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Curb appeal should always be front of mind when you plan to sell your home and want to attract buyers or boost your resale value. But it can also help make your home a more appealing place to live.

If you’re thinking about upgrading your home’s exterior, consider these smart home remodel projects

Ideas for Exterior Home Remodel Projects

No matter how beautifully you decorate the inside of your home, the outside offers up the first impression to visitors, and these exterior home remodel ideas can be great investments for you as a homeowner, whether or not you’re planning to sell your house right now.

From adding texture to the exterior of your home to swapping out old windows for more contemporary ones to fixing up your front door, a home exterior makeover can be a smart way to make a lasting impact in a short amount of time.

Replace Your Front Door With an Inviting Style

Psychologists say that it takes just seven seconds to make a first impression. This means your front door is one of the first parts of your house that a guest or potential buyer will see and will help set the tone for how they feel about the home in general. Thus, the front door should be one of the first places you focus your energy when tackling exterior renovations of your property.

For an open, light-filled look, consider doors with glass panels. Want more privacy? Use mirrored glass in the side panels, which allows you to see outside but people walking by can’t see in. Frosted glass also offers privacy while diffusing natural light.

The overall cost of installing an exterior door depends on complexity, materials, and where you live; it could run you as little as $150 or as much as $20,000. But on average, installing an exterior door will cost between $495 to $1,771. The labor alone of having someone install it for you could cost around $1,094, so if you’re handy with tools, this could be where you save money.

Even if you choose not to replace the door itself, a fresh coat of paint, updated knob and hinge hardware, and a new doorbell to match can go far in improving the curb appeal of your home’s exterior.

Mixing Textures on Your Home’s Exterior

Mixing textures is one way to alter the exterior of your home for a positive effect. Alternating visual patterns between wood, metal, concrete, and stucco requires some experimentation, but the results can be dramatic.

For a contemporary look, consider mixing multiple textures, which could range from different widths of siding or choosing different types of siding like combining cedar shingles and shiplap in the same color. You can also mix and match levels of gloss, or shapes and lengths of bricks and stone.

For a baseline cost, installed vinyl siding can range in price from $6,370 and $17,615, with the average cost being $11,676. Your costs will depend on the thickness of the siding, how much added style you want as you mix and match textures, the size of your house, how standard the shape of your house is or isn’t, and any added details like moldings, trim, soffits, corners, or vents. If there’s old siding that needs to be removed first, you’ll also want to factor in the additional cost of labor (or consider doing it yourself).

Upgrading the Windows

Changing the style of your windows will not only give your home’s exterior a brand-new look, but potentially be more energy-efficient than your current windows. This could end up helping you save money on electric bills, which may be attractive to buyers down the line.

Material selection will dictate the overall cost of new windows. Vinyl, for example, is on the lower end of the price scale, whereas solid wood windows will cost much more.

The cost of new windows also is dependent on the size of each unit, as there are hundreds of common window sizes available. On average, a single window unit runs $150 to $800 with installation costing an additional $60 to $300 per unit. The complexity of the windows also affects pricing, and if you plan to add shutters or new blinds, factor in those costs, too.

How Much Could Your Home Exterior Makeover Boost Value?

At a minimum, your home exterior makeover can make your house more appealing to the eye, but it also can help give potential buyers assurance that you have maintained the home’s upkeep.

Projects like fixing up the front door are a great place to start, and while you’re replacing your door, you could consider adding a portico or awning as a design element or to protect visitors from the weather. Also make sure your doorbell is attractive, dovetails with the house’s overall style, and — most importantly — works.

Similar comparative data shows that an upscale window replacement using vinyl can increase a home’s value by an average of 68.5% of its cost. Upscale window replacement using wood boosts a home’s value by an average of 61.2% of its cost. And siding replacement, on average, boosts home value by 94.7% of the cost.

Funding Your Exterior Home Remodel

Once you have created a plan for exterior improvements, priced out materials, and mapped out a budget, the next item on your agenda should be figuring out the best way to pay for your improvements. If you’ve got the money in savings, then that isn’t an issue. Or, if you plan to use your credit cards but can pay them off in full when the bills arrive, again, you’re squared away.

