If You’re Renovating Your Home, This Guide is for You
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Home renovations can be exciting and rewarding, but they can also be overwhelming. There are so many things to consider when planning one, from the budget to the timeline to finding the right contractors. Today, the Kari Haas Real Estate Team walks you through everything you need to know about home renovations, from start to finish.
Home Renovation Options
There are nearly limitless possibilities when it comes to home renovations. Some common types of home renovations include:
- Kitchen renovations: Limitless Renovations points out that a new kitchen can add both value and functionality to your home. When planning a kitchen renovation, be sure to consider the layout, appliances, countertops, and backsplash.
- Bathroom renovations: A bathroom renovation is a great way to update an outdated space or add an extra bathroom to your home. When planning a bathroom renovation, be sure to consider the layout, fixtures, tile, and lighting.
- Whole-house renovations: A whole-house renovation is a big undertaking, but it can completely transform your home. When planning a whole-house renovation, be sure to consider the layout of each room, the flow of the house, and how all of the spaces will work together.
The Need for a Home Warranty
It’s important to get a home warranty when your renovation is complete. But does the cost of a home warranty pencil out? This type of insurance will cover repairs or replacements of items in your home that break down due to normal wear and tear. This can save you thousands of dollars in unexpected repairs down the road, overriding the initial cost of the insurance itself.
You only need some basic information to determine what the costs are to add a warranty to your home, like the square footage and the plan type you’re interested in. Factor this cost into your overall budget to protect yourself after the remodel.
A Home Office Addition
One popular type of home renovation is adding a home office. With more and more people working from home these days, it’s no surprise that this is a popular trend. When adding a home office, be sure to consider the layout, furniture, and storage needs. And don’t forget about lighting! Make sure your office has plenty of natural light so you can avoid eye strain.
Your Contractor Is Your Ally – Choose Wisely
One of the most important things you can do to ensure that your renovation goes smoothly is to find a reputable contractor. A good contractor will be able to take your vision and turn it into reality while also staying on budget and on schedule. Furthermore, a reputable contractor will be honest and transparent, letting you know if there are any potential problems with your plans. Finally, a good contractor will have a strong team of experienced workers who will be able to complete the job quickly and efficiently.
Clearly Conveying Your Ideas
One of the most important things you can do during a home renovation is communicate your ideas clearly with your contractor (or contractors). Be as specific as possible about what you want — and don’t be afraid to ask questions if you’re unsure about something. After all, it’s your home, and you should love the final result!
Budgeting for Your Home Renovation
One of the most important aspects of any home renovation is budgeting — Houselogic.com notes that you need to know how much money you have available to spend on your project. Estimating costs can be tricky, so be sure to get multiple estimates from different contractors before making any final decisions. You should also factor in unforeseen costs like permits or materials that end up being more expensive than expected.
Take the time to set up a digital filing system. You’ll find that it helps you to keep track of your budget, schedule, contact information, warranties, and anything else that comes up during your renovation. Once you have the files digitized, you can easily combine them using a free merge tool; you can use this to combine PDFs in just five quick steps.
Negotiating a Timeline
Once you’ve settled on a budget and estimated costs, it’s time to establish a timeline and schedule for your project. Be realistic about how long it will take and factor in buffer time for unexpected delays or setbacks. You should also coordinate with your contractor(s) to ensure that their schedule works with yours. The last thing you want is for your contractor(s) to show up when you’re not ready!
Essential Contractor Apps
Last but not least, let’s talk about contractors — specifically, the apps or software they use during construction projects (like yours!). Some common apps or software used by contractors include: project management software, accounting software, communication tools, time tracking software, and scheduling software. These can all lead to a better overall remodel experience.
What If You Decide to Sell?
Once you’ve finished your renovations, you might decide to sell. Or maybe you’ll even enjoy the process so much that you’ll decide to get into house-flipping. Obviously, location matters a great deal, so research your local market to get a feel for how lucrative this new venture can be!
Move Forward with Purpose
Now that we’ve gone over some key things to expect during a home renovation project, you should have some peace of mind as you begin planning your own project. It can seem like a lot, but with the right attitude (and contractor!), you can achieve a successful remodel.
Image via Pexels
This post was written by Michah Norris for the Kari Haas Real Estate Team blog.
