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Home Improvements and How to Finance Them
I don’t know what it is about the fall, but it seems to bring out the DIY-er in all of us. Instead of flocking to the beach or heading north for a quick getaway, everyone is spending their weekends at home improvement stores. If you’ve been contemplating a remodel of your own, but don’t know quite where to start, take a look at this short list of ideas below. These improvements may be small, but they will drastically transform both the look–and increase the value–of your home sweet home.
Related: Home Loans for First Time Home Buyers
The Kitchen
Kitchen improvements tend to add the most value, especially in older homes. And given it is one of the first rooms a guest sees, you’ll want yours to make a great first impression. For a few hundred dollars, you can replace the kitchen faucet set, spice up the cabinets with new door handles, and swap out old, dated light fixtures with new, brighter, more modern ones. Have a little more to spend? Hire a refacing company to refinish your cabinet boxes, and add new doors and drawers.
The Baths
Second only to the kitchen, baths are extremely important to update, and they too can be given new life without too much cash. For a shower that has seen its better days, replace broken or missing tiles, and re-grout the rest while you’re at it. Then finish the area off with a fresh coat of caulking, and continue around all other fixtures. If you’d like to take things a little further, consider swapping out the hardware, as I mentioned in the kitchen, including faucets, door handles, lighting fixtures, and a new toilet seat.
The Exterior
It may sound like a no-brainer, but a well manicured lawn and tasteful landscaping goes a long way toward increasing your home’s curb appeal. If you’ve got a green thumb and a shovel, plant a few evergreen shrubs and patch thin areas of grass or sod. Pick up any branches or debris lying around and sweep the walkways. If applicable, you may also want to consider painting your basic steel front door and upgrading to a more substantial looking handle and lock set, to give your home a more impressive front entrance.
Storage Space
Older homes are especially notorious for their lack of storage space. Think about any under-used space you have in your home—under the stairs, in the garage, the unfinished attic– then take advantage of the many DIY closet and cabinetry systems available today. Most companies even allow you to redesign your space on their website, then pick up what you need at your local home improvement store. Still struggling to store your stuff? There’s always room in the walls—recessed cabinets are designed to fit in between the studs, and take just a few hours to install.
The Basics
Certain essentials, such as roofs and windows, should be kept in good working order. Both can be expensive to repair or replace, but not doing so could be significantly more costly–not to mention the extra you money you could be paying in utilities each month. If you’re unsure of your home’s structural condition, hire an inspector to check things out. They may discover hidden issues, allowing you to take care of them now, so they don’t become a bigger, more expensive problem down the road.
Financing Home Repairs
Now, if you aren’t the handy-type or don’t have loads of cash lying around to fund your dream remodel, you might be wondering, can Riverbank Finance help me finance that? Absolutely! There are several ways to go about it, but most notable are our renovation mortgage programs. Both the Conventional Homestyle Renovation Loan and the FHA 203(k) Loan are unique programs that can be used for both home purchases and refinances. These programs allow you–the homeowner–to finance repair costs, appliances, and other home improvements into your mortgage with one low monthly payment.
For homeowners with a fair amount of equity, an even better option may be to Cashout Refinance. This option allows you to borrow up to 80% of your home’s value in the Conventional Loan program, or 85% in the FHA Loan program. The interest rate on a cashout refinance is typically lower than that of a renovation mortgage, and both are significantly lower than a home equity line of credit (HELOC).
Have a specific scenario you’d like to run past us? Give us a call to speak with one of our licensed loan officers. We would love to recommend the best loan program for you and your situation.
Get More Information
To apply for a Renovation Mortgage or Refinance call Riverbank Finance today at 1-800-555-2098.