Improving Curb Appeal for Your Home

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Home sellers these days have a lot of things to contend with. Unless the property is absolutely gorgeous the homeowner will need to do something to attract attention and entice buyers to come in.

Like the old adage says, “the first impression is the last impression” and it has a lot of weight when it comes to selling a home. Of course we have all seen those TV shows that depict expert gardeners spending hours, days and maybe even weeks preparing a home’s garden and lawn. But is that even realistic for most of us?  Here are some tips on how you can achieve top-quality results in landscaping and curb appeal without spending lots of time to accomplish it.

Invest in Low-Maintenance Plants, Shrubs and Flowers

Depending on the position of your home you can plant things that do not require much attention. There are plenty of low, medium and high light plants and flowers that can easily function without much attention through an entire season. Some plants even work well with less water – ideal for homes in drier climates.

One easy to care for flowering plant is the daylily. These garden wonders are pest-free, cover a good amount of ground or border space, grow quickly and withstand both hot and cold climates. Colorful additions include plants like rhododendrons and peonies – both available in a variety of colors and each low-maintenance. Be sure to talk to a garden expert where you buy these plants to check on planting location for each.

For greenery and fullness you can add ferns – a plant that is available in thousands of varieties and very easy to care for. Perfect for shady spots in your lawn, ferns also do well in other parts of your landscape area without needing a lot of attention.

Arrange Colorful Patio/Porch Accessories

When you are done planting, the next thing you should do is to make sure the immediately visible exterior portions of the home and the driveway are both clean. A warm and inviting entryway will almost always attract buyers and entice them into wanting to explore behind the front door.

For inspiration, check out some of the home design magazines online or go window shopping online on websites such as potterybarn.com or pier1.com so you can see how their displays infuse bright colors in a warm and inviting way. You don’t have to go all out and spend too much money – just enough to add some dimension and interest to the space. Just one chair with colorful cushions, bright flowers in a striking planter and a topiary or two might be all you need. Of course you also want to invest in a brand new welcome mat that literally welcomes buyers into your home.

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Enhancing curb appeal does not have to break your back or your bank – but by spending just a little bit of time you can spruce up your place enough to make buyers head your way rather than to the neighbor thatdoes have a green thumb and plenty of time!

Should I Refinance My Home Mortgage?

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I would like to share with you some very important information to be considered. This will help you make the decision of whether to refinance or not. My views of this topic seem to be right on track with Cyd West, Senior Vice President of First Community Mortgage. I asked Cyd, the expert lender, to share her thoughts with you. If you have any questions, please be sure to contact us.

Chances are you’ve been asking yourself this question lately.  Like most other big decisions, the answer is not “one size fits all.”  There are many variables to be considered and your situation is as unique as you are.  

One thing to be considered is your current balance and the remaining amortization.  If you only owe $40,000 and have less than 10 years left to pay you probably won’t benefit much from refinancing.  The costs would greatly outweigh any monthly savings unless you spread the balance over a much longer term.   This could be a good move if you plan to remain in your current home for a long time and desire a lower payment.  However, most homeowners dream of being mortgage free and if that is your goal you don’t want to incur cost or lengthen debt repayment.  

Another important factor is your current interest rate.  If your interest rate is less than one percent above the rate being offered for the refinance it’s probably not worth the expense of refinance unless you have a large mortgage balance, say over $250,000.  The more you owe, the more you will benefit from any reduction in interest rate.  

Even though most refinance offers tout “no money out of pocket to close” there are almost always costs.  If you don’t pay these in cash at the closing of the refinance loan, they are added to your loan balance.  It’s important to weigh the cost vs. benefit and calculate the period it takes to recover the cost and reduce the new loan balance to the pre-refinancing level.  Your mortgage professional can provide this information for you, but it’s up to you to ask the questions.  

Don’t forget that most mortgage payments include additional items such as deposits to escrow for taxes, insurance and sometimes private mortgage insurance or HOA dues.  The escrow account must also be analyzed and reestablished when the mortgage is being refinanced.   Depending on when your annual taxes and insurance are due to be paid there may need to be large amounts set aside to sufficiently set up the escrow.  For most homeowners the largest of these expenses is property tax, so chances are the escrow account for taxes will require a healthy initial deposit if it’s near tax time.  For example, the taxes in Bell County are billed in October with a discount incentive to pay early.  All servicers will attempt to take advantage of that discount, so there must be an amount equal to a full year’s tax bill (plus the allowable cushion – usually 2 months) in the account on October 1.  If you are refinancing in August, that means that you’ll be required to put 12-14 months of tax deposits into the new escrow.  You can see how this amount can greatly increase the amount required for closing or increase the balance of your loan if you are “rolling in” costs.  

