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These DIY Home Improvements Can Make a Negative Impression on Potential Buyers

21 Thursday Jul 2022

Posted by The Hanley Home Team in Uncategorized

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Buying a home, DIY, DIY Home Improvements, home improvement, homes for sale in Jacksonville FL, Jacksonville FL Real Estate, Jacksonville Real Estate, real estate, real estate advice, real estate information, Real Estate Team, real estate tips, The best real estate agent in Jacksonville

Many homeowners enjoy changing, updating, and renovating their homes—and many enjoy tackling those changes, updates, and renovations themselves.

But if you’re planning on selling in the future, it’s important to recognize that potential buyers might not be as impressed with your DIY handiwork as you are.

So, what are some of the DIY home improvements that might make a negative impression on buyers, and potentially make it harder to sell your home?

A recent article from realtor.com outlined some of the DIY projects that can come back to haunt you if and when you decide to sell, including:

  • Converting your garage into additional living space. While it might make sense for you and your family to convert your garage into additional living space (like a home office or game room), a lot of buyers have “garage” on the top of their non-negotiable list—so think twice before you transform your garage space into anything other than a garage.
  • Painting your walls… Painting your walls is one of the fastest, easiest, and most affordable DIY home projects. And, if you do it right, there shouldn’t be any problem when it comes time to sell. But if you don’t know what you’re doing (and the paint job looks sloppy, uneven, or unprofessional), it could make a negative impression on potential buyers.
  • …or your kitchen cabinets. Instead of buying brand new cabinets, many homeowners choose to add a coat of fresh paint to older cabinets to breathe new life into their kitchen. And while that’s a fine decision if you’re planning on staying in the home, if you’re planning to sell, it’s important to recognize that a fresh coat of paint won’t fool buyers into thinking the cabinets are newer or more modern than they actually are.

The Takeaway:

So, what does this mean for you? There’s nothing wrong with taking a DIY approach to home renovation projects. But before you do, it’s important to make sure you know what you’re doing—and to consider what kind of impression those DIY projects are going to have on potential buyers if and when you’re ready to sell. Want to know more projects that don’t always work well – give us a call! Kevin and Jennifer Hanley, REALTORS The Hanley Home Team of Keller Williams Realty HanleyHomeTeam.com 904-515-2479

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These Are the Pandemic’s Most Popular Home-Related Purchases

07 Wednesday Apr 2021

Posted by The Hanley Home Team in Uncategorized

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home improvement, home improvement tips, home improvements, Jacksonville Real Estate, real estate, real estate advice, real estate consultant, real estate information, real estate jacksonville fl, Real Estate Team, real estate tips, The best real estate agent in Jacksonville

The COVID-19 pandemic has forced many of us to spend more time at home than ever before—and, for many homeowners, all that extra time at home has translated to extra spending.

A recent survey from Cinch Home Services found that more than half of the 1,000+ homeowners surveyed (52%) spent more on their homes since the pandemic hit—$1,329 on average.

So what, exactly, did homeowners spend on during the pandemic? Top home-related purchases included:

  • Furniture (54 percent)
  • Appliances (48.5 percent)
  • Decor (47.1 percent)
  • Home improvement tools and products (44.3 percent)

Homeowners cited a variety of reasons for increasing their home spending during the pandemic, including improving home comfort (57.2 percent), modifying home atmosphere (37.9 percent), and improving home organization (29.8 percent). 

The Takeaway:

So, what does this mean for you? If you invested in your home during the pandemic, you’re not alone. Lots of people weren’t just spending more time in their home, they were also spending more on their home. If it made the experience of lockdown more tolerable and comfortable, it was money worth spending.

Ready to find out what those improvements did for your home price? Get in touch today for a FREE market analysis of your home. Kevin and Jennifer Hanley, REALTORS The Hanley Home Team of Keller Williams Realty 904-515-2479 HanleyHomeTeam.com Team@HanleyHomeTeam.com

Stage Your Outdoor Space This Winter

07 Saturday Nov 2020

Posted by The Hanley Home Team in #DIY, #HanleyHomeTeam, #HomeSeller, #Jacksonville, #JacksonvilleFL, #KellerWilliams, #RealEstate, #sellingyourhome, DIY, TIPS, HACKS

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energy audit, energy bill, energy efficient, home improvement, homes for sale, homes for sale in Jacksonville FL, protect your home in the winter, staging, staging your home, staging your patio, winterization, winterizing

Colder weather ahead doesn’t mean you have to forfeit your precious outdoor space. This year especially, you’ll want to enjoy your backyard or balcony as long as possible. Here are some tips to make the most of your space this fall and winter. 

