real estate advice

Summer officially ends on September 22nd. The kids are going back to school and your well-oiled fall routine is about to kick off, and your house is going to be quite lonely again. While it’s true that home break ins are thought to happen in the summer due to family vacations to the beach, you and yours will likely travel even more than you realize in the upcoming months due to various holidays. Scammers and robbers will take advantage of every opportunity they can – here are your 6 Home Tips to help secure your home from a break in.

On a recent segment of Eric’s radio show, he spoke with attorney-at-law John Garza, who for the past 30 years has represented clients in general business litigation and real estate transactions. From a legal viewpoint, John shed light on the issue of wet basements and when flood insurance might be warranted. He also offered some advice on ways to prevent water infiltration and damage in your home.

Holding open houses has been an age-old tradition in the real estate industry. Yet, did you know that only 1% of buyers come from these events? My radio show listeners have heard my opinion on open houses many times. I am against them in most instances. In my experience, open houses attract three types of people. Who are they?

Decluttering a home is often the hardest part of prepping it to sell. It can be difficult to part with your belongings or you may feel overwhelmed at having to organize and put things away. However, one of the biggest advantages of decluttering is to help prospective buyers see themselves living in the home and to not think about how the current owner lives. In addition, if everything looks meticulous inside a home, buyers will assume the owners took the same care with home maintenance.

We spend so much of our lives acquiring things. For many people, there comes a time when priorities shift and it’s necessary to downsize in order to live more comfortably and efficiently. However, what do you do with the lifetime of photo memories you’ve accumulated? Your photos tell the story of your life and you want to make sure that the story is preserved and easy to tell for future generations.

No matter how you slice it, we live in an unpredictable world when it comes to the weather. Most Americans live with the ongoing risk of disaster including hurricanes, earthquakes, wildfires, and tornadoes. You can’t prevent Armageddon so why dwell on it. But, you can be prepared if catastrophe strikes by creating a home inventory. In order to get reimbursement from your insurance company for items that are destroyed in a natural disaster, it’s essential to have detailed information about your possessions.

According to CoreLogic, a real estate analytics firm, 14 of the top 100 real estate markets in the U.S. are overvalued, which is more than double the number that were at the end of first quarter 2015. An overvalued housing market has home prices that are 10% or more above the long-term sustainable level.

When it’s time to downsize, you will most likely have many items that you will not have room for at your new residence. While yard or estate sales are still popular options, you will increase your reach and exposure through online channels.

While the real estate market turns its wheels 12 months a year, selling a home in the fall months can be more of a challenge. There are fewer active buyers this time of year, and less demand can drive prices down from higher levels in the spring months. However, on the upside, there are fewer sellers, and thus less competition. To take full advantage of the fall market, you should avoid making the following eight home selling mistakes, which were originally featured in an article from LearnVest.com.

When a home is for sale, mature trees on the property are often a selling point. Trees and other landscaping add to a home’s curb appeal and make the home more inviting. However, are there times when a tree can kill a home sale?