18
Mar 2013

Wayne Homes Review – 8 Reasons I Chose Them

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Well we are into the 7th and final part to this series and in this article I’m going to finish up with a review of the builder who I used to build my house, Wayne Homes.  As part of my Wayne Homes Review I’m going to cover the 8 reasons I chose this company to build my house.

Wayne Homes definitely deserves a lot of credit for the job they did with my house, and if you’ve been following my series on building a new house you may have noticed some of the great things I liked about the building process.  In fact Wayne Homes has been building houses for 40 years and won the National Housing Quality Award in 2010 and now again in 2013 for the outstanding quality they give to their customers, and I totally have to agree.  I’ve never come across a builder quite like this one.

So before you consider another builder here are the reasons I chose Wayne Homes.

The Website

The first thing I like was the website.  After being referred by my brother to check out Wayne Homes the first thing I did was check out their website to learn more.  One thing that amazed me about their site was how much detail they covered on the house plans, in fact I could even see how much the basic cost would be.

On top of that I could even customize floor plans, do a virtual tour, see how their process works, and even talk to a live person via a chat session.  In fact this is exactly what I did when I was getting started.

Wayne Homes CumberlandGreat Floor Plans

The second thing that I liked so much about this company was the fact that they had so many floor plans to choose from.  One of our big stipulations up front was that we wanted four bedrooms in the house with three of them upstairs and the master bedroom downstairs.  The great part about Wayne Homes was that they took a lot of the design work out of  the house for us.

For example we chose the Cumberland house design through Wayne Homes and it had almost everything we were looking for.  On top of that we could customize it literally any way we wanted, and still the house we wanted.

Fast

The second thing I found so great about building with Wayne Homes was how fast they moved.  From the day they started till the day they finished it took only three months for them to finish my house.  That’s moving.  I compared a few other houses in my area that started at the same time and all of them are still not even close to being done.

What made the process go so much faster is the fact that they had a well defined system in place along with individual crews hired to complete each task.  For example, one crew would take care of the cement work, while another crew would frame the house, another crew would hang the drywall, speeding up the entire process.  So if you don’t want your house to take 6 months to build Wayne Homes is the place to go.

Price Friendly

Probably the biggest stipulation with building that I had was the cost to build and Wayne Homes came through in fine fashion with us.  We had a budget and they worked with us keep to it and not go over.  In fact, Wayne Homes even gave us a $14,000 discount, which I will have to say if it weren’t for that discount we probably would not have been able to build.

On top that they also had a price for everything, and not just a round about number but an exact price.  I remember when we were going through the design process and we decided to add an extra 6 feet on to the garage and they had a price for me right away.  Finally, once my plans were finalized they even gave us a binder that broke down every singe cost involved and told us everything we were going to get so their would be no surprises.

Warranty

Fourth on my list is the Warranties they give you.  When you’re building a new house one of my concerns was what do I do I have problems with the foundation, or the roof, or the siding.  Is the builder going to stand by their work and fix it or are they going to say tough luck.

The great part about Wayne Homes is that they have a 10 year structural warranty  and a 2 year fit and finish warranty.  So if I do have problems with my house all I have to do is give them a call and it’s going to get taken care of.

Easy To Work With

Another thing I found very helpful during the building process was the fact that they were so easy to work with.  From the lot manager to the sales reps at there Bowling Green Office they made the process so easy for me.  If I had a question or an issue with something they were always their to help me out.

I remember in one case were I was having trouble getting the gas company to come out to install the natural gas lines and my lot manager ( Teric ) called them for me.  Whenever I had a problem all I had to do was just give him a call and in some case text him and their were no questions asked, he took care of it.  Looking back on that I don’t know how I could have got things done without his help.

Open Houses

One thing I know  I was curios about was the quality of the houses they built.  One thing I noticed about a lot of builders was the fact that their is no way to see the quality of their work.  However with Wayne Homes they do open houses which allowed me check out a house while it was in the building process, to see exactly what goes into building a house.

On top of that they also had three show models located at there Bowling Green location, which also made it nice to see the kind of craftsmanship was going into these houses, and it was amazing.

Kept Things Clean

One thing that I didn’t realize they did was clean the house.  Once everything is done they actually have a group of cleaners come in and clean almost everything from the carpet, to washing the windows.  I have yet to meet another builder who does this and puts this level of effort into their houses.

