It’s a home improvement project. What could go wrong?
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Better not to think about it. That’s really a job for the agent who handles your homeowners’ insurance. Before you get going on your project, review your policy to make sure coverage includes these hope-they-don’t-happen factors:
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Whether you are selling or buying a house, your plans are likely to be derailed by one of three factors that are tripping up thousands of real estate deals this year, according to a recent survey by the National Association of Realtors:
The smart way to buy today is with resale in mind.
Here are four long-term trends that will likely shape the marketability of your house if you, like most homeowners, sell in seven to ten years.
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Home values continue to vacillate in most markets, which means that it’s difficult to estimate exactly how much equity you might be adding with a renovation or remodeling project. If you are aiming for maximum return, review your plans with an appraiser before the walls start coming down.
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Though they’ve seen their parents lose equity, today’s 20-somethings have home-buying on their minds.
A just-released study of millennials by Western Union found that nearly half expect to buy a home within the next five years—and 10% of them think they’ll be homeowners within the next 12 months.
It’s a realty agent’s dream: bidding wars are back! At least, that’s the hyperventilation du jour. From Boston to Los Angeles, the news from the front lines is that house-hungry buyers can’t wait to get their hands on the few move-in-ready properties popping onto the market. While obsolete, dingy properties linger on and on, houses that are well priced and in great shape supposedly are sparking frenzied price competition.
Is this true or just the result of fevered agent PR?
Kaldewei's oversize, floor-level shower responds to the "universal design" trend.
Not much has been guaranteed in the housing industry in the past seven years, but there’s one trend that is sure to reinforce the market value: the aging population.
Baby boomers will live longer than prior generations and are expected to insist on staying put in their houses, but it will cost them: their single biggest expense, housing will claiming 35% of retirees’ budgets.
Properties whose amenities and design let seniors live independently will become increasingly more marketable as boomers downshift into their final homes. It’s almost like an annuity for home equity.
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You stripped the woodwork, replaced the windows, and brought the kitchen from the dark ages into the light. You poured your heart into your house. And now it’s time to sell it.
Rehabbers have a harder time emotionally separating from the houses that reflect so much blood, sweat, and tears, says Barb Schwarz, the grand dame of home staging and president of Staged Homes. (She also founded the International Association of Home Staging Professionals, a resource for locating qualified stagers in your area.)
Quality home renovation got a shout-out from Wall St. recently with Morgan Stanley analyst Oliver Chang recommending that investors spend 25% of the purchase price of a foreclosure on subsequent renovations.
Why does Morgan Stanley care? Because lenders own millions of homes (that’s REO—or “real estate owned”—for us non-Wall St. types). Though the first quarter saw a lull in the foreclosure rates, a second tsunami is building, predicts real estate data dealer RealtyTrac.
Flying Point Residence by Stelle Architects (Long Island, NY)
Ah, a secluded, peaceful vacation home, far from the madding crowd…
But not far enough to be away from the IRS. Tax rules applying to rental income from a vacation home that you use for your own vacations just got more complicated.
