Landscaping Do's and Don'ts

Want to improve the view from the other side of the curb? Here are a few tips:

1. Look at the big picture. Some things should go without saying. But the truth is that after you've lived with fading trim -- or that shutter that hangs at a jaunty angle -- for a year or two, you probably don't even see it anymore. "People are not going to look at it the same way you will," says Myra Zollinger, an owner/broker with Coldwell Banker Realty Center in Chapel Hill.
Ask your real estate agent or a trusted friend to look at the front of your home with a new set of eyes. Would they be interested in the home if they didn't know you? If not, what are the turn-offs?
And always do the obvious: keep the lawn mowed and the gutters clear. Trim the bushes, get rid of any dead branches and fix anything that's hanging or broken. And keep outdoor lights on in the evening and in good working order, the better to show off your house 24-7.

2. Shine. Got a brass doorknob?

For all the 8 click the link: 8 ways to Increase Curb Appeal

Realtors Who Don’t Respond May be Hurting their Clients

If you have a home on the market to sell and your REALTOR® is not returning your calls or e-mails in a timely manner,  what are they doing when another Realtor calls or e-mails them with a question or to present an offer?  Are they treating them the same way?


I believe that this lack of etiquette and business sense should be a red flag when choosing a Realtor.

I have noticed more and more that potential clients are telling me that the previous Realtor they had never returned calls or e-mails.  And when they did,  it was days later, not hours.  I am sorry but that is unacceptable.

I recently had the opportunity to make a presentation for an expired listing.  The gentleman was a very methodical person who spent a great deal of time and detail evaluating everything before making a decision.  When the time came for him to interview Realtors,  he sent out an e-mail to all the Realtors that had contacted him about listing his home for sale.  In the body of the e-mail he asked that we each call him so that he could interview each of us over the phone.  From there he would invite a select few to have a face-to-face interview with him.

Well,  I responded within an hour of receiving his e-mail, made it to the face-to-face interview and received the listing.  When I asked him what made him choose me over my competitors, he told me it was my responsiveness to his e-mail and follow up with him afterwards.  In all,  he was initally contacted by seven different Realtors.  Out of those seven only two responded back to his e-mail request within 24 hours.  His theory was if they did not respond to him in a timely manner to market his home,  what were they going to do when other Realtors called or e-mailed them with questions or an offer on his home.

It is a tough economic time for everyone right now.  Some Realtors have gotten out of the business and others have resorted to taking on part-time jobs to supplement their income until things get better.  But I  know that you are entrusting me  with the largest purchase or transaction a person is going to make in their lifetime.  I owe it to you to respond to them, or anyone inquiring about the property, in a timely manner?

I am looking forward to doing business with you.

Thanks Dave Decicco for the info.

Maximize Your Home’s Resale Value

Because our homes aren’t just where we live — they’re also a significant investment — when we sell, we hope to get the most out of our investment.

I believe there are a few things you can do to make sure your home shows well and sells quickly — at the highest possible price.

Making the Most of Your Space

How furniture is laid out in a room can have a big impact on how big (or small) the room looks. Your lifestyle may really suit the two love seats, couch and chair you’ve got crammed into the family room, or the table, with both leaves in it that seats eight in the kitchen. The big toy box and all the shoes in the hallway may be necessary facts of life for you. Your home office, with its overflowing bookshelves and file cabinet, well…that’s just the way you work. But these things can really add up to making a good-sized space seem smaller, and less desirable to a buyer for the price you’re asking.

Consider making small changes while your home is being shown. Would your family room look larger with two love seats facing each other? Would the kitchen feel more open with a table for just four? Would the office be more accessible with the books behind doors and the file cabinet tucked under the desk? Would the hallway seem more welcoming if the toy box was in a closet, and the shoes were on a rack? By removing, downsizing and rearranging items you can ensure prospective buyers have a clear path to move through your space, adding to its feeling of spaciousness and increasing the value for them.

The Art of Un-decor

Your place is probably decorated perfectly to suit your tastes. You love it — but it’s entirely possible that only you could love it which could really limit the number of new purchasers that are going to love it and want to buy it.

