8 Ways to Boost Your Home’s Value

Improving the look and functionality of your home goes a long way toward boosting its value. But what types of renovation are today’s buyers looking for?

If you are thinking of remodeling, a national survey by Consumer Reports reveals the most sought-after amenities:

• Kitchens top the list – Buyers want a clean, updated and well-organized kitchen. A new coat of paint or modernized lighting can be inexpensive starts. Increasing the value exponentially are quartz counters, attractive cabinetry, and stainless steel appliances.
• Workable floor plans – Regardless of the size of your home, strategically increasing the living space is sure to boost its value. A more open floor plan, a finished basement, or a dedicated playroom or office space appeals to the needs of young families.
• Energy efficiency – Buyers are interested in energy costs and efficiency. Energy Star appliances, high-efficiency windows, and LED lighting help to lower the cost and increase your home’s ‘green’ appeal.
• Updated systems and surfaces – Central air conditioning and updated mechanical systems, including water heaters and gas heat, can increase a home’s value by 3 to 5 percent.  A newer roof and hardwood flooring are also much in demand.
• Allowance for aging in place – As people are living longer and the number of senior citizens continues to increase, buyers see the long-term value of walk-in showers, comfort-height toilets, and master bedrooms on the main floor.
• Color and light matter – Fresh paint, natural color schemes, and window treatments that let in the light will improve the look as well as the value of your home.
• The great outdoors – Up your home’s curb appeal by keeping lawns and shrubbery neatly trimmed. Also high on buyers’ wish-lists are a water-smart yard, a deck or patio, and a built-in grill.
• Smart technology – Some high-tech features may lose value as technology continues to evolve. But security systems, whole house generators, and programmable thermostats controllable by smart phones will add value for their efficiency and convenience.

Your home is likely to be your greatest investment, so making steps to boost its value will pay off in the long run. 

5 Insurance Tips for Newlyweds

Whether you and your significant other are currently engaged or just recently tied the knot, congratulations! Marriage is an exciting step for a couple.

Combining your lives also means combining your finances, so you’ll want to make sure you’re well prepared for the future together–especially since money can become a source of conflict for many married couples. Although most newlyweds focus on creating a joint savings account and budget, it’s also important to not overlook insurance.

With that in mind, the folks at Allstate offer these five insurance tips for newlyweds:

Assess your insurance needs. Make sure you have the right amount of coverage for your newly combined possessions. Don’t forget to insure your beautiful and costly-to-replace engagement ring via an insurance rider to your homeowners policy. In addition, you may want life insurance to help repay the mortgage and take care of your children, should one of you die unexpectedly. Depending on your age and personal health situation, you may also want to consider disability insurance.

Consolidate your financial relationships. You each may have an accountant, insurance agent and financial planner. Now that you’re a family, you should choose a single relationship in each area – whether it be a current advisor or someone new to both of you. You can rely on referrals from family or friends, or ask for a referral from other professionals you currently deal with and trust. For example, your insurance agent is likely to know financial planners in your community. A financial planner may be able to refer you to a local attorney or accountant.

Update your records. Make sure you are the beneficiaries of each other’s existing life insurance policies.

Combine your “just in case” files. This’ll make sure you can quickly find important financial documents just in case one of you is incapacitated or dies unexpectedly. The files should include insurance policies, wills and other legal documents, such as trusts, durable powers of attorney, living wills and healthcare proxies. Store originals in a safety deposit box, and make sure each of you signs the form to have access to the box.

Consider combining your health insurance. If you both have health insurance through work, compare the coverage to see if it makes sense for both of you to be covered under one of the plans. It’s likely to be less costly to insure an employee and spouse under a single plan. Many plans allow you to add a spouse within 30 days of your marriage without providing proof of insurability. Depending on your personal health situation, you might consider supplemental health insurance, which can help with doctor bills, hospital stays and even non-medical expenses (such as transportation) if you’re dealing with an accident, disability, cancer or critical illness.

By getting your insurance and other finances in order, you’re bound to be better prepared to enjoy your many years together as a married couple.

This article is intended for informational purposes only and should not be construed as professional or legal advice.

3 Tricks for Home Flippers to Sell a House Quickly

Whether house flippers use short-term loans or their own cash reserves to buy a house in need of renovations, many flippers are focused on selling a revamped property quickly. A critical aspect that impacts the ability to achieve this goal is to create a desirable home that buyers are interested in. When you’re preparing to transform an investment property, turn your attention to these important points:

Create an Open Floor Plan
One idea that works well when flipping is to create an open floor plan. Older homes that likely need more renovations may have a closed-off floor plan. This can make the home look smaller than it is and create a claustrophobic ambiance that may turn off some buyers. Depending on the home you invest in, creating an open floor plan may be as simple as tearing down the wall dividing the kitchen and dining room.

