Preparing & Staging Your House For Sale
Every seller wants his/her house to sell quickly and at the highest price. The way to achieve this is through careful planning and knowing how to professionally spruce up your house.
Treat your house as a product that can make money for you, not as a home. Focus on the fact that soon this house will no longer be yours. Don't look backwards, look towards the future. You have decided to sell, so try to take as unemotional view of your house as possible.
Full Article | Preparing & Staging Your House For Sale
Photographing Your House For Sale
Exterior Photos.
Try to take the exterior photos of your property in the middle of the
day when the sun is shining at its brighest and
try to get a blue sky background. Remember, you can replace the images you have placed with your property advertisement on our websites, so if you take a better photo later, you can still include it.
For outside shots of the front and back of your house,
put away rubbish bins and remove anything that will distract from the view of your house.
Remove any cars
from the driveway.
Try
not to include telephone poles,
wires and other houses in the
scene. Trim your photos so that potential buyers can concentrate on your house.
Full Article | Photographing Your House For Sale
Remodeling Your House & Improving Energy Efficiency
If you decide to remodel your house, or you are adding value to your home to attract future buyers,
it makes sense to incorporate energy saving measures whilst you are having the work completed.
By increasing the energy efficiency of your property, you can reduce your heating and electricity
bills, while at the same time making your house more attractive to potential buyers.
Make the most of the existing heating system in your home by ensuring that your roof, wall and
window insulation conforms with the latest recommendations. For example, your attic insulation
should not be less than 200 millimeters thick. The amount of heat loss through a
property roof is estimated at up to 25%.
Full Article | Remodeling Your House & Improving Energy Efficiency
Adding Value To Your Home
Your estate agent may well have told you the most likely type of person that will buy your house in
the future so you should remodel your property with this in mind. For example, if you are expecting
to sell to a working couple, it might be a good idea to spend some money on enlarging your driveway
to allow for two cars. If you expect to sell to an older couple with grown up children, then an
extra bedroom may not be needed.
Before commencing any major building work on your property however, it's vital that you obtain any
required planning permissions.
Think about what future potential buyers would like to see in your house, especially in an older
property. Is there room for a downstairs toilet or an en-suite bathroom? Can a large unused larder
space be converted into a utility room?
Full Article | Adding Value To Your Home
Mortgage Advice: Allied Irish Bank Mortgage Packages
As of 15/8/09, the Allied Irish Bank website contained the following information regarding mortgage
packages available.
Three types of mortgage are on offer:
First Time Buyers Package,
Owner Occupier Mortgage,
Residential Buy-to-Let Mortgage
First Time Buyer Mortgage
This mortgage offers up to 92% finance,
flexible repayment options including 3 months deferred start ( where you make no repayments whatsoever for the first 3 months
and the interest is simply added to your loan) or interest only and
20% introductory discount for first time buyers with home insurance from AIB.
AIB also offers a Parental Support Mortgage in which, if your income on its own is not enough to secure a mortgage, the Parental Mortgage allows a parent to provide a guarantee or become a co-party to the loan.
Full Article | Mortgage Advice: Allied Irish Bank Mortgage Packages
Mortgage Advice: Bank Of Ireland Mortgage Packages
As of 14/8/09, the Bank of Ireland website contained the following information regarding mortgage
packages available.
A First Time Buyers mortgage package features a dedicated first time buyers fund of €1 billion
and 1 year fixed rate of 2.8% APR. BOI also offer €1,000 to spend on your new home and
loan to value rates of up to 92%.
Bank of Ireland say you can expect a decision on your mortgage application within a few days.
To formally apply for a Bank of Ireland mortgage, you will need:
a recent P60, a
certificate of income from an employer, a recent payslip, photo id and
a recent utility bill.
BOI may also ask for loan statements and evidence of your own financial situation.
Full Article | Mortgage Advice: Bank Of Ireland Mortgage Packages
Maintaining Your Property: Brickwork
& Dampness
Surface damage on brickwork is
caused by water soaking into the
bricks on an outside wall,
freezing at night as the
temperature drops, and then
expanding and cracking and
peeling off the brick surface.
As with most household repair
jobs, the faster you act to
repair any damage, the more money
you will save in the long run. It
is important to repair small
cracks immediately before more
water gets in and damages a
bigger area. Remember to repair
the cause of the damage, such as
a leaking roof or gutter and
allow bricks to dry out, before
attempting to fix damp brickwork.
Full Article | Maintaining Your Property: Brickwork
& Dampness
Choosing a Builder for your Property Project
Before you employ a builder to work on your property, you should do your research to make sure the
work involved will be carried out properly, safely and within budget.
