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Home Features That Draw the Highest Price

Posted by Michael Collins, CDPE, SFR on September 12, 2013 at 4:37am

Best home features to draw the highest sale price.

: photo credit: Jeremy Levine Design via photopin cc

Investing money in a rental property or a flip can yield great dividends. However, not all improvements are equal. It is important to put your money in the right places in order to have the greatest impact on the home's value. Here are the top features you can add to a home that will likely draw the highest price.

New Deck

The addition of a deck is one of the best improvements that can be made to a home. In fact, Remodeling Magazine published a report that stated over 85% of the money spent on a deck will likely be recovered when the home is sold. This compares favorably to 78% of the money spent on remodeling a bathroom.

Decks add another usable area for families to entertain or relax. It is wise to plan out the deck properly in order to maximize space, function and appearance.

Sunroom

One of the hottest trends over the past few years has been the addition of sunrooms. These areas allow homeowners to feel close to the outdoors while staying comfortable inside. Skylights and tile floors are common in sunrooms. Owners can choose to have the room heated or not, depending on climate and budget.

A sunroom will add to the total square footage of the home but at a cheaper price than adding other types of rooms such as bathrooms or bedrooms. The best place to put a sunroom is just off a major area like a living room or kitchen.

Office

More companies are offering employees the option to telecommute and freelancers are growing in numbers every year. For this reason it is quite common for people to need a specific work area in their home. Having an office in the home makes it easier for people to get their jobs done and the area can be a deduction on taxes. Popular features are multiple electrical outlets, internet line outlet, open space and storage cabinets.

Light and Space

Tight, dimly lit spots are a real turn off for potential buyers. If there are areas in a home that do not have access to sunlight then it is a good idea to add electrical lighting. Recessed lights, adjustable lights and modern light switches add a contemporary feel.

Besides adding light you can opt to add more space. This can be accomplished by removing walls that block off areas from each other. Many homes now have a wide open spot comprised of the kitchen, living room and dining room. This allows a number of people to socialize with each other without the need for everyone fitting in to one small room.

This is not to suggest that all the above features need to be added to a home in order to increase its value. These are simply some of the best ways to recover costs and attract buyers to a home.

Are you buried in utility bills? See this solution . . .

Posted by Christian Broadwell on January 9, 2012 at 4:30am

Normally there are two ways most REO agents handle their utility bills but wait, there is a third:

1. Pay each bill with a check and set the check aside for several weeks until it is due to minimize the leverage of funds

2. Pay by bill-pay through your banking website which only takes daunting hours of your time due to hundreds of accounts that are no longer used or require deletion

3. Use Realty Pilot's Concourse 360 to create the record of the check file and print one check for each utility company at the end of the month

Let's face it banks don't pay a management fee for properties as an REO and the longer the hold time of a property the more free labor the banks are squeezing out of you. One of the most important things to know is where your break even number with days to hold a property is. Is it based on the number of tasks that are involved, is it due to the price of the home or is it the amount of time the home stays in your inventory? All of these are concerns but the one most important is hold time. The longer the hold time the more chance the REO asset will cost you money rather than make you money. So what do you do? First, pin point what costs you money then find a way to minimize those costs. Since this blog is about utilities I am going to let you in on a little secret.

Utilities will cost you money by the amount of time spent paying the bill-pay through your bank and takes money out of your pocket immediately. They will also cost you money printing numerous amounts of checks every month only to release them strategically hoping not to miss one and you still have to scan a copy of that check for the invoice record. Additionally there could be deposits and bonds involved to support the volume of bills under your own name. So what do you do?

Realty Pilot's Concourse 360 has come up with a very unique check writing system that allows you create the check file within their system right from the expense record that looks just like your check without printing and scanning. This check file stays with the expense that is tracked for each property. This allows the agent to pay all bills for a utility company on one check at the end of the month. So now you only have to print one check for each utility company and your money is not immediately dispersed allowing you to reduce the amount of time your funds are leveraged for the bank or asset company.

Is Your Brokerage BORING As Hell??

Posted by Justin Richards on August 30, 2011 at 1:42pm

So I happened to be visiting a friend's real estate brokerage a few months back and was absolutely amazed at how quiet, dead, and BORING this place was. This office had a HUGE bullpin with over a hundred cubicles, at least 50 people working, and I swear you really could have heard a pin drop. I started to tell my buddy a funny story about a recent client and 15 seconds into story the unthinkable happened!!! SSSHHUUUUSH!!

WTF??My voice wasn't loud or overly animated, in fact I'd been keeping it down since this brokerage felt more like a church or library than a real estate office, but sure enough I got shushed. After we left, this got me to thinking is this office just boring as hell, or is my office just the anomaly?? In my office it's the norm to hear people yelling back and forth down the hallway, music on, people laughing, an occasional curse word or two, chair races, loud phone calls going on, and tons of deals being done.

For me the more casual environment makes work interesting and fun to come into. Not sure why "Professional" is often defined as suits, stuffy, quiet,....and boring. If that definition is true....I'll be the first to admit, our office is NOT professional.

How is your brokerage? Loud and bustling ...or quiet? Is your office's idea of getting crazy having a potluck on Wednesday instead of Friday? What environment do you thrive in?

Small Office or Major Corporate Brand to handle REOs?

Posted by Johnny Huang on September 30, 2009 at 10:00am

Before I opened my own office, I was with a big named real estate company. I felt that being part of that corporate structure was something I wanted to experience. I've always been part of the small business world and truly never thought going corporate. However, two years ago I took my chance at a corporate office and here's my experience:1. The corporate culture taught me lead generation, contract, escrow classes and such, but when you actually get down to the nitty gritty, contract and deals are within you. Anyone can do a cookie cutter deal, not everyone can look at a deal and make it better, especially if you are looking for the benefits of your clients. Therefore, the work that I did as far as production and lead generation was all MY effort.2. I never saw any of the "brokers" that owned/operated the office. Only the broker-in-charge that was there for review. They may have taught a few classes once in a while, but my interaction with them was pretty much nil. This may be personal to me, but I'd like to see newcomers and greet them because I thought it was respectful, especially if they are going to do the hard work for the company.3. It boiled down to the money I had to depart after close of escrow with splits plus additional fees like printing, tech fees, so on, I felt I was penny pinched. Was it worth plus E&O each year to pay for the support staff and brokers? I was also responsible for my own marketing and Board fee and any expensing involved with listings. I was doing everything on my own and absorbing all the overhead in my own office.Within 3 months of starting at a big office, I started doing BPOs. That lead to my blogging activity on http://activerain.com/blogsview/413473/bpo-learning-curve which lead to REO listings. To the surprise of my collegues in that big office, they were all astounded that a new guy had landed assignments. One thing lead to another, and business was booming until I decided to open my own office.One thought that came across my mind was that I started my BPO and REO work within that corporate culture and will receive REO listings and be recognized as an independent office? I'm convinced it's not the big name but the agent name him/herself that makes the REO's happen.

office (4)

Home Features That Draw the Highest Price

Are you buried in utility bills? See this solution . . .

Is Your Brokerage BORING As Hell??

Small Office or Major Corporate Brand to handle REOs?

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