Keeping Your Home Safe
September 29th, 2010
- Make your home hard to get into with deadbolt locks, and high-quality Grade 1 or 2 locks.
- Do not alert anyone publicly that you are going on vacation.
- Make your home appear lived-in, even when you are away by leaving lights on inside.
- When you are out-of-town, leave a light on with a timer to make it look like you are home.
- Keep the perimeter of your home well lit, criminals hate the light.
- Keep the bushes near your home trimmed down, to prevent space for a burglar to hide.
- Set your alarm system, if you have one.
- Double check all doors to make sure they are locked.
- Leave a television or radio playing, as this is a huge deterrent for criminals.
- Criminals enter through the front door, back door and garage door. Keep these doors locked.
- Experienced burglars know the garage door is the weakest point of entry, plus it gives cover.
- Keep your car locked, even if inside your garage, as burglars look in it for keys and valuables.
- Use a solid core or metal door for all entrance points.
- Insert a wooden dowel stick in sliding doors to prevent the easy prying of the lock.
- Use a secondary blocking device on all sliding glass doors.
- Use highly visible alarm decals, beware of dog decals, or block watch decals.
- Use secondary blocking devices on windows (make sure these adhere to fire codes in bedrooms).
- Help your neighbors out when you are away, so they will do the same for you. Get to know your neighbors.
- Use motion-sensor infra-red lights at the rear of single-family homes.
Fall Home Maintenance Tips
September 29th, 2010
Fall Tips from State Farm
- Check all window and door locks for proper operation
- Check your home for water leaks
- Review your fire escape plan with your family
- Make sure there are working nightlights at the top and bottom of all stairs
- Have a heating professional check your heating system every year
- Protect your home from frozen pipes
- Replace your furnace filter
- Run all gas-powered lawn equipment until the fuel is gone
- Test your emergency generator
- Have a certified chimney sweep inspect and clean the flues and check your fireplace damper
- Remove bird nests from chimney flues and outdoor electrical fixtures
- Inspect and clean dust from the covers of your smoke and carbon monoxide alarms
- Make sure the caulking around doors and windows is adequate to reduce heat/cooling loss
- Make sure that the caulking around your bathroom fixtures is adequate to prevent water from seeping into the sub-flooring
Check all window and door locks for proper operation
- Windows that can be opened by breaking the glass and unlocking them, are less effective deterrents to criminals. Check with the hardware store for window lock alternatives.
- All exterior doors should have deadbolt locks.
Upcoming Orlando Events for October
September 27th, 2010The End of Summer Downtown Jamboree
Orange Avenue from Colonial to Concord
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10 Tips for Selling Your Home in Fall
September 27th, 2010
#1: Focus on curb appeal. Selling a home during the fall certainly comes with one advantage: The season’s beautiful foliage can automatically make your home more attractive for showings. However, you still need to do your part to keep your home looking its best. Start by sprucing up your lawn: Keep falling leaves at bay with frequent raking and patch up any brown spots in the grass.
As the trees shed their leaves, your home becomes more and more exposed, making its exterior appearance especially important. Chipped paint or dirty siding will be extra noticeable, so pressure-wash your home and repaint before showings if needed. Be sure to take care of fall-specific maintenance projects — like cleaning your gutters and downspouts — to show buyers that you’re serious about your home’s upkeep.
As a finishing touch, a few subtle fall decorations — like pumpkins, tri-colored corn or a wreath on the door — can give your home an inviting look.
Read the rest of the article here: 10 Tips for Selling Your Home in Fall
Avocado Goat Cheese Salad with Fried Egg
August 31st, 2010
Avocado Goat Cheese Salad with Fried Egg
Recipe Courtesy of Mari Not So Bland
You know how I like a good salad… especially one that will actually keep me full. The lettuce I bought at Costco (in the photo below) inspired me, and can you blame me? Look at those beautiful greens!
1. Insert the knife in the middle and cut (gingerly - there’s a pit, remember) it completely in half - all the way around the avocado.
