holidays

Add Value To Your Home With These Halloween Renovations

October 28, 2021 by khproperties Leave a Comment

The scariest night of the year is upon us so here’s a look at the most terrifying Halloween renovations to add value to your home. These hauntingly simple changes to your home can add values so high, it could scare even the strongest willed investor! We’ve assembled this list of Halloween renovations after exhausting research into the scariest houses all over the world. If you want to scare up some value in your home, here’s what we recommend:

A resident ghost – A spirit feature can add 20% or more to the value of a haunted house. The final figure is determined by the era of the ghost and the quality of the haunting. Well preserved heritage elementals are highly sought after by discerning buyers, although it can be hard to organize for them to make an appearance at showings.
A haunted attic – Every ghost needs a place to chill before terrifying a home’s inhabitants and an attic is the equivalent of an other worldly “parents retreat.” Even if you do not have a ghost, savvy sellers are styling their attics with chests of old toys, clothes, and photographs.
A creepy basement – Premium features include steep steps that are a threat to your life, rising damp, cobwebs, and a strange dark stain on the floor.
A hidden room – Whether it is accessed via a hardback in the bookcase or a secret panel, there is nothing that excites buyers more than a hidden room. Stylings vary from ghostly nurseries to bondage rooms – as long as it’s not on the official floor plan it it will attract premium offers.
Garden with pet cemetery – Forget water features, outdoor kitchens, or firepits, the hottest landscaping idea right now is a spooky pet cemetery complete with adorable tiny headstones to celebrate the afterlife of faithful friends.

This article is intended as some fun in the lead up to our favorite holiday and has absolutely no bearing on a real property value estimates (although our agents would be delighted to provide you with a comparative market analysis or to help you find your next home). Enjoy your Halloween renovations and Happy Halloween!

5 Halloween Ideas To Turn Your Home Into A Creepy Nightmare

October 25, 2021 by khproperties Leave a Comment

Being cool and creepy at Halloween takes effort. You know the house, you’ve walked by it in your neighborhood – it looks like a horror movie set and you find yourself jealousy wishing your Halloween ideas would come together so perfectly. So if you’re about to swing your attention to Halloween, here’s some super-scary Halloween ideas to turn your dream home into a nightmare!

Make a plan: Don’t arrive at the decorations store or Walmart and go mad with the credit card, buying everything that looks dark and evil. Instead, make a plan of how you’d like to decorate your porch or front yard, and then shop with focus.
Pick your poison: Stick to one ghoulish theme. Don’t take the shotgun approach and scatter shot your porch with zombies, vampires, and ghosts. Choose one dark direction and execute without mercy.
Crazy clutter: Avoid making your display too busy. Creating a clutter of pumpkins, creepy crawlies and fake spider webs will lack impact. Know when to stop, which is hard because Halloween is so much fun.
Scary sounds: Stream some super-creepy soundtracks and play them on repeat over a Bluetooth speaker. Spotify’s four minutes of “Scary Clown Laughing” is a total freak-out. “Evil Girl” is even worse, which is why it’s had 1.2 million downloads.
Lights: Invest in striplights with a remote control or app to manage the colors and brightness. It will allow you to really create a mood and occasionally plunge your neighbor’s kids into darkness to really creep them out. Avoid lights that are white and bright.

Of course, Halloween is all about fun, so don’t stress and enjoy the season.

The Holiday Rush – A Real Estate Tradition

November 28, 2018 by khproperties Leave a Comment

The “holiday rush” usually refers to the shopping madness that is known as Black Friday and the last minute crush of people hurrying and scurrying from store to store looking for those last few deals, picking up last minute gifts, and those of us who wait until the last minute for everything. Stores love it because it fills out their bottom line during the waning moments of the year. But in real estate it happens too and for the past few years we’ve seen it even more. There are several reasons why we see a rush to buy heading into the holidays and it keeps us busy and we love seeing it and hope the tradition continues. What creates the holiday rush in real estate? Let’s take a look at some of the factors.

Corporate Relocation

As corporations end their years they make big decisions. Corporate relocations happen all the time, but we see a lot at the end of the year as companies look to the year ahead and shift priorities and personnel. Because the decisions driving the moves are not personal, they can be made without the more emotional ties of things like the holidays or disrupting a school year (often deciding factors for people in their moves).

