Eight Easy Ways to Increase the Value of Your Home Before Sale

A polished home exterior creates an inviting experience for visitors or passersby, which is especially important if your home is on the market.

Check out our tips to get the most curb appeal for the lowest cost — while turning your neighbors’ heads and getting prospective buyers to your door.

1. Clean Up

The easiest way to enhance curb appeal is dedicating a weekend to deep cleaning your home’s exterior.

Sure, you’ll want to trim bushes, sweep and mow your lawn, but there’s more to curb appeal than keeping a tidy front yard. Turn the nozzle on your garden hose to the strongest setting and clean off your driveway, sidewalk, windows and fence.

If dirt and grime are caked on your home’s exterior, you can rent a powerwasher for around $50 to $75 a day. Just avoid areas with caulking, like windows and doors, because you can strip some of the sealing. And as tempting as it may be to powerwash your roof, don’t do it —  you may damage the shingles’ coating.

When it comes to your windows, spraying them with a garden hose isn’t enough. For maximum sparkle, clean your windows outside and inside. Instead of relying on a glass cleaner, try a mix of detergent diluted in warm water.

2. Add Shutters

Shutters are an easy way to accentuate the size of your windows. They make your windows look larger and add visual interest by disrupting a bland exterior wall. For maximum curb appeal, choose a shutter color that contrasts with your home’s color to make it pop.

3. Paint Accent Areas

Paint is a quick and easy curb appeal booster. Instead of painting the entire exterior of your home, focus on the trim, door and shutters.

You can typically find a gallon of exterior paint for $20 to $30. But before you decide on a color, consider home exterior color trends, along with your home’s natural style.

4. Give Your Door a Face Lift

If you don’t love your front door, you don’t need to dish out loads of money to replace it. Think beyond paint — consider adding molding, which offers a decorative frame for your door that welcomes visitors.

You can also add metal house numbers, which you can find for as low as $5 a number. And if seasonally appropriate, consider adding a wreath to your door as a bonus.

5. Replace Your House Numbers

If you’d rather not add house numbers to your freshly painted door, here are some alternative DIY ideas:

• Paint a terra-cotta planter with your house number and place it by your doorstep.
• Add house numbers to a post planter near your front porch.
• Use your front porch stair riser’s real estate by hanging or painting numbers there.

6. Update Your Light Fixtures

Replacing your exterior light fixtures is another curb appeal must. You can usually find outdoor sconces for around $20 at home centers. Just make sure your new light fixtures have the same mounting system. And if you want to save on lighting, a fresh finish can do wonders. Try spray-painting them — a can of spray paint costs around $10.

7. Keep Porch Furniture Neutral

Just as you would aim to simplify the interior of your home so shoppers can envision themselves living there, the exterior of your home should be neutral and welcoming too.

Put your pink flamingo and wind chime collection into storage, and focus on porch decor that offers pops of color and character. You can find brightly colored outdoor chairs or throw pillows for $20 to $30 each.

8. Don’t Forget the Small Things

These low-budget fixes make a big impact, so don’t forget the little details!

• Upgrade your mailbox: Install a new mailbox for under $100, or spray paint your existing mailbox.
• Plant a tree: A charming tree can up your curb appeal for as low as $20.
• Build a tree bench: If you already have a tree you love, build a bench around it! Great for napping, picnicking or just hiding exposed roots, a wraparound tree bench costs only what you spend on boards and screws.
• Install flower boxes: For around $20 each, flower boxes are a quick way to add some life and color to your windows. If flower boxes sound like too much work, try a container garden in pots by your front porch.
• Hide eyesores: Place a small lattice fence or a side of paneling around your air conditioner, and hide your trash bins behind a small fence. You can also hide your hose in a pot or storage bench.

The 2019 Housing Market is Waiting on Millennials

As the year begins, the U.S. housing market doesn’t look very bright. Demand will likely stay depressed through 2019: Supply shortages are keeping prices high, especially in gateway cities where much of the job growth is occurring. Add to that higher interest rates, which are keeping existing homeowners from moving up the property ladder.

