Are you preparing to sell your house? You might want to consider performing these home improvements in order to secure a bigger price tag come closing time.
When you are preparing your home to sell in a competitive real estate market, it might not make sense for you to take on any big home improvement projects. Once you are sure that your house doesn’t need any major repairs, you can focus on some easy updates that can help make your home more appealing. Getting a kitchen or bathroom remodel might be out of budget, but there are still plenty of different ways you can make in key areas that will help get your home ready to sell.
Painting
Painting is one of the lowest cost improvements you can make, with the highest rate of return. When you are trying to sell your house, giving it a coat of neutral paint will help give your entire house a facelift, and buyers will love seeing a blank canvas. You can also enlist the help of a professional to get colour recommendations based on other features in your house, like the cabinets or floors.
You can invest a large amount of money if you want to get this done professionally, but if you want to go the DIY route, you can do that pretty cheaply yourself if you are handy with a paintbrush and have some time.
Landscape your yard
The outside appearance of your house is the first thing that your buyer will see, and it will give them their first impression of your house. Having an overgrown or patchy yard will be a huge turn-off. You should take care to remove any plants that are dead, and cut back plants that are overgrown. You can also keep your lawn looking fresh by re-sodding or planting grass seed, and you might want to do some edging to help create clean edges.
You can either hire professional landscapers to help you out, or you can roll up your sleeves and take care of removing anything dead by yourself. You don’t need to be a professional to buy some grass seed. Simply follow the directions for planting and you’ll be good to go.
Also Read: Buying and Selling a Home at the Same Time
Update lighting fixtures
Replacing your lighting fixtures throughout your home can be an easy update for a small investment. But it can make a big difference where appearances are concerned. If you’re looking to update your light fixtures, make sure to keep the colour palette consistent with your
home’s hardware. For example, you wouldn’t want to mix gold and silver tones together, but mixing metals like copper and bronze is fine. Consider the fact that older brass fixtures will be considered more of a dated look. If you are going to the trouble of updating these fixtures, then make sure that it results in a true update.
If you’re on a budget, don’t feel like you need to buy something fancy or expensive. You can simply just remove any huge, dated chandeliers and let the buyers use their imagination. Or switch it out for something smaller and simpler.
The newly developed home exemption by the BC government is geared towards eliminating/reducing the property transfer tax amount that you pay during the purchase of a New Invermere home for sale.
According to the details of this exemption, a new Invermere home for sale is,
Any Invermere home developed as well as affixed vacant land.
Any new apartment within a newly developed condo building.
A manufactured Invermere home situated on vacant land.
Any Invermere house that has been already constructed but removed from vacant land. It hasn’t been occupied since it was constructed on the new fragment of vacant land.
Any Invermere house that results from a division of a current improvement to a fragment of land that was subdivided. But the house has not been occupied since the subdivision of the fragment of the land.
An Invermere house converted from a current improvement on a fragment of land while the previous improvement couldn’t be used for residential purposes. Also was used for commercial purposes.
If you qualify for an exemption, you will be eligible for full or partial tax exemption if you have already paid the property transfer tax when purchasing the vacant land. Therefore you have a new home on that fragment of land. Then you are eligible for a refund of the tax that you paid.
Do New Invermere homes for sale qualify for an exemption?
For the tax exemption qualification, the property transfer (either involving land or improvement) must be registered after Feb 16, 2016, at the LTO (Land Title Office). And for this,
- It would be best if you were an individual.
- You must be the holder of Canadian citizenship or permanent residency.
Your Social Insurance Number will be required along with your date of birth for confirmation purposes. While
- The property must be located in British Columbia.
- It should be only for your principal residence.
- The property needs to have an FMV of $750000 or less.
- It needs to be 1.24 acres in size or smaller.
You will qualify for a partial exemption if,
- The property has an FMV greater than $750000 and less than $800000.
- It is larger than 1.24 acres.
- It has another building separate from the principal residence.
How to apply?
You need to select/enter the exemption code 49 while filing the Return for the Property Transfer Tax for the newly developed home exemptions in Invermere, BC.
Requirements of Occupancy for New Invermere homes for sale.
Once you’ve registered your property, you have to meet all the occupancy requirements within your ownership 1st year. To keep the tax exemption,
- You must move in within 92 days from the date when the property was registered at the LTO.
- Also, you must continue to occupy this property as a principal residence for the remaining part of that 1st
You will receive a letter from the LTO to confirm that you meet these requirements. You might keep a portion of the exemption if you moved out before the end of the 1st year, but you will have to repay this amount before the 1st year.
Refund
Suppose you’d qualified for the tax exemption. But it didn’t apply when you registered the property at the LTO. Then you can apply for a refund as well.
Please contact DK Rice for all your Invermere real estate questions.
