Spring Home Tips

For most of the country Spring has sprung and the season is well on it’s way! Mother Nature is busy at work sprucing up and you should be too; as overwhelming as it can seem there’s no need to panic over the clutter. We’ve put together some great tips to help you get on top of the seasonal home honey-do list!

Change Your Air Filter
This one is bigger than you think! Regularly changing your home air filter not only keeps the air you breathe cleaner but it can help your air systems work more efficiently – saving you money!

Open Your Vents
If you live in a home with foundation vents this is the time to open them up! Opening your foundation vents allows cooler air to pass beneath your home helping your AC systems not have to work as hard.

Tackle the Yard
The yard can seem like a huge task, so pick just one task a day, or even one task per week, to take on. Rake the leaves today, next time trim the bushes, the next time do the edging.

Open the Windows
As the temperatures are still cool in the morning and evenings it’s an opportune time to get some fresh air in the home. Opening windows clears out dust and stale air and sunlight can even have anti-bacterial properties.

Hopefully these simple tips will help inspire you!
Don’t let the things around the house take over – you can tackle any of these tasks if you just take them one at a time.

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Update Your Bathroom Without Breaking The Bank!

Everyone knows the kitchen is the “heart of the home”, and while the bedroom may be where you spend the most hours dreaming, it’s often the bathroom where a lot of the living gets done and also the room most likely to be used by guests. Isn’t it important then to make sure it looks great? We think so too! So we’ve put together these get ideas to help you give your bathroom an updated look without spending a small fortune on a full remodel.

Frames
If you have a free standing shower one way to really open the space is to ditch the framed in glass. Going frameless helps take the hard edges off of corners and gives the shower a more open feel. Adversely, consider taking the frames off any mirrors in the bathroom as this lends to a more modern feel.

Paint
Seems like a no brainer! Changing up the color palette in a room is one of the best ways to change it up without knocking down walls. Take this time to patch up any dings and scratches on the walls too.

Fixtures
Update that faucet! Swap out that sink! Or hey, just change the knobs on the drawers. Just changing the hardware in your bathroom can make a big difference. It’s more than okay to splurge on that fancy infinity sink you’ve been wanting too!

Lighting
Consider changing the lights as well! Fixtures themselves, or even just a different style of cool bulb can add a real flare of personality. Lights literally light up our world, so the tone, brightness, and color can all make a big difference on how you feel in a room.

Hopefully these quick tips will get your ideas flowing! There are tons of ways to change up your home and keep it fresh and new for years after you’ve moved in. Stumped? Let’s talk – as your chosen REALTOR® we’re always happy to help any way we can!

Get Your Home Ready For Spring!

The rains have come and the wind is blowing the fresh smells of a new season across the land…and that means Spring cleaning!

Yay. Right? Nobody looks forward to the work part of the process but everything sure is nice when it’s done and you can sit back and breathe in that crisp clean house smell.

We’ve put together a few quick but powerful tips to help you get ready for Spring without taking the spring out of your step!

Dust Off The A/C
Seasons change fast, and if you have central air it won’t be long before you’ll be wanting to turn it on to cool down. It’s a good idea to give the unit outside a good hose down and inspect it for any damage. Go ahead and change those air filters and turn the system on to make sure everything sounds right.

Do the Junkmail Jump
It’s a good time to review all those subscription and junk mail ads hitting the mailbox. Unsubscribing may not be the way you want to spend your Saturday but by the end of the year when the sales ads are really hitting you’ll be glad you did. It’s not a bad idea to take a look at your online subscriptions and bills in general as well…are there some things you’re paying for that you’re not even using? Cut them out!

Clean the Grill!
This one brings it’s own reward really. For many of us grilling season never really stopped so this may just be a matter of some light brushing off, but for everyone else go ahead and break out the wire brush and get things looking clean. Dump out old ashes and maybe even fire up a few burgers after you’re done – just to make sure it’s still “good”.

Brave The Deep Clean
Now is the time. Before Summer sports and the year really gets rolling, Spring is often the best time to go beyond your normal maintenance cleaning and go for the deep grime. Bleach the grout, wash down the baseboards, and do all the little things that make a big difference.

A good real estate agent wants to help long after the paper work is signed and helping you take care of the home you’re living in is just one part of that. If you’re looking for a home, or even looking to sell the home you’re in just get in touch!

Tame the Clutter! With These Kondo Tips!

Marie Kondo is the start of an outrageously popular Netflix series called “Tidying Up With Marie Kondo” where she helps homeowners tame their clutter by embracing the things they love in their home. She has some very creative and imaginative ideas for organizing your living spaces, and since the change of seasons is just around the corner it’s a great time to get started thinking about Spring cleaning!

Here are some tips we’ve put together to help you apply some of Marie’s techniques to transform your home into your oasis of tranquility!

Visualize Your Goal
It might seem like a small thing, but it helps to picture in your mind the end result you want before you even begin! Believe it or not this helps the idea of this change seem more real in your mind, and thereby also more achievable.

