Whether your selling or not, everyone wants a home that looks great. Achieving a high level of curb appeal can be easier than you think. Making a few inexpensive changes can take the exterior of you home from bland to exciting.

The best place to start is with a good cleaning. Pressure washing the exterior of your home is an inexpensive way to make your home look great. Professionals will likely charge over $1000 for this service, but at retailers like Home Depot you can rent a pressure washer for about $80 a day. Further, cleaning the windows and any exterior light fixtures will really help spruce the place up.

Now that your home is clean, some landscaping changes can make a huge difference as well. One great thing to do is add a fresh layer of mulch to your flowerbeds. At about $1.50 per cubic foot, this is a really inexpensive fix as well. Additionally, adding small gardens or window boxes will make the landscaping even better. Remember that when choosing flowers, the more color the better. If you want your house to draw people in, bright colors are a nice way to do that.

One area of landscaping to particularly focus on is your mailbox. Adding some small plants or ivy around and on the box will create a beautiful connection between the street and your home. It is also very effective if you have a longer driveway and want to give a nice display even though your home is not easily viewed from the street. You should be careful to not hinder your mail delivery, as postal workers can withhold mail if the box is not easily accessible.

In addition, your front door is an awesome place to add curb appeal to your house. Repainting your door a brighter color will undoubtedly make your home look more inviting and add character. Lastly, adding a flag or some other décor to your main entrance will certainly make your home look more attractive.

Overall, adding a little character and curb appeal to the exterior of your home does not have to be a big project, or even expensive. Some subtle changes can go a long way to make sure your home is the envy of the neighborhood. 

When remodeling, most people hope to get most of their money back if they ever decide to sell the house. Unfortunately, for the vast majority of renovations, this simply is not the case. Based on research conducted by Remodeling Magazine, here are the best and worst remodels in terms of getting your money’s worth in resale value.

The Best 3:

Door Replacement: This is by no means a huge renovation, but according to national averages, replacing a wooden exterior door, hinges, etc. with a steel one is the only project that has a positive return on investment. On average, making this change leads to a value increase of 102% the cost. After you sell, you’ll likely net around $25.

Adding Stone Veneer: Replacing the lower portion of your siding with a manufactured stone veneer is a big aesthetic change to the exterior of your house for a relatively low price. Because of this, you can gain a lot of your money back in resale value. The increase in the value of your house will likely be about 92% of what you spend. Your net loss will probably be around $550.

Garage Door Replacement: Replacing your garage door, especially if moving from a manual to automated setup, will make your home much more valuable. Perhaps due to the security factor, this is the second exterior door in our top three. They are easy and lucrative things to replace to get more value out of your home. Even if you replace an older automated door for a new one, you are still likely to recoup 88% of your cost.

The Worst 3:

Sunroom Addition: Building a sunroom on the side of your house is a poor investment. It’ll likely cost you well over $70,000 and you are only likely to see 48% of that returned to you in resale value. If you really want a sunroom, then go for it, but if you are looking for an option that will add value to your house, don’t even consider it.

Home Office Remodel: Taking a spare bedroom and installing some desks, cabinetry, phone hooks-ups, etc. to transform it into a home office can be a great change for some people. The problem is, it eliminates a bedroom, hurting the value of your home. The bump from the office is offset by the loss of a bedroom and only about 49% of your investment will be recouped in resale value.

Master Suite Addition: Doing an upscale addition of an extra bedroom, bathroom, hallway, and closet can make an excellent supplement to your existing home. While it may cost you upwards of $250,000, it can make it seem like you are living in a new house. Unfortunately, because it can cost as much as a new home, you will not see a good return on your investment. Only about 54% of your investment will be an addition in the value of your home.

Simply from an investment perspective, renovations do not seem to do great things for your home’s value. Only one of the renovations listed paid for itself. A key reason for this is labor. Remodels, especially larger projects, require a lot of time and labor costs and are very rarely done as efficiently as possible. Sadly, the added value of the home rarely moves beyond the cost of the physical improvements, meaning that labor costs are usually not recouped in full. This being said, ROI is only one factor and renovating still has a lot of positives. Updating your home will make it look great and can make your time in it much more enjoyable. Purely as an investment, renovations may not be ideal, but from a quality of life perspective, they are often very worth it.

We are excited to report that Norcom is hiring! We are looking for dedicated, enthusiastic individuals who share our core values. Joining Norcom means joining a family built around commitment, respect, excellence, service, and teamwork. We’ve used these values to facilitate more than twenty-five years of steady growth to become the top independent purchase lender in Connecticut and achieve an expanding presence throughout the East Coast.  Further, our collaborative and fun work environment is constantly recognized. Norcom is rated a Top Workplace in Connecticut three years running by the Hartford Courant and Fox CT. Join us and work for a company that is big enough to get the job done right but still small enough to care.

Loan Originators:

We are looking to partner with passionate loan originators who appreciate the value of efficiency, support, and communication like we do. Our originators are active community members who put doing what is in the homebuyer’s best interest above their own commissions.

