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What Owners Want in Kitchen Remodels

Kitchen revamps tend to be one of the most popular home remodeling projects. About 10.2 million American households tackled a kitchen remodel or replacement work in 2015, according to a recent report from the National Kitchen & Bath Association. Homeowners tend to want new flooring, countertops, cabinets, sinks, and faucets in their kitchen remodels.

The majority of homeowners aren’t spending big bucks in their renovations. Forty-one percent of homeowners’ work in their kitchen remodels was devoted to replacement projects costing less than $1,500. Twenty-two percent of respondents say they had minor remodeling done, between $1,500 to $5,000; 18 percent of homeowners had major remodels completed that cost between $5,000 to $10,000; and 19 percent completely remodeled their kitchens, spending more than $10,000.

Read the full article on REALTORmag…

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5 Ways to Save on Home Renovation Costs So You Don’t Go Broke

Is your kitchen hopelessly outdated, and your bathroom a blast from the past? Then it sounds like you’re overdue for some home improvements. There’s just one problem: Remodeling can be a huge undertaking—and a costly one at that. The average kitchen remodel will set you back $60,000; a bathroom overhaul, $17,908. Ouch! But hey, that’s just the average price homeowners pay. Plenty of home renovations can fall way under that wire if you know some tricks to keep your home improvement budget in check. Check out these smart ways to save on home renovation costs to achieve the home of your dreams without blowing wads of cash.

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Finding Time for Fun in Real Estate

When you hire a real estate professional to help buy or sell a home, they can help free up time you would otherwise spend on sorting through listings, scheduling showings, or trying to figure out paperwork. You might even have time to focus on the fun parts of moving, such as:

  1. Building a Pinterest board of décor inspiration

Don’t have a particular design style in mind? No problem. Check out the RE/MAX Pinterest page for ideas.

  1. Clearing out the clutter with a yard sale

Remember, each thing you sell is one less thing you’ll have to pack – and unpack. Here are some top yard sale tips.

  1. Planning your housewarming party

You’ll want to show off the new place – especially after you’ve made it Pinterest perfect. Put together a Facebook event and start thinking about party favors to thank friends who helped you move in.

  1. Bargain shopping for furniture

There are plenty of options for you to furnish your new nest without breaking the bank. Here are six places to find furniture within your budget.

It’s easier to find time to prepare for your move if your agent does the heavy lifting. I’ll be happy to help; contact me today!

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May 2017 RE/MAX National Housing Report

April Home Sales Cooler Than Typical Spring Season

The brisk start to the 2017 home-selling season slowed down in April with home sales dropping 4.1% below March and 4.5% below the previous April, according to this month’s RE/MAX National Housing Report.

Yet the narrative of the ever-tightening inventory coupled with increased prices persisted, as the 53 metro area report saw the trends of a seller’s market continuing:

  • The average number of Days on Market declined for the third consecutive month and April’s 57 days set a new low for April in the report’s nine-year history.
  • The Median Sales Price of $226,000 was the highest price for any April and marked the 13th consecutive month of year-over-year price increases.
  • Months Supply of Inventory, which dropped below 3 months in March for the first time in the report’s history, was 2.8. A months supply of less than 6.0 is considered a seller’s market.
  • Inventory was down 17.6% from April 2016. This is the 102nd consecutive month of year-over-year declines dating back to October 2008.

More than three quarters of the report’s 53 metro areas saw April home sales decline year-over-year. By contrast, March posted a 6.6% year-over-year spike in sales. Even so, April saw homes sell for more than they did in March in 81% of the markets, while 92% of the markets saw higher year-over-year sale prices.

Read the full article in RE/MAX’s newsroom…

Watch the 40 second summary video on YouTube…

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Open House Red Flags: 10 Things to Look for When Buying a Home

While most home buyers spend their time at an open house passively observing the layout of the rooms and the name brands on the kitchen appliances, smart buyers know the things that are really important to look for when buying a home.

