A homeowner has many responsibilities. Once a piece of property is purchased, the new owner will need to start keeping track of its interior and exterior maintenance needs, from the roof and windows to the basement, plumbing, HVAC system, floorboards, and much more. This will take some work, and many of these repair or home remodeling jobs call for professional help. The good news is that when done correctly, home repairs can lead to a lot of saved money in the long run, not to mention a house that looks and feels comfortable to live in. The following real estate money-saving tips can benefit nearly any homeowner, and those who invest in real estate may appreciate these money-saving tips as well. That is, entrepreneurs who buy, remodel, then sell houses at a profit, or “flip” them.
Saving Up Money for Future Remodeling
Investing in homes is popular across the United States, and often, it is older homeowners who spend the most money on new kitchen home remodeling or having their master bathroom remodeled. Younger adults tend to rent their living spaces instead, and they move quite often. An older citizen, by contrast, is much less likely to move but has saved up a lot of money, so they would rather invest in their current property and enjoy a comfortable life in it. Many of these spenders are retired, or they work part-time or volunteer somewhere. Saving for retirement is always a good idea, and some of that money can go toward home remodeling.
How to save up for this? Creating weekly and monthly budgets, and sticking to them, can help any American household save up their money smartly and prepare for retirement later on. Consulting a financial expert can help with this. Meanwhile, a survey from Statistic Brain shows that only 18% of Americans are confident that they will have enough money saved up for retirement. Some 25% of American families don’t even have any savings at all. But you can get a head start on that and begin saving and planning in your 30s or even your 20s. Many money-saving tips for ordinary life can help, from logging all your spending (to diagnose bad spending habits) to investing and creating passive income. Also, a homeowner can opt for consolidated billing, allowing them to combine all their bills and other debts into a lump sum and making single payments in each installment period. Extending the loan period a bit can help with this, and streamline your finances.
A homeowner who follows money-saving tips like these can almost certainly afford some home remodeling work when they are a senior citizen, and they are bound to love the results. Today, the home remodeling industry is a robust one, and millions of kitchens and master bathrooms alike are remodeled at the hands of professionals. About 30% of all home remodeling jobs cover the entire house, while others target specific rooms, most often the master bathroom, kitchen, or dining room. Some homeowners even have their basement remodeled, so it can go from a dusty storage space to a bonus living room or entertainment room.
Many money-saving tips can allow a working adult to save up for home remodeling like this, but smart remodeling itself is counted among real estate money-saving tips. Why is that? Remodeling work will not only make the house look and feel nice, but this will drive up the property’s value quite a bit. Put another way, remodeling will generate an ROI (return on investment), often at a high percentage. Remodeling the master bathroom or kitchen can yield an ROI as high as 70-80% or so, and the homeowner will recoup many of the expenses when they sell that house for a higher price. Buyers will be impressed with remodeled rooms and new hardware in the house and will spend more money on it. This may draw in many interested buyers, and the property may sell faster than if it had no remodeling done. Something similar can be said about landscaping for the front and back lawn, where investing 5% of the property’s value can yield an ROI as high as 150%. These efficient money-saving tips can make a house very affordable to buy, live in, and later sell. Simple entrepreneur mistakes in home flipping include not investing in the correct remodeling or neglecting to remodel the house at all. A skilled house flipper will remake that house so that many homebuyers will scramble to purchase it.
As for the remodeling job itself, the homeowner can look up local remodeling companies and visit their websites, to get a good idea of what sort of work they do. The homeowner can then hire a crew who will visit the home and get to work. In the case of remodeling the entire house, the homeowner will probably go on a vacation or business trip during that time, since it may be difficult to live everyday life in that house. The crews can work on the kitchen, for example, and repaint the walls and replace the backsplash tiles with new ones. Or, they can remove the old floor tiles or linoleum and put down new material, to match the homeowner’s current tastes in style. Even the countertop can be removed and replaced, and a new one may be made of polished and attractive granite (which is also quite tough). Plumbers can remove the sink and install a new one with a water-efficient faucet, not to mention shiny new metal. The cabinet doors can be sanded down and repainted or replaced, and a new stove or dishwasher may be installed as well. Homeowners who plan to do a lot of home cooking are the ones who most often invest in this.
