August 22, 2008 5:59PM

Lots of Return on Little Investment

By Alexis Glick

This morning on Money for Breakfast I interviewed Kirsten Kemp Becker, a real estate expert and host of a new show on TLC (The Learning Channel) called Hope For Your Home. It’s a show that focuses on homeowners who have hit a financial rough patch. At a time when 1.3 million properties have entered into foreclosure in the first six months of this year, it couldn’t come at a better time.

The premise of the show is to give participants $10,000 to fix up their homes over a 30-day period. The show tells homeowners exactly what to do to either appreciate the value of their homes so that they can refinance for a better rate and cheaper monthly mortgage or tells them how to prepare the home to sell. So far, Kirsten said they’ve had some great success. One home made an $80,000 profit off a $10,000 investment and, in another case, a homeowner’s monthly mortgage payment was reduced by 25%!

Hope For Your Home debuts this month on Saturday nights at 8:30 P.M. EST. I’m really looking forward to watching it. I’d like to see what I can do to improve the value of my home with minimal investment.

Take a look. She has excellent tips.

5 Responses to “Lots of Return on Little Investment”

Comment by Rob

August 25th, 2008 at 11:20 am

I seriously doubt these numbers. No bank is going to assume a home is more valuable as a result of upgrades without seeing a comp. The house down the street from me was bought for 600k, they worked on it for 3 month putting about 50k in upgrades in, and couldn’t even sell it for 550k. It’s ugly out there.
Comment by Derek

August 26th, 2008 at 9:59 am

I agree with Rob…. I think it is another show of false hope to its viewers. It is just a way to gain ratings. However if the house is in an absolute terrible state, then maybe your investment could help.
Comment by Ward

August 27th, 2008 at 2:39 pm

Its nice that these shows have finally recognized the crisis just a few months ago I watched one about a couple in SanFran who paid 700k for 1100/sq ft. and got an interest only loan they could hardly swallow…of course the epsiode was made in ‘06. Maybe the fact that these dopes finally acknowledge the new reality means its stopped getting worse. They should make a show called how to default on your mortgage.
Comment by Bob Pearson-Ret.R/EBrkr

September 1st, 2008 at 11:24 am

We will see very little recovery in the resale R/E market until the mortgage companies & banks go back to the minimum down payments (10-20%) and realistic qualifying rather than the subsidized government give-away type loans introduced in the past 8-10 years..Those type of loans only create a quicksand value system that is unsustainable due to the unaffordability of variable and increasing interest rates..It is hard for me to believe that a 1200+- sq ft house can’t be built for less than $100 K, plus the cost of the land, which should be moderated by now with the cancelled land-purchase contracts..I’m a former developer/RE Broker-Owner/ & an Economics Major..
Comment by Dana Swan

September 1st, 2008 at 12:02 pm

If housing values continue to drop, there will be a “Tipping Point” where many home owners will finally beleive that they may never see their homes worth what they paid for them. At this point, strugging to pay a big mortgage may seem fruitless. If this occurs, and the prospects of selling their home seems pointless (they owe more than it’s worth) many more may home owners will walk away from their homes at a faster rate. This could start a chain reaction causing many more and more home owners to walk away…….