Tax Considerations

Some people have large tax considerations to take into account and need to offload property or spend cash to help with their taxes. Accountants will recommend different tactics depends on your particular situation, so refer to them for tax advice.

Bargain Shopping

Like shoppers on Black Friday, homebuyers love a good deal. While not a de facto truth, buyers often think that if a seller is on the market during the holidays, they are desperate to unload their property at rock bottom prices. There certainly are some sellers out there in that position, but our experience shows that this is more buyers putting their hopes into their own perception of the end of year. We do find that both buyers and sellers during the holiday season tend to be quite serious about buying/selling and are often quicker to pull the trigger once they find what they want.

New Year, New You

The coming new year provides a big opportunity for change. The familiar phrase “new year, new you” applies to housing as well. Who wouldn’t want to start a fresh new life with a change of setting too? You can start decorating, change your style, have plenty of new DIY projects, and reorganize everything – a new house is a chance to do it all over again and for some people, that’s a dream come true.

Join the Holiday Rush

If you do find yourself looking for a home or need to sell your house during the holidays, let us know. We’d love to help you make the transition, no matter what your reason for doing so. We specialize in making the transitions as easy on you as possible. Happy holidays and happy homeshopping!

image courtesy of B Rosen

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

November 24, 2016 by khproperties Leave a Comment

Everyone at Kimberly Howell Properties wish you and your family a warm and wonderful Thanksgiving! We hope you’ll find yourself surrounded by friends, family, and loved ones. Our agents and staff will be relaxing today and enjoying some time off (although your agent may be working, check with them if you need assistance) and our offices will be closed today for Thanksgiving. We will remain closed on Friday, November 25th, but reopen for normal weekend hours on Saturday, November 26th. We hope you have an incredible day and have a chance to reflect on some of the things in your life that you have to be thankful for. We have many here at Kimberly Howell Properties and we are looking forward to another fantastic year with all of you. As we head to the end of 2016, we will look back fondly on a year of growth, new challenges, new faces, and lots of fun times spent with our agents, staff, and you. We have big things in the works for the coming year and we can’t wait to share them with you.

Happy Independence Day! Celebrating the 4th of July

July 4, 2016 by Matt Stigliano Leave a Comment

Today is Independence Day – the 4th of July – a day filled with fireworks, backyard BBQs, and summertime fun. Today we celebrate becoming a country and the signing of the Declaration of Independence in Philadelphia. America has a unique history and we celebrate our formation like no other country. I once spent a 4th of July in London, England and I had a spectacular time – we found a Mexican restaurant (Mexican food in England does not come close to what we have in Texas) that had American flags for decorations at every table and later watched as some Americans set off fireworks over Tower Bridge from the Thames River – talk about an fun mix of culture and customs in one day! (I also once spent the day at a German public pool filming a special episode for German music television channel VIVA – that was one of the weirder days of my life.) I’ve always loved the 4th of July – it’s always a fun day and it holds special significance to me as both an American and someone who grew up in Philadelphia and spent a lot of time learning that part of American history in school (field trips to Independence Hall are a regular event when you grow up in the area).

Our offices will be closed today so that our agents and staff can celebrate with their families and friends and enjoy the summer. On Tuesday, we’ll be right back at it and open as always. If you have an emergency or need to speak with someone, call or email your agent and they’ll get you taken care of.

We hope you all (the closest I can come to saying y’all as a Northerner) have a terrific Independence Day and have enjoyed the long holiday weekend. Remember to be safe out there and we’ll see you this week!

image courtesy of jdtornow

Kimberly Howell Properties Holiday Office Hours

December 23, 2015 by khproperties Leave a Comment

Kimberly Howell Properties will be closed on Christmas Day and New Year’s Day. We will be closing at noon on Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve. Our agents work independent schedules, so if you have a specific need during those times, please call or email your agent directly. For those of your with rent payments due on January 1st, please make arrangements to pay before noon on the 31st or make arrangements with your property manager to drop off your rent. We will open be open both holiday weekends under normal operating hours – Saturday 10-4 and Sunday 12-4. We hope you enjoy your holidays and we’re looking forward to an amazing 2016 with our past clients and the many we have yet to meet.

image courtesy of Iain Farrell