Using your credit cards when you can’t pay them off relatively quickly, however, can be problematic as credit card debt can be tricky to pay off. That’s because most credit card companies charge compound interest, which means you’re paying interest on the accrued interest, with the interest continually calculated and added to your balance. To make matters worse, the interest may typically be compounded daily.

Even if you make minimum payments, the interest just keeps compounding. In fact, it keeps doing so until the balance is paid off completely. If you miss a payment, the situation gets worse, with late fees and penalties often added on.

If you’d like to calculate what you’d actually pay on your remodeling debt, use our credit card interest calculator.

If you decide that it won’t make sense to use a credit card to pay for your remodeling, then consider comparing and contrasting home equity lines of credit versus home improvement loans, which is a kind of lump-sum personal loan. Under certain circumstances, a home equity line of credit (HELOC) may make sense; for example, if you have significant equity in your home, plan to borrow a large amount of money and/or want the potential tax benefits.

Benefits of choosing a home improvement loan include:

•   You won’t tie up any equity in your home.

•   Fees are likely to be less, and maybe you won’t have to pay any fees at all

•   Application and approval processes are typically faster than with a HELOC

Recommended: How Much Does It Cost to Remodel or Renovate a House?

What Bedroom Style Is Right For You Quiz

The Takeaway

Exterior home remodel projects can be a way to increase your house’s curb appeal, while also adding value. They also are often the quickest way to turn a real estate investment into long-term value. Exterior home projects can be as simple as adding a fresh coat of paint to your existing front door or as complex as replacing all the windows in your house to be both contemporary and more energy efficient. At the very least, tackling these smart exterior home remodel ideas should help you down the line when you decide to sell your house.

Of course, the more involved a project is, the more expensive it can be. If you need help financing an exterior home remodeling project, you have options, including using cash, using a credit card and paying off the balance quickly, or taking out a personal loan.

If you’re ready to roll up your sleeves and get some home repairs or renovations done, see what a SoFi personal loan can offer. With a SoFi Home Improvement Loan, you can borrow between $5,000 to $100,000 as an unsecured personal loan, meaning you don’t use your home as collateral and no appraisal is required. Our rates are competitive, and the whole process is easy and speedy.

SoFi Loan Products
SoFi loans are originated by SoFi Bank, N.A., NMLS #696891 (Member FDIC). For additional product-specific legal and licensing information, see SoFi.com/legal. Equal Housing Lender.

Financial Tips & Strategies: The tips provided on this website are of a general nature and do not take into account your specific objectives, financial situation, and needs. You should always consider their appropriateness given your own circumstances.

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Selling your home? If so, you likely want to do everything in your power to make it look great and trigger solid offers ASAP. Staging your home can be one key contributing factor to achieving that.

When you stage your home, you optimize its look and design. This allows potential buyers to visualize the house as their own. It makes it look like a place they aspire to put down roots. (Yes, decluttering and removing some of your personal mementos may be involved.)

According to a National Association of Realtors® survey, 89% percent of buyers’ agents said staging a home made it easier for a buyer to visualize the property as a future home.

Want to learn more? Here’s a step-by-step guide to how you can stage your home.

8 Steps to Stage a House for Sellers

Follow these tips for staging your home and impressing prospective buyers.

1. Take Stock of Needed Fixes

If a house requires considerable repairs, a seller may face a lengthy negotiation process with buyers that results in concessions and contingencies. Any issues flagged by an inspection will also need to be addressed with prospective buyers.

Deciding whether to make these fixes beforehand will affect how a home is staged and perceived by buyers. Even relatively small issues like cracks in a ceiling and a dripping faucet can raise concerns and influence a buyer’s impression. That’s something to be wary of, especially in a hot housing market when many buyers want to snag a home quickly.

Taking care of these common home repairs before house staging can show buyers that you’ve maintained the property and keep their focus on its strengths.

💡 Quick Tip: Don’t overpay for your mortgage. Get your dream home or investment property and a great rate with SoFi Mortgage Loans.

