December 5th, 2011 | 
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A few key upgrades can improve the marketability of your home, increase its value and help to sell it quickly. Here are five renos — from minor to major — worth the effort:
Outside
The exterior of a house is its first impression. The roof represents 30% of what is visible, so it can be a big selling point if it’s in good condition, especially on an older home. Black topping a faded driveway will also improve a home’s curb appeal.
Bathroom
Consumer reports show that homeowners see an 85% return on the cost of renovating a bathroom, making it the most important room to upgrade prior to selling. Consider upping a bathroom’s wow factor with luxury features such as marble counters or flooring and high-end showerheads. Replace outdated mirrors and fixtures, and swap coloured sinks, tubs or toilets with white models. Wall sconces positioned on each side of a vanity mirror are more flattering than overhead fluorescent or globe lights. Create a spa-look by sticking to neutral colours for walls and accessories.
Kitchen
You don’t need to install all the bells and whistles of a cook’s kitchen, but replacing older appliances with the best models you can afford will significantly increase the attractiveness of your home. Inadequate cabinets in cheap or trendy materials turn off potential buyers. If yours need to be upgraded, opt for quality finishes, hinges and sliders. Doors should have room to fully open and drawers should pull out smoothly and feel solid. Replace worn countertops with a highly regarded material such as granite, Corian or stone composite in a neutral colour. These add contemporary shine and give kitchens the luxe appearance potential buyers are looking for. Avoid countertop tiles applied with grout, which might need repairs and appear grungy in a couple of years.
Flooring
Replacing worn carpet or flooring increases the hassle-free quotient of a home. Swapping outdated wall-to-wall carpeting for hardwood flooring or laminate makes spaces look larger and more elegant. Light to mid-tone oak or maple hardwood suits most tastes.
Walls
A fresh coat of paint is an easy and cost-effective way to improve a home’s overall appearance. Avoid trendy or bold colours in favour of soft neutrals. The idea is to create a fresh, pristine backdrop in which potential buyers can easily picture themselves and their possessions.
Still need help?
Speak to a local real estate agent or appraiser for helpful advice on improvements that add value to homes in your particular neighbourhood and in general.
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“…you want to be deciding to refinance for the right reasons, with both eyes open…”
1. Make Sure of Your New Interest Rate
Make sure that you save enough to justify the process of refinancing. It is best to decrease your interest rate by at least .75% to 1%. For example, this will save you about $100.00 a month on a $150,000.00 mortgage.
2. Know Your Closing Costs Up Front
Closing costs will include the Lawyer’s fee plus disbursements. An Appraisal may be required as well as there may be Insurance Premiums and HST costs. Ask your mortgage professional to explain the cost that you might incur.
3. Be Sure You Fully Understand Your Reason(s) For Refinancing
Some refinance simply to reduce their interest rate. You should be aware that simply reducing your interest rate is not always to your advantage, so make sure that the gains from your rate reduction more than cover the related fees. There are, however, other legitimate reasons to refinance that may not be related to interest rates. Some are debt consolidation, home improvements, or a major purchase. Some of these choices may offer other financial or personal advantages, such as taking cash out to buy a car. In this example, you may be able to deduct your interest payments on your tax return. Always consult an accountant or tax attorney before making these types of decisions.
4. Beware of “APR” Advertising
“APR” stands for Annual Percentage Rate. Some mortgage brokers use “APR” teaser rates to get your attention, however, they may actually end up costing you more. Such rates are often derived by using a 30 year mortgage coupled with an accelerated payment plan. Most lenders allow you to select such a plan, if you chose. Know your actual interest rate that you will be paying when comparing mortgages.
5. Should I Consider an Adjustable Rate?
Adjustable rate mortgages or “ARM’s,” can be very good strategy as they are generally lower rates than a 5 year fixed rate for example. It is important to understand that the Adjustable Rate Mortgage is exactly that, the rate will fluctuate with current market conditions so always plan for a possible increase in rate and payments.
6. Beware of the Quality of Service Provided
You want your refinance to be accomplished with as little hassle and in the shortest period of time. Ask your mortgage broker details of their service plan and performance guarantees.
7. Not All Mortgage Brokers are Created Equally
Be sure to ask your mortgage broker about all their available loan products, terms and rates. A subtle difference can save or cost you thousands.
Mortgage regulations have changed significantly over the last few years. Subtle changes in the way you approach mortgage shopping, and even small differences in the way you structure your mortgage, can cost or save you literally thousands of dollars and years of expense.