Clean up ahead of winter
Spruce up your yard to create an outdoor environment you’ll be motivated to enjoy. Take time to clean up and dispose of leaves and fallen branches. For your flower beds, pull out the dead annuals, add compost, then plant cover crops or add mulch. 

Warm it up
Electric or propane outdoor heaters can help extend the outdoor mingling season. With free-standing, tabletop, and umbrella-style versions available in a variety of sizes, there are options available to fit your needs. (If you live in a condo, check regulations first.) 



Use what you have
Instead of putting it all in storage, leave your patio furniture outside. Add some machine-washable covers to give your cushions a fresh look. Circle your furniture around a fire pit and you’ll be roasting (and burning) s’mores in no time. 

Look on the bright side
Garden lighting at ground level will illuminate your landscape, and string lights with clear white LED bulbs can create an inviting ambiance. Solar powered, weather-resistant lights are more affordable than ever and make for hassle-free installation and upkeep. 

Food for thought
Keep the barbecue in working order and your propane tank filled. Grill up some goodies, then enjoy them outside. It’ll be just like a winter tailgate, only cheaper and without a line for the bathroom.
Last Minute Tips for Winterizationdecorative imageIt’s not too late to address a few home maintenance musts before winter fully sets in. Here’s a list of last-minute tasks to knock out before you go into hibernation mode. 

1. Check and clean the gutters one last time. As the last leaves have fallen, take time now to make sure your gutters are completely cleared out. Blockages can create ice dams, which will damage your gutters and prevent proper drainage of water away from your foundation.  

2. Check your furnace. If you have a furnace, replace your filter if you haven’t already, and commit to changing it once a month. A dirty filter will increase your heating costs and reduce the life of your equipment. Home heating systems that aren’t properly maintained may be less than 50 percent efficient. If you can spring for it this year, an inspection done by a licensed professional is always recommended.  

3. Maintain your home’s exterior. Trim back trees and branches that are hanging too close to your home. Seal driveways, brick patios, and wood decks. Look for cracks and gaps around doors, windows, and eaves, and seal them.  

4. Test smoke/carbon monoxide detectors This one is easy to overlook, but takes only a couple seconds: hit the “test” button on your smoke/carbon monoxide detector. If the alarm sounds — you’re good to go. If not, replace the batteries and test again. Replace your smoke detector if fresh batteries don’t result in a proper test.  

5. Consider an energy audit An energy audit can show you how and where your home is using energy, so you can make simple updates to increase your home’s efficiency – saving you money. Home energy audits typically range in cost from $200-$400, and many energy companies offer rebates that make them even more affordable (or sometimes free). 

Perform your own quick energy audit by following some of these tips from Energy.gov. Taking these steps will not only lower your utility costs, but they will protect your largest investment, your home, from the unexpected weather conditions ahead. If you have questions about professional services for home energy audits, give us call before Spring is already here! Kevin and Jennifer Hanley, REALTORS Keller Williams Realty Atlantic Partners Southside 904-515-2479 http://www.HanleyHomeTeam.com

Must-Have tools for Homeowners!

15 Thursday Aug 2019

Posted by The Hanley Home Team in #DIY, #HanleyHomeTeam, #HomeBuyer, #HomeBuyingTips, #HomeOwner, #HomeSeller, #Jacksonville, #JacksonvilleFL, #KellerWilliams, #RealEstate

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DIY, handy tips, home improvement, home ownership, home renovations, responsible homeowner

flat lay photography of hand tools

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When you own your home, things are going to break and, unless you want to spend your money on visits from a neighborhood handyman, you’re going to need to fix them yourself. Luckily, you don’t need an arsenal of tools to handle most home maintenance fixes. These five tools will cover most of your basic projects.

