Request a Free Presentation On How We Will Market and Sell Your Home. Remember, All REALTORSŪ Are NOT Alike. 

A "Listing Presentation" is an industry term for the formal presentation that a REALTORŪ makes to prospective home sellers, trying to earn their trust and business. Don't list your home with a real estate agent without it! We would love the opportunity to make such a presentation to you. 

We'll visit your Evergreen, Conifer and Golden home, and together we will walk through it, considering the positives and negatives (if any!). You will then see exactly how we would propose to sell your home, for as much as the market will bear, and within your time frame. We will tell you where we will advertise your home, both in print and on the web. With the dramatic growth in homebuyer usage of the web, you MUST have a top REALTORŪ that can extensively market your home online! 

And you'll find out what your Evergreen, Conifer and Golden home is worth, because part of our presentation will include a CMA (Comparative Market Analysis) of your home. We'll compare your home to others like it in Evergreen, Conifer and Golden that have recently sold, and also to others that are currently for sale. This is a very important way of determining the fair market value of your home. 

We make free presentations and prepare CMAs for prospective home sellers every day. We've literally done hundreds, and we know exactly what puts a big SOLD sign in your front yard. 

We'd love the chance to make a presentation for you. It is totally free and without any obligation. Call us! Or fill out this form... 

Yes, you can request a FREE in-home presentation of how we would market your property in Evergreen, Conifer and Golden! We do these presentations for people all the time. It's our job! There's no obligation, and we'll get back to you quickly... 

Have you over-improved home? 

There's no question, Americans are a home-improvement-happy bunch. 

Armed with equity loans and unprecedented appreciation is property values, homeowners conitinue to update landscape gardens and finish basements at a frentic pace -- rationalizing the billions of dollars they spend every year with a cockeyed optimism that they'll "get it back" at resale.  

Indeed many will. 

Yet, as the dust settles on the real estate market and prices float back down to earth, some, too, will find themselves doing far more updating to their homes, than they could ever recoup at the closing table. It's called over-improving your investment and millions have made that mistake.  

"A Lot of people who over-improved did a cash-out refinancing when rates were at a low, expecting housing prices to continue to go up and up, says Sal Alfano, editorial director for Remodeling Magazine in Washington. But in may places, like the midwest prices have already stopped climbing. " 

With an average kitchen remodel alone costing $44,000, its easier than you might think to turn the cost-verses-value equation on its head. 

"These days, projects are expensive," says Alfano. "You don't have to do a lot of remodeling to spemd a lot of money. What usually happens is you get a leak in your bathroom and you figure it is a good time to do a remodel. It looks magnificent when it is done, but suddenly the rest of the house looks pretty shabby. There is a snowball effect when remodeling projects tend to lead to another." 

So what's the danger? Not much, if you plan to stay put. Chances are you you will own your home long enough to recover from down cycles and allow annual appreciation to offset your investment. 

But if you plan to sell soon, or need to unexpectedly, a danger is you could owe more than your home is worth. Remember, home equity loans come due in full the moment of resale. 

"This is an issue because of how agressive the lenders have been (in approving home equity loan to cash-out brrowers)," says Richard Roll, president of the American Homeowners Association in Stamford, Conn. "You're in a position where you need to get 105 percent of the total debt on the property and you can only get 98 percent from a buyer." 

Those who can afford to sell at a loss, of course, can pay the difference out of pocket. Those who can't face the unpleasant choice: remain hostage in a home that no longer meets their needs, or, in an extreme case, loses their home if they can't make their loan payment.  

"Over the last 10 years, weve seen a fairly significant core of the population spending more than half the value of their home on home improvements," says Kermit Baker, director of the remodeling futures program at the Harvard Joint Housing Studies. "Some of that is because buyers increasingly are moving into older suburbs convenient to their commuting big city, and they are rennovating smaller Cape Cod and rach style homes." 

Many of those homes have never been updated, he says, featuring a single bathroom and formal dining and living rooms. Buyers today are tearing down walls to create open spaces, adding large master bathrooms, and expanding bedrooms for space. It does not come cheap. 

The center reports homeowners spent almost $127 billion of remodeling during 2004, up 6 percent from 2005.  

COST VS. VALUE 

Remodels that Pay, and Five Mistakes to Avoid. 

HOME IMPROVEMENTS 

Whether you're
considering remodeling worn-out surroundings, enlarge your home for a growing family or rebeling against yesterday's standards, you have important investment choices to make. You'll want to chose home improvements that not only pay off in recovery of the money you spend, but also help you get a better price for your home when and if you sell it. Keep in mind however, it may be a smarter move to sell and buy again, in today's market, rather than endure a major construction project. After all, even an 80% recovery at resale is still a 20% loss. Here's how to divide the payoffs from the puffery.  