On top of that while they are building the house each crew that comes in cleans up the mess they made before they leave.   In fact Wayne Homes brings in a large dumpster to throw all the scrap and junk into.

Easy To Follow Process

Finally, the last reason I chose Wayne Homes is because they have a very simple process they follow.  In fact, when you’re first getting started Wayne Homes gives you a complete binder that covers ever last step you have to go through, so your’e never left guessing what’s going on next.

This also goes with the payment process as well.  Once the construction loan was closed we only had to make 5 installment payments while they were building the house.  In fact, they would even send me a notification when the next payment was due and how much it was going to be. In the end this took a lot of the guess work out of the process and made my life a lot simpler.

wayne_homes_locationsGetting Started…

As I wrap up my review on Wayne Homes you might be wonder if this is still for you, and where do I get started.  So here is a small list of steps to help you out.

  • Check Out The Website.  First off, check out their website and start picking out plans that you like.  Call or chat with them and ask any questions that you might have.  
  • Stop In.  Second, schedule an appointment with them to see a model center.  This is the best way to see what kind of craftsmanship they put into their homes.
  • Put A Plan Together.  Finally, while your their have them put a plan together for you.  On top of that you can also have them price things out and see what kind of cost will be involved.

Wayne Homes is located and has several Model Centers in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Indiana, and West Virginia.  To learn more you check out a list of their locations here.

Categories: Real Estate, Reviews
11
Mar 2013

The House Building Process Step By Step – A Guide For Beginners

By 18 Comments

Building a house is not an easy thing to do.  Just ask me, I’ve spent the last 9 months planning, and building a new house and I can tell you that even with the best builder you are going to face issues and problems.

However in this article I’m going to cover the house building process step by step and go over what it took me to build my house.  Now I’m going to warn you this a fairly lengthy article so pull up a seat grab a cup of coffee and start reading.

Previous Articles

Also before you dive you may also want to read the other articles in the series that I’ve covered over the last few weeks as well to give you a base of where I’m coming from.  You can check those out below.

 

The Pre Planning Process

To start, I’ve broken the entire building process down into three main areas, preplanning, the building process, and the post building process.  From there I broke things down into smaller subsections to make this article easier to read.  On top the order of every step along the way can vary from builder to builder, and that your builder may have a different way of doing things.  So with that said let’s get started.

  • Meet With Your Builder.  When we first got started with the building process we chose a builder that met several different qualities.  A few of them being a high quality record, quality craftsmanship, speed, and most of all able to adhere to the price we had set.  Now we obviously had to meet with our builder several times before we even were able to finalize are plans and this took a few months in itself to do.   In fact one in particular lasted over 3 hours were we went through every last detail on the house.   These meetings can get quite long but it was all worth in the end.
  • Survey The Lot.  Before you can buy your lot it needs to be surveyed.  In most cases if you are building in town the lot will likely already have this done,  but if you’re building out in the country this may need to done yet.
  • Meet With Your Lender.  Next, once you’ve meet with the builder gotten the pricing nailed down you will need to meet with your lender. In order for your builder to even put you on there dig list you will need a few things.  One of them being a letter from your lender saying you are pre-approved for the construction loan.  Typically lenders would like you to be able to put 20% of the total cost of the home; however when you’re building a $200,000 this isn’t always possible.  So if at the very least you should be able to put 10% down.
  • Meet With The Electric Company.  Another meeting you will have to have is with the electric company.  Now every company does this different.  For example, all I had to do was meet with my electric company and go over what I was going have for electric and what I was not.  This was a fairly simple meeting and took about 30 minutes, However, some companies will require a site map and other documentation before they even come out.
  • Sign Up With Gas Company.  You will also have to sign up with your natural gas company as well, unless you plan to go with some other alternative heating method such as propane, electric, or even a wood burning stove.  One thing I personally suggest is if you do plan to use natural gas is to sign up early.  Typically these companies will have to come out before they can even send you an application and inspect the lot.  On top of that it took three months and a ton of phone calls to get them to come out and install the gas line from the street to my house.
  • Buy Your Lot.  Once you’ve been approve for your construction loan it’s time to buy the lot.  You can go several different ways about doing this from putting a down payment on the lot and having the bank covering the rest of the money or in my case the bank covered the entire cost of the lot up front and once we closed on our construction loan we paid our down payment.
  • Get Your Permits.  Once you’ve got your lot bought and you’ve completed your final meetings with your builder you will need to get your permits to build your house.  Permits can vary from one place to another, such as a build permit, drive way permit, and who knows what else.  In my case all I had was a $10 building permit and that was it.  On top of that the town needed a copy of my house plans, and a site map to show where the house would be placed on the map and reviewed by a board for approval.  In that meeting the board will review the plans and make sure it meets the requirements of the lot.  For example, on my lot I’m not allowed to have any buildings built behind the house, and I can’t build within 10 feet of the property line on either sides of the house.
  • Builders Insurance.  Once you start to get near your dig date you will have to acquire your builders risk insurance.  This is a basic insurance coverage that will protect you in the event something is stolen off of your property while the house is being built, and if any of the workers happen to get injured in the process.
  • Set Your House Corner Pins.  Finally, one of the last things you will have to do is set corner pins of your house.  Now like I said every company does this differently.  My builder required me to have these set before the day of the dig.  In my case I got someone to help me and had someone from the town inspect it before we started.   With other companies they may have the excavating crew do it, but it all depends on who does it.

