A Foyer whether big or small is a space that you welcome your guests. This is a space that you can vamp up with color, glamour or make it cozy and intimate. A foyer can add value to your home when selling it.
What is the use of a foyer in a home?
Your foyer is a space that you greet your guests or anyone that happen to knock at the front door. It gives you an opportunity to greet an unexpected visitor without them entry into your family space.
Is a foyer necessary?
I believe a foyer is necessary for any home. It can be the one area that is kept neat and tidy to greet guests that calls on you unexpectedly. You can create an illusion of a grand entry to your home to wow your guests.
What do you need in a foyer?
Since we live in Florida you should have
RUG – a weather-resistant rug. This should add a wow factor to your foyer.
SEATING – I also love having a bench with a couple of bold color pillows.
MIRROR – I love having a mirror in a foyer. It can open up a small space and make it appear larger.
TABLE -Have a console table for things like keys and other knick nacks.
FLOWERS -Have a nice flower arrangement or a couple of books.
Buying a home can be the most exciting time for you and your family. But don’t lose out on the home of your dreams by doing this alone. This is one of the biggest financial transactions of your life, and I want to help you by making this experience less stressful.
As you go through the process you may have questions on –
Downpayment – How much is required as a downpayment of a home?
How do I get a Mortgage for this home?
How do I complete the Mortgage application?
Do I have enough money saved up to buy this home?
Do I have a good credit score?
How do I write up an offer on my dream home?
How do I negotiate to get the best price?
How do I submit an offer on my dream home?
What do I do when the Seller accepts my offer?
How do I get the home inspected?
How do I negotiate repairs?
How do I get a title search?
How do I get a survey?
What are my closing costs?
There are so many things to think about when buying your home. Don’t go through this alone. Call/Text 727-422-9340 I can help you buy the dream home for you and your family.
You’re ready to sell your home, and although you’ve always kept your home in great condition you still need to do some extra maintenance. When selling your home your property has to be in tiptop shape if you’re going to get top dollar when you sell. If you’re selling your home you still want to have your home looking good on the inside as well as the outside. Even if your home is on the market for 3 months or more, you have to keep giving that home your love, even if you have already vacated the home. When your home looks like its well cared for, you get more people interested in looking at it and even get top dollar. Here are some tips that you may already be doing or neglecting.
Landscaping – your lawn should be mowed, trees and shrubs trimmed, flower beds should look lush. Your driveway and walkways should be well lit without weeds and leaves on it.
Gutters – people tend to forget that you get all sorts of debris in your gutters. Make sure that your gutters are cleaned out. By not doing this you can have all sorts of issues with your roof, walls of home and drainage issues. You don’t want to deal with overflowing drains if it rains, or damage walls or foundation issues or drainage issues when selling your home.
Fix Broken things – Buyers tend to check to make sure the doorbell works. It’s one of the things that people tend to forget when getting their home ready for the sale. Lots of times it doesn’t work. This may be something small to you, but to buyers, this can be a big deal. Fix leaky faucets and running toilets.
Critters – go around your home and make sure you don’t have squirrels or other critters living in your attic or other areas of your home.
Clean Windows and Doors – If your home is on the market for more than a month you will have to get those windows and doors cleaned up. Get rid of cobwebs or spiderwebs that may have built up around them. Not doing this will make the home look neglected.
Get your punch list made up, and make sure you’ve got all of these little things taken care of. By doing these small things you can get more return on your investment.
Many of us may buy and sell a home maybe once or twice in our lifetime. This is one of the biggest investments that we will make so why leave it to chance. I know many of the DIYs are thinking I can do this job, this is a piece of cake. I can put my listing online and I can get a bunch of great offers. This is a common way of thinking for the average homeowner.
Don’t Make This Mistake
A homeowner may not know the value of their home. They either, undervalue it which they can potentially lose more than what they would have spent on hiring a Realtor who would have priced it correctly. On the flip side, we have the FSBOs that think their home is worth a lot more than it actually is.
Homes that are over-priced tend to sit on the market and get stale over time. Most people would not even call because they think that something is wrong with the home if it’s been on the market that long without a sale. It really isn’t an advantage, having your home sitting on Zillow for over 90 days. Don’t make the mistake of doing this.
Realtors know that homeowners are honest and hardworking people. We want to do our best to sell your home and get you as much as we can in the shortest period of time. We are there to be the buffer, to negotiate for you and your family, to do all the dirty work so you can get the benefit of a stress-free transaction. We strive to make your life remain as normal as possible during this whole process of selling your home.
Keep in mind
Your home will sell for what it is appraised at. It does not matter if you think your home is worth $20,000 more. It’s what the appraiser thinks it’s worth. Get a Comparative Market Analysis (CMA). Some Realtors will do this for free for you, so ask for one.