So, after I washed the lettuce, I remembered that I bought an avocado at Kroger. I really really really really love avocados…in case you were curious. If you love them too, but have a little trouble getting the green goodness out of them in one piece, here’s a little how-to:
How-To Open an Avocado:
2. Hold the avocado so that one hand is one either side that you’ve cut into.
3. Turn the avocado with your hands and pull!
4. Stick your knife into the pit and turn it…
So, here it is - the salad of my dreams! It’s healthy, tasty, and will keep you full. I put a simple oil and balsamic vinegar dressing on it, but you can put whatever dressing you would like! Enjoy!
Keep Reaching
August 22nd, 2010
★ ★ ★ Keep working toward your goals, ignoring negative emotions, fears and obstacles. Slap yourself some skin for each step in the right direction. One day you’ll wake up and what you’re reaching for will “fall” into your lap. ★ ★ ★
Pricing Your Home to Sell
August 21st, 2010
The list price you choose effects the sale of your home positively or negatively. You want a price that will cause Pricing your home too high will cause an unnecessary delay in the sale. Houses on the market too long generally do not sell for the best price. Price your home judiciously for a quick sale.
Home Improvements
The improvements and additions you’ve made to your home are not always recoverable in the asking price, but can add value to your home. Your swimming pool may have cost $25,000, but that doesn’t mean your home is worth $25,000 more. Swimming pools, decks, built-in-bookshelves and hardwood floors all make your home more attractive to home buyers.
Don’t Waste Time
When pricing your house, the key is this: Don’t waste time. Homes on the market a long time are perceived negatively by home shoppers. They get suspicious and wonder, “Why hasn’t anyone bought this home yet?” Price your home at five to ten percent above the price of comparable homes in your neighborhood and you should get the right price and make good time.
Selling Your Home Yourself - FSBO
August 6th, 2010
Sounds great doesn’t it? Go to Home Depot, stick stab a sign in the lawn and viola! Someone comes by to beg to take that home off your hands. Right?
Unfortunately, the process of selling your home is not that easy. Your home is a huge investment with many different legal ramifications. When you go to sell it, there’s a zillion issues to consider and things can go wrong if left in the wrong hands.
Do You Really SAVE MONEY when you sell your home yourself?
According to the National Association of Realtors, “the typical FSBO home sold for $145,000, compared to $175,000 for agent-assisted home sales.”
Most Difficult Tasks for FSBO Sellers:
- Getting the right price 19%
- Understanding paperwork 30%
- Preparing / fixing up home for sale 26%
- Attracting potential buyers 7%
- Having enough time to devote to all aspects of the sale 14%
A Realtor can help in more ways than one:
While it may seem clever to pocket the commission fees of a Realtor and sell your home yourself, be aware that there are risks involved in doing so. Realtors are experts who know how to…
- Differentiate your home from other homes in your neighborhood.
- List your home in such a way that it will sell.
- Show your home to prospective buyers better than the average person.
- Market your home in a variety of ways available to licensed Realtors.
- Rely upon their license training to handle legal situations that may arise.
- Help you to avoid pitfalls that they’ve learned to avoid through experience.
- Serve as the middle-man during the negotiating process, which goes along way towards easing buyer - seller relations.
- Access network of professionals that are reliable for the home selling process such as painters, inspectors and plumbers.
- Help you overall make the process smooth.
And if that weren’t enough reason not to sell your home yourself, ask yourself the following questions:
Who will be completing the contract forms, negotiating the offer, and looking out for YOUR interests?
The eight-page contract (and many addenda attached thereto) contains the agreement of Buyer and Seller, stating representations and promises to be performed by each of the parties.
Do I need earnest money?
What happens to the earnest money?
What if the check does not clear?
What if the Buyer changes his mind, after signing?
. Why an option period?How much should be deposited?
How many and what kind of inspections?
What are the time limits for all inspections?
Once inspected, what are the parties’ choices?
