Archive for February, 2010

8 Affordable Ideas to Add to Your Home’s Value

Friday, February 26th, 2010

Most Homeowners are eager to find ways to spruce up their house and add to their home’s value without paying tens of thousands for a large-scale remodel. Below are a few remodel project ideas for a small budget that can add to your home’s marketability and value:

1. Give your kitchen cabinets a makeover. Reconditioning cabinets is an inexpensive way to revive old cabinets with a new, fresh look. Re-facing the cabinets can also drastically change the look and tone of your kitchen. You can change the finish or even add paint to bring a new feel to the room. Changing hardware will complete the look of your new and improved cabinets.

2. Install granite tiles instead of a slab. Granite is extremely popular right now, but granite slab replacements can cost thousands of dollars. Attaining and installing granite tiles is usually very affordable and provides a way to get the impact of granite without breaking the bank.

3. Add a breakfast bar. When a wall separates a family room and kitchen, examine the possibility of cutting out an opening or using adjacent space to create a breakfast bar. If there is a cutout already present, adding a granite breakfast bar and chairs makes a big impact.

4. Add or replace tile. When you search for deals, you are likely to come across some great sales on tiles. When you find a good deal on a tile you like, adding or replacing a backsplash and kitchen tile can help bring your kitchen up to date.

5. Replace light fixtures. This is truly one of the least expensive, yet biggest impact improvements you can make- especially in a foyer, kitchen or bathroom. Look for attractive styles that fit the tone of your home. If you want to go a step beyond the fixtures themselves, adding recessed canned lighting in the kitchen is a positive addition as well.

6. Upgrade the technology of your garage. Replacing a garage door opener or adding a remote touchpad entry can give a high-end impression without the high-end price tag.

7. Freshen up your bathroom. Bathroom upgrades are always wise, but retiling may be out of your budget. A decorative mirror/medicine cabinet, light fixture, faucet, cabinetry hardware and paint scheme (if necessary), can drastically remake the appearance of your bathroom.

8. Add and maintain an attractive landscape. When you stick with plants that do well in the BCS area, you can construct a beautiful and sustainable landscape that creates an positive first impression of your home.

Welcome to Our New Website!

Sunday, February 14th, 2010

We are pleased to have our new and improved website up and running! We are very excited about it and hope that the new site is helpful and easy for you to use. Please take a look around- we’re the same Key Team, but we finally have a site that adequately reflects who we are and what we do. Thanks for visiting!

College Station Boasts One of the Lowest Foreclosure Rates Nationwide

Monday, February 1st, 2010

As you may expect, those of us in the Real Estate industry keep a very close eye on what is going on with the national and local real estate markets. You’d be hard pressed to find someone unaware of the difficulty that the national housing market has had over the past few years. With the national recession and struggling economy, the numbers have been dismal for most of the country.

But those of us in Bryan-College Station have been extremely blessed with a relatively strong housing market. While we haven’t been immune to the effects of the national economic downturn, our housing market has remained surprisingly strong. While overall home sales in 2009 where down from 2008, last year ended strong with more sales in October and November than in the same months of 2008.

Recently, a report was released naming the U.S. cities with the fewest number of foreclosed homes. Our area, Bryan-College Station, ranked 6th nationwide for the smallest percent of foreclosures. According to the report, College Station has approximately 1 foreclosure for every 11,571 housing units. This news is truly wonderful, as it demonstrates the strength our our housing market. Compare that to Las Vegas, where 1 out of 8 homes went into foreclosure. We can be thankful that we continue to ride out the turbulence of the national economy extremely well.

For KBTX’s report on the 2009 Metropolitan Foreclosure Market Report: http://www.kbtx.com/home/headlines/82961937.html