Get the Right Information – Whether you are about to buy your first home, or are planning to make a move to your next home, it is critical that you be informed about the factors involved.
Everyday people turn to a mortgage lender to help them refinance a home loan, but because many of them don’t know all of the important issues, they often make incorrect choices. By taking these few minutes to acquaint yourself with the “How to Avoid the 7 Biggest Mistakes Refinance Shoppers Make” you can reduce or eliminate the chances of making a critical error and save thousands on your mortgage.
What inspires your kitchen design can be as personal as a treasured heirloom or as practical as your family traffic patterns. Whatever the motivation, the idea is to make the heart of your home uniquely yours. Find an inspired starting point and let your new kitchen unfold. Here are just a few of the places to look for inspiration:
A solid foundation
Staying true to the architecture of your home is always a good bet. Let the style, lines and moldings guide your choices for materials and general design aesthetic.
“Stick with the underpinnings of your home’s architectural influences [and] let that serve as a foundation,” suggests Bethany O’Neill of Classic House Interiors in Naples, FL. “But no need to be a purist. There’s a place for eclectic, and that can make for a more interesting space that people want to discover.”
In other words, stay true to the spirit of your home, but add your own personal twist.
Go with the flow
Before jumping into the more exciting aesthetic considerations, get grounded in the functional basics. The kitchen is usually the epicenter of a home, so practical matters like traffic patterns and flow are key to a well-designed space.
When Cathy Fragola of Redwood City, CA started digging into her kitchen remodel project, she quickly learned about the simple “work triangle” rule. A widely accepted tenet of kitchen design that optimizes the connection between the three main work stations of a kitchen: the cooking, refrigeration and cleanup areas. “A tinge of practical knowledge went a long way in making the space more livable,” explains Fragola. “We took that principle and made it our own.”
Let travel be your guide
Some of the most interesting journeys have been known to inspire culinary experiences—including kitchen design.
“People are most relaxed when they’re on vacation. And typically they’re drawn to an ideal environment so they come back with dreams of a casual respite,” explains O’Neill.
A trip can fill you with renewed inspiration and stimulation. The sights, sounds and even smells of your destination can bring new ideas to the kitchen table. For example, O’Neill mentions the Tuscan style as one that has proved popular with many of her Florida clients.
“For a while it seems everyone was escaping to Europe during the hurricane season. They’d traveled through a world that was rustic, warm and inviting and wanted to bring that home with them.”
Intricate wrought-iron accessories, marble or stone flooring and sturdy hardwood furniture are just some of the elements of this decorating style that can be successfully integrated into a kitchen project.
That said, it’s best to resist the temptation to pack up a trend or inspiration that won’t be at home in your new kitchen’s climate or environment.
“Knotty-alder doors are great in the Colorado Rockies,” O’Neill explains. “Not so much here in Florida.”
A sense of place
O’Neill says regional influences inform much of her work throughout the South and Midwest.
“I see cabin influences with many of my Midwestern clients,” says O’Neill. “Whether situated on the lake or in the suburbs, this more rustic regional feel plays a role that would only be ‘at home’ in or near that native environment.”
In the South she sees the tropical influences played out. While the bright intense colors and dark woods of Bermudan style are currently making a big splash, it’s a style that can only be completely comfortable in climates that are warm year-round.
Look to the living room
Today’s casual lifestyles have put the kitchen at the heart of the home. So it’s no wonder that many trends in kitchen design are borrowing aspects of the living room.
“Instead of trying to go against everyone’s natural inclination to gather in the kitchen, embrace the idea. Open it up, get casual,” O’Neill advises. “I strive to make the kitchen feel less utilitarian and more like a cozy gathering spot. “
Cabinets made to feel more like furniture and less like storage spaces add a lived-in feel, as do woods with character, like knotty-cherry. Painted woods with glazing effects can also contribute to a well-worn, homey look.
Borrowing from living room basics, O’Neill tries to place a lamp, fabric and a piece of furniture in the kitchens she designs. In her own kitchen, an armoire serves as a stylish pantry and a clever hideaway for the microwave.
“Whether it’s with furniture, lamps or fabric, make it feel soft warm and inviting,” O’Neill suggests.
The object of your desire
Sometimes it’s one simple item that drives the entire design: A cherished piece of artwork. The pattern on a plate. A yard of fabric. A piece of antiquity.
O’Neill cites her own discovery of a well-worn butcher block, unearthed at Chicago’s Mike Bell Antiques. When she stumbled upon the 200-year-old treasure, she says, “I loved it so much I was willing to design my whole kitchen around it.”
