Friday, November 26, 2010

Selling Your Home...Consider A Pre-inspection Of Your Home

With many choices out there for buyers to choose from sellers need to make sure their home stands out from the rest. Give a buyer a reason to want to look at your home. One way to do this; have a home inspection done prior to putting your home on the market.

A lot of times there are thngs you may not have noticed that you could get fixed prior to listing your home or adjust the price of your home accordingly. I have never sold a home; be it resale or new constrction that there has not been something wrong with the home.

One way to help allievate a buyers hestiation about your home is to have it pre-inspected. This will give both you and the buyer some additional peace of mind. For one, you will be able to know what is wrong with the house before it goes on the market. It allows you to do the minor repairs that may be needed to make your home more marketable or adjust the price if there are things found you were unaware of.

For buyers, by having the listing agent post the copy of the home inspection and informing the buyer that the home has been inspected and repaired it will give the buyer added peace of mind and knowledge of what was wrong with the house and what was repaired.

When a buyer is comparing your home to other homes that added peace of mind can help the buyer decide more toward your home. It will help them know how the home was maintained and that the reparis are done.

In this competititve market; as a seller you need any and all advantages you can take. If the small amount you pay to have an inspection done returns you a buyer sooner rather than later you can see substantial savings if you are lowering your monthly mortgage payment or the savings you will recoup by not having to lower your asking price to attract a buyer....

Dave dicecco
Realtor/Broker
www.davedicecco.com

Thursday, November 25, 2010

What I Am Thankful For This Thanksgiving

Today as we celebrate Thanksgiving I use this time to ponder what I am thankful for duing the past year. I usually say I am thankful for my health during the past year, my family, roof over my head and the ability to pay my bills every month.

But this thanksgiving I am sitting here doing some reflection on the past year and realzied I am thankful for so much more as well.... I have had the privledge to be able to help people realize the American dream of homeownership. But, I sit here and write this I am thinking back to each and every client I helped this past year. Whether it was buying their first home, selling their home or relocating to other parts of the country.

I start to think; what I do is one of the greatest gifts I can give a family this time of year...The pride of home ownership. I always feel the best part of being a Real Estate agent is sitting at the closing table and looking into the buyers eyes as the attroney has just told them they are now proud homeowners. The look on their faces makes all the work and driving around and searching for homes so much more gratifying.

Today, 15 buyers I helped find their first home or upgrade from an existing home will be celebrating their first thanksgiving in their new homes... I remeber the joy I felt when I had that first family holiday in my new home...it was like no other feeling I had except when I finally opened the door to my new home.

So, today I am thankful for the opportunity to have helped so many young families experince the joy of home ownership this year....So, thank you to all who have entrusted me with helping me to find their first home.

This Thanksgiving I say Thank You.....

Dave diCecco
Realtor/Broker
www.davedicecco.com

Wednesday, November 24, 2010

Waxhaw, NC. New England Type Town In The South

Having moved to the Charlotte, NC. area with my family six years ago; I left the place I had called home for ovr 35+ years. That place was Connecticut. I lived in a quaint New England type town that still had that country feel amongst all the new development that had gone on around it. I thought I was going to miss that feeling.... Even though for me the trade off of NO snow far outweighed the fall setting.

Then I stumbled upon Waxhaw NC. A quaint little suburb in Union county. About ten to fifteen minutes from Charlotte and a half hour to the uptown business center. This town reminds me of New England. With it's rolling hills and quaint little coffee shops and family owned stores. Waxhaw still eptimozies the Amercian dream.

As more and more people look to get out of the city life and raise families in the suburbs; major chain stores are buying up land and building on them as are developers with subdivisons. Yet among all the building and growth; this town has kept it's country charm.

Recently, I was walking through the streets of downtwon waxhaw. An area filled with rich tradition (The train still goes through the center of town on a regular basis). The family owned coffee shop, bike store and local hardware store adorn one side of the street. There are no major name brand franchises. Just regular family owned businesses. People are friendly and willing to give you information if you are lost. I found it to be peaceful and serene.

Yet, after getting in my car and driving a half hour north I was in the hustle of uptown around the corporate center....It made me think what a great place yet so convient to everything anyone could need.

Looking to move to the Charlotte area and want the old fashioned country life but the proximity to a major city? Take a drive through Waxhaw, NC. You will not be disappointed.

Dave diCecco
Realtor/Broker
www.davedicecco.com

Tuesday, November 23, 2010

Selling Your Home During the Holiday Season

Thursday is Thanksgiving and the start of the traditonal holiday season. For those who have their homes on the market or are thinking of selling their homes; it can feel like a difficult balance between selling their home and the holiday festivities. But you can do both and not miss out on either one.

One of the first things I tell my sellers is to not go overboard with the holiday decorations. This time of the year buyers are expecting the home to be decorated. They just do not want to walk into a national lampoons Christmas vacation home. You need to decorate in moderation.

Prospective buyers are not going ot be suprised to walk into a home and see holiday decorations hanging around and christms trees decorated and up this time of the year. But, be careful with placement. If you are adding in a Chrsitmas tree or other large decorations; make sure you are removing some items from the room as well. You do not want to lose the spacious feeling the room has or give the perception that the room is smaller.

I see it a lot this time of the year. Sellers reshuffle the couch or chair around to get the tree in the room. Then the room looks signifcantly smaller than it really is. This can be a deciding factor for soemone looking to buy your home. As the average family is buying homes slightly smaller; space in a room is a large consideration to a buyer's needs and motivation.

Another thing you can do to help your home sell during the holiday season is to make sure you have it availble for showings. This is the time for families to gather and is the busiest travel time of the year. However; this may be the time you do the traveling instead of them traveling to you. By not making your home availble for showings during the holiday season; you may be losing the potential buyer that will purchase your home.

A comon theme this time of the year is if they are out looking at homes; they are buying a home....So, why limit the availble time your home can be shown and not make it marketable to the buyers? you can have your cake and eat it to here. Just do it in moderation.

Dave dicecco
Realtor/Broker
www.davedicecco.com

Monday, November 22, 2010

Neighborhood Open Houses...Do they Work?

There are a lot of Realtors who do not beleive in open houses. Some do well with them and others do not have any luck at all. Personally, I find it a great way to advertise a home and get it additional exposure.

Recently, an idea came up to hold an open house with ALL the homes in a subdivison. We all marketed the open house and let everyone knwo that there were going to be a group open house. Maps were provided as well as listing sheets to the other homes open during that time. We all marketed it as an individual open house with mention to the other eight homes in the subdivsion.

The response was overwhelming. Our traffic to the homes was five times the amount I have had when I help the home open as the only one. The fanfare and banners and balloons with the multiple signage drew added attention to the neighborhood and brought in more people to view the homes.

Buyers today have numerous choices. The reality of it is, if they are going to look at one home in a subdivsion; they probably are going to look at the other ones that are comparable as well. So, why not give them the opportunity to do it all at the same time?

Open houses work if done properly...this is just another way to help our sellers get their home in front of as many possible buyers as we can. In this economy our goal as a listing agent is to get the home sold. The only way to get a house sold is to get it exposed to as many as possible home buyers......

Dave dicecco
Realtor/Broker
www.davedicecco.com