Your Home & the Start of School

School supplies are showing up on the shelves of stores everywhere reminding everyone that the final days of summer are edging closer.

With that in mind, it’s a good idea to evaluate your home to make sure you are organized and prepared for the approaching business that may soon impact your days. Even if you do not have children in school, shortened daylight hours and changing traffic patterns can affect your neighborhood and home life, giving you a reason to pause and consider changes you may want to incorporate now.

Home Improvement Projects

With extended daylight hours, now is the time to evaluate your home and complete any DIY projects you’ve been contemplating. Summer time schedules are a bit more open, typically, allowing you more freedom to work on your project AND recruit friends who may be available to help, too. Finishing projects up now will create more peace in your home throughout the rest of the year, including those busy first weeks of fall and keep you smiling through the holidays.

Conquering Home Calendars & Paper Chaos

With sales on school and office supplies, now is the time to make headway on your paper projects. Whether you need a new wall calendar or a dry erase board, or are looking for that special desktop accent to spark creativity in your home office, you can save time and money by shopping now while inventory is high and sale pricing is available. Perhaps with the additional daylight hours of summer, you can even spend some time scanning and/or discarding the papers piling up on your desk, too!

Regardless of the projects you embark on as you enjoy the lingering days of summer, mental preparedness is one of the keys to a good transition. If you have school-aged children, start coaching them now on sleep and eating patterns to ensure that your family is ready for the transition to a new schedule. But don’t go overboard....  After all, summer is not over yet!

Home Buyers & Sellers – How Quickly Can You Move?

Often when I speak to someone who wants to sell their home, they have an immediate need. The same is true for home buyers. When they are ready, no time is fast enough for finding a home!

How long do you think it should take to sell a home? How long do you feel the buying process should take? Many home buyers and sellers may guess at that number, but did you know that you can actually view it from a statistical standpoint?

When a home is listed for sale, that time begins to be calculated using “Days on Market” or DOM. This factor tracks the time from the home’s first entrance into the MLS until an offer has been made and accepted by the seller. Once an offer has been accepted, the home’s status changes to a pending versus active status.

If a home has been on the market for a longer period of time, sellers may be more willing to negotiate on price, so that number can be very helpful to buyers. It is possible to remove a listing for a variety of reasons and then re-list it as a new listing, so checking the history of a property listing is valuable, too, to make sure the DOM status is accurate.

The DOM figure can be a helpful guideline to home sellers, as well, but only in a very general sense. Property condition, location, interest rates and other market factors can result in increased and decreased DOM statistics, so it’s a tough stat to base your plans on.

If you are curious about a home for sale, or would like to sell your home, please contact me to see how we can decrease your DOM and help with your real estate needs. Let’s determine how quickly YOU can move!

Credibility Matters in Real Estate

When buying and selling a home, it is important to trust the team that will represent you, from your real estate agent to the escrow officer and mortgage broker. Checking on certifications or credentials can bring peace of mind and help you as a consumer feel more “at home” with the real estate professionals with whom you will work.  The proper credentials and strong professional knowledge base can also make your real estate transaction flow more smoothly.

Perhaps you found me through a positive referral from a friend, so feel like you are in safe hands – that’s great! However, even with the best recommendations, it’s still wise to be aware of credentials, distinctions and designations that help to develop my integrity and credibility as a real estate agent. Through your discovery, you may even become aware of additional tools that I can offer to you, along with feeling like you and your property needs are in capable hands.

One of the most important things you should be aware of is my knowledge of your area. This is my home town. I know all about this area, as you’ll notice on my active website and social media pages. I am active in my local community and can provide you with a list of referrals, from satisfied customers to service providers. Use the pages of my website, like the about page or specific community pages, as tools to give you information about the community, but also about me as a professional. Reference my blog to gain a better understanding of my knowledge of the local area and the real estate industry at large.

Secondly, I hold several designations that are valuable in the field of real estate. You’ll notice the “R” symbol after my name, designating me as a Realtor. Realtors abide by strict industry standards and a code of ethics and that symbol indicates that I am a member of the National Association of Realtors (NAR).

Other designations you may see can vary from agent to agent, and here are several to consider. Please ask me about my specific credentials and designations so that you can feel comfortable knowing that I can meet your real estate needs.

• Accredited Buyer Representative (ABR)
• Accredited Consultant in Real Estate (ACRE)
• Accredited Seller Representative (ASR)
• Accredited Staging Professional (ASP)
• Certified Short Sale Seller (CSSS)
• Counselor of Real Estate (CRE)
• Certified Residential Specialist (CRS)
• Certified Distressed Property Expert (CDPE)
• Certified Internet Professional (e-PRO)
• Graduate Realtor® Institute (GRI)
• Quality Service Certification (QSC)
• Senior Real Estate Specialist (SRES)