More Details that Sell a House

Do not think that you need to remodel the entire kitchen unless the cabinets are hopelessly out of date (like the metal cabinets they used in the 1940s and 1950s). You probably won’t get that much money back out of the house.

Paint the hardware or replace it. Clean or paint the surfaces and put in fresh shelf liners or contact paper. If you are going to paint the hardware, spray-paint works best. Give it one coat of primer, and be sure to let each coat dry thoroughly before adding the next coat. Otherwise the paint is likely to peel.

Scrub the stove and inside the oven. The refrigerator and microwave need to be immaculate. Even if these appliances are not staying, they send a signal as to the kind of people that live in the house now and how well-maintained the house is. If the toaster is used every day and must be visible, be sure to clear it of all crumbs. For the cupboards, make sure they are clean and the hardware is in good shape.

Missed E-Mail

As I was hitting the "delete" button in my junk folder I noticed an email with the subject "Your Book." I didn't get the email as there is no way to retrieve them once you've hit that delete button. If you sent an email to me and I haven't responded, please send it again. I'll be more careful in the future. Thanks.

Details Are What Sells A Home!

Details can make a huge difference, especially as they add up. Is the paint around the door knob or deadbolt wearing and scratched? Touch it up. Even if the paint isn’t an exact match, it will look amazingly better. How are the baseboards and switch covers? If the wall around the light switch is discolored and dirty, clean it and/or paint it. The newer everything looks, the more drawn to the house people will be.

Over-tightening screws (and sometimes children) causes cracking. Cheap and easy to replace.

Replace any broken light switch or electric outlet covers. Light switches are close enough to eye-level that any problem will immediately draw the eye.

If there are loose knobs on cabinets or folding doors, tighten them. A curling corner on the linoleum, glue it down. Clean all windows and keep mirrors streak-free. Clean windows make a big difference in the light in the room. A mirror can make a room seem larger and lighter. If there is a window over the kitchen sink, make sure it looks good and detail it well. That is a primary draw to many mothers. They will look out and see what they can observe of the yard. Make this as inviting as possible.

If your curtains are faded or worn, take them down. If you must have some (for example in a bedroom), buy new ones. If you can, just leave them off. More light in a room makes it appear more comfortable and larger anyway. And then you can show off your newly painted window trim!

How to Repair a Textured Ceiling

If you have spots where the textured ceiling paint is peeling, you need to remove all the loose debris and repaint. You must remove all loose paint or the new paint will add weight and accelerate the problem. Rarely will the new exactly match the old, but many people will not notice a repainted section as quickly as they will notice a peeling one. Not everyone looks up unless something is there to draw the eye.

To repaint, buy some acoustic ceiling mix and stir it into flat white paint. Usually make up just a little at a time. Whipped-topping containers are about the right size. Be sure you lay down some old sheets or a tarp on the floor and tape newspaper up at the top of the walls and along the baseboard. Dob the brush full of the paint mixture and then onto the ceiling. Wear eye goggles and a hat. This is not hard, but it is messy. Be careful when walking off the tarp to not drag paint onto the floor with your shoes.

What to Know About Getting Estimates from Contractors

A couple weeks ago I had a couple trees taken out and some trimming done on some other trees. We had a horrible ice storm last year. While we made it out with only a few banged up gutters, our yard looked like a carpet of branches. I didn't want that again, and many of the high branches were broken and just barely hanging on. You couldn't really tell when the leaves came out in Spring, by when the leaves fell off again, man those trees looked bad.

So, I called a couple names out of the phone book that were insured (very important) and got some estimates. The first estimate was $1450. Yow! I told him I had someone else coming to give an estimate, and would get back with him. Half an hour later he called and said he had another job a few blocks away so he would do the job for $1250 since he would be in the neighborhood. A $200 savings probably just because he knew I was getting another quote. The next guy shows up and as I'm showing him what I want done, I mention that I already got one quote, but don't tell him how much it was. This guy gives me a quote for $750. One half of the first quote I got. I saved $500 just by getting a couple of quotes, and letting them know they were bidding against someone else.

ALWAYS get several quotes for any big job. Also, be sure you ask around about the quality of work. The company I went with does my next-door neighbor's yard, so I knew their work.

UPDATE: I also got some quotes on foundation work when we first moved into our current house. One was for $8000 and another for $6000. Well, the house was just going to have to have seasonal cracks (cracks in the sheetrock that open and close according to the season) and have the floor shake when the kids ran around cause we couldn't afford that. Then we got another quote for $1800. The big difference in the quotes was the first two comanies wanted to dig down and support the concrete foundation, while the last guy was just going to add support beams and posts under the floor in the crawl space without digging under the foundation. Perhaps not as ideal, but adding in supports did what we wanted without costing several months salary.