Does It Spark Joy?
A big part of Marie’s method is to go through items that may be cluttering up your home and ask yourself: “does this item spark joy in me?”. If the answer is not YES! Then it’s no; chances are the item is just something you’re holding onto. Free yourself! Get rid of things just taking up space and make room for what really makes you happy.

Treat Your Possessions Like They’re Alive
Seems kinda nuts doesn’t it? But think about it. A lot of the clutter and disorganization in our lives comes from haphazard habits; only respecting the items when we put them to use. By treating your possessions like they have feelings it makes it easy to treat them properly and put them in their proper places.

Call A Professional
Even if everything goes smoothly and you’re de-cluttering like mad there’s still the problem of where to put all the stuff you’re getting rid of! If you have a truck it’s not such a big problem but otherwise you may want to hire a professional junk hauling company to come pick things up. Some of them even take donations to thrift stores instead of just throwing it all away!

Keeping your home tidy is an essential part to the overall health of your home! You will be absolutely amazed by how much better a clutter free home feels. It’s about more than just cleaning  up – it can help improve every moment you spend in your house.

Must Do Items Before You Sell Your Home

Spring is fast on it’s way and the market is already hotter than a Summer day in July; it’s a great time to think about selling your home!

Even though you love the home you live in and may already have started getting it tidy for possible sale there are always a few things extra you can do to really make sure your house looks it’s very best. To help out we’ve put together some suggestions to help get you started!

Clean Up The Yard
It’s the first thing people will see, so it’s a good place to start. Winter has been fairly kind this year but it’s likely the yard could still use a little trim and tuck. Whether it’s raking leaves, or giving the shrubs and early trim there’s plenty to do to get the yard straightened up.

De-personalize
It might feel a little sad to start taking down pictures and keepsakes but you want your home to be presented in a way that potential new buyers will be able to see themselves living there. That can be hard when there’s your favorite sports team throw over the couch, or the trophy mount from last year hanging over the fireplace.

Light Bulbs and Polish
Little things matter. Make sure you go through your house and replace any burnt out bulbs, wipe down counter and surfaces regularly, and give the fixtures a little polish to make sure everything is nice and shiny.

How To Maintain A Clean House Before Your Move

Keeping a spotless house is an impossible task at the best of times, much less when you’re trying to sell your home and get ready to move. Unfortunately, having your home look presentable can play a big part in attracting buyers to get you moving into your new place.

Don’t fret! We’ve put together some great tips to help you get your place looking great and keep it that way until the closing papers are signed!

Clean As You Go
This is the biggest simultaneously easiest and hardest thing to do! Good news is if you can get it down as routine you’ll save a lot of time cleaning. Start with putting things away in their place when you’re done with them rather than leave them out. Make a mess, clean it then, don’t wait to come back to it later.

Make Time
Set aside a little time every day to clean. Just pick an hour or so at whatever point in your day that fits best, this might be after the kids are off to school, or at night when everyone is asleep.  We’re not talking about taking on major remodeling projects here, just take a few minutes each day to hit some of the smaller day to day items – picking up stray laundry, wiping down the counters, and other quick items.

Recruit the Troops!
If you’ve got kids, or a spouse, or room mates there’s no reason you have to do it all yourself. They share the space they can help clean it! In the case of kids, make cleaning a sort of game and reward help with fun time. In the case of roomie’s and spouses you may have to get creative with incentives but stick to your guns – you don’t have to go it alone!

It doesn’t have to be hard, and with even just these three simple steps you can tame the clutter and get on to having a home that’s easier to maintain while you live there and easier to sell when the time comes!

 

Spring Home Remodeling Tips

Before you know it Spring will be here in full force!

Before the list of items for your honey-do list get filled up it’s  good time to start thinking about the bigger projects that may be on the board for the season.

Remodeling, even a small room, is  a great way to invest in your homes value and your own enjoyment, but not all home improvements are created equal – we’ve put together a list of a few of the best ones to get the most bang for your buck!

Install or Upgrade Insulation
If there’s one thing we learn about during the great snowpocalypse of aught 16 was the importance of staying warm! Proper insulation in your home is the difference between not only having good protection against the cold itself but also against the high energy bills as well! Of all the updates you can do for your home insulation ranked as one of the highest returns on investment with most recouping upwards of 90% of the cost over time.

Garage Doors
If your garage faces an alley or side road it’s not such a big deal but if you’re garage is on the front of your house like most it takes up a considerable amount of the visual look of your home. This is why it’s good to make sure that it’s not only in good repair but that it looks as nice as possible – so consider updating it or adding a pop of color.

Hit The Deck
Believe it or not adding a nice deck to your home is among one of the top 5 improvements that adds value to a house. Everyone loves socializing during those long Summer evenings; it’s really a wise choice to make if you want to add an improvement and pamper yourself a little at the same time.

Siding
Literally the skin of your house, and it’s important! Not only does it help keep the weather out but it is also a big part of how you home looks on the outside as well. If your siding is in bad shape it’s definitely time to get it looked at, but otherwise consider a different color or style. An easy fix if your siding is still in good shape is just to give it a good pressure washing every so often to keep it looking nice and clean!