In competitive markets, you’ll often walk into an open house that has been deep cleaned, upgraded, and staged with stylish furniture, so you shouldn’t be overly impressed by a house that looks and smells nice. (You can, however, be rightly appalled by a home that looks and smells atrocious.)

Think of the open house as a first date: It’s an opportunity to look beyond the pictures you saw online and figure out if the property is worth seeing again—or if you should move on and never look back.

Read the article on Realtor.com…

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7 Important Things Home Sellers Often Forget to Do

When you’re selling your home there’s so much to do: find a Realtor®, do touch-ups, get that balky air conditioner fixed, look into staging… It’s no wonder that sometimes things fall between the cracks. Big things. (I’m not pointing fingers, promise!) An arsenal of experts—aka real estate agents who have worked with many home sellers—identify the to-do’s that sellers typically overlook. I promise you, these tasks are well worth the time it will take to complete them (which isn’t very long at all).

Heed this sound advice, and there’s a good chance selling your house won’t be nearly as stressful as everyone tells you it is.

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How Trees Benefit Home Values

The U.S. Forest Service Pacific Northwest Research Station says that planting a tree in front of a house increases the home’s sale price by an average of $7,130. So, in essence, money can grow on trees.

Planting a tree on the west side of a home can reduce a home’s energy bills 3 percent within five years and 12 percent within 15 years. Specifically, west-side trees can bring summertime electric bills down by an average of $25 a year and reduce air conditioning use by 30 percent, according to the Forest Service.

Trees and other landscaping can also lower the impact of damaging winds on a home, potentially reducing 35 mph winds to 10 mph, according to the Arbor Day Foundation. This also lessens the load on the furnace working to heat the home on those cold, windy days, which can bring energy bills down by 30 percent.

Read more…

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The Real Factors That Boost Your Home’s Bottom Line

The galloping real estate market is a scary and exhilarating thing.

On the one hand, as home prices soar, how on earth will you ever buy one? On the other, assuming you do pull off the biggest purchase of your life and become a proud homeowner, those very same rising prices are a promise that one day you, too, will make bank.

And that’s exactly why savvy buyers and owners obsess about how much their home will be worth in a few years—and why.

Read the article on Realtor.com…

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RE/MAX Agents Are More Productive in Annual REAL Trends 500 Survey

RE/MAX Agents on Average Outsold Competing Agents by More than 2:1

RE/MAX, the #1 name in real estate, announced its agents outperformed agents with other real estate brands in the 2017 REAL Trends 500 survey. Associates affiliated with the RE/MAX network regularly average double the number of transaction sides per agent when compared with competitors in the annual survey of large brokerages.

“RE/MAX and members of the RE/MAX network continue to surpass competitors in annual industry surveys and studies,” said Dave Liniger, CEO, Chairman of the Board and Co-Founder of RE/MAX, LLC. “The 2017 REAL Trends 500 survey confirms that our agents, on average, assist more buyers and sellers with some of the most important transactions of their lifetimes. On behalf of everyone at RE/MAX, I congratulate all of our brokerages that were included in this prestigious survey.”

Read more in RE/MAX’s newsroom…

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Will Tax Changes Benefit Homeowners and Investors?

As the White House shifts its focus to tax reform, analysts are examining who will benefit from the proposal announced last week. The New York Times recently reported that the week’s stock market surge could be attributed to President Donald Trump’s call to cut the corporate tax rate to 15 percent, from 35 percent. However, the article goes on to note that optimism on Wall Street doesn’t always translate to growth on Main Street.

“We have to distinguish between pro-profit and pro-growth policies,” Diane Swonk, an independent economist in Chicago, told The New York Times. “A pro-profit approach increases the share of the pie going to corporate earnings and shareholders. Pro-growth policies increase the size of the pie.”

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin told reporters the plan will eliminate all personal tax deductions other than the mortgage interest deduction and those that encourage charitable giving. However, by increasing the standard deduction the plan will effectively nullify the benefits of the MID for the vast majority of filers, something strongly opposed by the National Association of REALTORS®.

Read the article on REALTORmag…