As houses continue to sit on the market without the slightest sign of interested buyers, sellers are lowering prices and pouring more money into upgrades and remodels. While these updates might help increase sales, you could achieve the same results with your Santa Cruz home by spending less cash and adding more green.

With the growing demand for green features, buyers like the idea of purchasing a house that already contains a few eco-conscious elements. From environmentally sound materials to energy efficient windows and doors, just adding one green upgrade could be the ticket to spark interest and sell your Santa Cruz home.

6 eco-features buyers love:

1. Water-saving appliances – Install low-flow toilets and aerators on showers to reduce your water…

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As a homeowner, one of the biggest traps you can fall into is over improving your Santa Cruz home. 

Turn on any home improvement channel, and they will show you all the latest and greatest in must haves for your Santa Cruz home.  What they don’t tell you is that even the best upgrades won’t guarantee an increase in your resale value.  In fact, most remodel jobs only recoup 60% to 70% of their costs.

Here are some tips to help you avoid over improving your home:

Assess the value of homes in your neighborhood. 

Unless you plan on staying in your Santa Cruz home forever, do some research on the home values in your neighborhood before you begin any home renovations. Ideally, you want to add improvements that increase the resale value of your home while…

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Here are a few tips to help your Santa Cruz home for sale show better and sell faster.

1. Get rid of the excess:  Eliminate as much as possible, and then do it again.  Remember when staging your Santa Cruz home for sale, less is best.  Swap out personal photos for framed art.  The main idea is to remove as much as possible and replace personal items with neutral objects so that people can imagine their things in the home.

2. Repair and paint:  Before painting, fix all those minor dings that don't really bother you.  Buyers notice everything.  A missing piece of baseboard, an outlet that doesn't work, or a closet door that won’t stay on track all seem minor, but they can have a huge affect on how a buyer views your home.  The next step is to apply a…

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With so many Santa Cruz homes for sale, it’s hard to determine how much money and time you need to invest in order to get your home ready for the real estate market. To sell your house quickly, one helpful strategy all real estate professionals agree on is staging.

In general, the goal of staging Santa Cruz homes for sale is to make it easier for potential buyers to see themselves living in that space.  From getting rid of the excess stuff we all seem to accumulate to filling a home you’ve already moved out of with furniture, you’ll increase your chances of a fast sale by staging your home.

3 strategies of staging

1. Minimize clutter – Buyers could completely skip over the positive qualities of your home if they’re too focused on all of the toys,…

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For some frustrated sellers, the answer to “Why isn’t my home selling?” is “It’s the agent’s fault!”  If your immediate instinct is to drop your Santa Cruz real estate agent for a new one, you might want to take a deep breath and consider the following:

1. Do you think agents are like lottery tickets?  Going through Santa Cruz real estate agents as fast as scratch-off lottery tickets isn’t going to get your home sold faster.  In fact, it usually slows down the process.

2. Is your home priced correctly?  That’s probably the number one difference between homes that sell fast and homes that sit on the market.  A poorly priced home could be your agent’s fault.  Then again, you could be partially to blame.  Did you insist on a specific price even though your…

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Ideally, to make a room light and bright you want a lot of large windows that let in natural light. Unfortunately, most of us don’t have large windows in every room of our Santa Cruz homes.  So, what do we do to brighten those dark rooms?

Increase Natural Light

If a room has one large window, make the most of this natural light by placing a mirror opposite that window.  The mirror will scatter and reflect the ambient daylight throughout the room.

Add Artificial Light

Another great way to lighten window-challenged rooms in your Santa Cruz home is to add artificial ambient lighting.  Ambient lighting, whether natural or artificial, sets the tone and mood of each room. Here are several ways to add artificial ambient light to your rooms:

• Recessed…

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Whether you need a contractor for a minor project like a plumbing problem or a major project like a room addition, it’s important to evaluate potential contractors before hiring them.  Here are 5 steps to finding the best contractor for your Santa Cruz real estate project:

1. Get multiple quotes.  Even if your toilet is overflowing onto your living room’s carpet, take the time to get 2 or 3 estimates.  Haste can cost a lot more than replacing the carpet in your Santa Cruz real estate.

2. Check references.  Talk with the former clients of the contractor you’re considering hiring.  Find out what it was really like to work with the contractor.  Two of the best questions to ask are:
a. What was your favorite thing about the contractor? 
b. What was your…

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You already know all the usual reasons agents and other experts think now is a good time to buy Santa Cruz real estate.  Here are 4 reasons to buy Santa Cruz real estate now that just might surprise you:

1. Homes are in tip-top condition. Instead of selling and moving into a more expensive home, many owners have invested their money in home maintenance, repair and updates, so says the Harvard University’s Joint Center for Housing Studies.

2. Outstanding homes are coming on the market. Many homeowners who have been waiting for the real estate market to take an upturn are now putting their homes on the market.  And, those homes are in great shape (see #1).

3. Appraisals reflect reality. We can all be thankful that Fannie Mae adjusted its guidelines so…

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These gray, dreary winter days can really sap your energy and dull your enjoyment of life.  To survive the winter doldrums, brighten your Santa Cruz County home using these easy tips:

1. Open your home’s window treatments during the day to let the light brighten and warm your room.  Close them again as soon as night falls to retain heat.

2. Brighten dark rooms with few windows by placing spotlights on the floor behind furniture.

3. Add a mirror.  Wherever a mirror reflects light in a room, it visually doubles that light.  Place a mirror opposite a window to immediately brighten your space.  No window?  Hang a large mirror above a console table and place a pair of lamps in front of the mirror.

4. Install higher watt bulbs in rooms that tend to be dark…

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Most people make New Year’s resolutions to improve themselves.  This year, consider making a few New Year’s Resolutions to improve your Santa Cruz home. 

Here are 6 ideas to choose from:

1. Renovate.  Choose one project you really want to do, and get it done this year.  Add on a deck, make minor kitchen renovations or install a new bathroom floor.

2. Practice home safety.  Practice fire safety by ensuring your smoke alarms work and holding fire drills. Prevent poisoning by keeping cleaners, medications and beauty products in a place where children can’t reach them and using child safety locks.  Avoid falls by having bright lights over stairs and steps and on landings. Also, keep stairs clear of clutter.

3. Test for radon.  Radon is a significant…

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