Curb Appeal Pays Off When Listing Your Home

First Impressions go a long way when Selling your home. Curb Appeal will hook a buyer, enticing them to want to see more. Having a degree in Landscape Design and a lifelong love for landscaping, I'm partial to a well maintained Lawn and Landscape. It's the welcome mat to your home. I have taken several clients to showings and after seeing the landscape, they didn't want to go inside. Don't under estimate the value of an alluring landscape. To add Curb Appeal before Listing your home, I have four recommendations: Standard Lawn Care Service- Six applications of fertilizer and weed control per year.   Landscape Maintenance- Mulch, mow, weed control, prune trees and shrubs along with planting perennials or annuals.  Irrigation System- Make sure your irrigation system is working properly including the timer and sprinkler head coverage. Pressure Washing- Pressure Wash your house, driveway and sidewalks. Please give me a call if you need help getting your home ready to Sell!  

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Top 5 Projects Before Selling Your Florida Home

Start Planning Before You Are Ready to Sell your Home! 1. Professionally Declutter- Decluttering your home will make the space look larger and cleaner. Overcrowded rooms filled with furniture and knickknacks can make it difficult for potential buyers to focus on the home's potential and can often make rooms feel cramped. This also includes cleaning up and organizing your garage. Need help with Decluttering? Contact BeSafe HomeWatch for all of your organizing and decluttering needs. 2. Deep Home Cleaning- Deep cleaning your home prior to listing can provide a big impact. Having a clean home gives a good first impression and allows the buyer to have a pleasant experience viewing the home. Showing a dirty home may give potential buyers the idea that you have not maintained your home properly. 3. Repair Drywall- Minor damage to drywall around the home can be repaired easily and give the home a fresh look. Having this type of damage highlights how much your home has been lived in, giving it an older appearance. 4. Repair Damaged Shingles- First impressions are vital when Selling your home, and curb appeal is a big part of that. A minor repair on your roof can have a significant impact on buyers. 5. Carpet Cleaning- Have the carpets professionally cleaned to give your home a new lease on life, with the rooms smelling nice and looking fresh. If you really want to get it right, replace the carpet with other types of flooring. If you are thinking about Selling your home, give me a call and we can discuss the best projects to get your home SOLD in the least amount of time.

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Understand Your Credit Score

 Did you know that credit scores are calculated differently for a mortgage loan?  Every online service and industry use different scoring models to come up with a credit score that would be used to determine an interest rate or the ability to get a loan. Whether it's a home, a car, or a department store, they all use different methods to determine credit worthiness.  The most widely recognized score is the Fair Isaac Corporation “FICO Score”, which is the industrial leader and has been providing credit scores since 1956. Other scores you may have heard of include Vantage Score, Experian, Equifax and TransUnion. The credit reporting agencies Experian, Equifax and TransUnion all have their own ways of scoring, and all are often different because they each have their own proprietary software that creates the credit score. To make it more difficult, each bureau generates a different credit score for a particular industry. For example, if you had your credit report pulled by an auto dealer, a cable company, a department store, and a mortgage company on the same day, you would be amazed by the wide discrepancy among the different scores. The Mortgage Company credit scores are the most conservative because of the amount of credit that is usually required to purchase a home.  Because of this, you should always get pre-approved by a Mortgage Lender. Through the pre-approval process, not only will you get a valid credit score established, but you will know exactly how much you can spend on your Home Purchase. A Pre-Approval is better than a Pre-Qualification letter. A Pre-Qualification Letter, is determined by the Mortgage Lender viewing your credit report and making a decision, while a Pre-Approval takes into account Income, Debt and Expenses. If you are serious about buying a home, put your mind at ease and get Pre-Approved! You should always get a copy of your credit report every year. Federal Law allows you to request a free copy of your credit report once a year from each of the three bureaus by going to annualcreditreport.com. Although a credit score is not provided on the report, you can verify the accuracy of what is being reported and dispute items that are incorrect or clear up any outstanding issues like collections. Bottom Line, get your Free Credit Report, even if you think you are in good shape. Being prepared before home shopping will make the process smoother and quicker.

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