PDX Renovations

Author: joseph

  • The Ugly Truth About Renters…Rental Property headaches.

    Renters. The good, the bad, the ugly. You just never know what or who you are going to get. No possible report out there will tell you their entire history. Their personalities. Their impatience. Their deep cleaning habits or lack there of.  Their lack of respect for your house: The house you spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on and probably a lot of hard work as well.

    Let’s face it, the real estate market in the past ten years has taken us all for a ride. Up, down, up, down, like a roller coaster, it’s made millions of Americans nauseous and extremely cautious about what to do in the future. Many people think renting out their house while they contemplate their next move is the best solution.

    A few things to think about that go beyond the “normal” credit and background checks.

    • Kids. We love them, most of us have them, a few of them sometimes, but let’s  face it they reap havoc on walls, paint, trim, doors, yards, appliances  etc.
    • Pets.  One in three households owns a cat or a dog. That means one in three  potential renters is going to want to bring Fido or Whiskers into your  home, which even with an “pet deposit” to cover damages there can be scratching, accidents, fur and a lingering odor even after they move out.
    • Your  Sanity: Late night phone calls and texts, emails, tweets about what broke  and what they can’t live without. What needs fixing? NOW! When in reality,  we know as homeowners that the budget just doesn’t always work that way.      Sometimes it takes a month or two to get things repaired or replaced. Renters sometimes don’t understand this.
    • Yardwork:  Most rental agreements call for the  renter to keep up the yard, but really, how many renters really spend time  sprucing up a yard and planting trees, shrubs, etc in a home that they don’t  intend to live in forever. It just doesn’t happen, so yards suffer. Weeds take  over lawns and flower beds, shrubs become unruly.

    What’s considered normal wear and tear for an owner occupied home can be quadrupled in a rental just because most renters don’t care enough to treat a rental property with respect.

     

    Before renting and taking on a huge headache, look into all of the alternatives, which can include selling your home for cash, with zero out of pocket expenses, no repairs, we’ll even take care of the garbage!

     

    Fill out our sell fast form today and see what we can do for you!! https://patient-liger-dev.10web.site/how-we-buy/

     

     

  • The Benefits of Downsizing Your Home

    While bigger is usually better when it comes to your living space, there may come a time in life when you take stock of your home and utter the d-word: downsize. Perhaps it’s that spare room that you haven’t entered in a month that triggers your reaction. Maybe your kids have finally moved out, making the house seem cavernous in their absence. It could be that the hassle of cleaning and maintaining your home has become too much. Or, the expense of living in your current home may prompt a move to someplace more within your budget. Whatever the case, downsizing your home can save you money in a variety of ways – many of which may surprise you. Here are just a few.

    You have less stuff. As with any move, you take an inventory of your belongings, and invariably pare down things you no longer use or need. This simplifies your life, and when you move to a smaller dwelling, you have less space for those frivolous purchases that often end up doing nothing but occupying space.

    Closer quarters = closer family. In a smaller home, the inhabitants are invariably forced to make spend more time together, cooperate and make compromises on space, which fosters a greater sense of togetherness than a home with lots of space where family members can segregate themselves. Downsizing your home can actually bring you closer to your loved ones.

    More quality time. A smaller home means less upkeep and often spending less on utilities and a mortgage, which translates into more time and money to devote to leisure activities that enhance your quality of life, such as traveling and hobbies.

    To be sure, downsizing your home is a major life decision, and one sometimes prompted by circumstance. But it can be an opportunity to streamline your life and eliminate space and possessions you don’t necessarily need.

  • Costly Home Improvement…the real story

    When you decide to sell your home, one of the first thoughts that comes to mind is how to fix it up in order to maximize its dollar value. Of course, such an endeavor can encompass a variety of home improvements, from planting new shrubbery to installing new hardwood floors. Whatever the project, expenses can add up — quickly. The general rule of thumb is to only invest in home improvements that will add at least twice their cost to your home’s value. But the reality is, you often don’t get much bang for your buck: the average return on your remodeling investment is usually 20 or 30 percent less than you spend. And that’s to say nothing of the missteps homeowners make in their efforts to ready a home for sale. To wit, here are some common pitfalls homeowners find themselves in when attempting to improve their home for resale:

    -Trying to “add more space,” such as converting a garage into a living room. This can make a space seem incongruous with the rest of the house, and the chances of recouping the cost are minimal.

    -Destroying period details (often unknowingly) that may have real value. Pulling up ‘70s-era carpeting is one thing, but removing a circa-1900 bannister because it is showing wear also removes what many would deem a treasure.

    -The kitchen remodel. As many experts will attest, the kitchen is the single biggest selling point in a home. With that in mind, sellers often go all-in on a kitchen remodel, which can easily run as high as $50,000 or more. Yet, a fully remodeled kitchen usually earns 80 percent of its money back, making it one of the worst investments for home sellers.

    The above doesn’t even take into account the headaches inherent with any major (or minor, for that matter) home improvement project. The inconvenience, delays, threat of budget overruns, and questions of workmanship can all turn the most well-intentioned of projects into much more than you bargained for. When you take a look at the factors involved, it may cause you to think twice before diving into the process of costly repairs and consider selling your home as-is in a fast cash sale.

    Do you have a house, lot or land to sell. Fill out our sell fast form and get a Cash offer within 1 hour of us viewing the property.