For added emphasis, you can also tear down any dividing walls between living spaces and the dining room. While you’re not adding square footage through this process, an open floor plan feels bigger to a buyer and may be more appealing. In many cases, this is a cost-effective way to generate incredible results.

Add Natural Light
To transform the space of your investment home, analyze the natural light. Some older homes were built with minimal or small windows, which result in a dark and gloomy interior that’s not welcoming or appealing to buyers. Consider enlarging existing windows to bring in natural light.

You can also add a few windows or a skylight in the bathroom, kitchen or other rooms that are commonly dark. When you incorporate natural sunlight into a room, you transform the space by making it feel more inviting.

Research Competing Listings
Before you finalize your renovation plans for your next house-flipping project, you should spend time online researching competing listings. You could even visit a few homes to get a better feel for market conditions. When transforming a space, you need to at least bring the home up to a level that makes it directly competitive with other listings in the market.

It can also be advantageous to go a step above the current market conditions. This can make the home more appealing for a faster sale. However, avoid making renovations that are considerably above market level. While the home may be desirable to buyers when you do this, there’s a strong chance you may price the home above market rates. This can make the home too expensive for some buyers.

As you look for new homes to flip and plan the renovations, consider these tips so you can create a finished project that sells more quickly.

Source: Meghan Belnap/RISMedia’s Housecall

Reasons to Set a List Price Below the Competition's

When selling a house, setting the right asking price is critical. If you price your house too high, prospective buyers might not bother to look at it. You could lower the price later, but buyers might have already set their sights on other homes. Sometimes your best bet is to choose a list price below the asking prices for comparable homes in your area.

Dangers of Overpricing a House 
It’s natural to want to get as much money as you can for your home, but setting an asking price too high can backfire. You might attract few interested parties, or possibly none, if your price is out of line with the rest of the local market. Even if someone is willing to pay your asking price, a lender may not approve a large enough mortgage if the appraised value is lower than your asking price.

If you set the price too high and don’t attract a buyer, your house may linger on the market for weeks or months and stop appealing to prospective buyers. People tend to assume that a house that’s slow to sell has something seriously wrong with it and often decide to focus on other houses rather than request additional information.

How to Determine Your Home’s Value
Your real estate agent can perform a comparative market analysis and compare your home to others in the area that are similar in terms of age, size and amenities. That can provide a good starting point to set an appropriate asking price.

Houses that seem similar in many respects may have different values for several reasons. Homes in the same neighborhood may vary widely in terms of price because of their different ages and features, and similar houses in different neighborhoods can have vastly different prices because of their location, proximity to businesses and the quality of local schools.

You can also have your house professionally appraised. An appraiser will be able to take everything about your home into account and come up with an accurate assessment of its value in the current real estate climate.

Reasons to Consider a Low List Price
The first few weeks after you put your home on the market are when you’ll be most likely to attract prospective buyers. If you list your home at a relatively low price, you’ll probably stand out among your competition and receive several offers. That could result in a bidding war that might ultimately drive the final sale price up to, or even above, the typical market price for a house comparable to yours. If you need to close quickly for some reason, setting a low asking price also can help you speed up the process of selling your home.

Choose the Right List Price
Sometimes asking for less than your home is worth is the best way to sell it quickly at a good price. Talk to your real estate agent about how your home’s value compares to others in the area and decide on the best list price.

Real Estate Consultant Available All Labor Day Weekend

Are you looking to move up or downsize? The lowest mortgage interest rates in nearly three years helped jump start California’s housing market to post the first year over year sales gain and highest sales level in 15 months. It’s a great time to buy and sell. I’m available all Labor Day weekend and beyond. Please don’t hesitate to contact me 805.490.4944. hashtag#realestate hashtag#investments hashtag#contactme hashtag#california hashtag#housingmarket

Consider Replacing These 4 Things Before Listing Your House

It’s rare that a person can put a home on the market without doing any work. While you might’ve been concentrating on the big changes before you put the “for sale” sign in your yard, it’s important to remember the little things as well. Below are four things you should consider replacing before you put your house up for sale:

Paint. Adding a fresh coat of paint is one of the best ways to liven up the look of your home. If you have the time and ability to do so, repainting both the exterior of your home and all of the rooms is a good way to go. However, if you’re limited on funds, make sure to repaint any area that has seen significant wear and tear.