Money saving tips call for remodeling any room that looks worn out or out of style, and that goes beyond the kitchen. Don’t take the bathroom for granted; just having a toilet and sink in there does not make it a complete room. Instead, real estate money-saving tips call for a good bathroom, since people also like to take relaxing baths in there, as well as dye or style their hair, shave, do makeup, and the like. A person may spend a lot of time in there, so naturally, they want a pleasant and modern bathroom. This means replacing the old floor tiles or even replacing lighting fixtures for a new aesthetic. Plumbers can do a lot of good here, such as removing an old toilet and putting in a clean, water-efficient model. A new sink and tub will have a similar effect, and senior citizens might invest in a tub that has a hatch on the side, so they don’t risk falling when they climb over a solid tub’s wall. All of this fresh, modern plumbing counts toward real estate money-saving tips. A lot of water is saved when the home’s appliances are built with modern water-saving standards in mind. The water bill is bound to be much lower now.
When You Purchase a House
Real estate money-saving tips are relevant not only for remodeling a current home but buying one. If you are the one who’s doing the buying, rather than selling a remodeled home, be sure that all of your finances are in order. These money-saving tips mainly apply to younger buyers, who have not had the experience of purchasing a home before. For one thing, a higher personal credit score is a must, since mortgage companies won’t approve loans for just anyone. A mediocre credit score may mean a smaller loan at a higher interest rate, and a poor credit score may mean serious difficulty getting a loan at all. Also, this is a good time to double-check the security of your credit cards, debit cards, and bank accounts, and if you detect fraud in any of your bank statements or credit card papers, follow up on that at once. This is no time to have leaks or holes in your financial life.
Fortunately, a home buyer doesn’t have to find and purchase a house alone. Real estate agents can do a lot of good here, and they will help the buyer narrow down their choices to the sort of property that they really want. How is this done? Among other things, a real estate agent can use CMA software, or “comparative market analysis”, to find a house for a fair price. Such software will study the prices of all houses in the area similar to a particular property, and figure out the “average”, or meta, price of those houses to determine what a fair price will look like. The software can factor in houses that recently sold or those that are still on the market, or both. This way, the home buyer can avoid paying too much for a house based on what a typical house like that “should” sell for in the area. Home sellers also make use of CMA software, so they don’t accidentally set their property’s price too high or too low.
Don’t forget real estate lawyers, who can help a home buyer correctly fill out all their paperwork and submit it on time. This can speed up and streamline the process quite a bit and may prove helpful for first-time home buyers. What is more, such lawyers can help out later if the new homeowner runs into other problems with that property. For example, the previous owner might try to claim that house as their own for tax exemption purposes, so the owner can turn to a real estate lawyer to deal with such an issue.
Money Saving Tips for Electricity
Earlier, these real estate money saving tips mentioned how a homeowner can save a lot of money by having water-efficient plumbing features. Something similar can be said about electricity, too, and this can take many forms. One of the bolder options is solar financing, or turning to lenders who can help a homeowner afford the installation of solar panels on their roof. Not all homes have solar panels, but this technology has rapidly become more affordable and power-efficient within the last 15 years, and it is quite viable today. Sunny states such as Texas and California are aggressively expanding into solar power for residential areas, and any homeowner can tap into this high-tech trend. Professional installation crews can set up the support brackets for the panels, then install the panels themselves and set up all the wiring throughout the house. Once the entire setup is inspected and deemed ready, the home is disconnected from the public grid, the panels turn on, and they start generating power for the property. As for nighttime or cloudy days with little sunlight, solar panels divert some of their generated power into batteries, which will provide electricity for the house during sunless times. Over time, the saved money on electric bills can rapidly pay for those panels, making solar panels quite the long-term investment.
Whether or not a property has solar panels on it, the homeowner can follow basic money-saving tips for their electric bill in many ways. For one thing, be sure not to set the thermostat really high or low during winter or summer. Instead, use a more modest setting, and bundle up in winter and drink cold beverages and stay in the shade during summer to complement the modest climate control. In addition, be sure to invest in some good blinds for the house or retractable sun screens. Not only do these provide some much-needed privacy, but blinds and screens block hot sunlight that would warm up the house too much, and they can look stylish, too. For large windows, or for a homeowner who can’t easily operate blinds by hand, electronic blind sets can be installed, which will operate either on an automated schedule or by remote control. For winter, drapes can be drawn, and these thick drapes will prevent warmth from leaking out of the house through the window glass (be sure to keep fire hazards away from the drapes). Using blinds and drapes like this eases the strain on the HVAC system, and that will save a lot of money. After all, a typical American house dedicates 50% of its electricity to HVAC alone.
Lastly, be aware of how old or dirty your HVAC system is. If its vents and ducts are clogged or dirty, or if the blower fans are dirty, the system will struggle to move cooled or warm air, so it works overtime to compensate for the weak output (and thus uses up more electricity). Have professionals clean up and repair the system as needed. And if that HVAC system is very old, real estate money-saving tips call for a complete overhaul. Though expensive upfront, this can save money in the long run, since the new system is clean, in good shape, and most of all, is built with modern electricity efficiency standards in mind.