You can do things to your home to make it more unique and fun to live in, but some improvements have more impact on its value than others. Updating a bathroom? Yes. Adding a red accent wall? Not so much. Realty Times lists six ways to increase your home’s value, including big impact improvements in the kitchen, bathroom, and energy efficiency.
Wondering how long you can get away with not shoveling your sidewalk after it snows? We know, it’s cold, you’d rather be inside on the couch with a cup of coffee, but according to the city snow removal ordinance, you only have three hours to shovel if the snow falls before 4 pm. After that you get a little break, but you’d better have it cleaned up by 10 am.
Warmer weather may have you thinking about sprucing up your home and cleaning out some of the junk that accumulated over the winter. But we’re often afraid to tackle organizing projects because they seem so daunting. Who has time to time to declutter the whole house?
Unclutterer, a site we love about streamlining the stuff in your life, suggests breaking up these projects into bite-sized chunks that can be finished in a few minutes. Don’t try to declutter the whole house, just focus on putting away all the toys, throwing out just the old magazines, etc. After a few days, all those little tasks add up to a lot.
The passing of another year may seem mundane, but back in 1972 the year 2010 seemed like the distant future. Follow along with Dan Sinker as he posts excerpts from a book called “2010: Living in the Future,” published just 38 years ago. How does your home stack up to these predictions? Some, like an automatic toaster that flings your toast at you when its finished, are far-fetched, but others like the self-regulating furnace are remarkably prescient.
You may not want to think about it yet, but winter is coming, along with all the ways it can wreak havoc on your home. These 10 tips for winterizing your home show you easy ways to protect your house from the cold and save money from both utilities and costly repairs.
You may think you’ve child-proofed your home for the new arrival, but kids will amaze you at what they can get into once they start exploring on their own. We all can use a little help making our homes safe for kids. The Home Safety Council’s Start Safe page is a great way to start, with a full online resource for new parents and home child safety.
Cut Your Energy Bills Now, a new book by engineer Bruce Harley, details 150 ways you can save energy at home and reduce your utility bills. From buying compact fluorescent light bulbs to making your heating and cooling systems more efficient, Harley’s book helps you make a greener home.
Wacko world of willfully weak market — chicagotribune.com
Are homeowners still in denial about falling home values, or have they learned to be realistic? It depends who you ask, naturally. Mary Umberger tells us that Zillow.com thinks homeowners are in denial, not surprising for a company whose business model is based on the presumption that it knows how much your home is worth better than you. On the other side, a study by Reuters and the University of Michigan finds that just less than half of homeowners–twice as many as last year–think that their home has declined in value.
We’ve found that the degree to which sellers are flexible about asking prices depends on their urgency. Those who are just testing the waters, or haven’t even started shopping for a new home yet, are more willing to stick to their dream price. Those whose home has been on the market for a long time, have already purchased a new home contingent upon the sale of their current one, or need to relocate, are more flexible.
We hate to use the term “realistic” about describing how someone determines an asking price, because that implies that holding out for a certain price is always bad, even if time and urgency allow. Some sellers can afford the risk of longer market times in turn for getting a higher asking price. But others need to sell within a certain time period, and those people need to be the most flexible and willing to adjust their expectations according to their circumstances.
Buying vs. renting, or cost vs. time — chicagotribune.com
Since the slumping home market has changed the equation determining the benefits of buying or renting, the Tribune is taking a fresh look at this age-old question. Prices are generally lower now, meaning it might be a good time to buy, but a tight credit market also means that buyers, particularly young people with little credit history, may have a harder time financing. Plus, overall energy cost increases mean that utilities and some repairs may cost more, adding to a homeowner’s responsibilities, whereas a landlord may pick up the tab for such things.
The best rule of thumb, as mentioned in the article, is to consider how long you will live in a particular place. In the past, three years was considered long enough to make it worth buying, but now that has gone up to five years.
In a recent survey conducted by Coldwell Banker, 78 percent of its agents reported that their clients have indicated more interest in living in the city instead of the suburbs because of higher energy costs.
The overwhelming reason for this change of heart is to reduce commuting costs, but a majority of those surveyed also cited the convenience of public transportation and being able to walk for services and entertainment. Another 84 percent of the agents said clients were looking for homes with a dedicated home office, so they could telecommute and work from home.
While this may mean more competition for buyers, increased interest in urban living is good news for homeowners in the city, as their homes’ proximity to business, services, and nightlife becomes more desirable.
Zillow.com has just released their quarterly home value reports for major metropolitan real estate markets. The good news is that home values didn’t decline in the Chicago area as much as they did in the rest of the country. The bad news is that they did decline 5.8 since the first quarter of last year. The national average was an 8% decline.
What’s interesting is that numbers like this, plus the constant drumbeat of news coverage about declining home value, don’t seem to change people’s opinions of the value of their own home. According to another survey by Zillow, 72% of homeowners believe their home increased in value over the past year, while only 25% of homes actually did so.
Remodel on the cheap – CNNMoney.com
You don’t have to spend a fortune to remodel a kitchen or bathroom, if you’re willing to buy used. Second-hand appliances and kitchen fixtures, floor models, and antiques can fit your style and budget. Check out the Building Materials Reuse Association and Habitat for Humanity’s ReStore directories for tips on where to find used materials for your project.
We’ve said here before that you should always think of your home as a place to live first, and an investment second. It’s true, you can likely count on a home to appreciate in value over time, but you can’t count on it as a sort of piggy bank. CNN/Money breaks down some of the myths about using your house as a source of funds.
Making your home greener isn’t just the right thing to do for the environment, it can save you money too. This recent article in the Sun-Times includes a number of steps for updating your heating and cooling systems and modifying your water usage to make them more environmentally friendly, like installing a programmable thermostat, new Energy Star appliances, and compact fluorescent light bulbs.
Maybe you didn’t even realize you could do this, but almost all furnaces have an adjustable humidifier that you can set according to the indoor temperature to make things more comfortable, and maybe even cut down on those nasty winter static shocks. Some models just let you control the amount of water going into the humidifier, but many allow you set a precise temperature. At WGN’s Weather Blog, Tom Skilling says a proper setting is about half the indoor temperature (i.e. 35 for a thermostat set at 70 degrees F), though most people find that 35 to 40 percent is comfortable. Levels higher than 60 percent can cause condensationon on windows.