However, demand could get a bump from millennials looking to move from renting to owning their homes, and in markets like Atlanta where the number of new homes is rising. “It’s not going to be a great year for the housing market — prices are way over the market peak,” said Wharton real estate and finance professor Susan Wachter, who is also co-director of the Penn Institute for Urban Research. “What’s going to keep this market growing are millennials and the affordable Southeast.”

“We’ve seen prices go up and up in the places where the jobs are, where people want to be,” said Keys, who is also a faculty research fellow at the National Bureau of Economic Research. “And those are the places where it’s hardest to build. We’re not seeing as much supply coming online.” A few small exceptions are in the apartment sector and dense residential development, he noted.

Wachter said she saw clear evidence of a “buyers’ strike” at the high end of the market. She pointed out that median home prices have been steadily rising. As of December 2018, the median listing price for a home in the U.S. was $275,000, while in San Diego, Calif., that was nearly $680,000, according to real estate firm Zillow. “Who can afford a down payment of 10% on a $700,000 dollar home – $70,000?” she asked.

Interest rates have been rising, too, adding to the pressure on home prices, although they have eased in recent weeks. “A combination of higher interest rates and higher prices are the real concerns going forward, [even as] we’re still in a low-interest rate, low-mortgage rate environment,” Wachter said. “The real problem is high housing prices. They’re just too damn high.”

For those who find themselves priced out of home ownership, renting is also getting expensive. “Rents are higher than they were in real terms in 2007,” Wachter noted. This is not because of a follow-on effect from high home ownership prices, but rather “the underlying cost of labor, land and materials in delivering the housing to the market.”

Interest rates have been rising, too, adding to the pressure on home prices, although they have eased in recent weeks. “A combination of higher interest rates and higher prices are the real concerns going forward, [even as] we’re still in a low-interest rate, low-mortgage rate environment,” Wachter said. “The real problem is high housing prices. They’re just too damn high.”

For those who find themselves priced out of home ownership, renting is also getting expensive. “Rents are higher than they were in real terms in 2007,” Wachter noted. This is not because of a follow-on effect from high home ownership prices, but rather “the underlying cost of labor, land and materials in delivering the housing to the market.”

Divergent Trends

According to Keys, the essence of the affordability problem is “about people living paycheck to paycheck.” The long economic expansion after the 2008 recession, low unemployment rates and steady GDP growth rates “mask a lot of the challenges that many households face,” he added. “There are places where even those who are employed in relatively solid, stable jobs can’t afford the housing.”

Wachter agreed the disparities are stark. “It’s the hot markets where the jobs are, but they are most challenging to buy into,” she said. “Wages have not kept up with housing prices, particularly in the markets where the jobs are.”

Wachter saw “a bifurcated market,” where housing demand is slowing at the high end because prices are too high, but is strong in other segments because of millennials. Millennials predominantly are still renting, she noted, but “this is their peak age to switch to owning — they’re 30-31. So there’s a demand for that starter home among them.” However, even starter home prices have risen substantially, and so have rents, she added. “It’s hard to save for that home while you’re spending so much on rent.”

Prices of starter homes are high because high interest rates are deterring existing homeowners from making their next home purchase, Keys pointed out. Mortgage rates have risen above 5% in recent months, while many homeowners have locked in at rates of 3.5% or 4%. “That will limit their willingness to move up a notch on the ladder. You’re going to wait until you need the four-bedroom house, until you’re really overstuffed. So, you’re going to have this this housing lock effect, and that’s going to tie up more households in those starter homes.” He said he expects to see homeowners opting for renovations instead of moving into bigger homes.

In any event, Keys is relying on millennials to pick up much of the slack in housing demand this year. “The millennials will be the saving grace for the housing market in 2019 — if there is a saving grace.” He noted that homeownership rates among millennials “have really shot up” in the past two years especially.

