

A Kitchen Re-fit

The kitchen is one of the most important rooms in a home, and many property experts argue that homebuyers place a lot of emphasis on the kitchen when it comes to deciding to purchase a property or not. Getting your kitchen re-fitted if it is looking tired and dated can be a wise decision. And although it doesn’t come cheap, it will add value to your home.

Install Central Heating

If you don’t have modern central heating in your home, then you’re at a distinct disadvantage when it comes to selling your property, no matter how appealing the rest of your house is. No potential home buyer wants the inconvenience, disruption and expense of having to get this installed, so you may struggle to clinch that all-important sale without it. Even just having a dated boiler can be enough to put potential buyers off. If you really want to add value to your home then get central heating installed and ensure you have an energy-efficient boiler.

A Driveway

With most families owning more than one vehicle these days, having somewhere on the property to park it, is a desired scenario. If you want to add value to your home, maximise the parking potential at the front of your property. Get any driveway repairs done and consider paving over unused areas at the front to make space for an additional car.

Add a Sun Room

Adding a sun room or conservatory will boost your home’s appeal, with estimates of around a 7% increase in value to your property. Make sure your conservatory is well built and fits in with the style of the rest of the house. This extra living space can be a real bonus but make sure that you don’t swallow up too much of your outdoor space when erecting it, as reduction in garden, especially if it’s already small, may cancel out any positive effects from building the conservatory.

Repair Any Roof Problems

Any problems with your roof will soon come to light, even if they aren’t visible to the naked eye. Most home buyers organize a professional survey, which will soon pick up roof issues, potentially slashing the value of your property. Protect your home and its value by sorting out any roof problems as soon as possible, before they get any worse.

Decorate

Adding a fresh lick of paint to your house (both inside and outside) can brighten it up and boost its appeal. If you’re trying to sell your home, opt for neutral, light colors that increase the sense of space in a room and make it easier for prospect buyers to visualize living there.

Add Curb Appeal

Adding curb appeal to your home can increase its value and make those first initial impressions of your property positive ones. Simply by painting your front door, adding some flowers in a hanging basket, sprucing up the garden, or cleaning the windows can make your home a more attractive proposition.

Add another Toilet or Bathroom

With many homes now having more than one toilet or bathroom, you could put yourself at a disadvantage if you only have one. Many families find the extra facilities a godsend, so if you want to add value to your home consider converting the under stairs cupboard into a toilet or add another bathroom if any spare space allows it.

Insulate Your Home

Energy bills are expensive enough these days, so making sure you insulate your home can reduce the cost of your bills and your energy usage. This makes for an attractive prospect for anyone looking to buy your home, and can add value to your Orlando property.

 

https://orlandorealtyconsultants.com/

Let's Keep In Touch!

New ORC Form Lead

"*" indicates required fields

Attract buyers to your House Sale: Throw in a Home Warranty

Posted on by Jenny Zamora

The last thing that a home buyer wants to worry about is fixing faulty plumbing the first month after he moves in. That’s why home warranties exist: to give buyers some peace of mind before they spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on a house. In many places, it’s expected that a seller will pay for the coverage because the buyer won’t be calling the seller to fix problems after the closing.

If you’re selling your home, you can sweeten the deal by offering to throw in a home warranty.  Here’s how to put your buyer’s mind at ease and get rid of your home in short order.

Offering a Home Warranty

Home warranties cover major appliances, heating and cooling systems, plumbing, and even electrical systems. Because you probably don’t want to go through all of these areas in your home and fix them prior to the sale, a home warranty offer makes good financial sense. In a way, you’re guaranteeing that everything in the house is in tip-top shape. By offering to pay the buyer for at least a year’s worth of coverage, your buyer will have little to be nervous about.

If you offer to pay for 5 years worth of coverage, it’s going to discount the price of your home a bit, but it will remove all fear on the part of your buyer – and that’s the real secret to getting your home to sell quickly.

Major Appliances

Major appliances break. Maybe you just outfitted the home with a new garbage disposal. It’s amazing. You can throw entire bones down the sink. It’s not indestructible though, and you have no idea what the buyer will do to it. Obviously, that’s not your problem, but many buyers implicitly make it your problem.

They may never say it, but they expect everything to work perfectly forever after you’re gone. That’s just not realistic. What is realistic, and what most buyers will accept, is a warranty that guarantees major appliances won’t leave them in a financial hole after giving you all this money for your house.

Heating and Cooling Systems

Your central heat or air conditioning system might be several years old, or it might be older than you. That’s fine. You don’t need to replace it if you offer a home warranty because most of them cover heating and cooling systems. While a one-year guarantee is nice, several years is probably more enticing and it makes you look confident about what you’re selling.

