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Central Florida State of the Market Report November 2022
November 2022 •
October 31, 2022
Holiday Decorating Tips for Sellers
One of the biggest questions sellers ask me is, “Should I decorate for the holiday season while my house is on the market?” I say Yes- but with careful consideration!
Keep your Holiday Decorations Classic
You want potential buyers to be able to see themselves in your home, and that can be tough if your home is decked out in Santa Claus figurines and reindeer sweaters. Instead, stick to more timeless interior décor, like white lights and evergreen wreaths. Outside, resist the urge to be Clark Griswold, stick with simple white light strands and possible some candles in the windows. Don’t cover the width and breadth of your lawn with giant blow up decorations.
Don’t Go Overboard with the Scent of Christmas
You love the smell of fresh pine, but that doesn’t mean everyone does. Again, you want potential buyers to feel comfortable in your home, and overwhelming them with smells can be a big turnoff. Stick to unscented candles or very, very lightly scented baking scents, like cookies or cranberries.
Make Sure Your Home is Welcoming and Inviting
Your holiday decorations shouldn’t make your home feel cramped or cluttered. This is not the time to bring out your animated motion sensor Santa or invest in a truly oversized Christmas tree. If you have a lot of furniture, consider removing some pieces to make your rooms feel more open. You want potential buyers to be able to imagine themselves living in your home, so help them out by giving them some breathing room.
Follow these tips and you’ll be sure to have great in-person showings during the holiday season Happy selling!
If you have any other questions about selling your home during the holiday season, or any other real estate needs, don’t hesitate to reach out to me! I’m always available to talk real estate!
September 2022 •
September 20, 2022
Bold Lighting For A Touch of Drama
If you’re looking to add a touch of drama and glamour to your home design, using bold lighting is the way to go. While this type of lighting can be used in any room in your house, it is especially effective in spaces like the living room, dining room, or bedroom. In this blog post, we will give you some tips on how to use bold lighting in your home design, as well as some ideas for where you can purchase it. Let’s get started!
Make a Statement
There are a few things to keep in mind when using bold lighting in your home design. First, you want to make sure that the fixtures you choose make a statement. You can do this by selecting pieces that are oversized or have unique details. For example, you could use a chandelier in your bathroom or a antique floor lamp in your living room.
Consider Placement
Second, you’ll want to consider the placement of your fixtures carefully. Bold lighting can be used to highlight specific areas in a room, so it’s important to think about how the light will fall before you purchase anything. Wall sconces can be used to accentuate lighting on a piece of art, while chandeliers and be used to cast dramatic depth and shadows on a dining table.
Experiment
Finally, don’t be afraid to experiment! Bold lighting is all about making a statement, so have fun with it and see what looks best in your space. Now that you know a few things about using bold lighting in your home design, let’s take a look at some places where you can purchase it.
One great option for purchasing bold lighting is Rain & Light. They have a wide selection of wall sconces, chandelier and pendant lighting, so you’re sure to find something that will fit your needs. Another option is Circa Lighting, which offers free standard shipping. For more affordable options, check out Wayfair or Pottery Barn.
Photo credit: Realtor.com
August 2022 •
August 24, 2022
Tips For Choosing A New Front Door Color
When it comes to painting your front door, the options can feel endless. Should you choose a bright color to make a statement? A neutral tone to match your home’s exterior? Something in between? In this blog post, we will help you decide which front door color is perfect for your home. We’ll discuss popular colors, and give you some tips on how to choose the best one for your needs.
When it comes to choosing a front door color, there are a few things you should keep in mind. First, think about the overall look you want to achieve for your home’s exterior. Are you going for a classic look, or something more modern? Once you’ve decided on the general style you’re going for, you can start narrowing down your color options.
If you’re going for a classic look, then neutrals are always a safe bet. Black, white, and gray are all great choices that will give your home a timeless feel. If you want something with a little more personality, then you could go for a bolder color like red or blue. Just make sure that the color you choose compliments the rest of your home’s exterior.
If you’re going for a more modern look, then you have even more options to choose from. Bright colors like yellow or orange can really make your front door pop, and help your home stand out from the rest on the block.
No matter what color you choose, make sure it’s one that you love. After all, you’ll be looking at it every day when you come home!
Fun Fact! A red door is often seen as a sign of welcome, hospitality, and good luck.
March 2022 •
May 11, 2022
Get Prepped for Growing Season
Dust off your garden gnomes! Spring is just around the corner, and gardeners across the country are counting down the days. Here are 3 steps you can take right now to prepare for the growing season.
Plan for success
Whether your passion is growing your own food, or you prefer ornamental landscaping, or both, creating a plan is your first step. Take stock of last year’s successes and failures and adjust this year’s plan accordingly.
