Top Tips to Increase Your Property’s Value

Property Value in CalgaryWhen you’re preparing to sell your home and list on the Calgary MLS, you’re often stumped as to what you might do to increase its value. The MLS listing price and the final selling price will be affected disproportionately by some features while others will not raise its value at all. Choose those areas of your home that you can reasonably afford to fix up.

It’ll be a challenge to determine whether you should fix up flooring, evidence of water damage, roofing, or other major turnoffs for buyers. You might want to get a real estate agent help you figure out what is most important to increase the value and attraction to buyers.

Here are some top priorities for increasing your home’s value:

Kitchen Cabinets: Female buyers are particularly observant and impressionable regarding kitchens and bathrooms. If your cabinets look run down, out of style, or just aren’t sufficient, this is where you might get the best return on your renovation dollar. You can reface the cabinets which is the most visible part. Always go for real wood products and consider which types of woods are popular right now. It might not be oak. Replace the handles and other hardware such as the drawer slides. There are modern ones that close slowly that are impressive to buyers.

Kitchen Hardware: Upgrading your plumbing fixtures to the latest styles is a great way of making the right impression. Those with copper, brass and other high end finishes are excellent.

Upgrade your Kitchen Countertops. There are plenty of countertop styles to choose from including marble, slate and laminate types. Plastic laminate are at the bottom of the price scale and concrete and granite are the higher grade. Composite granite/resin types give a great look of granite without the high price.

Flooring. Choose new flooring that is resilient and lasting. Hardwood floors are an excellent choice yet some laminates may work better. They still look like hardwood but can take the beating of high traffic areas and children and pets.

Master Bathroom: This is very important. If possible replace the sinks, toilets and showers. No one wants to take over someone else’s dirty, outdated bathroom. They cringe at the amount of work and cost needed and will be relieved if they don’t have to do it. This is a huge factor for women. Choose a clean, modern style with some spa like features. Rainshower shower faucets, jetted oversize tubs, and double sinks are especially cherished.

Lawns and Landscaping: The curb appeal of the home is very important even in MLS listing photos. If they don’t like the look of it, they won’t bother visiting. Don’t kill your prospects before they’ve seen the home. Do some lawn care, plant seed, fertilize, and trim the trees and vegetation.

There’s plenty more you can do to increase the value of your home. The best advice is to use a professional realtor. Whether you’re choosing Denver, Chicago, Vancouver or Calgary homes, the advice is the same; use a real estate agent or real estate broker. They know how to make the best of your particular property and house. The return on investment in hiring a broker is well beyond the commission they charge. It is well worth it.


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Posted by Thomas Bateman - May 8, 2013 at 2:57 am

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Home Inspection 101

Home Inspection 101Home Inspection is a process that all homeowners have to familiarize themselves with. This is a process that you have to know whether  you’re buying or selling a property. It will serve you well to be aware of what happens during home inspections because it determines if a property is fit to be lived in. The procedure is so important especially when for home buyers which is why it is included in the provisions of  purchase agreements.

One of the prevailing concern about inspections is that often times, home buyers don’t even understand what’s indicated on the inspection report. Not everyone is versed with the details of home constructions and what defects are potentially dangerous. What adds to this problem is the fact that not all states observe the same standards for the procedure. A New Jersey home inspector, for instance is required to have a licensed by the Home Inspection Advisory Committee. This organization is under the State Board of Professional Engineers and Land Surveyors and they also in charge of overseeing home inspectors to ensure that safety standards at residential properties are upheld.

While the specifics of the procedure may vary from one state to another, there are general elements that are covered under home inspections:

• The structural foundations of a house require thorough checking. This covers the foundation or the base of the property, walls, flooring, ceilings, and the roof.

• All exterior elements like wall finishings, landscaping, elevation, drainage systems, driveways, perimeter walls and fences , sidewalks, windows and lights are evaluated to check if the measurements are in keeping with prevailing standards.

• The ventilation and drainage system, along with the type of roof construction, are likewise noted on the report but it does not give an assurance of the quality of the roofing.

• The plumbing fixtures and the pipe materials are evaluated to ensure that they are appropriate for the passage of different elements like potable water, drain for waste materials, waste and vent pipes. The condition of the toilets, bathroom sinks, showers, faucets and traps also require evaluation.

• Critical systems that are required for the proper management of temperature are also given due notice. Water heaters, chimneys, fireplace, furnaces, air conditioning units, and air ducts are also thorough evaluated.

• Electrical panels and wiring are given specific notice to know if the entire electrical circuit is functioning properly. The circuit breakers, grounding, type of wiring used, installed exhaust fans and light fixtures are all noted appropriately in the report.

