housing market

Boost Your Curb Appeal! 

Whether you're getting ready to sell your home or freshening it up for spring for yourself, it's important to include your outside space! Curb appeal is a top selling point, especially during open house season. If landscaping ideas escape you, here are some handy tips and tricks to get you thinking in the outdoors direction.

Landscaping Tricks for creating your personal oasis: 

• Want to create a small retreat space? Use larger potted plants as a wall in a particular area to give your cozy nook the feeling of a room. Tall plants like bamboo are ideal for this purpose. Define your space even more with string lights, or a stone floor.
• Need shade but have no trees? Add a large umbrella or sun shade, surrounded by large potted plants to shade your porch or patio. Or build a pergola and plant a climbing vine like wisteria next to the posts. This plant will climb up and over, providing shade.
• Love the shore, but you're not near water? Add a bubbling water feature or creek bed through your garden. Create a sandy beach area in your yard for kids to play.
• Want to attract birds and butterflies? Create an English-style country garden with stone paths, birdhouses and butterfly-friendly flowers. Add stepping stones where most people walk to keep thin grass from getting trampled. Start small and expand your garden yearly as you gain gardening expertise.

Plus, up your outdoor oasis with some out-there ideas: 

• An outdoor wood-burning oven for making pizzas
• A vegetable and herb garden
• A camping-style firepit for roasting hotdogs and marshmallows
• A backyard chicken coop
• An outdoor kitchen complete with grill, fridge, sink and prep area

Landscaping Tips and Tricks for Selling: 

• Keep up with mowing and edging the lawn every week.Water your lawn one hour before showings or open houses for a fresh look.
• Inspect and repair irrigation system and outdoor faucets. Replace hoses.
• Add a layer of mulch to flower beds, pull weeds and add colorful new plantings. Consider the amount of sun or shade in your yard as you choose which plants to add. Mulch too expensive? Try grass clippings from your mower as an alternative.
• Power wash the outside of your house, and all the concrete surfaces, as well as wooden fences and decks. Repair cracks in concrete and rotted boards in fences and decks.
• Professionally trim trees and bushes to their optimum size and shape.
• Think about container gardens. Containers and their plants can be unique to your style, and the best part is, they're moveable landscaping! Repaint old pots with leftover house paint that matches and give them new life.

  Be creative and make your landscaping outdoors reflect your home's design, your climate and your lifestyle. As you plan your landscaping, keep these key pillars in mind to create an ideal space: privacy, lighting, cooling/heating, shade, greenery/color and gathering places or seating. Attention to detail and making spaces comfortable and inviting for yourself and your guests will give you years of enjoyment of your outdoor spaces — or make your home the most attractive listing on the market.

   

   

Make Your Home Look Like Their Home! 

You've decided to sell your house. One of the most important things you can do to your house to help it sell faster is to stage it. What is home staging? It's pretty much what it sounds like – you are turning your home into a home theatre – setting the stage for potential buyers to see themselves living there. When you get your house ready to sell using home staging, you're showing off its good points, and re-focusing attention away from its weaknesses. And most of all you're helping buyers walk in and never want to leave.  

You know how fun it is to flip through a home furnishings catalog or website? That's what you're aiming for when you're home staging. Make it look like a catalog: clean, bright and spacious. Here are some tips to get your house showroom-ready: 

Home Staging inside: 

• Show off how much counterspace your kitchen and bathroom have by stowing away mostly everything. Make it hotel-room sparse, and add new hand soaps, and new towels and rugs to both rooms. Pare down items on coffee tables, bookshelves and walls.
• Remove all photos of your family, kid's art and personal objects on shelves. You want people to imagine themselves in every room.
• Less is more when it comes to furniture. Show off how much space each room has by paring down the amount of furniture in each room. You want potential buyers to be able to easily walk around. Group furniture into cozy conversation areas.
• Add some sort of work space to one or more rooms. Home offices are a hot seller in the current market. Show off how a room or two can have dual purpose.
• Stage a closet. Pick one bedroom closet and make it as neat as possible, using shelves, baskets and matching hangers. Scent the closet and leave it open to show off the great use of space.

Home Staging outside: 

• Power wash sidewalks, driveways and walkways as well as siding, bricks and stone. Make them sparkle like new.
• Repaint your front door a bright, cheery color.
• Replace your house numbers, mail box, welcome mat and your outdoor lighting if they are worn or outdated.
• Add a fresh layer of mulch to your flower beds and make sure you plant new colorful flowers. Trim trees and bushes.
• Set up a cozy outdoor sitting area on your porch, refreshing cushions and other fabrics if need be.

More tips for making home staging really pay off at an open house: 

• Add cut flowers to several rooms.
• Scented candles add atmosphere. 
• Make sure each room is light and bright – curtains open, lamps on. 
• Erase any sign of your pet, and in fact, keep your pet out of the house during open houses or showings.
• Add a luxury feel to bedrooms with plush rugs, fluffy comforters, extra pillows and fresh sheets. Style it like a hotel room.

Potential buyers want to imagine themselves eating, sleeping and hanging out in your house. Make it easy for them to do just that. 

The Home Improvement Projects With the Best ROI

The nicest way to show your home that you care (not to mention practice some self-care) is to complete a few home improvement projects that will not only make you fall even more in love with your home, but in the long run will get you the biggest return on your investment. Where to start? Statistically the two most important rooms in your house that make it the most valuable are the kitchen and the bathroom.

Can You Love Your Home Even More Than You Do Now? Absolutely!

