Orlando Real Estate

Home Advice can help you find the answers to all your home buying and home selling questions. Simply choose from one of the categories below to display frequently asked questions and answers.

Owning Your Home

MAINTAINING & IMPROVING YOUR PROPERTY

Building Permits & Zoning
Fixer-Upper Loans
Hiring a Contractor
Improving Your Real Estate
Insurance
Whom to Contact

OTHER OWNERSHIP ISSUES

Avoiding Foreclosure
Home Price Appreciation
Homeowner Associations
Neighbor Disputes
Property Taxes
Refinancing
Reversed Annuity Mortgages (RAM's)
Tax Considerations
Whom to Contact

If the time seems to be drawing near for making the decision to move or improve, do your homework first. Look at what your neighborhood is doing, and what housing prices are. Talk with a trusted HomeJoy Real Estate agent, and consider an independent market appraisal of your home. Consider paying a general contractor a consultation fee to discuss your home's general condition, and the cost of potential improvements. And be sure you don't ignore municipal and homeowner's association requirements and restrictions as part of your fact-finding.

If you are faced with large home improvement repairs, you need to weigh that carefully. If your home has substantially appreciated in value over the years and the needed repairs would create a financial burden for you, it may be wise to consider selling – you'll have to ask a little less than you would if those repairs weren't necessary, but you may still make a sizeable profit on the sale.

On the other hand, perhaps the housing market is down, or you haven't had the house that long and your equity is not substantial. It may be wise to refinance or secure other funding, and make the repairs now before the situation worsens.

Quite often, the reason people want to move is because the house is simply too small to meet their current needs. If that's the case, and if you like the neighborhood and like the house in general, you might want to consider adding on. Room additions can make a huge difference in the size, layout and livability of any home, provided they are done correctly.

Remember that as much as you love a house and a neighborhood, and as much as you would like to stay in it, remodeling is not always the answer. No matter how good your contractor is, remodeling will not increase the size of a small lot, it won't add a wood shop in a neighborhood that doesn't allow them, and it probably won't be able to alleviate major flaws in room layout. And then there's the potential problem of overbuilding. Not limited to additions – it can apply to everything from upgraded roofing materials to kitchen remodels to extensive landscaping.

Making the decision whether to sell your home or improve it is always a tough one. There are financial and emotional decisions to make, and any number of factors that can tip the balance one way or the other. The emotional decisions are ones that only you can answer, but as to the financial side of things, answering a few common sense questions may make that decision easier.