A new year brings new hope – it doesn’t matter what happened last year. You have a chance to start fresh and do something new this year. This rings true in every area of your life, including your title as homeowner.
January is the perfect month for sitting down with your family and talking about the different goals, objectives, hopes, and dreams you have for the remainder of the year. And while you’ll obviously have other things to talk about besides your home, here are a few house-oriented resolutions you’d be wise to set:
Every house has little problems that never get fixed. This includes things like creaky floorboards, finicky door locks, holes in walls, leaky faucets, running toilets, etc. On their own, these little issues aren’t a big deal. However, they compound over time and eventually become quite frustrating.
Make this the year that you finally deal with all of those little problems in your house. Grab a pen and make a list. You don’t want to overwhelm yourself, so simply plan on tackling one or two projects each week over the next couple of months. By the time spring rolls around, your house will feel brand new.
Over the fall and winter, you may have let your yard go to pot. Between leaves, weeds, and overgrown shrubs, your landscaping probably needs a little TLC about this time of year. To clean things up, plan on doing a couple hours of work here and there.
When was the last time you studied your service bills? Do you know what the going rate is? How long are you locked into your contracts? Nobody wants to deal with questions like these, but make it one of your goals to sit down and reevaluate your service providers. Between cable, internet, home security, and lawn care, you might be leaving money on the table each month without even knowing it.
Speaking of cable, this could be a good year to cut the cord. The average family pays $103 per month for cable. A lot of families pay closer to $150 per month, which comes out to $1,800 per year. Not only could you better spend this money, but you could also better spend your time. By cutting the cord, you can read more books, play games together, and even spend time outside.
Just because your mortgage payment is $1,500, doesn’t mean you have to limit what you pay each month. Almost every mortgage allows additional premium payments to be made. If you have extra room in your budget, go ahead and up your payment. An extra couple hundred dollars every month will not only shave a few years off your mortgage, but it’ll also save you tens of thousands in interest.
Whether you realize it or not, your home is filled with “stuff.” There are certain items that you use on a daily basis, but the majority of your possessions sit in closets and drawers without being used for months at a time. Why are you hanging onto them?
Make this the year that you finally sit down and declutter. Go through one room at a time and set a goal for how many items you want to throw away or donate. Depending on the size of your house and how much clutter you’ve accumulated, this might be 10, 25, or 100 items per room. Not only will this free up space in your house, but it’ll also enhance your mental clarity.
You never know when an emergency will hit. Whether it’s an AC unit that stops working in the middle of August, an appliance that goes kaput, or a water pipe that bursts and requires you to perform an unexpected renovation, homeownership can be costly at times. In order to prepare your family for these issues, build up an emergency fund. By tucking away a few thousand dollars in a bank account that you don’t touch, you’ll be more capable of handling these problems without going into debt.
Remember when you first bought your home? You may have dreamt of hosting parties, entertaining neighbors, and having friends and family stay with you over the holidays. Then life got busy and you locked your doors.
While there’s something to be said for enjoying the privacy of your own home, make a resolution this year to be more welcoming and hospitable to the people in your life.
Have you been thinking about selling your home in order to upgrade or downsize? Maybe 2018 is the year that you finally get all of your ducks in a row and make the decision to sell your home and move on with the next chapter of your life. If you plan ahead, the process doesn’t have to be as stressful as you’re anticipating.
Typically, Houston homeowners end up spending 6 percent of their selling price on agent commissions – 3 percent to the selling agent and 3 percent to the buying agent. If you were to sell a $400,000 house, you would never see $24,000 of the money. Real estate agents are enormously important in the transaction process, but that’s a steep price to pay!
At Green Residential, we do things differently. We’re Houston’s leading flat fee real estate agency. Instead of taking the standard 3 percent commission for our duties, we simply require a flat rate fee. On the sale of a $400,000 home, this could save you as much as $4,000.
For more information on how you can work with us, please contact us today!
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