  1. Cordless drill. A cordless drill is a must-have for installing cabinets, drawer pulls, hinges, picture frames, shelves and hooks, and more. Whether it’s for do-it-yourself projects or repairs, you’ll use your cordless drill just about every month.
  2. Drain cleaners. Shower and bathroom sink drains are susceptible to clogs because of the daily buildup of hair and whisker clippings. You can use chemical clog removers like Drano, but they’re expensive and the lingering chemical scent is unpleasant. Instead, buy some plastic drain cleaners that can reach into the drain to pull out the clog of hair and gunk. You can purchase them on Amazon or at a local hardware store for a low price.
  3. Shop-vac. No matter how careful you are, spills and accidents will happen and there are some tasks that just can’t be handled with paper towels or a standard vacuum, like pet messes or broken glass.
  4. Loppers. Even the minimum amount of care for your landscaping will require some loppers to remove damaged branches, vines, thick weeds, and any other unruly plants in your yard.
  5. Flashlight. You’re going to want something a little more powerful than your iPhone flashlight when you’re in the crawlspace!

Give us a call today!  Kevin and Jennifer Hanley, REALTORS Keller Williams Realty Atlantic Partners Southside 904-515-2479

tool set on plank

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Turning a Bedroom into a Lux Bedroom.

07 Wednesday Aug 2019

Posted by The Hanley Home Team in #BedroomDecor, #HanleyHomeTeam, #HomeBuyer, #HomeBuyingTips, #HomeOwner, #HomeSeller, #Jacksonville, #KellerWilliams, #RealEstate, DIY

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Buying a home, DIY, home improvement, Modernize your bedroom look, real estate, tips for sellers, Update your bedroom

For most of us, our bedroom is little more than a place to sleep and relax. However, just because it’s always been that way doesn’t mean that we have to settle for drab and dreary.

bed bedroom ceiling chandelier

One trend that’s gaining steam these days is converting your current bedroom into a luxury suite (or something comparable). If you want to live like you’re renting a room at the Ritz, then you want to follow these tips.

Compartmentalize Your Activities

Making your bedroom more functional is going to make it more luxurious. Add a gorgeous desk for working and a TV area for entertainment, and you’ll be living it up in no time.

Make it Chic

Choose a color palette that is both luxurious and classy. Silver and gold can seem tacky, so choose muted shades that compliment each other.

Also, a brilliant and commanding headboard can instantly upgrade the look of your room without any other changes.

Light it Properly

Finally, make sure that you have the right light to show off your designs. If it’s too washed out or yellow, then it will look drab and run down. Switch to brilliant LEDs and see the difference.

Choose Your Accents Wisely

We already mentioned a headboard, but some elegant drapes can also make your room feel more royal. Being strategic with your furniture accessories is going to both keep you under budget and avoid doing too much with the space.

Are you ready to lux your bedroom? You’ll be impressed by the results, and the feeling of decadence will make you more confident in your surroundings.

throw pillows on bed

Give us a call today!  Kevin and Jennifer Hanley, REALTORS Keller Williams Realty Atlantic Partners Southside 904-515-2479 http://www.HanleyHomeTeam.com

WHAT TO REPAIR BEFORE YOU LIST

03 Wednesday Jul 2019

Posted by The Hanley Home Team in #HanleyHomeTeam, #HomeBuyer, #HomeOwner, #HomeSeller, #KellerWilliams, #RealEstate, Jacksonville

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home improvement, home ownership, home renovations, real estate, seller tips, selling your home

man holding black board with white paint painting wall

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When you’re getting ready to list your home, it’s of the upmost importance to ensure you are showing it in the best light. Taking time to highlight its strengths and fix up some of its possible weaknesses can make a big difference in how fast it sells. Here are our top five recommended repairs to make before selling your home.

Repaint walls.

Giving your home a fresh coat of paint is one of the most cost-effective ways to spruce it up, and generally, it can be a do-it-yourself project. Make sure cover any walls with scratches and chips and consider updating any accent walls with a more neutral coat.

Repair floors.