2. Enhance Curb Appeal

Before buyers walk through the door, they’ll have already formed an impression from the home’s curb appeal, the attractiveness of a property from the sidewalk or street.

Buyers may even do a drive-by before setting up a showing to narrow down their search. Thus, sprucing up a home’s exterior, lawn, and landscaping is essential to any plan for how to stage a house. Even in winter, curb appeal matters.

Any eyesores, such as chipped paint, cracked windows, or clogged gutters could discourage buyers from taking a closer look. Power-washing any siding and applying a fresh coat of paint where needed are some possible quick improvements.

Thinning out lawn decor, replacing burned-out lights, and tidying up gardens and landscaping are also low-cost ways to increase curb appeal.

For many prospective buyers, their first look into your home will be digital. High-quality photos can be helpful in attracting buyers.

Staying on top of things like lawn care while the home is listed could make a difference in getting more showings and securing a higher offer. In fact, 98% of NAR members say they believe curb appeal is important to potential buyers.

3. Remove Clutter

While working on house staging, you may also be encumbered with the home-buying process or figuring out what to do with all your stuff after it’s sold. In either case, staging is an opportunity to jumpstart the moving process and declutter the house.

Removing clutter is a popular staging tactic to make the interior of a home appear more spacious. A home’s square footage can’t be fabricated, but curating a more open layout can give the impression of a larger space.

Begin by packing away items that you don’t use daily, like seasonal clothes, knickknacks, sports equipment, and other odds and ends. This is also a chance to identify anything you want to sell, donate, or dispose of.

Storage space of a home can also be a major selling point. Instead of loading up the basement, garage, and closets, sellers may want to consider asking family members or friends to store their belongings, hosting a garage sale, or renting a storage unit.

Recommended: How to Refresh Your Home Room by Room

4. Depersonalize the Space

Cutting back on personal items is an important step in staging a house. While decluttering the home, stowing away family photos and clothing is a good place to start. Removing subtler items like personal toiletries can further neutralize the space.

That lavender paint in one room and turtle-themed wallpaper in another? It might be best to create a more basic canvas.

The point is to show that the home is move-in ready and an open book for buyers to add their personal touches. With just the integral furniture and furnishings remaining, it’s easier for buyers to imagine themselves moving in and living there.

5. Do a Deep Cleaning

Once the decor and furnishings have been minimized, it’s time to get the house squeaky clean. While this is one of the more cost-effective ways to stage a house, it can take significant time and energy.

To streamline the process, consider starting with the highest surfaces and working your way down. Overhead fixtures like lighting and ceiling fans are often overlooked in regular cleaning routines, and thus accumulate lots of dust and grime. It’s likely that cleaning these hard-to-reach places will bring debris down on countertops and floors.

Bathrooms and kitchens are key rooms to focus on. Water stains and mildew in sinks, tubs, and showers are obviously a no-no. Making sure appliances sparkle and that countertops are spotless can give the kitchen a fresh new look.

💡 Quick Tip: To see a house in person, particularly in a tight or expensive market, you may need to show proof of prequalification to the real estate agent. With SoFi’s online application, it can take just minutes to get prequalified.

6. Define Every Space

While the kitchen, bathroom, master bedroom, and garage are straightforward in their purpose, some spaces in a home may not have an obvious use to prospective buyers.

Thinking about how to stage spare rooms and unconventional spaces is important. For example, staging such a space as a home office or workout room could appeal to a larger segment of buyers.

7. Stage Where It Matters Most

Not every room holds equal weight from the homebuyer’s perspective. Prioritize the living room, primary bedroom, kitchen, dining room, and yard; real estate agents say these are of most interest to buyers.

The kids’ rooms and basement? Spend less time and energy there.

Recommended: Home Appraisals: What You Need to Know

8. Don’t Forget Outdoor Space

While the front of a house determines curb appeal, the yard, porch, or patio space can sell buyers on the lifestyle they could enjoy there.

The backyard is a popular place for entertaining and socializing, especially for families with kids. Tidying up the yard and addressing any safety issues like a wobbly porch railing or broken fence could be easy fixes.

