Lilburn, GA

It is pretty common knowledge that kitchens and master bathrooms make or break the appeal for a home on the market. Get those two areas right can land a buyer that might otherwise pick another home.

Image by lane.bailey via Flickr

But doing those rooms right isn't cheap. Back around Christmas I wrote a post about how the front door was the most bang for the buck in the improvement arena. In the same post, I mentioned that a "Minor Kitchen Remodel" averaged over $20k in cost (while only delivering about $15k in value). That isn't cheap...

So, what are some improvements that can make a big impact on the appeal of the home, without making that big of an impact on your bank balance?

• Add appropriate crown mouldings. If you are handy, this can be a great improvement. Depending on the profile you select, you might be able to do a room for $100-$300... or possibly less. If you have a home priced over $150k, buyers like to see crown mouldings.
• Paint is the ULTIMATE low-cost upgrade. Face it, for a couple hundred dollars you can paint the inside of your whole home. You can knock it out in a weekend. Select neutral colors that are currently popular and enhance the space and you can "Wow!" buyers touring your home.
• Scrape the ceiling... This one isn't easy. I'd find someone to hire to do it... But, smooth ceilings are WAY more popular than popcorn painted ceilings. Scraping the ceiling and repainting will make your home more desirable than other comparable homes with popcorn ceilings.

Image by mattbatt0 via Flickr

Of course, hiring a stager to talk with about how to make your home show better is a great idea. The stager can help with color selection and ideas to easily improve the "showability" of your home. Many times those ideas are inexpensive.. and even free.

And if you aren't looking to sell, focus on improvements that make you happy. Add wainscotting to the garage (I like the polished aluminum diamond plate...) or more light in the garage. Upgrade flooring.

When we moved into our home we changed to Decora style rocker switches for all of the lights. It cost us less than $50 for the whole house and updated the look. We got rid of the old ivory switches and plates and went with much cleaner pure white.

Have fun...

Related articles by Zemanta

• 5 tips for staging your home (timesunion.com)
• Five design features send buyers running (westseattleherald.com)
• Home Improvement Ideas (data-bg.info)
• The 5 Worst Decorating Mistakes You Can Make (homeownersinsurance.org)

from LaneBailey.com

No, not Barack Hussein Obama II who was born August 4, 1961. I am talking about the greatest President of our time Ronald Wilson Reagan February 6, 1911.

The 6th would have been Ronald Reagan's 99th birthday. It has been 21 years since the end of our 40th President's second term.

Ronald Reagan revitalized the US economy during one of the most serious financial crises since the Great Depression of the 1930s.

I enlisted in the US Army in August of 1980 and saw first hand what he did to bring the military back from its lowest point of readiness after its neglect in the late 70's under Jimmy Carter.

The more I read about him, the greater an appreciation I have for this Great American. During the last campiagn season (2008 - 2009) Reagan was the President whose name was most mentioned in debates by both parties, as the example of an effective leader. Poll after poll the American people pick Ronald Reagan has the President they must admire.

He believed in lower taxes, less government, and a strong military. International, his leadership rebuilt and restored the position of the United States and took the courageous actions that ultimately led to the end of the Cold War, with freedom winning the fight.

He inspired and encouraged the American people through simple speeches and a strong leadership style.

In February we celebrate the birthdays of two other Great American Presidents: Abraham Lincoln (February 12, 1809) and George Washington (February 22, 1732).

Remembering these three men can only give us hope.

Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn't pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same.
Ronald Reagan

Government is like a baby. An alimentary canal with a big appetite at one end and no sense of responsibility at the other.
Ronald Reagan

Ken Cook, from America Home Key Mortgage, is an FHA expert and extremely knowledgeable about the Mortgage Industry in general. And of course he is on top of the recent and pending changes HUD announced for the FHA.

The Federal Housing Administration, the division of the Department of Housing and Urban Development which insures home mortgages for qualified borrowers, has recently announced pending changes which will affect all borrowers and specific borrowers.