Hardwood floors are a very desirable feature in a home, so you want to ensure they look their best by fixing scratches or dull areas. If your carpet is worn or stained, consider replacing them. And don’t forget the tile in your kitchen or bathrooms. Re-grouting can go a long way in making dingy tile work look brand new!

Refresh the landscaping.

Show buyers your home is the full package by dressing up the outside as well as the in. Clean walkways and driveways, plant seasonal flowers and plants, trim hedges and trees, install outdoor décor pieces and fill in mulch and gravel.

Fix your fixtures.

Leaky faucet? Rusted drains? Loose drawer handle? Making these small fixes can make a big difference to potential buyers with detailed-orientated minds. Improve your kitchen. An outdated kitchen can be a real eyesore in a home. Updating cabinetry, repairing or replacing countertops, and installing new faucets and sinks may be worth the investment.

Have any questions or are you ready to sell your new home in 2019? Give us a call today!  Kevin and Jennifer Hanley, REALTORS Keller Williams Realty Atlantic Partners Southside 904-515-2479 http://www.HanleyHomeTeam.com

Unusual Self-Staging Secrets that work, Whether You’re Selling or Not

25 Saturday May 2019

Posted by The Hanley Home Team in real estate

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declutter, declutter before selling your home, decluttering, home improvement, home improvement tips, homes, Jacksonville, Jacksonville FL real estate agents, Jacksonville Real Estate, real estate, real estate staging, staging, staging tips, staging your home

e1d05431-dc14-481e-980a-e0ff9da6c25eStaging means more than simply adding new fashions and furnishings to your home. Staging means understanding the psychology of living in a home, and using those underlying secrets to your own advantage, rather than to sell.
Staging is a word that has gained popularity in the real estate world in recent years. In case you haven’t heard the term, it means setting up the interior and exterior of your home with nice furnishings and decor so that home buyers can imagine themselves living in a clean, clutter-free, stylish home. You know…the kind of designer home no one actually lives in. In fact, there’s probably not a home seller in the world who hasn’t spun around in their newly staged living rooms just before selling and said, “Gee, I wish I had done this before selling it so I could have lived in it like this.”
But wait! Rather than staging to sell, how about staging for life—so you can live in it? By taking a fresh look at your home and making a few bold changes, you can impart much of the feeling that comes from a completely staged home, even if you have no interior design experience at all. This two-part report will show you how. First you’ll learn the secrets of minimizing distractions, which is the real reason that staging works—not the furnishings. And then you’ll learn a few style basics to help enhance the environment.

Part 1: Distractions and Tolerations
Part 2: Interior Design Basics

Part 1: Distractions and Tolerations
Wallowing in Distraction

In every era of mankind it can be said that somebody turned to somebody else and said, “Things are a lot more hectic today than they used to be.”

And in every case, they were right. Every era of mankind has grown more complex and hectic. That doesn’t mean life is harder from one era to the next. But it is hard in a different way. In our world today, for example, we’ve taken the expectation of personal productivity to new heights. It’s barely acceptable any more to not be available by phone, and people will complain about not being able to get hold of a person in minutes. Vast numbers of people are in charge of us, from our friends and family who demand our attention by phone and Facebook, to our kids and partners to want to be entertained, to a plethora of unskilled bosses in an increasingly stratified corporate world. It’s a recipe for stress.

Perhaps one of the most important survival skills in this current world view is our ability to manage distractions. Distractions are things that take our attention away from what we’re trying to focus on. Think “texting and driving,” or “walking and chewing gum.” These are things that aren’t supposed to go together, but we do them together, just as we eat and drive, program the gps and drive, do our makeup, read, and talk while we drive. And while doing one of those things, our coordination for doing the other slips.

Beyond technology, we’re also distracted by our own thoughts. With competing demands on our attention and time, we’re always thinking about several tasks at once—multitasking mentally as well as physically. And our world has become intensely mental. While our grandmother might have multitasked by getting all the parts of a good meal on the table at the same time, we have to be evaluating different ideas, planning multiple programs, writing several different reports, and thinking about how to keep everyone happy.