The House Building Process Step By Step

Well there you go, I’m already a 1000 words into this article and we’ve finally made it through the preplanning stuff.  To be quite honest the preplanning stuff can take just as long, if not longer than the building process itself. In fact we started planning our house in June and we didn’t start digging until November last year.  However once a bulk of the big decisions have been made it starts to get a lot easier from there.

  • Dig DayDig Day.  With all the pre planning stuff out of the way it’s time to begin the building process and that all starts with the dig day.  The dig day is the official start to building your house and can be exciting and nerve racking all at the same time.  It’s on this day that they start digging your basement, and any other things such as your construction driveway.  I actually took this entire day off and even took my kids out to the construction site to see them dig the basement.
  • Pour The Footer.  The next thing that will happen is they will pour the footer.  A footer is the base that supports the entire foundation.  This part only took a day to get done but it had to sit for a week to cure.
  • ConcretePour Basement Walls And Floor. Once the footer has cured it’s time to pour the basement walls.  The great thing about our builder was the fact that they poured 10” walls.  That’s a little bigger than most basement walls and it helps against cracking or letting any water in.  On top of that a 1” think foam board was placed all the way around the outside wall to give an extra added protection.
  • Frame the houseFrame The House.  Once the foundation had set for a week or so, the framers moved in and started constructing the house.  This process actually moved very fast, in fact our builders had it fully erected in 3 and a half days.  On top of that the process went fast because there wasn’t just one crew working on the house at a time but rather multiple crews.  When one crew would get done the other crew would move in just as fast to complete the next task.
  • Install the Windows, Roof, Siding and Exterior Doors.  Once the framers have finished the roofers moved in to lay the roof, install the windows, and put up the siding.  With our house we went with a lifetime shingle, and Pella windows, on top of that we are able to wash all the windows inside the house, which is one thing my wife defiantly wanted to have. 
  • Do A Walk Through With The Electrician.  At this point the house should be nearly enclosed and ready to do a walk through with the electrician.  It’s at this point where you can add any extra outlets, switches or lights.  In my case I added extra can lights on the porch, and a few extra outlets in the garage, and basement.  On top of that we also had 4 Cat 6 lines ran around the house for our internet and cable and one phone jack.  I should also mention this step is a very important one because it’s a lot easier to install these things now before they insulate and hang the dry wall.  So plan your outlets, switches, and lights carefully.
  • Install The Plumbing.  At the same time the plumber may be installing a lot of your water and sewer lines and maybe even a few fixtures such as showers.  It’s also good to touch base with your plumber in case you want to add something as well.
  • Install Furnace, and AC Unit.  Another thing that will be done around this time is the furnace, and AC unit will be installed as well.  Along with that all the duct work will be installed along with it.
  • Insulate.  Once all the electrical lines, plumbing, and duct work has been installed it’s time to insulate the walls.  One extra thing I also had done was I insulated the walls in my garage as well, this way I could heat it if I wanted to in the winter time of the year, giving me a place to work on stuff.
  • PillarsHang The Drywall and Mud.  Next, once the insulation is in it’s time to hang the drywall, mud it and sand it.  Now I have to give a lot of credit to the guys who hung my dry wall because they had it hung in 2 days and they were coming from 3 hours away to do it.  After the dry wall was hung another crew came in to mud and sand the walls.  This process took over a week to do and it also required heating the house up to around 90 degrees to dry the house out as much as possible.  This was only done because I was building in the winter and we needed warm up the walls to draw the moisture out.
  • Paint.  The next phase of the home building process was to paint the walls. Now I could have opted to paint my own walls but their painter got it done in 4 days and had air brush  which sped up the process a lot versus using rollers and paint brushes.  On top of that for a few hundred dollars more I had him paint the walls in the garage and the walls leading down into the basement.
  • Hook Up Permanent Gas And Electric.  Right around the same time your painting is getting done your permanent gas and electric should be hooked up, because it is very crucial for the next step.
  • Lay The Flooring.  In order to lay the flooring the sub-flooring must be fairly dry.  This also depends on the time of year you are building your house as well.  If you are in a time of year were things are dryer it won’t take nearly as much to get it done.  This is why I suggest building in the summer time if possible because I ended up with an extra $1000 propane bill for temporary heating until my natural gas and electric line was installed.
  • cabinetaryInstall Cabinets and Trim Work.  Once the flooring is in, it’s time to install the cabinets and trim work throughout the house.  This is where your house really starts to become a home.   This is also the time were the final electrical and plumbing fixtures will be installed as well.
  • Install Appliances.  It’s also at this point were appliances can be brought in and installed.  Now some people won’t do this until after the house is completely built but I decided to do it before it was fully complete that way if I wanted to make any last minute changes I would still be able to make them.  For example I noticed when I installed my washer and dryer that they had a four prong outlet installed instead of a three prong outlet and it allowed me to have them change it out before they were finished.
  • Send In The Cleaners.   One of the great things I liked about my builder was the fact that once everything was done they even had a group of cleaners come in and wash all the cabinets down, sweep the floors, and even clean the windows.  On top of the painters even came back one more time to touch up any spots that may of got nicked when moving appliances or carpet in.
  • The Closing.  Finally once everything was done it was time to close on the house.  I have to admit the building process went fast.  We started on November 20th of 2012 and were finished by February 20th 2013.  Three short months and the entire house was finished, I know houses in my area that started before us and still are not done, so we were doing really good.

