The holiday season is prime time for thieves looking for an easy opportunity to break into your home. While you're enjoying the hustle and bustle of this festive period, a thief could be taking a leisurely stroll through your home in search of valuables. Keep your home safe and secure over the holidays with these five thoughtful tips.
Alert the Neighbors -- Let the neighbors you're friendly with know about your travel plans and ask them to watch for any suspicious activity. Arrange for someone you trust to enter your home every couple of days to ensure everything's running smoothly.
Put the Post Office on Pause -- Temporarily suspend mail and newspaper delivery services while you're away. (Or ask a neighbor to collect them for you.) Nothing signals that a home is unoccupied like a week's worth of newspapers at the doorstep.
Keep Gifts Under Wraps -- Don't advertise what you've bought over the holiday season via social media, and ensure gifts and valuables aren't visible from the street or at the trash. Many a holiday has been ruined by thieves making off with all the presents carefully chosen for friends and family.
Secure All Entry Points -- Ensure all doors and windows in your home have functioning locks that properly fasten. Be sure to remove any spare keys you may have hidden near your door.
Install a Security System -- A professional security system gives you peace of mind while you're away. Modern systems often include remote video monitoring that allows you to check in on your home from wherever you are.
By Emilio DiSpirito, Realtor - Team Leader - Radio Show Host
www.EmilioDiSpirito.com
I understand first hand how hard it can be to leave a property in which you grew up or raised a family. Almost always when someone is selling, it's because the home they are in is no longer practical for their lifestyle. So you have to ask yourself.. do you stay in the over-sized hard to manage or finance home for nostalgia or do you move onto something that is more fitting and where you can enjoy your extra money & time?
Brings us to our next point.. Emotions...We all get them.. They cripple us and our bottom line when we incorporate them into the business of selling one of our best assets, our homes. Here is a short list of ways you can avoid the loss of thousands of dollars.
Gather information a head of time - When you can shift your mindset from where you are to where you want to be, you start to detach yourself from the property. *Contact an agent months before you are actually ready to list the home. Obtain vital information on market which will give you an overall picture of total time it may take to sell when you are ready. This allows you to be prepared.
Speak to your goals. Tell the agent your plans. Staying local or moving away? Often times when moving out of the state, your agent can guide you with a Realtor in the location you are going. We can vet the other agents for you so you know you are getting someone reputable and they can provide you with information on locations in which may interest you. When staying around town and downsizing or upsizing, it's important you speak with an agent about neighborhoods and what will suit your lifestyle most. Go by the FORD approach.. Family/Friends, Occupation, Recreation, Dreams. When finding an area to live, make sure it meets all your criteria of FORD.
Market Price will Net you Much More - We are not short of data now-a -days and we have proof that having your home sit on market in a sellers market for more than 17 weeks gets you only 93% of fair market value when sold. Buyers have access to more information than ever, and they know when a home is over priced. No one wants to pay $20,000 more for a like car in one lot, when they can go down the road and pay $20,000 less. Your over priced home is selling your neighbors while crippling your bottom line. Keep this in mind, If fair market price is $400,000 for your home and you price it at $450,000 because you want top dollar.. the house will sit. You may in the end net $372,000 instead of $388,000. That is a $16,000 difference and that number is real. We can go into why homes that sit get lower prices at a later time. When you price your home to market value and have it prepared, you may have a buyer frenzy and obtain higher than market value. We see this in Rhode Island more often than not.
You only have 1 first impression Make it Count - Higher a interior designer/home stager. They will make sure your home appears in show ready condition and will help you detach yourself from your home as well as net you a much higher price. If the first thing buyers see when walking into a home is wall paper and a 70's shag rug, immediately they think the home will need to much work and their mind is set. They will overlook often times overlook the fact that your home has a master suite or grand kitchen. Pull up the carpet, pay someone $300 to refurbish your hardwoods leading into the home. Take down the wall paper and have your interior designer pick a color pallet appropriate for the space and appealing to today's buyers.
Depersonalize - Take down all personal photos. Buyers need to connect to property and can not do so when they see your pics everywhere. Also if they see photos all over of lofty vacations, great restaurants, etc. they may decide that you have money and can afford a lower offer. Also keep in mind by packing up old photos you can start to disconnect yourself from the property.
Don't hang around - Nothing personal, but you will undoubtedly make buyers and agents feel extremely awkward if you wait "to see" who the buyers are and leave as buyers come in. Again, you only have 1 first impression and you want your buyers in a comfortable mindset.. not an awkward one. Reverse the roles. Keep in mind, the best way to see and meet the buyer is at the closing table. You can exchange stories there. In some rare cases sellers even ask to stay during open houses because they know house best. While they may know the house best, buyers will act standoffish and feel as if they can not speak out loud about concerns in fear that they will hurt your feelings and agents are not actors, they will feel like every word is being picked apart and will not act natural, in the end further making buyer uncomfortable. If you want to sell emotionally, sell with the buyers emotions in mind to net the highest price for your home.
