Last weeks blog post went over the best home remodeling projects to do to increase your home’s value.  One of the best projects to do is the kitchen.  The kitchen is the “heart of the home.” Instead of having a formal dining room, new homebuyers are looking for a more open kitchen floor plan in order to entertain guests. Renovating a kitchen can be quite expensive, but with these tips – you can make your kitchen look fresh, without all of the heavy expenses.

Cabinets
New cabinets are often a huge expense. If your current cabinets are in good shape, try renovating them by painting them white! White will brighten up the room and hide outdated designs. However, if your cabinets can’t be salvaged by a little white paint, consider updating them with some new doors instead. If you choose a door with a window, consider using designer shelf liner to make the inside pop.

Counter Tops
Buying or updating counter tops can be expensive, especially if you want to use granite. However, there is a way to get the granite countertop you want without breaking the bank. If you only have a small amount of countertop to cover, you might be able to catch a good deal on remnants at a granite supply yard.

Kitchen Backsplash
The backsplash in your kitchen has more function than simply looking nice; it also protects the wall from splashes, grease, and other cooking stains. Backsplashes take up little space and can be relatively inexpensive depending upon the material. You can use glass, porcelain, ceramic, pegboards, vinyl, or wood.

Lighting
Updating the lighting can do wonders within the kitchen and it doesn’t have to be too expensive.  Install under-cabinet lighting to help with task lighting without shadows. Having pendant or hanging lights can help light up other workstations or the center island.

Flooring
The floors are typically one of the most expensive parts of renovating a kitchen, but there are ways to do it without going too overboard on a budget. Using a less expensive material such as ceramic tile, vinyl flooring, or plastic laminate flooring are all good choices compared to wood. In general, they are also much easier to clean! 

If you are planning on doing renovations to your home, you may want to consider how the projects will affect the value of your home.  If you plan to move or are in the process of trying to sell, consider the following to increase the value of your home.

Update The Kitchen
The kitchen is known as the “heart of the home” where everyone tends to gather and have meals together.  If families are spending the most time together in this room, it needs to be updated. It’s important that the kitchen has plenty of room for people to gather. If you change the layout to something that is more open, this will draw more people in. Upgrade your appliances to stainless steel and your countertops to granite or engineered stone. Both of these changes are relatively easy to do and will help make your kitchen have a sleeker look.

Fix The Bathroom
The bathroom is the one room that you can almost guarantee anyone that comes to your house is going to use at some point.  Any bathroom that doesn’t have a working toilet (difficult to flush) or is cracked or old should be replaced.  The lighting in the bathroom shouldn’t be too intense or too dark. An easy way to brighten up the space would be to install a window to get some natural light into the room. A vanity that doesn’t take up too much space would also work well in an updated bathroom.

Reframe Your Entryway
A homes’ front door can make a big impression to your guests and boost the homes curb appeal.  Choosing a door made of steel or fiberglass has fewer limitations than doors made of wood.  While a steel or fiberglass door can make your home more energy efficient, a fiberglass door is about three times more expensive than that of a steel door.

Renovate Your Attic or Basement
Being able to update your attic or basement into another living space can help you increase equity, as long as you build it to code.   You can turn it into another bedroom, a man cave, or even a place for the kids to hang out.

Go Green
Energy efficiency is something that people are starting to look for when they’re purchasing their homes. Not only is it great for the environment, it will save money in the long run.  You can make your home “green” on a small scale (programmable thermostats, ceiling fans, adding storm doors) or large scale (installing solar panels.)

Install Built In Speakers
Having built in speakers makes your home more high tech, which will stand out to buyers. Put speakers in each of the rooms and centrally wire a sound system into your home. Choose to install surround sound in rooms that you tend to watch television in order to make movies and sports a little more exciting.

It’s All About Lighting.
Nobody wants to live in a dark space. As mentioned earlier, having windows to bring in some natural light is a great idea, but you can also install dimmer switches. Dimmer switches are great for being able to control how much light you want in a room so it isn’t too overwhelming at any point.

Millennials are starting to stray from renting. Instead, they are searching for their first home.  There are some specific requirements that this generation wants that may be different from previous generations. To sell a home towards Millennials, read what they consider home “must haves.”

A Good Location
Younger homebuyers without children tend to see a good location as one that is near public transportation and/or has a good walking score.  This is different from their parents that likely didn’t mind a longer commute with more privacy.  Although, young homebuyers that have children may also want something that’s a little more residential.

