An Affordable Shortcut To Designing Your Dream Home

Written by J. Terrence McDermott


You have likely been making mental notes for years. Every book or magazine that you read and each home that you visit has become a source for pieces torepparttar puzzle that can become your new home. You don’t know a thing about architecture, designing or drafting but that shouldn’t stop you from takingrepparttar 118020 dream house that you have pictured in your head and making it a reality.

There are two ways that you can approachrepparttar 118021 creation of new house plans from which a builder can work:

1.Hire an architect 2.Make alterations to an existing house plan

There are many benefits to working directly with an architect. You will be able to sit down with an experienced designer and review, very specifically, all ofrepparttar 118022 ideas and requirements forrepparttar 118023 home that you have in mind. The architect can give suggestions and help you to avoid problems that you may not have anticipated. However, be prepared to pay handsomely for this service. A good architect does not come cheap.

An economical compromise is to modify existing new house plans. There are hundreds of publications and websites that specialize in developing house plans that are available for purchase. These packaged plans are designed by professional architects and are available in a variety of styles, sizes and price-ranges. In many cases, you can visit a website and enterrepparttar 118024 various criteria forrepparttar 118025 home that you desire and an internal search engine will match your specs with plans in inventory.

You should be looking for companies that will allow you to modify existing house plans. Not all of them will. When you find one that has a large enough inventory of plans, takerepparttar 118026 specifications that you have developed forrepparttar 118027 house that you want to build and userepparttar 118028 site’s search engine to find compatible designs. You will likely be indicating basics such as:

Thinking about selling your home?

Written by Donald Lee


Owning a home isrepparttar original American dream. It’srepparttar 118019 old frontier spirit, wanting to claim your own tuft ofrepparttar 118020 New World. Then again, these days it also makes perfect economic sense. Experts estimate that all ofrepparttar 118021 homes inrepparttar 118022 United States alone are worth a combined $14 trillion. That goes a long way to explain why a housing boom has been sweepingrepparttar 118023 globe.

Where there is a boom, though, there may be a bust. Read any headline from your local newspaper, and you’ll see headlines such as “Bye-Bye, Housing Boom” to “Housing Boom is Leveling Off.” Some economic forecasters predict a bubble that may be about to burst. They make you wonder: am I missingrepparttar 118024 boat?

Whether you’re looking to cash in on this real estate bubble before it pops—or simply wanting to move to a bigger home or move acrossrepparttar 118025 country—selling your home can be more a nightmare than a dream. Not only do you have to find and trust a real estate agent. You need to prep your home for open houses. You need to haggle with prospective buyers. Not to mention, you have to worry aboutrepparttar 118026 moving and selling of all of your valuables.

It’s almost enough to make you want to live in one home forrepparttar 118027 rest of your life—just as folks did in your grandparents’ day. Then again, your home is worth a percentage of that $14 trillion. Don’t you want to see just how much?

As hectic and horrible as selling a home may seem, it really isn’t so bad if you break it down into a few simple rules. If you don’t believe us, readrepparttar 118028 rules for yourself.

Fuss overrepparttar 118029 façade. Your home’s future owners do not want to worry about repairs and renovations as soon as they move in. So make certain they don’t. Be sure to have your home immaculately clean before you invite prospective buyers over. Redecorate if your interior is outdated. And invest in minor renovations if necessary. You’d be surprised what a coat of paint can do.

Focus onrepparttar 118030 fine details. Prospective buyers will leave no stone unturned when they visit your home. They will test every light switch, run every faucet, and lift up every toilet seat. Everything—and we mean everything—should be in working order before your open house.

Double check for blown out light bulbs and leaky faucets. Scrubrepparttar 118031 bathroom and clean up any ring aroundrepparttar 118032 bowl, tub scum, and any other nasty surprise.

Don’t settle for maybes on safety. Ensure that there are no safety hazards anywhere on your property. Something as small as uncovered electrical sockets or as large as an unfenced pool can scare off buyers, especially parents of small children.

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