Don't get insulted by low ball offers - No one wants to pay list price if they don't have to and if there are not multiple offers on the table, even when priced to market, don't be insulted when an offer comes in at $350,000 on $400,000. Recently I had this $399,900 home on the market at a perfect fair market value and received an offer. First offer came in at $360,000.. our sellers stayed cool and we countered offer at list price. We sat tight until our open house where a cash offer came in at $340,000. Now that we had multiple offers we were able to go back to both parties and explain multiple offers were on the table. We are now selling at 99% of list price with the buyers who lost the bid with a backup offer over list price.
For more great content check us out on www.TheRoundTableRadio.com or tune in every Sunday to Rhode Island's best real estate radio show "The Round Table Real Estate Simplified" at 10 am! Aired on Newsradio 920 and iHeartradio "whjj"!
Thanks for tuning in!! :)
Sincerely,
Emilio DiSpirito
401-359-2338
PS. You can instantly get your homes value here www.TrustTheDove.SmartHomePrice.com - Instant report and you can even tweak your homes online value which will reflect on over 2 dozen real estate websites!
We are finally in a recovering housing market! Less foreclosures & short sales mean less people loosing homes, home prices increasing because of higher home values throughout and a healthier America. Good news right!?
Now don't get me wrong, if you bought during a high market like 2005 or 2006, you will not be able to sell your home for that same price.. about 9.9 out of 10 times!! With that said, one of the most common questions I get as a Realtor is "What can I do to increase my homes value?".
Each home is different. Never ever add more to your home than your neighborhood/location can support. For example, if your home is in a neighborhood and town where the average price is $150,000 and the average home is 3 beds 1 bath 1000 sq ft., you may not want to buy or build a 5 bed 4 bath 4,000 sq. ft. home. Now that's kind of far fetched you may think (it happens), but I strongly suggest to ask a real estate professional before you spend $30,000 remodeling the kitchen and baths for example.
While there is no exact list that will fit every home, here are some of the top items I recommend if you are looking to increase your homes value.
1.) Curb Appeal! 1st impressions are everything!! If the garage door is banged up or outdated.. Replace it!! Almost always it's the largest feature on a home! Your neighbors or prospective buyers eyes will always wander to it!! $650 to $3000
2.) Efficiency and Look!!! Replacement windows! High Efficiency replacement windows are one of the best ways to save on that energy bill and furthermore old drafty windows are not only an eye sore but a deterrent to potential buyers!! Your home will take on a whole new look with new windows! $250 + installed
3.) Maintenance Free Vinyl Siding! I remember painting my childhood home with my family one summer... It was about 90 degrees out and in the heat of July. We bought all the paint and when we applied the "mauve" paint.. we soon realized it was PINK!. Yes because my mother did not (and still does not today!) believe in wasting.. we had a white home with bright, loud, obnoxious pink shutters... Needless to say it was no surprise when selling that many buyers were not interested. Vinyl siding comes in very desirable and neutral colors. It makes your home look updated and is maintenance free! Not to mention it provides a level of insulation on your home!
4.) Welcome!! Steel Entry Door!! One of the most overlooked and crucial focal points to a home is the steel entry door!! A beautiful entry door is not only appealing but you can easily adjust colors on a steel door should you ever decide to change your homes look! Cold and hot air can creep through wood or old doors. Steel doors also provide better security.
5.) Install, refurbish or replace that wood deck! New England has lovely seasons!! Take advantage of extra living space for more than half of the year!! Friends, family, neighbors and if your selling, buyers will love the idea of outdoor relaxation!! If you have an existing deck, you can either replace old rotted wood with new planks or trex. If the wood is in good shape you can always treat it with stain to bring back the rich look! Makes a HUGE difference and costs so little!
6.) Internal expansion!! Take advantage of that attic or basement!! You can easily refinish many attics and turn them into a guest bed or office!! Transform the basement into a getaway! You can use the space in your homes lower level for a rec room, man cave, family room or bedroom! Limitless opportunities and one of the best ways to increase your homes value!
7.) Kitchen and Bathroom!! Sometimes its as simple as painting the cabinets and changing the hardware!! Inexpensive and ascetically astounding results! If your appliances are old and on their way out, replace them. Stainless steel is the fad and will provide your home with that modern look! As far as bathroom.. do you have one of those old plastic fan-folding shower curtains? Those are hideous and a breading ground for failure! Take that out right now and unscrew the tracking.. throw it in the trash and head to the hardware store and pick up an easy to install spring loaded bar.. add a shower curtain and wa-la! For larger improvements, you will want to check with a real estate professional to ensure it makes sense for your pocket.
There it is! Feel free to watch this segment here from my show, The Round Table Radio - Real Estate Simplified!
We welcome any feedback or requests for information!
