1. Less is Worth More Get rid of clutter and anything that takes up counter space. If you don’t need it
Banish the bright colors to throw pillows and accent pieces. Opt for white, light tan or light grey (or a nice greige gets me every time). Simply White remains one of the top selling paint colors for a reason. 4. Clean Up, Clean Up, everybody Clean Up Despite the name dust bunnies are not adorable! Everyone likes a clean house. Make sure those areas (baseboards, fan blades, ac filter covers) that collect dust and dirt are sparkling clean. 5. Take a whiff Pet smells and other odors are an instant turn off. Open windows to air out the house if possible and light a scented candle to freshen up the room. If you are not sure if your home smells, ask a good friend to come over and do a quick sniff test for you. 6. Fix up fixtures Get rid of old dated fixtures. Most home improvement stores have a wide variety of stylish fixtures to choose from. You can use an electrician or with some simple instructions do it yourself (just remember to turn off the breaker!!) 7. Furniture If your sofa is falling apart or your table is missing a leg consider replacing it. Most likely you want some new furniture for the new place anyway. Buy it just a little earlier and it may help sell your home. 8. Let your light shine. Or at least open up curtains, shutters and blinds to brighten up the room. Darker rooms tend to feel smaller and dirty. 9. Whatever you do . . . Look Down! Dirty or worn carpets or tile need to be taken care of. Try professional cleaning first, and if that doesn’t cut it you may want to replace it. 10. Have fun. You may just find yourself falling in love again with your freshly staged home. Do I really need a realtor if I am buying a new construction home? Would you go into a court room without a lawyer to fight for you? Why go into the largest purchase of your life without someone to fight for you there too? Here are a few reasons why using a realtor is a good idea especially if you are looking at a new build. 1) That smiling sales agent on site at a model home represents the builder and the builder only. They are not there to “help” you, the consumer. They are there to get the builder the most money for their home. No matter how comfortable you are with your negotiating skills, I strongly recommend having a real estate professional represent you so they can help you through all phases of the process (i.e. contract, construction, walk-through, and closing). Sales price is not the only number to be negotiated in a home purchase. There are thousands of dollars worth of “fees” associated with a home purchase contract. Do you know what they are and who is paying them? Your REALTOR® will. I can help you negotiate fees, upgrade options, financing terms, closing costs, and much more. 2) Many buyers think they can pay less for a home if a REALTOR® commission is not involved. That is just not true and statistics prove the opposite to be true! Remember, the builder needs the price of their home to be consistent (with a REALTOR® involved or not) because these homes must appraise at full value in order for buyers to get mortgages. That commission is built into the price of the home whether a REALTOR® is involved or not. A REALTOR® will, in fact, save you money by helping to eliminate the hidden costs with purchasing this home! Many builders require that a sales agent accompany buyers on their first visit to their model homes. BEWARE: Going to just "look" at the models without being signed in by an agent can be consenting to not be able to use an agent! I am happy to meet clients at model homes anytime to register you with the builder, answer questions and give input. (I love to look at model homes too.) 3) Your REALTOR® will help you understand your contract and contractual obligations to ensure you do not miss out on important opportunities throughout the process such as when you may schedule construction inspections, to what point you can make changes in the construction process, etc. I can help you understand how contract clauses and upgrade options affect you and make sure you understand your obligations and needs before you sign on the dotted line. 4) A good REALTOR® knows the builders in the market. I can educate you on a builders reputations and reviews and help you ask the right questions to ensure you are selecting a quality builder in your market. 5) Your REALTOR® will fight for you and can have more pull with a builder than you. Issues OFTEN arise in construction of a new home and you may not get the answer you want if you are asking a builder to fix a concern. However, builders need to maintain their reputations with REALTOR®'s because we sell their homes… over and over again… and can quickly affect their sales numbers if our clients are not satisfied. We know building standards and how to represent you. 6) Just as I would with pre-owned homes, I will ensure you are comparing apples to apples when comparing new construction homes. There are a LOT of factors that go into building a home. Items to compare are: what appliances come standard (compare energy efficiency, stainless steel vs black, etc), what quality/level of flooring, what quality/level of counter tops, is is the home plumbed for a water softener, what is the standard size of the 2 car garage, is the cover over the back patio standard or an upgrade that you will have to pay for? The list goes on and on. 7) Don’t fall for the sales pitch! It is easy to get swept up in the excitement of touring a beautiful model home. However, it is important to have a REALTOR® bring you back to reality and ensure this home really does fit your needs. A builder’s sales representative is there to sell you on all the good points of the neighborhood but your REALTOR® will look out for your best interest when it comes to researching important points such as flood plains, property tax variances, potential for commercial construction in your “back yard”, changing school zones, resale values and much more! 8) Your REALTOR® will save you a LOT OF TIME! Signing the contract is just the start of the process of buying a new home. You need to compare financing options and terms, work with the title company to ensure a smooth, cost efficient, and timely closing, attend numerous inspections, and so much more throughout the construction process. Your REALTOR® will manage that process for you and save you hours upon hours of time and headache. I hope this information was helpful. If you have any questions about this process, would like me to represent you in purchasing your new home or to help you sell your existing home. Please contact me anytime!! BeforeAfterThe first room that I began painting was the laundry room, so I will begin my home tour here. The two reasons that I started in the laundry room were: 1. I knew that moving the washer and dryer to paint after they were installed was not very practical. 2. I hate laundry! Honestly it is my least favorite chore. I wanted to lessen my distain for laundry by at least having a nice clean room to do it in. I started by painting the walls a light shade of grey. (Walmart Color Place Princeton White). At $7.99 a piece from IKEA these cabinet handles make me so happy! Since everyone loves a little laundry humor I photoshopped these prints to fit an old pair of frames. A quick coat of gold spray paint brightened up the dated frame color. I just used a couple of tools to wire this new nautical pendant. It is so much better than the builder basic light that dimly lit the room I love technology, but did not love the cable modem and wiring "house" located in the laundry room. I found this cute print from http://makerandink.com/ "whatever you do, do it as unto the Lord". A great reminder that the huge piles of laundry that I clean and sort will only be there for a short while, and even if I hate laundry I can do it well and with a good attitude. Famous last words. I have always had dreams of fixing up a house. Thanks to Chip and Joanna I was sure that a house that needed some work was my destiny. We had been saying for years that we wanted to move into "town". So we got to work fixing up the builder basic home that we had lived in for the past 12 years to make the big move. New carpets, cleaning, new paint, decluttering, new tile, cleaning, new molding, cleaning . . etc. I was cleaning like a crazy woman, and trying to impress on my kids that we couldn't leave towels and clothes on the floor for a showing (I assumed this was common sense). The dreaded house cleaning anxiety was short lived because we had the house was listed for 4 days before we had an offer. As a real estate agent this was my quickest sale to date! Then the fun began, moving out in less than 3 weeks, finding a home to move to, packing, family bonding in a 1 bedroom casita for a few weeks (that I was extremely grateful for), and then moving less than 3 weeks before Christmas. Whew! We did it!!
The home we chose is beautiful! It is in a nice neighborhood, quiet street, great price, good overall condition . . but, the paint was bad, really bad. My husband turned to me when we walked through the home and said "this will be a good project". I found some of the paint the homeowner left for touch-ups and gladly donated it to my son's school for their production of "Seusical the Musical" the colors were perfect for the play! So I am working one room at a time to tone down the paint, make it my own, and work towards having the (imperfectly as it is) perfect home. |
Archives
June 2017
Categories |