Finished House

The Post Building Process

If you’ve made it this far in the article you know just how much work is involved to build.  However, at this point it’s all downhill from here, and there are only a few more things to do it everything should be finished.

  • Before You Move In.  Before you move in there are a few things to be done that will defiantly help out.  First, one thing I did before I moved in is I hung a lot of the blinds, and wall decorations.  With none of the clutter in the way this is the best time to install these things.   Secondly, you may want to consider putting down some plastic or card board to help keep your floors clean so when people are moving stuff in you don’t get mud in your carpet or scratches in your brand new floor.
  • Moving Day.  Finally, the big day is here.  From this day fourth you will be living under the roof of your new house.  This day can be exciting and overwhelming all in one day, this is why I suggest you break it up into two days if possible and get a few family members to help you out as well.  For example, I took Friday off of work and got my brother to help move some of the smaller stuff and on Saturday I was able to get more people help me move the bigger items.  On top of that I also had people help out by preparing meals ahead of time so we didn’t have to do that either.
  • Install Cable TV, Phone, and Internet.  Once you’re moved in you can install your cable TV, Phone, and internet.  One thing I should mention here is that since your house is new you may have extra cable charge or installation fee for running a line from the road to your house.
  • Close On The Mortgage.  Now that you’ve moved in and taken care of the final bills it’s time to close on your mortgage.  At the time of this writing I still have yet to do this but plan to shortly.  The good news is I’m going to get a fairly decent interest rate of around 3.5% which will save me a ton on interest over the long term.
  • Drive Way.  Now that the home process is winding down one of the few final things to take care of is pouring the driveway and sidewalks.  However I plan to wait until June to do this because I want the ground to settle a bit more so I can avoid any cracks in my concrete.
  • Plant Grass, Trees, and Shrubs.  Finally, one of the last things to be done is to plant the grass, trees, and shrubs.  The great part about this is my father in law does shrub work so he will be able to help me with that.  I plan to plant a maple in my front yard for a shade tree and go with boxwood’s  hastes, and some small spruces for the shrub beds.  As for the grass I plan to do it myself but it won’t get done until the fall otherwise I’ll be watering it all summer and that could result in a pretty tall water bill.  So I figured it’d be much simpler for Mother Nature to do most of the work and wait till the fall.  

