By: Jennifer Nelson
See what a bundle you can save if you declutter your home. If you’ve ever had to pay a late fee after losing a bill, thrown away spoiled peaches you forgot to eat, or bought another pair of sunglasses because you couldn’t find yours, you know firsthand that being disorganized costs you money. And conversely, organizing your home saves you money. At best, clutter in the home causes mistakes, late fees, overdue payments, and missed deadlines. At worst, a house in chaos can eat away at your finances, mar your credit, and reduce your productivity. That’s a whopping price to pay. Financial and Mental Health Benefits of Organizing Your Home “Do you think organizing is just for appearances?” asks Lisa Gessert, president of Organizing.buzz, a professional organizing service in Staten Island, N.Y. “Organizing your home is financially beneficial.” Gessert stresses to clients the need to sort, purge, assign things a home, and “containerize.” She says, “This process saves people tons of money.” There’s also a mental health gain from organizing your home. More people want to create simpler, more organized spaces in their homes, According to a 2021 Ikea “Life at Home” survey. Many respondents associated clean, decluttered spaces with a greater sense of calm. Clutter-free equals being in control, which is important for our mental wellbeing, the survey says. Here’s why being organized saves you money and how you can get your home into shape: Disorganization in the Home Office Costs You:
If any of these sound familiar, you need a home office system for dealing with important papers, bills, and personal correspondence. Wall-mounted bill organizers can help you stay organized. Look for ones with two or more compartments to categorize by due date. Mount shelving and create a file system for important papers, such as insurance policies and tax receipts. Work with underutilized space, such as converting a standard closet into built-in storage with shelves and cabinets for your papers, files, and office equipment. If you need to use stackable bins, don’t stack them around equipment that needs air ventilation, such as scanners and Wi-Fi receivers, since the equipment could overheat and malfunction — costing you money. “Having your papers organized will save time, help you pay bills on time, and allow you to be more productive,” says Alison Kero, owner of Alison Kero Organizing, based in New York City. Disorganization in Your Closets Costs You:
“Organizing often reduces duplication of possessions,” says Lauren Williams, owner of Casual Uncluttering LLC, in Woodinville, Wash. “No more buying an item for a second, third, or fourth time because someone can’t find it.” If closets are crammed, paring down is a must. First, take everything out. Rid yourself of multiples and anything you no longer wear, and assess your shoe collection. Create piles: purge, throw out, or donate. For what’s left, you’ll need a better closet system. You can choose a ready-made system that simply needs installation, or create your own. You can use PVC pipe to create additional hanging rods, and you may also want to add shelving to store folded clothes, hats, and bulky items. Look for wire mesh shelving, solid wood shelves, or an all-in-one closet shelving system depending on space. Large and small hooks can be wall-mounted to hold belts, accessories, and scarves. Disorganization in the Kitchen Costs You:
To avoid buying your third jar of oregano or second potato ricer, buy or build an organizational system for your pantry. Built-in lazy Susans work great. Use pullout mini shelving to corral items like dressings, hot sauces, and vinegars. Tackle cabinets and counters by mounting behind-the-cabinet-door racks to hold items like pot lids or cutting boards. Add pull-out drawers in your bottom cupboards to make everything easily accessible and easy to see. You’ll thank yourself when you get older, too. Disorganization in Your Living Areas Costs You:
Your living space is where you want to enjoy your home the most. If you can’t do that there, you’ll constantly be seeking out other places to find solace and fun — and that can add up to a lot of money spent on entertainment and recreational venues. Meanwhile, you could be paying more than you should for the living space you’re not enjoying. “I run into people whose homes are unorganized to the point of papers, boxes and stuff blocking air vents that supply heat and air conditioning to their homes,” says Gessert. This costs a fortune in utility bills. Likewise, a jumble of electrical wires around TVs and home entertainment systems can be sucking energy from always being plugged in. Connect them all to smart power strips that can turn everything off with one switch. Once you’ve organized your home, you’ll start to see the benefits everywhere. No more dealing with late fees on bills, buying replacement earrings or bread knives when items go missing, and — perhaps best of all — no more having to leave home to relax and be entertained. After all, saving on bills can boost your monthly budget, but there’s no greater value than enjoying your home more.
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By: HouseLogic It’s a big decision with a lot of factors, but don’t worry — you have backup.
