Heating season will begin soon!

I found this article helpful regarding preparing for this winters heating season. Personally, I love a big roaring fire to keep me warm even though I know I have been told that all of the heat in your home goes right up the chimney! But how can I deny myself the ambience of a real fire crackling away?
Realty Times - Green Living: Saving Energy This Season

Do not trust spell check - do it yourself

We Realtors must continually be creative when describing homes. We are always hoping that our description will be the one that catches someones attention and will bring traffic to the home. Well, this situation surely attracted attention! When noting the fine features of a lovely home, the deck was described as "entertainment size deck". Spell check did not find the error, only a proofreader could get this one: the "e" in deck was actually an "i".

Tips for selling your home #3 in a 3 part series

First impressions count! You've heard it from your mother and it's true. The first few minutes are important when buyers are out shopping. Make sure that the buyers enter through the front door, even if you never use it as a homeowner. And when they walk in, make sure the front door is clean (even painting it a new color is a good idea) and that the front foyer is ship shape. Even if it is just a small landing pad, make it as spacious as you can with clean floors, no clutter, pleasant odors, and music in the background. Yes, some very subtle classical music is desirable. The buyers may not be classical music lovers but they will definitely have a warmer reaction to your home if they believe that Vivaldi lives there! The two or three weeks you put into getting it ready to sell may be the most profitable investment of time and money you make this year.

Seller's - Tired of hearing it's a Buyer's market?

If you are seller, ugh! How many times have you heard that in the last 3 years? Let's turn that around and make it a seller's market and let you, the seller determine what the buyer will pay. Be realistic about your homes value, and don't let emotions get the better of you. The buyer doesn't care that your children were born there or that your dog was a Christmas present for your kids in 1998. Use all the tools necessary to determine value. These include: Realtors market analysis, tax assessment, neighborhood condition (this changes over the years), actual condition of your home (really, really look at it) and improvements. Remember that just because you put a new roof on the home just 2 years ago, does not mean that the buyer is going to absorb the entire cost of that roof, the buyer expected to have a roof on the house. How many homes similar to yours are for sale in your community? Be competitive! Get the job done and price it right!

Tips for selling your home # 2 in a series

Market your home as if you are buying it! A few hundred dollars maybe even up to a grand spent carefully upfront, can make the difference of tens of thousands of dollars. For example: Look at your front walk as if seeing it for the first time. Does it need weeding, or fresh stones, or fresh paint on the door trim, or new house numbers, or ... These first impressions make huge impressions. Make your home stand out from the glut of homes that are out there on the market. The thing to remember always is that the buyer has been out, sometimes for weeks, looking at houses most of which are identical in appearance to yours. The difference, providing your place isn't positively falling down, will be the little things.

Tips for selling your home # 1 in a series

#1 - Using scent - Realtors did this years ago, they actually baked bread and cookies or had their sellers do it to promote the good vibes that people get when viewing properties. Smell has the power to revive the past and transport us to a happy time or place or remind us of a special person, evoking feelings of nostalgia and comfort. Freshly baked bread is the number 1 smell that makes people happy. There are three important smells to know about: fresh bread, cinnamon and coffee. When buyers come back for a second look, vary the smell. Try this: warm a couple tablespoons of cinnamon in a pan, (this also helps to kill an animal odor), or put a 1/2 C of coffee beans in the oven. Homes that smell of animals, particularly cats, can cost you thousands. So work on ridding that offensive odor diligently. Remember, you probably don't smell the cat or dog but the buyers sure will!