World Famous Comics: 101 Cost-Effective Ways to Increase the Value of Your Home
101 Cost-Effective Ways to Increase the Value of Your Home
By: Steve Berges Publisher: Kaplan Business Average Rating: Binding: Paperback Label: Kaplan Business Number of Items: 1 Number of Pages: 304 Publication Date: June 01, 2004 Release Date: June 01, 2004
Product Description: Every year, millions of Americans spend varying degrees of time and money on home improvements. Which improvements are likely to add the greatest value on resale? What kinds of small, inexpensive projects can really make a difference? How do homeowners get started on the project of their dreams? Real estate expert Steve Berges draws on his more than 25 years of experience to provide homeowners with the advice and guidance they crave, as they mull over their home improvement options and prepare to venture out into the world of building inspectors, subcontractors, deed restrictions, and other thorny issues.
101 Cost-Effective Ways to Increase the Value of Your Home covers a range of home improvement options-no-cost, low-cost, and pricey-and helps readers determine where they’ll get the most bang for their buck. Homeowners will learn how to:
• Find the best subcontractors for the job and protect their investment through smart negotiations and the right agreements. • Weigh the benefits of a do-it-yourself project. • Move smoothly through tasks that can seem daunting, such as getting the required permits and researching local insurance and bonding requirements •. Appreciate the importance of such intangibles as odors, cleanliness, and decor. • Determine how much to expect to recoup on every single project, from bathroom and kitchen remodels to new windows, fences, or gutters.
Focusing on the intrinsic value of each home improvement-from a brand-new kitchen to a simple lawn clean-up-101 Cost-Effective Ways to Increase the Value of Your Home helps readers assess their needs, organize their priorities, and make budget-sensible decisions that will help them preserve and enhance their greatest asset-their home.
I was disappointed to read the (less than enthusiastic) reviews of this book. As a real estate agent, I've taken it out of the library so often that I'm finally going to break down and buy it. There may be some saavy home sellers who have a handle on the information in this book, but it's unusual when they follow through. Making these improvements may seem obvious, but nine times out of ten, sellers don't think about how they are exactly the same things they notice when they become buyers. If Berges repeats himself, it's because his suggestions can't be repeated often enough. Some sellers don't want to bother with his advice, and that's fine, but then it's important to be realistic about pricing. Home selling is like any retail--if the product is shopworn, damaged or has defects, the store takes a markdown. This book is a tool to help all home sellers prepare their property to sell with the maximum amount of showings and the best possible price. It offers sellers accurate information about what they need to do to maximize the sale of their home, and this one has the best, most realistic, most important information that they need. It's my secret weapon when it comes to multiple offers and quick property sales.
"OK", but I'm being generous Mr. Berges purports to offer ways to increase home values, but there's hardly any aspect of home improvement he doesn't rate as a worthwhile imvestment. Even a swimming pool gets a "moderate" rating, and most markets in the U.S. consider a pool a real albatross.
Mr. Berges also includes a worksheet that should let the reader calculate almost any aspect of home improvement and its impact on value -- nice, but he implies it's available online at "valueplay.com" when it isn't.
All in all, a generally OK guideline book, but it misleads.
not what I was expecting too common sense; I expected things like advice on whether to do carpet verses hardwood floor or tile
A little helpful, but mostly just really annoying First, what I thought was useful about this book: the author does seem to really have thought about how much value various home improvements add to your home. It's basic, but probably something we don't always think about. Essentially, what you can see is what sells. So even if your wiring really needs updating, don't expect buyers to be wowed by that. They expect it. On the other hand, just cleaning up your yard (much cheaper) will result in much more of a "wow" factor.
Now for the various annoyances.
Grammar and usage: I'm a word nerd, and when I see words used incorrectly or sentences constructed poorly, it kind of pokes me in the eye. My eye got poked a lot in this book (affect for effect, it's for its, in to for into...). Oh, and in his introduction, he doesn't even address the parts of the book in the correct order; he has Parts Two through Four completely goofed up.
Telling us how clever and wonderful he is: we keep hearing how great his company is, and just what that company's name is, just in case we forgot it. We hear how much experience he has in the business, just in case we forgot how he explained it in the introduction.
NOT giving us 101 ways to increase the value of our home: As the previous reviewer noted, the book is divided into 101 sections, but not all of them deal with home improvements, per se. Examples: Pros and Cons of Using Subcontractors; Licensing, Insurance, and Bonding Requirements; Appraisal Method #1 through #3 (each listed as a separate "home improvement")...
Not even writing much of a new book: He constantly quotes directly from his previous books, listing the title, publisher, and year each time he does, so we can rush out and buy it, I guess. Sometimes his quotes last for more than a page! I would say at least 10% of the book is just direct quotes from his other books. I'm sure glad I didn't read them! Now I don't have to!
And the worst annoyance... going on and on and on to explain something any moron could understand instantly: On removing junky cars, boats, etc from your property, he goes into this ridiculous analogy of trying to sell a dirty car to illustrate why the cleanup is a good idea. On cleaning up the inside of your house, he rambles for two pages about how he chose a tree nursery based on the cleanliness of the place, then writes one paragraph about cleaning up your house. He uses a makeover analogy (two paragraphs about women getting made up) to tell us why we should paint the interior. He gives the helpful advice of putting seldom-used items on the top shelves of very tall cabinets (after he pointed out that tall cabinets might be a disadvantage to shorter people -- really?). And did you know that a dining table and chairs are the main pieces of furniture in a dining room? Very revealing! I could go on (I really could; there were examples on almost every page), but I won't.
This book could have been a pamphlet and would have been just as useful. The one good thing it did do is present some things you might not have thought about when deciding to improve your home. Unfortunately, it also presented plenty of things that everyone already knows.
There are actually 75 ways listed... They kinda cheat a little. There are only 75 ways listed (they start numbering with chapters like "how to work with your subcontractor," in order to get a total of 101 chapters.
Further, it's on a five-star rating system: only four star and five star items are considered cost beneficial. It would be a lot nicer to focus on the four and five star stuff, and leave the excess out. I don't want to read about things it costs me more money to do than I'll get back in selling: I just want to know what those things are, so I don't concentrate on them.
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