Preparing your Home for Sale

A home seller can get a lot more money for their home if they know how to impress their buyers.  With these simple and inexpensive ways to prep your home for sale, you could walk away with more money in your pocket.  Every buyer will judge your home within the first 8 seconds of walking in the front door.  But in order to make the best impression possible, you need to begin outside.  Go to the street and look at your home with a new lense. . .pretend that you are a potential buyer and really critique your home.  Is there garbage in the yard?  Any clutter such as empty pots or dirty shoes on the porch?  Clean those out right away.  How is your landscaping?  Are you bushes healthy and trimmed?  Are the plants in the planter boxes thriving or dying?  The curb appeal of your home is the buyers first impression. . .make it a good one.

Next, take a long hard look at your front door.  Does it need to be painted?  Are the handle and door lock damaged or difficult to use?  Are they looking worn out?  Replace them! 

Let’s walk inside. . .remember the 8 seconds mentioned above?  This is when the clock starts ticking. . .you have to allow your buyers to mentally move into your home in their mind.  Take down your family photos, put shoes away in a closet and put the mail from last week that you haven’t had time to open in a drawer.

Light sells homes, are your curtains too dark or heavy that they rob your home of valuable light?  Every time you leave your home during a showing, make sure the blinds are open and the curtains are pulled back which will brighten the buyer’s opinion of your home.  Are the trees or shrubs overgrown, thus making your rooms dark and dreary?  Have them trimmed.

The kitchen is the most important room in the house.  But don’t do an expensive remodel just to sell your home because you will never get your money back.  Instead, clean, clean, clean!  Clear out all the clutter!  Put appliances in cabinets, make sure your sink and countertops have been wiped down, don’t leave out dirty dishes.  If necessary, put a fresh coat of paint on the cabinets or replace the drawer pulls.

The bathroom is the second most important room in the house and the same rules apply.  Clear out the clutter!  Put your personal items under the sink and always keep it clean!

Buyers want peace and serenity when they walk into a bedroom.  A made bed and a clutter free room scream peace and quiet while a messy room looks small and feels chaotic!

These changes don’t cost a lot of money but will add value to your home and help it sell faster.  Call me and I can offer more personalized suggestions to getting your home ready, set, SOLD!

I'm Famous!

I'M FAMOUS!!!  Well . . .that may be a bit of an exaggeration. . .ummm. . .I feel famous?!?!  Yes. . .that's better!
What I mean is I opened my mailbox and lo and behold, my face was on a postcard that went to all my neighbors in Victoria Park.  Let's do some math, of the 200+ homes in VP, let's guess that maybe 100 of them actually glance through all the mail they receive instead of just tossing it right in the recycle bin.  Of that 100, let's say that 50 of them actually stopped for even the briefest second to look at my postcard.  Wait, I'm not feeling so famous any longer. . .let's stop doing the math and just focus on the fact that my postcard went out, with my face on it to all my neighbors.  Done!  I like that feeling so much better!

Only in Naples

Only in Naples can you go from playing in the snow on 3rd Street on Wednesday night to the beach and sand sculptures on Thursday. 

Some days I feel sorry for my kids because they love the snow and don't get to grow up with it. Whenever we visit any place that has snow, they spend the entire time outside, even if it is the gross, brown left over snow on the side of the street that isn't hit by sun so it hasn't melted and is more like ice than snow!   But I get over feeling bad pretty quickly. . .because, really. . .what is there to feel sorry for?  We live in paradise!  Every year thousands of people spend insane amounts of money to come here and get away from that gross, brown left over snow.   Most people aren't as excited by it as my kids are!  Instead, my kids get to go to the beach, wear shorts year round, don't have to worry about where their mittens may have been lost and Disney is a short drive away.
Perhaps they will end up in therapy when they are older because of having such a difficult childhood or perhaps they will grow up and realize how unbelievable lucky they are to live in paradise!

Thanks. . .

I have recently been put into a position where I have a choice to make, either focus on a lot of negative events happening or focus on the good.  Fortunately for me, I am usually a cup half full kind of girl so I choose to find the good. . .it also helps that it is Thanksgiving so all around me are people expressing gratitude for the blessings in their lives. 

Sometimes, despite our best efforts to do the right thing, life doesn't turn out the way you hope or plan and it's hard.  But truly, I don't want to be unhappy each day and only focus on not being able to manipulate the world to my needs.  So I choose to show gratitude. . .so here we go -

1) I am so thankful to my friends and family. . .they have always been by my side, causing awesome laughter, incredible memories and anticipation for our next adventure.
2) I am thankful for my kids, they bring me so much joy.  The other day my 12 year old son told, out of the blue, that he has a good life!
3) I am thankful for my job. . .it can be stressful, it can be exciting and most days are a mystery as to what will happen.
4) I am thankful to my clients, trusting in me with the biggest purchase/sale of your lives.
5) I am thankful for my home. . .it is my safe haven.
6) I am thankful for my neighborhood. . .Victoria Park is the most amazing community.  My kids have their friends around all the time and the neighbors are truly and extension of my family.
7) I am thankful for the hard times because it reminds me to be thankful during the good times. (like now!)
8) I am thankful for the beaches. . .it's my happiest place on Earth. . .sorry Disney!
9) I am thankful for my health, there have been times when it wasn't the best so I value being strong and healthy now.
10) I am thankful for each person that touches my life in some way,

I know that this is pretty heavy but I felt compelled to share. . .as it says above, not expressing gratitude is like wrapping a present and not giving it.  So. . .this Thanksgiving. . I want to give away my gratitude!

