It can't be overstated - when it comes to buying a house, the first impression is everything. If you're selling or getting ready to sell in the coming months, one of the easiest and most dramatic ways to enhance that first impression is through paint.
      Fresh paint makes your house look clean, bright, and inviting.
      "Painting your house's exterior before you put it on the market give the biggest bang for your fix-up buck - if you use colors that conform with your neighborhood's decorating norm," says Eric Tyson and Ray Brown in their book "House Selling for Dummies (Hungry Minds Inc., 1999).
      Agents agree that sellers shouldn't take curb appeal lightly, especially when so many buyers are doing their homework and looking at the exterior of houses before they even contact an agent.
      Curb appeal is crucial. Buyers get a lot of information from the web now and I find that often they have already driven around with a list of addresses and have decided which ones they want to see, giving curb appeal a lot of weight.
      The Rohm and Haas Paint Quality Institute, an educational resource for paint and paint-related coatings, offers

     Let's see. Do I want to refinance now or wait until I finish with my home improvements? Or do I go ahead and get a construction loan, complete my addition, then refinance both my mortgages when the addition is complete? Do I need the value of my new addition to increase my appraised value? These are questions many in America are asking: improve now or refinance now? Why not do both?
      Historically, when one wanted to use the equity in their home for home improvements there were two distinct ways. Obtain an equity loan based upon current appraised value or get some building plans and specifications together, along with a contractor's bid and get a construction loan. What are the differences?
      First, let's look at the similarities. Both are usually second mortgage loans--liens that subordinate to a current first mortgage. The equity loan is based upon the current market value of the home and the construction loan may use the “as finished” value of the home. That's the value of the house after the improvements have been completed. It's common during a major remodel of a home to have the cost of construction to surpass the current value of the property. Without any equity in the home, lenders aren't as inclined to offer their best programs when someone is automatically “upside down” with regards to value.
      Many times, second mortgages will carry a higher rate than a first mortgage or in the instance of an equity loan or line