Improvements That Payoff 

1. Kitchen Renovation
New flooring, cabinets, countertops and appliances can be costly, but buyers typically look for updated kitchens. You are likely to recover a large percentage of your kitchen renovation expenses on resale. If your basic kitchen plan is good, you may not need major remodeling. Even a minor facelift - painting, new cabinet doors and hardware, for example - will pay off in a faster sale at a better price.
Tips: Best bets: light nutral colors, plenty of cabinets and counterspace, new lightung fixtures, new energy efficient appliances. 

2. Bathroom Addition. Another bath is not only a convenience, it may sharply enhance the sale possibilities of your home. Two and three bathrooms are standard fare in many neighborhoods. Upgrading an existing bathroom is likey to pay off in both value and marketability, especially in an older house. 

Tip: Opt for good lighting, large mirrors, easlily cleaned materials, plenty of storage space, and neutral colors. Consider location and accessibilty of an addition.  

3.Room Addition. Adding a new room is likey to pay off if the addition puts your home in the same class as others in your neighborhood. Family rooms, sun rooms and master bedrooms suites are hot items right now and the extra space may be just what the family needs.  

Tip: Choose materials and style to blend with the existing house; consider traffic flow, and accessibility to other rooms.  

4.Deck or patio addition. Decks make a home homier - as a gathering place to extend family life outdoors - for Saturday barbeques, Sunday brunches, mid-day respites. Best paybacks: decks or patios off living areas (kitchen, family room, dining room), decks with a view overlooking your own well kept garden.  

Tip: Build deck of redwood, cedar or pressure treated wood; design deck or patio to harmonize with the architecture of the house; consider a low-level deck for children's safety. 

5. Energy Efficiency Improvement. The major savings of improved energy efficiency will be in your fuel bills, but your energy-saving home will also likely pay off when you sell. If exisitng windows are drafty or unsightly, consider replacing with insulated windows for heating/cooling effeciency and resale value. 

Tip: Minor energy upgrades are real winners; caulking and weatherstripping around doors and windows, attic insulation, set back thermostat, heat reflecting awnings or shades, water heater insualtionm ceiling fans for air circulation, good maintenance of heating/cooling system, a whole house electrical surge-suppressor to maintain appliance effeciency and protect electronic equipment. Many are do-it-yourself projects, which, if done correctly, bring the best payback.  

Improvements That May Not Pay 

1. Over Improvements. Add the costs of your proposed remodeling project ro the current market value of your home. If the total is more that 20% over the average neighborhood home values, you can't expect to recoup your remodeling expense when you sell.  

Tip: To be sure your improvements are good investments, ask for a comparative market analysis to determine your home's value range.  

2.High-Cost, Single Use Improvements. It's certainly pleasant to have a swimming pool to plunge into whenever the spirit moves you, and tennis courts on the back corner of your property. But not every home buyer wants such luxuries, and some are reluctant to buy a home with high-maintenance-cost features. You might have to wait some time to find buyers who are willing to pay the extra price that would allow you to recover your investment.  

Tip: Consider carefully before you undertake a high cost, low value remodeling projet. You may decide to go ahead because the advantages for you outweigh the possible financial loss - but you should understand what you are getting into.  

3.Flamboyant Architecture. You may - although you live in a ranch or colonial house - yearn for the gingerbread that used to embellish your grandparents home, or the giant columns that graced Tara in "Gone With The Wind." You might be crazy about pink stucco or really like thatched roofs. Fine, but understand improvements that aren't compatible with the way the rest of the house looks will make it harder to find a buyer later. 

Tip: Look for ways to get your heart's desire without clashing with your house. Paint the shutters pink instead of coverng the whole house in pink stucco, for example, or use the gingerbread embellishments on a gazeebo in the back yard. 

4. Inappropriate Interior Features. Here again, personal preference may displace resale sense, and that's okay if you don't mind eventually waiting for the unique buyer who shares your unique taste. If that's the case, go ahead and put those gold fixtures in the bathroom, the do-it-yourself forest landscape on the kitchen wall, the baroque chadelier in the dining room.  

Tip: It may be worth the double expense to you to put your individual features into the house now and then replace the items when you put your home on the market. 

5. Elaborate Landscaping. It's hard for a genuine gardener to landscape inapporpriately, but one owner's dedication may be another owner's nuisance. With reslae and maintenance demands in mind, it's a good idea to avoid potential problems: flower beds and shrubbery that require constant attention or even professional care, pathways of pebbles through which weeds peek, formal garden plots that look disreputable when nature insists of making growing things sprawl, picket fences that need frequent repainting, complicated outdoor spotlighting that can require expensive repair.  

Tip: Good landscaping adds much to a home's value. Plan and plant with your future resale in mind and you'll enjoy the yard more now too.