Reports show FHA defaults and foreclosures to be at 18% of the total number of loans where the average number of defaults and foreclosures on other loans is 14%. In an effort to avert the need for a taxpayer bailout there have been several changes initiated and proposed.

The rest of the article is here. It examines the changes to the Mortgage Insurance Premium, enforcement enhancements, changing seller funding from 6% to 3%, and limitations on the 3.5% down payment.

The bottom line is that many buyers have their best shot at getting an FHA mortgage before all of the changes take place.

More current mortgage industry info can be found here on Ken's blog.

This has certainly been an interesting year in real estate. And we are still staring at the tea leaves trying to see the direction of the market and figure out what the future holds.

The biggest thing in housing in the last few months has been the First Time Home Buyer Tax Credit. It has had a GIANT pull on the market, and when it "expired" (it was renewed and expanded before it actually expired, but the effect seemed to expire) it altered the direction of the market... as it did when it was enacted.

Let's get a few numbers for Lilburn out of the way...

• There were 384 listings as of 12/31/2009
• In November, there were 36 sales
• The Absorption Rates for Lilburn break down as follows:
  • 12 month average - 10.04 months of inventory
  • 6 month average - 8.35 months of inventory
  • 3 month average - 9.76 months of inventory

The link above explains Absorption Rates more fully, but basically, it tells us how long it would take to sell all of the property on the market at the current rate.

Sales for Lilburn in November were up 38.5% compared to November 2008. This was after October was up 15% year over year. Days on Market had also dropped by 7 days to 96 days.

By Segment...

The market is divided up into six segments, but two of them didn't have any activity in the last 12 months.

Under $200k...

There were 227 listings and 24 sales in November. Looking back the 12mo/6mo/3mo Absorption Rates were 8.7/7.4/9.1 months. I expected the 3mo rate to be a little better because of the accelerating sales, but that wasn't the case. The Under $200k segment is the strongest, though.

$200k - $400k...

There were 133 listings and 9 sales in November. The 12mo/6mo/3mo Absorption Rates were 12.7/9.9/10.5 months. I also expected the First Time Home Buyer Tax Credit to have a little more impact on the 3mo rate, but sales began to slow anyway. The $200k - $400k segment looked like it was staging a rebound. Hopefully it will pick up again after the Holidays.

$400k - $600k...

There were 15 listings and 2 sales in November. The 12mo/6mo/3mo Absorption Rates were 10/9/11.3 months. This segment wasn't as affected by the tax credit as lower priced homes. The change in absorption rates looks like it might be a little more seasonal... As a sneak peak, the December numbers look a lot better so far (I won't have final numbers for a couple of weeks).

$600k - $800k, $800k - $1m and Over $1m...

There were a total of 9 listings and 2 sales in the last 12 months. The absorption Rates can be calculated, but they really aren't meaningful. One extra sale or one missed sale make a HUGE swing in the data. Also, these homes are not likely to be affected by the old tax credit or the newer expanded tax credit.

Click here to search Lilburn properties.

From LilburnDwellings

I've written a couple of posts about the Legends at Parkview. Mayfield Homes was the original building in the community, but they ended up getting foreclosed. DR Horton picked up the remaining lots and have recently started construction.

When Mayfield was building, the pricing went from the $500Ks to $700Ks. Even when the unsold homes were being sold by the bank that foreclosed, they were selling from the low $400Ks to the low $500Ks.

DR Horton is building homes priced from $270K to $310K. I would expect that there are some options that could push that price up a bit, and while I haven't seen the final product (they don't have any completed or nearly completed homes up yet), the homes Mayfield was building were a bit bigger and featured mostly 3 car garages.

The owners of the older homes are going to end up taking a very big hit. Despite those homes being bigger and possibly higher end, with the new homes coming in around half the price, it will push the values of the first phase down. But those comps will certainly help the newer homes.

If you'd like to get a look at them, let me know. I'm NOT an agent of the community and would be your buyer's agent. That means that I wouldn't be representing the builder, but rather you... the buyer.

Here is a search of currently listed properties in Legends at Parkview.

*****Update***** While out today I noticed that the signage had been changed to say "From the $280's".