By John Thomas Miller


The recent home sale slump means that a lot of people are having a tough time trying to sell their house right now. It's a buyer's market when it comes to house sales right now, which means home prices are below average and there are lots of homes that are currently being sold. Today's lower prices means that a lot of home sellers aren't getting as much cash as they'd like out of the sale of their current home and it means they don't have as much to spend on a new dwelling.

One way to make your home more attractive is to fix it up with some modern home improvements. In order to sell your house you're going to have to get creative and try to set your home apart from the others that are being sold near your own house. As a home seller you are basically competing against the other house sellers in your area for the money from a limited pool of home buyers.

The best way to bring a lot of potential buyers into your home is to take out a loan for some minor home improvements knowing that you will most likely make a profit when you actually sell your house. House improvement loans can range from a few hundred dollars to thousands of dollars, and different loan amounts will give you the ability to commit to different kinds of projects. If you're relatively handy you can use some borrowed money and do your own home improvements. Here are a few house improvement suggestions in various cost ranges:

$1,000 - $4,000: Home projects in this range include fixing up interior rooms with fresh paint, installing new baseboard molding and maybe even replacing some light fixtures. Projects in this low price range should be aimed at updating a fairly new home that doesn't need much work. Smaller home upgrade projects in this range can sometimes be paid for with home improvement store credit cards or unsecured loans.

For $9,000 - $12,000: Major house renovation projects like this could include putting in some new flooring, having a back yard professional landscaped or installing new doors and windows. If you're going to borrow money for house improvement projects in this range you may want to look at a HELOC. Committing to house upgrades in this range will most certainly get the attention of prospective home buyers, especially if the other houses in your neighborhood don't include some of these updates.

Don't forget: most house improvements do not actually recuperate all the money you put into them when you sell your home. It's imperative to adjust your house's selling price to reflect the recent improvements. Certain house improvements like the ones mentioned above will, however, help sell your house. Your selling price should be moved higher but should probably not be designed to cover the entire cost of your house improvement loan.




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