Furniture placement for selling

Good furniture arrangement is the key to making a room look great. However, many people have trouble with what goes where. Have you ever stood at the doorway to a bedroom, or the center of your living room, and said, "Something doesn't look right” You may sense that the arrangement is awkward, but you can't put your finger on it. But, each room has an optimal arrangement for staging, and you can determine this by avoiding the most common pitfalls.

Too much furniture.

Curate your best pieces. It’s more advantageous to have a few impactful pieces of furniture, rather than a roomful of some good and some mediocre pieces. Keep a few larger pieces (couch, upholstered chairs, beds, bookcases) unless they are in worn condition or outdated. Colors and styles from years ago don’t make your home look fresh and modern.
Remember that homebuyers are looking at multiple homes and will size up your home to homes with new and trendy furniture that left them with a positive impression. If a room is too "busy" and cramped, the eye doesn’t know where to rest

When you're putting your home up for sale, remember that potential buyers want to see everything. Nothing and nowhere is off-limits from the eyes of a serious home buyer. So it's absolutely vital to maximize every square inch of space in your home by minimizing clutter congestion.

Decluttering isn’t about throwing away your belongings-- it's about preparing your home for sale. Buyers want to be able to visualize and imagine what they can do with the space. By elimating distractions and maximizing usable space, you can display your house at its best. To help, here’s a list of the most important places and items to declutter as you prepare to sell your home.

You’ve found THE perfect home and you want to make the best offer to make the seller to say “yes.” But there's more to it than just the offer price!

Even if your offer price is competitive, there are still other techniques to make you and your entire offer a lot more attractive to the seller.

To deal with competition from other buyers or a wary seller with a new listing, getting your offer accepted requires a game plan and smart strategy.

Typically sellers will choose the best offer first and start negotiating with that buyer. And you want that to be YOU!

Here are our strategies to help you get the deal done and make your “home sweet home” dream come true.

Set Your Metrics

First get your own parameters mapped out of what you’re not willing to do to get a home. Have resolve since you don’t want to make an offer that's too sweet even for you.

Don’t forget about your deal breakers and what your top price is (the absolute max you’d be willing to offer). You don’t want to get pulled into a deal you’ll regret if your “monthly” mortgage gets way over budget.

Binge-watching HGTV is the most fun! And shows such as “Property Brothers,” “Fixer Upper,” and “Love It or List It,” are really enjoyable. All the places you get to virtually visit! All the dream homes you'll see! The interesting "everyday people", the personalities. It's great entertainment. But is it real? Is this how it is in real life? Hardly.

Reality TV Show Myths vs. Real Life:

Myth #1: Buyers look at 3 homes and decide to purchase one of them.
Truth: There might be a few buyers who fall in love and buy the first home they see, but the National Association of Realtors tell us the average home buyer personally sees at least 10 homes during their home search. And, after seeing 3 homes, Reality "Buyers" sit down, talk briefly, and decide to make an offer. Does that happen? Again, rarely. There are consultations with their agent, maybe family. There are comps pulled, there is consultation with a lender. Maybe a second/third showing in the next few days. It can take days or more of deliberating to decide to make an offer.

The market price of your is based on what willing buyers in the market will pay for your home. However, buyers are all different with different needs, wants, tastes. For some buyers, location is paramount. Families may consider schools over the size and condition of a home.

The market value is an opinion of what a property would sell for in a competitive market based on the features and benefits of that property (the value), the overall real estate market, supply and demand, and what other similar properties have sold for in the same condition.

So as you can see, while each valuation model is similar, there is a difference. Market value is determined by the overall dynamics of the market. Market price is determined by buyers' choices.

We’ve outlined some of the most important factors that influence your home’s value:

Before you start shopping for a home, unless you have cash to pay for your purchase, mortgage pre-approval is your #1 home buying assignment.

1. Pre-approval tells you what price range you can afford
2. Realtors and sellers will not take you seriously without it
3. Sellers and Realtors may not even let you see the homes
4. You need one to be able to submit an offer
5. Your mortgage process will be smoother and faster

That brief list should be enough to convince you about why you need a pre-approval. But possibly 42% of homebuyers start looking at homes online, and try to see homes without mortgage pre-approval. For numerous reasons, this is a significantly bad idea.

It's easy to feel overwhelmed during the home-buying process. Whether it's your first home, a "move-up" home, or vacation home. Buying a home isn't something you do all of the time! So, it can be challenging. After all, a home is probably the most expensive purchase you'll ever make. And it's one that can involve many complicated financial steps. But keep your eye on the prize! What you'll go through will be forgotten, and you'll have years and years of enjoyment in your new home. As you are certainly aware, you have to come up with a down payment. But, the up-front costs don't end there. In fact, once you have an accepted offer, a surprise package of additional required, and sometimes, non-negotiable fees that can total well into the five figures. So here are eight costs that will hit your finances the hardest, and what you can do to minimize the impact.

Recently, we heard that several Buyers (not ours, thank goodness!), had ruined their home loan process and new home purchase by:

1."Borrowing" money from their down payment, or just spending it outright.

2. A couple of others went out and bought new furniture/cars.

3. Another charged up one credit card to the tune of $20K.

When you are buying a home, you want your financial records and everything associated with your finances to be super squared away so you can qualify for the lowest rate available at the time of your application. It's an admittedly stressful chore to prepare for applying for a home loan. Following the 10 commandments below will help you watch your P&Qs on your way to home loan success.

Disc Golf in the White Mountains!

NATIONAL DISC GOLF DAY – First Saturday in August

Grab your discs and call up your friends! The first Saturday in August is National Disc Golf Day! On August 2, 1974, disc golfers in the Rochester, NY area decided to make their annual City of Rochester Disc Golf Championship a big national tournament to find out just how many other people around the country were playing disc golf. They called the event the American Flying Disc Open, and to attract the attention of the Frisbee™ community; they put up a brand new 1974 automobile to be awarded to the winner! The Registrar at National Day Calendar approved the day in July of 2016.

Disc golf shares the common traditional golf goal of reaching each target (golf hole) with the fewest number of strokes, or in disco golf, more accurately, throws. Some of the earliest versions of disc golf involved school kids tossing things like tin lids on a self-made golf course. By the 1970s, though, players competed in league play and tournaments…using those familiar plastic discs. Since then interest in the sport has continued to grow.

Requiring far less equipment, Disc golf is very much like the traditional game in many ways. But rather than clubs and a ball, the only gear necessary is a disc or Frisbee™. Starting from a tee pad, most usually a rectangular area made of anything from rubber to cement or even brick, the player works down the fairway after each throw.

Buying & Selling a Home at the Same Time

Whether you decide to buy new home first, or sell your current home first, you should know your options!

Buying a new home and selling a current home at the same time can be stressful.  Selling first may make you feel "homeless" and rushed.  Buying first may involve two mortgages. So let's review each scenario.