Broken Locks and Handles. There are likely several broken locks and handles in your home that you’ve grown accustomed to dealing with. These can be major problems, especially if they make a prospective buyer feel unsafe. As such, it’s a good idea to replace any broken locks and door handles before listing your home.

Carpet. Old carpet can wreak havoc on your attempts to sell your home. Not only does it have the possibility of making your rooms look dingy or out-of-date, but old carpet also can hold onto smells no matter how often you’ve attempted a deep cleaning. Consider getting entirely new carpet in your house before putting it on the market—or upgrade to hardwood or vinyl. Making this change can add a great deal of value to your house and remove serious stumbling blocks on the path to getting your home sold.

Garage Door Openers. How well does your current garage door opener work? If it’s having trouble connecting to the overhead unit, or you’ve given up on it entirely, it’s time to get something new. A garage door specialist can help you find the equipment you’ll need to get your garage door functioning like new.

Always make sure to budget for the things you need to replace before you sell your home. With these minor changes–and a little work–you can help transform the way your house looks to prospective buyers.

Source: Meghan Belnap/RISMedia’s Housecall

Contact me for an appointment to see your house and provide additional advice.

3 Smart Ways to Pass Wealth to Your Kids

Leaving money to your kids can cause unwelcome tax burdens unless you plan ahead and do so wisely. Financial experts at The Motley Fool, recommend three smart ways to pass your hard-earned wealth to your children:

Pass the cash – The IRS lets you give up to $14,000 tax-free per year to each child. You may be able to give them additional sums if they have tuition or medical bills. If you pay those bills -- by sending the money directly to the school or healthcare provider(s), not to your child -- then those sums can be tax-free gifts as well.

Spend it on education - You can help your child avoid student loan debt. One way to do this is with a Coverdell Education Savings Account (ESA.) As opposed to a 529 plan, a Coverdell allows you to make investment decisions. While that may not matter to a novice investor, it means that a seasoned market participant can maximize stock opportunities as they arise. Distributions from a Coverdell ESA are not taxed if they are spent on qualified education expenses. Caution: you are only allowed to contribute $2,000 per year per child. Furthermore, if the money isn't used for qualifying education expenses, it can be taxed -- which defeats the purpose of the Coverdell. But given that the contribution limits are low, while college costs are historically high, it’s unlikely to be an issue.

Use a Roth IRA - From an estate-planning standpoint, a Roth IRA has useful features. You can contribute to it as long as you have earned income, and you're not obligated to withdraw any money for as long as you live, so you can leave your investments to grow for the rest of your life. Your heirs won't have to pay tax on withdrawals so long as the account has been open for at least five years. After your death, your kids can take the proceeds as a tax-free lump sum, or allow the money to grow and compound for years. (They will, however, have to take required minimum distributions (RMDs) from the account beginning in the year you die.) 

How to Handle a Property Line Dispute

Property line disputes between neighbors are common. Sometimes the issue boils down to a simple misunderstanding or mistake and can easily be resolved, but in other instances, homeowners need to get government officials and even attorneys involved.

Gather Information
If you believe that your neighbor’s fence, tree or other structure is encroaching on your property, check official records before you raise the issue with your neighbor. It’s possible that descriptions of the property line on your and your neighbor’s deeds are inconsistent or that a previous owner of your property deeded the piece of land to your neighbor or granted an easement. You might not have found out about it when you bought the house if you didn’t conduct a title search.

If the location of the property line is unclear, a surveyor can figure out exactly where the line lies. If you believe your neighbor is in the wrong, research state and local laws and make sure you fully understand the issue and are on solid legal footing.

Discuss the Matter With Your Neighbor
If you and your neighbor have a good relationship, you can raise the property line issue with a face-to-face conversation. Be civil and don’t use the discussion as an opportunity to vent about unrelated issues. Doing so would only make your neighbor feel attacked, and the conversation would likely turn into a heated argument that would resolve nothing.

If you and your neighbor are both calm and reasonable and you present evidence to back up your claim, you may be able to resolve the issue amicably by yourselves. You could agree to sell the piece of disputed land to your neighbor and file a deed outlining your agreement with the appropriate local government body, or the neighbor could agree to move the structure off your property.

What to Do If You Can’t Resolve the Issue Yourselves
If you and your neighbor are unable to reach an agreement on your own, you can try mediation. Your local police department or courthouse may be able to help you find a mediator with experience handling property line disputes.

If your neighbor is being unreasonable and is unwilling to work with a mediator, you can have your attorney send a letter explaining the property line violation and requesting a specific remedy. Your neighbor may begin to take the issue seriously after receiving the attorney’s letter.

