Blog

Is This Your Situation: I’m a Home Buyer/Seller Navigating Multiple Offers   When you are searching for a home in a seller’s market, the seller holds all of the chips. There are usually not many other options, as inventory is very tight. Thus, every interested buyer in your area is looking at the same small… [Read More]

Is This Your Situation: Considering Buying a Home Sight-Unseen?   It may sound like a huge risk to invest thousands of dollars in a home that you haven’t seen yet, but many buyers from out of state or overseas purchase homes sight-unseen. If you are looking to relocate, invest or simply want to jump on… [Read More]

Building your own home is a huge undertaking with many costs along the way. To make sure they can meet these expenses in a timely fashion, many homeowners turn to construction loans. These short-term, variable-rate loans are priced at short-term interest rates. Your lender pays the builder on a prearranged schedule as your home is… [Read More]

What Buyers Want – Do You Agree?   I was browsing through a popular mortgage blog a couple days ago and this captured my attention: A recent study conducted by Porch.com revealed the top features buyers across several generations listed as being very important in their home search. Among the top 10 were finished basements,… [Read More]

You’re neither rich nor poor, and you’re ready to buy your first home. You look around—all those homes on the market, but they all seem priced out of reach. Cheer up. You’re not alone. With some solid real estate counseling and some help from your lender and/or sellers and others, you can not only get… [Read More]

After a full day of house hunting, even the hardiest shopper has difficulty remembering each home they visited. A selling display featuring your property’s benefits is a great way to be sure your home stands out. We’ve used the following marketing strategies to successfully sell many homes. They could work for you to! Creativity Counts… [Read More]

Homes needing a little TLC are going on the market in the midst of increased buyer demand, and regardless of how much work these homes require, they are selling quickly and at high prices. These high-priced houses, which are listed with descriptions like fixer-upper, TLC and needs work, are in competitive markets and rising in… [Read More]

The house you raised your family in has seen a lot — a lot of love and laughter and maybe a little turmoil. Now that your home is officially kid-free, it is in dire need of some enhancements so you can make a smooth transition from being a full-time parent to having a less hands-on… [Read More]

We’ve all done it. Taking a Sunday to go out and look at homes for sale, checking in to see the latest style trends, how our home stacks up to the competition and checking out how the seller has ‘staged’ or ‘showcased’ the home. Home showcasing is not about remodeling, fixing up or making your… [Read More]

Is your bathroom a little outdated and in need of a serious makeover? This may be your situation, but you don’t have the time or money to do a complete bathroom remodel right now. Check out these small bathroom renovation projects to get you started if you’re on a budget. Here’s what you can freshen… [Read More]

We all want to keep our homes organized. That’s a no-brainer. But many people struggle to keep their home that way. This is because there are some common behaviors that could be making it difficult for you to stay organized. Are you making any of these five home organization mistakes? Not Sorting by Function Lots… [Read More]

Preparing your home for it’s photo shoot is just as important as preparing your family for your annual portrait. It requires just as much work! Here is a simple guideline to get you started. In today’s real estate market the majority of home purchasers begin their search online, often beginning on their smart phones. The… [Read More]

Also known as Bufo Toads or Giant Toads these critters are a real pest. This is the largest of the frogs and toads found in Florida. The toad is not native to the United States. It was originally released in sugar cane fields to help control “white grub” larvae. It became established in southern Florida… [Read More]

A CDD is a way for a developer to create a new community and pass on the costs of infrastructure, roads, sewers, utility systems to the home buyers. It guarantees to the homebuyers that the infrastructure will be consistently maintained as well as being installed to the highest standard levels throughout the whole community. Generally… [Read More]

Mortgage interest rates are expected to go up this year. In fact they could go up at least three times if  the Federal Reserve raise its short term interest rates. Anytime the mortgage interest rates go up, a group of buyers can no longer afford the home they want. They may be forced to purchase… [Read More]

When purchasing a home anywhere it’s important to do an inspection. You need to make sure of the basics; that the home is solidly built, no leaks are occurring or if they have occurred they need to have been remediated by the seller and that the electric systems are working in the home. Upon reading… [Read More]

It’s “Season” here in Naples, FL. Folks from Northern climes (the proverbial Snow Birds) fly down to enjoy the winter season in our Sub Tropical climate. This is traditionally the time when folks selling their home will place it on the market, knowing that the snowbirds will start to think Naples is a beautiful place… [Read More]

Whenever Washington creates a new bill that  becomes law, we need to take some time to interpret what are the benefits of that new law. The National Association of REALTORS® has put together a useful summary to help you understand how the new law affects homeowners.. Here are some excerpts directly from that summary about… [Read More]

Early September 2017 as Hurricane Irma was barreling towards Florida, we were faced with a difficult question. Do we remain here in Naples and ride out the storm, or do we evacuate to points North? In the end we decided to evacuate to Birmingham Alabama. We were welcomed very warmly and had a great experience… [Read More]