Thich Nhat Hanh is a Vietnamese Buddhist monk who tells us in his book called Happiness, that we should do things mindfully. His meaning is to be aware in the moment you are in of all that you are doing. When you are walking, think about walking. When you are sitting, think about sitting. When you are driving, think about driving. He says, “The present moment is the only moment that is real. Your most important task is to be here and now and enjoy the present.”

What’s the point in that, right? If you can multitask and you need to get a lot done, what is the point in slowing down and focusing on one task at a time? Well, for one, if we’re talking about driving, it’s safer. But more to the point, Thich Nhat Hanh is not talking about being able to do something better because you’re focused. He’s talking about calming the mind, something that has measurable benefits in relieving stress.

(Stay with me…this all goes back to staging in just a moment.)

tray on coffee table

Photo by Milly Eaton on Pexels.com

A calm, still mind is more able to detach from complexities and feel at peace. A peaceful mind is better able to connect to abundance and win-win thinking. It is said by the Buddhists that a person will have become enlightened when he does not have a single thought for one whole minute.
The person who can effectively manage distractions is likely to be more attractive to others. For instance, networking events are wonderful places to view distracted minds. You walk into the room and the first thing you do is walk up to someone and catch their eye to see if you can get into conversation with them. You can tell instantly if they’re “with you” or not. Sometimes it’s subtle, a frozen smile, a flick of the eyes. Other times it’s more overt with them turning and talking to other people in the middle of your conversation. And then other times you feel like you’re the only person in that other person’s world right then. Ah, that feels nice.
The practical application of this discussion is that the act of reducing distractions in our home space instantly puts our minds into a more receptive state, calming our stress, and improving our health and relationships. Wow, that’s a lot of goodies from just reducing distractions and simplifying where our attention goes.
By decluttering our space, arranging furniture to appeal to the eye, reducing messes, harmonizing colors, and simplifying your décor, we gain a huge amount of peace in our home space.

Reducing distractions is one of the biggest secrets to successful staging. Removing clutter and putting thing in order, as well as using a few well-placed large pieces of art or furniture in place of a bunch of scattered pieces make a room feel more peaceful—and that sense of peace is one of the reasons that staged homes sell faster than unstaged homes.

Tolerations

Then there’s the evil cousin of distractions—tolerations. Tolerations are a kind of distraction that we don’t acknowledge. Tolerations are usually tiny distractions we ignore, but that are in our peripheral vision and at the edge of our consciousness. I remember a neighbor coming to visit for the first time. I wanted to make her feel welcome, so I started to show her around the house. It was only then that I noticed the cobwebs hanging from the ceiling, the hole in the door screen, and the streak of dirt by the front door where the dog jumped up. And when she asked to use the restroom, I suddenly remembered the moldy tile in the bath surround. I was distracted during her brief visit, and probably looked and acted apologetic.

I mentioned all this to a friend later, and we talked about how the cumulative effect of tolerations can become a drag on our spirit, awareness, and energy. I wanted to enjoy my neighbor, and all I could think about was little crap that I should have taken care of. I’m sure the neighbor felt some of my embarrassment, even if she didn’t know why.
The experience made me look around my house and realize how many of these little details I had been tolerating without really noticing.

wrecked home furnitures interior

Photo by Wendelin Jacober on Pexels.com

Tolerations can consist of a multitude of small, petty details—like a dirty car, the torn curtain, a spot on the floor, the annoying piece of tape stuck to our computer, the door in the bathroom that sticks. Or they can be large projects—like the house needs painting, the filing system is in disarray, the car is too small for a growing family, etc.

One reason staged homes appeal to us is that they have eliminated the tolerations. Buyers feel good without even knowing why, because there’s nothing to take care of…no tolerations have built up to dampen their energy. They don’t see any cobwebs or curled linoleum, because those things have been taken care of in a well-staged home.

Exercise: Eliminating Tolerations
Step 1: Petty tolerations
Look around in your immediate environment from where you’re sitting right now. Make a list of everything you see that is out of place, broken or torn, too small or large, crooked, cluttered, a dissatisfying color, etc. Do this for every room in your house. Do the same in your office workspace and car.

Place these lists where you can see them prominently. They are your visual existence system to help you remember what needs to be done.

