Home improvement is the backbone of American homeownership. American families spend over $400 billion every year on remodeling projects in pursuit of their dream homes, and this trend doesn’t appear to be changing any time soon. Remodeling gives your creativity an outlet and allows you to reimagine the space that you spend most of your free time in. It’s a great way to breathe new energy into your home life, but planning an expensive battery of home improvement upgrades can feel like a daunting task.
Home improvements, when first considered, can shock a homeowner when they glance at the bottom line. Remodeling can be pricey, but the bigger picture reveals a surprisingly affordable industry over the long term. Plus, projects that add value to the home can be a major selling point if you decide to move later on down the road. Renovations can dramatically increase resale value, recouping the costs of the project all those years prior, and giving you more capital to work within seeking a new home in the future.
Take care of your finances in advance.
Everyone suggests keeping a tight checkbook, but the value of controlled financial health is often understated. When you are looking to purchase a new home or remodel your current structure with a roofing repair or extension to the back of the property, then you may be in need of financial support from your bank. Taking advantage of a home loan to cover the cost of the project in the short term is an attractive method of financing for many homeowners. This gives you access to the upgrades you are seeking, without setting back your savings account.
Taking advantage of the best rates available means planning your borrowing months in advance. It’s the same strategy you needed when applying for mortgage loans to purchase the home in the first place. Paying off credit card debt, adding regularly to your savings account, and living far below your means, will all do an excellent job of improving your credit score in the short term and create additional lending opportunities that will benefit your current set of needs.
Saving is particularly important. Your bank will want to ensure that you aren’t living paycheck to paycheck when they run a credit history check on you. One way to provide rock-solid evidence of your fiscal responsibility is to set up an automatic transfer from your checking account to your savings account after each payday. By transferring income to savings automatically, you can set it and forget it. Therefore your bank will see that your budget accounts for the savings you want to put away first, instead of last. Saving at the front of a budgeting calculation shows that you are responsible and committed to long term financial stability rather than short term gratification through the purchase of new, flashy belongings. If you aren’t already saving automatically, you should start at least six months before you intend to apply for funding, in order to take advantage of specials or other prime rates offered by your bank, as well as having peace of mind that your credit history check will come back as being excellent, on the first time it is ran,
Plan renovations together.
Another advantage baked into the early planning for a renovation project is the ability to lump multiple projects together. Renovations can take some time, so pursuing multiple upgrades all at once gives you the ability to condense the chaos of home remodels into one, instead of a revolving series of projects. If you use the same contractor for multiple tasks you may even receive a discount on the overall cost of the entire process as well.
Homeowners often chose to group exterior projects together, as well as including flooring upgrades. A roof replacement, for instance, must be done every 20 years, on average, so repainting the exterior and hiring a Kalamazoo window company to replace your old windows can create a totally new exterior in a shorter time frame, and improve your overall quality of life at the simultaneously. Roofing shingle and window repairs help manage the heat within your home and can actually reduce your electricity bill by an astonishing margin. These spaces are the prime culprits of heat loss through tiny leaks that form as they age. This means that cracks compromise the structure, and the risks of further damage as the weather changes across the seasons, continues power inefficiency throughout.
Replacing your windows is also a great way to add a new stylish element to the interior space as well. A window replacement is one of the first things a home buyer will consider when viewing a home that is showing signs of aging, so the ability to offer your home with new or recently upgraded windows is a big draw for viewings and can give you a major boost to the asking price.
The same holds true for the paint. A home must be repainted every few years, however many homeowners simply choose not to keep up with the exterior. Buyers know that they will need to repaint a home that shows this wear and offer accordingly. Keeping up with the home’s painting gives you leverage in the negotiation process, and a trendy color scheme that keeps with the market’s current interests can actually increase your final sale price by thousands of dollars.
When approaching interior upgrades, merging projects is also a great idea. Many homeowners have envisioned the perfect kitchen for years. The kitchen is the heartbeat of any home. It’s typically located in or near the center of the structure, and the scent of its tasty creations waft through the entire home each night, as you prepare meals for the family. Your kitchen sets the mood for the home around it, so creating the perfect space for your needs here, should take priority. Upgrading the countertops and even making space for an island are great ideas when approaching a kitchen to remodel. Homeowners and buyers alike love the aesthetic and longevity of stone countertops—composed of either granite or marble. These will last for years, if not decades, and often show little to no wear throughout their lifetime. The hard, cool surface can withstand a pot or pan right off the stove and is the perfect complement to a home cook who loves preparing intricate combination dishes for his or her family.
While remodeling the kitchen, a flooring upgrade is a great idea. Many older homes in the United States still sport carpeting, but the hardwood floor is the future. Just like a stone countertop, these can last a generation without much direct upkeep required, and look absolutely stunning. Hardwood flooring is the pinnacle of luxury, and installing a new surface across your home, in tandem with a kitchen remodel, can see both large projects completed in quick succession so that you can get back to your life.
Need more room to work in?
A simple search for ‘cheap storage near me’ can help you move your belongings out of the way so that the project can get underway. A reliable storage facility with 24-hour access, climate control, and large storage units that can fit your furniture, belongings, and other amenities from the home is the best way to move your things out of the way during a remodel. Storage units are often inexpensive and suit the requirements of a home improvement project perfectly. Instead of working around your home’s stuff, you can neatly pack it away in one of your local area’s best self-storage facilities for safe keeping and then return it to your home once the work is finished.
Stacking multiple home renovation projects is the best way to inch closer to that dream home you have always wanted. Start planning early and tackle home improvement as a single, large scale project.
