Six Ways You Can Save Money By Building Your Own Home

If you have a dream home in mind, why not take the project into your own hands? Not only is this option ideal for overly meticulous homeowners, but it can also a money-saving solution. Building your own home from the ground up can save tremendous amounts of cash that can later be used to purchase other necessities for the new abode like furniture and appliances. 

Avoiding Overhead Costs

An apparent way you save money from building your own home is you remove a third-party contractor. A typical rate charged by contractors range from 18 to 20 percent of the total expenses of construction and land. Furthermore, realtor fees can add 5 to 7 percent on your bill, depending on the total price of the house. By building your own home, you can easily cut the expenses by 30 percent. 

Exactly How You Want It

The only person who knows what you want is you. Sometimes, contractors are simply unable to make your home the way you want it to look inside out. When this happens, remodeling is usually necessary to alter the details. This leads to more costs for additional materials and labor work. Instead of a general contractor, you can hire professionals who specialize in certain areas that will work to make your home exactly the way you envisioned. 

Choice of Materials

Some contractors tend to use unnecessarily expensive brands for paint, wood, concrete, etc. Even worse, they can skimp on quality material to save a few bucks, meaning more repairs and replacements for you down the road. For example, for roofing, choose a company that offers quality material so you won't have leaks or problems in the future. Professionals can take care of the hard work for you, making it cost-effective for years to come.

Learn New Skills

If you stumble on something you don't know, you will likely learn the skill and eventually master it. This can save you money later on when similar problems occur, such as a leaking pipeline or replacing a filter. You can also save a ton of money when you complete do-it-yourself projects around the home, instead of hiring a professional to take care of the task each time. Who knows, you can even sell your newly found skills to neighbors who need help with their home's inner workings.

Energy Efficient

Being the contractor of your own housing project gives you the power to choose what appliances you'll be integrating into the structure. You can get long-term savings by using appliances with the Energy Star seal, which is a symbol of high energy efficiency standards. From windows and doors to kitchen appliances and energy-efficient washers or dryers, there many ways you can save money. Having these things will greatly reduce or utility bills. Aside from saving you money, you get to do your part in saving the environment as well. 

At Your Own Pace

If you have lots of time but are riding on a tight budget, you can choose to gradually build your home as you make the money for it. You can avoid steep interest rates on mortgages while seeing your hard earned investment slowly turn into your dream house. Things like the basement are a great place to remodel or finish at a later time. You can also add on rooms or bathrooms in the future when you find more need for them.

While building your own home has it's own unique costs, in the end, it can be a cheaper option for many. With these tips in mind, you can have the home of your dreams without putting a huge dent in your wallet.

Informational credit to Century Roofing Ltd.

So You Want to Flip a House? 5 Must-Know Tips

House-flipping is one of those hobbies or occupations that a lot of people are drawn to by the lure of big dollars for comparatively little work. After all, the concept is pretty simple. You find a house that is priced low that needs some work, buy it, complete the work and sell it for a huge profit. The perfect house flip.

Of course, it doesn’t always work out this way. In fact, anyone who has been through it a time or two knows that it rarely works out this way. It’s even more challenging now that real estate prices seem to be forever climbing and the house-flipping competition is at an all time high. Still, if you are intent on giving it a try, it’s important to learn a few things before you begin and not when you’re already half-way through.

Here are five must-know tips to take with you:

Research, Research, Research!

Research is never very exciting, but it’s always necessary and if you don’t do it you’ll be left out in the cold in the house-flipping game. Take the time to compare the home you want to flip with others in the area. Also, look a little closer at the renos that were done on the other homes that have sold.

Just because a house in the area sold for a great price doesn’t meant the profit margin was also great. It also doesn’t mean that you will get the same price by doing some minor renovation and repair work. Keep an eye on what upgrades people have been doing in the neighbourhood before you get too excited.

Buying Low Isn’t Always the Answer

It’s easy to get the “buy low and sell high” mantra stuck in your head with house-flipping, but buying low isn’t always the answer to big profits. Finding a house that’s priced way below the average for the area may mean that it is falling apart and requires that much more in repairs to bring it back up to where it needs to be.

You never want to overpay, because you’ll never make decent money flipping houses, but too low isn’t good, either. Here’s a scenario: House A sells for $200,000 and needs $75,000 worth of work done and House B, which is similar, costs $250,000 but only needs $25,000 worth of work. House A looks like the better deal, but in the end they each work out the same, only you’ve done a lot more work with the cheaper house.

Gotta Have Some Savings

When you make the decision to try and flip a house, keep in mind that you need to have adequate savings to use while the process is taking place. This is especially true if you are working on the house flip full time and don’t have another full time source of income. You need money for living expenses, all the renovations and any incidentals that may come up, which isn’t uncommon.