Tip: If you know you don’t like
answering the phone, and talking to strangers
is not available to show your home during the day or evenings
cannot do open houses
hate to negotiate with people
already busy with family life (school, sports, work, kids)
not computer savvy
can’t take good photos
Don’t attempt to sell your own home. You are better off using a Realtor to help you sell your home. Call me if you are selling your home in the Tampa, Seminole, Largo, Clearwater, Pinellas Park, Tarpon Spring, Palm Harbor areas. I am an agent in Pinellas County Florida and can answer any questions you may have about selling your home.
For many, this may be the first time that they are purchasing a home. Home buying is a new experience and if you’ve never done it before an unfamiliar process. To make this experience less intimidating, I will advise you to get in contact with a local Realtor®. Just in case you decide to do it yourself, here is a break down of the steps that can help you in your home buying search. If you do have questions on any of these steps or need a Realtor® please, email, text or phone me.
Step 1. Get Pre-Approved for a Mortgage Loan ….this is where you find out how much money you can get to purchase your new home. This is free and a must-do if you are serious about looking at homes and making offers.
Step 2. Have Money for your Down Payment and Closing Fees … you will need to have at least 20% to put down as a down payment… for example, if you are purchasing a home for $250,000 you will need to have at least $50,000 as a down payment. This is money in addition to your loan. You will also need to have money for your closing costs which you can get an approximation from the title company.
Step 3. Write down a list of your must haves… this is beneficial to you and helps you break down areas that you want to live, what you want in a home, what school districts that you want and amenities you would like. This eliminates all the houses that you’re not interested in and you don’t feel overwhelmed with the whole process of the search for your home.
Step 3. Before you start searching I would get in contact with a Realtor®. A buyers agent is no cost to you, that’s right, they are free. You want someone that is on your side and that will negotiate for you. An agent will put together a list of properties from your list of must-haves and help you find the one that is right for you.
Step 4. You’ve found your home, now you get that offer. Once that offer is accepted by the seller’s agent you give a deposit check. This does not have to be a lot, can be $1,000 and this goes towards your closing costs. If you have a Realtor®, they will write up an offer and take care of everything else. That’s the great thing about having a Realtor®, you don’t have to negotiate or deal with the seller or the seller’s agent. Your agent acts as a buffer and takes care of everything for you.
Step 5. Your offer is accepted…now what? Schedule your home inspection. The buyer pays for the home inspector and you will definitely want one that has a good reputation. This is an important part of the process because this inspector will inspect the roof, plumbing, electrical, air condition, and heat as well as appliances, windows, pool and pool equipment. This needs to be done properly because these are expensive fixes if you buy the home and later find out that the air conditioner has a problem that was missed by the inspector.
Step 6. Waiting for Loan Approval… The bank usually gets the home appraised and they have their appraiser go out to the home. While you are waiting you should not change jobs, make huge purchases like buying a car or even purchase furniture. You should not make huge deposits into your bank account either. Any changes to your finance can delay or even result in your loan being denied.
Step 7. You are approved for the loan and now it’s closing day. You can now do your final walk-thru the morning before you go to the closing. You want to make sure that everything is clean and anything that was agreed on in the contract has been done. If not, then you will have to re-negotiate with the seller. If everything is as it should be your head to your closing.
Step 8. Your Title company would have been in contact with you throughout the whole process. You should know what your fees are…whether there is a clear title as well as closing fees. How the Seller gets their money. At the closing, the sellers are there with their agent as well as you and your agent. The title company goes over all the documents make sure you understand everything, and then you and the seller sign. You now get your keys and you head over to your new Home.
For more information on Buying or Selling homes please contact me.
Many of us think that the best time to sell a home would be in the spring and summer. This is true that the majority of buyers are looking to make a purchase during those months. But not all buyers disappear after Labor Day.
In Florida, your home may get a lot of interest from all the snow birds that are flocking down to Florida. This is a great time to take advantage of the holiday season and show off your home to 2nd home buyers or buyers that are looking to make Florida their home.
Your Home Looks It’s Best
This is a great time to make your home look cozy and family friendly. Most people shopping for homes during the holidays are very motivated. This is great time to capitalize on this by creating an atmosphere of family with tasteful decorating and minimal clutter.
Show off your home’s greatest assets and enhance it by using tasteful christmas decorations.
Lack of Competition
Many sellers are debating on taking their home off the market during the holidays. You may find that you have little or no competition during the holidays. New sellers may want to wait for the new year to list their home or prefer to get it ready for sale during spring or summer.
This is an advantage to you because you have less competition for buyers looking for homes like yours. When you have less homes on the market it means that you get tons of buyers focusing on your home. Talk to your realtor and make sure your home is priced correctly.
Buyers are more Motivated
Most people don’t decide to move during the holidays. If you have a buyer shopping for a home during the holidays usually it means they have to move. This involves a job or other reason to buy a home during the holidays. People shopping for homes around the holidays tend to be serious buyers and are very motivated. Keep the holiday cheer on when you meet with these folks and you’ll be sure to sell your home.
