Posts in category 'Real Estate Blogs'
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15
The 3 Ds of Staging
(BPT)—Staging your home ensures a speedy, profitable sale—if the senses are considered. Prospective buyers interpret a potential home through all of their receptors, and that includes senses like sight and smell.
To stage to this effect, remember the three Ds:
Deep-Clean the Selling Points
Kitchens and bathrooms sell homes—but they must be immaculate to do so. In the kitchen, clean inside appliances that are staying put: the dishwasher, oven and refrigerator. Replace the filter in the range hood, if you have one, and polish windowpanes to a sparkling finish. In the bathrooms, de-scale glass shower doors and showerheads and scrub the grout. Clean metal drain grates, and add in a few drops of sweet-smelling essential oils to maintain a "freshly-cleaned" aroma.
Deter Odors
Most households have their own unique scent, likely indistinguishable to the seller, but potenti...
12
Things Your Inspector Missed That You Can Still Catch
Home inspections are an important part of the home buying process. Before finalizing an offer, hire a home inspector who will check the condition of the home. A home inspector will check things such as the electrical system, roof, and ventilation. Although a home inspector will thoroughly review a home, his or her main concern is the actual house, not the surrounding areas. It is possible that your home inspector may miss problems around the home.
5
Hoping to Buy a Home?
Planning to purchase a home in the next year? Don't let poor credit dash your hopes!
Subprime credit—generally between 300 and 600 on the VantageScore scale—can inhibit a buyer's ability to secure a mortgage. Recent research from TransUnion®, one of the three major credit bureaus, shows many first-time buyers, particularly millennials, are lacking in the credit department: 43 percent of would-be millennial buyers surveyed by the agency have a subprime credit score.
"Credit scores are a crucial component of the home-buying process, impacting everything from the size of a mortgage payment to the interest rate on a home loan," says Ken Chaplin, TransUnion's senior vice president. "People with subprime credit may face financial barriers to homeownership, making it difficult for their dream home to become a reality.
"Th...
28
What Actions Impact My Credit Score?
Credit scores factor into the majority of lending decisions, including those for mortgage and rental applications. In most of these scenarios, lenders determine an applicant's eligibility by weighing his or her FICO® Score.
FICO recently rolled out an enhanced version of their Score Simulator that helps prospective homebuyers and renters understand the impact their actions have on their credit scores. The tool simulates actual FICO Scores, allowing users to enter multi-action simulations and providing side-by-side comparisons with data from the three major credit bureaus.
The what-if simulations include over 20 distinct actions, such as:
• Forgetting to Pay a Bill
• Increasing a Credit Account Limit
• Maxing Out a Credit Card
• Paying Down a Credit Card Balance
• Refinancing a Mortgage
• Taking Out a Car...
28
Remodeling? High-Ranking Kitchen Brands to Consider
Quality materials matter in any remodel—and when renovating the kitchen, no material matters more than the cabinets.
"One of the most critical times in a remodel or new construction is when customers order their kitchen cabinets," says Greg Truex, senior director of the at-home practice at J.D. Power.
J.D. Power recently released their annual report of the kitchen cabinetmakers ranked highest in customer satisfaction, rated by factors including design, operational performance and price. The top five are:
1. Thomasville
2. SEKTION (IKEA)
3. American Woodmark
4. KraftMaid
5. Hampton Bay
Also included in the report are the purchasing behaviors of kitchen remodelers. Notably, 66 percent are first-time kitchen cabinet buyers, and 34 percent have not purchased a kitchen cabinet in nine years—possibly signaling a correlation between the rankings and the preferences of new...