Plumbing

Pipes leak eventually. When that happens, it’s nice to have a warranty to cover the repair costs. Your buyer wants to know that they’re not one cold snap away from having to replace the mainline coming into the house.

Experts cost money, and good plumbers are no exception. Will your new buyer need to have the entire system overhauled, a section of pipe, or would his pipes just need to be resealed? You don’t know and neither does he and that’s what scares him. Home warranties protect him from this kind of uncertainty about the plumbing.

Electrical

Electrical wiring can be chewed through by unwanted house pests. You’re not a dirty person, but rats will make a home in just about any location that offers them shelter – including your attic. It’s a common thing, but maybe your new buyer doesn’t realize this. Even if they do, they might not be thinking about it until it happens. You don’t want them to curse your name. A home warranty protects them and turns you into a hero before anything bad ever happens here.

Let's Keep In Touch!

New ORC Form Lead

"*" indicates required fields

A Guide to Safely Storing Valuable Items

Posted on by Jenny Zamora

Storage lockers

If you own items which are valuable, both in monetary terms and personal value, then it’s vital that you keep them stored safely, securely and to keep them in optimum condition. The rules for storing valuables depend on each individual item, so here are some general guidelines for different things that you might want to consider.

Documents

Important documents can easily get damaged or worn if they aren’t stored correctly, so it pays to spend a little time and effort preserving them to ensure they stay in good condition. Filing cabinets and display cases make ideal storage places for documents, but make sure you keep the documents flat or preferably separated by dividers, so that they don’t get bent or torn. You may want to consider storing valuable documents away from your home in specialist storage services that deal with storing important goods off-site. These types of places usually have climate controlled storage units to prevent deterioration of important documents.

Artwork

Many pieces of artwork are original and collectables, so it’s essential that you pay great attention to how you store these items when not on display. You’ll want to avoid the artwork becoming humid, so avoid storing it in plastic bags. Moisture can also come into contact with artwork if it is stored on concrete flooring. Ideally, artwork should be stored in a dry, well-ventilated environment but away from any direct draft. Any covering should be made with acid-free materials and the surrounding area and storage containers should be checked for dirt, mold or pests.

Musical instruments

Take extra care where you decide to store your musical instruments as heat can play havoc with wooden items, causing it to crack and even rot. Many musical instruments require storage in a climate-controlled unit because of their sensitivity to temperatures. For this reason, you should consider external storage services with experience in handling instruments if you are going to be storing the item/s for a significant period of time.

Photos

Treasured photos may not have much monetary value, but for most people they have a lot of personal importance. Pay attention to where you store all of your photos, as they can end up discoloured and damaged if exposed to heat and humidity. A cool, dry and preferably dark room is the best place to store them. If placed in any kind of book or separated, the materials used should be acid-free. Regular storage boxes may damage your prints so a trip to a photography store may be worth your while.

Special items of clothing

Valued items of clothing, such as expensive suits or a wedding dress, may never be worn again, but you’ll still want to keep them in tip-top condition. Follow instructions on the label for storage advice. Avoid storing in plastic dry cleaning bags, and make sure the area is dry and free from humidity or damp, as this may allow mould to flourish. Acid-free boxes make a good choice for storing wedding dresses, for example. It’s worth periodically checking the clothes to make sure they are in good condition.

Vintage cars

If you’re lucky enough to be the proud owner of a vintage car, then you’ll probably know of the importance of ensuring it is kept in pristine condition. Old cars can be susceptible to damage and rust, so make sure the car does not come into contact with humid or damp surroundings. If you don’t use the car very often, you might want to consider storing it off-site in a special climate-controlled storage unit.

Guarding against theft

Storing items well isn’t just about making sure they are kept in perfect condition, but it also requires consideration to how safe they are from potential theft. Never leave valuable items on show in your house, such as in windows. Install a fireproof and airproof safe to keep valuables in. Make sure you take out adequate insurance to cover the cost of theft to your treasured items. If in doubt, you might well be safer considering the services of external storage units, which are guarded day and night and have state of the art security systems in place.

Let's Keep In Touch!

New ORC Form Lead

"*" indicates required fields

Tips for Making Your Home More Secure

Posted on by Jenny Zamora

burglar alarm

Security is something that every home-owner should take seriously. The vast majority of burglaries are opportunistic ones where burglars enter a victim’s home via a weak or unlocked door or an open window. If your home does not present such obvious entry routes for a burglar, then it is likely that they will move on to an easier target. Here are some tips to help make your home look less appealing to criminals.

