Buying a home is one of the best investments you can make. A home or a property will provide you assured ROI and remodelling certain areas in your house is a good idea for homeowners to add increased functionality and beauty. If you choose the right home renovation project to enhance your living space, it will also increase your property value.
Benefits of renovation or remodeling:
Upgrading your kitchen and bathrooms almost instantly increase the value of your flat.
You can avail home equity loans to finance your renovation because it allows for interest-only payments.
Before you consider renovating your flat, you have to be careful of the project you choose to complete. Choose a project that increases the market value of your investment.
Following are a few ideas of how you can renovate your own home to add value to it:
Kitchen Renovation: Renovations should always be done in the busy areas of the house. And no doubt, kitchen is the busiest place in the house. Kitchen is the heart of the home where families and friends gather and spend quality time. So while renovating your kitchen, make sure that you use quality materials and professional workmanship which is consistent with the rest of the home and other homes in your neighbourhood. Try keeping your kitchen modern and contemporary. Hiring a professional decorator or designer may come in handy to ensure you choose a look that will in turn ensure your kitchen maintains its value for many years to come.
Bathroom Renovation: Bathrooms come in a close second to kitchens when it comes to renovations. You can start renovating your bathroom by making the bathroom space a bit bigger by moving walls. Also you can add an additional bathroom to your home and getting it done properly for it to pay off. You must plan and use quality materials and workmanship on a bathroom renovation. There are different styles, shapes and sizes of vanities, showers and tubs available in the market that can get a glam look for your bathroom without having to move existing walls or plumbing.
Flooring: Flooring is the hardest wearing element in any home.Well maintained floors provide a refreshed and youthful look to your home. So, it is very important that you invest in quality and durable products for your floors and at the same time take care of the quality of installation. Expensive hardwood floors can look terrible if they are lifting or there are gaps between planks. While inexpensive laminate can look great when laid properly.
Doors and Hardware: Investing in new interior doors, replacing the front door and adding a quality lock-set; and adding baseboard, door trim, crown mouldings and wainscoting are all examples of relatively inexpensive and non-invasive improvements that can immediately punch up the appeal of a home. But it also depends on the quality of the finish though. Hire someone who has proper understanding or ask for referrals from friends with whom you share similar interests.
Interior paint and decor: A little remodelling of the interior paints and decoration can increase the value of your property to a great extent. The remodelling may include re-painting of interior walls, updating the lighting fixtures and putting up new flooring, etc. Plan on applying neutral colours for it will have a wider-ranging appeal to the majority of customers. Replacing the lighting and plumbing can modernize the look and feel of your old home. Use fluorescent light bulbs or LED bulbs of various patterns. This will use less energy. You can also upgrade by adding a few ceiling fans. It can help with air circulation that will maximize the efforts of your air conditioning unit.
So you can go for the above renovating options if you want to have a higher return on your investment. Investing in your property is a wise idea as it provides better rental returns and after a home renovation your property value also increases.
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The two months prolonged lock down due to Covid-19 pandemic has been catastrophic for all businesses across the world. In Assam, the lock down has practically stopped all economic activities in all the sectors including the real estate sector. The real estate sector contributes up to 7% to 8% in the country’s total GDP. The ongoing Covid-19 lock down, currently in its 4th phase, has significantly affected the dynamics in terms of labour availability, and there is a fear the cost of production will increase and that may lead to price inflation from the supply side.
Our Managing Director, Mr. Manoj Jalan discusses these strategic issues facing the real estate industry and the possible effects of a long Covid-19 lock down in an interview with ETV Bharat.
In the interview, Mr. Jalan speaks about labour availability and stresses that although the Government has allowed resumption of work with 15% occupancy, yet it has not been possible because labour movements in the orange and red zones which are Covid-19 affected, are restricted. He speaks on a variety of other pertinent issues facing the real estate industry. Please watch the video interview for more details.
While people age, they start entering the ability domain of the children. So at that time they need utmost care just like kids. Similarly, they also need a elderly-friendly home design whose modifications are planned to make their life easier.
When people age, their body becomes fragile and weak. They are prone to falling and hurting themselves very often. Thus, it is very important that you keep in mind the plight of the elderly people, while planning your constructions. In India, the Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation issued guidelines for building homes keeping on mind the elderly. According to the ministry directive, an elderly-friendly home design should have physical specifications like hazard detection systems, constant power back-up, lifts, prominent signage, recreation, and care-giving outlets, etc. along with amenity standards that include round-the-clock medical assistance, transportation assistance, etc.
Major builders, while planning the designs often have the young population in mind which turns out unsustainable for seniors. The homes for the elderly should have a seamless combination of comfort, safety, and convenience. Therefore, as the inhabitants progress in age certain modifications in the design structure of a house can enhance their accessibility and make a more senior-friendly home.
Let us analyse some specifications that needs to be taken into considerations while planning your apartment:-
Ensure easy movement :-
While people age, they become vulnerable and weak. So moving around the room is a task collaborated with fears of accidental falls apart from disability caused due to illnesses. You can place ledges, or ramps in place of stairs so that movement is painless and also wheelchair accessible. Also, make sure that if there are stairs, then there should be sturdy railings for support. If your apartment is not on the ground floor, then provision of lifts is very necessary for elderly-friendly home design.
Plan the Flooring :-
Tiles and ceramic flooring attract every homeowners, but they can be quite tricky for the elders. A senior-friendly home should a non slippery and naturally warm floors designed with terracotta tiles, mosaic, etc. Rubber flooring could also mean an added safeguard against accidents. But, re-flooring a house may not always be cost-effective. So in this case, you can consider placing carpets that ensure relevant cushioning too. The kitchen and the bathroom floors also should ideally have anti-skid tiles. Along with that all rugs and mats should have anti-slip underlays. Slippery floors and polished tiles might make way for fatal accidents for the elderly people. So a elderly-friendly home design is very much required.