The beginning of the season is always the best time to make plans; whether you’re remodeling because you’re thinking of selling or just because you want to get more out of your home while you are in it there’s a number of things you can do. We’d love the chance to talk with you more about your home, and your ideas – feel free to get in touch!

Don’t Make These De-cluttering Mistakes!

You wouldn’t believe it from the icicles and ice berms stacked up everywhere, but Spring is just around the corner – and that means Spring cleaning!

Getting things cleaned up and tossing out old clutter is a big part of getting ready for the new season but you’ve got to keep a few things in mind if you want to avoid sabotaging the whole idea and ending up with a living room that looks like tornado alley for the next six months. Here’s some great tips to make your hoard disappear!

Why Do Today What You Can Put Off Until Tomorrow?
Procrastination…putting it off til the last minute can absolutely stymie any productive effort. And sometimes, it’s not a matter of being too busy, just a matter of not making things a priority – or even plain outright laziness. Regardless, don’t keep pushing back your plans to get things done. Claim a weekend to start and stick to it.

Taking It All On At Once
Another sure fire way to sabotage your efforts is to try and do it all at once. Be realistic in your goals, especially if you have a lot to get done, and realize it may not all get done in a day, a weekend, or even a week. Set short achievable milestones for best results; maybe even just go room by room to keep from feeling overwhelmed.

Failing To Plan Is Planning To Fail
It’s true. You need to start with just putting together an idea of what you want done – even moreso if your tackling multiple rooms. Make a list of important items in each room before you even begin, or maybe create a loose timeline of your goals. Taking just a little time before you begin to think of where you want to end is always a good idea.

Struggling to tame the tide of stuff? Considering just moving to get rid of it all? Don’t despair! As your real estate profession I have the resources to help you get your home ready if you’re considering a sale, or can put you in touch with the services you’ll need to make your home happy while you’re in it! GET IN TOUCH!

Keep Your Home Safe On Vacation!

Warmer weather has arrived and the days are already starting to get longer; this means it’s time to start thinking about getting out and enjoy a little vacation time.  Nothing can ruin the memories of that time well spent like returning home to find a disaster area. Common sense things like turning off water, having mail picked up, and  locking all the doors are easy to remember, but there are some things many people may not have considered.

Here are some things you can do to be proactive in keeping your home safe when you’re out of town.

Save The Status Updates
We know it’s difficult but you might want to save posting those pictures of the vacation until you get back from the trip. Believe it or not, would be evil doers now use social media to see if people are out of town and target their home. If you can’t resist the urge maybe only share pictures via private messages or to selected friends.

Knock Knock!
Of course someone is home! It might not be a bad idea, even if you don’t have pets, to hire a house sitter or talk to a trusted friend about coming over and just spending some time in your home to help make any potential door knockers believe that there is someone home.

Lights!
Burglars often will watch a home for some time and may know your schedule, so they will notice things like a lack of lights on in the house. So, leave a few lights on, or better yet get a timer to have lights come on at dark to give the illusion that someone is home.

What Needs Power
Go through the house before you leave and take a look at what actually needs to be plugged in and what doesn’t. Things like computers, steroes or TV’s that won’t be in use while you’re out can be a big power drain even when not on, worse yet if there is a power surge while you’re gone they might be damaged.

These few things can help keep your home a little bit safer while you’re away enjoying your leisure time. It never hurts to talk to your next door neighbors and let them know you’ll be away so they can keep an eye on the house as well.

Freshen Up Your Home for Spring!

Spring is here at last! With dust in the air one thing that comes to bear ever year is all the odors that have been sleeping during the Winter.

Despite the conditions of the floors being one of the items most directly correlated with cleanliness in a home it can be easy to overlook how smells impact the perception of your home until they hit you in the face. Here are some tips we’ve put together to help you keep those nasties at bay:

Mans Best Friend
It’s easy to think that musty smell is coming from your carpets, curtains or other upholstery, but fact is you may not need to look that far to find the culprit. Not to worry, there’s no need to throw out your favorite pup! Just make sure to give them regular baths and take care of grooming. Have a kitty? Keep that litter box at bay by cleaning it out frequently; using a little baking soda to help absorb smells.

Blossoming Scents
Fresh flowers are a great way to not only improve the visual aspects of a room but they can also bring in fresh spring-like smells. Don’t go blooming crazy of course! There can be too much of a good thing, but this is always great, especially if you have guests coming over – just make sure they don’t have allergies.

When Life Gives You Lemons
Lemons are a olfactory powerhouse – and they have a lot of uses for cleaning as well! Throw a “used” lemon into your garbage disposal with cold water to fight stink in the sink. A few peels from a lemon can keep that “fishy” smell down in your trashcan after seafood night.

Coffee to the Rescue!
Yes, this magical elixir is a life saver in any number of situations, but it can be used to fight odor and leave your room smelling great too! Just put some fresh ground coffee in a small bowl, leave it in a closed room overnight, and by the next day the smelly odors will be replaced with wonderful java aromas! You can put a little in a coffee filter and tie it shut to place in closets or footlockers as well.