Happy Thanksgiving!

What a Mess!

 

When showing real estate, you truly never know what you will see when you walk into a home.  Some days, you are excited because you know the home is beautiful and easy to show.  Other times. . . well . .

A couple days ago, a showing was set up for one of our listings that has a large dog.  As a general practice someone on our team will arrive at the property and walk the dog while the home is being shown just to make it easy on our homeowner and on the potential buyer.  Above and beyond, right?

Well, let me tell you about above and beyond. . .I arrived about 5 minutes prior to the showing, ready to pop in, walk the dog and head back to the office.  Instead, I open the door and my mouth hangs open. . . there is blood all over the floor in the entry.  HORROR!  What is going on???  I slowly enter the house and look around. . .more blood. . .across the beautiful 18” tile on the diagonal, across the stunning hard wood floors throughout the rest of the house (notice the subtle selling there). . .blood, everywhere.  Before you jump to conclusions. . . a horrific crime had not been committed.  Instead, the dog had surgery and the wound popped open after the owners left for work and the dog had spent the day bleeding, everywhere he walked. 

Realizing that I had a mere few minutes before the potential buyer was to arrive, I had 3 options - 

1) clean up the mess

2) call the agent and cancel the showing

3) leave it, knowing that it would ruin the showing.   

Obviously. . .I really only had 1 option.  So I jumped into action.  The dog went out onto the lanai, I grabbed some paper towels and cleaner from under the kitchen sink and I hit the floor ready for my biohazard clean up!  While scrubbing, I did call the owners and let them know that their dog was injured and needed to go to the vet, in case you were wondering! 

There is a very good reason why I am not in the medical field. . .I am so squeamish!   I do not like blood at all so this was so hard for me but it had to be done, there may have been a few gags, but I will save you from those details.  The potential buyers were a little late so I ended up with about 10 minutes to complete the clean up and it was like a scene in a movie. . .racing to finish and hiding all the evidence right as the door bell rang.  I was a hot mess and but I felt victorious that I had managed to get the house cleaned up just in the nick of time! 

Just goes to show. . .you never know what adventure is waiting for you just around the corner!

Movies on the Lawn at Mercato

The other day I received an invite from Mercato inviting us to the Movies on the Lawn.  Usually we do not attend these because the movies are shown on a Tuesday evening. . .school night. . .and when it was light later, the movies wouldn’t start until 8:00.  Since my lovely littlest goes to bed at 8:30, it was impossible for us to make the movies.  But, now that we are back in standard time, the movies begin at 6 end at 8 and we are home before bedtime.  Awesome!

I personally love going to outdoor events. . .movies, music, parties. . .love it.  My little one is so much like me that she is always up for going with me.  But I have a 12 year old and for those of you that have a tween or remember being one. . .let me tell you it is tough!  He is at the age where he is too cool to hang with mom too often, he hates his picture being taken (explains why he looks a little funky above!) and he never wants to participate in events like the movies on the lawn. 

After a little bribery of Yogurbella, I managed to convince my children to hang out with me and off to the movies we go.  It was a perfect night, it wasn’t very busy and the movie was great.   

As I sat there, I just felt so happy.  Happy that I was able to be super mom with the bribery, happy that I live in an area that promotes fun family events such as this and happy that I had a belly full of Yogurbella.  It is definitely that time of year to focus your energy on the good in your life and forget the bad.  I am trying to live in the moment and be thankful for those small moments that make up each day. 

It was definitely a good night that I am thankful for!    

So Proud of my Mama!!!

I am so unbelievably proud of my mom! I have always joked that she kept all the creative juices for herself in our family and did not pass them down to any of her children or grandchildren!  But. . . she is using her gift for the betterment of Collier County AND her hard work is being recognized by her peers!

My mom was awarded the United Arts Councils Star in the Arts award for 2014!  
 

Thirty nine nominations were received by the United Arts Council and those nominations were judged by peers within the art community.  It is kind of a "peoples choice award" for collier arts!  Candidates are nominated by their peers, judged by their peers and selected by their peers. 

My mom deserves this so much. . .she has spent her whole life working tirelessly on promoting the arts.  She has worked as the Fine Arts Coordinator for Collier County for the last 10 years, helping build programs for our children to enjoy and making sure the schools have the equipment, instruments and supplies necessary to give our kids a creative outlet.  She has brought together  numerous collaborations in music and art between the schools and non profit arts groups.  This is her life's work and it is awesome that she is being recognized for it.   
Way to go, Mama!