Category Archives: Real Estate

How To Sell Your Home in 2015

Posted on by

1.7_BRItaBoswell

How To Sell Your Home in 2015

If you’re thinking about selling your home in 2015, you’re in luck – it’s predicted that the real estate market will make it easier to buy and sell, with more options and buyers than last year. For first time sellers, preparing and putting your home on the market is often an overwhelming and stressful process. It’s difficult to know where to start, what to do and what’s the best way to do it. That’s why we’ve put together this guide with a number of tips for everything from home improvement, selecting a realtor and staging your home.

With this as a starting point, you’ll be sure to have your home sold in no time. Happy selling!

5 Tips to Sell Your Home in 2015:

  • Know who’s looking and how much your home is worth. It’s predicted that 2015 will be a popular year for first-time home buyers. Many Millenials delayed buying when the recession hit, but many are now starting families and looking to purchase their first home. Make sure to prepare your home to attract this demographic, and know how much other homes in your neighborhood are worth.
  • Find a qualified real estate agent to work with you. The right agent can offer valuable knowledge, negotiate with potential buyers in your favor and guide you in the right direction. Ask your friends, neighbors and family for recommendations of real estate agents, or search online at reputable sites such as realtor.com. Attend open houses to see a potential agent in action and get a feel for how they do business.
  • Make your home sale-ready. This often means repairing, remodeling or staging for sale. The first step is to de-personalize the house. You may love the trendy colors, but neutral walls let prospective buyers can imagine the place as their own. Pack away family photos, knick-knacks and other personal items, make minor repairs like cleaning top to bottom and remove all the clutter that’s on your coffee table, kitchen counters and end tables, as well as anything you don’t need from your shelves. Your real estate agent will be able to give you more specific instructions for how to get your home ready for showing.
  • Get a professional home inspection. Most buyers will get a home inspection before signing any papers. Should they find anything serious, the buyer may offer less for your home than you were expecting. Prepare for this by taking care of any minor repairs before putting your home on the market and having your own inspection done. This way you can be aware of any problems and consider them when determining your asking price.

We hope these tips will help you sell your home this year. Leave a comment us below, or contact us if you have any questions!

7 Ways To Keep Your Home Showing Ready in the Winter

Posted on by

12.22_BRitaBoswell

7 Ways To Keep Your Home Showing Ready in the Winter-Some people think it is almost impossible to sell their homes in the winter because it’s hard to keep a buyer interested when the weather outside is frightful. Fortunately, there are a plethora of things you can do to prepare your home for a showing this season. Even small tasks can make the biggest difference when it comes to keeping your home attractive to buyers. Here are seven ways to keep your home showing-ready this winter.

 

Shovel the Snow

Make sure the snow in your driveway and walkway leading up to your house is clear and plowed. Nothing will scare potential buyers away more than having to trudge through a foot of slushy snow. It will also help enhance the curb appeal.

 

Salt the Walkways

On a related note, salting the sidewalks is always a good idea. Eliminate the possibility of a disaster with the potential home buyer and make sure they’re able to get in the house without slipping.

 

Let There Be Light

Add extra lamps to the rooms in your home to brighten it up. Even in the middle of the day it can appear to be a bit gray outside, so adding lamps will help brighten up the space to make it more inviting to a potential buyer.

 

Festive Decor

Something as simple as a holiday welcome mat on your front porch will do wonders. It makes your home seem not inviting, but also festive and ready for the holiday season.

 

Crank the Heat

Ok, you don’t necessarily have to make it 80 degrees, but make it warm enough that it will be a relief for the potential buyers to step in from the cold outdoors. If they walk in cold and remain cold the whole time, it may be a turn off.

 

Display Photos

Sometimes it’s hard to picture what a home will look like in the spring and fall if it’s masked by feet of snow. Display pictures of your home in other seasons to show the potential buyer how beautiful your home will be, year-round.

 

Do Some Baking

Bake some holiday cookies in advance of potential buyers viewing your home. Not only will the wonderful smell take over your house, but you’ll have some festive treats to share with the potential buyers.

 

For more ways to keep you home showing ready this season, visit here.

How Do Interest Rates Affect my Ability to Buy a Home?

Posted on by

12.14_banner (3)

How Do Interest Rates Affect my Ability to Buy a Home? Many factors can affect your ability to buy a new home, it just depends on each individual home buyer and situation. Interest rates can have an immense effect on any given person’s ability to buy a home, and home loan interest rates have been increasing recently. Here are some ways you might be affected by interest rates, and some ways you can act on it.

