Raleigh Real Estate

Raleigh Realtors Homeowner Tip: Home Improvements That Pay Off

Raleigh Realtors talk to homeowners all the time about which home improvements to focus on for the "biggest bang for your buck."  You'll want to choose home improvements that not only pay off in recovery of the money you spend, but also help you get a better price for your home when and if you sell it.

1. Kitchen Renovations.  New flooring, cabinets, countertops and appliances can be costly, but buyers typically look for updated kitchens.  You are likely to recover a large percentage of your kitchen renovation expenses on resale.  If your basic kitchen plan is good, you may not need a major remodeling.  Even a minor face-lift - painting, new floorcovering, new cabinet doors and hardware, for example - will pay off in a faster sale at a better price.

       TIP:  Best bets: light neutral colors, plenty of cabinet and counter space, new lighting fixtures, new energy-efficient appliances.

 

2. Bathroom Addition.  Another bath is not only a convenience, it may sharply enhance the sale possibilities of your home.  Two and three bathrooms are standard fare in many neighborhoods.  Upgrading an existing bathroom is likely to pay off in both value and marketability, especially in an older home.

     TIP: Opt for good lighting, large mirrors, easily cleaned materials, plenty of storage space, neutral color.  Consider location and accessibility of an addition.

3. Room Addition.  Adding a new room is likely to pay off if the addition puts your home in the same class as others in yor neighborhood.  Family rooms, sun rooms and master bedroom suites are hot items now - and the extra space may be just what your family needs.

     TIP: Choose materials and style to blend with the existing home; consider traffic flow, accessibility to other rooms.

4. Deck or Pato Addition.  Decks make a home a home homier - as a gathering place to extend family life outdoors - for Saturday barbeques, Sunday brunches, mid-day respites.  Best paybacks: decks or patios off living areas (kitchen, family room, dining room), decks with a view or overlooking your own well-kept garden.

     TIP: Build deck of redwood, cedar or pressure-treated wood; design deck or patio to harmonize with the architecture of the home; consider a low-level deck for children's safety.

5. Energy Efficiency Improvement.  The major savings of improved energy efficiency will be in your fuel bills, but your energy-saving home will also likely pay off when you sell.  If existing windows are drafty or unsightly, consider replacing with insultated windows for heating/cooling efficiency and resale value.

     TIP: Minor energy upgrades are real winners: caulking and weatherstripping around doors and windows, attic insultation, set-back thermostat, ceiling fans for air circulation, good maintenane of heating/cooling system, a whole-house electrical surge-suppressor to maintain appliance efficiency and protect electronic equipment.  Many are do-it-yourself projects, which - if done correctly - bring the best payback.

If you would like to find out what your home is worth, contact us.

Clayton NC Real Estate Anticipates Downturn for 2009 Home Remodeling

Clayton NC Real Estate is on the look out for relevant information that affects our housing market.  Here is a press release from Harvard's Joint Center for Housing Studies.

CAMBRIDGE, MA - Reductions in the amount spent on high-end home improvement projects continue to hinder remodeling activity according to Harvard's Joint Center for Housing Studies. For 2009, the Leading Indicator of Remodeling Activity (LIRA) points to homeowner improvement spending declining around 12%.

"The weak housing market and the national economic recession continue to take their toll on remodeling," explains Nicolas P. Retsinas, director of the Joint Center for Housing Studies. "It looks increasing unlikely that this industry will recover until consumers have more confidence in the housing market."

"Lower financing costs are beginning to stabilize the downturn in existing home sales, as they also are reducing the cost of financing a home improvement project" notes Kermit Baker, director of the Remodeling Futures Program of the Joint Center. "However, they have not been enough to offset rising unemployment and falling consumer confidence and encourage homeowners to undertake major home improvement projects," cautions Baker.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The LIRA measures and projects only a portion of the U.S. home improvement market, namely spending by homeowners on property improvements. Other components of the broader market-spending by homeowners on maintenance and repairs, and spending on improvements, and maintenance and repairs for rental and vacation property-are not included in the LIRA figures.

Emerging Home Improvement Opportunities Will Boost Spending Once Market Recovers

Cambridge, MA - The US home improvement industry, much like the broader housing market, is experiencing a severe downturn, but prospects for growth are already developing, finds a new report released by the Remodeling Futures Program at the Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University. The Remodeling Market in Transition, the latest report in the Improving America's Housing series, finds that in today's uncertain economic environment, owners are likely to focus remodeling spending on projects that improve the energy efficiency of homes, generate cost savings, and maintain structural integrity. While signs suggest the industry is far from reaching bottom, the outlook anticipates the correction to be less severe than that of the home building industry. Key sources of future growth include the increasing demand for green improvements, upgrades to the nation's aging rental stock, and the growing population of immigrant homeowners.

In most parts of the country, home prices are falling, discouraging discretionary home improvement spending and diminishing the amount of equity owners have in their homes. "Earlier this decade, the ability to borrow against equity created by rising home prices fueled remodeling activity, as well as broader consumer spending," says Nicolas P. Retsinas, director of the Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies. "Now that prices have softened, owners cannot finance home improvement projects as easily. Even those with equity find credit harder to obtain due to tighter standards."

The rising number of properties in or at risk of foreclosure is also driving down remodeling activity. Expenditures on owner-occupied units accounted for 84 percent of spending in 2007. Owners at risk of defaulting on their mortgages have less incentive to invest in their homes, and those displaced by foreclosure will reduce the national homeownership rate and, in turn, lower remodeling demand. When housing markets recover, however, foreclosed properties will provide opportunities for home improvements, as banks and new owners renovate and repair these properties and state and local governments make use of the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008, which allocated $4 billion for the redevelopment of abandoned and foreclosed properties.

The report also examines areas that will provide opportunities for increased remodeling demand. For example, the consumer shift toward energy-efficient products and systems will pave the way for green remodeling. "If we are going to meet the nation's energy goals, we have to continuously search for ways to improve the residential built environment. The report demonstrates that maximizing energy-efficiency in existing housing may be one of our greatest challenges, but also one of our greatest opportunities given that homes account for almost a quarter of energy consumption in our economy," says Mohsen Mostafavi, dean of the Harvard Graduate School of Design, where attention to green design is a growing focus in the classrooms and studios. "Consumer demand for sustainable design is on the rise. Architects and planners can lead the way in devising appropriate solutions."

Existing rental housing and the growing number of immigrant homeowners will also help reverse this downturn in the remodeling industry. "Years of underinvestment has left the nation's rental stock, at an average age of 36 years, in desperate need of improvement and repair," says Kermit Baker, director of the Remodeling Futures Program, "And foreign-born homeowners, who currently account for more than 10 percent of home improvement spending, are heavily concentrated in their 30s and 40s, ages when families are growing and changing the use of their home." Remodeling still rests on a solid foundation with 130 million homes-and one to two million added yearly-in continuous need of maintenance, upgrades, repairs, and adjustments to meet the nation's changing preferences and lifestyles.

The Remodeling Futures Program, launched by the Joint Center for Housing Studies in 1995, is a comprehensive study of the factors influencing the growth and changing characteristics of housing renovation and repair activity in the United States. The Program seeks to produce a better understanding of the home improvement industry and its relationship to the broader residential construction industry.

The Joint Center for Housing Studies is Harvard University's center for information and research on housing in the United States.