5 Remodeling Tips to Increase Your Homes Value

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In today's economic climate every penny counts more, so saving money has never been so important. Nowhere is this more evident than in the realm of home improvement. The present real estate market is slowly on the rebound, but is growing at a much slower pace than the rest of the economy is. Many home owners have seen their greatest investment, their house, lose up to 40% of its value in the past few years. 

Many are enacting various home improvement projects in an attempt to shore up or increase the value of their home as a result. Many retirees want to scale down their home requirements to a more affordable amount. They want to sell their home but the depressed housing market means they will have to take a big cut in the price of the home. The result is they have decided to sit on the home till the market bounces back to a reasonable level.

While they're waiting the smart homeowners are fixing up their home to increase the sale price of their home. All homes could use a freshening up of the paint and landscaping. This period of time should be used to make your house more attractive to potential buyers. I have listed a few ideas that could help make your home the best home on the block and first to sell. Some improvements are more pricey than others so only do those improvements that fit well in your budget.

1. Painting

Painting is a cheap, easy way to remodel any room of your house or revamp the exterior. With many space-enhancing color schemes to choose from, it’s hard not to find a room that could do with a splash of new color and personality. Speaking of personality, stenciling is making a comeback during the recession, allowing for an expensive look with minimal overhead cost.

2. An Addition

Adding an extension to your house can add between 10 and 50% to its value, depending on where you put it and how well it’s built and finished. The key here is to find a need your home has and consider the addition to accommodate that need, such as expanding a tiny kitchen or adding a necessary bedroom for your growing family. Another idea is to add an outdoor room extension, giving you extra space for a playroom, home office, or whatever your heart desires.

3. Kitchen Remodel

Though it can be expensive, remodeling your kitchen can add 10% to your home’s value, essentially paying for itself. It is the first room potential buyers will look at that will make or break their interest in your home. It is also a room you’re likely to spend a lot of time in, and should be as comfortable, modern, and spacious as possible. Some easy and relatively inexpensive ways to improve your kitchen are:

• Add new lighting fixtures.
• Add a sun tunnel
• Add an island.
• Paint and revamp the cabinets.
• Install new counters.
• Replace the kitchen sink.
• Make a backsplash.

4. Re-insulate

Improving the insulation in your home is a basic cost cutting home improvement you can do in a weekend that can cut your utility bill by as much as one-quarter! And while rolling out the pink fiberglass in attics and basements is a great start, there are other areas where insulation is needed that many homeowners do not consider:

• Weather-strip doors and windows to prevent both heat loss and cold air invasion.
• A water heater insulation jacket prevents heat loss through the walls of your water heater.
• Insulating your connected garage will form an extra protective barrier between your home and the elements.
• Some homes have room for blown in insulation in between the siding and the frame of the house.

5. Bathroom

Although it may not seem an obvious choice, improving your bathroom is a great way to add value to your house in a room everybody will be visiting sooner or later. Adding new tile and a splash of light color to the walls can be enough to give the bathroom a completely different ambiance. Changing the lighting and the counter space can also change it into a completely new room.

As with anything in life, do not embark upon home improvement ideas without having a good plan and the proper tools and materials to execute them. Attending some classes at interior design schools is another great way to prepare yourself for the home improvement tasks that are placed before you.

Picking The Right Insurance Company

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A lot of times people make the mistake of looking for the wrong things in an insurance company. This leaves them stuck with insurance that is not as useful to them as they might have thought. These principles can apply to car insurance, health insurance, life insurance, and home owner's insurance. If one starts to look at the concept of an insurance company differently, then it will be easy to see what to look for. After all, we live in a society where there are so many insurance companies all claiming to be the best one for your insurance needs. It requires a lot of detail to sort through them all and pick the best one. 

Here are a few basic ideas to stick to:

• Pick an insurance company that has a highly rated customer service system.
• Choose the insurance company with a record of paying claims quickly.
• Always give preference to insurance companies that have been around for longer.
• Do NOT just select the insurance policy and company that has the cheapest premiums. 

The biggest mistake people make is just choosing the insurance company and/or policy that has the cheapest premiums. For example, if someone sees three insurance policies for car insurance with prices of $100, $120, and $130 a month, chances are they will pick the policy that costs $100 a month. Most probably, that is a huge mistake. This is because the cost of a policy is only a minor factor in choosing the right policy. Things like customer service, claims payment speed, overall reliability, and policy features are a lot more important.

Customer Service/Claims Payment Speed:

Choosing an insurance company with great customer service is the best thing someone could do. This is because if an insurance company responds quickly and thoroughly to any customer service request, chances are they will do the same when you make an insurance claim. On the other hand, if their customer service has known to be absent for days at a time, you will most likely encounter similar problems with getting your claims paid. What is the point of a cheap policy if it is useless when you need it the most? Always choose reliability over price.

Features Of An Insurance Policy:

It is always important to know just how much coverage you are getting and what additional terms and conditions come with your policy. For example, a car insurance policy may seem really cheap but if it does not give you 100% coverage when you get into an accident, then it is really not worth it. Similarly, a health insurance policy that ends up with you paying a lot of out of pocket expenses will cost you more money in the long run than a more expensive policy with greater coverage.

Always remember that price is simply the first thing you should notice about an insurance policy. This should be followed by in depth analysis into the company and its history of providing great claims service to customers. In addition, always read the fine print in a policy so you know how much coverage you get in certain situations. Do all of this and you will get the best out of your insurance policies.

