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Bathroom remodels run the risk of emptying your wallet. Here is how to save money on your bathroom renovation.

Size of the bathroom will change
Solution: Resize only if absolutely necessary to accommodate your needs. This is the single most expensive aspect of the bathroom renovation.

Load-bearing walls must be removed or moved
Solution: Explore possibilities of expanding through other walls–walls that do not bear weight.

Walls cannot support additions of new vents, ducts, wiring, windows
Solution: Walls do not necessarily have to be replaced to accept these additions. Raise this issue again with your contractor or seek a second opinion.

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When it comes to home improvements, many of us have champagne tastes on a beer budget—we noodle-out the perfect plan for a project, then the contractors’ bids come in at twice what we can afford. So we become do-it-yourselfers. We know that, by eliminating the labor expense, we can often chop a project’s cost in half.

But should you do the work yourself? The answer depends upon a number of factors, including your abilities, your collection of tools and safety gear, your time, and your inclination to roll up your sleeves.

Unless you are a highly skilled do-it-yourselfer, avoid taking on jobs that may be dangerous, particularly difficult, or where a mistake can be quite costly. Some jobs simply are not worth the risk. For example, think twice before doing:

- Extensive electrical work
- Plumbing that involves crawling under the house
- Roofing work on a steeply-pitched or high roof
- Difficult or laborious work, such as chopping out and pouring a new concrete floor
- Siding work that requires scaffolding higher than two stories
- Work where there may be hidden mysteries
- Any other task that you’re not confident you can handle.

Consider you skills, tools, and time. Then take a closer look at your options before you make a final decision.

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One of the most potentially nerve-wracking aspects of home ownership concerns remodeling.

Should you spend the money? What will the remodeling project do to benefit your resale value?

Before you embark on an extensive remodeling project, it is a good idea to determine whether remodeling is the best option for you, or whether it would make more sense to buy another house that would better fit your needs and wants.

The following brief questionnaire will help to steer you in the right direction. Answer each question and record the number of points associated with that answer.

How far “off” is your present house from the one you would like to live in?

- A little - 5
- Somewhat - 3
- A lot - 1

What are the property values doing in your neighborhood?

- Increasing - 5
- Staying the same - 3
- Decreasing - 1

What are property conditions doing in your neighborhood?

- Getting better - 5
- Staying the same - 3
- Declining - 1

How long will you get useful life out of any potential remodeling?

- 10+ Years - 5
- 3-10 Years - 3
- Less than 3 Years - 1

In relation to your house, the other homes in the neighborhood are:

- Larger - 5
- Similar - 3
- Smaller - 1

Analyzing your scores

18-25 points: Remodeling may be a good consideration.
10-17 points: Either option may work for you. Take other factors (your budget, your job stability, etc.) into consideration.
Under 10 points: Moving may be your best option.

I run a FSBO blog, I constantly write that FSBO is a very useful thing and Realtors are not. You may ask, how did you, Julie, come to the idea of selling a home by owner? Let me share my thoughts with you.

Having bought and sold 2 homes, I developed an unease and slight mistrust for realtors. The biggest thing is that they do not know the house and they often do not know the neighborhood. More than once, I discovered realtors misrepresenting something or other about the house to potential buyers.

The last two times, I started hanging around during open houses, just to be available to people when they came through. (The realtors don’t really like you to do this, but what can they say?) I found that the moment a potential buyer would find out that the owner was present, they generally made a bee-line right to me to get first-hand information about the house, property and neighborhood. I was able to impart information the realtor could never have known.

Based upon these experiences, I pretty much came to the conclusion that a realtor was unnecessary. When and if I sell again, I will go FSBO only.

The worst traffic in the U.S. is getting even worse. It pollutes as the vehicles idle. It wastes the time of trucks and passenger cars.

People have done some chaining of chores and shared driving to malls and offices. But the driving has continued, and the delays continue to get worse.

The cities having the worst traffic problems are:

1. Los Angeles, Long Beach, Santa Ana, Calif.

2. San Francisco, Oakland, Calif.

3. Washington, D.C.

4. Atlanta

5. Houston

6. Dallas, Fort Worth, Arlington, Tex.

7. Chicago.

8. Detroit

9. Riverside, San Bernardino, Calif.

9. Orlando, Fla.

11. San Jose, Calif.

12. San Diego

Which city has the most favorable housing market for homeowners looking to sell?

Let’s take a look closer:

No. 1: Raleigh, N.C.