How do I know what financing options there are?
As you can see, there is much that a Realtor can do to help you when it comes to selling your home. You may save money, but you will have to deal with many issues to make you lose time and potentially peace of mind when you sell your home by owner. Having an expert to handle the sale of your property makes economic sense and helps give you peace of mind.
Finding Your New Home
July 20th, 2010
You’ve taken care of all the preliminaries. You’ve listed your needs, wants, likes and dislikes. You’ve found your Realtor, you’ve even gotten pre-qualified on your mortgage loan. The time has come for you to start the search for the best home to meet your needs. What factors do you keep in mind before heading out the door to look at properties?
Many home buyers make the mistake of focusing solely on price when searching for a home. Though price is worth considering, it shouldn’t be your central focus when looking for your home. The location and quality of your home should bear equal weight in your final home choice.Location, Location and Location
Location is very important when choosing your home, though choosing where to live is often difficult for home buyers. Where to live is such an important decision; plus there are so many options! A good location to one, can be horrible to another. But a bad location, is usually a bad location to all. Experts suggest that you sacrifice something inside the home rather than sacrifice the location.
Here are some factors to consider when thinking about the location of your new home:
- Your Job: How far away from your job are you willing to be? Are you interested in commuting for over an hour per day? Are there convenient routes to and from your work? Will you be changing jobs in the next few years? Is there a chance for you to work at home? The location of your job is what most people consider first when choosing where they will live.
- Lifestyle: Would you prefer a busy area with the convenience of shops and entertainment venues? Or, would you be more content in a rural area, farther away from local amenities? If you decide you want to be close to much activity, are you willing to fight the traffic such busy-ness brings? If you choose the quieter route, are you prepared to drive farther for shopping and local services? Again, a good location to one family may be bad to another.
- Schools: Do you have school-age children in public school? Then, to you, the quality of the schools in the area is important. How are the schools rated with the state? Are the schools well kept? If the schools in your chosen location are not adequate, are there good private schools within your price range nearby? How will your children get to school? Check out our school page on the navigation buttons to the left to learn more about the schools in our area.
- Neighborhood: What type of neighborhood do you want? Do you prefer new construction, or a more established neighborhood with mature trees? If you have children, you would likely want a more family-oriented neighborhood so you kids can play outside. Would you rather live close to the main thoroughfares, or are you bothered by noisy traffic? There are so many decisions to make!
- Resell: Is the location of the home good for more than just you? Is it conveniently located to major companies and other places of employment? If there are some negative issues with the current location, and you get a discounted price, you will likely end up having to pass those savings along to the buyers of the home when you eventually sell.
Home Quality
Now that you’ve decided on the general location of your new home, it’s time to go on a some tours of available homes in that area. Make your time in the homes count by bringing with you a notepad, pen and tape measurer. If you are viewing the home, chances are you already have a sales sheet with a floorplan and general information about the house. Even though you’ll want to get a professional inspection on any home before buying it, there are things you can check for now in deciding if the home is right for you:
Exterior
- Is the exterior finish of the home in good shape?
- Is there any rotted siding or fencing?
- Are the roof and gutters in good condition?
- Does the air conditioner seem to be in working condition upon first glance?
- Is the lot attractive for your purposes?
Interior
- Are the appliances up-to-date?
- Is the flooring adequate for your needs?
- Are there obvious cracks and fault lines in the ceilings?
- Does the interior need painting?
- Does the home seem well kept?
Looking for a home is exciting, just make sure you don’t get overwhelmed by all the choices out there. If you want to find a home, give me a call, I can help!
Happy 4th of July!!! Independence Day
June 30th, 2010
The 4th of July is said to be the Birthday of the United States. It is a federal holiday celebrating the adoption of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776 which declares our independence from Great Britain. This special day is often filled with fireworks, parades, bar-b-cues, fairs and picnics, not to mention concerts, baseball games and political ceremonies.
4th of July Ideas
Patriotic Hymn