Make $500,000 Tax Free from Real Estate Makeovers

Posted by M.S. on June 9, 2009

Would you be interested to learn exactly how to make up to $500,000 TAX FREE doing makeovers on real estate?

I thought so!

Did you know that since 1997, up to $250,000 in profit ($500,000 for a married couple) on the sale of a home, is exempt from taxation if you have lived in the home as your principal residence for two out of the last five years?

A friend of mine told me several years ago she and her husband have done this exact thing many times and she showed me step by step exactly how they accomplished this.  These ideas have been incorporated  into my own homes and I will showcase the process I used over the next several weeks.

Basically, the right house must meet specific criteria. The property must have great potential as a primary residence, be in a terrific location and need a makeover.  Increase the market value of the real estate by adding character & value through improvements, landscaping and decorating.  In essence, make it look like a model home.

Live in it for 2 years, market the heck out of it,  sell it and repeat the process!  You can do this too!  Especially in the current real estate market where there are fabulous deals!

Today, we demonstrate great ways to add value to your home with inexpensive & easy to do custom window treatments and blinds.

We purchased these faux wood blinds that fit on the inside of each window segment and are very easy to install.  The length of the blind is adjustable by removing slats from the bottom that are not needed .  This creates the custom look, since they fit exactly.

The US Post Office sent us a packet of coupons when we moved into our new home that included a 10% coupon good at Home Depot, which Lowe’s will also honor.  We purchased all of the blinds with this coupon!

Our front door has a fan shaped window above the door and 2 very thin side windows.  Custom blinds would have been required for this configuration and there was NO WAY I was going to pay $1,200, which is the quote I received from a blind company.

Instead, I bought 2 queen sized white bed sheets for $ 9 total, perfect because they are large with no seams, and I made simple pockets in each end.

I cut a  wooden dowel rod to make tiny custom curtain rods and held them in place with 10¢ cup hooks from the hardware store.

The curved fan window treatment was very simple to make, using the same design with a bedsheet and sewing a rod pocket at each end.  I measured the distance between the top edge of the window to the bottom edge and simply pieced together one long rectangle that I made pockets at each end and threaded through a $ 3 plastic drainage tube.

I used tubing because it’s pliable and it will curve.  Pretty clever huh?  I found this tubing in the garden department of the hardware store.

Voila a custom window treatment!

That would cost $500 to have a designer create that for you!

A door that leads to the patio has a long slender window.  This time I used an aluminum blind purchased on sale at Wal-Mart,  removed the extra slats at the bottom and it looks totally custom!

Home buyers love to be able to walk right into a property that looks like a Model Home and not do a thing!

They don’t know that you used inexpensive techniques to enhance and stage the property, so  the value of your improvements goes right into your selling price!

You are making it easy for buyers to LOVE your property and thanks to a little effort, you are on your way to making great tax free money!