My Final Thoughts…

Well there you have it, the house building process step by step.  I’ve covered a lot of stuff and I could have gotten into a lot more detail but it would’ve ended up being a 10,000 word article before I got done.

In the end I’m glad things are winding down, I’m glad I only have to do this process once because I don’t know if I could do it again.

So is there anything you would add or change?

Categories: Real Estate Tags: , ,
13
Feb 2013

10 New Home Upgrades To Consider Before You Build

By 20 Comments

Well here we go again, week 5 in my real estate series.  If you haven’t had the chance yet to read the other article in the series I highly recommend you do.  I know I’ve been getting a few comments on how helpful they’ve been for others and I’m glad it’s helping.  I now their has been many times were I wish I had the info I know now, because it could have helped me save just that much more.

So check out the first 4 weeks in the series below

So in this weeks article I’m going to take it a step further on the building process and talk about new home upgrades to consider.  When it comes down to it upgrades are the special little things that you can do to your house to make it more of your own.  Some of these things will be more seen and some will be hidden but very helpful.  Here are some of the ones I’ve made.

#1 Get A Bigger Garage

One of the first things that was suggested to me by a family member was to increase the size of my garage.  At first I was kind of against this because the garage was a full 2 car garage plus it also had an extra 9 foot by 9 foot nook in it.  However when I started considering all the extra stuff I had from tools to the kids toys I decided to look into it a little further.

When it came down to it, to add  an extra 6 foot  extension onto the garage was only going to cost around another $4500, which I thought was very reasonable considering to add an entire 3rd car garage was going to run around $11,000.  On top of that it would also allow me to add a small tool bench to fix things as well.

#2 Get A Bigger Garage Door

Second I suggest getting a bigger garage door.  This is actually one upgrade that I didn’t do but kind of wished I did.  Currently our garage door is a 16 feet wide, which is fine if you have smaller vehicles.  In my case I drive a truck and my wife drives an SUV, neither of which vehicles are very small.  In we had two cars or even a car and a minivan this would be a totally different story.

My suggestion is to go with an 18 foot door or a two separate opening doors this way you will have more room to open your car doors and not hit the vehicle next to you.

#3 Protect Your Electric Lines

The next new house upgrade that I did was put conduit on my electric lines.  This might seem kind of odd but in most cases electric lines will be buried in your yard and run from the street and hook up to a meter on your house.  So when you’re building your house you basically have two options when installing you electric lines.

The first is to do what is called a direct bury.  This is were they trench a hole through your lot and the electric company comes and buries the line with no cover to protect the lines.  The second option is to trench the hole and put conduit down, which is basically a plastic tube, that will protect the electric lines from the natural elements.  On top of that if the lines would ever happen to go bad they won’t have to rip up your yard to install the new ones because all they have to do is slide the new lines through the tube and it’s done.

#4 Get A Basement

The next thing I suggest is that you get a basement.  The thing I like about basements is that they give you all kinds of extra space for storage to living space. My house has a full basement which isn’t even included in the 2150 square feet of my house.  On top of that down the road we plan to fix up the basement as an extra place for the kids to play and to put an office down there.  Finally, the majority of the basement will be used for storage for things like the kids clothes to the Christmas Tree.

#5 Consider A Fire Escape Window

Now if you are considering a basement their is defiantly one upgrade that you must consider that is well worth the money and that is to have a fire escape window.  The one thing that scares me more than anything is that their is only one way out  of that basement if their would happen to be a fire and if that way is blocked their is nothing they could do about it.

I would hate to think that my kids, wife, or anybody else’s life could have been saved only if I would have spent the money on a fire escape window.  I don’t think that is a burden anyone would want to carry and it was only an extra $300. With all the things to be cheap about when building your house this is defiantly not one of them.

#6 Full Or Wrap Around Porch

Now one of the best home upgrades I added was a wrap around porch.  This is  probably the one thing I splurged on when building my house and with good reason too.  I like wrap around porches because there’s nothing better than kicking back outside on nice spring day with a light breeze hitting your face, sipping on a cold beer, and watching a thunderstorm roll in.  At least for me.

On the other hand I also feel a porch can really tell a lot about someone.  I feel a more open porch such as a wrap around feels more inviting,  open, and friendly,while smaller and in some cases hidden porches feel less inviting and closed off.  I’m not saying ones right or wrong but that’s just the impression I get.

