Real Estate Information Archive

You may have thought about selling your home before but you just aren’t sure now is the time.  There are a few signs that now is the correct time to sell your home and some of those signs are listed below for you so that you can be sure you’re making the right decision. 

1. If your home has gotten a bit too small for your growing family and you are trying daily how to figure out where to put everyone, you may need to put your house on the market.  If you are making your kids bunk together and then trying to add another baby to the mix, you may need to purchase a home that will be more able to fit your needs. 
    
2. If you have changed to a job that has taken you father away from your home than you had anticipated and therefore has caused your daily commute to be longer than you like, it may be time to sell your home.   Selling your home for a job change is a big reason that many folks sell. 
    
3. If your lifestyle has changed and you simply don’t have time to take care of your home anymore, you may want to sell it.  This can be caused by such things as your children moving out and you becoming empty nesters.  Many times the room you once needed becomes way too much for just you and your husband once your kids move out. 
    
4. If you need a bigger home to accommodate your growing family but the thought of remodeling sends your head into a spin, you may want to go ahead and put your house on the market to see if you have any interest in it first. 
    
5. If you have equity in your home and you want to take advantage of the great rates that are currently available before they disappear you may want to go ahead and put your house on the market. 
    
6. If you live in a neighborhood in which a lot of houses are currently selling, you may want to put yours on the market  to see if you get any interest in it and possibly even sell it.   Now is the time that folks are many times getting full asking price for their homes so it is a buyer’s market. 

​​Courtesy of New Castle County DE Realtors Tucker Robbins and Carol Arnott Robbins. 

Photo credit: DartHomes 

While multiple offers may be a good thing, you still should know how to choose the best offer   in the event this happens to you. Below you will find a few ideas on how to best handle this particular situation. 

1. Finding out which of the potential buyers have the best financing available to them is a great way to help you choose which offer you would be best to go with.  If you pick someone who hasn’t got the financial side of it all worked out for themselves you will likely end up spending more time than you would like getting all the kinks worked out.  Choosing someone who has a reputable lender on the other hand and has already been pre approved will make the transactions go nice and smoothly for all involved. 
    
2. Another way to choose the best offer  when you have multiple offers is if the closing date is good for you.  You may have one person that wants to buy your home that has to wait on their home to sell first while another person is ready to go right away.  If you want to and are ready to move out quickly you may want to go with the latter however if you are not quite ready to move that fast you may want to go with the folks that need to wait a while.  Choose the offer that best suits your own personal needs.
    
3. Yet another way to choose the best offer on your house when you have been given multiple offers is to make a checklist of the pros and cons of each offer.  This will make sorting out the details a bit easier for you. 
    
4. Be sure that you have peace about each offer and if you don’t feel a peace about a certain offer, take that one off the list of who to choose from. 

It is a good idea to go through all scenarios that may arise with each offer that is given before deciding which one to go with.  Once you choose the right offer, you can look forward to moving into a new chapter of your life! 

Courtesy of New Castle County DE Realtors Tucker Robbins and Carol Arnott Robbins. 

Photo credit:  CRES

Courtesy of New Castle County DE Realtors Tucker Robbins and Carol Arnott Robbins.   

Photo credit: quora

1. 1. Some times people get their mind set on that particular house, without giving much thought as to just how many hours they may have to work to keep it.  Think about your priorities when you are planning to buy a new home, then figure out which is more important to you….the house being exactly as you have planned in your mind or the amount of quality time you will be able to spend there with your family.  

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3. 2. If you want to purchase a large home, you may have to come up with a pretty big down payment.  Think about whether or not you will have enough cash left over to decorate your place to fit your vision.  Perhaps buying a smaller home with a smaller down payment might work better for you desire a larger decorating budget.   

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5. 3. When selling your place, consider if you really want to give up all the wonderful things you have done while there.  For instance if you have built a nice grill area in the backyard or a water feature or even put in a pool, spend some time thinking about if you really want to leave all of that behind.   

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4. 4. Keep in mind that your children may have become quite fond of their home and may or may not be so easy to uproot from the place they have known all their life.  Is it worth it to move out from under the roof that sheltered precious memories? 

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You may think that you can ask your real estate agent anything at all that you want to ask them and you may be right.  What you may not be right about however is that you may not get an answer.  There are some questions that real estate agents might know the answer to but they are not able to give you the answer based on the Fair Housing Act.  Real estate agents are not allowed to discriminate based on race, religion, sex or economic status.  If you ask any of the following questions you may not get a straight answer from your real estate agent. 

