Own
Your Home, Mortgage Free! Here Is My Story.
How I Went From Being Flat Broke to Owning My Own Home,
Mortgage Free, in Just 5 Years.
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Step Three: Spruce Up Your House, to Increase its Value
Since you won't pay capital gains taxes if you hold the house
for two years, you have time to make small but cosmetically
significant changes to your house. (Laws change, so be sure
to check with your accountant for tax information. You don't
want to take my word for it!)
In the meantime, make the effort to increase the curb appeal
of the house by pruning the bushes in front and by planting
groundcovers or reseeding the lawn. Flowers really help to
sell a house, as long as they're watered and healthy. Make
the side yard and back yard look pretty and green –
if you're a gardener, you'll have fun with this part of the
process.
If you don't like to mess around in the yard, you should
still make sure that the grass is green and any bare spots
have been replanted. If the fence in the back yard is ugly
you can easily plant fast-growing bushes in front of it, which
will be far less expensive than a new fence and it will be
more appealing to buyers. In two years you can have the grounds
looking great. Many houses have poor curb appeal and stay
on the market longer simply because the sellers stop watering
and mowing the lawn.
The inside of the house should be repainted in light colors.
Dark or saturated colors will turn away most of your potential
buyers – remember that the majority of buyers have no
imagination, and can't "see" the walls in a different
color. This will not be true, of course, if you will be selling
to an artsy crowd, but you should still make sure that your
color choices help sell the house instead of turning people
away.
Small details can help make the house more attractive to
potential buyers. You can do wonders with paint and wallpaper.
If you have scuffed hardwood floors, be sure to have them
refinished just before the house goes back on the market.
If the carpet is worn and dirty, and there is no hardwood
under the carpet, consider replacing it with the new laminates
that look like wood – they're easy to care for and real
estate agents seem to love the stuff. The best part about
the laminate flooring that locks together without glue is
that you can do it yourself. Ikea has great prices and a good
selection of styles.
All walls and painted woodwork needs to have fresh paint.
Some houses look a lot better and more "expensive"
if the standard woodwork is replaced with wider stock –
but this can be a spendy project so don't do it unless it
would increase your enjoyment of the house while you live
there.
If the house fits into an older style, such as Craftsman
or Victorian, don't make any changes that would appear out
of place – modernization can reduce the value of one
of these houses unless it's done without destroying the "feel"
of the place.
In fact, before spending money on any remodeling project,
do some research to make sure you'll get your money back.
The real estate agents in the area will be able to tell you
how increased value a remodeling project will add to your
house.
Since you have a bit of time, I would suggest you read one
of the books by Michael
Corbett. He gives practical advice on fixing up homes
for sale, without over-fixing the house. Some repairs and
projects will add instant equity, while other projects will
add little or no value to the house. Michael has been fixing
and selling houses for years, and I value his advice.
Be sure to have the outside of the house repainted if it's
needed, and repair any of the problems that showed up on your
home inspection report. If the house has old windows, you
may want to replace them with new vinyl windows because they
make a home look so much better, and potential buyers will
appreciate their insulation value.
Then, just before listing the house, get another inspection
done so you can fix any problems before the buyer ever sees
them. You can also use the inspection report and your receipts
as part of your marketing program. Real estate agents are
very happy with sellers who get their own inspection because
it cuts down on the number of deals that fall through.
The house I bought in Portland was tiny, and it was badly
in need of new flooring. The old green shag carpet had not
been replaced in at least 30 years, and the orange kitchen
floor was cracked and broken. The walls had been recently
painted a color that was indescribable – something between
green and taupe, (probably a mixture of three or four cans
of paint), and the paint's color darkened the small rooms
and made them feel claustrophobic. This was a seller who needed
an honest real estate agent to help him get the full value
from his house. Instead, he waited for months for a buyer
to see the home's full potential.
Everything else was in remarkably good shape for a house
built during the Depression. Even my home inspector was impressed
by how solid the house was.
The light color I painted the walls and the new laminate
flooring helped the house seem brighter and more cheerful.
The house is never going to be fancy, and I purposefully kept
the fixtures inexpensive to fit with the home's Depression-era
style. But with just a few changes I made the house much more
comfortable, and by the time I was ready to sell it looked
much better than it had when the previous owner listed it
two years earlier.
(You can also see from the photo that this was definitely
not a fancy house – you don't need a large or expensive
house to make this plan work).
The half-wall you see behind the kitchen area went all the
way to the ceiling when I bought the house. With the help
of my father, I took out the top portion of the wall, which
opened up the line of sight and made the house feel much bigger
than it really was. (When I listed the house later, the real
estate agent actually argued with me about the size of the
house, because he thought it "felt" much larger.
A tape measure proved I was right – because the house
felt larger, it was easier it sell).
Taking down half a wall is not an expensive project, but
it isn't something you'd want to do without making sure the
wall isn't holding up the house. You also need some carpentry
and remodeling skills, so this isn't something I would encourage
most people to do. However, if you choose the right house,
you won't need to go to this much trouble anyway – just
find one that looks shabby now, but which could look great
after you've done a bit of painting and pruning.
Next: Meanwhile,
Do Some Homework to Find a More Affordable Area
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