If these measures don’t work, you may have to file a lawsuit. That should be a last resort since lawsuits can be lengthy and expensive and can permanently damage relationships between neighbors.

Try to Work Things out on Your Own
If you have a property line dispute with your neighbor, do your best to resolve it amicably. Gather as much information as possible before raising the issue, and try to find a solution to avoid expensive bills and strained relations.

The Importance of Home Equity

If you’ve owned a home for several years and made responsible financial decisions, you may have built a significant amount of equity. Home equity is the difference between the current market value of your house and the amount you still owe on the mortgage. If the value is greater than the debt, you have positive equity that can be used to finance other goals.

How Does Equity Change Over Time?
There are two ways to increase the amount of equity in your home. First, you can pay down the principal on the mortgage and make improvements that will increase the value of the house. As the ratio of the amount of the house you own outright to the amount of debt increases, equity grows.

It takes years to build equity. One reason for this is that mortgages tend to charge more interest at the beginning of the repayment period, which means a relatively small amount of each payment is applied to the principal. Later in the repayment period, a higher percentage of each monthly payment will pay off the principal, so equity will grow at a faster rate.

Paying a mortgage each month can be a way to force yourself to save and build wealth. Since the value of a house will increase over time in most circumstances, you can amass a significant amount of equity if you stay in your house for several years.

Paying your mortgage on time is no guarantee that you will gain equity. If the local housing market or the economy as a whole takes a nosedive, the value of your house could plummet. You could wind up with less equity than you had before, or you might even wind up owing more than your house is worth.

How to Take Advantage of Equity
You can benefit from your home’s equity when you sell it. If you receive more than the amount of the outstanding mortgage balance, you will be able to pay off the loan and walk away with a profit.

You can also use your home equity while you are living in your house. You can borrow against your equity with a home equity loan, which would provide a lump sum of money, or a home equity line of credit, which would let you borrow money in a variety of amounts over a period of time, up to your credit limit. Both options would provide you with money that could be used for home repairs and improvements, credit card bills, and other expenses.

If you want to find out how much equity you currently have, you can use a home equity calculator to get an estimate. If you want a more exact figure, you will need to have the house appraised.

Focus on Increasing Equity
Home equity takes time to build, but it can give you the financial flexibility you need to pursue other goals. Diligently paying down your mortgage and making valuable home improvements can help you grow your equity faster.

5 Ways to Declutter Your Digital Life

You may declutter your home, but what about your digital space? Many of us spend hours online each day, so you should make your online atmosphere as streamlined as your living room at the end of cleaning day.

Hit "unfollow". There's no reason to have 5,000 Facebook friends or follow 2,000 folks on instagram. Have an "unfollow" spree where you remove users you don't find inspiring or have a direct connection with.

Hit "unsubscribe”. Email account bogged down? Don't just hit 'delete'. Take 10 minutes every morning for one week to hit "unsubscribe" on any newsletters, shopping memos or other online alerts cluttering up your inbox.

Consolidate subscriptions. If you have a dozen or so online subscriptions, like music streaming platforms, content streaming platforms, and more, look into consolidating subscriptions. Several platforms now partner with each other, an obvious way to consolidate. For instance, a Spotify Premium account now comes with access to Hulu, so one subscription offers double access. Consider a family Netflix account instead of an individual plan.

Merge emails. Did you know you can merge multiple email addresses into one account so that all of your mail is accessible in one spot? This is helpful for entrepreneurs, business owners or anyone with two, three, or four separate email addresses.

Purge your hard drive. Go through all of the documents on your computer and look for items you can delete or backup and remove from your machine. This will make space and could even lengthen the lifespan of your machine. 

Here's Why You Should Decorate With Green

Regardless of the shade, adding elements of green to your home can improve your mood, complement your design, and more. Below are a few reasons to choose green for your interior design scheme.

It’s soothing. Green has long been used in decorating for its calming effect. Add some green curtains to your bedroom, paint the wall across from your sleeping space green and snag some easier ahhhhs.

It looks great with wood. If you have wood floors or furniture, tying in a shade of green will make your space even more lustrous.

It’s complimentary. There are so many gorgeous shades of green that it will be easy to thread a little green into your decorating scheme.

It’s natural. Don’t want to add any permanent green to your home? No problem! Just grab a few fresh houseplants and pepper them throughout your room for a fresh splash of green.

It may bring money. While you may not believe in this superstition, some swear that the color green brings wealth. Add some green to your home to call in a little windfall. It can’t hurt!