The attic may be the last place home-owners think about when considering improvement projects. However, there can be  some big benefits from upgrading the insulation in your attic. Most people aren’t attic experts, so here’s some information on insulation upgrades for your home.

1. Determine How Much You Need – The first step when upgrading attic insulation is to figure out how much new material is needed. Many believe their home has enough as is, but insulation tends to compress over time and become less effective. Get accurate measurements of your space so you’re not buying too much or too little. If your attic is finished, con- sider adding an extra layer on top of what’s currently against the roof. For unfinished attics, add layers to what’s currently on the floor.

2. Understand R-Values – When researching attic insulation, you will come across the term “R-value,” which is the ability of a material to resist heat flow. The higher the R-value of  a specific insulation, the more effective it will be for trapping heat. The Department of Energy recommends different R-value insulations depending on the area or climate where you live. Visit energy.gov/energysaver/weatherize/insulation to determine the type of insulation you’ll need for your attic.

3. Big Savings Possible – Utility bills can be a drag on your personal finances, but attic improvements can generate savings for homeowners. The Environmental Protection Agency estimates you can save up to 15% on utility costs by adding new insulation and sealing air leaks in your attic. Also, most homes built before 1960 do not have proper insulation based on modern standards, so your older home may be losing a lot of energy. Modernizing your attic can result in a significant return on your investment.

Creating Efficient Storage Space

One of the biggest complaints from homeowners is that they don’t have enough storage space. While add- ing extra physical rooms may not be an option for most, there are ways to creatively utilize your space.

Decluttering—Before you start thinking about reorganizing your storage space, first consider whether you absolutely need to keep everything. Decluttering may be the easiest way to open up new areas for more important items. Tackle each of your cur- rent storage spaces individually so you’re not overwhelmed.

No stray items—To maximize the space you have, use boxes or containers to efficiently make use of the area. Uniform shapes and sizes will help you determine how these containers stack—think of your storage space like a game of Tetris.

Choose the right products— Make sure to think ahead before purchasing any storage containers, racks or shelves for your closets or crawl spaces. Measure your closet and keep these figures with you as you’re shopping online or in stores.

Storage zones—Use the space you have in smart ways by keeping all items you use regularly between your knees and shoulders. Use hard-to-reach areas for items that are for long-term storage. Think vertically instead of horizontally to make your storage spaces more efficient.

Integrating smart home technology into your existing property is a smart move. Upgrading certain features of your home can result in increased efficiencies and cost savings down the line.

Here are a few additions you can consider for your home:

Smart Lock: For those who don’t like carrying around bulky sets of keys, smart locks allow for easy and quick access to your front door or any other room in your home. Many smart locks also track data that indicates when doors are opened and closed, which could be useful for families with children or helping to adjust your daily schedule.

Smart Doorbell: One of the most popular smart home devices, a smart doorbell has a built-in camera for identifying guests or solicitors. Sync your doorbell camera with your phone and you can see who’s visiting even when you’re out and about.

Smart Lighting: Useful in a variety of ways, consider adding smart lighting to your home. You can make your home more energy efficient by turning lights on/off remotely, and you can even set timers for turning on your lights during certain hours of the day while you’re away at work or on vacation, helping to keep your property secure.

Smart Thermostat: Fine tune the temperature in your home with a smart thermostat. These devices can be set to automatically change the temperature throughout the day to make your home more comfortable and energy efficient. Many devices also have temperature- recognizing sensors that can adjust your heating or air conditioning without your having to lift a finger.

Smart Smoke Detector: A great safety tool, a smart smoke detector can help keep you and your family safe by sending alerts to your phone if it detects a fire. They also allow you to “hush” your alarm if it’s simply a burnt piece of toast—You’ll never have to stand below your smoke detector waving a towel to clear smoke again!