Everything has value. Especially your home. And when it comes to selling your home, assigning a price to that value is complicated. You made memories there. You’ve got a major financial interest in the place, too. Buyers think of value, but they’re more concerned about price. And your home’s price is one of its most attractive — or unattractive — features. The right price can attract buyers quickly. The wrong price may mean the house sits on the market, which can create the vibe among buyers that there’s something wrong with it. (If the home buying process is Instagram, think of a wrongly priced home as a photo that isn’t getting any likes.) It’s your agent’s job, as the real estate expert, to mine their expertise and knowledge of the market and determine the best price for your home. But it’s your house. You need to have your own idea of how much your property is worth. Here’s how to get it. Work With Your Agent This is crucial. Your agent brings the right mix of industry expertise and knowledge of your local market to the table. To understand whether your agent is pricing your home properly, read through each of the steps below. Use what you learn about your home’s fair market price to evaluate any price your agent recommends. Throughout the pricing process, a good agent will:
And Yeah, You Should Also Check the Internet Pricing a home is both art and science. To understand what will inform your agent’s pricing decisions — and prepare to bring your own educated input to the conversation — start with a pricing research phase. This includes taking advantage of online estimating tools — but only to an extent. Property websites like realtor.com® enable you to plug in your home’s address to see approximately how much your house is worth. They base their estimates on your home’s square footage and real estate data they’ve collected, such as recent home sales in your local market. But those results are estimates based on generalized factors, not your unique situation. If at any point the price you see in an online calculator doesn’t align with what your agent suggests, prioritize the agent’s advice. Online estimators also have a reputation among real estate professionals for misleading buyers and sellers with less-than-optimal pricing information. But as a starting point, they have their utility. Know Your Local History Your home’s listing price should largely depend on what similar homes, or “comps,” recently sold for in your area. To price your home, your agent will run the average sales prices of at least three comps to assess your home’s value. What constitutes a comp? A number of factors, including a home’s:
When selecting comps, agents generally look for properties that sold within a one-mile radius of your home and in the past 90 days. They find these homes using the multiple listing service, a regional database of homes that agents pay dues to access. Size Up the Competition In addition to recently sold homes, your agent will look at properties currently for sale in your area. These listings will be your competition. But because listing photos don’t always tell the full story, a good agent will check out these homes in person to see what condition they’re in and to assess how your home compares. You can do the same. For more perspective, get in touch with your local association of REALTORS®. Ask if they can give you information about your neighborhood and the local market. Understand the Market You’re InThe housing market where you live can greatly affect your pricing strategy. If you’re in a seller’s market, where demand from buyers outpaces the number of homes for sale, you may be able to price your home slightly higher than market value. But if you’re in a buyer’s market, where buyers have the advantage, you may have to price your home slightly below market value to get people interested. You can view local market trends by checking the online resource realtor.com®. It offers charts that display important housing market data, such as a city’s average listing price, median sales price, and average days a home is on market. It’s a lot of information. At any point, you can ask your agent to help you make sense of how your local market will influence your home’s price. Put Your Feelings Aside As previously mentioned, many sellers think their home is worth more than it is. Why? Because memories. Because sentiment. Because pride. But you have to stay objective when assessing your home’s value. Buyers, after all, won’t know your home’s personal history. What makes your home special to you may not be something that entices them. They may want to convert that craft room you worked so hard to perfect into a man cave. The lesson: As much as possible, set aside your emotional attachment to your home. It will make it easier to accept your agent’s realistic, clear-eyed calculation of its price. Remember: It’s All Relative As you and your agent are talking price, the local market may throw you a curveball or two. In some markets, for example, it could make sense to price your home slightly below its fair market value to spark a bidding war. Of course, this kind of pricing strategy isn’t guaranteed to pay off. Similarly, there’s no one-size-fits-all playbook. Your home should be priced for its own local, or even hyper-local, market. Period. Confer with your agent before you decide to try any market-specific pricing tactics. Be Savvy With the Dollar Amount Pricing your home requires careful attention. In some cases, fair market value may not be precisely what you should list it for — and the reasons can be subtle. For example, if comps show that your home is worth $410,000, setting that as your asking price can backfire. The reason is that buyers who are looking online for properties under $400,000 won’t see your home in search results. This explains why many agents use the “99” pricing strategy and, for example, list $400,000 homes for $399,000. The idea is to maximize exposure. Have a Heart-to-Heart With Your Partner Not the sole decision maker in your household? Talk to your partner about your home’s price before it’s listed. The reason isn’t just to foster the open communication that’s important to any relationship. It’s that if you’re not on the same page about price or the other things that are important to you about the sale, that tension will affect each subsequent step of the selling process. Keep Your Head in the Game You’ve considered your agent’s advice, and you have agreed on the right price for your home. Hey! Your house is on the market. Even after the listing date, you and your agent should discuss price on an ongoing basis. Markets are fluid, so you may have to make tweaks. It’s important to stay in continual dialogue with your agent, the MVP of Team Sell Your House. Together, keep your eyes on the price. |
AuthorJason Gelios, SRES-Senior Real Estate Specialist, Author, Public Speaker, and Expert Media Contributor of real estate expertise across the globe. Archives
March 2024
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