#7 Extra Lighting

Another one of the best home upgrades for the money is to add extra lighting.  I know I talked about this in previous articles but you’ll defiantly be thankful when you have those extra lights in your closets and hard to see places.  On top of that I also added extra can lights on my wrap around porch, because what’s the use of sitting a porch when you can see anybody.  In the end it cost me an extra $1100 in lights, switches, and outlets but it defiantly will be worth it.

#8 Keypad Entree

Number eight on the list is a keypad entree.  I’ve never had one of these until I moved into my rental house and I can tell you it has been very helpful to have.  On my old house I got locked out a few times with no way in and had to climb in through a window which the neighbors got a good chuckle out of.  However with a keypad entree I won’t have to worry about that issue no more.

#9 Improve Your Garage

Next on the list for new home upgrade tips is to insulate, drywall, and paint the garage.  At first I was kind of against this idea but once I seen the final coat of paint I new I had made the right decision.   The reason I liked it so much was because I could heat the garage just like any other room in the house.

The benefit to that is if I plan to have a bigger party it will give me the extra space I need.  In fact my garage is big enough that I could have family parties, to my kids graduation parties in there.  On top of that if I would have to work on something in their in the dead of winter I could heat it so I wouldn’t have to work out in the cold weather.

#10  Get More Storage Space

Finally, the last of the new house upgrades is to have walk in closets.  One of the things we liked so much about our house plans was the fact that nearly every bedroom had a walk in closet except for one.  On top of that we also have a pantry in the kitchen which will defiantly help for storing everything form flour and sugar to mixers and blenders.

However, the need for more closet space didn’t really become a concern until we bought our first house and realized we didn’t have hardly any room to store stuff.  On top of that we also added extra storage racks to stack stuff up on which would allow us hang most of our close and not have to have it laying on piles in our bedroom.

What New Home Upgrades Are You Considering?

In the end I feel the best way to know what kind of upgrades you really want is to buy a house before you build one.  This way you can see were you might be falling short on something like extra closet space or things that would be nice to have such as a wrap around porch.

So what kind of new house upgrades are you considering?

 

Categories: Real Estate Tags: , , ,
06
Feb 2013

10 Tips On How To Sell Your House Fast And Get Top Dollar For It

By 12 Comments

This week would make the fourth week in my real estate series and if you haven’t had the chance to check out the first three weeks you check them out below.

This week however I’m going to go in another direction and talk about 10 tips on how to sell your house fast and get top dollar for it.  The thing is before I could even think about building a house like I am right now I had to get my house sold first.

In fact it took me nearly a year get my house sold and boy did I learn a lot of things during this process.  In fact I faced a lot of ups and downs in this process, so read on.

1# Get A Real Estate Agent

One of the first things I did was contacted my local real estate agent.  Now I know not everyone is on board when it comes to real estate agents but going with a local agent who really knows the area could be a huge benefit to you.

In my case I knew my real estate agent had a list of people he could call right off the bat which could result in a quick sale for my house.  Which could be worth it’s weight in the 6% commission he got.  In the first month he was able to get several people to take a look at the house and even get me an offer.

So before you discount real estate agents talk to a few.  Look for one that especially knows the area and value.  A lot of times it’s agents like this who can find you a buyer fast.

2# Stage Your House

The thing you’ll want to do if you want to sell your house fast is to stage it.  When it comes impressing someone who checks out your house it’s so important stage the house to look good.

For example, your living room should look like a living room, not an exercise room or a toy room for the kids.  Make it look comfortable and inviting to the eye, like it was made for them.

My brother recently sold his house and he had a really nice home theater system in his basement and one thing he did when the real estate agent was showing his house is he had a movie playing so when people came through the house it would really give them that wow factor of the sound and the picture.

So take some time to stage your house and make it look good.

3# Kill The Clutter

The next thing you should do is kill any and all clutter around your house. When people come to look at your house things should feel wide open and spacious.  On top of that eliminate any place where  the clutter seems to pile up the most.

One place this happened a lot for me was the kitchen table.  Since the house didn’t have a lot of counter top space we removed nearly everything off of them from mail to appliances to make them look more open.

So look for the places where clutter is building up in your house and remove them to make things feel more open.