Buying or selling a home can seem like an overwhelming task. But the right REALTOR® can make the process easier—and more profitable.
Certified Residential Specialist (CRS), with years of experience and success, will help you make smart decisions in a fast-paced, complex and competitive marketplace.
To earn the CRS Designation, REALTORS® must demonstrate outstanding professional achievements—including high-volume sales—and pursue advanced training in areas such as finance, marketing and technology. They must also maintain membership in the National Association of REALTORS® and abide by its Code of Ethics. Work with a top-producing REALTOR®—contact a CRS today.

Access Teri’s one-stop O rlando FL home search website.

Teri Isner is the team leader of Orlando Avenue Top Team and has been a Realtor for over 24 years. Teri has distinguished herself as a leader in the Orlando FL real estate market. Teri assists buyers looking for Orlando FL real estate for sale and aggressively markets Orlando FL homes for sale.

You deserve professional real estate service! You obtain the best results with Teri Isner plus you benefit from her marketing skills, experience and ability to network with other REALTORS®. Your job gets done pleasantly and efficiently.  You are able to make important decisions easily with fast, accurate information from Teri. The Orlando Avenue Top Team handles the details and follow-up that are important to the success of your transaction.

Get Orlando Daily News delivered to your inbox! Subscribe here!

Access Teri’s one-stop Orlando FL home search website.

Teri Isner is the team leader of Orlando Avenue Top Team and has been a Realtor for over 24 years. Teri has distinguished herself as a leader in the Orlando FL real estate market. Teri assists buyers looking for Orlando FL real estate for sale and aggressively markets Orlando FL homes for sale.

You deserve professional real estate service! You obtain the best results with Teri Isner plus you benefit from her marketing skills, experience and ability to network with other REALTORS®. Your job gets done pleasantly and efficiently.  You are able to make important decisions easily with fast, accurate information from Teri. The Orlando Avenue Top Team handles the details and follow-up that are important to the success of your transaction.

Get Orlando Daily News delivered to your inbox! Subscribe here!

Access Teri’s one-stop Orlando FL home search website.

Teri Isner is the team leader of Orlando Avenue Top Team and has been a Realtor for over 24 years. Teri has distinguished herself as a leader in the Orlando FL real estate market. Teri assists buyers looking for Orlando FL real estate for sale and aggressively markets Orlando FL homes for sale.

You deserve professional real estate service! You obtain the best results with Teri Isner plus you benefit from her marketing skills, experience and ability to network with other REALTORS®. Your job gets done pleasantly and efficiently.  You are able to make important decisions easily with fast, accurate information from Teri. The Orlando Avenue Top Team handles the details and follow-up that are important to the success of your transaction.

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Remodeling can be serious business, especially if you’ve got several pet projects on your list and a limited budget with which to work. It can be tempting to go straight to the items that you find the most important, but if you’re considering reselling your home in the not too distant future, the return on your remodeling investment is really the thing to watch. Luckily, Remodeling Magazine has been tracking remodeling trends and returns for the US market since 2002 and has amassed a great deal of data on which projects you should focus your money on if you’re concerned about how well it will return.

When it comes time to sell your home, you obviously want it looking its best so that prospective buyers will fall in love with it. This may lead to you consider touching up or remodeling parts of your home to make the best possible impression. If you’re trying to figure out the best parts of the home to give special attention to, there are a few places that buyers are more likely to pay attention to than others. Chief among these are the kitchen, the bathrooms and decks.

Access Teri’s one-stop Orlando FL home search website.

Teri Isner is the team leader of Orlando Avenue Top Team and has been a Realtor for over 24 years. Teri has distinguished herself as a leader in the Orlando FL real estate market. Teri assists buyers looking for Orlando FL real estate for sale and aggressively markets Orlando FL homes for sale.

You deserve professional real estate service! You obtain the best results with Teri Isner plus you benefit from her marketing skills, experience and ability to network with other REALTORS®. Your job gets done pleasantly and efficiently.  You are able to make important decisions easily with fast, accurate information from Teri. The Orlando Avenue Top Team handles the details and follow-up that are important to the success of your transaction.

