The United States is deep into a housing slump which means that a lot of people are trying to sell their home but having a difficult time doing so. There are basically more homes for sale than there are home buyers right now, which means that home sellers have to lower their asking prices just to get people interested in their home. Lower home prices mean that people selling homes are not making as much of a profit off their home sale as they’d like.
If you are trying to sell your home right now and not having much success then you may want to consider ways of using a small home improvement loan to actually help you sell your current home and actually make a little more money than you might expect. This is not as difficult as it seems.
First, home sellers should look around their area to see what prices similar homes are selling for. This can be done by simply driving around the neighborhood and looking for home sale signs, but it is better to use several different real estate websites and look for homes for sale in your surrounding area. Real estate websites will not only give you the price of the other homes for sale, but many will also list key features and upgrades the home might have as well as offer interior and exterior photos of the home that may not be seen from a simple drive-by.
Now that you have a list of homes that are “competing” with your home that is for sale, it is time to start figuring out how you can improve your home without spending much money. Look at the other homes. Do many of them boast new windows, new carpeting or new roofs? Is their landscaping new and pleasing to potential buyers? What about an upgraded kitchen or extra half bathroom? How about simple interior decor items like crown molding, new baseboards or fresh paint?
Some of these home improvement projects are not very expensive to complete and can really make a big impression on prospective home buyers. This is where you may need to look into some sort of home improvement financing or small home improvement loan to complete your projects. A loan as small as a few thousand dollars could help you change your home enough to attract and win over a home buyer. Here are a few suggestions in different price ranges:
For $1,000 – $2,000: Consider updating the interior of the home you wish to sell with fresh neutral colored paint or new baseboards and crown molding. If you have wallpaper you may want to pay to have it removed and painted a general light color. Depending on the size of your yard you may also consider spending that money to have someone remove overgrown bushes and plants from your flower beds and put in smaller more manageable ones. Simply being able to advertise “crown molding” in a home sale ad will garner more attention than you normally would get with a regular listing.
For $2,000 – $5,000: Replacing worn flooring or carpeting is a good idea at this level. Simply having your carpets steam cleaned is a good start, but putting down new neutral colored rugs or tiling will go a long way to making a great first impression.
For $5,000 – $10,000: This is for larger home improvement projects that could really increase your return on investment. When people look to buy a home they really like updated kitchens and bathrooms. You don’t have to choose the most expensive materials for these, but you do want to choose neutral colors that many different people may like. Updating your kitchen with stainless steel appliances or replacing your counter tops with any sort of granite will definitely bring more buyers to look at your home.
How do you make extra money with this home improvement loan? For all of these improvements consider raising the asking price of your home by the amount you borrowed to improve it. You may even want to add on another 20%. If you had a home improvement loan of $10,000 you may want to increase your asking amount by $12,000 to account for the inevitable offer and counter-offer process that usually accompanies a home sale.
When you sell your home you’ll quickly be able to pay off your loan with the profit from the house sale. If you don’t sell your home right away you’ll still be able to enjoy the home upgrades until you do.
Posts Tagged ‘Small’
A Small Home Improvement Loan Can Sell Your Home…and Make You Money
Friday, August 20th, 2010Getting Small Business Loans with No Collateral in this Recession
Tuesday, August 17th, 2010The global financial crisis has made it quite difficult for companies, especially small businesses, to get business loans. Ironically, it is also in this situation that smaller companies often need additional capital infusion to boost income. You may need to get small business loans to acquire a better business location, construct a new building, renovate your premises, pay for new equipment, fixtures or furniture or increase inventory and working capital.
Most Small Business Loans Require Collateral
To get business loans, even small business loans, is a major challenge.
First you need to identify which among the many types of small business loans you need. Small business loans ranging from $5,000.00 to $35,000.00 are called micro loans. For larger needs, such as for the acquisition of land, buildings and other major fixed assets, development financing is what you should find. There are also import export loans as well as franchise financing. Do your research to find out if you are qualified for small business loans guaranteed by the U.S. Small Business Administration or SBA.
