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Bathroom Remodel Costs

Everyone always wants to know how much a bathroom remodel costs.  Here are some estimates depending on how upgraded you want your bathroom to be.  It will also depend on whether or not walls need to be moved and/or whether or not plumbing needs to be added or moved.

Estimating Bathroom Remodel Costs

Determining your budget could be tricky when planning your renovation. A large factor in determining cost will be the size of your bathroom, ranging from small to medium or master bathroom size. The fixtures you will need to fit in your bathroom will range in price depending on their size. The list of fixtures involved in remodeling a bathroom can include elements like faucets and fixtures, floor plan changes (like converting a half bath to full bath), new showers or baths, new flooring, countertops, cabinets and lighting. This long list of comes with a lot of different prices and options to compare before choosing what to buy for your bath remodel.

Here is a chart with some of the many options involved in a bathroom remodel, including the least expensive (small) to most expensive (master) costs for each:

Option Low Range Mid Range High Range
Install bathtub $400 – $1,500 $2,600 – $4,100 $6,000 – $8,000
Install cabinets $1,200 – $3,500 $4,700 – $7,000 $8,000 – $13,000
Install countertops $900 – $2,000 $2,800 – $4,100 $5,000 – $6,500
Install flooring $800 – $2,000 $2,500 – $3,600 $5,000 – $7,000
Install lighting fixture $120 – $900 $1,100 – $1,700 $2,500 – $4,000
Install shower $450 – $2,000 $3,000 – $4,800 $6,000 – $10,000
Install sink $190 – $900 $1,400 – $2,300 $3,500 – $6,500
Install toilet $130 – $250 $340 – $480 $550 – $780

 

Remember: you don’t have to include all of these items in your bathroom remodel, unless you’re building a whole new bathroom from scratch. You always have the option to add some pieces–sink, toilet and lighting fixtures–after you’ve done the bigger projects to spread out costs. Also consider that some of these projects–bathtub installation/remodel, shower installation or cabinet installation–have smaller, cheaper alternatives. For example, you can refinish cabinets to make them look brand new and flow with the new bathroom for less money. There is also the option of replacing faucets and other plumbing fixtures, which costs less than replacing bathtubs and showers.

For those who want a similar style from room to room, it’s worth considering the cost of kitchen cabinets ahead of time. If you plan to have your kitchen remodeled after you tackle the bathroom, consider the cost of your bathroom cabinets and fixtures on a larger scale. This will give you a more detailed estimate of your kitchen remodel cost.

Data Source:  HomeAdvisor.com

 

Ways to Increase the Value of Your Home

Looking for ways to increase the value of your home? Here are things you can do:

CREATE SPACE

Knock out non-structural walls to open the kitchen and living room area to create a more open feel. This is the number one thing buyers are looking for right now. Even if you decide to stay in your home long-term, you will be much happier you opened up your floor plan!

LANDSCAPING

Curb appeal is very important for resale of your home. It’s important to keep trees and bushes trimmed. Especially when they are touching the side of your house or roof which can cause damage and can also bring unwanted termites into your home.

If you are someone who doesn’t enjoy gardening or yard work, there are many things you can do to make your front and back yard more low maintenance. It’s also important to not overdo it on the plants and trees. Balance is important as well as selecting the right combinations of trees and plants together. Consult with a professional landscaper who can steer you in the right direction.

LIGHTING

Lighting is important in a home! Homes with minimal light making the home dark inside send off the wrong vibe. A home that has a lot of natural light will win out over a home that doesn’t have a lot of natural light every time. If your home doesn’t have good lighting you may want to look into sun tubes or skylights. Sun tubes are more cost effective, but may not create as much light as you may want. Also darker blinds and draperies can also make a home look darker inside, so be careful when choosing your window coverings. Make sure you can open them up to let natural light in.

A few other ways to light things up: Fix broken panes, make sure windows open, and consider lights that use motion detectors to turn themselves off. Remember high wattage bulbs make small spaces feel larger, and soft lighting brings warmth to empty spaces.

And of course beautiful light fixtures always help in selling a home!

HOME CARE & MAINTENANCE

Many of my sellers are surprised when they see the home inspection showing some major and minor maintenance items that need to be fixed. It’s important to keep up with maintaining your home so that you do not cause further damage that may end up costing you more money down the road.

Before thinking about a fancy upgrade to the kitchen, address the basics. Insulate the attic, repair plumbing leaks, replace rusty rain gutters, inspect the furnace and the septic system, replace or repair leaky windows, install storm doors, weed the flower beds.

