Bourbonnais, IL

Five Factors that Help Determine the Market Value of Your Home, Bourbonnais, IL

Home Location

Location is the key influence for calculating the value of your home. Besides the proximity of the home to a major metropolitan area or a breathtaking view, these are a few more location factors that can increase home value:

• Proximity to schools, parks and points of interest ( see local School Ratings )
  

Homes within reasonable walkability to schools or parks will strongly influence buyers with small children. However, homes that boarder school or park property lines may suffer in home value due to unwanted traffic, parking limitations and the likelihood of youth mischief.

• Neighborhood with increasing desirability ( compare your local neighborhoods )
  

Where is new growth heading in town? Will there be any new business areas, grocery stores, or libraries in the future?

• Proximity to infrastructure ( see Map of your neighborhood )
  

Is the house surrounded by other houses? Apartment complexes? Other buildings? The best possible situation for your home is to be situated between two other houses and located along a road without yellow traffic lines.

Homebuyer Demographics

Five Factors that Help Determine the Market Value of Your Home, Bourbonnais, IL After you buy a house, the market value of your home is affected by who else is likely to purchase the property. If the property is a perfect starter home for pre-family newlyweds, and the main homebuyers in town are senior-citizens, the fair market value of your home might be lower than you think.

Older buyers typically look for one story homes without stairs, whereas families with small children often desire homes with a front yard away from a busy street and multiple bathtubs.

Home Storage Space

The more closets, garages and laundry rooms a house has, the higher the fair market value of your home. Most homebuyers look for a walk-in closet in the master bedroom, as well as closets in high traffic areas like front entryways, bathrooms and other bedrooms.

The two-door garage is the most common size for most homes, yet three-car garages are becoming more and more common.

As for the laundry room, the washer and dryer units should be located together in a common access space without creating an eyesore.

Kitchen

The kitchen is the most active area of a home. Typically, the following features add value to the kitchen:

• Granite countertops
• Stainless steel appliances
• Gas stovetops
• Convection ovens and microwaves
• Ice machines
• Cable television access ports

Also, the proximity of the kitchen to the dining room and family room will impact the usability of the house and thus is a factor in calculating the value of your home.

Home Layout and Size

Homebuyers typically look for homes with three to five bedrooms with an average of one shower per every two bedrooms. Split bedroom plans with bedrooms on opposite sides of the house are a popular trend with modern homes. Also, many real estate professionals love to use the phrase ôlight and brightö to highlight homes with lots of natural lighting.

As for size, most residential neighborhoods will have a slight variation in square-footage and number of rooms, but they all should be within a standard deviation of one another. If resale value of your home is a big concern, it's in your best interest to not buy the largest home in the neighborhood. When calculating the market value of your home, real estate professionals measure the homes in the surrounding area against yours, and if most of the nearby properties are smaller than yours, it can act as an anchor to drag down your fair market value.

Time for the annual tune-up of Old Smokey? You better believe it. There are a few things that are worse than a furnace acting up in the middle of the winter, but for the life of me I can't think of any right now. Your furnace needs an annual checkup and now is the best time to get it done. Waiting until the leaves fall or even until the snow flies is just asking for trouble. Now if you're depending on something like this to keep you warm through the year, then you might want to invest in a space heater.

Furnaces are kind of like the tires on your car or oil changes. Don't rotate the tires or change the oil on time and you will be buying new tires sooner or worse yet, buying a new car because the engine blew. The average life span of a furnace can be greatly extended just by getting this simple tune-up. While the tech is there, have him give the A/C a once over at the same time. That way you'll be ready for next summer.

Make sure your home is ready for winter. If you have questions, feel free to call

Scott Seaton

SLS Home Inspections @815-644-6271

Inspecting homes like yours in the Kankakee, Bourbonnais, Bradley, Illinois area since 2007.

Real Estate inspections with same day report delivery. Mold and air quality testing.

Visit my website at http://www.slshomeinspections.com/ or

like me on facebook at https://www.facebook.com/SLSHomeInspections

Best of the Worst- my new TV show. It's going to be huge. Filled with all the craziest, wackiest, zaniest, nuttiest, cookiest and of course, stupidest things ever seen in a home inspection. Here are just a few. Hover over the picture for a witty comment.

What do you think? I've got a million of these and they all scream out WHAT THE HELL WERE THEY THINKING?

If you would like to be a part of our studio audience and will be traveling in the Bourbonnais and Kankakee Illinois area soon,, then Call Scott at
SLS Home Inspections-815-644-6271 or visit his website at
www.slshomeinspections.com or visit his facebook page at
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There has been a sharp increase in the media over mold concerns in homes. Many home buyers want a mold sampling done before they move into their new home. It can be completed at the same time as a standard home inspection. Typically there will be a visual inspection and also mold odors will be noted, looking for possible mold contaminated areas. The source of all mold is moisture and a food source. The search for the moisture intrusion is critical for identifying the extent of the contamination.

This sampling is done by tape or swab sampling of the actual mold growth. If no growth is visible, then an air quality test is done in several areas of the home. There is usually an indoor and outdoor sampling done to compare results for comparison.

After completion, the samples can be evaluated by a lab, and an action plan can be put together to start the remediation.

No matter what the extent, the cause of all water intrusion must be corrected first. This could be as simple as just extending the downspouts at least 6 feet from the house to help prevent water from entering the crawl space.

For answers on this and other home inspection questions in the Bourbonnais and Kankakee area, please contact

SLS Home Inspections
Scott Seaton

http://www.slshomeinspections.com/

http://www.facebook.com/pages/S-L-S-Home-Inspections/177094312325717?ref=ts