There are many garden-planning tools and apps available online to help you:
- Gardeners.com offers a kitchen garden planner.
- Gardena.com offers a garden planner for landscaping.
- Don’t forget about the trusted Old Farmer’s Almanac Planting Calendar, your local guide to knowing when to plant specific plants to ensure optimal growth and production.
Once you have a plan, make a list of what you’ll need to purchase. Seeds or seedlings? Will you need soil amendments? Which plants have you been eying in nursery catalogs over the way-too-long winter?
If you’re unsure of how much soil you’ll need, check out the soil calculator online at Gardeners.com.
You’re only as good as your tools
If you’re like many gardeners, your shovels, shears, and other tools have been sitting in the shed since last season and likely need a little TLC. If a deep clean is in order, a soapy rinse and soak paired with a scrub brush should do the trick. Wooden handles? Give them a light sanding to help remove splinters.
Pruning shears are the workhorses of any garden, so ensure that yours are in top shape before spring rolls around. To remove rust, soak shears in white vinegar overnight, then scrub with a wire brush. Dried sap? Use warm water and dish soap to loosen it up. Dull blades? A file or whetstone will get them sharp again. Disinfect your shears and other tools with rubbing alcohol or a bleach solution.
Clean your containers
Planning to reuse last year’s flowerpots? They, too, will require a good scrubbing and disinfecting.
Dump out any soil and debris from each pot and grab that wire brush. Fill a bucket with warm, soapy water and scrub the pots inside and out. Create a 10 percent bleach solution and soak each pot for about 15 minutes; bleach helps to kill any unwanted organisms. Rinse with water and set outside to dry.
Get these chores done now and you can hit the ground running when the warmer weather rolls around and prep for the growing season. I would love to see pictures of your garden creations!
Monthly Newsletter courtesy of Market Leader 2022
Feb 2022 •
May 11, 2022
What Is Title Insurance?
Wondering why you need title insurance? One of the processes that most first time home buyers find confusing is the title company’s role in a real estate transaction. Let’s try to clear up the confusion.
Functions of your Title Company
A title company serves two main functions in the real estate transaction. Its first role is that of facilitator for the closing. A title company manages the numbers, works up the settlement structures, and disburses the funds from the escrow account at closing.
Performing a title search and issuing a title insurance policy is a title company’s second function. When you borrow money, the lender requires that you buy a lender’s title insurance policy.
Before issuing this insurance, a title company will ensure that the seller has the legal right to transfer the title to you, and that the property isn’t subject to any tax liens, special assessments, or mechanic’s liens. Then, they will issue the lender’s title insurance policy which covers the lender in the event of future claims against the property, for the life of the loan. Although you pay for it, the lender is the only party to benefit from the insurance should there be a claim.
Title companies also issue owner’s title insurance policies which covers the new homeowner’s interests for as long as they own the property.
How much does this cost?
Both lender and owner’s policies are one-time expenses, rolled into the closing costs. The cost of the lender’s policy is based on the amount borrowed, whereas the cost of the owner’s policy is based on the home’s value.
If you fell asleep while reading this article, that’s okay – I’m here to help! Don’t hesitate to reach out if you have any questions about the title process. I am always just a phone call away.
Courtesy of Market Leader 2022
Feb 2022 •
May 11, 2022
Spring Seller To-Do List
Planning to sell your home this spring? Here’s your Spring Seller To-Do List.
Have your Home Inspected
One of the most common reasons a home sale falls apart is because of problems that the buyer learns about after the home inspection. If the problems are beyond the buyer’s budget, they may just walk away from the deal.
If you have your home inspected now, you will not only avoid unpleasant surprises in the middle of the transaction, but you’ll have the rest of winter to get any repair projects out of the way. Chip away at these projects steadily and by spring your home could be in good shape.
Get a Head Start on Curb Appeal
If you have inside space and a sunny window, you can get a head start by growing your own flowers from seed. Just wait until after the last frost to plant them outside.
You can also consider touching-up any chipped paint on doors and trim or updating your front door hardware. Replacing a ratty mailbox, installing new house numbers, and purchasing a new front porch doormat are other great ways to spruce up your curb appeal over the winter months.
Invest in Buyers’ Favorite Features
You know those weekends when it’s just too cold and miserable to leave the house? What better way to pass those gloomy days, than by adding some nice touches to the interior and exterior of your home.
The National Association of Home Builders surveyed prospective home buyers and learned that the top two desired features in a home are a laundry room and exterior lighting. A whopping 87% of home buyers will appreciate an investment you make in either of these areas.
How to get started? For your laundry room (or nook or closet), take this opportunity to add function. Consider adding shelf storage or a wall-mounted drying rack.
