In a highly competitive real estate market, like Long Beach, you need to explore every possible incentive for homebuyers to purchase your home, rather than another comparable home in the same region.
How can you create a seller’s advantage over the other similar houses in your price range?
You could try some affordable green home upgrades and renovations.
Reports from housing markets all over the Uss indicate that green homes sell more quickly than similar homes without simple energy-saving or water-saving upgrades. The reason is easy to understand. The cost of living in these homes will be lower for the homebuyer.
So, how can you differentiate your house as a greener, more cost efficient alternative?
Here are some easy-to-implement green projects:
- Seal drafts around windows and doors. Use weather stripping or caulk to seal around your windows and other penetrations in the exterior of your house, such as wires and pipes. There’s no need to lose heat and cool air to the outdoors. Add some extra insulation to the attic as another inexpensive way to improve energy efficiency.
- Install a programmable thermostat. These affordable electronic controls allow you to set the temperature while cutting down on your energy costs. You can regulate the temperature when you’re asleep and when you’re not at home. You’ll stay comfortable without spending money to condition an unoccupied home.
- Buy faucet aerators. There’s no need to waste water by putting too much down the drain. If your faucet flow is rated higher than 2.5 gallons per minute, screw in an aerator. This device mixes air into the stream of water, cutting down on expensive wasted water.
- Slow your shower head’s water flow. Another way to cut back on your water use is to reduce the flow from your shower head. Look for a shower head that allows less than 2.5 gallons per minute, or purchase heads that go as low as one gallon per minute.
- Plant shade producing trees in your yard. For an additional environmental boost, plant some trees. When planted strategically, trees and other landscaping can help you save up to 30% in home cooling and heating costs. They also help cool your community, give you privacy and make your yard even more enjoyable. Just make sure you plant them far enough away from the house to prevent damage to you rough and gutters.
- Add ceiling fans. Although the fancier ceiling fans can cost more than $50, you can buy a basic model for less. Install ceiling fans in your bedrooms or living room and use it instead of your air conditioning on cooler days, or in addition to your air conditioner when the temperature rises.
- Insulate your exposed hot water pipes. The pipes under your bathroom sink, extending from your hot water heater and flowing to your washing machine release a lot of heat and function almost like a radiator. Invest in some cheap insulated pipe sleeves to cover all the hot water pipes you can find.
- Wrap your water tank with insulation to reduce heat loss. You can buy all the insulation you need at a local hardware store for under $50.00. It will save you money on hot water bills and help your water to heat up faster reducing your gas or electric bill.
- Install compact fluorescent bulbs (CFLs) in every room. Lighting accounts for about 10-20% of the average energy use in homes and CFLs use 75% less energy than standard incandescent bulbs and can last up to 10 times longer.
- Replace old carpet or hardwood with bamboo. Bamboo wears as well as hardwoods, has a beautiful appearance, and it is widely recognized as a green building material. Unlike many of the hardwood floors available, which can take tremendous amounts of time to reforest, bamboo grows abundantly both here and abroad, and it grows very quickly.
Updating your home with green remodeling alternatives is a great way to make your home stand out from others in a competitive housing market. Green upgrades and features give homebuyers both a financial incentive to consider your home and an emotional reason to desire owning your home.
Make sure you can promote the benefits of each upgrade in your home sales material. Or ask your Long Beach Real Estate Agent how you can take advantage of these green projects.
If you want to further increase the energy efficiency of your home you can try more expensive ways to improve the energy efficiency of your home, such as, replacing old inefficient appliances with Energy Star appliances.
Not every green project affects your whole house and you’ll realize you won’t need to budget thousands of dollars to begin making your home more green. In fact, these small improvements can cost less than a month’s worth of lattes and cappuccinos.
Just try one, or a few, of these inexpensive green home improvements and you’ll quickly start to see return on your investment.
If you have more question about greening your home to help sell it faster, just contact me at mark@shandrowgroup.com
Sincerely,
Mark Shandrow
Real Estate Broker
office 562-364-9505 ext 100
mark@shandrowgroup.com
Shandrow Group
3970 Atlantic Ave., 210
Long Beach, CAÂ 90807
follow my story at http://markshandrow.com
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