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By: Homekeepr, Rob Morelli

House hunters have many expectations when they are looking for a new home. Most sellers usually have made themselves at home, and love many aspects about it, but not all buyers would agree. Do not hurt your home’s sale with these: 

• Nothing shouts “Don’t buy me!” more than an unkempt yard!  If nothing else, keep the grass cut and weeds and shrubbery trimmed. Put a bit more effort into it, and put down fresh mulch in the flowerbeds, and add a pot of flowers to the top step. 
• No one wants to walk into a house with plastic storage containers stacked up in each room “hiding” the seller’s clutter. When you declutter, get rid of things, or put them in storage if you cannot part with them. Your rooms will appear larger without a lot of stuff in them. 
• Touring a house that has a grimy stove or mildewed bathtub caulking is a huge turn-off:  no one wants to move into a dirty home. If you cannot find the time to clean the house spotless, hire a professional to do it. 

• Natural light is important to most home buyers, so window treatments that block light need to come down, cleaned, and stored for moving. Add sheers, blinds you can open, or pull the shades up completely when you know the house is being shown. 
• Items such as rodent traps or insect baits, should not even be an option for you. If you know you have mice or insects in your home, have them exterminated before you put a sign in your yard.  
• Wall-to-wall carpeting is not as appealing to buyers today as it was in the past. If you can afford it, remove carpeting that is hiding hardwoods and spruce them up. No hardwood? Have the carpets professionally cleaned, and if you really need to sell, offer a new carpet credit to buyers. 
• When you know about a problem and don’t bother to make repairs–think dripping faucets or cracked windows–buyers will not be impressed with your house, and if they’re remotely interested, offers won’t be close to your asking price. 
• Any unpleasant odors will put off most people, and homebuyers will wrinkle their noses as soon as they walk in. Cleaning is important to remove dirt, but you need to clean for odors, too. Follow these tips from realtor.com® for removing any funky smells from your home. 

The impression your house makes on potential buyers largely depends on you. Salespeople of all kinds must make a pitch to draw the buyer in, then grab and keep their attention. The effort you put forth will show in the feedback and offers you will receive. In the case of selling your home, sweat the small stuff! 

Access Teri’s one-stop Orlando FL home search website.

Teri Isner is the team leader of Orlando Avenue Top Team and has been a Realtor for over 24 years. Teri has distinguished herself as a leader in the Orlando FL real estate market. Teri assists buyers looking for Orlando FL real estate for sale and aggressively markets Orlando FL homes for sale.

You deserve professional real estate service! You obtain the best results with Teri Isner plus you benefit from her marketing skills, experience and ability to network with other REALTORS®. Your job gets done pleasantly and efficiently.  You are able to make important decisions easily with fast, accurate information from Teri. The Orlando Avenue Top Team handles the details and follow-up that are important to the success of your transaction.

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Photo credit: A1 ChimneyPro

Assuming home buyers are happy with three bedrooms, one and a half baths and a decent kitchen may take your house to sell a bit longer.  Today’s buyers are highly likely to have specific desires in a new home. Are you ready? If not, let this be your guide to getting your house in ready-to-sell shape! 

• Energy Efficiency:  Energy-Star windows, smart or programmable thermostat, LED lightbulbs and full-house water heater are all attractive to buyers who are concerned about energy costs as well as those concerned about going green. 
• Home office:  If there is no room in your house that is a dedicated home office, create one!  Stage a space in the kitchen or living area or smaller bedroom with what appears to be a working spot. 
• Upgraded kitchen and bathrooms:  While completely renovating these rooms are a possibility, it may not be in your budget. Take a good look at each, and decide what wallet-friendly projects will make them look new: painting kitchen cabinets, new stainless appliances; in the bathroom, new faucets, lighting fixtures, or add pizazz by framing a mirror in glass tiles. 