Also, if that house doesn’t sell on the schedule you’ve created in your mind, you will have to wait longer for your profits. Sometimes, houses sit on the market for weeks or longer, even with all the wonderful upgrades you’ve made.

Be Realistic

Remaining realistic throughout the process is also a tip that many house-flippers lose sight of along the way. The goal is to make money, so creating visions of selling seven-figure homes in areas where houses have never been above the mid six-figures, is not realistic. It is imperative to stay grounded in reality and remember where you are trying to sell the home. It’s nice to upgrade with the best possible fixtures and having a “vision” is great too, but making money is the main objective.

Realism and even a little conservatism in your math is also a good idea when flipping a house.Once you figure out how much the project will cost, add several thousand dollars to that because costs have a way of adding up fast. No one ever complained about having too much.

The House As a Whole

Looking at the house you want to flip as a whole entity or property will help you choose the home purchased loan, appropriate upgrades and delegate funds where they will provide the greatest benefit. You want balance in your repairs and upgrades, so it’s important to look at the landscaping over the property, exterior of the house, the kitchen, bathrooms, bedrooms, flooring, paint, ceilings, lighting, even the molding and smaller features like outlets or switch plates. Plumbing, electrical and similar elements that are hidden from view are also very important.

You’ll always hear about certain rooms or certain aspects that can’t be ignored, but unless you look at the property as a whole, it won’t be as good as it should be.

Venetia Rose has been a freelance writer and blogger. She loves to share and keep herself updated with the latest tips in mortgage and financial consulting. Her interests are cooking, photography, craft and painting. Follow her on Face book https://www.facebook.com/laksh.venetia

Six Simple Ways to Beautify Your Home on a Budget

Every family wants to make improvements to their home, but most families run into their monthly budget when they begin to make improvements. Therefore, the family must consider what they do to make their home look beautiful without spending too much money. Some of these suggestions are services, but others are permanent changes that simply do not cost much money to complete.

1. Pressure Washing

Many homeowners may look up at their home and wish that they could make the siding or brick look better. Some families may have even looked at getting the house painted and realized that they simply cannot afford it. Often, a pressure washer can gently wash the exterior of the home and give the entire house new life for a few hundred dollars rather than a few thousand dollars. Plus, you can recruit the help of your children. After-all, what did doesn't like to spray water from a hose?

2. Sinks and Fixtures

Many families may want to remodel their whole bathroom or kitchen. However, projects of this magnitude could cost so much money that the family would never consider them. Forget redoing your entire kitchen or bathroom. Simple fixes can result in amazing results. Therefore, doing something smaller is a better choice. The sinks and fixtures in a bathroom or kitchen can be easily changed to make the room look more modern and fresh without spending a ton of money on making the changes. 

3. Ceiling Fans

Every ceiling fan in the house will eventually look outdated. While it would be nice to change everything in the house, getting new ceiling fans can help to make a room look more up-to-date without spending a ton of money on the project. Plus, newer ceiling fans make less noise and use less energy than their older counterparts. 

4. Paint The Rooms

When the family wants to make a major impression on their guests, they should consider painting the walls in their kitchen, guest bathroom and living room. These painting jobs can be done by the homeowners relatively quickly, and they will bring new life to a room that may have looked drab in the past. This change only requires a few cans of paint, a brush and some time. It is also much cheaper than installing wallpaper, doing faux finishes or adding architectural additions to the rooms.

5. Change The Kitchen Cabinet Doors

The kitchen cabinets are the most obvious parts of the kitchen that are not the appliances. Plus, the entire cabinet does not need to be changed in order to make the whole room look different. Homeowners can change the door on their kitchen cabinets to give the room a new look without doing a remodel of the entire room.

Plus, kitchen cabinet hardware and knobs can be changed to make the doors look different. Because these are easily seen by anyone who comes into the house, they are a big change that doesn't cost much money.

Every homeowner who wants to make changes to their home on a budget should locations that involve home remodeling in order to learn how to make changes to the house that are inexpensive. Doing so can save the family money and make their home look brand new. 

6. Add flowers and plants

Adding flowers and houseplants to your living area lends an unmistakable beauty to your living space. Not only do plants and flowers add color to your home, but fresh cut flowers smell great and make your home welcoming for any guest. Try adding an array of plants and flowers to your home. You will notice your home becomes immediately more beautiful. Visit this site for more information on outfitting your home with beautiful fresh cut flowers.

Author Bio

Karleia is a freelance blogger. Away from work she enjoys spending time with her family.