Author’s Bio: Steven Brown is a renowned author who writes for Insurancecompanies.org . His articles have always been found useful by the readers.

Invest in the Right House Insurance

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When you purchase a new home, one of the most important options you need to go after once the sale is complete is housing insurance. There are different insurance options available to you, which is why it is so important for you to select the insurance policy that gives you the very best coverage. You don't want to end up experience problems with the house, only to find out your policy services do not cover the insurance. On top of it all, you also don't want to go about paying for insurance coverage that just isn't necessary for the area. So, by looking at the different insurance policies and options available to you, it shouldn't be very difficult for you to locate what works best for your home.

Fire/Natural Disaster Insurance

For starters, some of the biggest areas of insurance coverage you need is both fire and natural disaster. Fire insurance covers your home should the house ever catch fire (both internally and externally), so no matter how the house catches fire, you are covered. This is helpful, as you never know what may cause your home to burn down. Ranging from catching fire from a Christmas light to a spark from an electrical outlet, you really never know how this might happen, which is what makes it such a valuable option to you. In addition to this, you need to have natural disaster insurance. This usually also is an option and an addition to your insurance package. It's hard to tell when a tornado might rip through your home, not to mention a downed tree falls down and crashes through the roof of your house. Different areas of the country are susceptible to different kinds of damage, but as long as you are covered, you should be good to go.

Flooding

Flooding insurance is usually a different form of housing insurance that you need to pay extra for. You might not need flooding insurance, although it does depend on where in the country you live. Chances are, if you reside in Arizona, New Mexico, or areas of the country that just don't receive a large amount of rain, you are alright and shouldn't opt into the flood insurance. However, if you live on the cost where it rains a considerable amount, plus hurricanes are common, you probably want to opt into this kind of coverage. This last thing you want is to be left with a flooded house and no way to pay it off. This is just going to cost you thousands of dollars in possible repairs that come directly out of your pocket.

With so many different insurance policies out there, it is a good idea to look over the different policies and policy providers in order to locate what works best for you. Coverage in some areas isn't necessary, as there is no need for flood insurance out west. However, exploring your options in order to find the perfect insurance package is well worth your time.

Author’s Bio: Sharon Green's articles are very informative and impressive. She writes about house insurance to cater to the needs of her readers. If you want to know more visit Houseinsurance.com

What to Look for in a Mutual Fund

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The hardest part about investing is taking that first step and buying that mutual fund. It can really be confusing because there are over 25,000+ mutual funds spread out in 100's of companies. Finding the mutual fund that is right for you and your goals can be difficult. 

Morningstar.com has an interesting and helpful section on its website called "Investing Classroom". Here you will learn about Stocks, funds, bonds, and portfolios in simple and clear informational classroom style. After each lesson you are quizzed to check your understanding. I found the lesson on what to look for before buying a mutual fund interesting. There were five questions that you should be asking before writing that check.

How has it performed?

Comparing mutual funds is usually done by checking on their percentage performance of the 1 year, 5 year and 10 year time frame. Seeking funds with the highest gains would be your first choice but taking into consideration how a fund compares to funds in the same investment style is also important. You may find a fund that has a great percentage gain but in funds that are similar to it, it may be a laggard.

Many funds compare themselves to index funds like the S&P 500 index which is the industry benchmark. But many funds do not have similar investments to the S&P so it would be unwise to compare it. Finding like mutual funds and indexes that have the same type of investments would be a good way to compare.

How much risk does the fund take?

Investing is inherently a risky pursuit. You will find that the greater the return, the greater the risk so not looking into the risks involved with your mutual fund would not be wise. All mutual funds have risk so your job is to find funds that balance and minimize the risk. Price volatility of a fund is also a consideration. You could find funds with matched returns but the volatility of one could be much higher than the other.

There are four main risk measurements that appear in mutual fund shareholder reports. These include standard deviation, beta, Morningstar risk ratings, and Morningstar bear market rankings. It's also helpful to check out a fund's quarterly and annual returns in different market conditions to get a sense for its potential volatility.

What does it own?

When you buy a mutual fund it is always important to know what the fund owns. Does it have stocks, bonds or both? They all have different characteristics and levels of performance. The gains associated with stocks can be much more than bonds. The fund can own large, medium, and small stocks or a combination of them all. You need to find out what the fund owns so you can make intelligent decisions.

Some fund managers may only have 20 stocks in his portfolio or they may have 200. This amount of diversification may or may not be appropriate for your investment plan. 

Who is the manager and what is their style?

A fund manager that makes the investment decisions for the fund could be a single person or a committee of people. Who is in charge and their style is crucial to the direction and profitability of your investment. Find out if the manager that built the funds great performance is still at the helm. If they moved on, the performance will definitely change.

What are the fees the fund charges?

Your mutual fund has to charge fees to pay salaries, advertise, and generally pay all the bills of the company. Guess who pays them, you do. The fees come out of your investment balance whether you make money or not. It would be helpful to know these fees before you jump in. You may not think a percent or half of a percent is a big deal, but over time the difference really adds up. Seek funds with the lowest fees, it is an important criteria when choosing a fund.

Choosing a mutual fund is not really that hard. On Morningstar.com you can use their mutual fund selection tool to choose the fund that meets all your criteria.