• Dining space:  An eat-in kitchen or open-flow kitchen and dining room are what many are looking for, especially families. Kitchen islands with seating will suffice when the budget does not allow for creating space for a dining table in the kitchen. 
• Organized storage:  Buyers want homes with ample storage. While you can’t create space, you can build space in closets and the laundry room by adding shelving or pre-fab storage systems.  
• Hardwood flooring:  While not an inexpensive project, consider putting hardwoods or less costly engineered wood in the entryway and living space. 
• Security:  Front-door video cameras, plenty of outdoor lighting as well as smart lighting features are all great for starters.  

While not every house hunter is looking for all of these, upgrading a few things will likely get their attention! Talk to your Realtor® about who is looking for a home in your location; they will have recommendations on the best changes that need to be made for your house to sell! 

Access Teri’s one-stop Orlando FL home search website.

Teri Isner is the team leader of Orlando Avenue Top Team and has been a Realtor for over 24 years. Teri has distinguished herself as a leader in the Orlando FL real estate market. Teri assists buyers looking for Orlando FL real estate for sale and aggressively markets Orlando FL homes for sale.

You deserve professional real estate service! You obtain the best results with Teri Isner plus you benefit from her marketing skills, experience and ability to network with other REALTORS®. Your job gets done pleasantly and efficiently.  You are able to make important decisions easily with fast, accurate information from Teri. The Orlando Avenue Top Team handles the details and follow-up that are important to the success of your transaction.

Get Orlando Daily News delivered to your inbox! Subscribe here!

Photo credit: USAToday

When it comes time to list your home, you’ll want to come up with a list of small repairs and other tweaks that you can do to try and get the most out of your property. If you don’t make a list, you might miss things that could bring down what potential buyers are willing to pay for your home. While there might be a lot of things to consider depending on the specifics of your home, here are some items that you should definitely double check before putting up a listing for your property.

The Paint

How do the walls in your home look? If it’s been a few years since they’ve seen a coat of paint you should probably consider giving them a fresh coat. This is especially true if previous work was done in a hurry or has obvious spots where patches were done and covered up with newer paint. A sloppy or mismatched paint job will turn off a lot of potential buyers since they’ll likely see it as a task they’ll need to undertake as soon as they buy the house.

Roofing and Siding

While you’re considering things that might be a big red flag for possible buyers, step outside and take a look at the siding, brickwork and roof. Even if you only have a few problems out there, to someone looking at the house, that could raise questions about leaks, insects and other issues the buyers might face in the future. If you want to get the most out of your home, then it’s worth replacing broken shingles or fixing bits of damage or discoloration on your home’s exterior.

Faucets and Plumbing

Leaks, drips and other plumbing issues are pretty common, and it’s easy to get used to them over time. If someone is shopping for a new home, however, a notable drip from a faucet or evidence of a leak can be big warning signs. Nobody wants to pay full price for a home if they might be facing water damage in the near future, so taking care of any drips or leaks, as well as stains that they might have caused, is a great move to make before you list.

General Landscaping

Sometimes it’s tempting to not worry too much about the landscaping when listing your home. If the landscaping has obviously been ignored, though, it may leave potential buyers wondering what else hasn’t been taken care of. Even if you just spend a little time trimming up the shrubs and eliminating some unsightly weeds, you can make a big difference on the first impression made to someone considering a purchase.

Clutter and Trash

Just as with landscaping, having clutter or other trash around can make a really bad impression when someone is looking at your home. There may be good reasons why things look a bit cluttered, but a potential buyer isn’t going to know what they are and quite likely won’t bother to ask. Take the time to straighten up and get rid of the garbage before your home goes on the market.

Obvious Repairs

There are many other small repairs that are worth making before your home gets listed. Any little bits of damage or discoloration should be evaluated to see if they can be repaired. While you may not have the time or budget to fix everything, you should still attempt whatever repairs you can. Your home obviously doesn’t need to be perfect, but the better it looks the higher the eventual closing price will be.

Need Some Help?

Depending on the condition of your property, getting your home ready for listing might be a big job on top of your normal work. If you need to call in some help, HomeKeepr has you covered. Sign up for a free account today to connect with contractors, plumbers and other pros who can help you get your home in tip-top shape before you list.