#4 Do Some Landscaping

Another thing to consider is the outside appearance.  Face it if you want to get buyers in your house to check it out you need to impress them with on the outside first.  This is were landscaping can help you big time.

A few things I  added were some new mulch, flowers, and trimmed the shrubs.  These things can make your house really stand out and on top of that they are incredibly cheap to do.  Another thing I did was mowed the lawn very regularly so the lawn looked sharp.  In the end these things will make your house look a lot more inviting.

So take the time to do some landscaping on your house before you put it on the market, that way when the for sale sign is in your front yard buyers will be more enticed to take a look.

5# Fix Things Up

Number five is pretty much a no brainer to fix things up around your house, but one thing I want to point out is that you’ll be amazed at what some buyers will bring up when they look at your house.

Shortly before I sold my house one of my buyers asked to have a property inspection done and he found several things for me to fix from a few pieces of cracked siding, to a loose bolt on my garage door.

So take some time to fix not only the big issues with your house but also the little ones because you never know what buyers will like to nit pick about.

6# Initiate The First Offer

Next thing you can do is a little trick I learned when all the buyers dried up.  The truth is most of your interested buyers are going to show up to look at your house the first month it’s on the market.  After that things are going to slow down a bit.

When this happens you may have to try some different tactics to get people to come back for a second look.  This is were I initiated the first offer by calling the real estate agent back and asking him to contact the prospective buyer back and give him a lower offer.

By doing this it will hopefully get the buyer to make an offer back thus opening up some sort of negotiation.  In my case it never worked but it’s at least worth a shot.

7# Hold Onto Bank Approved Buyers

This next tip is huge and if I wouldn’t have made this mistake I would have sold my house within 2 weeks, and that is to hold onto bank approved buyers like gold.

If your real estate agent tells you a buyer is bank approved that means they can make an offer right on the spot, whereas most buyers may still have to go talk to their bank yet.

In my case I had a buyer who was bank approved but was just under what I really wanted to get for the house.  As a result I didn’t take the deal and ended up waiting an entire year to get another offer.

When it comes down to it don’t be afraid to take an offer when it comes up.

8# Understand Your Buyers Motive

Then next thing to consider is what your buyers motive is.  Ask yourself why does that person want to buy your house.  Is it because of a job, the neighborhood, the school system.  In my case I was looking to sell my house so I could buy a house with more space.

By knowing your potential buyers motives you could use it to help you get your house sold.  For example,  if you know the buyer is looking for a bigger house you can try to open things up more showing that your house has a lot of extra space.

9# Offer Incentives

Another tactic I used to get buyers looking at my house was to offer incentives.  For example, when I was selling my house I offered to add the stove and deep freezer in with the deal at no extra cost.

By adding in the few extra appliances it sweetened the deal for those who still needed to buy the appliances yet, saving them a few bucks in the process.

So take some time and walk around your house and see what you could offer as an incentive to sell with your house.

10# Consider The Market

The last thing you want to consider is the market itself.  The market is probably the most important piece to this puzzle.  To start start looking at just how many houses are for sale in your town.

If a lot of houses are for sale you may have to be more willing to drop your price to get it sold.  However, their are hardly any houses for sale your town and the neighborhood you live in pretty nice you may want to stick to your guns and not drop your price much.

This recently happened when my brother sold his house.  After doing some quick research he found his house was the only house for sale in town and it was a decent size house a lot of people were looking for.  On top of that he also found out that their were only a few lots for sale in town as well which means he had a pretty good sellers market.

So take some time and consider the current housing market in your area.  What kind of houses are more commonly being sold right now and what competitive edge can you bring to the table that others are not doing?

So what kind of tips do you have on how to sell your house fast?  Feel free to share your thoughts, comments, and tips below.

Categories: Real Estate Tags: ,
01
Feb 2013

8 Unexpected Cost To Building A New House

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Over the last couple of weeks I’ve been documenting my journey to building a new house.  In last weeks article I talked about how I saved nearly $20,000 building my house and the week before that I also covered is building  a house worth it.  Both of these articles talked about all the things I learned along the way but today’s article is all about the unexpected cost to building a new house that I didn’t consider.

When it comes down to it your not going to think of every cost that will go into your house.  A lot of times many of the cost I didn’t consider came up as we were building our house, but my contractor was very good at helping spot these cost upfront so I could budget for them.  However I didn’t budget for all of these things just for the pure fact that I felt I could pay for them out right with cash instead of sticking them into a loan.

