Simple ways to Update Your Northeast Los Angeles Home for Sale

For artsy and “hot” market neighborhoods like Highland Park, Eagle Rock and Mt. Washington, buyers expect a lot. Updating a home can be simple and profitable.

Let’s face it. Northeast Los Angeles communities are in demand. Homes in Highland Park, CA are being snatched up in the same way that Silver lake was hot a decade ago. Mt. Washington real estate, too, is much sought after by younger, professional buyers with money to spend on great homes. The catch? They expect a lot for their investment, so it pays to be willing to spend some money and time to perform quick and simple ways to update your home for sale.

To maximize the beauty and value of your home to prepare for selling, spend a little time, energy and money with several “simple” fix-ups that will put your home into the next league. It is not necessary to hire a professional stager or to drain your bank account. These quick fixes have the power to transform any room in your house into a desirable place for living.

Fabric update
There is nothing more unappealing than grungy rugs, stained fabric, or dusty cloth. Clean, vibrant, threads can turn any drab room into a full, rich room. Replace the covers on your throw pillows, purchase a new rug with a modern design and replace your curtains with blinds or newer pieces, which match the room. If you are working on a bedroom, save some money with a nice duvet cover, reupholster the headboard and buy some nice throw pillows for the bed.

Paint a fresh coat
The easiest way to invoke positive emotion from a room is to update the paint job. Regardless if you paint one wall or all, this will provide you the opportunity of altering the mood with light and whimsical colors, dark and modern, or neutral earth tones.

Rearrange the bookshelf
Bookshelves can be decorated and utilized in many ways besides monotonous side-by-side stacking. Try organizing the books by colors or by stacking the books in creative ways. Bookshelves can also add a lively dynamic to a room by decorating one of the shelves with an assortment of pictures or a colorful collection of knick-knacks. Plants and cacti also make interesting additions to shelving units.

Put up the art
Buy a collection of nice frames that will compliment works of art to set on the walls. It doesn’t have to be as beautiful as Van Gogh, any art on the wall can make the room pop, whether it be a landscape painting by a friend or a pencil sketch portrait by your daughter. You could easily paint a piece of canvas with an accent color and frame that to give the room some extra flair.

Accent the room
There are many artistic, inventive ways to spice up a room. Start with the walls. Is there a wall that can be glued with interesting or bright wallpaper? Or maybe there’s a wall where you can paint on stripes or dots. Accents do not always have to be on the walls. Maybe the room needs a modern light fixture like a chandelier, or you can decorate it with an art sculpture or rug. There are endless opportunities to separate your house from anything else the potential buyers have seen.

Any and all of these suggestions may go a long way towards the goal of selling your Northeast Los Angeles home quickly and for the highest amount of profit. Whether you are selling your home in a well-known area such as Eagle Rock, or selling Glassell Park real estate, a little effort can make a large difference in the final price once the buyer has signed on the line that is dotted.

Selling Your Pasadena, CA Home? Stage it Like a Pro.

Homes in Pasadena, CA never go out of style. Pasadena real estate is always a hot commodity. Why? For many reasons, not the least being that Pasadena is a beautiful city replete with beautiful neighborhoods, lined with beautiful homes. That’s the long and short of it.

When selling a home in Pasadena, one has to know, buyers expect a lot. While it’s essential to make sure that one’s home is ready for sale – ready to be showcased in open houses – serious home sellers go the extra mile to stage their home for a quick sale and larger sale price.

A huge misconception on staging homes for sale is that a professional stager must be hired to do the job correctly.However, you are just as capable of beautifying your house to attract the right seller. Here are some pro-tips that will enable you to professionally stage your own Pasadena home.

Exterminate the clutter
You may be comfortable with clutter, but potential buyers are interested in seeing your house, not your collections. De-clutter your home so the buyer only has room to focus on the beauty – not the beast – of your space. Counters and tables should be clear of junk and papers. Excess furniture or knick-knacks should be removed into storage. Get started early on packing for your big move while taking care of these small issues.

De-Personalize the house
Remove all photos and personal rewards from line of sight. Potential buyers want to imagine the house with their belongings. They are better able to envision their dream house on a “blank canvas” as opposed to seeing the faces of another family on the walls.

Strategic mirrors and lights
The combination of perfectly placed mirrors and lights will make your house more welcoming and open. The two primo spots for mirror placement is above the fireplace and along hallway walls. Some sophisticated mediums of lighting include table lamps, chandeliers and sconces that will contribute more glow and hues to a room.

Blank slate
The walls in your home should be neutral colored. Freshly painted, neutral walls have a tendency to widen the space and the air. Some buyers can be turned off by accent colors, so keep it simple and keep them happy.

