Deep-Cleaning Targets to Help a Home Shine

Deep-Cleaning Targets to Help a Home Shine

Buyers are just more attracted to clean houses. And while a standard job may give a home a momentary shine, a deep clean of hidden spots may help provide the wow factor your listing needs.

The Cleaning Authority offers the following tips on deep cleaning a home:

1. Use a top-to-bottom approach.

Begin at the top: Clear the cobwebs from the corners of the ceiling, dust off light fixtures and ceiling fans, and clean off cabinet tops (including the top of the refrigerator). All of these areas tend to be prime dust collectors. Next, move on to the middle of the home: Wipe down walls, and touch up paint where needed. Remove build-up on light switch panels. Finally, clean the baseboards and floors.

2. Change air conditioner filters.

If the home seems to be perpetually dusty, the A/C filter and ducts may be the culprits. “If the filter needs to be changed or the duct needs repairing, you’re just recirculating the same dust throughout the home,” according to The Cleaning Authority.

3. Zoom in on the bathroom.

Beyond cleaning the typical spots, go further: Clean behind the toilet too. Check for rust where the toilet meets the floor, scrub the hinges on the toilet cap, and polish the shower, tub, and faucet. Also, scrub the bathtub tile. Don’t neglect the rails on a glass shower door.

4. Clean behind the refrigerator.

You may be surprised at what you find behind your fridge, everything from decaying food to even a breeding ground for insects. Pull out the fridge and give it a good scrub underneath.

Source: The Cleaning Authority

Student Housing Gets an Upgrade

Student Housing Gets an Upgrade

Luxury student housing is popping up around colleges and universities across the country. Residential developers are adding fancier amenities to student housing options as enrollments in higher education continue to rise.

About 47,700 new beds are expected to roll out onto the market in privately owned, student housing properties this fall semester, according to Axiometrics, an apartment research firm. Universities in the Southeast are seeing the biggest increases.

These new student housing options are touting higher end amenities, including everything from stainless steel appliances, hardwood floors, en suite bathrooms, and in-unit washer and dryer. Some of the new student housing is also promoting its walkability to shops and eating areas, as well as 24/7 on-site emergency service and video surveillance, saunas and fitness areas, tanning beds, outdoor patio with built-in grilling, study lounge with computers, and even on-site convenience stores.

“Privately owned student housing is quickly becoming an integral sector in real estate, and performance metrics demonstrate its strength,” says Jay Denton, senior vice president of analytics at Axiometrics. As enrollments at colleges and universities continue to see growth, Axiometrics researchers are forecasting rent growth to remain strong over the next five years and occupancy to remain above 95 percent.

State universities are seeing some of the highest enrollment growth. Developers are stepping in to meet demand, but they’re embracing a higher end form of student housing than in the past.

“We had to do a lot of convincing that it wasn’t all ‘Animal House’ structures, but actually really stable cash flow properties,” J.J. Smith, COO of CA Student Living told CNBC. “Now that we have educated the institutional world, we’re seeing a lot of capital interested in these properties.”

Developers are moving away from affordable, garden-style apartments far from campus toward more pedestrian-oriented infill walkable high-wise construction around major universities, Smith says. Parents are showing they’re willing to pay 10 to 40 percent more than a university dormitory for more posh digs for their children too.

From the resort-style pools to sauna and fitness centers, “each year there continues to be another new amenity that gets introduced to the sector,” Smith says.

For example, CA Ventures at Colorado State University in Fort Collins reportedly is putting a ski and snowboard simulator into one of its properties. Golf simulators are also available at several of their properties.

Source: “Student Housing Ups the Ante on Amenities,” CNBC (Sept. 1, 2016)

Bad Habits That May Ruin a Home

Bad Habits That May Ruin a Home

Certain home owner habits could actually be harming the home, and can lead to major home improvement projects later on. This Old House recently featured a list of several bad home owner habits to avoid, including:

Slamming the front door

Slamming the heavy front door can push it out of alignment. Eventually, the door may get really tough to open and even have a gap between the trim and jamb that could allow moisture and cold air to seep in.

Fix: Replace the existing hinges of the door with self-closing ones so that the door can softly close without slamming.

Never lifting up outdoor rugs.

Outdoor rugs with rubber or vinyl backings shouldn’t be left in place. They can trap water and lead to mold and mildew.

Fix: Select an open-weave rug that allows rainwater to evaporate and air to circulate. Also, rinse the rug with a hose occasionally and then hang it out to dry.

Failing to clean the gutters.

Fallen leaves, pine needles, branches, and even the neighbor’s tennis ball can end up clogging your gutter and prevent water from properly flowing through. Water could then either back up or dump along the foundation and seep into cracks and crevices.

Fix: Clean your gutters before the spring rains. Check them in the winter for any ice or snow damage. Consider mesh gutter guards to help prevent clogs.