Taste is a very personal thing, and if your style leans towards very bold, wild or dark colours, or having every room be very different from the last, most new purchasers will only see your home from the point of view of how much work and expense it will take them to reverse all your decorating decisions.

Keep walls and window coverings neutral and try to create a colour flow from room to room. Neutral is what shows best and sells best — something real estate agents have proven time and time again.

If you’ve already got a neutral palette, make sure it’s fresh and up to date. Sometimes just washing walls in high traffic areas helps, other times a single coat of paint to touch up is required. A fresh coat of paint on baseboards and ceilings can really open up and light up a room, making it seem clean and new and well cared for.

Whatever you can do to make buyers feel like they can move in without any work is a big step towards selling your home.

I like to bring in an interior designer when I list your home to give you tips on how to stage your rooms so that you get your home sold faster and for the best value.  Looking forward to doing business with you.

Thanks Joe Salazar for the information.

Tips for a Profitable Home Closing

Every homeowners wants to be sure that they are walking away with all the money they are entitled to from the sale of their home.

Sellers should check the math on all documents before closing, because anyone can make a mistake.

“When you’re ready to close on the sale of your home and move to your new home, you may be so close to the finish line that you coast, thinking there’s nothing left for you to do. Not so fast. It’s easy to waste a few dollars here and for mistakes to creep into your closing documents there, all adding up to a bundle of lost profit.

Spot money-losing problems with these five tips.

1. Take services out of your name:

Avoid a dispute with the buyers after closing over things like fees for the cable service you forgot to discontinue. Contact every utility and service provider to end or transfer service to your new address as of the closing date. 

If you’re on an automatic-fill schedule for heating oil or propane, don’t pay for a pre-closing refill that provides free fuel for the new owner. Contact your insurer to terminate coverage on your old home, get coverage on your new home, and ask whether you’re entitled to a refund or prepaid premium.

My assistant goes over a check list with you prior to closing to make sure that you have completed these task.

2. Spread the word on your change of address:

Provide the post office with your forwarding address two to four weeks before the closing. Also notify credit card companies, publication subscription departments, friends and family, and your financial institutions of your new address.

3. Manage the movers:

Scrutinize your moving company’s estimate. If you’re making a long-distance move, which is often billed according to weight, note the weight of your property and watch so the movers don’t use excessive padding to boost the weight. Also check with your homeowners insurer about coverage for your move. Usually movers cover only what they pack.

4. Do the settlement math:

Title company employees are only human, so they can make mistakes. The day before your closing, check the math on your HUD-1 Settlement Statement.

I have a computer program that we use to recheck the numbers as an extra service to you.

5. Review charges on your settlement statement:

Are all mortgages being paid off, and are the payoff amounts correct?  If any party suggests leaving items off the settlement statement, consult a lawyer about whether that might expose you to legal risk.”


These are the extra services that I offer my sellers to make sure they walk away with the most money at the closing table.


Looking forward to doing business with you.

Thanks Stephen Cooley for the information:

Prepping your Home for sale

Buyers are on a blind date with your home, and they want love at first sight. So make it pretty. Get rid of heaps of stuff -- have the house cleaned, the interior repainted, the exterior power-washed, and the yard spruced up.

If time and money allow, replace lighting and plumbing fixtures, cabinetry hardware, and maybe those harvest-gold appliances. The new stuff needn't be top-of-the-line, just clean and current.

I urge my sellers to pay for home and termite inspections (about $650 to $750 for both) and fix as much of the little stuff as they can before putting a house on the market. Then I presents the reports and a "work completed" worksheet to buyers, a strategy that inspires higher offers.

With the basics taken care of, it's time for staging -- window dressing your home to increase its appeal.

Staged homes sell more quickly and at the top of their price range compared with similar homes that aren't staged. Stagers declutter if you haven't, rearrange furniture to improve traffic flow and create a sense of spaciousness, and make your decor less reflective of your personal tastes. I often bring an interior designer to aid with this process.


For the full article click the link:  Prepping Your Home

Pet Owners: Tips on Selling Your Home

If you have pets, you’ll need to consider some extra steps when getting your home ready to show. Keep in mind that not everyone is a pet lover, so all of the pet fur and odor that your furry friend leaves behind might be a turn-off to a buyer. Or, you might run into buyers who won’t even walk in the door if your Doberman is home.

