How to Determine Your Home's Value Before Refinancing

Refinancing your home can be a great way to improve your financial situation, but you will need to know your home's value before you carry out that transaction. While a professional appraiser is going to be ideal, there are some simple steps that you can take on your own to get a rough estimate of your home's value.

Use an Online Calculator

If you only need a general estimate, then you can use an online calculator to figure out your home’s value. Most of those calculators are completely free to use, and they take many different variables into consideration. That includes the age of the home, how much the home was sold for in previous years, and the current state of the market.

Check the Value of Nearby Homes

You can also take a look at local listings to see how much the homes in your neighborhood are going for. That type of information will be especially useful if a nearby home was recently sold and the final price has been listed. With those prices, you will know exactly what is happening with the real estate in your area and what your home’s value might be if you put it on the market right now.

Consider Your Home’s Upgrades

Your home’s upgrades will need to be factored into the equation as well, and that step in the process is going to be slightly more complex. Depending on what upgrades you have carried out, you might have increased the value of your home by thousands of dollars. That is why it is so important for you to reconsider your home’s value whenever you complete a larger upgrade or addition.

Acquire a Comparative Market Analysis

Depending on where you live, you might be able to acquire a comparative market analysis before refinancing a home mortgage. That type of data is usually collected and analyzed by local real estate agents, and it could be updated as often as once every few weeks. To acquire an analysis, you can call local real estate agents to see if they will email the data or send you a free hard copy.

Once you have estimated your home’s value, you will then need to contact a lender to discuss your refinancing options. With the proper plan in place, refinancing your home could end up saving you thousands in the coming years or even help you pay off your loan early.

Guest Post - 6 Tips to Keep Your Backyard Clean and Organized

Keeping your yard organized may seem like a never-ending battle. However, some tactics and tools give you the upper hand in maintaining a clean, inviting, and organized backyard.

1. Organize Regularly and Schedule Big Projects

Organization and planning are essential when it comes to keeping your backyard clean. It's much easier to stay on top of things when you have a plan and are organized. Tackle the yard in small sections and work on one area at a time. Organization and planning will prevent small projects from adding up and becoming an overwhelming set of tasks. You can also schedule big projects, like Fall Cleanup, Spring Cleaning, or digging that new flower bed on a specific day in your household calendar. When the weather is unfriendly, it's tempting to put off yard work. Having a plan and a schedule will help you be flexible to nature’s unexpected delays.

2. Invest in Quality Outdoor Furniture

Having quality furniture in your backyard can help keep it clean and inviting. If you have a place to sit and relax, you’ll have a space to plan and organize your backyard projects and goals. Choose easy to clean furniture that won’t accumulate dirt and debris quickly. For example, plastic and metal are excellent materials for outdoor furniture. Whicker and fabric furniture is best suited for covered patios and decks. Creating a comfortable space in your backyard is essential because it will encourage you to keep it clean and inviting for yourself and guests. To enhance the appearance of your yard, you can also create pathways so that everyone can walk without getting their feet dirty.

3. Invest in storage Boxes or Sheds

Durable plastic storage boxes are ideal for storing toys and yard decorations. They are easy to assemble, clean, and keep organized. You can find a variety of storage boxes in different shapes and sizes to fit your needs. If you have a lot of toys, you might want to consider getting a storage box that is large enough to store everything. If you only have a few items to keep, a small storage box will work just fine.

If you have large yard tools like a lawnmower, sheds can be an excellent investment. You can also store your tools, lawn equipment, seasonal furniture, yard decorations, and other yard items in a shed.

The best positioning of the sheds and boxes is on high ground at the corner of the yard. Wood or stone stilts help elevate and level the storage devices. Small plants or vines can be planted around the shed or storage box to soften the edges and hide unsightly stilts and leveling devices.

It's essential to have a shed or storage box to protect your belongings, especially if you live in a rainy climate. Finally, ensure you install latches and locks on the sheds and boxes to keep your things secure.

4. Invest in Tubs, Hangers, Racks, and Jars

Having tubs to store your tools is a great way to keep them organized and together. It makes it easier for you to find the tool you need when you need it. Labeling your tubs, racks, and jars is essential. These storage items don’t have to be expensive either. Plastic tubs, shoe boxes, and mason jars are all cheap devices for storing things. 

Wall hangers are great for hanging decorations or larger tools like shovels and rakes. Hangers keep these items off the ground freeing up valuable walking space. Hangers also provide a convenient place to return tools not being used.