Flushing “flushable wipes.”

Pre-moistened, flushable wipes may not be so good to flush down your toilet after all. Flushing them could cause a plumbing problem, according to This Old House. The nonwoven fabric from the wipes may collect with grease and other materials and lead to a clog.

Fix: Place a covered trash bin in the bathroom to dispose of the wipes instead. Stick to traditional toilet paper.

Closing vents.

Shutting vents to try to push air to other rooms to cool or heat may end up doing more harm than good. You could cause “a pressure imbalance in the ducts that can make the furnace work harder or the cooling coil freeze over,” according to This Old House article.

Fix: An HVAC contractor can install branch dampers in the main areas of your ductwork to force cooler air to the second floor in the summer and warmer air to the ground floor in the winter.

Using too much drain cleaner.

Clog-dissolving liquids or crystals may help unclog a septic system. But too much of it may lead to less of the essential bacteria needed to break down the waste continually.

Fix: When you first get a clog, pour some boiling water in and flush. For more pesky clogs, try a mechanical cleaning with a closet auger snake – which according to the article is less damaging than drain-clearing chemicals. If you do use drain cleaner, use them sparingly.

View the full list of 25 bad habits of home owners and how to avoid them at This Old House.

Source: “Break These Bad Home Owner Habits,” This Old House (September 2016)

10 Beach Towns With Housing Bargains

10 Beach Towns With Housing Bargains

Beach towns don’t tend to be cheap. However, a few places offer opportunities for more buyers to live in the beach town they always dreamed of.

RealtyTrac recently identified the beach towns with fewer than 50,000 residents that have the highest quality of life (e.g. air quality, low crime, good weather, etc.) and where homes are at the best bargain prices (less expensive compared to other beach towns).

That said, even the most affordable beach towns are still pricey, RealtyTrac notes. Many of the towns on its list still had median home prices above $300,000. Also, home owners who live near the beach also likely will need to factor in higher insurance costs due to the potential for flood or hurricane damage.

Here are the 10 most budget-friendly beach towns, according to RealtyTrac:

Source: “10 Beach Towns Where Real Estate Is a Bargain,” MarketWatch (Aug. 30, 2016)

Real Estate to Get Its Own Stock Category

Real Estate to Get Its Own Stock Category

Real estate companies have been included in a category with banks and insurance firms since 1999 in stock markets across the globe. But that soon will change. Come Thursday, real estate will be getting its own dedicated category.

The Wall Street Journal reports that the move likely will prompt analysts to pay closer attention to real estate investment trusts.

The Global Industry Classification Standard separates companies into 10 industries, like energy and health care. The groupings allow investors to follow broad trends. But the new category for real estate will now make number 11 in the groupings.

The growth of the real estate sector has prompted it to get its own category. The market capitalization is $1.48 trillion and accounts for 3.5 percent of the global equities market, according to the European Public Real Estate Association. What’s more, REITs have been one of the top performing asset class for more than 20 years. U.S. REITs total returns over the past 25 years are 12 percent compared with 9 percent for the S&P 500, according to Green Street Advisors.

“There is going to be more money looking at the sector,” says Matthew Norris, executive director for a real estate fund at the Grosvenor Group, a London-based property firm. “This is going to bring real estate into focus.”

Source: “Real-Estate Shares to Get Own Sector,” The Wall Street Journal (Aug. 30, 2016)

Buyers Will Pay More for Smart Tech Features

Buyers Will Pay More for Smart Tech Features

Home buyers are willing to pay extra in order to have a smart home, according to several new studies. Network-connected thermostats, security devices, appliances, and lighting already installed in a home may help home owners sell their properties faster and for more money, reports The Washington Post on the studies’ findings.

Fifty-seven percent of home shoppers eyeing older homes say they would consider them updated and more appealing if they had smart-home features installed, according to a survey of 1,250 American adults conducted by Coldwell Banker Real Estate. Sixty-one percent of millennials say they would favor a home that had smart-home features; 59 percent of parents with children living in the house say they would too.

Another recent survey this year conducted by John Burns Real Estate Consulting also found Americans heavily favoring, and willing to pay extra for, smart-home features when shopping for a home. Sixty-five percent of nearly 22,000 home buyers surveyed said they’d be willing to spend more for a home with smart-home technology. More than half of those surveyed said they’d be willing to pay extra for interior and exterior security cameras, network-connected appliances, doorbells with text alerts and access to security cameras, smart air filtration vents, and more.

Some appraisers say they are making adjustments when comparing a smart home with a similar home that does not have such features.

“Smart-home technology can definitely add to market value,” Pat Turner, an appraiser in Richmond, Va., told The Washington Post. “If you have the data showing that houses with smart technology sell for more, then you’ve got to.”

Source: “Buyers Say They’re Willing to Pay Extra for ‘Smart’ Homes,” The Washington Post (Aug. 24, 2016)