Make a commitment to fixing just one item from this list each day. Cross off each item as it is done. Fix it mindfully.

Step 2: Major tolerations
Look around your house, yard, car, and work environment. Make a list of projects that need to be done, including painting, cleaning, organizing, repairing, replacing, etc.
Prioritize the list. Then put the first project onto a schedule. Identify the intermediate steps that need to be done to make that project a reality, such as getting bids, tracking down service providers, saving money, etc.

Part 2: Interior Design Basics
In addition to looking at tolerations in your physical space, consider the following more traditional suggestions for staging your home, while eliminating tolerations:

Start with a Blank Slate
Consider emptying an entire room before you start any DIY staging efforts. By creating a blank slate, you’ll be more creative. Then consider these three things elements: paint and flooring colors, window coverings, and finally art pieces. Identify a color scheme for all of these elements. If you already have flooring and don’t plan to replace it, that may be the start of your color scheme.

person taking photo of gray pendant lamp over brown wooden dining table indoor

Photo by Carlos Diaz on Pexels.com

Choose new paint colors to complement the flooring. If you can’t afford new furnishings to match the color scheme, consider new pillows or a slip cover. Consider installing crown molding and new baseboards at this time, or building a new fireplace surround or mantle. Finally, choose window coverings that tie the paint, flooring, and furniture together. When moving furniture back into the space, look for ways to leave some things out of the room altogether. The most valuable feature of staged homes is the absence of clutter.
When replacing furniture in the room, position it in different ways. Try configurations you think can’t possibly work, such as setting the couch at an angle and adding a sofa table behind it. Also consider adding plants to your space. As you replace furnishings, also remember the ideas of absence of distractions and elimination of tolerations.

Find a Way to Match Pieces
If you have mis-matched shelving or other furniture for the room, consider replacing some of it, or refinishing it all to have a similar finish. For instance, if you have one rattan chair, a wooden IKEA shelf unit, and a 1960’s coffee table, you may be creating dissonance in your space. Consider ridding yourself of one of these elements, then replacing it with something that matches one of the other elements. Perhaps removing the 1960’s table and replacing it with an IKEA table will draw the room together. Perhaps replacing the rattan chair with a 1960’s era arm chair might draw the room together in a retro way. The more your furniture looks as though it is from the same style or era, the more together your room will look.

Another idea for matching pieces is to choose one finish and alter other pieces to have similar finishes. For instance, if you have a blonde wood coffee table, a golden oak shelving unit, and a black lacquered TV cabinet, you have mismatched finishes. If you want to keep the black TV cabinet, consider sanding and using black lacquer paint to refinish the coffee table and shelf unit. If you don’t want to keep the black TV cabinet, but like your blonde wood coffee table, consider replacing the TV cabinet and sanding and lightening the stain of your shelf unit. For some wood furniture, you might consider distressing it and using a white-wash finish.

Remove Clutter with Storage
It’s been said many times. A well-staged home is a clutter-free space. If you struggle to manage clutter, the best thing you can do for yourself is to first throw everything away that you almost never use. If it has sentimental value, or you use it rarely but need it when you do, then you will find a home for it in the garage, attic, or storage area. You can also take photos of some older cherished items that you don’t really need to hang onto any longer.
Speaking of storage areas, if clutter controls you, one of the first things you need to do is purchase cabinets with closing doors. Many people get clutter around the phone area in or near the kitchen. If that’s you, purchase a cabinet that can rest in this area and hold a lot of that clutter. One friend of mine bought an extra upper kitchen cabinet to match the rest of her kitchen, then placed it on the floor under the bar countertop next to the bar stools. That is the place where the kids shove all of their art supplies that they use while sitting at the counter.
Clutter goes beyond counter tops. Clutter can include too many pieces of furniture and too much art on the walls, but that may be a matter of taste. I know people who love knick-knacks and every square inch of their homes is covered with these treasures. They are clean, well-organized homes for the most part, thought one is just junky, with stuff crammed into shelves so tightly that it can’t even be seen.
If clutter is a problem for you, focus intensively on creating cabinets and spaces for your stuff. As my mother always said—a place for everything and everything in its place.