There are small and large things you can do to improve your quality of life in your kitchen and bathroom. From simply upgrading your shower fixture to a rain shower head (a highly coveted bathroom feature for potential home buyers) to a simple kitchen remodel that replaces the appliances and paint on cabinets, your bathroom and kitchen are the places to show your home some love right now.

5 Sweetheart Makeover Investments That Will Payoff Later

1. Simple Bathroom Upgrades: The return on your investment in your bathroom will be close to 100% should you decide to sell…but in the meantime you will be living the pampered life in your chic new bathroom. What's not to like about that! Update plumbing fixtures and lighting. Add a smart mirror. Switch out the vanity. Simply get new towels and rugs if nothing else – brightening and modernizing the room is the goal.
2. Complete Bathroom Remodel: If baby steps won't cut it in your current bathroom, consider a total redo. Investing around $25,000 to redesign, modernize and turn your bathroom into the spa retreat you've always wanted won't just benefit you. In the long run, this type of remodel will get you an almost 93% return when you sell.
3. Kitchen Deck, Porch or Patio Upgrade: Do you have a simple back door from the kitchen to the backyard? Invest $10,000 - $15,000 in a deck, outdoor kitchen patio or covered porch to make your cooking/eating space go farther. You'll never want to go out to dinner again when you've got a stylish, cozy dining area right outside your kitchen door to enjoy.
4. Replace Your Windows: Not only can replacing windows make your kitchen and bathroom brighter, it can help you realize energy savings when you choose certified energy efficient models, up your curb appeal, and get you a 90% return on your investment later.
5. The Grand Kitchen Redo: This is the highest ticket item on this list, but investing around $45,000 and getting a return of at least 90% on that investment if you sell, is a pretty attractive arrangement. Not to mention, you'll be enjoying the kitchen of your dreams. Make it an open concept with stainless steel appliances for highest return – and maybe you'll fall so far in love with your home at that point that you'll never leave.

The 2021 real estate market was a bumpy ride, with random periods of waiting thrown in for good measure.    

The year started off with a bang with surging prices and inventory down across North Texas. Housing inventory was down for two reasons:

• Low interest rates – Low interest rates had an interesting effect of both encouraging people to buy a new home while also encouraging others to stay put. Those who stayed refinanced and renovated their homes, putting further downward pressure on housing inventory. Those who wanted to buy found few homes on the market.
• Global building supplies shortage: The logistical disruptions of 2020 spilled over into 2021. This combined with the Texas recovery from February's "snow-mageddon" pushed the prices of building supplies ever higher.

By September, the housing market was still tight.  North Texas home sales fell but prices continued to rise due to a lack of housing inventory.  North Texas saw record gains in home prices:

"Dallas-area home prices jumped 25% year-over-year in September — the largest gain for the market in the history of the closely watched S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller Home Price Index."

What will the new year bring?  Here are our three predictions for the housing market in 2022:

• Winter, spring, and summer seasons are going to be just as busy as 2021. We will continue to see multiple offers and a housing shortage.
• Interest rates are going to start creeping up starting at the beginning of 2022 and will continue increase to mid to high 3% by the end of the year.
• Prices are going to start leveling out and late 2022 and 2023 should be much calmer for the housing market.

If you have been thinking about selling your home, give us a call.

If the timing is right and you are ready, so are we.

Spring cleaning season is upon us, and that can feel overwhelming. Whether you are preparing your home to sell, or starting your spring cleaning, break the process into smaller steps to make progress faster. 

Renew
Each year during spring cleaning we renew our love for our home – and our commitment to keeping it beautiful – by eliminating clutter. Clutter happens when items don't have a "home" to return to – a bowl for your keys, a bookshelf for your magazines, a hamper for your dirty clothes. Walk through each room and gather all the items that you know belong somewhere else, make a home for them and put them there.

Organize excess items into four groups: keep, recycle, donate or toss. Keeping your home clutter-free – and sticking to an organizational system – allows you more livable space, renews your sense of accomplishment, and ultimately means there is less to clean going forward. 

Repair
Next, freshen up your space with a good cleaning and repair assessment. Clean the areas we all forget about like baseboards, vents and ceiling fans. Don't forget both the inside and outside of your windows and window sills. Sunny rooms are definitely a plus if you're selling your home. 

If your windows have water damage, now is the time to get that repaired and repainted. Then think about adding new shades or curtains to enhance them. And bring the springtime outdoors in with a new potted plant or two.

Replace
Take spring cleaning a step further by replacing worn out parts of your home. Add a new coat of paint to a room, or just paint one wall, a ceiling or a door in a bright color. Or rearrange the furniture in a room for a fresh look, and replace throw pillows or pictures. You might be pleasantly surprised to see your room from a new perspective with the same items.

Window replacement, and kitchen and bathroom upgrades garner high returns when selling your home. Replace faucets, hardware, light fixtures and ceiling fans. Add energy efficient new appliances in the kitchen and laundry room. 

Remodel
Projects that are focused on modern style and energy efficiency are the remodeling projects to put on your to-do list this spring. Remodel your deck, your front door, your garage doors and your siding to get the best ROI when you're ready to sell.

Renew, repair, replace or remodel as part of your home's annual spring cleaning, and you'll not only maximize your home's value and your profit when you sell, you'll benefit right now from your efforts. You won't need to necessarily tear down walls or floors to freshen up your space this spring. You can make simple changes here and there and feel good about spring cleaning this year.