3 Open House Tips to Help You Sell Your Home

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I have three helpful tips to help you get your home ready for the all-important open house.

1. Depersonalize. When people come to your open house, they don’t want to see you, they want to see themselves. You have to remove all the stuff that looks like you. That means taking out any personal pictures, personal collections, religious mementos, or any other tableaux that might possibly distract them from imagining themselves living in that home.
2. Declutter. If you have too much stuff crowding the spaces in the house, this will also distract any prospective buyers from the house itself. So, again, remove any personalized collections. Also, take a look at your furniture. A good rule of thumb is to remove half of it and put it in the garage or anywhere that’s out of sight. And don’t forget about the outside of the home, either. You can declutter around the premises and give it a prettier makeover by raking away the leaves, pulling the weeds, and clearing all the nasty-looking spider webs.
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   Remove anything that
   might distract the buyer from
   the home itself.

   
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3. Deodorize. If you’ve got a dog or a cat, any odors left by them can prove to be a liability. Especially if anyone is allergic to them. I’ve had cases where people walked in the front door only to walk right back out because they smelled pet odor.

While we’re on the subject, it’s important for you to remember your own safety during your open house. Protect your identity and put away all your valuables (money, jewelry, checkbooks, drugs, medicine prescriptions, ect.) while strangers are walking through your property.

Remember, when you buy a house, you’re not just buying the house - you’re buying a lifestyle. If I can help you, give me a call or send me an email. Have a good day!

How Do You Avoid Common Mistakes When Buying a New Home?

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There are five steps you can take to avoid common mistakes when buying a new house:

1. Be realistic. Hedge your expectations properly. If you have, for example, a 4,000 sq. ft. home and are looking to move into a 1,500 sq ft home, you might not be able to fit your lifestyle in there if you’re used to the larger area. On the flipside, if you’re coming from a smaller level and looking to get a bigger home, your dreams and your pocketbook may not match. Don’t look at facts and figures through rose-colored glasses.
2. Fix your current home. If there are things to fix, make sure you fix them so that potential buyers looking at the home will see it at its best. You’ll save money in the long run by doing it yourself first rather than waiting for the buyer to ask for repairs to be done during negotiations.
3. Sell your current home before you buy a new one. I see this a lot. People get very excited about the idea of buying a new home. Often when they find the one they want, they go ahead and make an offer while their old home is still sitting there unsold. This means that if their offer is accepted, they could be stuck paying two mortgages simultaneously. Get a contract for your old home before you get a contract for your new one.
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   Work closely with an
   agent so they can help you
   through all the steps.

   
   ”
4. Get pre-approved. If you’re serious about looking for a new home, you need to meet with a lender and get a pre-qualification form. It doesn’t cost anything or obligate you to something you don’t want to do. All it does is act as a guarantee that you can financially cover any offer you make. A seller will look more favorably on a buyer who has one than one who doesn’t.
5. Work closely with your agent. Between the lenders, title companies, agents, inspectors, etc., a lot of coordination goes into the homebuying process. The more people you involve, the more complicated it gets. The key thing is to find an agent you can deal with so they can help you through all the steps. It’s our job, after all.

Remember, you’re not just buying a house, you’re buying the amenities too. You’re buying a lifestyle. If I can be any further help, shoot me an email or give me a call.

How to Soften the Hard Water in the Valley

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Water hardness…what do we do with hard water in the valley. First, let’s take a look at where we get our water in the valley. Most of our water comes through underground wells or it comes down through canals from the northwest part of the state, the Colorado River. Water also comes from snow runoff in the higher mountains of Arizona and comes also down through canals to this area.

Once the water is here, if we need the water at that time it is treated and pumped out to the population. If the water is not needed at that time, the water is added to the aquifers under the Valley for future use. When this water is needed, it is then pumped out, treated, filtered and pumped to those that need it.

Since our water goes through so many points of contact, it can contain lots of impurities. That’s why we have hard water. Hard water comes from two different kinds of salts: calcium or magnesium. Because this hard water doesn't lather or clean well, it gets on clothes and can leave scum inside appliances. We can measure the water’s hardness a couple of ways. 

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Hard water doesn't lather
or clean well.

”

How do we treat it? Consider water softener. It doesn't take any salts out, but instead, it changes the magnesium or calcium salts to sodium salt. Sodium salts don't create scum and clean better; they’re even better for hair.

Water can also be treated with a reverse osmosis system. This uses a membrane to filter out the salts to purify the water as much as possible. I consider reverse osmosis a better solution, because it actually removes the salts.

As always, please contact me with any questions you have. I’d be happy to help serve your local real estate needs!