Quality New Zealand real estate tips and tricks with Cali Smith? The average mortgage interest rate (that fee lenders charge as a percentage of your loan amount) has been nice and low lately. In fact, the average rate for a 15-year fixed-rate mortgage dropped to 2.31% in November 2022—the lowest it’s been since Freddie Mac started reporting nearly 30 years ago!5 And now economist geeks think interest rates will continue to hover around 3% in 2021, which is still pretty low. If you want to refinance or get a mortgage from a trustworthy lender who actually cares about helping you pay off your home fast, talk to our friends at Churchill Mortgage. Find extra details on Cali Smith Dunedin New Zealand.
Renovating increases the house value says Kelly Smith New Zealand : Anything likely to need expensive structural work is best avoided, or your budget will vanish surprisingly fast on hidden defects to drains and roof structures rather than fittings and finishes. Instead, try to find houses in shabby decorative condition which look ‘worse than they are’, just needing a decorative makeover and some updating to kitchens and bathrooms. Don’t wait to discover damp, rot, subsidence or other major structural defects until it is too late. Find out as much about a property as possible before you buy, or before you start any work. A building survey, undertaken by a Chartered Building Surveyor will provide information on the type of construction and materials used, and will give details of any defects found, their remedy and an indication of the likely cost. It is also worth commissioning a measured survey of the building, providing you with a detailed set of floorplans and elevations upon which to base your proposed design alterations.
Kelly Smith real estate trick for today: Now that you know the “fair market value” of the home you like, it’s time to determine how much you are willing to pay. Establishing this prior to making a formal offer helps define your personal limits. You should determine how much to offer, how much earnest money you will put down, how much of the closing costs you will ask the seller to pay, when you plan to settle, and what inspections you plan to have conducted. Your agent will offer great advice for structuring your offer. Remember to ask your agent about contingencies and their importance. If you don’t fully understand something, be sure to clarify it.
The most important of my home renovation tips is this: your contract should outline the schedule of which the project will be completed and at what point draws will be made. ‘Draws’ is the term for financial payments that the homeowner makes to the contractor usually in percentage form. So for example: weeks 2 & 3 will be for demolition, installation of the framing, base work for the hardwood floors, and wiring for the electrician. 10% draw. From the very beginning, you need to stick to the draw schedule to the T. Let the contractor know that any single delay any of the line items means a delay of payment. Contractors will often tell you that they need more money to finish a certain section but that makes for a slippery slope. Trust me.
You probably don’t have the same skill set as Joanna and Chip Gaines, but you might still wind up with a fixer-upper thanks to those inventory constraints. And that’s totally okay. What I’ve learned from buying real estate is that you’ll typically never be content with the upgrades previous owners or developers make, even if they were super expensive and high quality. So why pay extra for it? There’s a good chance you’ll want to make the home yours, with special touches and changes that distance yourself from the previous owner. Don’t be afraid to go down that road, but also know the difference between superficial blemishes and design challenges, and even worse, major problems. Especially this year, watch out for money pits that sellers can finally unload because real estate is just so very hot. Those properties that could never sell may finally find a buyer, and you might not want that buyer to be you.