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Unhappy with the job your contractor did? Peeved at your local hardware store’s churlish service? Annoyed with the runaround you got from a real estate agent? Just use an online review site to gain a small measure of revenge and to satisfy yourself by warning others. Right?
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Selling a house can yield some unexpected tax benefits. Few of us buy or sell often enough to stay abreast of the latest turns of the tax screw, so here’s an update on a few policies that could ease the pain:
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“Satisfaction goes up when you have concrete expectations,” says CA-based contractor Dan Fritschen. The unglamorous truth is that planning ahead saves money. In order to plan effectively, Fritschen recommends that homeowners seek assistance from two types of renovation consultants. Early in your project, each of these pros will ask different, equally important questions to help you translate a design vision into a built reality.
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If you are thinking that this is the year to tackle a bigger renovation project that you’ve been postponing, you’re not the only one. After several years of maintenance mode, homeowners are going to spend on actual improvements this year, predicts the Joint Center for Housing Studies at Harvard.
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Licenses, bonding, and insurance: Every contractor is required by law to have these essential documents in order, but not all do. And the harsh reality is that, if your contractor flouts the law, it could end up costing you.
Adamina Fies, president of Synergy Design & Construction in Reston, VA, says that, as absurd as it may seem, homeowners need to triple-check that their contractors and subcontractors are complying with state and local laws. If your contractor doesn’t have the proper paperwork, then you, the client, could be pulled into lawsuits ranging from on-the-job injuries to unpaid subcontractors’ bills.
Here’s the checklist Fies uses when vetting contractors:
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Hyperventilation over the housing market recovery is reaching gale force. National news outlets are quoting some experts as saying that housing will lead economic growth this year.
Pass the paper bags. The truth is that a consistent rise in home values in 2012—of 5.9% according to Zillow, and 5.5% according to the Case-Shiller Index—falls far short of recapturing a 30% drop in values since 2006.
This year, several factors will keep home values in check:
The unexpected has become the norm for the US real estate market. As evidenced by the annual Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers, recently released by the National Association of Realtors (NAR), market trends are shifting both quickly and often. Whatever was happening in your local market last spring isn’t likely to be happening now.
Here’s a rundown of the top trends outlined in the NAR report and how you can make the most of them:
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If you’ve inherited or converted even a small slice of space to a standalone living unit that could be rented, you’ve substantially boosted the value of the whole property.
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2013 is likely to see home values stabilizing—but not because of sale prices. A strengthening labor market is the rising tide that will lift property values, says Abbe Will, research analyst with the Harvard Joint Center on Housing.
While analysts argue whether 2012 was in fact the turnaround year for home sales, it’s clear that home remodeling is gaining traction.
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The Harvard Joint Center on Housing’s Leading Indicator of Remodeling Activity projects steadily rising home maintenance and improvement spending in 2013. Here’s how to concentrate your money and effort on the projects most likely to deliver a quick return:
