Not Staying Long? Cut Out High End Renovations

Renovators, say hello to Hardy board and goodbye to granite countertops.

According to a new article over on CNNMoney. com, here's what not to do in today's market:

• Buy a home you know you're not going to live in very long.
• Spend oodles of money on high-end updates and renovations.
• Expect to get that money back plus a profit one or two years after you purchase the home.

Yes, a few short years ago you could do all of those things and not only recoup your money, but probably make a profit to boot:

"During the housing boom, updating a kitchen with high end materials like cherry wood cabinets and a Viking stove was a sure bet to boost a home's value. Homeowners often recovered about 80% of the cost when the house was later sold."

That was yesterday.

If you are going to remodel in today's market, and know you won't be staying in your home more than a few years, it might be wise to scale back the scope of your interior projects as well as the type of materials you use.

"...with so much more inventory on the market for buyers to choose from, they [buyers] just aren't as impressed with the bells and whistles. Now most upscale renovations are returning less than 70% of their cost, according to a recent survey from the National Association of Realtors (NAR) and Remodeling magazine."

However, exterior renovations still seem to be paying off:

"...returns for high-end exterior renovations are still holding up, according to the NAR report, with better pay-offs than interior work.
For example, sprucing up a home's look with expensive fiber-cement siding, which looks like wood but is more durable, returns 88% on investment, more than any other renovation NAR evaluated."

Say good-bye to granite countertops - CNNMoney.com

Tuesday Link Round-Up - Easy Being Green Edition

Thinking you'd like your home to be more energy and environmentally friendly but don't know where to begin? Realestatejournal.com has a few suggestions other than the usual suspect suggestions of extra insulation or compact fluorescent lightbulbs.

Home is where "green" can start - Realestatejournal.com

Thinking all that energy efficient stuff is great and all but don't have money to do it? How about working it into your ReFi?

Energy Efficient Mortage - Topix

Monday Link Round-Up - Weather Update Edition

Today's weather:




Partly cloudy with a slight chance of HELOC freeze ... - Calculated Risk

and the National Weather service has issued a basement tornado advisory. - The Onion

In other news -

The Second Creek Greenway is coming! - Knoxviews.com

Williamson County Makes Forbes List

Here's some good news to start off your work week.

Williamson County, Tennessee, home to Franklin and Brenwood, has just been named on Forbes' new list of "Best Places to Get Ahead" - places where income growth and job growth are highest.

"There are very few economies that have grown as much from manufacturing as those in Tennessee, due, in part, to its more hospitable business environment and less entrenched unions. Williamson County, outside of Nashville, has a median income of $81,449, up almost 18% from 2000. Jobs have jumped 5.5% per year over that time."

Other places that made the list include Stafford County, outside of Washington D.C.; Forsyth County, GA, outside of Atlanta; and Delaware County outside of Columbus, OH.

Best places to get ahead - Forbes.com

Friday Link Round-Up

TVA hits us one more time - Tennessean

Which we apparently can't afford anyway - RealEstateJournal

Need to cheer yourself up now?

Go take a spin on Knox County's very first roundabout! - KNS

Debt Reduction for Dummies

Crappy credit means a crappy credit score. And a crappy credit score means either a) a higher interest rate on your conventional home loan, or b) no conventional home loan. In fact, a credit score of 620 or better is now required for all conventional financing, FHA not included. That's up from 580 just a short time ago. It may not sound like much, but those 40 points have squeezed a lot of folks out of the home buying market.

If you're one of them, cleaning up your credit report is the only way to get back in the game, and that means not only getting rid of debt, but also not accumulating any more of the nasty stuff. Luckily for you the nice folks over at Dumb Little Man have put together a list of 20+ Ways to Get Rid of Your Debt For Good. While it's not a step by step guide, it does contain a lot of great advice. And before you go getting all "Duh!" over ideas like-

1. Stop Adding More Debt



2. Get Rid of Your Credit Cards
   

stop and ask yourself this: if all these suggestions are so durn easy, why aren't you doing any of them?

What Will $1,000,000 Get You in KTown?

Well, it depends on where you are, accorinding to Forbes.com. In Dallas or Houston, you'll get a nice 5,000 sq ft home with 5 or 6 bedrooms. If you're buying in Manhattan, you'll have to downsize a little, as your 7 figures will only get you a 600 sq ft, one bedroom apartment. Ouch.

So what will $1,000,000 get you Knoxille?

In the MLS today, there are 74 Knox County Properties with a list price of $999,000+. Here's a sampling of homes listed right around the $1,000,000 mark:

• A 98 year-old 5570 sq ft completely renovated historic home on 5+ acres in Fountain City


• A 6400 sq ft estate home with 4 BR, 3 1/2 BA on 2+ acres in Halls


• A secluded 3400 sq ft compound on 17 acres in South Doyle


• A 5 BR, 4 1/2, 5500 sq ft custom home in Westmoreland Heights


• A 7,000 sq ft lakefront home in River Club


• A 7,300 sq ft, 5 BR, 4 1/2 BA estate home in Fox Den -- minus the chandelier over the breakfast table, which does not convey (hey if you can afford 1,000,000 big ones, you can afford your own breakfast table chandelier, am I right?)
  

To Prepay or Not To Prepay

Lifehacker recently wrote up an article by J.D. Roth over at Get Rich Slowly called Mortgage Prepayment Made Easy: Own Your Home in Half the Time. Roth goes through all the various options of getting your mortgage paid off early and throws out the most common suggestions of:


Refinancing from a 30 to 15 year mortgage
Signing up for your bank's bi-weekly payment program
Making one extra payment a year
Paying an extra $100 per month

Instead, he suggests pre-paying the next month's principal in addition to each monthly payment.

And although he acknowledges that a lot of financial folks say that paying off a low interest loan is silly, he still thinks the psychological freedom of owning your home outright is worth it.

What do you think? Do you do anything to try to pay off your mortgage early? Or do you think that money is better off invested somewhere else?

Pay Off Your Mortgage in Half the Time - Lifehacker

Mortgage Prepayment Made Easy: Own Your Home in Half the Time - Get Rich Slowly