Final Word
Staging is not just about renting expensive furniture and creating a designer interior to sell your home. Staging is also about staging for life—creating a space you enjoy living in, one that contributes to your sense of well-being. By eliminating distractions and removing tolerations, you open up your mind to focus on other, more important things in life. And by matching colors, matching furniture styles, and creating significant extra storage for all your “must-keep” small items, you create a relaxing environment that soothes you, much like a great piece of art or a perfect place in nature. Your home will make you feel good, not just be a place to get out of the rain.

Easy Landscaping DIY Projects

16 Thursday May 2019

Posted by The Hanley Home Team in DIY, real estate, Summer Yard, TIPS, HACKS

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home improvement, home ownership, Jacksonville, Jacksonville Real Estate, lazy summer, selling your home in the summer. summer real est

garden walkway view

Photo by Jonas Ferlin on Pexels.com

Ever get the itch to do a DIY project? Whenever we do, our favorites involve getting outdoors and mixing up our landscaping features.

Whether it’s as simple as installing some lighting or a little more time-consuming like re-plotting plants, a fresh look for the lawn always gives your home a fresh look as well. Here are our top five easy landscaping projects!

Create a pathway.

To guide you and visitors throughout your yard and link different areas together, install a pathway. You can use materials from a variety of materials, including reclaimed pallet wood, flagstones, gravel, and more to add texture and color.

Add a wall or border.

Installing a flagstone, rock, or brick wall around flower beds or trees adds a sleek, clean look to your landscaping and helps separate different sections of your yard.

Install a water feature.

Nothing says zen quite like the sound of trickling water as you relax in your backyard. You can start simple with by purchasing and installing a small feature powered by a solar panel or create a larger focal point in your yard by installing a waterfall wall or small pond.

Light your way.

An easy way to transform your yard is to strategically use lighting. Place cool-colored lights high in trees to recreate a moonlight feel, use pathway lights to naturally guide the eye, or highlight objects or plants.

Plant upwards.

Expand your yard space by drawing the eye to the sky with a trellis fence or screen made of wood or metal. Once you install your trellis, select your climbing plants and vines and get to planting.

Source: Easy Landscaping DIY Projects

Home Renovations That Can Hurt (and Help) Property Value

06 Thursday Dec 2018

Posted by The Hanley Home Team in Uncategorized

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adding a pool, home improvement, home improvement tips, home renovations, homes for sale, Jacksonville Real Estate, real estate, renovating a house, renovation, renovation project

home real estate

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The best remodels will increase both quality of life and listing price, so take care to invest in projects that will net the biggest returns.

 

Source: Home Renovations That Can Hurt (and Help) Property Value

By Brooke Nally

If you’re into renovation projects, then updating and revamping your home can be a lot of fun. But before you get too excited about knocking down walls and setting up a custom movie room, you might want to consider resale value. Flashy renovations don’t always yield the best returns, so you’ll need to take care when picking projects.

To make things easier for you, here are four remodels to avoid and four to invest in.

Remodels to Avoid

Luxury Rooms
An indoor basketball court, wine cellar, sauna, or even a movie theater won’t often recoup the high building costs. Luxury add-on rooms are hard to pitch to buyers unless you’re living in an upscale housing market—the average homebuyer won’t be willing to pay for them. Further, rooms that depend heavily on wired electronics, like home theaters, are hard to keep current because TVs and speakers are constantly advancing.

Swimming Pool
The average cost to build a pool is $39,084, a hefty price tag that is seldom recovered once the home is sold. It’s widely accepted throughout the industry that a homeowner will lose money by adding a swimming pool. Homebuyers don’t want to deal with the maintenance cost of a pool (which can cost as much as $2,000 a year), the added insurance premiums, and—if they have young kids—the safety issues.

Gaudy Accents
Though gold-plated crown molding or mosaic-tile backsplashes may feature prominently in your ideal vision for your home, they often turn out to be the average homebuyer’s worst nightmare. Passing fads or niche trends rarely stick around long, so if you miss the brief window when your remodeling choices are in, you’ll end up paying for it later.