1. Lock your windows

Get into the habit of locking your windows at night, as well as locking them whenever you go out during the day. Don’t assume that it’s safe to leave upstairs windows open; a resourceful burglar may grab a nearby ladder and use that to gain entry to your home.

2. Invest in strong, sturdy doors and high quality locks

If your front door is flimsy, or has a weak lock, it would be trivial for a would-be burglar to kick down the door while you were away on holiday. Consider replacing your door frame, fitting a good deadbolt, and/or getting a door with a steel core for maximum security.

3. Take extra measures to secure sliding doors

Sliding doors, such as the ones that are used on most conservatories, are easy to force open. The good news is you can make them a lot more secure without having to spend a fortune. Placing a wooden brook handle in the track will prevent people from being able to open the door from the outside. For a more discrete form of security, drill a small hole in the middle of the doors and insert a metal pin to keep the doors “locked” together.

4. Make sure your yard is well-lit

Dark yards and big hedges are a burglar’s ideal surroundings. Don’t give burglars the chance to work in peace. Install motion-sensing lights in your yard so that anyone entering it will be noticed immediately.

5. Install a burglar alarm, and use it

Burglar alarms are a good deterrent against casual intruders. Installing a burglar alarm could save you money on your home contents insurance too. Be sure to use your alarm every time you leave the house. If you are broken into and you had forgotten to arm your alarm before leaving the house, then your insurance company may refuse to pay out.

6. Keep expensive possessions out of view of your windows

A burglar is more likely to target a house with a plasma TV, two games consoles and a bunch of expensive jewellery on the bedside table than they are a “normal” house where the only things on display are a sofa and a vase full of flowers. Hang net curtains to stop people from peeking into your home, and be discrete about expensive purchases. If you post details of your expensive home entertainment system purchase on Facebook then you are basically advertising your possessions to potential thieves who will jump at the chance to break in the next time your home is vacant.

7. Put your mail on hold when you go away on holiday

A stack of un-touched mail in the porch (or worse, hanging out of your mailbox) is an open invitation for burglars. If you’re going to be away from home for more than a few days, either put your mail on hold or ask a trusted neighbour to collect it for you.

Let's Keep In Touch!

New ORC Form Lead

"*" indicates required fields

How To Make Your Bathroom The Best Room In The House

Posted on by Jenny Zamora

It is probably fair to say that the bathroom is not top of many people’s lists when it comes to their favourite room in the house.  Most people would probably say the bedroom, followed closely by the lounge or living area. The bathroom would likely be some way down the list, and perhaps even be ranked lower than the kitchen!

What we cannot understand is why you wouldn’t want the bathroom to be one of your favourite rooms, and give it the attention it needs in order to become so.

The Bathroom Attitude

Most people view their bathroom thus: “I only spend a short time in there having a shower and brushing my teeth, so why bother making it a place I want to stay?”

There is some mileage in that argument, for sure, but surely the answer is that if the bathroom was a welcoming, calming place, you would want to spend more time in there?

How can you make your bathroom the best room in the house?

Put Some Thought Into Decorating It

We don’t mean that you have to go and paint the walls in bright colours, but the least you can do is make the décor just a little more inviting. This might mean tiles instead of laminate on the floor or applying a lick of fresh paint to the walls. You don’t need to spend a lot of time and money, but just make it similar in terms of care and attention to the rooms where you do love spending time.

Buy Some Books

Simply put, the modern bathroom needs books. Not only will it impress visitors, it also gives you the perfect excuse for you to draw yourself a hot, deep bath, pour a glass of wine, and sit and relax for an hour while getting lost in your latest novel.

A search of ‘ideal books for bath time’ in Google will give you a number of great ideas, including for those of you who might want to read to children while they bathe, so that you can always have something at hand to fit the mood and atmosphere.

Ensure Your Shower is Awesome

While you don’t want to spend any longer than you need to in the shower and so wastewater unnecessarily, the transforming powers that a great shower have are unrivalled. Where else can you step in half asleep, and step out of five or ten minutes later ready for everything that the world is ready and waiting to throw at you on a particular day?

If you have an awesome shower, you can rule the world.

Go For Scented Candles

Whether you are having a short, sharp shower or a long soak in the tub, scented candles are a great way to switch off and escape to another world while you’re in the bathroom.

Whether you go for a cheaper option from a supermarket or put your faith in a brand such as Yankee Candle, you will be ensuring you make your bathroom a tranquil paradise that you simply love spending time in.

Put all of these tips into practice, and you’ll immediately be bumping your bathroom up the list of your favourite rooms at home.

Let's Keep In Touch!

New ORC Form Lead

"*" indicates required fields