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5 Inexpensive Upgrades to Make to Your Home This Fall

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Whether you’re thinking about putting your house on the market soon or being home for months on end has you thinking about making upgrades to your space, you don’t have to spend thousands of dollars on a full renovation project. In fact, you can give your home a facelift for less than a few hundred dollars with some of these easy projects that can be completed in a weekend.

Outdoor Cleanup

Is your home lacking in curb appeal? Are your plants looking tired and faded? If you’re planning to sell your place, a well-maintained landscape signals potential buyers that the home has been cared for, but even if you’re staying put, giving your home’s exterior a boost can increase its value and show the neighbors you care. Spend a weekend cleaning and sprucing up outside; just trimming hedges, cutting back tree branches, weeding, and clearing away any brush or debris can make a big difference. Put down a fresh doormat, and make sure your exterior lights work.

Fall is also the perfect time to get your yard ready for spring. If you aerate, fertilize, and overseed your lawn now, you’ll have lush green grass when the weather warms up. Plant bulbs, or divide your perennials to create more flowering plants in the spring.

Painting

For a cheap home upgrade, it’s hard to beat painting. A fresh coat of color can completely change a room’s appearance and cover-up imperfections like stains and dings. If you’re planning to sell, re-painting rooms in neutral colors will appeal to the majority of buyers. If you aren’t selling, don’t be afraid to be a bit bold and experiment. The worst that can happen is you’ll need to repaint.

Your interior walls aren’t the only places that can benefit from paint, either. Painting your front door can add to curb appeal while repainting your kitchen cabinets can take the room from drab to sunny for a fraction of the cost of new cabinets.

Lighting Upgrades

Old, outdated lighting fixtures can easily make your home look dated and neglected, even when everything else is in good shape. From the dining room chandelier to the bathroom sconces, take a critical look at the lighting in your home and change out old, ugly fixtures for newer ones. If the lights themselves are still in good shape, upgrade the lightswitches or switch plates for a small change with a big impact. Installing a dimmer switch or a Wi-fi enabled bulb that can be controlled using your phone is another simple project that creates a big impact.

A ceiling fan is also a big upgrade for little cost. A fan not only adds interest to the space, but it can help keep energy costs in check by cooling in the summer and circulating heat in the winter. If there’s already a ceiling light, you can use the existing wiring to install a fan with light without too much trouble.

Clean Floors

Even when you have a no-shoes indoors policy, your floors and carpets can get dirty thanks to pets, cooking, and dust. A thorough cleaning can make a huge difference in your home, eliminating odors, allergens, and stains, leaving the place feeling fresh and new.

If you have carpeting, schedule a professional steam cleaning before the winter to remove allergens like mold or pollen that have come in during the fall. If you have wood floors, consider renting a floor buffer for a weekend. A deep clean followed by buffing can leave your floors looking shiny and new. If the floors are in rough shape, refinishing may be an option, but it’s a more involved and expensive project.

Declutter

Decluttering your home is a must if you’re planning to move, but it’s also a good idea to schedule the occasional cleanout so you stay organized — and your house stays clean. Sellers should focus on clearing out storage areas like closets and the garage, basement, or attic since buyers are often looking for extra storage space. Well-organized closets that aren’t overstuffed creates the appearance of plenty of space. Even if you’re not selling, clearing out items that are out of season, or you just don’t want anymore, helps you find everything more easily and helps you stay organized.

A new season is also a great time to clean out and organize your pantry. Get rid of any food that’s expired and take inventory of what you have on hand. Transfer items in bulky packages into sealed containers that keep them organized and fresh. It’s a simple change that can take your kitchen from cluttered to functional in no time.

Upgrading your home doesn’t have to mean spending thousands of dollars on projects. It’s possible to make big changes with just some time and a few hundred dollars, leaving you with a fresh, healthy, and organized home.

handing over rent keys

5 Reasons to Rent Instead of Rushing to Buy

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Home shopping can be an exciting, yet nerve-wracking time. There are a lot of important decisions to be made and those choices can impact you and your family for many years to come. Is this the right house? Are we getting a fair deal? Are we making the right choice?

In a highly competitive housing market, there can be huge disadvantages to taking the time to carefully consider your decision. Wait to submit the offer? Lose the house. Have to sell your house before you can buy? You might get lucky, maybe not. It may seem counterintuitive to go from homeownership to renting, just to go back owning again, but here’s why you may want to consider renting instead of rushing.  

5 Reasons to Rent Instead of Rushing to Buy

       1). You’ll know your budget

A huge advantage to selling your home before you buy a new one is that you’ll know exactly what you’re working with in terms of finances. Planning on upsizing? You’ll want to know how much of a price increase you can afford. Downsizing? You’ll need to consider what to do with the profits of your sale. Either way, it’s much easier to do this math when you know what you’re concretely working with.

        2). You’ll be first in line

Without having a home of your own to sell before buying a new one, you are able to submit a more enticing offer to sellers, especially those looking for a quick close. This free-and-clear method, paired with knowing your budget, means that you will be ready to act on any home that interests you and work on your own timeframe.

       3). You can take advantage of the hot market

Real estate prices are at an all-time high in a lot of places, but experts debate how long this streak will last. Now may be the time for you to sell at a premium, but that doesn’t mean you want to buy at a premium, either. Rent just until you find the right deal.

       4). Buying a fixer-upper is a little easier

If you’ve already found a place to rent and you’re getting accustomed to your new temporary digs, it might not be such a stretch for you to imagine staying a little longer. Instead of buying a more expensive move-in ready home, you make the option of a reno project a little more palatable. After all, you just moved in, what’s another month or two– especially if it’ll shave a few years off your mortgage.

       5). You may get to remember the joys of renting

Building amenities are one of the truly great things about rental life and can be a great upside to renting between homes. From included utilities to complementary gyms or community pools, these features can definitely help to smooth the transition.

Want to find your perfect home from motivated sellers who want to see your offer? Check out the properties in our next upcoming time-limited event by clicking here!