As your luck would have it, wireless lighting has come a long way thanks to advancements in power storage technologies. Does your home have a path that could some extra visibility? A side yard that could use a motion sensor light? Shine some light on those darker areas to delight prospective buyers.
Doing some legwork now will help to ensure that your home will ready by completing a Spring seller to-do list.
Monthly Newsletter courtesy of Market Leader 2022
Jan 2022 •
May 11, 2022
Home Tips to Help Banish the Winter Blues
Ok, who’s the genius who thought that turning our clocks back an hour, prolonging winter’s darkness even more, was such a swell idea?
The Franklin Institute “He merely suggested Parisians change their sleep schedules to save money on candles and lamp oil.”
Regardless of the tongue-in-cheek nature of the suggestion, the idea of “daylight-saving” was kicked around for more than a century until New Zealander George Hudson took it and ran with it.
Fitting more daylight into our days is typically welcome, but the sudden switch to darkness when we “fall back” in autumn causes trouble for some folks. Fortunately, there are some simple tricks to help us get through it.
Let Lighting Do the Heavy Lifting
Seasonal affective disorder, or SAD for short, “…is a type of depression that’s related to changes in seasons,” according to the professionals at MayoClinic.org. “Symptoms start in the fall and continue into the winter months…”
One of the treatments for SAD is a bright, light-emitting box. But you don’t have to suffer from seasonal affective disorder to benefit from increased lighting in your home this winter.
Open heavy drapes when you’re home during the daytime. Ensure windows and screens are clean to allow maximum levels of natural light to flood the home. You can also add more lamps and other lighting to the home to banish the darkness and gloom. For an added punch, increase the number of mirrors on the walls. They’ll help reflect existing light.
Bring the Outdoors in
The houseplant trend has been going on for years, and the pandemic put it on steroids. If you haven’t already joined the plant party, this winter might be a great time to give it a try.
“Indoor plants have drawn the attention of the scientific community because of their various benefits,” according to Min-sun Lee, Juyoung Lee, Bum-Jin Park, and Yoshifumi Miyazaki, authors of a study published in the Journal of Physiological Anthropology.
These benefits include:
Stress reduction
Improved mood
Enhancement of cognitive health
Interaction with your plants is key to receiving these benefits, so go plant shopping, then vow to transplant, water, and generally hover over your leaf babies all winter. For an added boost in mood, add some colorful, flowering plants to your shopping cart as well.
Monthly Newsletter courtesy of Market Leader ~ 2022
Dec 2021 •
May 11, 2022
Top Benefits of Installing a Tankless Water Heater
As is the case with most household appliances, modern technological advancements can result in massive improvements. Here are the top benefits of installing a tankless water heater in your home:
Save Money on Your Energy Bill
With a conventional water heater, hot water is stored inside the tank. In theory, this keeps a ready supply of hot water on hand for immediate use, but the fact is that the hot water just sits around when not being used. This is not only a complete waste of energy; it also costs you extra money on your energy bill.
Tankless Is Better Than Conventional
A tankless water heater does not store hot water for later use. Instead, a tankless water heater only produces as much hot water as a person needs. In other words, when the hot water faucet is turned on, the tankless unit provides the exact amount of hot water dispensed until the faucet is turned off. With the installation of a tankless unit in your home, you never need to worry about running out of hot water again during a shower.
The Single Biggest Flaw of Conventional Tank Water Heaters
One of the biggest problems with conventional tank water heaters is leakage. No matter how fancy of an electric water heater you buy, the unit will start leaking as time takes its toll. After all, these are constantly filled with water day in and day out for a period of years. A tankless water heater, doesn’t store water, and, therefore, will never leave you a big mess to clean up—because there’s nothing to leak!
Blog post courtesy of Market Leader ~ 2021
Nov 2021 •
May 11, 2022
Growing Your Winter Herb Garden
Now that winter weather has descended on much of the country, there are still loads of things a homeowner can grow to keep the freshest of ingredients available for winter culinary adventures.
Basil, chives, mints and parsley are just a few herbs that do very nicely in pots with bright indirect light. It might surprise you to know you don’t need direct sunlight for growing most herbs; the indirect light most of us get will work fine.
East-, south- and west-facing windows should all give your herbs enough light, especially if you set up a small table or use a counter that keeps plants about a foot away from window glass.
Start with a few basics, such as oregano, thyme, parsley, basil and rosemary. Then add a few others that your family particularly enjoys in their favorite meals. Cilantro? Dill? Chives?
Check your garden center for high-quality seeds or for healthy and vigorous-looking starter plants. It’s also worth checking to see if there’s a selection of starter plants in your grocery store’s produce section.
If your herb garden is in your kitchen, the plants should get some additional humidity from your use of the sink or dishwasher. If not, lightly mist them with a water spray bottle.
Monthly Newsletter courtesy of Market Leader 2021