How Smoking Can Affect a Home’s Value and How to Mitigate This
Smoking in the US has hit an all-time low in recent years, but millions continue to smoke to this day. Most smokers in America use around six to ten cigarettes daily. With smoking in public laws becoming much stricter across the country, more smokers are choosing to smoke at home. However, this convenient solution has negative impacts not only on health but on houses as well. Cigarette smoke can linger in the interior of your home, decreasing its value and making it harder to sell. Here’s how smoking can affect a home’s value and how to mitigate this:
Why smoking devalues a home
Persistent stains and smells
Constant smoking in the home leaves behind yellow stains on walls, carpets, and furniture due to cigarette tar and nicotine. This dramatically affects your home’s value as many people would be less likely to purchase a home with an unsightly look from smoking, especially if they will be forced to pay extra for the renovations. The smell of smoke also lingers in rooms for a long time, affecting air quality and the home’s living environment. The build-up of smoke can even get into your home’s ventilation systems and may need to be replaced if too damaged. Potential buyers may not be happy about your home’s condition, which can keep property value low and drive people away.
Health risks
The effects of smoking in your home don’t go away even if you sell the house. Insights from the National Insititute on Drug Abuse highlight that chemical residue from smoking can linger on surfaces even after smoke has cleared; this phenomenon is called thirdhand smoke, and it still poses many health risks to people who may inhale fumes or touch stained parts of the property. These issues can turn potential buyers off from purchasing your home, especially if lingering toxins can complicate existing health issues and affect new house residents. It also takes a lot of time, effort, and money to replace and repair contaminated items, which is both a hassle to you and the buyer and increases the liability of the sale.
How to preserve your home’s value
Try smokeless alternatives
If you still want to get a dose of nicotine in your home while preventing stains and smells from worsening, smokeless and tobacco-free nicotine products like patches, gums, and pouches are a great alternative to cigarettes. Nicotine pouches tucked between the gum and upper lip are one of the newer alternatives to hit the US market, with brands such as ZYN growing in popularity. Prilla’s deep dive into ZYN pouches outlines how they are tobacco-free and are made with food-grade fillers, nicotine salts, flavorings, and artificial sweeteners instead. You also have the option to choose from flavors like mint, citrus, and coffee and pick from different nicotine strengths like 3mg and 6mg to suit your preferences. Nicotine lozenges are similarly new products and are increasingly available on store shelves. Perrigo’s coated mint nicotine lozenges have recently gained FDA approval, allowing for more convenient options to keep your house smoke-free.
Maintain cleanliness
Cleanliness is crucial for any home and keeps stains and smells at bay. While it may not get rid of them completely, routine cleaning will help ensure your house doesn’t get too damaged and devalued. Cleaning your furniture, walls, floors, and ceilings should be done as much as possible; you can use ingredients like white vinegar or dish soap and baking soda solutions to scrub these areas spotless. You can also enlist the help of professionals to get a deeper cleaning now and then. Our Ultimate Spring Maintenance Checklist post notes that checking your HVAC systems and inspecting your windows and doors are good to do every year. However, you may want to do that more regularly if you’re a smoker to ensure these aren’t too damaged.
Quit smoking
Without a doubt, one of the best things you can do for your house and health is to quit smoking. You can clean your home as often as you want, but it won’t be effective if you continue to smoke. By reducing the smoke in the house, you can prevent stain and smell build-up and minimize harmful toxins. These things can stay in a property for a long time, but quitting smoking can ensure you don’t worsen these issues. Kicking the habit also improves your health drastically and will increase the chance of potential buyers purchasing your home.
If you have any questions about maintaining your home and it’s value or how to mitigate smoke damage or other types of damage, give Kari a call. We are here to help!
This post was written by Samantha Wise for the Kari Haas Real Estate Team blog.
How to Plan Your Own DIY House Rehab
Are You Planning to DIY a House Rehab?
For many people, home renovations are a part of life. Whether it’s painting the living room or installing a new dishwasher, most homeowners will take on at least one project over the course of their time in their home, but what circumstances make it worth it to get an expert contractor involved in your remodel? Is it ever actually worth doing DIY projects around the house? Continue reading to learn more!
Common Myths about Home Renovation
If you are planning on doing renovations of any sort around the house, it is an important decision to make about whether it is worth it to do it yourself or hire a professional. Home renovations can be a fun, rewarding experience, but there are a lot of myths about home renovation that might make it seem more difficult than it is. Here are some of the most common myths regarding home renovations:
- If you don’t know what you’re doing, then it’s probably better to hire a professional. Not true! For most homeowners, knowing how and when to get help is the difference between a successful project and a disaster. Knowing when it’s time to ask for help can save you money and heartbreak down the line. With that said, for smaller jobs, there are plenty of online resources available to learn how to do something like changing light fixtures, faucets, electrical outlets, etc.
- All contractors are the same. Well, not really! It’s important to do some research into which contractor is the best fit for your project. For example, if you’re getting your fence repaired or installing a new one, it may be good to receive and repair quotes from different contractors before making a decision. A quick search on a platform like Angi for ‘fencing near me’ will put you in touch with several local contractors that you can then vet based on their rates, client reviews, licenses, insurance, and more.