Racks are perfect if you have specific tools that you use regularly. For example, having a rack near your grill is ideal for keeping grilling utensils organized and within reach while cooking. You can attach them to the side of your grill or set them on a table.

Finally, jars are perfect for storing smaller items like screws, nails, and washers. Jars will help you to keep your hardware organized and tidy. Clear jars are also a great way to store things that you don't often use since you can look in each jar without opening it to see what is inside.

5. Keep Garden Hoses in Reels or Boxes

A hose reel is perfect for storing your unsightly garden hose when it's not in use and reducing the chances of tripping over it too. This will prevent the hose from becoming tangled, kinked, or degraded from weathering. To ensure you keep your yard looking splendid, find a box that holds all the hose's attachments out of sight.

6. Totes and wagons and wheelbarrows

A great way to save yourself trips is to invest in totes, wagons, and wheelbarrows. These are perfect for items you regularly need - like your garden tools. Having many small items and tools in a tote will help you stay organized and make tackling projects easier.

Investing in a good wagon is also a great way to keep your yard looking spick-and-span. A wagon is excellent for transporting garden trimmings, leaves, grass clippings, and heavy bags of dirt. Additionally, a good wheelbarrow will prevent you from straining your back. 

In Conclusion

Cultivating and maintaining an inviting backyard may seem daunting and overwhelming project. But, using just some of the tips above will help maintain a clean and inviting backyard space. In short, keeping a clean and inviting backyard is equal parts planning, proper storage, and giving yourself time to enjoy your backyard space.  

Author bio: Ck Harrington is a marketing professional writing for JC’s Wildlife. When not tediously typing marketing content, you can find Ck getting dirty in the garden bed or playing with pups. Being a hobby gardener for over 15 years, Ck has learned numerous tips, tricks, and tools for maintaining a zen garden and backyard.

Simple Ways To Declutter Your Wardrobe

With Spring fast approaching, you might be thinking it's time to declutter your wardrobe! This is sometimes a time consuming task, but when you set a morning or afternoon aside to get it done, your day to day life will become much easier. These simple tips will cost you barely anything, if anything at all, but will save you so much time and space! So, let’s find out a few simple ways to declutter your wardrobe to help you get organized and stay organized. 

Take Everything Out! 

Although this might seem like a simple one, the best tip we can give you is to take everything out of your wardrobe! Before you try to sort through anything, take everything out of your wardrobe and drawers, as this will make it so easier for you to see everything you have and make decisions on what you will be keeping and not. 

Sort Into Piles

Now that you know everything is out of your wardrobe and drawers, you can sort it into piles. Go through all of your clothes and sort them into keep, sell and donate piles. When deciding what to keep, consider whether you wear it often, if someone else might get more wear out of it, how well it fits you and how it makes you feel. If you are unsure about whether to keep something, try it on and see how it feels this will help you make the decision! 

Next, create a sell/donate pile. If pieces are in good condition but they’re not quite right for you anymore, you could sell them online or donate them to a charity shop. Even if something isn’t in great condition, charity shops often sell the materials for textile purposes, so it is always worth handing it over! 

Vacuum Pack Off-Season Clothes

Take your donate/sell pile out of the way and now it is time to sort through the ones you are keeping! If you have all of your clothes for every season in your wardrobe and drawers, it is likely to be really cramped and hard to find anything. So, sort your pile into warmer and cooler clothes, then vacuum pack anything that you don’t need for the season you are in. You can store it in a cupboard or loft and you will find that you have so much more room in your wardrobe! At the end of each season, you can simply swap the clothes over. 

Have A Hanger For Each Piece of Clothing

Now that you have more space in your wardrobe because you have gotten rid of plenty of clothes and the rest are vacuum packed away, you should have enough room and hangers to have just one piece of clothing on each hanger. This will make it so much easier to see everything that you have and you are likely to rotate what you wear more! 

Get Drawers For The Bottom Of Your Wardrobe

Last but not least, you should get drawers for the bottom of your wardrobe. Often people don’t utilise the space in the bottom of their wardrobe properly and it can look cluttered and disorganised. So, when you add drawers, you will be making use of the space as well as helping to organise what you have in there. In the drawers, you could store things like underwear and accessories. You could also have a few baskets alongside the drawers for knitwear, tracksuits, jeans, shoes etc. This will look so much more organised and it will make your life way easier! 

