9 Design Secrets to Save Thousands When Redecorating
By: Paula Stone

It is amazing to me how much money people throw at remodeling projects. Most home buyers pay around market prices for real estate, making it unlikely they could resell quickly and get their money back at closing, much less make money. It‘s a better strategy to spend less, get good value for purchases and wait at least a few years before you move again.

There are a lot of ways to save big money on remodeling projects. In many areas you have to be willing to eat the cost of granite counter tops when you have to resell. Tiles might be the better choice. Clean homes with an uncluttered, Zen like appearance usually sell well. The best way you can get a property that will hold its value is in picking the right neighborhood. If you buy a house in the right area in need of work, you can still do well.

So what is the right way to do your home improvement? Here are a few of my favorite techniques.

1. Avoid exotic special paint treatments and over the top custom decorating. Simple, uncluttered and restful will be better while you live in the home and at resale, too. Don‘t throw money at a project. It‘s really risky, especially if you have to resale quickly. Restraint should be the operative word.
2. Figure out what will make your house better for you to live in comfortably and focus on those items first. Built in storage could make you a lot more comfortable. So could intelligent reuse of other people‘s discards. One of the cutest houses I have ever seen was a great collection of reused items and resold in one day in a depressed real estate market. Look around for sales and/or good used stuff.
3. If your home lacks a second bath, consider adding one instead of moving. It will make your 1 or 1&1/2 bath home more comfortable for you and more sellable when you really need to sell. Moving is a difficult thing. Only do it if you really have to.
4. Create a detailed plan for your projects. You want to figure out what the complications may be and find out how to deal with them up front.
5. Can you imagine tearing out your kitchen and finding out the custom cabinets you ordered will take 8 months to ship from Europe. Meanwhile you have no kitchen. The cost of all those months of eating out needs to be added to your total estimated costs. What‘s wrong with domestic anyway? Just tell folks you imported the rock all the way from Uzbekistan. How would anyone know? Don‘t do it. Importing is not green and can cost a lot of green!!!
6. Be sure and have all work inspected to make sure it meets or exceeds code in your area. It may be your best protection against contractor incompetence. Pay your contractor when it passes both your and the municipality‘s inspection.
7. Demolition is something you can do to save money on your project. Preparing work areas and cleaning up after the contractors are done may help, too. Just be careful and don‘t get hurt. We know a watchmaker who has always been interested in wood working, but doesn‘t do it. If he saws off a finger he could end his career. Those tools and ladders can be dangerous.
8. Be sure and have all materials and supplies on site before work starts. Many projects take forever just because of materials not being available when contractors are. If your special tub is not on site when the installers come you could wait forever for the next time they are available. This is especially true if you are building in an out of the way building site. Many wood floors need time to acclimate to the humidity or lack of it in the house where it will be installed. Plan as much as you can. I once refaced a kitchen in a weekend because we had everything we needed to finish the job, doors, trim, paint…everything. Planning matters. Many decorators and contractors don‘t plan well. Save yourself the wait and frustration with good planning.
9. I like to use home store‘s affiliated installers for some of the work. They give a good level of satisfaction to meet the store‘s standards or they don‘t get any more work. It may be a lot less risky than hiring some friend of a friend. A lot of contractors are not as good at it as I am and I don‘t call myself a pro. I am a better painter than many professionals and often do it to save significant money on my projects.

One last thing, when remodeling be sure not to mess up your floor plan. Be sure it will pass the appraiser test at resale. Did you know that in most municipalities in the US, a room must have egress and a closet in order to be called a bedroom? You also don‘t want to walk through one bedroom to get to another. So study up and plan in order not to mess up.

Article Source: http://www.ArticleJoe.com

Paula Stone is a black belt home remodeler and former Realtor. She works with her husband Ron in his mortgage business. Their website is full of Free information about the mortgage process and real estate. Visit it at www.alabama-mortgage-specialists.com“>Alabama Mortgage Loan

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