101 Cost-Effective Ways to Increase the Value of Your Home (Paperback)

by Steve Berges (Author) "According to the U.S. Census Bureau, home prices have risen from an average sales price of $19,300 in 1963 to $228,300 in 2002 (see Figure..." (more)
Key Phrases: sales comparison method, frost laws, spackling paste, Increase the Value of Your Home, Symphony Homes, The Complete Guide (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review
If you want to… add market value to your home by making profitable improvements… be sure to read this book. -- Bob Bruss, Nationally Syndicated Columnist

Product Description
Every year, millions of Americans spend varying degrees of time and money on home improvements. Which improvements are likely to add the greatest value on resale? What kinds of small, inexpensive projects can really make a difference? How do homeowners get started on the project of their dreams? Real estate expert Steve Berges draws on his more than 25 years of experience to provide homeowners with the advice and guidance they crave, as they mull over their home improvement options and prepare to venture out into the world of building inspectors, subcontractors, deed restrictions, and other thorny issues.

101 Cost-Effective Ways to Increase the Value of Your Home covers a range of home improvement options-no-cost, low-cost, and pricey-and helps readers determine where they’ll get the most bang for their buck. Homeowners will learn how to:

• Find the best subcontractors for the job and protect their investment through smart negotiations and the right agreements.
• Weigh the benefits of a do-it-yourself project.
• Move smoothly through tasks that can seem daunting, such as getting the required permits and researching local insurance and bonding requirements
•. Appreciate the importance of such intangibles as odors, cleanliness, and decor.
• Determine how much to expect to recoup on every single project, from bathroom and kitchen remodels to new windows, fences, or gutters.

Focusing on the intrinsic value of each home improvement-from a brand-new kitchen to a simple lawn clean-up-101 Cost-Effective Ways to Increase the Value of Your Home helps readers assess their needs, organize their priorities, and make budget-sensible decisions that will help them preserve and enhance their greatest asset-their home.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: Kaplan Business (June 1, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0793185750
• ISBN-13: 978-0793185757
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 7.2 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #557,383 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

76 of 79 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars A little helpful, but mostly just really annoying, August 9, 2005

By	Debbie the Book Devourer "dletour7" (Waltham, MA USA) - See all my reviews

First, what I thought was useful about this book: the author does seem to really have thought about how much value various home improvements add to your home. It's basic, but probably something we don't always think about. Essentially, what you can see is what sells. So even if your wiring really needs updating, don't expect buyers to be wowed by that. They expect it. On the other hand, just cleaning up your yard (much cheaper) will result in much more of a "wow" factor.

Now for the various annoyances.

Grammar and usage: I'm a word nerd, and when I see words used incorrectly or sentences constructed poorly, it kind of pokes me in the eye. My eye got poked a lot in this book (affect for effect, it's for its, in to for into...). Oh, and in his introduction, he doesn't even address the parts of the book in the correct order; he has Parts Two through Four completely goofed up.

Telling us how clever and wonderful he is: we keep hearing how great his company is, and just what that company's name is, just in case we forgot it. We hear how much experience he has in the business, just in case we forgot how he explained it in the introduction.

NOT giving us 101 ways to increase the value of our home: As the previous reviewer noted, the book is divided into 101 sections, but not all of them deal with home improvements, per se. Examples: Pros and Cons of Using Subcontractors; Licensing, Insurance, and Bonding Requirements; Appraisal Method #1 through #3 (each listed as a separate "home improvement")...

Not even writing much of a new book: He constantly quotes directly from his previous books, listing the title, publisher, and year each time he does, so we can rush out and buy it, I guess. Sometimes his quotes last for more than a page! I would say at least 10% of the book is just direct quotes from his other books. I'm sure glad I didn't read them! Now I don't have to!

And the worst annoyance... going on and on and on to explain something any moron could understand instantly: On removing junky cars, boats, etc from your property, he goes into this ridiculous analogy of trying to sell a dirty car to illustrate why the cleanup is a good idea. On cleaning up the inside of your house, he rambles for two pages about how he chose a tree nursery based on the cleanliness of the place, then writes one paragraph about cleaning up your house. He uses a makeover analogy (two paragraphs about women getting made up) to tell us why we should paint the interior. He gives the helpful advice of putting seldom-used items on the top shelves of very tall cabinets (after he pointed out that tall cabinets might be a disadvantage to shorter people -- really?). And did you know that a dining table and chairs are the main pieces of furniture in a dining room? Very revealing! I could go on (I really could; there were examples on almost every page), but I won't.

This book could have been a pamphlet and would have been just as useful. The one good thing it did do is present some things you might not have thought about when deciding to improve your home. Unfortunately, it also presented plenty of things that everyone already knows.

55 of 59 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars There are actually 75 ways listed... , March 9, 2005

By	J. Moore (Washington, DC United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

They kinda cheat a little. There are only 75 ways listed (they start numbering with chapters like "how to work with your subcontractor," in order to get a total of 101 chapters.

Further, it's on a five-star rating system: only four star and five star items are considered cost beneficial. It would be a lot nicer to focus on the four and five star stuff, and leave the excess out. I don't want to read about things it costs me more money to do than I'll get back in selling: I just want to know what those things are, so I don't concentrate on them.

26 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars not what I was expecting, August 14, 2005

By	MDB (Newark, DE) - See all my reviews

too common sense; I expected things like advice on whether to do carpet verses hardwood floor or tile