Painting the exterior of your home is a big one that you do not want to delay. A home should be painted about every 5 years. Paint will protect against the natural elements of your exterior. Especially if you have wood. Exposed wood can cause a lot of damage to a home. It is not uncommon to see a pest report with at least $2K or more in dry rot repairs.

GO GREEN

Having an energy efficient home can save you money in the long run, but you have to be smart about what energy efficient upgrades you decide to do. Solar is great, but it depends on your home and how much you spend on whether or not it will be worth it. Be very careful on doing a lease on solar because it can be very difficult to sell your home.

Here are what buyers are mostly looking for in energy efficient homes: Dual pane windows, ceiling fans, whole house fans, and a newer HVAC and hot water heater is a huge plus as they can be costly to replace.

FIRST IMPRESSIONS

When choosing color schemes and flooring, it’s important to select something that is more conservative for resale value.

Paint is obviously easy to fix before you get ready to sell your home. Most people get turned off by seeing a house that has either bright colors or a bunch of different colors in each room. You have to remember your style may not be someone else’s style, so side on the caution of being conservative and sticking with more neutral colors when trying to sell your home. Neutral colors also can make a room look bigger as apposed to having a really dark color on the wall.

Flooring and other more permanent fixtures can really make or break the sale of your home. The less flooring transitions you have the better making the home flow more easily. Also be careful of choosing stuff that is too trendy and they may not be in style by the time you decide to sell your home.

If you ever want my professional advice, I would be happy to help!

Sincerely,
Sheri Negri
Your Friend & Realtor
(916) 606-3210
CalBRE# 01893601

Being a Realtor is Not as Easy as You Think!

Being a Realtor is not as easy as you think!  I love helping my buyers and sellers, but it can be challenging.  No transaction is the same, and there are always things that come up that must be handled.   Real Estate definitely keeps me on my toes, but I still love what I do.

Here are some of the top issues we Realtors are dealing with these days:

 

1. Champagne taste on a beer budget.  What buyers want vs. what they can actually afford.  This is not uncommon.  It takes showing enough houses to educate buyers.  Once they have seen enough homes, they usually change their criteria to match what they can afford. It’s important that buyers see enough homes to get an idea of what they can get for their money.  This can be a challenging process, so buyers need to be patient.

2.  Sellers taking permanent fixtures when they move out and it was never in the contract.  A stove, microwave or dishwasher should NEVER be taken.  Many times sellers want to keep some of their light fixtures, curtain rods, etc.  This is fine if you disclose this upfront.   There is nothing worse that doing a final walk-thru finding things missing that were suppose to be there.

3.  When agents go MIA!  This is my biggest pet peeve.  I don’t care what side of the transaction you are on, make sure you keep the lines of communication open.  Agents who go MIA are not helping their clients.  An MIA agent means there is an issue, so communicate what that issue is.   I had a buyer’s agent go MIA on me, and I ended up driving to his office to talk to his Branch Manager because he was not getting back to me.  Real Estate is a small community, so don’t piss off the agents you get into contract with!!!!

Image result for Missing in Action agents

4.  When I first start working with buyers, they would send me a list of 20 or 30 properties that the want to see in one day.  Looking at homes can be very tiring and I have found 10 to 12 is really the maximum number of homes to see in one day or maybe less depending on the distance between all the homes.  If they are farther away, then less is better.  Even seeing 10 or 12 homes can be very tiring for all involved.

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5.  One of the most frustrating issues to deal with in this market is unrealistic sellers who think their house is worth more what it’s really worth.  This can be a very delicate situation.  Sellers have an emotional connection to the home that they have most likely lived in for a number of years.  They obviously loved it enough to buy it at one time, but their needs or wants have changed.  Data doesn’t lie, so listen to your Realtor!

Image result for my home is worth more humor

 

Price Reduction for 780 Stonewood Rd, Newcastle CA

780 Stonewood Rd., Newcastle CA

Price reduced to $825,000!  Beautiful Newcastle property on 2.7 acres with year around creek!  Main home has over 4400 sq. ft. with 4 bedrooms and 2 bath.  There is also guest house that is 832 sq. ft. with 1.5 bath and a 3 car garage with office.

Creek for FB Ad creek view 2 creek view 3 front area 5 front area 7 front area 8 Front of Breeze Way only Front of House - Breeze Way Area Stonewood Rd - Front of House

New Listing in Newcastle, CA

Here is my new listing in Newcastle, CA.  Stunning views all around!  Property address is 780 Stonewood Road, Newcastle, CA 95658 and is on 2.7 acres.  List Price is $875,000.  Main home has 4423 sq. ft. with 4 bedrooms and 2 full bath.  Kitchen has been remodeled and has beautiful granite counters, custom cabinets, a stainless steel sub-zero refrigerator and stainless steel Wolf stove.  There is also a guest house on the property that is 832 sq. ft.