Setting up a focal point, such as an outdoor seating area, fire pit, or grill, can make the space more inviting. Even if it’s a limited yard or patio space, brightening it up with flowers and comfy outdoor furniture can change the perception from confined to cozy.

Recommended: Guide to Buying, Selling, and Updating Your Home

The Takeaway

How to stage a house? It can take time and energy, but emphasizing a home’s strengths and creating an inviting atmosphere can be done with some thorough cleaning, decluttering, and rearranging.

Looking for an affordable option for a home mortgage loan? SoFi can help: We offer low down payments (as little as 3% - 5%*) with our competitive and flexible home mortgage loans. Plus, applying is extra convenient: It's online, with access to one-on-one help.

*SoFi requires Private Mortgage Insurance (PMI) for conforming home loans with a loan-to-value (LTV) ratio greater than 80%. As little as 3% down payments are for qualifying first-time homebuyers only. 5% minimum applies to other borrowers. Other loan types may require different fees or insurance (e.g., VA funding fee, FHA Mortgage Insurance Premiums, etc.). Loan requirements may vary depending on your down payment amount, and minimum down payment varies by loan type.

SoFi Loan Products
SoFi loans are originated by SoFi Bank, N.A., NMLS #696891 (Member FDIC). For additional product-specific legal and licensing information, see SoFi.com/legal. Equal Housing Lender.

SoFi Mortgages
Terms, conditions, and state restrictions apply. Not all products are available in all states. See SoFi.com/eligibility-criteria for more information.

Tax Information: This article provides general background information only and is not intended to serve as legal or tax advice or as a substitute for legal counsel. You should consult your own attorney and/or tax advisor if you have a question requiring legal or tax advice.

Financial Tips & Strategies: The tips provided on this website are of a general nature and do not take into account your specific objectives, financial situation, and needs. You should always consider their appropriateness given your own circumstances.

Third-Party Brand Mentions: No brands, products, or companies mentioned are affiliated with SoFi, nor do they endorse or sponsor this article. Third-party trademarks referenced herein are property of their respective owners.

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Compounding returns can help the money you’ve invested grow, as long as those returns are reinvested.

Compound returns depend on the rate of return–meaning how much the investment gains or losses over time. The most powerful effects of compounding returns take time, even decades. That’s why people are often encouraged to start investing at an early age, even with small amounts. The longer their money is invested, the more compounding it can do.

How can investors receive compounding returns? Here’s how the process works and steps to take to achieve it.

What Are Compounding Returns?

Compounding returns are the earnings you continuously receive from contributions you’ve made to an investment.

Compound returns can be achieved by any type of asset class that produces returns on both the initial amount–or the principal–as well as any profits or returns that are generated after the initial investment. Essentially, the money you put to work is doing additional work automatically for you.


💡 Quick Tip: If you’re opening a brokerage account for the first time, consider starting with an amount of money you’re prepared to lose. Investing always includes the risk of loss, and until you’ve gained some experience, it’s probably wise to start small.

How Does Compounding Interest Work?

Compound interest, on the other hand, refers to interest that accrues on savings accounts. (There isn’t such a thing as compound interest in stocks.) So, for instance, if you have a savings account that pays interest on the principal in the account, the interest you earn gets added to the principal. That means, your interest ends up earning interest–or compounding.

The Value of Compounding Returns

Here’s a hypothetical example that illustrates the idea of compound returns. (However, be aware that this is only for an investor making profits. In reality, an investor could also experience losses.)

Let’s say an investor buys a stock that costs $1,000. That’s the investment’s “principal.” In the first year, they earn a 10% return. The stock is now worth $1,100. Things start to get interesting in the second year, when the stock increases in value another 10%, bringing the stock’s value to $1,210.

That’s $110 in profit earned in the second year, compared to $100 in the first year. This happened even though they did not add any additional money to the investment, and they earned the same compound rate of return. The investment simply grew over the previous year, creating a larger base from which to earn more.