The Southeastern markets still have adequate supply of affordable housing and are seeing decent demand growth. Wachter noted that housing starts have increased in the Southeast, while they have plummeted in the west. “Not only do we have a bifurcation across income groups, we have a new geographical bifurcation going on – the more affordable markets are in the Southeast, and Atlanta is a good example of exactly this, where we see growth still occurring.”

Similarly, some markets have seen steady increases in housing supply that could help lower prices. Keys pointed to Las Vegas, where the available inventory has steadily increased in the past six months to 82% higher year over year. Denver, too, has seen inventory increase by 45% over the past year, he added. “Usually, that much supply in the market will lead to a softening of prices.”

Supply constraints apart, high home prices are also a reflection of rising construction costs seen in more expensive materials like Canadian lumber or Chinese steel and a shortage-driven increase in labor costs. “We’ve had a decline in undocumented labor for about 10 years since the housing bust, and a tightening of the borders makes it that much more difficult,” said Keys.

According to Wachter, tighter regulation is another factor influencing home prices. “The demand is in the markets that are already heavily regulated,” she added. “The demand is where the jobs are, and the jobs are increasingly in growing urban centers. And that’s where it is extremely difficult to build [because of] increasing regulation.”

California Real Estate Markets are Changing...Very Slowly

California has come a long way since the housing market hit bottom in 2008. By February 2009, REO sales comprised 60 percent of all home sales, equity sales 30 percent and short sales 10 percent, according to California Association of Realtors senior vice president and chief economist Leslie Appleton-Young.

The keynote speaker at the annual Silicon Valley Association of Realtors Economic Seminar & General Membership Meeting held this month, Appleton-Young said today’s market is the reverse — equity sales comprise 98 percent and REOs just 1 percent.

The economy looks good. Unemployment is the lowest in 40 years. Consumer confidence is the highest in 18 years. Inflation remains low.

Growth, while good, has its side effects. The Feds have raised interest rates eight times since December 2015, may raise rates one more time by the end of the year and up to four times next year. Appleton-Young said the 2019 outlook is for higher interest rates, which will impact housing affordability even more. To add to this, the tax reform law has made homeownership less of an incentive.

Appleton-Young said the country is entering the 10th year of positive economic growth, but the pace of growth is decelerating. By next year it could return to a 2.4 percent level of growth.

California needs 180,000 units a year and is currently at a deficit of three million units. The state is losing its working class and millennials to other states that are building more homes and homes that are affordable.

“The question is, how long can the economy be strong if housing is not?” asked Appleton-Young out loud. Quoting C.A.R. CEO Joel Singer, she said, “At some point a supply problem becomes a demand problem.”

The C.A.R. chief economist believes California will continue to outpace the rest of the country, but job growth will suffer because of affordability. The homeownership rate is falling on a year-over-year basis. It is believed that California will become a majority renter state by 2025.

“We need to build more housing, redefine attitudes toward density, and build adequate infrastructure,” said Appleton-Young.

With its strong economy and expansion of its tech sector, Appleton-Young believes the Bay Area is the most solid in weathering the changes. “Silicon Valley is the hub of economic growth. You are it!” she exclaimed.

“The Bay Area is the juggernaut of growth in income and jobs,” added Appleton-Young. “Prices are not going down, they are just rising slowly. We are in a slow squeeze, but it’s not a cataclysmic. I don’t see the economy faltering.”

Summarizing the state of the market, Appleton-Young told Realtors, “We’re going from great to good. It’s a change you have to talk about with consumers.”

Expect a 7 percent pullback in sales next year, she said, noting Realtors need to counsel and educate consumers about the market. Since interest rates are rising, it is a good time to buy and it is a good time to sell.

“Sellers need to be straight up with their price and not play games,” said Appleton-Young.

Bay Area Real Estate Expected to Cool in 2019

Higher home prices. Weaker demand. Fewer sales. More traffic.

Economists for the California Association of Realtors on Thursday offered a somber forecast for the state housing market in 2019, expecting rising interest rates and a lack of affordable housing to push more prospective buyers out of the market.

