Spring Cleaning for a Fast Sale

When the weather begins to warm up, the house hunters come out of the woodwork.  It seems like nearly everyone puts in a call to their Montclair NJ realtor in the springtime.  If you’re thinking about putting your home on the market, take advantage of this season’s renewed interest in real estate.  But before you list your home, make sure you’ve don’t your spring cleaning.

Clean Green
When you start you spring cleaning projects, remember to think green.  Use environmentally friendly cleaners; they’re easier on the Earth and on your body.  Don’t just toss out old clothes and furnishings.  Send them where they can live another life, like to a shelter or local charity. 

Watch the Details
Your Glen Ridge NJ realtor will tell you it’s the details that sell a house — unless those details are grubby and covered with fingerprints!  Open up all the window treatments and get a good look at your window sills, trim moldings and baseboards.  A simple mixture of mild dishwashing liquid and water will take off most of the dust and grime that accumulates on these surfaces.  Clean the surfaces that surround your door knobs and cabinet pulls.  Give any spots that still look discolored or dirty a fresh coat of paint.

Don’t Forget the Garage
Buyers will be looking at every corner of your home.  This includes under the sink, inside the cabinet and definitely inside the garage.  You may not think the garage can be spruced up but there are lots of ways to get it looking its best.  Start with a thorough cleaning out and get rid of the junk.  This could be a great time for a garage sale.  Organize what is left and put up some shelving so everything has a place.  Use a pressure washer to clean oil spots from the floor and rid it of dirt.  If you have stubborn stains, get some paint designed for concrete or an epoxy garage floor finish.  Either one will give you a new looking floor.

An Inside and Outside Job
Don’t forget that spring cleaning is both an inside and an outside job.  Your patio, desk and walkways could probably use some attention from that pressure washer, too.  If you have vinyl siding, check for mold and mildew growth and spray that away as well.  Clean out the gutters and downspouts and get the lawn looking healthy with some patch filler and fertilizer.

When you’re done you’ll not only be ready for a competitive housing market, you’ll also have a fresh, clean home to enjoy until you get that perfect offer.

Info for the New Real Estate Investor

Investing in real estate looks a lot different today than it did just a few years ago.  Real estate is still a solid investment, even since the bubble burst, but most investors go about it in ways they didn’t consider even just five years ago.  “Investing” used to be synonymous with “flipping.”  These days when someone asks his Glen Ridge NJ realtor about buying an investment property, he’s usually thinking about renting it.

Renting is a long-term way to make money from real estate.  It’s not as fast a profit as flipping a home could be, but there is more security in renting.  The market is strengthening but it’s no longer at such a peak that a flipped is a guaranteed sale.  Plus, there are benefits to renting that newly minted landlords may not even be aware of yet.

Tax Deductions
There are a lot of ways to maximize the money you make from renting a home and one of them is to investigate every tax deduction available.  Some are obvious and some may not have occurred to you.  Check with your tax professional to make sure you are getting the full benefits from your rental property.  Here is a sampling of deductions to get the discussion started.

Interest
This one is pretty well-known.  Every homeowner can deduct the interest from their mortgage, whether it’s on a rental property or primary residence.  This is quite often a large deduction.  You can also deduct the interest on loans used to improve the property

Travel
Every time you have drive to fix that faucet, you can deduct your travel expenses.  You can use the standard mileage rate deduction (around 55 cents per mile in 2009) or the actual cost of gas, repairs and so forth.  If your property requires you to travel long distances, you may be able to deduct the cost of hotels, airfare, meals and other related expenses. 

Contractors
The wages you pay to contractors and laborers to make repairs on your properties may also be deductable as a business expense.  You can do this whether the worker is your own employee or an independent contractor.

Depreciation
This is definitely an area to discuss with your accountant, but the depreciation of your rental property is deductable.  It’s a complicated formula that allows you to deduct a certain percentage each year for the first 27 years you own the rental.  This deduction can really improve your bottom line.

If you are thinking about investing in a rental property, look into the different types of deduction you may be able to claim before you call your Montclair NJ realtor.  What you learn may just give you the push you need to get back into the real estate market.