A surprise benefit is often a refund check from the escrow account that was being held for the loan that was refinanced.  When the new loan (refinancing) pays off your previous home loan, the servicer has no need for the escrow account.  You will receive a refund check for the balance of the escrow within 30 days of the payoff of the previous loan.  It’s your money to do with as you please.   If you chose to roll the cost of establishing new escrow accounts into the new loan it is smart to take the refund from the old account and pay it to principal on the new loan.  If you were able to pay the costs of refinance out of pocket, the refund will help you to recover those expenses.  

With current interest rates being the lowest in modern history, it would not be wise to take an adjustable rate.  There is nowhere for that rate to go but up.  A long term fixed rate is highly recommended.  Lock it in while interest rates are at rock bottom.  

It’s crucial to consider your future plans for the house.  Will you continue to own the property for several years?  Is it likely that you’ll be moving soon?  It would be unwise to incur the costs of refinancing if you don’t plan to own the house long enough to realize the maximum benefit of the lower payments.  Additionally, the added cost of refinancing may increase the new loan balance to the point that you cannot make a profit on your sale or price your home competitively to sell.  Again, it’s important to share your goals with your mortgage professional so that the proper analysis can be done to determine your best options. 

Beware of high pressure, predatory lenders who come to your home.  You should be highly skeptical of any in-home mortgage lenders with handwritten disclosures and “too good to be true” examples of how much you can save with their super-duper refinance product.   It’s always best for you to make the initial contact with any financial professional.  Consult your personal banker for a recommendation or the local Better Business Bureau.  

Finally, don't be caught up in the frenzy. Just because all of your friends are refinancing or you can't listen to the radio without hearing a new offer, refinancing your mortgage may not be the wisest choice for you. Sometimes the hardest (and the wisest) thing to do is to do nothing.

How to Make a Buyer WANT Your House! Staging Your House, Before It’s Too Late and You Lose the Sale

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If you’ve shopped for a home, chances are you’ve come across one that you really wish you hadn’t visited in the first place. True, houses for sale ought to have a certain “lived in” quality to them, because they are to be lived in after all, but the art of tactfully balancing just the right amount of hominess with neutrality is not so simple. You need to know what you’re doing when you prepare to set up your house and show it to potential buyers. We’ve put together some great tips for home-sellers so you can get the same results you’d get by hiring a professional staging company.

Fix Up the Place

One of the biggest mistakes homeowners make before putting their house up for sale is to neglect areas in the house that need attention. Folks, don’t leave that faulty step unrepaired, only for a potential buyer to step on, slide off of or worse, get injured on – FIX IT! You might think potential buyers won’t notice but they are walking around on your premises like hawks, noticing each little detail. The good news is that they are noticing the first-rate stuff too, so as long as you have the home’s amenities in order and other major areas in tip-top condition, you should be in good shape. Here’s how:

Get Rid of the Clutter

If you want to successfully sell your house, you need to get those potential buyers to imagine they already live there. Too much clutter, hobby-oriented items or personal possessions that most people may not be able to identify with, can easily get in the way of that vision. Organize things in stylish storage bins or better yet, have a garage sale before listing the house to get rid of unwanted stuff. You have to move soon anyway, why not kill two birds with one stone? A clean and organized home will seem like a clean slate to buyers, who can then see themselves moving in without much hassle and settle in effortlessly.

Stay Neutral

Skip the tie-dye sofa cushions, shaggy 70s rug and don’t light incense before a showing. While you’re at it, don’t fill the space with gender-specific things either. Buyers should walk into a neutral ground – literally. Light to medium colors, preferably in beige tones, are the simplest way to pull buyers’ attention away from other personal aspects of your home that they may not be able to identify with. Beige goes with almost anything so if someone considering purchasing your home can imagine their things in the space, then you’ve just crossed one of the most major hurdles in home-selling – making a buyer identify with the home.

Make It a Modern, Inviting Environment

If you don’t already have them, invest in a few modern decorative accessories to improve the look of your space while lending an air of style and taste and making it more enticing. It doesn’t have to take much but depending on how you set it up, you can enhance a given space with a few simple additions and deletions. Take your over-crowded study and rearrange the bookshelf to display only a few strategic but essential books, like a leather-bound set of encyclopedia or some literature classics. In the same way, leave a few children’s toys in a child’s room but be sure to display them tastefully.

Put a Few Finishing Touches in Place

The idea is that you want your house to be sold – and you probably want it sold fast. If you are careful to respect the people who are visiting your space to decide whether it’s the right one for them, then you are doing something that a lot of homeowners neglect to consider. Taking down a piece of controversial artwork that may make a potential purchaser uncomfortable could be the one bargaining chip that could make or break the sale. Arranging for all those who currently live in the home to be away during showings is also a great way to tip the scales in the right direction.

It’s very simple. You need to make the potential buyer feel right at home from the get-go. Of course, a signature on the dotted line is where the real success lies and as long as the buyer feels at home, chances are that if everything else lines up – the sale is a winner!