Green Real Estate Appraiser

Moving Vs. Remodeling

Posted on July 26, 2016 | Leave a comment

Family situations are dynamic. Additions to the family, or a new hobby, may mean that you need to upgrade your home. This prompts the question – should you move or renovate?

Both options bring hassles. As a person who has both moved and renovated, let me assure you that both create major disruptions in your lifestyle. However, my suggestion is to renovate if possible. Selling one home and buying another could cost you nearly 10 per cent of the price of the new home. If you sell a home for $600,000 (this is in aussie dollars not USA) and buy another for $900,000, you would be looking at close to $90,000 in expenses such as agent’s commission, legal fees and stamp duty, loan fees and removalist fees. That is a huge loss of capital.

Will remodeling add value to your home? Contact the appraisers at www.scappraisals.com for your home valuation questions>

If you renovate, the main danger is overcapitalising – this means you spend so much on your home that it becomes far more expensive than the rest of the houses in the street. You can avoid this by asking an agent to give you an appraisal of your home’s value to see how it compares with those around you. If its price today, plus the renovations, does not exceed the average price in the street, overcapitalising should not be a problem. Let’s assume your house is worth $600,000, and the average price in the street is $800,000: you could safely spend $200,000 in renovations. That’s just over double the non-productive costs of moving house.

You already know how to buy a house, so let’s focus on the steps to successful renovating. Once your budget is clear, get a building inspection on your property to ensure it is structurally sound and capable of being renovated, and a survey to ensure the boundary pegs are in the right position. All too often, we hear of renovations that have encroached on a neighbour’s property.

6 secrets to great lighting in your home

Posted on July 25, 2016 | Leave a comment

Secret No. 1: Light in Layers. In addition to natural light, every room should have three kinds of light, said Murphy: ambient, task and accent. Many homeowners throw a couple lights on the ceiling and call it enough. It’s not. Ambient light is your all-around light, and often comes from recessed cans or ceiling fixtures. Task lighting is dedicated to a space where you work or read; think of desk lamps, or lamps by reading areas, or under cabinet lighting over kitchen counters. Accent lighting highlights artwork, accessories or architectural features like the fireplace. The magic happens in the layering. “When these three layers work together with natural light, you have the perfect scenario,” he said.

Secret No. 2: Go big or don’t go. Choosing fixtures that are too small is the most common mistake homeowners make, said Murphy. “Most customers need to scale up.” For instance, when picking fixtures to go beside the front door, or to flank the garage, fixtures should be one third the height of the door. If the door is nine feet tall, the fixture should be three feet. When choosing a chandelier, use this formula: add the length and width of the room in feet, then convert to inches. That’s how big you want your fixture. So a 12-by-14-foot dining room should have a 26-inch wide chandelier. Ideally, this fixture is also about 12 inches narrower than the width of the table, and allows at least four feet of clearance from walls.

Hilarious home improvement fails

Posted on July 22, 2016 | Leave a comment

Did you spend the weekend tackling some DIY? Have a few improvements you would like to make at home? Before you go dismissing the need for a handyman, it might be useful to learn from these mistakes first.

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