Online Photos
Today, most people start their search for a home online. Making sure that the home has professional looking photos is key to capturing the interest of millennial homebuyers.  Factors such as lighting, angle, and general cleanliness are all important for a photo to come out looking its best.

Open Floor Plans
Many young homebuyers don’t feel the need for a formal dining room.  During get togethers, most people are now spending their time in the kitchen and the common living room. There is a desire to have more of a flow when they are entertaining instead of having rooms sectioned off for specific purposes.

Updated Kitchen and Bathrooms
As mentioned before, the younger generation entertains more in the kitchen, which requires a nice big space. In addition, kitchen and bathrooms are often very expensive to renovate and change.   Millennials often have limited budgets and spend their money on a down payment and furnishings instead of updating.

Low Maintenance
Making a home as low maintenance as possible is excellent for millennial homebuyers. Wood floors and granite countertops are a plus since they're much easier to clean than carpet and easily stained surfaces. 

It’s the holiday season, which means in just a few short weeks, winter weather will be creeping up on us, quicker than most of us would like.  The cost to keep your house nice and warm all winter long can often be quite expensive. Try some of these quick hacks before the weather gets too cold, to keep the warmth in and your heating costs low.

Close up your fireplace.
If you have a fireplace, you want to make sure that the flue is closed all the way.  You should check to make sure that you are unable to feel any breeze or cold air coming in when it’s closed.  If you want, put some glass doors around your fireplace opening as an additional way to keep the cold air out of your house.

Cover your water heater.
Take a trip to the hardware store and pick up a water heater blanket that will help to keep your water heater tank from losing heat so quickly.  It’s fairly inexpensive and will help you save some money on the heating bill.

Get a programmable thermostat.
If you don’t already have a programmable thermostat, you should consider installing one as soon as possible.  Thermostats can be set to keep the house cooler when nobody is home and warmer when there is.  There is no need to keep the house warmer when nobody is there to enjoy it!

Replace inefficient windows and doors.
Windows and doors are meant to keep the cold air out! If you can feel a draft around any of your doors, try adding a double a triple pane windows along with insulated doors and garage doors.

Change your furnace filter.
Be sure to change your furnace filters. If they are dirty, your furnace has to work harder than it needs to. Filters should be changed monthly within the heating season and should also be serviced periodically in order to make sure that its in proper working order.

Each of these small changes won’t take too much effort to put into place and can significantly decrease your heating bill, while keeping your home warm all winter long.  You’ll be the best prepared for this cold winter!

Source: msn

Location, Location, Location. You’ve heard of the importance of location if you want success in a business, it’s similar when you are going to buy a home.  Obviously, you want to choose a neighborhood you’re going to like, but how do you choose if you don’t know or aren’t entirely sure exactly what you want? How do you know what to look for? When considering a neighborhood, you want to look at your own life and needs and find a neighborhood that matches with you, not the other way around.

Do you have children or are planning on having children in the near future?
If you are planning on having children or currently have them, you want to keep in mind the school system of the neighborhood or town that you are going to be moving into.  Are there schools that you would be happy for your children to grow and learn in? This may not be a huge consideration for you if you don’t plan on having kids, but if you are – it is very important to think about.

Do you want to live on a busy road or a quiet one?
The differences are pretty large between living on a busy or a quiet road.  On a busy road (one with a double yellow line) it likely is faster to get to places since it isn’t off the beaten path at all, but you’d also have to deal with the possibility of traffic and all that comes with it.  On a quiet road, you don’t have to worry about traffic as much, but the commute might a bit longer.

Are you willing to pay more for a safe neighborhood?
Granted nobody wants to live in an unsafe neighborhood, but is it worth the extra cash to live in a neighborhood that is gated or incredible safe? You have to make this decision as well.  Would you rather spend the extra money and move to a neighborhood where its very rare if something is reported or are you okay with taking your chances on a neighborhood where the crime rate isn’t near perfect, but you would save a lot of money?

How long do you want your commute to be?
When you’re on your way to work, do you want to be able to walk, drive a half hour, or somewhere in-between? How about to get to the grocery store or the movie theater? Maybe you have to choose between being closer to work or closer to the grocery story.

Answering these questions, in addition to ordering them in priority level, is necessary as it may be difficult to find everything you absolutely want. Once you find a neighborhood that you think you want, pay attention to your first impression of it. What made you drawn to it? Can you imagine yourself living in this space day in and day out? Paying attention to these little things is a great way to know what direction to go in.