If the investor were to earn a 10% rate of return the third year, the profit would be even greater than in the previous two years. Working off a larger base—now $1,210—a 10% return will yield a profit of $121.

But keep in mind that investments that hold stocks may experience volatility. Take the example from above. Three consecutive years of precise 10% returns is highly unlikely. In fact, it’s also possible for investors to lose money on their investments, which is the case in almost any asset class. While helpful for understanding the concept of compound returns, it’s not necessarily reflective of the real-world experience.

Recommended: A Beginner’s Guide to Investing in Your 20s

How to Get Compound Returns

With compound returns, the reinvestment of interest may be done automatically or manually.

Here are some examples of investment types that can earn compound returns.

Stocks: There are two ways to make money on a stock. The first is through price appreciation, and the second is through dividend payments. When the value of a stock grows over time, an investor has the potential to earn compound interest if those profits are reinvested. With cash dividend payments, compound returns are not automatic, as they are paid out in cash, but an investor can add the payouts back in in order to potentially earn additional returns.

Mutual funds: Mutual funds are pools of stocks, bonds, or other investment types. For example, a mutual fund could invest in the U.S. stock market. Over time, the goal is that the mutual fund grows as the underlying investments grow. Many mutual funds give the option of automatic dividend reinvestment plans. This way, the investor can earn compound returns in both ways, on the price appreciation and the dividend payments.

Exchange-traded funds (ETFs): Similar to mutual funds, ETFs are pools of investments, like stocks. As the value of the ETF grows over time, returns will compound. Depending on which bank or institution where the ETF is purchased, it may or may not be possible to automatically reinvest dividends.

Remember, with all investments, a good return on investment is not guaranteed, even profits aren’t. Plus, investments that tend to earn a higher potential return may also come with higher risk.


💡 Quick Tip: How to manage potential risk factors in a self-directed investment account? Doing your research and employing strategies like dollar-cost averaging and diversification may help mitigate financial risk when trading stocks.

Which Products Offer Compound Interest?

Here are some examples of the types of accounts that earn compound interest.

High-yield savings accounts: Some high-yield savings accounts pay interest on cash balances. With these accounts, it is possible to earn interest on top of interest earned in previous months, therefore earning compounding returns.

Money market accounts: These accounts combine features of both a savings and a checking account. For instance, you may be able to write checks or use a debit card with a money market account. You earn interest on the balance in the account.

CDs: With a CD, or Certificate of Deposit, you place your money in the account and leave it for a specified period of time, which is usually anywhere from three months to five years. While the money is in the account, it earns a guaranteed amount of interest that typically compounds.

Bonds: You can buy different types of bonds such as US Treasury Bonds. In return for buying the bonds, the issuer pays you compound interest over a certain period of time, which can be as long as 30 years until the bonds mature.

The Takeaway

Compound returns can be a powerful way for your money to grow over time. When you invest your money in stocks or other asset classes, you have the potential to earn compounded rates of return. And the longer you invest, the more time your returns may have to compound.

Ready to invest in your goals? It’s easy to get started when you open an investment account with SoFi Invest. You can invest in stocks, exchange-traded funds (ETFs), mutual funds, alternative funds, and more. SoFi doesn’t charge commissions, but other fees apply (full fee disclosure here).

FAQ

Do stocks compound daily?

Compound return is a measure of a stock’s performance over time. Compounding often happens monthly, quarterly, semi-annually, or annually.

What is the average compound interest return?

The average compound interest return depends on the types of savings vehicles you have.

What is the difference between arithmetic and compounding returns?

With arithmetic returns, you take the difference between the ending value of an investment and the beginning value of the investment and divide it by the beginning value. Compound returns depend on the rate of return–meaning how much an investment gains or losses over time.

Third-Party Brand Mentions: No brands, products, or companies mentioned are affiliated with SoFi, nor do they endorse or sponsor this article. Third-party trademarks referenced herein are property of their respective owners.

Financial Tips & Strategies: The tips provided on this website are of a general nature and do not take into account your specific objectives, financial situation, and needs. You should always consider their appropriateness given your own circumstances.

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