Friday, May 28, 2010

How To Improve Curb Appeal

It's difficult to look at our own house in the same way that potential home buyers do, because when we become accustomed to the way something looks and functions, we can't see its faults. Decide right now to stop thinking of the property as a home. It's a house—a commodity you want to sell for the highest dollar possible.

 

Curb Appeal Exercise

The next time you come home, stop across the street or far enough down the driveway to get a good view of the house and its surroundings.
  1. What is your first impression of the house and yard area?
  2. What are the best exterior features of the house or lot? How can you enhance them?
  3. What are the worst exterior features of the house or lot? How can you minimize or improve them?
Park where a potential buyer would and walk towards the house, looking around you as if it were your first visit. Is the approach clean and tidy? What could you do to make it more attractive?
Take photos of the home's exterior. If you have a digital camera, view the color versions first, then remove the color and look at it in black and white, because it's easier to see problems when color isn't around to affect our senses.
Make a list of the problem areas you discovered. Tackle clean up and repair chores first, then put some time into projects that make the grounds more attractive.
  • Kill mold and mildew on the house, sidewalks, roof, or driveway.
  • Stow away unnecessary garden implements and tools.
  • Clean windows and gutters.
  • Pressure wash dirty siding and dingy decks.
  • Edge sidewalks and remove vegetation growing between concrete or bricks.
  • Mow the lawn. Get rid of weeds.
  • Rake and dispose of leaves, even if your lot is wooded.
  • Trim tree limbs that are near or touching the home's roof.

Don't Forget the Rear View

Buyers doing a drive by will try their best to see your back yard. If it's visible from another street or from a neighbor's driveway, include it in your curb appeal efforts.

Tips
If you brainstorm, you'll find that there's a solution to most problems—one that lets you stay within your budget. The trick is to find the areas where improvements are needed, then work on them as best you can.


  • If you can budget it, a fresh paint job does wonders for a dingy house. Drive around your town to find color schemes that are appealing.
  • Install a more attractive front door, maybe something with leaded glass inserts.
  • If you can't justify the cost of a new door, consider replacing plain doorknob hardware with something more attractive.
  • If new hardware is beyond your budget, repaint or stain the door and polish the hardware?
If you brainstorm, you'll find that there's a solution to most problems—one that lets you stay within your budget. The trick is to find the areas where improvements are needed, then work on them as best you can.

http://homebuying.about.com/cs/sellerarticles/a/curb_appeal.htm

Tuesday, May 25, 2010

12 Reasons to Use a Realtor When Selling Your Home


Real Estate transactions involve one of the biggest financial investments most people experience in their lifetime. Transactions today usually exceed $100,000. This amount of money should not be taken lightly. Using a professional and trained Realtor has many benefits in helping you sell your home for the right price in today's market.

1. Your Realtor can help you determine your buying power-- that is, your financial reserves plus your borrowing capacity. If you give a Realtor some basic information about your available savings, income and current debt, he or she can refer you to lenders best qualified to help you. Most lenders offer limited choices.

2. Your Realtor has many resources to assist you in your home search. Sometimes the property you are seeking is available but not actively advertised in the market, and it will take some investigation by your agent to find all available properties.

3. Your Realtor can assist you in the selection process by providing objective information about each property. Agents who are Realtors have access to a variety of informational resources. Realtors can provide local community information on utilities, zoning, schools, etc. There are two things you will want to know. First, will the property provide the environment I want for a home or investment? Second, will the property have resale value when I am ready to sell?

4. Your Realtor can help you negotiate. There are myriad negotiating factors, including but not limited to price, financing, terms, date of possessions and often the inclusion or exclusion of repairs and furnishings or equipment. The purchase agreement should provide a period of time for you to complete appropriate inspections and investigations of the property before you are bound to complete the purchase. Your agent can advise you as to which investigations and inspections are recommended or required.

5. Your Realtor provides due diligence during the evaluation of the property. Depending on the area and property, this could include inspections for termites, dry rot, asbestos, faulty structure, roof condition, septic tank and well tests, just to name a few. Your Realtor can assist you in finding qualified responsible professionals to do most of these investigations and provide you with written reports. You will also want to see a preliminary report on the title of the property. Title indicates ownership of property and can be mired in confusing status of past owners or rights of access. The title to most properties will have some limitations; for example, easements (access rights) for utilities. Your Realtor, title company or attorney can help you resolve issues that might cause problems at a later date.

6. Your Realtor can help you in understanding different financing options and in identifying qualified lenders.

7. Your Realtor can guide you through the closing process and make sure everything flows together smoothly.

8. When selling your home, your Realtor can give you up to date information on what is happening in the marketplace and the price, financing, terms and condition of competing properties.
These are key factors in getting your property sold at the best price, quickly and with minimum hassle.

9. Your Realtor markets your property to other real estate agents in the public. Often your Realtor can recommend repairs or cosmetic work that will significantly enhance the saleability of your property. Your Realtor markets your property to other real estate agents and the public.