1. Asking your real estate agent if a particular area is a good place to raise a family may or may not get you a straight answer.  In fact, you may find that your agent just gives you a blank stare when asked this type of question.  They may know good and well that they wouldn’t want to raise their own family in a particular area of town but by staying loyal to the Fair Housing Act, they won’t be able to clearly answer that question for you. 
2. Another question you may not get answered from your real estate agent is what the particular neighborhood you are interested in is like.  If you really mean to ask if the neighborhood has a high ratio of minorities by asking if the neighborhood is safe, your real estate agent will not be able to clearly answer that question for you.  If you wonder if a certain area is safe, do your homework and figure it out for yourself, don’t make your real estate agent uncomfortable by asking questions like that. 
3. Asking what the area schools are like is another similar question that will likely get you a blank stare from your real estate agent.  If you want to know what the schools are like in a particular area you can search online for such answers. 

Basically, if you don’t want your real estate agent to break their ethical code, steer clear of these types of questions and do your own work to find out the answers.  You will likely be able to find out all that you need to know about what it is you are asking without a lot of trouble and without having to ask your real estate agent.  

Courtesy of New Castle County DE Realtors Tucker Robbins and Carol Arnott Robbins.   

If you’re trying to sell your house during the winter months, there are a few things you need to keep in mind that you otherwise wouldn’t have to give a second thought when having an open house. Winter months can bring with them all sorts of issues concerning open houses such as not many people attending, folks who do come trying to quickly get inside the house and out of the cold, wet dirty shoes messing up the house once folks get inside from the messy weather and the list goes on.  Below you will find a list of a few of the open house blunders you may want to watch out for. 

1. If you plan to have an open house  in order to try to sell your house this winter and it happens to snow, you need to be sure to clear the snow out of the walkway so that those who come to see your home can safely get in and out.  The last thing you need is for someone to come look at your house and then turn away when they see that they cannot safely enter or exit your home.  This would not be a good way to lose a possible offer on your home because it is something easily taken care of. 
2. Another open house mistake to avoid   this winter is turning the heat up to high in the house.  Although folks like to get in out of the cold, many folks don’t like to get overheated especially when they are trying to make a huge decision like possibly buying a house. 
3. Try not to overdo the Christmas lights when holding an open house during the holiday season.  People want to envision themselves in your home and if you go too far with the Christmas lights they may not be able to do this as well as they might otherwise. 
4. If you plan to have an open house during the winter months, be sure to check the weather forecast so that you don’t end up with a lot of no shows due to inclement weather. 
5. If you have an open house during winter months you may want to have something warm to eat for your guests and some hot coffee on hand. 

These types of things can help you to have a better open house during the winter months if you will take them to heart.  

Courtesy of New Castle County DE Realtors Tucker Robbins and Carol Arnott Robbins.   

If you have recently put your house on the market and want it to sell quickly you may need to take a look at a few of these tips on how to eliminate smells so that your house will be more likely to sell. While selling your home quickly may sound good to you, you may not be thinking about exactly how clean your house smells when you have a last minute showing pop up.  If you are caught in a bind with a last minute showing and you need to get rid of a few household odors, be sure to read below for some ideas. 

1. If you have pets you already know that they have a smell all their own.  Pets that may not be house trained yet may be hard to deal with during a house showing.  If you need to cover up the smell of pet urine quickly there are several ways to go about it.  One way to get rid of pee smell in the carpet is to soak the area with enzyme spray.  Another way to get rid of the smell all together (however it may take a bit longer) is to get rid of the carpet once and for all and put in hardwoods. 
2. Another way to eliminate smells so that your house might sell is to open up your windows while you are cooking.  If you know you have a showing one night, be sure to keep your windows open while you are cooking with the hood fan on as well.  Another good way to get rid of the smell of a recently prepared meal in your home is to set a bowl of coffee grounds on the countertop over night (if your showing doesn’t happen to be the same evening of course.)  If you don’t want to take any chances of having your dinner linger during the showing you could always just go out to eat for the evening. 
3. Garbage smell in a home is some of the worst odor possible.  One easy way to get rid of that particular smell is to be sure and take it to the curb before you leave for the showing. 

These are just a few ways that you can get rid of smells in your home  so that your showing might go well and you may be more able to sell your home.  Hopefully they will get you started in the right direction.  

Courtesy of New Castle County DE Realtors Tucker Robbins and Carol Arnott Robbins.