This property makes you feel like you are in the country, but only 15 minutes from the freeway!

There will be no interior pictures until after the estate sale in the next week as the sellers are getting rid of most of what is in the house.  Stay tuned!

If interested, please contact me at Sheri@SheriNegri.com or call me at (916) 606-3210.

www.sherinegri.com

Best Outdoor Dining in the Sacramento Region

Here are my top picks on the best outdoor dining in the Sacramento Region!

www.sherinegri.com

7 Reasons You Should Hire a Realtor to Sell Your Home

Are you trying to sell your home on your own?  here are 7 reasons why you should hire a realtor to sell your home!

Hiring a realtor

Many sellers who try and sell their home on their own think they are doing because they are going to save money by not paying a commission or part of a commission to the listing agent.   Not only that, sellers often think the process is easy and that we listing agents just sit around and do not really earn our commission.  Here are 7 reasons why you should reconsider:

1) Listing your home with a Realtor will result in getting your home sold more quickly because they are experts at pricing your home and marketing it to get it sold as quickly as possible.  It is a proven fact that the longer your home stays on the market, then less you will receive.  That is why it’s important have a good pricing and marketing strategy.

2) According to the National Association of Realtors, it’s been proven statistically that Realtors get a higher price for the sale of a home than the For Sale by Owner.  Good Realtors are connected with the local Real Estate community and they know the best ways to market your home.

3) A Realtor will bring more buyers to your home.

4) A Realtor will negotiate the best deal possible when it comes to price, contract terms, request for repairs and anything else that may come up.

5) A Realtor will help keep the sellers from getting into any legal trouble because of their knowledge of real estate contracts and all the ways a real estate transaction can go south which protects the sellers.

6) A Realtor will make sure the transaction runs smoothly to ensure you close on time.

7) Realtors save you time!  Most people grossly underestimate the time it takes to sell a home.   Navigating the paperwork alone is a lot to deal with.  Then you have to consider all the marketing you will need to do to sell your home as well as all the time it takes answering questions to people who inquire or want to see your home.

7 Reasons to List Your Home During the Holidays

Here are 7 reasons to list your home during the holidays!  I just listed a home this week, and it went pending in 1 day.

www.sherinegri.com

4 Ways to Punch Up a White Kitchen

Understanding Feng Shui for Your Home

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Feng Shui Basics

Feng Shui is a system for arranging your surroundings in harmony and balance with the natural world around you. In Chinese, the words Feng Shui mean “wind and water.” Feng Shui For Real Life is a contemporary, practical approach that allows you to use what you already have and what you want to acquire to bring good things into your life.In the current economic downturn, more people are turning to practical uses of Feng Shui to help them through tough times.

Three Power Principles of Feng Shui

Chi

Chi is energy. It is the constantly moving and changing life force that we feel around us making us feel either good or bad in a certain location. Chi can accumulate in the objects around you. In your home or office, the chi will flow in through the door and out through the windows. The goal of Feng Shui improvements (or “cures”) is to keep the chi flowing gently throughout your environment rather than running straight through it. Chi can have a negative effect on your surroundings when it gets stuck or blocked.

The Five Elements

The Five Elements is the collective name used to describe the colors, shapes, and textures around you. The Elements are: Fire, Earth, Metal, Water, and Wood. Each Element is distinguished by a characteristic shape, colors, and set of attributes. Feng Shui improvements for homes and offices balance all of these Elements in your interior environment.

ELEMENT SHAPE COLORS ATTRIBUTES
Fire FireTriangle Red, Orange, Purple Passion, Emotion
Earth EarthSquare Brown, Yellow Grounding, Stability
Metal MetalCircle White, Metallic Strength, Independence
Water WaterCurvy Black, Blue Relaxation, Inspiration
Wood WoodRectangle Green, Teal Growth, Expansion

The Bagua

The Bagua is the chart used to map the areas of a home or office and determine where to locate the objects and colors that represent the Five Elements. The traditional bagua is an octagon (the word bagua means “8-sided” in Chinese). Modern approaches to Feng Shui use a grid-shaped chart to map nine areas of your life (see Bagua Map):

 

  1. Power/Wealth/Abundance
  2. Fame/Future/Reputation
  3. Love/Relationships/Marriage
  4. Creativity/Children/Legacy
  5. Compassion/Travel/Helpful People
  6. Self/Career/Work
  7. Knowledge/Wisdom/Harmony
  8. Family/Health/Community
  9. Well-Being/Balance

Bagua1

Source:  http://fengshuiforreallife.com/basics/