The petite cutting block had the perfect size and patina and soon became the inspiration for O’Neill’s kitchen redesign.
“It was decidedly a French influence and all of my collections, artwork and furnishings continued on that path” O’Neill explains.
Trends
You can’t ignore the volumes of inspiration that are published in shelter magazines, catalogs and on the Internet. Earmark your favorites and save them for help with style decisions.
Fragola says that during her kitchen remodel she relied heavily on a “foot-and-a-half stack of dog-eared magazines.” These inspirations helped her and her husband Joe convey their vision to their architect.
“We took in as much design info as we could and then figured out what resonated for us,” Fragola explains.
Starting on your dream kitchen is guaranteed to be both exciting and challenging. Enjoy finding your muse, that personal starting point that will let your unique style shine through.
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Variable-rate mortgages are so over.
Go fixed rate if you’re arranging or renewing a mortgage, and think hard about the four-year term. If you take in all the recent developments in the mortgage market, this is the most logical strategy.
Variable-rate mortgages are being sold at the prime rate in many cases right now, which is 3 per cent. The traditional discount off prime? Snuffed out by the banks. They’ve decided they aren’t making enough money from discounted variable-rate mortgages, so goodbye discount for the most part. If you shop around, maybe you’ll get 0.2 of a point off prime.
Now for the fixed-rate alternative. Global economic uncertainty and sluggish growth mean you’ll pay in the area of 3 per cent for a four-year term. This explains why veteran mortgage broker Peter Majthenyi has pretty much given up on variable-rate mortgages.
“For 10 years, I’ve said don’t waste your money on a fixed-rate mortgage,” Mr. Majthenyi said. “Today, I just cannot in good conscience put a borrower into a 3-per-cent variable when for the same rate I can put them in a four-year fixed.”
Mr. Majthenyi calls this a “temporary break” from variable-rate mortgages. He’ll see what happens when today’s four-year terms expire. Meantime, he’s gone from writing about 98-per- cent variable-rate mortgages a year ago to virtually zero now.
Numbers from the Canadian Association of Accredited Mortgage Professionals (mortgage brokers, to put it in English) show that variable-rate mortgages had about one-third of the market as of this past spring, compared to 21 per cent four years ago. Interest in variable-rate mortgages was as strong as ever going into the summer as a result of an uncertain global economic outlook that was expected to keep interest rates low. Variable-rate mortgages could be had back then for 2.25 per cent, which represented a discount off prime of 0.75 of a point. Four- and five-year fixed-rate mortgages would have cost roughly 3 to 3.5 per cent, and that included a strong discount.
This was an ideal environment for variable-rate mortgages. The prime rate, used by lenders as a reference for many of their loans, was low and expected to stay that way for as long as it took for the global economic mess to resolve itself. The prognosis was for continued savings versus a fixed-rate mortgage.
Then came two developments that led to Mr. Majthenyi’s 180-degree turn against variable-rate mortgages. One, the cost of fixed-rate mortgages fell a little as a result of the stock market uproar in August and September. Here’s how that worked: Money flowed out of stocks and into bonds, which set the trend for mortgage rates. When a bond’s price rises, its yield falls. And so, as bond yields moved lower in the late summer, so did rates on fixed-term mortgages.
The second development was a decision by the big banks to clamp down on discounts given to customers going variable. “Bottom line, the banks have been stuck with too many variable-rate mortgages that are not profitable,” Mr. Majthenyi said. “How do they make them more profitable? They have to increase their profit on each mortgage.”
A few mortgage brokerage firms now advertise variable-rate mortgages at 2.8 per cent, or prime minus 0.2 of a point. But Mr. Majthenyi said many of the big lenders he deals with as a broker are now at prime. Looking ahead, he sees the market settling into prime plus or minus 0.2 for variable-rate mortgages.
You may still be able to save a token amount with a variable-rate mortgage over a fixed-rate mortgage with a term of four or five years. But it’s not hard to imagine the advantage of the variable rate disappearing in a year or so as the economy rallies. Then, you could be looking at a long period of rising rates.
So get over any ideas you have about variable-rate mortgages being cheap enough in the here and now to overlook the risk posed by future rate increases. In today’s market, variable-rate mortgages are yesterday’s news.
Finally, a quick word from Mr. Majthenyi for people who are in the middle of variable-rate mortgages with those juicy discounts of days gone by: Enjoy.
“You should hug and love those mortgages to the last possible moment because you’re probably not going to get them again.”
ROB CARRICK ,Globe and Mail Update