Friendly home design suitable for elderly :-
You should make sure to create a spacious indoor plan to allow ease of movement, to reduce bumping into things. Place low slung chairs, tables, armchairs, and bed with suitable heights. Make some sort of sitting arrangement in the balconies or lawns. It would be preferable to ask the seniors in your home about things they would want to avoid.
Also, make sure that all the gadgets, appliances and fixtures are fitted at eye-level for the elderly people to operate comfortably. While placing cupboards and racks for personal use, make sure to introduce simpler things that would create less fuss.
Provide for enough lighting :-
A properly lit house would be safe and comfortable for the seniors. Abundant lights makes the seniors more comfortable in their movement around the house and as well as enhances the mood. Plan larger windows, that can stream much needed natural light in the daytime. Also, plan lights along passages, corridors, bathrooms, kitchen, and even inside cupboards and wardrobes. There should be focused lights around the beds for reading , keeping track of important things such as medicine labels, emergency calls etc for a elderly-friendly home design.
Communication :-
Communication is an integral part of a senior-friendly home. It is a very important factor for dealing with emergencies. Include both landlines and mobile connections in your home where you have senior-citizens residing with you. Prepare a chart of all the medical contacts for ease of access.
So, simple yet comfortable designs with proper maintenance can lead to lesser risks. It can provide for a better life for the seniors. If you can follow these tiny steps, then you can create a well-accommodated and comfortable senior-friendly home which will allow the elderly to perform their physical and mental tasks and as well as keep their dignity intact by being independent on their own.
Working from home feels like a rosy world of comfort, but actually is a constant battle between the work of office and the work of home. Either of the one is inescapable. We all have been dreaming of these days since forever but now when it has actually crossed path with reality the picture is contrasting.
Here are some expectations of working from home bashed by reality :
Family Vs Office
While it may seem to be a great idea to be at home with family and successfully manage the office work amidst that. But its a myth now. Getting ready for a conference call and offering a helping hand in the kitchen are two different worlds colliding with each other.
Time Constraint
One doesn’t have any time constraint for work done from home. But actually you might require to work beyond the office hours and deliver work after that. Because you are at your comfort so working from home certainly doesn’t sound to be that troublesome. Isn’t it?
Network / Power cut issues
If you need to constantly be at war with the network connection and further face power cut issues, then working from home is definitely a curse for you. These are the problems that don’t occur while at office and even it does it gets fixed instantly.
Distractions
If you are a family person or even own a pet for that matter, you will have a lot of distractions on your way. There will be instances when you might have to choose your work over the family time. And that’s probably when you will reminisce your old days at office.
Work Environment
Finding a proper calm environment at home to work is like finding water in a desert. Taking multiple breaks and being a helping hand at home will keep making their presence at your work table. Therefore you are left with no choice other than adjusting.
No Family Time
Being at home doesn’t necessarily mean you spending time with your family. You are actually glued to your laptop throughout without any relaxation. You may end up giving most of your time to your work being totally out of choice.
Work is worship, therefore be it home or office needs one’s full dedication and patience. Though its difficult one has to manage and make compromises. Let’s just at the same breath hope for this pandemic to end soon with a promise to take care of ourselves and our families. We are all together in this. Despite all the struggles and challenges if one can manage office work, its truly commendable. But equally the responsibilities at home can’t be ignored.
All of us are together in this difficult and struggling phase. The deadly Coronavirus (COVID-19) has spread in the entire world sweeping off more than thousand lives in a single day, thereby putting a question to the existence of humankind. Social distancing by following lockdown is the only way to save our lives from getting in contact with the coronavirus. Since all of us are at homes, and fighting this deadly virus, we should try to maintain hygiene in all possible ways. Being indoors is not just the end of it, we still need to take precautions. The minimum possible hygiene starts from homes. Here some of the steps that you can adopt in order to maintain hygienic during these times of struggle.
Sanitize yourself :-
Keeping yourself clean and specially your hands (since we touch with hands) is very important. Keep yourself sanitized. Have a hand wash and a hand sanitizer ready at your home. Wash your hands for 20 seconds with an interval of 10 minutes. If possible keep a hand wash and water facility in the entrance itself so that one can wash their hands before entering the house from outdoors.
Sanitize your food items:-
To make sure that you take clean food, apart from washing it before cooking make sure that you sanitize it to prevent coronavirus. Food items starting from vegetables, fruits to packaged items, everything needs a proper sanitization after it is brought from outside. This way you can maintain the hygiene during this lockdown period and make sure your bodies are healthy and you are having clean food.
Keep your house clean:-
It is very important for you to keep your house clean and away from dirt. Mop the rooms with sanitizer again, and clean the window panes, door knobs and also the gates of your house. Everything in the house that can comes into contact with your hands and body needs to be cleaned and sanitized every day. Being hygienic also depends on how clean you keep your house and not just yourself.
Wash the clothes or masks after returning from outside:
You need to maintain hygiene in all aspects and therefore stay clean during the lockdown to prevent Coronavirus. If you have to go out, don’t forget to wash your mask after you return. Make sure you directly take a bath and wash away all your clothes without making a tour of the entire house. This will keep your house away from the dirt outside.
Maintain indoor and outdoor footwear:-
Try using separate footwears inside and outside your house especially if you have kids. This will prevent the germs from entering your house. This will also help you to keep your house neat and free from dirt.
Stay away from any kind of public gatherings, maintain social distancing and live a hygienic life at your homes during this lock down period. If we all start maintaining it in individual levels and stay indoors we can help each other from getting infected from Coronavirus.
