If you’re considering installing a fireplace in your home, it’s hard to decide between a gas fireplace and a traditional wood fireplace. Here’s a break down of the differences so you make the right choice for your home.
Gas
Gas fireplaces are appealing, flip a switch and have a fire. You don’t have to fuss with firewood, ashes or cleanup. The exhaust can often be fit to existing chimneys so no additional construction is required beyond the installation of the fireplace itself. The warm air will stay inside your home, providing you with a consistent source of heat. It usually isn’t cost effective to heat your entire house with the gas fireplace, but heating a room or a large open space is a viable option.
Wood
Traditional fireplaces are typically cheaper than gas fireplaces. The install is cheaper, and so is wood when compared to propane. They require far more upkeep than gas fireplaces including cleaning up ashes, sweeping the chimney and personally working to keep the fire going. The upside most people appreciate is having an actual fire, with an appealing aroma, snaps and pops. If you enjoy creating your own fire and having a realistic experience, you definitely want to install a traditional fireplace.
It won’t be long before the seasons change and the first snow falls. If you have plans to sell your home this winter, now is the time to get yard work and home exterior projects completed. This checklist can be knocked out over a weekend and you’ll be glad to have these small tasks done so your home shows better in the winter.
Pressure washing
The fastest way to clean a huge surface area is with a pressure washer. Wash your home’s exterior, remembering to get the soffits and gutters. Your patio is probably also due for a good cleaning. While you have the pressure washer handy, spray down your patio furniture and cushions so they are clean and ready to be stored for the winter.
Paint Touch Ups
Grab a brush and walk around your home touching up chips and nicks. Once it gets cold outside, you’ll miss your opportunity to paint.
Check Lights
Replace burned out light bulbs and check your landscaping lights. If your light fixtures are dated or worn out, replace them now when it’s easier to complete ladder tasks.
Junk Piles
Every inch of your property will be under scrutiny once your home is listed for sale. That junk pile hidden behind the shed will be in plain sight to prospective homebuyers. Store or toss out the random items in your yard and remember how messy your yard will look if your junk pile is covered in snow.
Landscaping
The first frost is just around the corner marking the end of the growing season. If you typically wait until spring to pull out plants and cut down grasses, consider doing that work now so your beds and borders are bare. The snow will pile up in these areas uniformly, giving your yard a more clean appearance. Spent grasses and perennials poking out of the snow makes homebuyers think ahead to the clean up work that’s been left for them.
Grab a sunny fall weekend to get your home ready for a winter sale.
You’ve decided to sell your house, but how do you make sure potential buyers see it at its best? Follow these golden rules to properly stage your house and get the top dollar when you sell.
1. Remove personal items from your home.
When someone is looking at your home, you want them to be able to see themselves living there. If you have pictures of your family and friends, it seems less like a blank canvas for someone to paint their own story on and more like a stranger’s home. You want potential buyers feeling all of the possibilities that come with buying your house.
2. Maximize the space in your home.
You want your home to appear as large as possible. You want to present a clutter free home that looks taken care of, and capable of holding someone else’s possessions. You want buyers to imagine their things in the home, which is difficult to do if it looks cramped. A major mistake people make is trying to hide everything in closets, which makes it appear as though the home has no closet space. Consider renting a storage unit for nonessential items while your home is on the market.
3. Make sure your home is clean and sanitized.
This may seem like a no brainer, but you want to be sure your house is sparkling clean. Clear off and wipe down counter tops, and make sure bathroom floors are cleaned. A simple trick to make your home seem more open and clean is to hang up small white bath and hand towels to create a spa like feeling to your home. You want your home to look spotless so potential buyers know it has been taken care of.
4. Modernize your home furnishings.
You want your house to look up to date so there is less work for a buyer to do after purchase. Update your older cabinets with a fresh coat of paint and new silver or stainless steel handles. It’s a quick, affordable switch that can make your home look more modern. Don’t neglect your floor either. Something as simple as adding a new rug may really tie the room together.
5. Use neutral colors in your home.
You may love your daughter’s bright pink room, but it may alienate potential buyers. It may clash with their furniture and be seen as an additional project that might deter them from buying your home. Try to stick to more neutral colors such as grey or white so anyone can be pleased by the color scheme. You can also use this strategy for setting a table or kitchen island, so it creates a nice calming feeling when you enter the room.
Help make your new construction home stand out among the sea of vanilla by adding a little color and style to the front of your home.
Paint the front door
If you got a boring builder’s special door, a little color will make your house pop. Make the job even easier and take the door off the hinges and paint the door while it’s laying flat.
Accentuate your address
It’s inexpensive to buy decorative house numbers and it’s fast to swap out the old numbers with new.
Dress up the porch
Just two chairs in a bright paint color or with bold accent pillows will make your porch stand out and serve as an inviting gesture to your new neighbors.
Pot some plants
You can go bold with colorful annuals or more sophisticated with urns and greenery. If you don’t have a green thumb, opt for a small shrub or dwarf evergreen. It’s hard to go wrong with something hardy that doesn’t require daily watering.
Welcome mat
Let your neighbors know you’ve now moved in with a colorful welcome mat.
The days of the ginormous McMansion are coming to an end. People are starting to downsize, understanding that less is more when owning a home. Have you thought about the option of a micro home? These miniature homes, trailers, and even converted shipping containers are growing in popularity nationwide. With this growing niche in real estate, perhaps it’s time to give micro housing some serious consideration. Ask your agentto search for homes with less square footage or find a small parcel of land to build your own micro home.
Take a look at just a few of the benefits of living in a tiny house.