Home loan interest rates have been rising in the recent past, and this can affect the home loan you can qualify for. You might not be able to take out as significant of a loan if the interest rates are higher than you expected. This, in turn, can affect the type of home you can afford.

The higher cost of money, or interest rates, leaves you with several options when you’re searching for your new home. If you’re a homebuyer, you can alter your search terms, and look for houses that will be less expensive and more affordable for you in this situation. If you’re a home seller, you might consider lowering the cost of your home, or the buyer will have to pay higher monthly payments. If the buyer cannot make higher monthly payments, they ultimately will not be able to afford this particular home.

Due to these rising interest rates, more buyers are being forced out of the market because they cannot afford the cost. What does this mean for sellers in this market? Well, they won’t be able to sell their homes at this cost. With little competition, you will either need to take your home off the market, or sell your home at a significantly lower value.

If you are serious about buying a home, there will be no stopping you. Interest rates affect everyone and each situation is different; however, there is often a solution if you work with your real estate professional, who has knowledge of the area and market..

To learn more about how interest rates affect your ability to buy a new home, visit here.

How To: Cut Energy Costs This Winter

Posted on by

12.5_Banner

It is about that time of year again! It always seems to creep up on us faster than we would like. The days are getting shorter, colder and sometimes more expensive. However, they don’t have to be as expensive this year. There are a few things you can do this winter to cut your energy costs.

  1. Unplug everything

Don’t leave your electronics on standby or plugged in. You can not only cut your energy bill this winter, but all year round by doing this.

  1. Heat the rooms you use

Close off, or even seal, the vents in the rooms you do not use.

  1. Minimize the use of a few things

Try cutting down on the time you use things everyday such as hairdryers, kettles, and irons.

  1. Get a humidifier

Moist air feels warmer as well as holds heat better.

  1. Bundle up

Instead of increasing the temperature on your thermostat, increase your layers! Wear a sweater and some fuzzy socks while walking around the house. Also add an area rug to insulate the floor in your living room.

  1. Only use exhaust fans when absolutely necessary

Exhaust fans pull the heat out of your home making your heater work harder.

  1. Use your ceiling fans

Switch the fans to move clockwise and set them on a low setting to push the hot air back down.

  1. Use the sun to your advantage

Open the curtains during the day and close them at night to trap that free heat inside your home

  1. Lower the temperature on your water heater

For every 10-degree reduction you save 3-5 percent in energy costs.

  1. Keep your furnace clean

Change your furnace filter clean and free of blockages. Check it every month!

These few tips seem obvious, however, most people just never get around to doing them once the winter months arrive. Make sure to utilize these few tips so that you won’t regret it when the bills roll in. Read more about cutting your energy cost here. Have fun and stay warm!

5 Ways to Make a Small Living Room Look Bigger

Posted on by

10.22_Banner

No one wants a cluttered home or to feel like they have a small living space, right? Especially if you are house hunting, you want more space for your money. If you have a small room in your home or want to make your rooms appear bigger than they are, here are 5 tips for you…

 

Floor To Ceiling Curtains

To make the ceilings appear to be taller, hang your curtains higher than the windows. By putting rod higher than the window itself, you give the illusion that the windows and ceiling are bigger and higher than they really are.

 

No Bulky Furniture

When furniture is too big for the space or there is too much furniture in the room, the room can appear smaller than it really is. Declutter and stick with appropriately sized furniture to keep the room spacious, light and bright.

 

Neutral and Light Colors

With a smaller room, it’s important to stick with light, neutral colors. If you put dark colors and accents in a small room it can close the space making it appear smaller that it really is. Let the light in and the space open up with the right color sceme.

 

Oversized Mirrors

A newer trend, this trick can make the room appear bigger than it really is by using the reflection of the light, neutral colors and the room itself. Strategically place the mirror on a wall that reflects the incoming light and also provides the proper illusion.

 

The Right Coffee Table

Whether it’s a coffee or end table, choose furniture that can also double as a storage space. Whether it has drawers or opens up to store extra pillows, blankets or even your TV accessories, choose your furniture wisely. In a small space this can dramatically declutter a room.

 

Staging Your Home To Sell: Secrets From The Experts

Posted on by

Staging Your Home To Sell - Secrets From The Experts rita boswell

Are you selling your home? You may want to consider staging it to attract buyers and allow them to imagine it being their home.