Any of these small business loans will require extensive preparations and paperwork. As a small business owner, you will need to prove your credit worthiness through a personal credit history report. Lenders will also require a business plan which includes your credentials as the business owner, your company financial statements, business assets and an analysis of your market. All of these should be packaged in a professional loan proposal which presents how the loaned amount will be used to strengthen the business and how you intend to repay the loan. Most of all, you need to present your loan collateral – the assets you will put up to secure the loan.
Quick and Easy Small Business Loans with No Collateral
For smaller acquisitions or day to day business needs, there is a way for entrepreneurs to get small business loans easily and quickly with no collateral. This is through merchant services.
Merchant services provide credit card services to businesses. This enables them to accept and process payments through credit cards or debit cards either through face to face purchases, online transactions, or even by phone or fax. Merchant service providers supply terminal equipment for card swiping, as well as the necessary software and high speed IP solutions.
Most businesses need credit card services since consumers routinely pay for goods and services through credit cards and debit cards these days. If your business has not taken this step yet, you may have been missing out on more than half of your income potential.
These same merchant services also provide the solution for your small business loans. Collateral-free loans can be availed of through their cash advances, with the loan amount computation based on the monthly credit card revenue your business generates. Credit card sales requirements may be as low as $3,000.00 a month. You will not be asked for collateral since your future revenue is your collateral.
The best types of merchant cash advances do not require fixed monthly payments nor do they impose deadlines on loan payment. A certain percentage is instead deducted automatically from your credit card revenue each month to go towards loan payment. This way, you never have to worry about loan amortization.
Once your cash advance has been fully paid, you may apply for another one. It is like having a revolving credit line. Make sure that you compare the terms of several merchant service providers, though, and read the fine print on contracts. There are so many merchant service providers competing for your business that you’ll surely find one that fits your needs.
Financing A Small Business – What Alternatives Are There To Finance Your Business?
Friday, July 30th, 2010A lot of reasons exist why you should not only get into business, but also endure in business. You may want to take any of these decisions because of the love of a particular business, because of a need to do so, because you are bound to continue from where someone stopped or because you simply have a feeling to do so. In almost every country of the world, people are looking at the business sector as one of the bests. There are always statistics of these found in all countries. For example, the United States Department of Labor produces statistics which indicate that for almost the first three quarters of last year, unemployment was very high and a lot of people resorted to doing business.
There is no need to trouble yourself on the way your business is going to look like. All that is necessary for you to do is to develop a plan and seek for any of the so many options of securing finance for the business. The following lines are meant to encourage those coming into business and even those already in business to seek for means of financing their businesses:
Loans
This type of finance for a business is common all over the world and it can easily be gotten. In some cases, there is often a belief the loans can easily be gotten by everyone who applies for it. This may be true or false. It all depends on your business plan, the lending policy of the bank and the type and value of security you have. What makes this source of finance much considered is that interest rates on the loans are also reasonable. It should be warned that you should not get into taken of loans without seeking for proper recommendations from experts. Remember that it is always good to know the ins and outs of every type of loan ahead of getting into it.
Angel Financing
This is also another common source of finance that is common among new businesses and even those that are already in existence. What obtains here is that there are so many people who have the willingness and ability to pump finance into any business which have potentials to grow. Angel financing can be a family type. This will involve members of the same family pulling their resources together and investing it to develop a business plan. This is good but not preferable because of the close ties that the members may attach to each other, which may not be best for the health of a business. Angel financing can also be an affiliation angel. This will involve an association of friends willing to see a business plan from conception to completion. Another strand of angel financing is idea angel. These are financiers who are involved at the conception and actual progress of the business. Whatever the form of angel financing that you may opt for, you must get into the set of connections that these angels operate before you can benefit from financing.
Equity Financing
This involves raising money for the business by using what the business owns and can give out to the public. There are individuals willing to pay for equity in the business and even take part in the running of the business. Although this type of financing is common, it may not be available to every type of business. This is the more reason why every business owner must always carry out enough research in order to get the appropriate financing for his or her business.