Reduced Cost
A smaller home can mean lower building costs, insurance, taxes and utilities. If you decide to build, you may be able to afford the construction cost outright, eliminating the need for a home loan. As a homeowner, who wouldn’t want more disposable income!
Reduced Clutter
With a micro home comes the idea of a simpler life. Less space means less room for unnecessary clutter. You may find that all that “stuff” you thought you needed was simply just junk taking up space. In a micro home, a minimalistic lifestyle becomes a necessity. With less square footage, you are more likely to only keep necessities. And think of the time you’ll save cleaning a smaller house!
Green Living
Micro homes use far fewer resources than a traditional home. Micro homes use less land, fewer materials, and make a much smaller dent in natural resources traditionally utilized to keep a traditional home running.
The number one tip for giving your home great curb appeal in the fall is to keep your lawn free of leaves. Buyers may drive right past your home if they feel like raking leaves would be too much work for them if they bought your home. Keep up with this chore to give your home a tidy and maintenance free look.
Cooler temperatures also mean it’s time to replace your tired annuals with colorful mums or kale. Clear out your planting beds of summer foliage and drop some blooms into your window box or porch planter. Remember that you still need to water these plants to keep them looking fresh.
If you have already moved out or can’t maintain plant watering, you can brighten your porch with a grouping of three large pumpkins. Want them to last even longer? Don’t carve your pumpkins for Halloween. You can keep an uncarved pumpkin on your porch through Thanksgiving and get two holidays out of one purchase!
Even though it’s Halloween time, real spider webs on your porch need to be cleared away regularly. No need to scare away buyers with frightful spider webs.
Need ideas for keeping your home open house ready for the holidays? Click here for simple tips.
Most sellers have tunnel vision when it comes to getting their home ready for sale. It’s important to view your home as a potential buyer would. That paint chip you hardly notice or that collection of family photos running all the way up your staircase will jump out as negatives to buyers. To get top dollar, focus on making your home appealing to potential buyers, instead of appealing to yourself.
Start by removing any clutter around the house. This will help buyers envision themselves living in your home. Although less is more, it is still important to leave the essentials in your rooms. This will give a frame of reference for how much space really is in the room and how furniture can be placed. If the room is completely empty, it may appear to be smaller than it really is. Also, remove anything that is personal in the house such as family photos, religious symbols and everything on the refrigerator.
Next you should focus on all of the things you may have ignored for the past few months. Does your front door have some paint chips? How about that leaky faucet? Quick fixes can get you higher offers.
If you have walls that are painted bright colors, or may come off as taste-specific, consider getting a fresh can of a neutral color and diffuse the bold walls. Although your child may love her fuchsia walls, someone who is just moving in would most likely appreciate a more neutral color. Taking the time to paint the room is an important step when trying to stage the home because it lets someone else see a blank canvas that they can paint their dreams on.
Mel Foster Co. has several agents who are certified in the staging of your property to attract potential buyers. Accredited Staging Professionals® (ASP) are highly skilled and certified in creating just the right atmosphere that will appeal to all five senses of every buyer.
Making your home interior more efficient and attractive on a day-to-day basis doesn’t need to be an expensive or time-consuming endeavor. With the summer months upon us, keeping things orderly, yet functional, will help you and your busy family stay on top of things this season. Consider these space saving ideas and how they might just make your life a little easier this summer.
Pull Out Drawers And Cabinets
Installing a set of pull out bins under a stairwell in the entryway, or a pull out cabinet in the short hallway between rooms, can mean tons of extra storage space for your family. Consider getting pool toys out of sight and out of mind with a pull out closet in the garage.
Hidden Outlets
Are hairdryers and curling irons monopolizing all of your bathroom counter space? Consider installing outlets in the drawers those appliances are meant to be stored in. Never having to remove them from their hiding spot means more space for other things.
Turn Bunk Beds Into Murphy Beds
Need more floor space, or wishing you had a playroom for the kids? Installing Murphy Beds (the beds that pull down from a recess in the wall) could be just what you need. Suddenly there are feet and feet of extra floor space. So much more room for activities!
You Can’t Go Wrong With An Extra Cabinet
Something as simple as a small extra cabinet in the kitchen to store cleaning supplies can make your life a whole lot easier. Suddenly there is free space under the sink and a small extra storage space. Also, a small cabinet with a high shelf means keeping dangerous cleaning products out of kids’ reach.
You did it. Your last child has moved out of the house. The hardest work is behind you and now it’s time to have a little fun with the newly vacant bedroom in your home.
Cozy Guest Room
Grab a neutral colored can of paint and turn this bedroom into a luxury retreat, fit for any guest. Buy fine linens, fluffy guest towels and fresh pillows to outfit this new room. Once you have the room stocked and decorated, it’s a good idea to sleep for one night in the room to find out if anything is missing that your future guests might need.
T.V. For Two
Your living room might feel a little too large now for just the two of you. Why not turn the spare bedroom into a more comfortable T.V. or reading room. You can each pick out a recliner that suits your height and appeals to your style. This new room is all yours, so there’s not as much pressure to select furniture to impress guests. Get what’s comfortable and be happy spending time together in this room where you can reconnect and get to know each other again without yelling across the room to talk.
Out Of Sight
Storage is a huge issue for many couples, especially if the adult kids have left behind mementos or furniture while they get settled in a new place. Turn the spare room into a glorified closet or storage area. Put your seasonal clothes in this room, get your holiday decorations out of the attic or crawl space or install pantry shelves for paper goods and detergent. Keep it organized but keep the door closed.
Converting your child’s old bedroom is a sign to him or her that you are confident they will be successful on their own. Just wait until they are out of the driveway before you start pulling up the carpet and repainting the walls.