“Buyers can only imagine what they see, not what it’s going to be,” says Barb Schwarz, a broker who now focuses entirely on staging homes with her International Association of Home Staging Professionals. “If you don’t clean the carpet or don’t take down the flocked wallpaper or the teenager’s walls are painted bright purple, the buyer can’t envision it any other way.”

 

Staging a home can make the biggest difference in your selling process. Investing in staging can actually bring better returns on a home in the long-run!

 

Curb Appeal isn’t just a catchy phrase created to boost landscapers’ income. It’s a crucial first impression that can make buyers either wary of stopping to look or else eager to step inside. Make sure that your lawn and garden look great, trash cans and bikes are put away, house numbers are attractive and easy to see, the front door is spectacular (because you’ve replaced or painted it and perhaps updated the hardware), and you have attractive potted plants by the door.

 

First Impressions come the minute a potential buyer steps inside your home. Coats on a rack, shoes underneath and keys and other doodads in a dish on a console table may show that you’re a fabulous organizer, but this look is not the way to sell a home. Put the coats and shoes in a closet, the keys in your purse and a vase of flowers on the table.

 

Time To Clean! Or hire a cleaning crew to come regularly while your home is on the market, or at least for a one-time super-cleaning. Don’t skip windows (inside and out), behind the toilet, bathroom grout, under sinks. Actually move your furniture to vacuum behind and under it.

 

Rearranging Is Key. Arrange your furnishings to frame — not obscure — views, fireplaces and other architectural details. Put tall objects (furniture, vases, paintings or plants) against tall walls. Highlight, don’t block, the traffic flow. Grab a couple of sturdy friends and play with different ways to arrange your furniture. Pay attention to your friends’ opinions.

 

4 Home Updates That Will Hurt You at Selling

Posted on by

4 home updates that will hurt you at selling

4 Home Updates That Will Hurt You at Selling- Updating your home is something that everyone wants to do, but thinking that they will make a positive return on their investment isn’t always accurate. Customized updates might be the best thing for you and your vision, however, they might not be the most practical option. Here are four home updates that will ultimately hurt you when you explore the options of selling your home.

 

Personalization

Personalizing your home might seem like the right idea for you; however, it won’t provide you with a positive ROI. It has the possibility of inhibiting the potential buyer from picturing themselves in your home, and therefore not purchasing it in the long run. To avoid an over personalization of your home, give it non-permanent personalized touches like furniture and accent colors.

 

 

Home Office Renovation

Many homeowners dish out a lot of cash to create their very own home office. Unfortunately for them, that isn’t necessarily an important feature that potential home buyers are looking for. To avoid this costly mistake, make updates to your home office that won’t necessarily be permanent. You want to give the person who buys your home the option of converting the room into a bedroom, or recreational room of their choice.

 

Additions

Additions to your home, like a sun room or additional garage, might end up hurting you in the long run. The extra space has the potential to hook the potential buyer into being a homeowner; however, they will not want to foot the bill of your expensive renovation and expansion.

 

Luxury Upgrades

Any type of luxury upgrade to your existing home sounds like it would be a benefit and provide a positive turn on your investment, right? No, not every luxury upgrade is beneficial. Unless you have a very high-end home, making upgrades like marble floors and custom bathrooms, will likely not pay off in the long run.

 

Customized updates to your home might be the best thing for you at the time, however, it might not be the best option for you to get the best return on your investment. To learn more about home updates that will hurt you when you sell your home, visit here.

5 Things To Do This September In Downtown Columbus

Posted on by

5 Things To Do This September Downtown Columbus - Rita Boswell1

5 Things To Do This September In Downtown Columbus – Can you believe it’s already September? This time of year, the weather is perfect and there’s plenty of fun to be had downtown! Check out our

1. Whetstone Park of Roses

Details: One of the largest municipal rose gardens in the U.S., this 13-acre park features more than 11,000 gorgeous rose bushes and specialized gardens for herbs, daffodils and perennials.

Where: 3923 N High St, Columbus, OH 43214

2. Shadowbox Live

Details: Live performers that are also your waiters and waitresses! Enjoy a meal while being entertained with performances and music.

Where: 503 South Front St., Columbus, OH 43215

3. COSI

Details: A fun spot for children young and old. Experience all things science. Come anytime, but be sure the check the calendar for special exhibits and shows.

Where: 333 W Broad St, Columbus, OH 43215

4. Columbus Brew Adventures

Details: Columbus Brew Adventures offers small group tours of breweries, brew pubs and distilleries in Columbus.