Access Teri’s one-stop Orlando FL home search website.

Teri Isner is the team leader of Orlando Avenue Top Team and has been a Realtor for over 24 years. Teri has distinguished herself as a leader in the Orlando FL real estate market. Teri assists buyers looking for Orlando FL real estate for sale and aggressively markets Orlando FL homes for sale.

You deserve professional real estate service! You obtain the best results with Teri Isner plus you benefit from her marketing skills, experience and ability to network with other REALTORS®. Your job gets done pleasantly and efficiently.  You are able to make important decisions easily with fast, accurate information from Teri. The Orlando Avenue Top Team handles the details and follow-up that are important to the success of your transaction.

Get Orlando Daily News delivered to your inbox! Subscribe here!

By: Homekeepr, Rob Morelli

Access Teri’s one-stop Orlando FL home search website.

Teri Isner is the team leader of Orlando Avenue Top Team and has been a Realtor for over 24 years. Teri has distinguished herself as a leader in the Orlando FL real estate market. Teri assists buyers looking for Orlando FL real estate for sale and aggressively markets Orlando FL homes for sale.

You deserve professional real estate service! You obtain the best results with Teri Isner plus you benefit from her marketing skills, experience and ability to network with other REALTORS®. Your job gets done pleasantly and efficiently.  You are able to make important decisions easily with fast, accurate information from Teri. The Orlando Avenue Top Team handles the details and follow-up that are important to the success of your transaction.

Get Orlando Daily News delivered to your inbox! Subscribe here!

No matter how much painting you’ve done, how many bags of fresh mulch you’ve put down or how great that new kitchen backsplash looks, there is no guarantee your house will sell quickly.  But in some cases, you need to sell fast.  When you don’t have time to do a complete overhaul of the home, there are a few things you can do to help that For Sale sign become a Sold sign: 

• First and foremost, find a seller’s agent that has a history of quick home sales.  You’ll need to do a bit of research, but if the REALTOR® has the experience, you’ll have a head start on getting your home sold sooner. 

• Having your house pre-inspected will save a step during the process and will help you with disclosure issues.  
• It wouldn’t make sense to price your house a bit below its value during a normal home sale, but if you want to get qualified buyers interested soon, this may be your best bet. Just prepare to lose some extra cash. 
• Consider selling the house at auction, but again, it will sell for a lower price than during a typical sale.  You may even be in an area where your real estate agent is your auctioneer as well, and you can be assured they have your interests at heart! 
• Offer buyer incentives: offer cash-backs or credits, i.e.., painting, new carpet, new kitchen appliances;  if the house is in a managed community, cover one year of HOA fees; pay the closing costs; set a closing date and offer a credit for meeting that deadline. 
• A major buyer incentive is to go so far as to pay down their mortgage costs with points, as the buyer will have a lower interest rate, saving them money in the end.  Investopedia tells us how seller-paid points can benefit the seller as well as the buyer. 

Keep in mind that needing to sell your home quickly for personal reasons is different than a short sale.  Your reasons may be work-related, or you’ve already found another house, but whatever the reason, you want to do what you can so your house doesn’t sit on the market–you just may have to accept a loss in exchange for a fast sale. 

Access Teri’s one-stop Orlando FL home search website.

Teri Isner is the team leader of Orlando Avenue Top Team and has been a Realtor for over 24 years. Teri has distinguished herself as a leader in the Orlando FL real estate market. Teri assists buyers looking for Orlando FL real estate for sale and aggressively markets Orlando FL homes for sale.

You deserve professional real estate service! You obtain the best results with Teri Isner plus you benefit from her marketing skills, experience and ability to network with other REALTORS®. Your job gets done pleasantly and efficiently.  You are able to make important decisions easily with fast, accurate information from Teri. The Orlando Avenue Top Team handles the details and follow-up that are important to the success of your transaction.

Get Orlando Daily News delivered to your inbox! Subscribe here!

Photo credit: budgetdumpster.com