Color accents
Throw splashes of color throughout the house to compliment the brand new neutral walls you painted. This would be a great time to invest in small rugs, colorful throw pillows, colorful bowls in the kitchen, or even arrangements of flowers throughout the house. These will help brighten the energy of the home.

Organic nurseries
Any child’s room or nursery should be cleaned and cleared of clutter, but feel free to leave the personality of the room in tact. People who are looking to start families become especially excited about seeing a child’s room in their “future” house.

Showcase your storage
Be sure to introduce your potential buyers to any grand walk-in closets or useful, hidden storage spaces. Any and all buyers will be elated to know that they can hoard their belongings.

Housekeeping?
Just like any fancy hotel, you should be able to bounce a quarter off the beds and feel the freshness of towels and hand-towels. If you must purchase new towels or bed sheets, remember to keep it neutral.

Welcoming smells
The more senses you can stimulate in potential buyers, the more likely they are to remember your house; this can be accomplished by candles, air fresheners, or exotic incense. To stimulate both their smell and taste, try making a batch of cookies and / or cider to really heighten their experience.

With all of these tips in place you can rest assured that your Pasadena house will attract the perfect buyer who will love and appreciate your home (hopefully) as much as you did.

Mortgage Rules to Follow when Buying a Home in Northeast Los Angeles

Buying a home in Northeast LA neighborhoods like Highland Park, Eagle Rock and Glassell Park is exciting and can be a great investment providing you get the right home loan.

To become a homebuyer or real estate investor, it’s vital to face the facts. Homes are expensive. This is especially true in areas of Los Angeles where the market is “hot”. We’re not talking about places near the ocean. Even older neighborhoods in Northeast LA can easily put a homebuyer back a half million dollars. Few have that sort of cash lying around and most require a mortgage.

Homes in Glassell Park, one of LA’s oldest neighborhoods, were affordable just a few years ago before the Northeast LA real estate rush. Today, like Highland Park real estate, even fixer uppers aren’t so affordable, making the foray into real estate mortgages a must.

Mortgages are essential tools for any person interested in buying a property that does not have the required moneys to complete the transaction. Mortgages are often the most expensive loans that people apply for in their lives. Understanding the basic rules of mortgages and how they work is imperative in order to pay off the loan as quickly and painlessly as possible.

Knowing what’s in a mortgage.
A mortgage is a loan to buy a property or a home. A lender only approves mortgages if he or she is certain that the buyer will be able to make payments in a timely manner. Lenders look at your income, credit score and outstanding debt to determine if you are financially able to support the mortgage.

Think hard about your fixed costs.
An important fixture in determining your mortgage limit is putting together a strong list of fixed costs. This goes beyond estimated grocery bills and gas for your car. Consider the little expenses like coffee Mondays, sushi Fridays, and clubbing on the weekends. Those expenses may not be “necessary”, but realistically you will become very unhappy if you’re mortgage cuts in too deep into your recreational activities.

Consider a PITH cushion
PITH is an acronym which represents the sum of the required housing costs for your given property. Here is the breakdown:

P= Principle you must pay each month for your mortgage

I= Interest each month on your mortgage payments

T= Property taxes

H= Bills, such as heating bills

If the totality of this amount is less than 32% of your gross monthly income, you should have the support to afford your mortgage.

Choose a mortgage within your budget
There are a series of free mortgage affordability calculators available online that will assist you in painting a clear picture of the maximum mortgage amount you can borrow. Once you have established the PITH, you need to look at your entire monthly debt fee per month. This includes car payments, credit card debts, student loans and whatever else you are paying off. In addition to the PITH your entire monthly debt load should not surpass 40% of your gross monthly income to sustain a comfortable lifestyle.

Repaying your mortgage
There are several factors you need to consider about your mortgage repayment. Look at the interest rate to determine the frequency and amount of payments you will make. You will also need to choose your amortization period. This the time it will take to pay back the mortgage in full. It can range between 15-25 years, but the longer the time the more interest will accrue.

Choosing the right interest rate
Interest rates for mortgages can vary from fixed to variable interest.

Fixed: The interest rate for your loan will not change for the length of the mortgage under any circumstance. Fixed interest rates are usually a bit higher, but they are guaranteed to stay at that rate.

Variable: The interest rate will fluctuate depending on the health of the market. Variable interest is a gamble, you may have low interest rates for the term of your mortgage, but if the market crashes you will have a price to pay.

Owning your own home and property – especially homes in Pasadena and Eagle Rock, CA – is a luxury capable of providing the owner with privacy and freedom. Even if the process to obtain the home is daunting, there are helpful resources like mortgage brokers and financial advisors to ease the complexity of the process.