Where: 201 West Hubbard Ave, Columbus, Ohio 43215

5. Scioto Mile

Details: A waterfront park right in Columbus! Enjoy fountains, gardens, and trails winding along the Scioto Riverfront.

Where: 233 Civic Center Drive, Columbus, OH

Be sure to mark your calendars for these upcoming events! What events are you looking forward to this month? Are you planning on attending any of these events? Comment to share with us!

 

Tips To Strengthen Your Credit Score

Posted on by

Tips To Strengthen Your Credit Score - Rita Boswell1

Tips To Strengthen Your Credit Score – This is always a tricky subject. Just for the simple fact that everyone’s situation is different. To help you out, here are a few tips from Bankrate that will help you move in the right direction…

Watch Your Credit Limit – A way to help strengthen your credit score is to keep the balances on your credit cards low. How much revolving credit you have vs. how much you’re actually using. According to Bankrate, the optimum is 10% or lower.

Reduce The Number Of Cards – This isn’t what you think! This means stop using all of your credit cards. Instead have one or two cards you use for everything. It may hurt your credit score to have a $50 balance on one card and a $30 balance on another. Instead, pay those off and keep to just a few main cards.

Good Debt vs. Bad Debt – Good debt is where you have a long history of repayment records, such as a car loan. Some try to get this removed from their credit report once they pay it off thinking it could be harmful to their score when in fact it can be great for their credit score.

Pulling Credit – When shopping for your next big purchase such as a home, car, etc, these lenders will need to pull your credit score to see what loan options you have. Try sticking to a short time frame when shopping around and pulling your credit score with different companies.

Pay Bills On Time – This might seem obvious but it’s even more important when you are trying to make a big purchase. If you are saving up for a home, don’t pass on paying that electric bill because you need that money for your down payment. Mistakes like this can change your credit score which can effect the purchase of your home.

Don’t Hint Risk – Missing payments or paying less on your credit card than you usually do can hint risk to your card issuer. Taking out cash advances or paying for a divorce attorney can do this as well. Although it doesn’t necessarily effect your credit score, it is still something you should avoid.

Stay Informed – Whether you are looking to make a big purchase or not, it’s still important to know where you stand on your credit report. However, don’t obsess over until the moment comes where you are ready to make that big purchase. Pay your bills on time, keep a low balance on your card and create some consistency. Feel free to monitor your score every four months or so to know where you stand.

With these tips in mind, strengthening your credit score will be an easier process! Do you have any tips to share? Comment to share with us!

10 Tips To Save Money On Landscaping

Posted on by

10 Tips To Save Money On Landscaping - Rita Boswell1

10 Tips To Save Money On Landscaping – The outside of your home is the first impression people see. Whether you’re trying to sell your home, or just update the look, landscaping is a great way to create more curb appeal for your home. Landscaping can be an expensive project, but with the right tools you can make it work right within your budget. Here are ten tips to save money on landscaping.

1. Make A List

Make a list or a picture board of inspirations and looks you want to create for your home. That way you will have a better idea of what you need to purchase.

2. Do Your Research

Conduct research to figure out where you can the things you need at the most inexpensive prices.

3. Avoid Impulse Buys

When you go to the store to purchase the materials you need, don’t get suckered into buying something you don’t need because you think it will look cool. Stick to your list – and your gut – to purchase only the things you’ve planned to buy.

4. Don’t Overplant

Make sure you don’t plant too many flowers or shrubs in your front lawn, it can look tacky and crowded. Stick to a minimal look and wait until it grows in. If you still want more after that, add it.

5. Talk To A Pro

You don’t necessarily have to hire someone to do the landscaping for your home; however, hiring a pro for a consultation will be well worth the money.

6. Cheaper Isn’t Always Better

Don’t assume that buying cheaper will help your budget. Cheaper isn’t always better and you might end up paying even more money to fix the mistake.

7. Shop End-Of-Season Sales

If you shop at the end of the season, you will have cheaper and more materials to use the following season.

8. Be Neighborly

There is a chance that you’re not the only one in the neighborhood working on your landscaping. If you’re renting equipment offer to split the cost and share it for a day.

9. Check Out Craigslist

Some people are willing to just give things away. Check out Craigslist before you buy anything, who knows, you may find it for free.

10. Make Your Own Compost

You can convert kitchen and garden refuse in a hommade compost to improve the soil’s tilth, aeration, and water-holding capacity.

To learn about more ways to save money on landscaping, visit here. Keep these money saving tips in mind when updating your landscape before fall! What do you think of these tips? How do you save money on landscaping? Comment to share with us!