“Home ownership is becoming a luxury good in California,” said CAR chief economist Leslie Appleton-Young. Across the Bay Area, the strong economy coupled with a lack of new housing has led to record prices. “There is no quick fix.”

California continues to be among the least affordable states in the nation for housing. Nationally, about 53 percent of families can afford mortgage payments on a median-priced home in their community. Just 1 in 4 Californians can afford to purchase a home.

In Alameda and Santa Clara counties, only 16 percent of residents can afford the typical home, while 14 percent of residents in San Francisco and San Mateo counties can handle the steep mortgage payments.

The residential market seems to be nearing a peak, Appleton-Young said, although the association expects California home prices to climb 3.1 percent next year. Total sales are expected to dip slightly, despite a growing workforce.

The expectations mean a continued windfall for Bay Area homeowners, while renters and lower-income workers scramble for affordable housing options. The median sale price for the nine-county region peaked in April, with sales of existing homes hitting $935,000, according to CoreLogic.

Median sale prices in the Bay Area have climbed, year-over-year, every month since April 2012. The historic run has given long-time homeowners spectacular returns, while forcing home searchers out of the market and sometimes the region.

As workers move into more affordable, outlying counties, congestion on the roads will increase, said association senior economist Jordan Levine.

He expects the pool of home buyers to dip as many Bay Area residents are priced out of the market. But, he added, “demand is not going to disappear.”

The statewide survey expects continued pressure on the housing market. Interest rates have climbed this year, reaching 4.6 percent last month for a 30-year-fixed rate loan, according to Freddie Mac, adding to monthly costs.

Although the market still favors sellers, economists also see signs it has begun to turn. About 40 percent of recent real estate listings have dropped prices this year, and homes have begun to spend a few more days on the market.

California Voters Reject Proposition 10

California voters on Tuesday rejected a controversial ballot measure known as Proposition 10 that would have expanded local government authority to enact rent-control laws on residential property, according to an NBC News projection.

Opponents of Proposition 10 claimed that the measure would worsen the state's chronic housing crisis and lead to more than 500 local rental boards setting just how much homeowners could charge to rent out their home.

More than $100 million was spent on the fight over Proposition 10, with opponents spending more than $76 million and backers shelling out about $26.2 million, according to state campaign finance records. The real estate industry, including major landlords operating in California, led the fight against the measure by donating significant amounts of money.

A PAC affiliated with the California Association of Realtors contributed about $8 million to fight the ballot measure while more than $5 million apiece came from New York-based real estate private equity firm Blackstone Property Partners, Chicago-based apartment real estate investment trust Equity Residential, and Essex Property Trust, a California-based real estate investment trust.

The proponents of Proposition 10 received most of their money from Los Angeles-based AIDS Healthcare Foundation, a nonprofit organization which donated about $23.2 million. Michael Weinstein, president of the foundation, helped lead the effort to get the voter measure on the November ballot.

The ballot measure sought to repeal California's Costa-Hawkins Rental Housing Act, a state law enacted in 1995 that weakened municipal rent control ordinances. The law specifically applied to rental control on single-family homes as well as on all housing built after Feb. 1, 1995.

California's renters typically pay 50 percent more for housing than renters living in other states, according to an analysis by the state's nonpartisan Legislative Analyst's Office. It also found that rents in some parts of the state are more than double the national average.

Sen. Bernie Sanders, the liberal Vermont independent and a potential 2020 presidential candidate, supported the ballot measure. He argued that local governments should have the right to set rents to ease the affordable housing crunch and protect tenants against huge rent increases.

2019 California Real Estate Market Predictions

Last month, California housing statistics varied depending on which city you are in. While sales in Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Diego, San Jose and Orange County grew, prices were on the decline in many districts.

California is still a shining star in US housing markets, and some cities such as San Bernardino were heating up in August/September.

Predictions about California’s housing markets by CAR Realtors sees a slower market with homeowners hanging onto their homes. Without good locations to move to, and high prices for what’s available means everyone is staying put. CAR believes that will subdue sales throughout 2019.

China Tarrifs and Growth in 2019

If you’ve read the 2019 jobs report, you can understand the transition all states are in, including California.