10. Your Realtor will know when, where and how to advertise your property.

11. Your Realtor can help you objectively evaluate every buyer's proposal without compromising your marketing position. This initial agreement is only the beginning of a process of appraisals, inspections and financing-- a lot of possible pitfalls. Your Realtor can help you write a legally binding, win-win agreement that will be more likely to make it through the process.

12.Your Realtor can help close the sale of your home. Between the initial sales agreement and closing (or settlement), questions may arise. For example, unexpected repairs are required to obtain financing or a cloud in the title is discovered. The required paperwork alone is overwhelming for most sellers. Your Realtor is the best person to objectively help you resolve these issues and move the transaction to closing (or settlement).

10 Tips to Sell Your Home Faster

Here are some ways experts suggest to sell your home faster:

1. Finish the "Honey Do List"
Just about every homeowner has a string of little repairs that never quite get done. Now's the time. Fix the screens, oil that squeak, patch the cracks, paint the trim. Stuff that you have long since stop noticing could be shouting "Deferred Maintenance" to every potential buyer.

2. Get Inspected
A pre-sale inspection can help in two ways, says real estate columnist Tom Kelly. Professional inspections can identify problems that could thwart a sale in time to fix them. And if there are no major problems, he said, an inspection can publicize that fact to skittish buyers.

3.Pack Up The Clutter
"Clutter eats equity," said real-estate broker Barb Schwartz, CEO of StagedHomes.com and a pioneer of the concept of professionally preparing houses for sale. Too much stuff makes rooms look smaller and focuses buyers' attention on your possessions rather than the home you're trying to sell. That's why many professional stagers recommend removing as much as a third of your things to better show off rooms and closets.

4. Depersonalize & Neutralize
The first items that should go in those packing boxes: family photos, collections and just about anything else that says "you". Streamline your artwork and consider toning down bold decorating statements, said Ilyce Glink, author of "50 Simples Steps You Can Take to Sell Your Home Faster and for More Money in Any Market." That means neutral shades if you need to repaint walls or replace carpets.

5. Clean Like a Fiend
"I mean Q-Tip Clean," said Schwarz, who recommends taking a cotton swab to faucets and fixtures, scouring fingerprints from all of the switch plates, shining windows until they're spotless and vacuuming up every last dog hair from the baseboards. "You should be able to eat off of the kitchen floor, the bathroom floor." You will need to banish suspect smells as well; you don't want your house to become known as real-estate circles as "the cat place".

6. Stage the Rooms
Stand in the doorway to find each room's focal point, and use furniture placement to highlight that. The back of your sofa shouldn't block the view of the fireplace, for example, and the dining room table shouldn't be sharing space with a stair climber.

7. Tend to the Floors
Keeping them spotless won't help if they're dated, worn or impossibly stained. You shouldn't spend a fortune installing hardwood or tile, though, since you're unlikely to recoup the cost. Look for compromises that can improve the home's appearance without busting your wallet.

Carpets should be steam cleaned to see if they're salvageable. If not, you may be able to reduce the costs of replacements by offering to do some of the work, such as removing the the old carpet and furniture.

8. Kick Up Curb Appeal
By now, you probably realize the garden gnomes are a no-no. Buy you may not realize how many sales you're losing before potential buyers even get to the front door. Given the pressure to make a good first impression, you'll need to do more than trim back the hedges and plant a few pansies. "Hire a professional landscaper to clean up the leaves, plan some fall flowers, trim the bushes and trees, and really manicure the lawn," Glink suggested. "If your front walkway is cracked, now might be the time to replace it."


9. Pick the Right Publicist
If you're working with an agent, you'll want one who can really sell. That means somebody who knows your neighborhood intimately and who's enthusiastic about your home. That also means someone other agents want to work with; someone who is too abrasive or who isn't trustworthy won't help your cause. If you're going to try to sell your home yourself, make sure you're up for the job. Hawking a home can be hard work.

10. Set the Right PriceA seller may think she's just testing the market with a high price tag, assuming buyers will at least make an offer, but buyers may assume she's unreasonable and move on. Your goal should be a fair price-- something that's reasonable given the price of other homes in your area.

"Buyers who are actively searching for a fairly-priced home," Glink said, "will pounce on what they perceive is fair value."



Honours Properties

Monday, May 24, 2010

The Peninsula



Quietly tucked away in its own secluded corner of the world, The Peninsula is a gated Gulf Shores golfing community featuring 27 holes of championship golf...the area's premier racquet and fitness club...a 400-acre nature preserve and walkover to a private beach on beautiful Bon Secour Bay...and a wide variety of elegant homes and building sites for year-round living. The Peninsula Real Estate team will bring the resort right outside your door.

All of these features and activities make for excellent Gulf Shores real estate opportunities. You’ll find tasteful breathtaking views of green fairways and lush natural surrounding. This is what makes The Peninsula best in Alabama Golfing Communities.

Don’t wait any longer to start living your relaxed and easy-going lifestyle along the Alabama Gulf Coast. Come for Golf, stay for Tennis, observe the Nature and make The Peninsula Home



Ammenities Include


www.ThePeninsula.com