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Posted by Thomas Bateman - April 26, 2013 at 2:20 am

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Planning Your Way Towards a Beautiful Backyard Landscaping Project

Landscaping refers to activity aimed at positive modification of the aesthetic aspects of land. The activities include gardening which is the use flora to create a lovely environment. Secondly, the usage of natural elements of the environment either by modifying them to suit your needs or incorporating them into the aesthetic design of the area; such natural elements can be the slope of the land, stones and boulders present and even pools of water. Thirdly, the creation and installation of man made structures to enhance the beauty of the land in question; such structures can be sculptures, decorative fencing, gazebos and more. Fourth the modification of abstract land elements such as lighting of the land area, with the intention of creating a more pleasant environment.

Backyard landscaping deals with the area of land behind one’s house. When undertaking landscaping of this area one should consider the functions to which these grounds are put and also those one intends to use them for after landscaping. These will influence the landscaping designs possible. For example, it would be difficult to install pools in an area you intend to use as a children’s playground. A good landscaper possesses such qualities as knowledge of construction, gardening, design and observational skill set that allows him to blend form and functionality.

A well landscaped backyard can increase the property value of your home by up to 20%, making it a worthwhile investment. The process of backyard landscaping is as follows; first making a plan, this should factor usage, costs, design, geography and climate of the area. Make a note of the water conditions in your area; firstly how much rainfall you receive. This is important because irrigation costs of maintaining elaborate landscapes can account up to 75% of your water usage. Two; note the flow of water in your backyard is, this is important to ensure that one, the water is not redirected into the house or its foundations by changes in slope. Also, you need to ensure that you do not create breeding grounds for such pests as mosquitoes and three, to optimize on the beauty by working with the natural flow. It is advisable to make this plan with a professional landscaper.

When choosing the flora for the backyard go for ones suited to the climate of the area to keep watering costs low; such information can be provided by trained horticulturists or experienced landscapers. Trees planted in a backyard not only provide shade they can also help with climate control of the house by providing a cooling effect when located properly. Note that planting already grown plants is much easier than using seeds as nurturing a seed garden can be quite arduous and costly. Implementation of the backyard landscaping design you have picked is split into two; hire a landscaper to undertake the challenging bits such as earth moving but do the smaller bits yourself. The importance is not just in cost saving but also in ensuring that you do not end up with a beautiful landscape you’re unable to maintain.

Posted by Thomas Bateman - April 3, 2013 at 4:39 pm

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Bamboo Flooring — Pros and Cons

When looking to brighten up a room in your home or condo, choosing to re-do the flooring can be an excellent place to start!  Whether choosing to take on this project yourself, or choosing a reputable company to handle it, there are a variety of flooring options out there to choose from.  An increasingly popular option for flooring is bamboo.  However, as with any material you choose, there are pros and cons to bamboo as a flooring choice that you should take into consideration before deciding this is right for you.

Because bamboo is one of the fastest growing plants on Earth, it makes this a very environmentally-friendly choice in materials.  Also, not only is bamboo quick to replenish, but it  is also a very durable material, making it a great choice for flooring, as floors have a tendency be able to sustain a great deal in terms of furniture.  Bamboo can also be treated to come out a specific shade to match the room it will be placed in, and it is also a material that you can paint virtually any color that you want!  With all of this being said, you would think that bamboo is a very expensive material to use, but it is quite the opposite!  Because bamboo is so plentiful, due to its quick-growing ability, it is available at a lower cost than many other materials, where some of those options would take years to replace what was cut down for consumption.

There are, as with anything, a few down-sides to using bamboo as a flooring option, but some of these can be avoided.  The biggest downfall is that bamboo is largely produced in China, where labor rules and regulations can be quite lax, and sometimes downright offensive.  Regardless of how excellent a material can be for your home, you definitely don’t want to purchase a material produced by a young child in a factory, or even an adult being paid measly wages, in awful work environment to boot!  The good news is, due to the gaining popularity of bamboo in the United States, many companies have issued strict guidelines that factories in China must adhere to in order for the company to continue to purchase through them.  Another not so great environmental factor is having to ship the material to the U.S. from China.  It is common knowledge that a great amount of pollutants are produced from the ships that carry goods from one continent to the next.  However, that being said, just because you decide not to purchase bamboo doesn’t mean the ship won’t sail.  Goods are being shipped daily, many times daily, and that will remain so.  If this is a very big deal for you, then by all means, there are a number of other good materials out there to choose from.

Even with a few of the cons associated with using bamboo, it seems that this material is quickly becoming the most popular choice of all.  Most importantly, in my opinion, is the ability to quickly reproduce the bamboo, as I feel we’ve cut down enough forests for a lifetime for our own personal gain.

Posted by Thomas Bateman - September 14, 2012 at 8:50 pm

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