China trade tariffs and US business repatriation could stimulate California’s economy and encourage more home building. You can view the California jobs stats. The question is about how long that process could take. The transition this fall is reducing exports and increasing imports which is obviously not good for the economy. By spring, that will change.

The Jan 1st China tariff date could stem the tide of imports and stimulate US production. You can read in more detail about local/federal political influences for the California market, and how it affects the rental market in the state. California unemployment has hit record lows, real earnings are up, and mortgage rates are rising, which feeds into price demands.

Housing Predictions for 2019

CAR’s 2019 California Housing Market Forecast projects a decline of over just over 3% in single-family home sales next year, at 396,800 sold units, slightly less 2018’s expected year end sales figure of 410,460 and that is 28,000 units less than 2017’s total sales.

Zillow expects California home prices to rise from $554,000 currently to $589,000 in October of 2019. Zillow gives California’s housing markets a 9.6 health rating overall and sees a price growth rate of 8.6%. Oddly, we’re seeing almost 1/5th of homes being sold with a price cut from previous sold price. The average home rental in California is $2500 per month.

Home Prices Expected to Continue to Rise

New residential home construction was down in August, yet is still up 6.5% Year-Over-Year. Construction spending increased $1,315 billion in August, 0.1% over July’s revised estimate and 6.5% higher than August 2017’s rate. That will not help bring housing prices down nor help see sales growth improve.

According to Zillow, home prices rose to an average of $544,000 in September. Top tier homes rose an average of $1.06 million while single family homes rose slightly to $553,000 on average. Prices of condos rose $2000 to $500,000 on average.

3 Reasons to Worry About Housing

Home prices in the United States have never been higher. In January, housing values eclipsed their 2006 pre-crisis peak and since then have only pushed higher, according to the Case-Shiller home price index. 

The culprits are a crazy tight job market, rising wages and the fact that the homeownership rate is rising again after bottoming in 2016. 

But storm clouds are gathering as the Federal Reserve pushes interest rates higher, part of its ongoing fight to keep a lid on inflation. Higher rates weigh on home affordability -- and thus depress demand. Here are three growing headwinds the housing market faces:

Affordability

Thanks to the resolve of Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell, who is resisting President Trump's calls for a slowdown of the rate hike pace, monetary policy continues to tighten. That's pushing up long-term interest rates, with the 30-year Treasury yield pushing back over the 3 percent threshold recently, up from less than 2.7 percent in December and a low of 2.1 percent in the summer of 2016.

Looking at the 30-year fixed mortgage rate, rates are at 4.5 percent right now, up from 3.8 percent last September and lows around 3.3 percent in 2012 and 2013.

As a result of rising mortgage rates and higher home prices, Gluskin Sheff economists estimate that housing affordability has crashed to lows not seen since 2008, well off the highs seen in 2011 and 2012 when a combination of lower prices and lower rates helped put an end to the housing collapse.

Sales activity

A slowdown in new home construction during the housing crisis resulted in a backlog of demand for brand-new homes. Builders have responded to consumer appetite for newly constructed homes, which has helped pushed up the average price of a new home from a low of $250,000 in late 2011 to a high of $402,900 in December, before cooling slightly.

But now sales activity is rolling over, threatening to break the recent trend of rising activity. Sales of existing homes has flatlined over the past year.

Demographics 

Millennial homeownership rates are still poor, mired as they are with student loan debt and tepid wages. 

According to the Urban Institute, the homeownership rate of millennials between the ages of 25 and 34 is about 8 percent below Gen X and baby boomers at the same age. If millennial homeownership matched previous generations, there would be 3.4 million more homeowners today, they estimate. 

The risk is that the longer this generation delays homeownership, the more baby boomers looking to downsize will be pressured into lowering their home prices when they enter retirement. 

Indeed, a study by Fannie Mae's Economic and Strategic Research group warns of a "mass exodus" on the horizon as the "homeownership demand from younger generations is insufficient to fill the void left by multitudes of departing older owners."