Posts in category 'Home Improvement'
17
Plenty of 2020 Upgrades
Now that we've all smashed our way into a new decade (and I celebrated my birthday by getting my avalanche safety certification) it is time to take a look at what buyers are going to be itching for in the coming year. There are certainly features that always stand the test of time. Like a roof that doesn't leak and windows that go up and down. But I digress. What we're focused on today are those features that (for the most part) you can add to or upgrade in your own home in order to make it more enticing for buyers. And as with all of these options, they simply make your home more pleasurable for YOU while you are still living there. Let's jump in. (And Happy New Year!)
The survey was done by Porch.com and they picked the brains of 980 recent home shoppers. One of the more interesting notes I found was that these buyers...
6
Security for Santa
I'm a huge fan of Calvin and Hobbes. If you haven't had the pleasure of those comic strips, run-don't-walk to your local bookstore and grab one of the collections. You won't regret it and your family will continue to enjoy it for years. One of the sadder storylines Bill Watterson told was when Calvin's home was broken into and burglarized. He did a great job of eliciting the fear and vulnerability that Calvin's mom and dad felt after coming home to that scene. You feel like a stranger in your own home. And you have certainly lost all sense of safety and comfort inside those 4 walls. Of course Calvin was mostly concerned that they stole the television!
This is the time of year when many of us are hitting the road. Whether to head off on a skiing (or more likely - beach) adventure or simply visiting family and friends for the holidays...
2
Awesome Attic Additions
It is no secret making the best and highest use of our homes is important to us all. In general, we don't like to have wasted spaces and this time of year most certainly don't want to be heating those spaces for no good reason. For the most part I have had my home-office in spare bedrooms. Once I actually had a whole half of our basement. That was fun, but kind of wasteful and silly. I used the space heater for nearly the entire winter. One great option for optimizing the space in your home is the attic. Today I'd like to take a walk up those stairs and share a few insights for making great use of that space.
Unless you are fortunate enough to live in a newer home, many of the homes around New England are getting a little long in the tooth. If the attic was never used (or even intended to be used) for a living area, it is going to b...
19
Don't Do it Yourself
I think it began for me about 30 (sweet Jesus!) years ago. It was Christmas morning and dad (Santa) saved his pennies (or whatever our parents did to save money back then) and bought mom a microwave! Looking back on it through today's hyper-sensitive lens, it sounds sexist and patronizing. I promise you it was the polar opposite. The reaction, including giggles and tears of joy, has forever fueled my penchant for acts of service combined with the element of surprise. I simply love doing things for friends and family without them knowing and in order to provide a service I know they'll appreciate. From simple mowing of the lawn and clearing the snow off a car to sanding and restaining the deck, the joy I get from the deed feels almost selfish!
As I was digging into the article this week, I came across a slew of mi...
14
Happy Home Improvement
So it's overcast, a little breezy and just plain cold. If you don't feel like venturing out into the woods and it's too cold for a bike ride, how about a little home improvement!? This is my favorite time of year to dig into a quick remodeling project. It is a perfect project to tackle while the Patriots are banging up on some other hapless team and you can feel less guilty about those adult beverages you're enjoying while you're at it! Let's take a peek at a few projects that will make you AND your prospective buyers giddy.
The National Association of Realtors did a big survey and assigned a "Joy Score" to the possible projects that homeowners could undertake. The factor relates to not just how happy the homeowners were with the completed project and how it made their home better, bu...