Oct 06

Ways to Save Your Clients Money

Ways to Save Your Clients Money

Ways to Save Your Clients Money

Ways to Save Your Clients Money

One of the biggest lessons prospective home owners need to learn is how to budget for the costs of home ownership, but many of your buyers may be too quick to dole out extra cash for certain conveniences or frivolous items. You can teach them where to cut gratuitous spending on their home by helping them set priorities. Here are five cost-saving tips to pass along to your clients.

Don’t call maintenance professionals for small fixes. A leaky toilet, for example, is a pretty simple repair your clients can do on their own — which will save them the typical $45 to $150 per hour for a house call. Direct them to YouTube tutorials, which cover most basic home repairs. If they’d rather call in an expert, share this secret: Small, local appliance shops usually have their own repairmen who charge much less than maintenance companies.

Extended warranties aren’t worth it. Most appliances and other home products are high-quality and won’t need a major repair before it comes time to replace them, according to Consumer Reports. So tell your clients the added protection of an extended warranty is rarely useful. They’d be better off stashing the cash in a savings account for future home repairs.

Why replace older appliances with newer models just for modern perks? Your clients won’t necessarily get the best ROI on an oven that talks or remote access to their air-conditioning system if their current units are sufficient enough. “Spend $1,000 on a new, energy-efficient stove and it could take 10 years of energy savings to offset the cost of the new stove,” Arthur Teel, owner and operator of The Handyman Plan in Asheville, N.C., told HouseLogic. Tell your clients to only replace what doesn’t work anymore.

LED bulbs do make a difference. Incandescent bulbs may be cheaper buys, but they are harder on energy bills. Your clients would be better off replacing their bulbs with LEDs, which can recuperate their cost in about a year. But they don’t have to do it in one fell swoop. To stagger the cost, tell buyers to replace incandescent bulbs as they burn out.

Trash or give away unused items instead of putting them in storage. At an average cost of $50 to $300 for a storage unit, do your clients really need to hold onto things they can’t fit in their home? Help them learn to let go, or give them ideas for reorganizing their home’s storage, such as cleaning out closets or building window seats with drawers.

Source: “7 Household Expenses You’re Probably Wasting Your Money On,” HouseLogic

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