- You need to spend a lot of money to make your house look beautiful. Not true! Most homeowners don’t need to spend a lot of money, nor do they want to. There are many small improvements that can have a big impact on the way your home looks and feels without breaking the bank. There are many different options when it comes to materials and supplies that can drastically affect the cost of your renovation.
Our Simple Guide to DIY or Hire Out
Deciding to DIY or hire a professional can be a difficult choice for homeowners. Here are some tips for specific jobs about when to do it yourself and when you should hire a professional:
Do These Yourself:
● Painting: For many people, painting is an easy thing to tackle on their own. You can learn the basics with a few YouTube videos and some practice. If you paint often, it is easy to perfect the skill and achieve a close to professional-looking finish. Painting can make a huge difference in the selling process!
● Cabinet knobs and handles: A few new cabinet knobs and handles can really go a long way towards making your kitchen feel modern and fresh, and it’s an easy job for most homeowners. Most hardware stores have tons of different and affordable options. Sometimes the small details such as these can make all the difference saving you from a much larger project, such as replacing the entire cabinet.
Hire These Out:
● Countertops: Countertops are one of the most important, stand-out pieces in your kitchen. It’s worth it to hire a professional for this job if you don’t want to risk messing up the finished product.
● Flooring: If you’re planning on using hardwood floors, tile, or other types of flooring that require precise measurements and cuts, hire it out. You want these jobs to look perfect.
Time to Start Your Rehab!
While these decisions can be difficult to make, they are more often than not worth it in the long run. Hopefully, the tips and advice in this article will make it easier for you to figure out what is best for your situation.
This post was originally submitted by Lisa Walker and has been edited by the Kari Haas Real Estate Team.
Fun and Affordable Ways to Turn Your Empty Nest into a Dream Home
Fun and Affordable Ways to Turn Your Empty Nest Into a Dream Home
If you are one of the many empty-nesters in the U.S., then you could have more house space than you know what to do with. Instead of leaving the extra space the way it is, how about taking on a few fun, budget-friendly projects that can give you a home that’s more suitable for your current needs? Read on for some great ideas from the Kari Haas Real Estate Team that will make your empty nest feel a little more full!
Start With Simple Projects
The best way to stay on budget with a home renovation is to settle on a few simple projects first. For example, now that you have an empty nest, you can make some tweaks to your child’s bedroom to convert it into a guest bedroom. According to Good Housekeeping, you can create a great space for your guests with the right decor. You can choose a theme for your room, like sleek elegance or cozy boho, and you’ll find giving the room a fresh coat of paint works wonders.
Create a Spa-Like Master Bathroom
Since adding a master bathroom or renovating the one you’ve got can be a costly venture, Philadelphia Magazine suggests taking some creative measures when you’re on a budget. You could increase your storage by adding a few baskets or additional shelving. Overstock has lots of great options no matter how much you’re looking to spend, and you’ll save even more by using an Overstock discount code or cash back incentive.
It can also help to use better lighting in the bathroom and upgrade your regular shower head to something more luxurious. If your new spa-like bathroom needs more than your creativity can fix, you can still save some money by getting deals on your fixtures. You can get great discounts when you shop around online—don’t forget to get the benefits of price matching whenever possible.
Get the Reading Room You Deserve
If you’ve always wanted a personalized room for your reading, you can convert your kid’s room for that as well, now that you have an empty nest. Depending on your personal style, you can make a few simple changes by adding ample shelving. Changing the color scheme to something more soothing or closer to your taste will also give the room a nice personal touch. Remember you’re on a budget, though, so find affordable ways to get a reading room you’ll love to be in. When you’re looking for that comfy reading chair and other pieces of furniture, Money Crashers suggests looking online at sites like Ikea, Pottery Barn, and eBay in order to find the lowest price on items of interest. You can also get deals from thrift stores or garage sales.
Give Your Hobby Some Room
An extra room is a good space to house your hobby supplies in one place. Prior to having the option, your supplies may have been stored all over the home or in a closet. Now’s the time to create a room that you can call your own and decorate as you wish. Some of the hobbies that benefit from having their own area are painting, sewing, drawing and crafts. When you’re designing the area, make sure to plan for adequate lighting and ventilation. With the right resources, you can save not only on your design elements but also hobby-related supplies.
While it’s not easy to move on from the fact that you have the house for yourself, it can be good for you to focus on a few choice renovation projects. These projects can not only offer enjoyment, they can remain affordable as long as you plan out pertinent details and take advantage of discounts when you can.
Are you looking to buy or sell a home in Seattle? Reach out to the Kari Haas Real Estate Team for a smooth and successful buying or selling experience!
This post was originally submitted by Tina Martin and has been edited by the Kari Haas Real Estate Team. Tina is the creator of Ideaspired.com, where she helps people follow their dreams and be their own inspiration.