I work hard to  reminds my sellers to consider the impression your pet might make on a potential buyer:

“As a pet lover and parent, myself, and someone passionate about animals rights, I know first hand what our four-legged children mean to us. I also know that not everyone feels the same way about our furry friends and when you’re selling your home, as a pet parent, you want to be mindful of others’ feelings.

For example, I had a client with awful allergies to animals. We entered a home with a nice chocolate lab in his crate in the kitchen. My client was a little fearful of the big bark; I wasn’t so scared so I offered to walk through and see where the dog was before touring the home. Once I noticed the sweet dog in the crate, I walked back to the foyer to share with my client that the dog was in a cage and she can comfortably walk through the home.

Well, in just the short time of my walk to find the pup’s location, and back to the foyer, my client’s allergies became so agitated so quickly that her entire face had swollen, along with her eyes that became pink, puffy and watery. All of this reaction happened just by her standing in the foyer. As a result, we didn’t get to see this home. We had to immediately leave. Granted, this was extreme but we as home sellers want to be mindful of other people’s challenges with pets, whether it’s from allergies, fear or a plain dislike of them..

Consider these tips if you’re selling your home and you are a pet parent:

1. Please do your best to have the home free of pet hair. Hair is what will often cause the odor build up or make a person’s allergies become active.

2. Obviously, this tip is easier to do with dogs than cats, but I strongly suggest, when possible, to take the dog for a walk during a home tour, or take him on a trip to the local Petsmart or dog park. If you do leave the home with your pet, NEVER leave him alone in a car. The car gets much hotter inside than outside and can quickly kill your pet. Or people’s dogs do get stolen from cars so again, if you take your pet with you away from the home for a buyer’s tour, KEEP THE PET WITH YOU. You don’t have to be gone long. Most tours take 15 minutes and a quick walk will be plenty of time to allow the potential owners see your home.”

These are just a few of the tips I give my sellers to help them sell their home faster and to get the best value. Looking forward to doing business with you.

Should We convert a Lease to an Option to Buy

Q: Dear William, Our home has been on the market for a few months with no offers. We have an excellent, long-term tenant who wants to buy the home, but cannot afford to make a down payment. We are considering a Lease to Purchase agreement as a solution – it seems especially attractive given her outstanding care of our property and dependability to date.
My questions are: Can we hire a real estate lawyer and sign a Lease to Own agreement directly with the tenant, or do we have to use our real estate agent instead? How much should we charge the tenant over their current rent?
~Drew

A: Drew, some great questions here. Know first of all, that you’re not alone with this issue. Selling a home right now when there are so few options for financing is causing every homeowner in the country a huge headache. On the plus side, you have a great tenant, and those are equally hard to find these days!
I think your compromise of selling to your renter is a great solution to your problem and one that is being pursued by many sellers in the current market. Seller financing is not without its own set of problems however and if not done correctly, can lead to all sorts of problems down the road. In many cases, the deals just fail to close which is why you are doing exactly the right thing by using an attorney for a contract like this. Each contract in these cases is complex and unique, and the terms and timelines must be carefully monitored in order to bring the transaction to a successful conclusion.
As for the dollar amounts you ask about, when considering a lease-to-own deal, each deal is put together according to the results of the negotiations by both parties. Everything is negotiable, including both of the items you mention above. This is why I may be able to assist you since I don’t know which state you are in, and as you may know “all real estate is local.” This means that contractual customs vary widely and you should probably take advice from an agents like myself and the attorneys that are used to structuring deals of this specific nature.
Whether you are bound to keep your agent or not depends on what your written agreement says – assuming you have one at all. If it is “exclusive” then in most cases you are locked in for a specific period of time; but without seeing it, it’s impossible to say. If you have no agreement, then it depends what you mean by the word “retain.” Given your need for a real estate attorney in this transaction, this question would best be directed to that attorney to avoid any potential disagreements in the future.
Good luck!
Thank you Marcus Burke for the information.


Call me today and I will be glad to help you navigate throught these tricky real estate situation.