Look Before You Leap...

More often than not, when buyers make an offer on a property, they include a home inspection contingency in the purchase and sale documents. This allows them to have a professional look over the house to make sure that there are no hidden defects or damage that could affect the integrity or value of the property. It's quite likely that you had one performed before you bought the house you are going to be selling.

When there is a lot of inventory (read: competition) on the market, buyers can afford to have high expectations, and problems that come to light as a result of a home inspection can result in unexpected repair bills, price reductions or even withdrawn offers. One way to avoid these pitfalls is to hire a home inspector to look over your house before you go on the market. This proactive approach can uncover issues that you can address yourself, without the added pressure of renegotiating contracts. Additionally, it keeps you in control of repair costs and allows you to choose who will make the repairs. Furthermore, by making the necessary repairs prior to going on the market you improve the value of the product you are selling.

While the cost of a home inspection can vary (usually in the $200-$400 range) chances are it will pale in comparison to a price reduction that can result from a buyer learning of problems during the contingency period. And by addressing any problems in advance, you greatly reduce the chance of any surprises turning up at a subsequent inspection. Also, you have the option of having your report available for buyers to review, along with documentation that outlines any repairs made or remedies taken, to help further convince the buyers that they have chosen wisely!

Why gamble? If the thought of a buyer's home inspection results has you losing sleep, consider the proactive approach.

The devil you know is better than the devil you don't!

Illustration: Rocco Fazzari

A Tisket, A Tasket

When your house is on the market, it needs to be ready at a moment's notice. While most agents do their best to provide you with ample notice of a showing, sometimes there is a buyer who is in town for a very limited time and wants to see your house...now! You never know which buyer will be THE buyer, so you have to have a plan for those short-notice showings.

It's hard to live in a house and have it consistently show-ready at the same time. The mail still arrives everyday, the kids and spouse still act as though they live there (imagine!), Fluffy still leaves her catnip toys all over the place (we'll address other evidence of Fluffy & Friends in another entry), the detritus that is everyday life is ever-present. So what's a seller to do?

One trick is to place attractive covered containers in each room of the house. These can be decorative storage baskets or small hampers with lids. As long as they are neutral and unobtrusive (read: not HUGE) they can be placed discreetly in most any room. When you get that phone call, don't go into panic mode--go into strategic pick-up mode. In other words, quickly go through each room of the house and gather up all the items that have accumulated there and put them in that room's basket.

You can sort through the contents after the showing. And if a family member is looking for something they left "lying around", you have a much better chance of locating it (and then they can put it where it belongs!)

Everybody's Got Baggage...

Pack your bags--you're outta here! At least, that's the goal, right? Well, one solution to making your closets appear delightfully spacious is to reduce their contents. Perhaps you store your luggage in those closets (or in the attic or under your bed) empty and unused until your next trip. Why not make use of them? If they are going to take up valuable real estate in your home, they should pitch in and be useful all the time. Put your out-of-season clothing in them! Hide your extra 17 pairs of black shoes in them! Store those souvenir beach towels in them! Stash your baseball card collection in them! Whatever is making those closets look crowded can go in them! Even other luggage--like those Russian nesting dolls that you open to reveal another smaller doll, then another, and another--you get the idea! Most of us don't have the luxury of just sitting idly by as we wait for the next vacation to come along, and neither should those bags!

You will be amazed at how much larger your closets become! What are you waiting for?

Start Packing!!!

Surf's Up!

The internet offers a veritable feast of sites devoted to decluttering--just Google "decluttering tips" and you will be provided with pages of links (some are included below) that will offer you tried and true methods for attacking this most important task! I'm not going to reinvent the wheel, so I'll leave you to choose the site that offers the best style for you. The main point is to get on track, stay on track, and remember that this is all for a good cause--The Successful and Timely Sale of Your Home!


You may notice after perusing a few of these sites that they all have a few things in common:

• if you don't love it, need it, use it or feed it: get rid of it
  
  
• play your favorite music as you work to keep energy levels high
  
  
• use a timer so you don't get discouraged or burn out

and don't forget:

• Keep your eyes on the prize: S-O-L-D!

From organizedhome.com~Declutter 101

http://www.organizedhome.com/book/export/html/409



Real Simple magazine is chock-full of decluttering and organizing tips

http://www.realsimple.com/


FlyLady offers various strategies for long-term decluttering; start here and see how much progress you can make--you'll be amazed!http://www.flylady.net/pages/FLYingLessons_Declutter.asp

Lights...Camera...Now What??

The decision to sell has been made! Time to pack up, spruce up, get up and go! Piece of cake, right? Okay, a really big piece of cake, but I can offer tips to make the process go a bit more smoothly, while helping you and your family to survive the adventure with your sanity (mostly) intact.




The biggest challenge most of us face when preparing to move is dealing with all the stuff we've accumulated. It's no secret that a house needs to be clean, clean, clean in order to show well to prospective buyers, but how can you clean it if you can't actually see it? Clutter (aka: stuff) is usually the biggest obstacle to overcome, but if you are committed to your goal and accept that you have to break it down into manageable tasks if you are to succeed, you're well on your way to successful de-cluttering! The key is to take small bites...

Who Am I and How Did I Get Here?

In 1999 my husband, our two sons and I relocated to Westmoreland, a small rural community just outside of Keene, and now, eight years later, I can't imagine living anywhere else!

I've survived well over a decade of being a HockeyMom--endless car rides, freezing cold ice rinks, stinky sports gear--I still love to watch them play, I've met some of my closest friends in ice rinks, and I can still lace up skates like a pro! As far as my skating skills go...well, let's just say I lace 'em better than I race 'em.

As a young mother I worked a variety of different jobs that enabled me to be home with my boys--from selling tupperware to writing a weekly "happenings-about-town" column to bartending.

My iPod playlist includes songs by Lyle Lovett, Harry Connick, Jr., Steely Dan, James Taylor, Lenny Kravitz, Frank Sinatra and Black Eyed Peas and, yes, I loaded the songs to my iPod all by myself!

I lived in New York, Argentina, England, Brazil, New Jersey and Massachusetts--all before I turned 16!

I've been re-designing and staging interiors since I was a little girl making my own dollhouses out of shoe boxes. I loved it so much that I eventually took classes to combine that passion with real-life design skills and techniques! Of course, I should mention that I took those classes with the one who inspired me in the first place--my Mom! We studied, we practiced on friends and family, then we jumped in and started our own interior redesign and staging business. We called it A Suitable Arrangement, and we focused on helping our clients use furnishings and decorative accents they already owned to create the interiors they always wanted but weren't able to achieve. Our tag-line was: You've Got What It Takes...All You Need Is A Suitable Arrangement! Just as things were really taking off with our business my Mom became ill, which took priority over continuing to grow our fledgling business. When we lost her, time stood still for a while. But difficult times often lead us down unexpected paths, and when I became reacquainted with the Realtor who worked with my mother on the purchase of her home here in NH, my life changed again. With this person's guidance, support and friendship I was able to "redesign" my career (incorporating skills and talents I already possessed, of course!). And now, almost three years later, I am blessed to be working with my mentor, who also happens to be my broker, and, most importantly, has become one of my dearest friends. Unexpected paths, indeed!

Before I became a Realtor, I'd had some really great experiences with real estate professionals and some really horrifying ones. The best thing I gained from the horrifying ones was the determination and drive to make sure that I always do everything in my power to be an EXCELLENT one!

I believe that buying or selling a house is a Very Big Deal...regardless of whether it's your first time or your fiftieth.

I'd be honored to help you with your Very Big Deal.