Best Return on Investment Home Projects

This has been a great season in the real estate business; I've had the honor of working with some great first-time home buyers and my son Justin has joined my real estate team! We'll talk about Justin more another day (you really should have a proper introduction to him :)) but today we are going to focus on things that buyers, like these first-time buyers, can do to improve their house but get the biggest bang for their buck.

A great resource for home buyers is Remodeling magazine's Cost vs. Value report. Before deciding on home renovations make sure you check out how much you'll recoup from  your investment. The five smartest improvements you can make to your space (if you are in the Sacramento area) are based on the return on investment (ROI):

If you replacing your entry door with a new steel door you will actually make money off of this investment... 113% of your cost is predicted to be recouped. Consider replacing your current door with one that's more energy-efficient like THIS ONE from Home Depot (it's $550!).

A wood deck addition has an ROI of 109%. I'd believe this based off the amount of satisfaction buyers get when seeing a well presented outdoor living space, especially in an area like Sacramento where buyers are able to be outside enjoying the space for more of the year than they are in many other parts of the country. For example, in Syracuse, NY area where I'm originally from the ROI on a wood deck is only 80%.

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You'll recover 102% of the cost you put into a basement remodel or a attic bedroom. Why do you think this is? It's because this remodel (if the spaces were unfinished before) is actually adding square footage to your home. Unfinished areas, like attics and basements, are not considered when calculating the livable square footage to your property.

via (where you can see 18 amazing attic remodels!)

Embarking on a minor, and well done, kitchen remodel with net you a profit with 104% ROI. This data is considering around $20,000 put into the remodel (read: don't splurge on Viking appliances if you want 104% back! :)) This couple from the blog Bower Power bought a foreclosure and switched out the appliances, back splash, lighting and painted their cabinets and it made such a difference in attaining their light and bright kitchen (did you know it's easier to sell a house with white cabinets because they are almost universally appealing?).

Before: 

After:

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Replacing your windows with either wood or vinyl replacements will allow a 100 - 102% return with this investment.

I hope this list helped you narrow down some priorities or dreams for renovating or improving your home in the coming years!

Master Bath Update

Last time we left off with the story of our master bath update you saw the truck hauling away the entire contents of our 1970s bathroom. The destruction has ended and thankfully now the fun part of putting the room back together has begun. All of the choices and decisions made long ago are becoming a reality. Its a small bathroom (and our only full bath...gotta love a 1940's home) so it took a bit of head scratching to make it work but I feel confident it will be a very well-designed upgrade from the original that will certainly add value to our home.

Our two must haves were a double sink and a bit more privacy for the toilet area. You can tell from the photo above that the toilet is tucked away and below we currently have the hookups for our double sink; it's so nice that we can see visible progress towards the bathroom that has been in our mind for months.

We wanted a black and white bathroom but a "tweaked" version of the classic style. The only things that we decided to keep from the previous bathroom were the tub, door and window. It's been great to see the "old" tub get new life with fantastic looking subway tile.

The white subway tile contrasts gorgeously with the black slate floor.

What has been your favorite makeover project in your house? Has there been anything that you've done that's made a real difference with how you live?

Bathroom Reno: Part One

We have been planning and looking forward to a bath remodel since the day we moved into our tudor. Not only was the bath tired but it had a late 1970's, possibly early 1980's vibe to it; on top of that we also suspected that there some moisture and dry rot issues. 

We are working with David Hill Construction for this project. We asked that they start the project while we were back East visiting family and they were game. It was a wise choice since the demo is messy business!

While the bathroom was being disassembled they found very faulty wiring and lots of dry rot, like we suspected... it's a good thing we took this reno down to the studs!

The wiring has been corrected and they are putting the bath back together.  It was so much fun making all of the selections for the bath with the help of my friend and designer Laura Nathan, she has amazing talent! After we brainstormed our dream bathroom I collected estimates on the cost of the project and then did some re-selecting of materials to bring costs in line for what we had budgeted.

This is the last view of our 1970s bathroom and I couldn't be more excited to see it carted away!

5 First Time Home Buyer Tips

Are you in the process of buying a house for the first time? Or do you remember the anxiety you felt while trying to purchase your first home? It really isn't a terrible process if you keep these things in mind and make sure to remember the timeline for buying a house that we talked about last week.

My listing on 3266 Treasure Island Road; N. Sacramento... would be perfect for a first time home buyer!

1. Be accessible and flexible. You must return calls, texts, emails from your Realtor, lender and attorney in a timely manner-even if that is contrary to your normal routine. Make it a priority. You may miss out on a great deal if you delay.  You will quickly realize that you and your Realtor will develop an intense relationship where you are both communicating regularly... hopefully for the sake of getting you into a home, it'll be for a short amount of time.

