By Jonathan Hansen
There may be many reasons why you want to leave your old house and move to a new house. It may be because you find your house is very small or doesn’t have enough, or even too much lawn or beautiful garden. It may also be very noisy in your current neighborhood, or perhaps you live near a busy street or freeway. Before deciding to leave your house, decide whether you can solve your problems through renovating or remodeling. In many cases, you can turn your house into a wonderful retreat, and an enjoyable place to be with a little home improvement.
Remodeling and Renovation are very economical compared to buying a new house, but proper planning is necessary to avoid costly errors. An estimated 2 to 6 percent of your loan will be spent as closing costs when taking out a mortgage for buying a new house. The costs identified with a home equity loan for remodeling or renovating your house are much smaller than that those involved with the new mortgage loan. Also, you may not recover the costs of past renovations if you opt to buy a new house.
Remember, however, that renovating an entire house or simply remodeling a few rooms can be a very difficult task. Be sure to hire a professional contractor and discuss the design and other specifics you wish to see as part of your renovation. You can make your dream house come true by adding all the desired touches. Before you start the project, discuss everything carefully with your family and your contractor! Sometimes, renovation can be very irritating. You have to bear noise, dust, dirt and other discomforts throughout the entire remodel until all is complete. In some cases you can even severely anger your neighbors. Despite the difficulties, however, renovating can be just as rewarding as purchasing a new property.
Here are a few easy steps to follow to ensure that your project is a success:
1) Make a complete list of every part of the room or house you plan to renovate or remodel. This will help you plan your budget and stay on budget
2)Get AT LEAST 3 BIDS FOR THE ENTIRE REMODEL, OR FOR EACH TASK YOU PLAN ON COMPLETING. This will allow you to compare prices and rule out dishonest contractors. It will also give you the ability to negotiate. Also ask for a completion date with each bid, as this will have a huge impact on the entire remodel, and also give you contractual leverage.
3)If you are doing many rooms at the same time, consider temporarily moving out. Living in a construction zone can be hazardous to your family’s safety, and also their health. Peace of mind, privacy, and comfort can have a huge impact on your quality of life before during, and after the project is over.
4) Perform a careful analysis on your hourly or salaried income, and don’t perform work to save money when you can spend the same amount of time working at your profession, and spend your earnings to have the work performed by a professional. When your project is complete you have to live with the finished product! Sometimes trying to save money will only cost you in the long run especially if you have to repair, or redo the work. A licensed bonded contractor must fix mistakes in their work, whereas your mistakes will stand out, and simply drive you crazy.
5) Try to enjoy the project, have long term vision, and stay motivated by thinking how much you’ll enjoy the finished product. If you’re planning on staying in your home for more than a year or two a job well done is PRICELESS!!!!
Jonathan Hansen is an expert on home building, remodeling, renovation, and creative financing. More information can be found on his house flipping blog http://www.mortgage-houseflipping.blogspot.com/ or by visiting his entire library of helpful information for homeowners wishing to learn more about finance, credit, and everything related to making money by leveraging your real estate investment. http://www.mortgage-refinance-info.com/library.aspx.