Finally, I feel this article may come in very handy for someone who in planning to build a house and avoid some of the mistakes that I made.   Personally,  I wish someone had given me this list before I had started, it would have made the planning process go a lot smoother.

#1 Blinds

The first thing I thought that I will defiantly need for my new house is blinds.  The reason I missed this little detail was because of all the houses that I had owned, blinds were already installed, however when you build a new house you will have to install your own in most cases. On top of that I also noticed I needed some curtain blinds for my back patio door.

In all I will need at least 11 sets of blinds to cover the house and depending on the type of blinds you get some of them can get fairly expensive.  In my case I will probably go with something more in the middle of the road that isn’t to pricey and still looks good.

#2 Electric Fixtures

Once our house was framed I had to do a walk through with my electrician to see if I wanted to add any extra outlets, switches, or lights. At first I thought I wouldn’t need any extra but when we started digging into things I realized I would need more.  It’s funny when you see your house plans on paper and you think everything looks good but then once the house is standing you start to notice a few things that you would like to add.

Below is a list of a few things we added extra.

  • Can Lights for the Porch.  With my house plan their were only going to be lights located by the front door.  However a wrap around porch is no good if you can’t sit on it in the evenings, so we added 6 can lights with a switch to turn them on and off.  
  • Lights In the Closet.  Another thing we noticed was that their were no lights in the closets which can make it really hard to see in them sometimes.  So all the closets got a light and a switch.
  • Extra Outlets.  Finally, we added extra outlets for my work bench in the garage and on our plant ledge which was located in the foyer.

In all we ended up spending an extra $1100 on lights, switches, and outlets. Ouch!

#3 Drive Way and Sidewalks

The next cost I didn’t budget for was the driveway and the sidewalks.  I didn’t include these in my budget for a couple of reasons.  First off, before you do any cementing it’s important that you let the ground settle first.  If the ground still has to settle it could cause cracks and as a result I would rather wait.

The other reason I didn’t include it in my house plans was because I know a few people who can help do it, which could save me a lot of money in labor and all I would have to pay for is the concrete.   In the end I don’t plan to pour the concrete till the fall to give the ground enough time to settle, and also save up a few extra bucks in the meantime.

#4 Grass

Another cost to consider is grass.  If you’ve planted grass before it can be expensive. On top of that grass needs a lot of water to grow properly. This means you don’t want to be planting it in the dead of summer, otherwise you could be spending a lot of money to water it.  This is why I don’t plan to plant my lawn till the fall.

This will also give me time to break up the bigger chunks of dirt and pick up any gravel that might be in the yard as well.  Finally, just like the drive way it will need some time to settle.

#5  Shrubs And Trees

Along with the grass is shrubs and trees.  If you’re like me I like a lot of shade, especially in the summer.  Not only does it make it cooler for you outside but it also helps to keep your house cool as well.  On top of that I plan to add a few shrubs around the front of the house.

The great part about this process is that I have a father in law that is very skilled at planting shrubs.  My plan is to go with smaller shrubs such as boxwood’s, hostas, and small spruces, since they are easier to maintain.

#6 Ceiling Fans

Another thing we didn’t consider was ceiling fans.  Even though the house will have central air ceiling fans help out  a lot in the summer time to push  air around the house.  However what we overlooked was the fact that we had to buy the ceiling fans separately which end up running us an extra $500.

On the bright side of  things our electrician installed them all for us at no extra cost which was nice.

#7 Appliances

Seventh on our list of cost we didn’t consider was buying new appliances.  One thing that hurt us a little was the fact that I had to sell most of the appliances in my previous house just to get someone to buy it.  This meant we needed a new fridge, stove, and deep freezer.  On top of that we were also adding  a dishwasher, and an overhead microwave.

In the end it probably cost me around $3700 but as I mentioned in my previous article I watched out for all the deals and saved quite a bit on all of these appliances.

#8 Mailbox

Finally, the last thing I didn’t consider was a mailbox.  Again this isn’t a major purchase but when you start adding up all these little cost that I mentioned you start to realize it’s a lot more money than you planned.  This is why it’s so important to plan now.  In fact, if you’re still in the process of planning to build, now is the best time to start considering some of these extra cost.

Is their any extra cost to building a house you can think of?  Share your thoughts, comments, and ideas below.

 

Categories: Real Estate Tags: , ,
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