2. Nothing is certain until the closing happens. It's a great sign when your offer is accepted and even better when the Purchase & Sale is signed but deals can, and have fallen apart, at or even after, the financing deadline. Try to have an unemotional approach as possible to the house as you can (this is, of course, very difficult!).

3. Be definitive and decisive. Your best bet for making sure your deal is completed successfully is to have all your financial paperwork ready to go. Be honest with yourself when you see the home inspection report, for example, if termites or dry rot come up on the wood destroying pest report and the repairs completely overwhelm you, don't try to convince yourself that this house may be a good fit for you.

4. Set your priorities. Know what you can and can't handle and set your priorities for your first home accordingly. For example, don't bother looking at a fixer-upper if you aren't the slightest bit handy or don't want the hassle of someone doing work on your home. It doesn't matter if it in a good section of town or that it's affordable if it's not what you're looking for.

5. Realize that there is NO PERFECT HOUSE. You will most likely not find your dream home that fits every single criteria and has zero problems. Especially not in a starter house. You are setting your search up for failure if you aren't willing to be flexible.

Timeline for First Time Buyers

I love working with first time home buyers... there is a certain excitement, confusion and fear all mixed together and I love helping them walk through all their questions and helping them sort out what their priorities are in their first home (because, let's be honest, many first time buyers aren't able to get into their dream home right away). I'm going to walk you through some essential things for any first time buyer to know within the next couple of weeks and today we'll get started with your order of events.

Some times closings can happen in a month but that's a very quick turn around for the bank and title companies if buyers are obtaining financing (instead of purchasing their home with cash). I've definitely seen turnarounds that quick but it may be a good thing to factor in a month and a half when designing your timeline for getting into your first home.

Tell me, what are your BEST tips for buying your first home?

Kickstarter Project: MidCentury Mailbox

If you live in Davis or Sacramento area you've seen mid-century modern homes. Streng homes are great examples of mid-century modern homes; they were designed by Carter Sparks and built by The Streng Brothers in the 1960s and 70s. They have large windows, low pitched roofs and many have skylights. The Streng brothers were influenced by California real estate developer Joe Eichler who advocated bringing modern design to the masses (instead of just in corporate offices and custom homes). The photo below depicts a Streng home.

Recently I discovered Greg Kelley, an owner of a mid-century modern home in North Carolina. After purchasing his house he searched and searched for a mailbox that would compliment the style of his house but never found a mailbox that did that (Etsy only had two boxes come up the entire time Greg searched). The last company to produce a mailbox similar to those used during the time retired their mid-century design in the early 1990s. Greg had a vision and he took it to the website KickStarter, which can be seen as the web's answer to ABCs Shark Tank. You can check out his site HERE.

As you can see in the screen shot from his KickStarter page Greg did his research on mailbox design from the 50s and 60s. He then took his ideas to a product developer who designed this mailbox. For these mailboxes to become a reality is for Greg to raise $40,000 to fund this project.

I love that Greg designed this mailbox to perfectly complement his home and mid-century moderns like the Streng and Eichler homes I regularly see. These mailboxes would be a fantastic gift for any buyer who purchases a Streng or Eichler home... my only problem would be deciding which color to order!

Selling Quickly

Why do you think half of those houses sold in under six weeks?

The majority of them probably have these five things in common:

1. They were priced right. A home that will go quickly is priced right at or below where comparable homes have just sold. Pricing a home below market value can encourage a bidding war in the sellers favor.

2. The homes were de-personalized. Homes that sell quickly let potential buyers easily picture themselves in that space. When selling remove anything that defines a home as YOURS. As a seller you want the potential buyer to picture the home as THEIRS.

3. They made a good first impression. You probably think I mean that you should have a house with incredible curb appeal; this certainly won't hurt. But what is the very first impression you get of a home? It's the listing you saw online. Make sure the photos represent your house at it's absolute best. Your agent should highlight all the unique features of your house in a way that the potential buyer has the best first impression possible.

4. They were move-in ready. Fix those items on your "Honey To-Do" list; people don't want a long list of items they have to tackle. On top of that, if they see a bunch of little items that weren't cared for subconsciously they may be thinking there are deeper issues.

5. The kitchen sold the house. If you have limited funds to get your house ready to sell focus them on the kitchen; you will get back on average 85% of what you put into it. Make neutral choices in cabinets, counters and backslashes to appeal to the majority of people.

If you have questions about selling your home, or getting it ready to sell, don't hesitate to email me. I would love to work with you on selling your home and getting you the best price possible.

Kim Merrell Lamb: kim@kimmerrell.com