In order to use an FHA loan to purchase a home, the property will have to be appraised and inspected by a HUD-approved appraiser. This is to ensure that the property meets HUDS’s minimum property standards.
WHAT IS AN APPRAISAL?
Only an expert can assesses or determine the value of your home. You get an appraisal to determine the value of your home in today’s market. The appraiser usual has a check list of HUDs requirements for FHA.
Things You Should Know About FHA Home Appraisals
HAND RAILS – handrails should be installed along open staircases, and in accordance with FHA/HUD requirements.
RAILINGS – has to be installed around, decks, patios, porches and balconies.
PAINT – all interior and exterior paint should be in good condition. There should be no distressed paint eg. peeling paint.
WINDOWS – all windows should be fully operational and not broken. If it is, it has to be replaced.
DOORS – doors should be functional and hanging properly.
ROOF – If the roof has leaks it must be repaired or replaced.
UTILITIES -utilities must be on and functional at the time of the inspection.
These are just some of the things that will be addressed with an FHA Appraiser. To get more information visit FHA APPRAISAL
If you are looking for more information on selling or buying a home please call/text 727-422-9340 or email: arona.mcginley@gmail.com or fill out the contact form.
This can be one of the most difficult part of the selling process for most homeowners. This is the home that you may have raised your family in and with that comes all the memories. How can you put a price tag on that? If you are selling by owner then it’s up to you to figure out what will be a fair price.
Take a look at your home and realistically write down the square footage of the home, number of bathrooms and bedrooms, any updates, example maybe you added a new roof, new kitchen or bathroom remodel. These things will be important when comparing your home to ones that have sold in your area. If your price is too high you may find that your home will sit on the market for months and if it’s too low, then you end up losing money.
IS THE PRICE RIGHT?
Category:
buying real estate, for sale by owner, real estate, selling real estate
PRICE TO SELL
So you've decided to sell your home? Now what? When working with a real estate agent, they do all the leg work for you. The real estate agent actually do all the research on all the comps in your area and do all the dirty work of helping you get to your list price. This can be very challenging for home owners when selling their own home. Hopefully after reading this you can get a better idea of how to come up with a fair price for your home.
1. Not all homes are the same even though their square footage is the same and the floor plan maybe the same. You have to take into consideration updates that other home owners may have done to their home. Certain improvements may add more value to your home than others. So keep that in mind when thinking of doing any remodeling.
2. Go www.zillow.com and type in your home address. You will get tons of listings that pop up. Try to focus on the homes that are within 1/2 mile from your home. See how those homes compare to yours and what they are priced at. Pay attention to remodels, square footage comparisons, compare bedrooms and bathrooms, pool and outdoor patio.
3. Go to the recent home sales on www.zillow.com. You can access homes that was recently sold in your area. Check out sales that are 5 months or less and that compares to your home.
4. You can also contact a real estate agent for a CMA. Most agents would love to help you.
5. Check out some open houses in your area and see what kind of homes are being sold and what it's being sold for. It's a great way to scope out the competition. Plus you can get some ideas for your own open house.
Notes
For more information on pricing your home please contact Arona McGinley Cell: 727-422-9340 or email arona.mcginley@gmail.com.
You are ready to buy your home – Are your finances in order?
Category:
Advertising your home to sell, buyers in pinells county, buyers in tampa bay florida, buyers market, buying real estate, buying your home, Clearwater, Florida, property search in florida, real estate
Have a talk with your bank / lender and get one of these.
1. Pre-Qualification Letter
2. Pre-Approval Letter
3. Loan Commitment
Talking to your bank/lender gives you an idea of how much house you can actually afford. Once you start looking for your home you don’t want to waste time on looking at homes that you cannot afford. It can be very emotional when you’ve found your dream home then you find out you cannot afford it. By talking to your lender you can get advice from a professional as to whether or not you qualify for any home buyer programs or loans.
Notes
What is a Pre-Qualification Letter?
A pre-qualification letter says what’s the maximum a buyer can pay for a home. However, it relies only on truthful but non-verified verification. This is an informal estimate and the information can be done by telephone, email, online or in person.
What is a Pre-Approval Letter?
A pre-approval letter provides documentation of exactly how much mortgage the borrower have been approved to borrow. This is based on the borrowers income, assets, debts and credit. This is more detailed than a pre-qualification letter and it involves verification of data and underwriting. A pre-approval letter can make a big difference for home buyers, it shows the sellers that you are very serious about buying their home.
What is a Loan Commitment?
This is when the buyer does full on loan application and this can be completed in person or by mail. The lender will need the borrower’s income, assets, debts and all credit is considered. The bank will need verification of employment, bank statements and verification of deposits and any other form of income or debts the borrower may claim to have.