As well as using the local telephone directory and the internet to search for builders in your
area, you can also ask family and friends for recommendations. Look around for building work being carried on in your neighbourhood and don't be afraid to call to the house when the builders are gone and ask as many questions as necessary.
Spend some time writing a list of the building work you want done on your house. Although often time consuming, the more detail you include on this list the better. You can use the list to focus on exactly what you want to achieve and it will also be the basis for any discussions with prospective builders.
Full Article | Choosing a Builder for your Property Project
Self Build Houses: Planning For Problems
The word "self" in the phrase "self build house" is not, of course, literally true. Many self builders may view themselves more
as project managers, organising the work but delegating the various aspects of house building to the trades people they employ.
If you have decided to act as project manager for your new home construction, rather than hiring a
professional, such as a quantity surveyor or architect, you should be aware that managing a house building project is a
compromise between quality, time and speed.
If you want the house built to the highest standards, then your house will take more time to complete and the extra time
needed will inevitable lead to higher construction costs.
Full Article | Self Build Houses: Planning For Problems
The Rights & Responsibilities of Landlords
Landlords in Ireland have the
following rights:
To decide the rent amount payable
by the tenant, bearing in mind
that the rent charged cannot
exceed the current market rate,
to receive the agreed rental
payment on the date specified in
the rental agreement and
landlords are allowed to review
the rent on an annual basis. The
exact details of this should be
clearly stated in the rental
agreement.
Landlords are also allowed to
terminate a tenancy without
supplying a reason within the
first six months of the tenancy,
to be kept informed regarding the
person normally resident in the
property and be the final
arbitrator regarding potential
sub-letting.
Full Article | The Rights & Responsibilities of Landlords
Banks, Credit Ratings and Getting A House Mortgage
Below we have listed some of the many questions that banks and other mortgage lenders will ask you when determining whether or not to grant your house mortgage application. The better you are able to answer these questions, the more chance you have of getting a mortgage and owning your own property.
Obviously, mortgages, large house deposits and jobs are currently hard to get, but if you really want a house or apartment of your own in the future, no matter how long it takes to get it, now is the time to think ahead and to put yourself in the best position to obtain a home mortgage when the economy improves.
Are Your Income and Expenditure Claims Realistic?
Do your homework before meeting with the bank or mortgage lender regarding how much monthly income you expect to receive in
the future. If you intend to rent out a room in your new house, make sure you know what the current monthly rent is in your
area. How much will you need to spend in order to make the house or room rentable? First time buyers are allowed to receive
a maximum of 10,000 euros per year tax-free as income from renting out a room.
Full Article | Banks, Credit Ratings and Getting A House Mortgage
Property Advice: Moving House
Whether renting or selling, it's probably only when you need to move home that you truly realise the sheer amount of "stuff"
that you have accumulated around your house over the years. Although the idea of having to pack and
move all these items can seem like a nightmare, it is also an opportunity to have a clear out of
those things that you don't really need and that you know you will never use again in the future.
Minimise the amount of your house contents that actually need to be moved. Go to your local charity shop and find out what they will, and won't accept. If one shop won't accept what you believe is valuable, try another. Next, try friends and relations and check if they could do with some of the stuff you have no further use for. Put ads in the papers or on online auction sites and see can you get rid of your house contents that way, and possibly make a little money on the way.
Full Article | Property Advice: Moving House
Social Welfare Rent Allowance Questions
In the current economic climate, many people have found themselves forced to apply for rent supplement, commonly known as
rent allowance. Also as part of the economic slowdown, many landlords are now looking more favourably on rent allowance
tenancies as a means of earning income on what otherwise would be an empty house or apartment.
Questions often asked about rent allowance include:
Who is eligible for rent allowance?
People living in privately rented houses and apartments are entitled to rent supplement if they cannot afford to pay the
rent themselves. Most people relying on social welfare or HSE payments as their only source of income are entitled to
receive rent supplement.
Full Article | Social Welfare Rent Allowance Questions
Mortgage Interest Tax Relief For First Time House Buyers
First time house buyers can claim tax relief on their house mortgage interest repayments for the first seven years of their
mortgage term.
The tax relief available is provided on a reducing scale. For the first two years of their mortgage repayments, first time
buyers can claim tax relief of 25 percent per year.
For the next three years, that is the third, fourth and fifth years of the mortgage, first time buyers are entitled to
tax relief at a rate of 22.5 percent per year.
In the final two years of the seven year period, first time buyers are allowed a rate of 20 percent a year.
In January 2009, the amount of interest that is allowed on a mortgage was increased to 20,000 euro for a married couple and
16,000 euro for a single person.
Full Article | Mortgage Interest Tax Relief For First Time House Buyers