5 Quick & Easy Home Maintenance Tips for Summer

Summer's nearly here, so follow these five tips to get your home in tip-top shape for the warmer months ahead.

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As we end spring and head into summer, do yourself a favor by tackling these five home maintenance tips: 1. Inspect your brick, stone, or any concrete outside your home: Anytime there are dramatic temperature or moisture changes, these materials can begin to crack. This can be a safety concern, not just a cosmetic issue.

2. Feed your lawn: It's about to get really hot, so make sure your lawn has the water and nutrients it needs to stay lush and green. If you plan to sell your house, this is especially important.

Moisture and temperature changes can crack brick and warp wood.

3. Check out wood fences: Temperature and moisture changes can cause wood to warp and twist.

4. Put down fresh mulch: Nothing makes your lawn and landscaping pop quite like this. Planting some fresh flowers along with fresh mulch will make it pop even more.

5. Get the grill ready: Dust it off and clean it up so it's ready to cook some nice steaks. Dust and gunk tend to build up on grills over the winter, so make sure it's taken care of before you start to cook out. Whether you plan to sell your house or not, these tips will all make your home stand out for the summer. If you have any questions for us or you're thinking of buying or selling real estate this year, give us a call or send us an email soon. We'd love to help you!

4 Tips for Finding the Perfect Neighborhood for Your Next Home

Finding the perfect neighborhood for your next home can be a lot easier if you follow these four tips.

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Are you unsure of how to find the best neighborhood for your next home? Here are four tips to help you make the right decision: 1. Consider the value of the homes in the neighborhood. What are home values doing in that area? Are they consistently increasing or decreasing? This factor plays a big role should you choose to sell the property later on. If values are going up, that’s typically a good thing. It also gives you an idea of other dynamics at work in the neighborhood. For example, studies have shown that homes located with a mile of a Starbucks tend to appreciate at a much higher rate than homes located farther away. 2. Look at the schools. Homes located in good school districts are proven to appreciate faster and hold their value much better. If you have kids, you want to make sure they’ll be able to attend a good school system that will be able to support them well.

If home values are going up in that neighborhood, that’s typically a good thing.

3. Make the drive. If you have to drive from your prospective neighborhood to your workplace, do a trial run so you know what you’re getting into. Will you regularly encounter any high-traffic situations to get to work on time or will it be a nice and easy commute? 4. Get local with each neighborhood you inspect. Drive through them during the day and at night and see what it’s like. If you’re looking for a quieter setting and during your drive you see kids everywhere and it’s very loud all the time, that might not be the best fit for you. If, on the other hand, you have kids and are looking for a more active atmosphere, that might be the perfect neighborhood. If you have any questions about finding the right neighborhood or there’s anything else we can help you with regarding the real estate field, don’t hesitate to reach out to us. We’d be happy to help.

4 Tips for Selling Your First Home

When you sell your first house, there are a lot of unexpected things that can happen and it can be a little nerve-wracking. These tips will make the process go much smoother for you.

Buying a home? Click here to perform a full home search
Selling a home? Click here for a FREE Home Value Report

Today, I've got four key tips that will be a big help to you if you're selling a house for the first time. It can be a nervous time and you probably don't know what to expect, so we want to do our best to help you make the best decisions for you and your family. These are the most important things to keep in mind: 1. Price your home accurately: Overpricing your house is one of the biggest mistakes you can make. Whether you're selling an iPad, a jug of milk, or your house, it's not going to sell if you overprice it. I even see people who overprice their house end up selling for far less than they could have had they just priced it correctly from the beginning.

2. Ask your real estate agent for advice on preparing your house for sale: In 10 years in real estate, there have been only a few houses that I've walked into and thought they were ready for the market. Some homes need more prep work than others. It's important to lean on your agent's expertise so that your home shows in tip-top shape.

Overpricing your house is one of the biggest mistakes you can make.

3. Be flexible with showings when the house goes on the market: We find that if you miss the opportunity to get an interested buyer into your house for a showing, you might not ever be able to get them scheduled back. You need to know what you're getting into with selling a house because it will require some flexibility to get buyers in it.

4. Insist on professional photography: Your agent should bring in a pro whose job it is to take pictures of homes and show them in their best light. An agent using a little digital camera or an iPhone is not the gold standard of service you should expect. High-quality photos make a big difference in your home's sale. If you're thinking about selling your first house or have any other questions about the Temple market, don't hesitate to give me a call or send me an email. I’m always happy to help!