Changes Contrary to Area Standards
If you aren’t watching the trends common to your area, you could end up losing a lot of money. A home that totals $600,000 after all the renovations won’t sell in a neighborhood where homes are netting half that price. Likewise, knocking down the walls of extra bedrooms for an open layout won’t be appealing in a family-oriented neighborhood.

Remodels that Pay

Steel Doors
You don’t want to go cheap on a standard front door. At roughly $1,000, steel doors are comparatively affordable, durable, low maintenance and burglar resistant. As an added bonus, the National Association of REALTORS® reports that steel door upgrades show the highest return on investment of any home remodel, at over 100 percent of the cost.

Solar Panels
As the price of solar panels continues to drop, the energy payback on installing them is becoming greater and greater. The average rooftop solar system is now paid off in seven and a half years. After that, panels are a big money-saving asset. A study by the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory notes that homebuyers “consistently have been willing to pay more for a property” with solar panels—a premium of around $4 per installed watt, on average.

Related: Will Your Homeowners Insurance Cover Solar Panels?

New Siding
The exterior of your house is the first thing potential homebuyers see when they come to your home, and you want to make the best first impression. This is part of the reason redoing your siding is so profitable. New siding recoups around 80 percent of the initial cost, according to the National Association of Realtors®, thanks largely to the increased curb appeal and improved energy efficiency it provides.

Broadband Access
Access to broadband speeds is considered an essential utility for today’s connected homebuyer. Research shows that faster internet speeds increase your home value by as much as 3 percent. Homeowners can prepare their homes for higher broadband connectivity by working with area providers to install requisite equipment and wiring. Building out wall ports and cable-hiding baseboards is a good move to attract buyers, too.

Even if you’re not considering selling your home just yet, keep potential selling benefits in mind. Intrepid homeowners know that the best remodels will increase both quality of life and listing price, so take care to invest in projects that will net the biggest returns.

Baby-Proof your Home

19 Thursday Apr 2018

Posted by The Hanley Home Team in Uncategorized

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Baby Friendly, baby proof your home, baby proofing, home improvement, home safety, homes for sale, Homes for sale in Jacksonville, homes for sale in Jacksonville FL

pexels-photo-315265.jpegYou may not have kids right now, but chances are you may be entertaining guests one day who do. You can put your guests at ease and do your best to protect their little ones from harm by investing in some modest pre-visit baby proofing. Here are some sound strategies to make their visit low-stress and safe:

Mind the Power and Appliances
Outlets are enemy #1. Baby fingers are like magnets for electricity, so splurge on some plastic outlet covers which fit snugly into those empty sockets. If you have any multi-socket power strips around, be sure to cover those as well (or elevate them out of harm’s reach). Depending on the age of your youngest visitors, some may be able to reach knobs and buttons on appliances like your stove. Exploring hands can accidentally turn on the gas, so if you think your kitchen will be vulnerable, invest around $10 on stove knob covers.

Make Some Rooms Off-Limits
It may not be practical to baby proof every inch of your house, so make certain zones baby-free by using gates. Sturdy, simple, pressure-mounted gates will protect certain passages and prevent you from making any permanent holes in your wall. Alternately, use door knob covers to make even unlocked rooms less likely to be prone to an infant invasion.

Fight Falling Objects
Babies are all about testing gravity, and as they try to bring themselves upright, they’re liable to tug on anything within arm’s reach. This might include your entertainment center, bookshelf, floor lamps, or other furniture. Are there any precarious pieces which might tumble down and seriously injure a child? Consider pieces on top of shelves (like decorative glassware) which could be shaken down through modest force.

Curtail the Cords
Power cords and curtain (or blind) cords can cause falls, entanglement, or even strangulation. Tie these up out of the way or too high for a baby to reach from the floor.

Get Down and Look Around
A baby will put anything in its mouth. That will include choking hazards, dropped medications, or stray chemicals such as rat poison or cleaners. Shift your perspective to the floor and look for anything suspicious.

Some homes are more kid-friendly than others. If you’re looking for a great home for little ones, we can help you find one today!: Kevin and Jennifer Hanley, REALTORS The Hanley Home Team of Keller Williams Realty Atlantic Partners Southside – 904-515-2479 http://www.HanleyHomeTeam.com

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