As a Loan Originator you will have:

• Full Product offerings as a Direct Lender with minimal overlays
• Aggressive and competitive rates
• Flexibility to choose your own compensation
• Dedicated Marketing team
• Personal Website
• Helpdesk and dedicated support team
• 100% communication at all times

Mortgage Underwriters:

We are looking for DE, FHA, and VA approved mortgage underwriters to join our Underwriting Team. Working with our experienced Underwriting Team involves receiving, reviewing, and making a loan decision on applications from the retail, correspondent, and wholesale mortgage origination channels. If you are interested in joining our great Underwriting Team, please do not hesitate to apply.

Underwriting responsibilities include:

• Review and analyze complex mortgage loan applications and make loan approval and decline decisions based on loan underwriting guidelines
• Ability to read and review real estate property appraisals in accordance with mortgage loan policies and current compliance guidelines.
• Ability to read, review and derive income from complex personal and business tax returns.
• Review complex personal and corporate financial statements.
• Clearly communicate decisions and stipulations through the appropriate source.

For more details on job descriptions, requirements, and how to apply, please visit www.JoinNorcom.com!

There inevitably comes a time in everyone’s life when they realize their home no longer fits their needs. Maybe more space is required for a growing family or a pay raise allows you to upgrade to something a little nicer. In situations like these when location isn’t an issue, the question of whether to renovate your current home or move into a new one always arises. Before deciding there are a lot of things to consider.

First, you have to think about finances and your future plans. What is your current home worth? What would your new home budget be and would it provide you with a significant improvement in the current market? What is you dream home? Could renovations even make this possible within your budget? These are all things to consider very seriously when making your decision.

After you ponder these things and determine that both options are possibilities, there are some more specific pros and cons to each choice.

Moving

Pros:

• Fresh Start – Moving allows you to start fresh with a new house in a different location. Whether you go across the street or across the country, it is a very exciting change.
• Taxes – In some cases, moving can qualify you for certain tax breaks and your new location may have cheaper taxes. Keep in mind, however, it may be more expensive as well. Be sure to ask your realtor about all of this when looking.
• Getting A Mortgage – A new home can allow you to go into the mortgage process with more experience and most likely, more money than you had before.

Cons:

• Moving – Moving is a brutal process. With packing and shipping and unpacking, it is an extremely stressful process that many people would like to avoid if possible.
• Cost – There are a lot of fees associated with moving. Aside from house price, paying for movers and realtor fees alone can seem overwhelming. These are the major two, but other costs can sneak up on you as well.

Renovating

Pros:

• Your Design – When looking at a new home, you often have to accept that there will be one or two features in every house that you are not in love with. When renovating, you can make sure everything is designed and carried out to your exact specifications.
• Keep Your House – Renovating allows you to have an updated version of the house you originally fell in love with. This allows you to keep your community connections and be in the same neighborhood.

Cons:

• Unpredictable Expenses – Often times when doing renovations, issues will be found under the surface that can cost extra time and money. This can force you to exceed your budget or have to cut out some of the changes you would have liked to make.
• Huge Mess – While your renovations are taking place, your home will be a mess and in some stages, may be unlivable. If you can stay, it will be loud and stressful. If you have to leave, hotels and other expenses add up quickly.

While these tips can help you decide whether to renovate or move, sometimes there is a third option, both. If you have an ideal home in mind that can’t be created out of your current house, it can be hard to find it on the market as well. Buying a house that has the space you need and many good characteristics, but could use work, can be a great option. Houses that require some work can be bought cheaply and renovated into the home of your dreams. Products like the Norcom Dream Home Loan^TM even make it possible to finance your new mortgage and renovations together, all in one loan.

Whether deciding to move, remodel, or both, it is hard to go wrong. The most important thing is to make sure the decision is well researched and that the entire family is on board. Accomplish that, and you will be sure to make the right choice.

It seems that Janet Yellen, Chair of the Federal Reserve, and her colleagues at the Fed have been talking about raising interest rates for a long time now. With the increasing housing prices, it appears it will finally happen at some point this summer or fall. Forbes predicts the rates to move up from the roughly 3.5% we’ve seen recently to somewhere between 4% and 5% by years end. Regardless of the exact numbers, there is a common consensus that the rates will rise. Thusly, it is important to know what that could mean for potential homebuyers.

Higher Monthly Payments: This one seems obvious, but it is important to reiterate. If rates rise from 3.5% to even just 4.25% on a $200,000 loan, you will see monthly payments move up by around $75. Multiply this over the duration of your loan and the difference is huge.

Harder to Qualify: These rising rates, which lead to rising payments, make it a bit tougher to qualify for a home loan. Homebuyers typically try to use the entire potential of their budget, but as rates are higher, their potential debt-to-income ratio changes as well. The debt-to-income ratio is a metric used by banks to measure the potential that a buyer has to pay back the loan. When the debt will be higher each month, it is more difficult to qualify for loans as the ratio is affected adversely. This means budgets will decline as buyers will not be approved for the amounts they seek today.

Home Prices May Decrease: This is the only real potential upside for buyers. Because the higher rates mean lower buyer power across the board, sellers may be forced to lower prices a bit in order to compensate. A CNBC article reported that a 1% decrease in rates allows sellers to raise prices by 12%. While the decline in prices will most likely not be that extreme, it is not unreasonable to think that a similar trend in the opposite direction will occur.

Overall, rising interest rates are bad news for buyers. There is some potential to have prices dip, but any savings will be more than lost in higher payments over the duration of a mortgage. It seems the best plan of action is to buy now before the rates rise.