Top 5 Benefits of Architectural CGI Visualization

In recent years, architectural CGI has revolutionized the way architects approach their projects and how they display them to clients. The photorealistic quality of renders allows clients to get the full picture of the expected results of a design, even if it’s not close to construction. With these 3D representations, architecture specialists can improve their designs and attract clients and investors like never before. Here are a few of the most notable benefits of architectural CGI visualization. 

Unmatched Presentation

When showcasing an architectural design, it’s important to provide clients with good visualization. This can be tricky to do with only 2D images and blueprints. Clients can’t get a good overview of the project, which might leave them unimpressed before they see the end result. By using architectural CGI technology, we can get around this limitation and provide clients with superior presentation.

Clients are more likely to become attached to a vivid 3D design than simple blueprints. With a detailed render that is easy to navigate and analyze, there’s a lot more room for good first impressions. 

Ready-Made CGI Results 

Enhanced presentation isn’t the only thing that impresses clients. They want to get an accurate look at the options that are available for a design, and CGI visualization makes this incredibly easy. An architecture specialist can create a sort of shopping list for clients that includes various designs and materials. 

To achieve this, it’s important to get a wide variety of options in advance. When placing an order for 3D visualization services, the architecture specialist should ask for renderings of different building materials and diverse details. If the CGI studio doesn’t have the needed assets for a render at that moment, they can produce them if given the right references to specific materials and designs. By preparing adequately, a specialist can have plenty of options to offer their clients and display them visually in 3D. Want to suggest an exterior house siding idea to the client? All you need to do is change the preset and they can view it immediately. 

Once the client has a render in front of them, they can choose from the many presets and make purchases once they find something that suits them. This helps them save quite a bit of time, as they don’t have to go through physical stores to determine if a material is right for their space. 

Improved Clarity & Communication

Presenting clients with ready-made designs is rarely enough to get them on board with an idea. More often than not, they want to understand certain architectural decisions, as well as how and where they can make their own adjustments. However, explaining schematics and the practicality of certain design choices can be pretty challenging, especially if you’re only working with 2D images. 

With CGI renders, you can give clients a detailed tour of a design and explain concepts along the way. Even if they don’t have a background in architecture, they’ll be able to better grasp the reasoning behind design choices with a highly-detailed visual medium. 

It’s also worth noting that CGI renders are incredibly practical when communicating with clients at a distance. You can use video conferencing software to explain concepts to a client as they’re viewing a 3D render on their own computer. It’s just as effective as talking to them in person about a design, except neither party has to travel to meet the other. It can be a convenient solution for clients that are located far away from the architecture specialist. 

Top-Notch Marketing Potential

One of the most groundbreaking aspects of CGI visualization is its marketing potential. Anyone that has ever worked with blueprints and sketches knows that they don’t make good marketing material, especially if prospective clients don’t have a background in the field. Showing rough examples of completed designs might not be enough to catch their attention. 

With architectural CGI, you can showcase a render in many creative ways. You aren’t limited to existing houses and buildings, nor do you have to compile multiple drawings and blueprints to get your idea across. A 3D visualization can be placed in an architect's portfolio, social media page, and they can even put it in their email campaign. 

Quality 3D renders attract the attention of clients and investors, as they show the full potential of a particular design accurately. It’s one of the reasons why Archviz has become so prevalent in modern real estate marketing. When working with a reliable team of artists, an architecture specialist can bring designs to life and advertise them accordingly.  

Simple Error Correction

We’ve discussed the issue of clients not being able to see the full potential of a design from sketches and blueprints, but the visual aspects aren’t the only problem—small errors and miscalculations are easy to miss with limited visualization. What might seem good on paper could potentially cause many issues for the client if there’s no way to detect these kinds of errors. If the ceilings are too low or fixtures are placed in such a way that they could be hazardous, this can easily be missed on 2D images. The errors are often noticed at later stages of negotiations, which means that the architect will have to make swift changes which will cost them time and resources. 

With the help of architectural CGI rendering, it’s possible to inspect designs in great detail and notice these errors much earlier. An experienced architecture specialist will be able to correct them long before the client gets ahold of the render. This kind of quick troubleshooting helps save time and money as well as increase client trust.

Conclusion

There’s a lot to be said about the influence of CGI visualization in modern architecture. It helps give architects better insight into their own work, while also providing clients with an amazing visual representation of specific designs. It should come as no surprise that more and more architects and real estate businesses are looking for CGI studios to create these kinds of 3D renders. With clients demanding better overviews of designs, it’s likely that the industry will keep moving in the direction of CGI for both marketing and practical solutions.