Marla Schneider - Move with Marla

Today's post is the beginning of a series of tips and tricks to get your home ready to go on the market. Our first tip is about remodeling the bathroom - one of the more cost-effective upgrades you can make in terms of getting your money back at resale.

While it will probably cost around $10,500 to replace the tub and the surrounding tile, the toilet, the floor, and the vanity with its sink(s) and fixtures, you may be able to get by without spending quite this much.

If you do wind up adding a new toilet or tub, buy them in white as this allows the new homeowner more decorating leeway in the years ahead. Plus, white fixtures are usually less expensive, always a good thing to consider.

If your tub is full of chips, has lost its color, or simply can't be removed because it's too big, consider spending $300 to $400 to get it re-glazed. It never has to leave the room, and it will gleam like new when it's finished. Replacing shower doors and faucets can give the bath a sparkling new look as well.

You can probably do any necessary caulking yourself as there are tools available nowadays to help put caulk on. Just be sure it doesn't get wet until it's had plenty of time to dry and set up. You might want to carefully fill the tub with water, however, to allow the caulking to stretch into place as it dries.

Making the walls look better is a huge improvement. New paint or wallpaper can give a small, dark bathroom an airy feel. Pick a color scheme and use coordinating colors for your walls, towels and accessories to tie the whole room together. If you're wallpapering, choose a wallpaper you like and look for accessories that feature items from the wallpaper design.

Even if you don't plan to replace the sink, you may want to think about putting in new, modern faucets. Nothing shines like a new faucet, plus it will work better too.

When deciding what upgrades to make to the bathroom, consider how much you can spend, how much of the work you can do yourself and how much you will have to hire out. Create a list of what simply must be done along with what will make it look better to buyers. Use this budget and list to come up with a plan for remodeling the bathroom. Most bathroom re-dos are recouped from a better sale price, but be realistic in your calculations too.

Keep an eye open in the weeks ahead for more tips on updating your home to get a better sales price.

For help in selling or buying a new home in Wilmette, Glenview, Northbrook or on Chicago's North Shore, talk to the Marla Schneider Team. Marla and her team have many resources to help you get your house ready to sell or find the perfect home for your family.

Want to live on the beach but don't want to buy ocean-front property? If you prefer life in the Chicago area, the best beaches you're likely to find are on beautiful Lake Michigan. Due to the poor economy there are more lakefront properties for sale now than is usually the case. Many boast their own private beaches, some have boat launches, and of course, access to the lake itself.

Since lending is tight, a buyer with cash-in-hand can easily pick up a historic landmark or a new home along Chicago's North Shore. There are listings available from $2.3 million up to $15 million and several in between in Glencoe, Highland Park, Winnetka, Lake Bluff, and Lake Forest. Even Wilmette has two beachfront listings; here you can get a four bedroom on an acre of land with a pool and its own beach for $5.3 million.

If you need more bedrooms, how about a 14-room house, including five bedrooms, great views of stunning Lake Michigan and a private sandy beach for $6.5 million.

Why limit your time at an urban beach to lunch time walks on the Oak Street Beach when you can own the view and the access? To see lakefront properties, or any other properties for sale in Glenview, Wilmette, Northbrook, or on Chicago's North Shore, visit our Move with Marla website and learn about the Marla Schneider Team. See what we can do for you in your search for a beautiful lake front home. Then give us a call and personally see what is available. You can live on the beach without living near the ocean.

It's almost time again for the Hair Cuttery Share A Haircut program. Take your kids into any Hair Cuttery and have their hair cut and a disadvantaged child in your community will get a free hair cut from the Hair Cuttery. This is the 10th Annual Share A Haircut event and in the past nine years, the 800 Hair Cuttery shops around the country have given away over 450,000 haircuts to underprivileged kids.

This year's program is running from August 1st through August 15th with free haircut coupons being given out via the local Social Services Agencies after August 15^th - just in time for everyone to get a haircut for starting back to school. Thanks to you and the Hair Cuttery, now all those back-to-schoolers can have a great new haircut and the confident feeling they'll get from looking good when they return to school.

The Hair Cuttery also supports "Locks of Love" which helps provide hairpieces to kids who have lost their natural hair because of genetic conditions or illness, the American Cancer Society's Relay for Life and several other very worthwhile organizations, such as Buzzing4Change, Special Olympics, National Kidney Foundation, and the City of Hope.

If you'd like to participate in this year's Share A Haircut, there's a Hair Cuttery salon at the Shoppes of Heatherfield right in Glenview, plus another 42 shops in nearby suburbs and in Chicago. Times may vary but they're generally open seven days a week. See you there!!

It's great to see local businesses reach out to our larger community and provide a way for you to help while you are preparing your own kids for school. Want to hear more about other Glenview business with a heart? Meet the Marla Schneider Team. Marla and her associates can help you find the perfect neighborhood in Glenview, Wilmette, Northbrook or on the North Shore.

If parents feel the need to help their children buy a future home and have the assets available to do so, one way that will benefit both parents and child is to use a qualified personal residence trust (QPRT). This means that the parents will move their primary residence or perhaps a vacation home from their estate into the trust, while remaining in residence in the home.

The trust is written to allow the parents use of the home for a specified number of years. At the end of the specified number of years, ownership to the house goes to the beneficiaries, which in this case are the children. If the parents are still living when the time expires, the home goes to the children free of further estate or gift taxes.

Often parents will continue to live in the home after the term has expired, paying the children fair-market rent. There are several variations possible with this type of trust and those considering doing something along these lines should contact their lawyer or other financial advisor to avoid any problems now or in the future.

For those looking to buy or sell a home in Glenview, Wilmette, Northbrook or on the North Shore, contact the Marla Schneider Team. See all the help that's available there.

If you're considering the purchase of a second home near Glenview or Wilmette as a vacation getaway, here are a few tips to get the most out of your purchasing dollar:

• To avoid a huge down payment or a high interest rate, see if you can use the equity in your main home.
• Use a mortgage broker to shop for a better interest rate.
• Contact several insurance agents, and get insurance quotes for the property you're considering. If there are bad storms or the threat of fires in the area you're looking at, homeowners insurance may be quite high.
• If the vacation home near Northbrook that you want is currently beyond your means, consider purchasing something smaller and closer to where you live. This way you can eventually sell it and work your way up to a more valuable vacation property.
• Be sure to see if there is the possibility of a highrise condo, Interstate highway, or other development being considered for the area which may cause future property values to plummet.
• If you can't afford a vacation home on your own, think about purchasing property that can be rented out for part of the year. You won't be using it 24/7 yourself, so renting it out to other vacationers can be a huge help in making the mortgage, insurance and tax payments.

The Marla Schneider Team would be happy to help you find the perfect vacation home as well ashelping you figure out how you can afford it. Take a look at some of the properties they have to offer in the Glenview and Wilmette areas.