Moderate growth and disciplined building over the last five years prevented the market from developing a significant glut. Additionally, a strong local economy has helped contribute to the city’s healthy 1.6% vacancy rate.

No. 2: San Francisco, the second-best U.S. seller’s market.

In the case of San Francisco, which ranked second on our list, it’s an issue of geography: There is little space for growth or new development and the local government doesn’t do much to incentivize new construction.

Strong in-migration stemming from local economic strength is another good way to keep up demand here. New houses being built isn’t a problem if there are new people moving to town.

No. 3: Austin, Texas, followed by San Antonio; St. Louis; Houston; Portland, Ore.; Dallas; Denver and Baltimore.

While Seattle is generally a favorable market for home sellers, there was insufficient data to include that city in its ratings, Forbes.com says

California and New York City are most popular places people would choose to live, according to Harris Poll on States and Cities in the U.S.

Maybe it is the sandy beaches or perhaps the warm weather, but California, Florida and Hawaii are respectively the #1, #2, and #3 states that U.S. adults would choose to live in if they could live in any state in the country.

And when it comes to Americans’ choices for cities, while the West may again be over-represented, the ‘Big Apple’, New York City, comes in #1 for the sixth consecutive time as the U.S. city people would choose to live in or near.

I loooooove New York very much and would love to move there.

What’s the fastest-growing American city with more than half a million people?

If you guessed Ft. Worth, you are correct. Dallas’ next-door neighbor added more than 20 percent to its population from July 2000 through July 2006, according to the latest estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau.

Top 10 fastest growing large cities are:

Ft. Worth, TX
Phoenix, AZ
Austin, TX
San Antonio, TX
Charlotte, NC
Albuquerque, NM
El Paso, TX
San Jose, CA
Denver, CO
Jacksonville, FL

Source: U.S. Census Bureau

There are 3 buyer types to stay away from. These 3 buyer types can sap up your time and profits… if you allow them to.

Here they are:

1. The no money down buyer.
These buyers must get 100% financing, which can often lead to problems in the loan process.

2. A bully buyer.

These buyers think that they can “weasle” a better deal out of you by pointing out every little thing that they see is wrong with the property. And of course, these bully buyers will place a price tag on each defect and either ask for a discount in price or that they be fixed before they buy the property. Yes, it is the responsibility of the buyer to check over the property well… but these bully buyers will point out petty defects just so they can get a discounted price.

3. The sight-unseen buyer.

These buyers can be among the worst and the biggest waste of time for you. Sight-unseen buyers will browse the MLS and throw offers out on homes they like from the pictures. This usually isn’t because they love the house so much… it’s so they can tie up the property to get it off the market. From there they will make a decision on whether they like it or not. This can cost you a lot of time because many sight-unseen buyers will place many clauses in their offer that allow them to easily get out of the offer if they don’t like the house. An easy solution… just require people to set an appointment and actually visit the house.

Here’s the checklist of todos:

Interior -

* Kitchen - need remodeling? Repairs?
* Kitchen appliances - need upgrades?
* Doors - need replacing or refinishing? How many?
* Walls - Need paint? Need patching? Need to remove wallpaper?
* Flooring - what needs replaced and how much?
* Bathroom(s) - updating? Repairs? How much?
* Ceilings - need repairs? Scrape popcorn texture? Paint?
* Any water damage or mold?
* Initial clean up - how many dumpsters are needed to haul off the crap?
* Trim - need any trim? If so, how much?
* Electrical - need updating?
* Plumbing - leaks that need fixed?
* Floorplan - is the floorplan functional? what will need to be changed?

Exterior -

* Foundation - any cracks/sinkage? Will have to get them fixed before you sell
* Roof - need replaced or repaired? Any missing shingles?
* Gutters - need additional gutters/downspouts? need repairs?
* Paint - need a fresh coat of paint?
* Chimney - need repairs?
* Landscaping - need a bit of curb appeal?
* Garage - does it work? need repairs?
* Doors - need updated locks? need replaced?
* Decks and porches - need repairs or replaced?
* Termites - any sign of termites or damage?
* Junk - need to clean up junk outside? how many dumpsters?

Inner workings -

* plumbing - working well? need repaired?
* electrical - need updated/repaired?
* water heaters - still working well? need updating?
* heater - working well? need updating?
* A/C - need to add one? need repairs?

Intangibles -

* how’s the area - is the area appreciating and in good shape?
* market - is the market strong? other properties being sold in the area?
* demand - not overall demand… but demand for this type of property?

Save this Pre-purchase Inspection List and use before you buy a home.