5 First Time Home Buyer Tips

Are you in the process of buying a house for the first time? Or do you remember the anxiety you felt while trying to purchase your first home? It really isn't a terrible process if you keep these things in mind and make sure to remember the timeline for buying a house that we talked about last week.

My listing on 3266 Treasure Island Road; N. Sacramento... would be perfect for a first time home buyer!

1. Be accessible and flexible. You must return calls, texts, emails from your Realtor, lender and attorney in a timely manner-even if that is contrary to your normal routine. Make it a priority. You may miss out on a great deal if you delay.  You will quickly realize that you and your Realtor will develop an intense relationship where you are both communicating regularly... hopefully for the sake of getting you into a home, it'll be for a short amount of time.

2. Nothing is certain until the closing happens. It's a great sign when your offer is accepted and even better when the Purchase & Sale is signed but deals can, and have fallen apart, at or even after, the financing deadline. Try to have an unemotional approach as possible to the house as you can (this is, of course, very difficult!).

3. Be definitive and decisive. Your best bet for making sure your deal is completed successfully is to have all your financial paperwork ready to go. Be honest with yourself when you see the home inspection report, for example, if termites or dry rot come up on the wood destroying pest report and the repairs completely overwhelm you, don't try to convince yourself that this house may be a good fit for you.

4. Set your priorities. Know what you can and can't handle and set your priorities for your first home accordingly. For example, don't bother looking at a fixer-upper if you aren't the slightest bit handy or don't want the hassle of someone doing work on your home. It doesn't matter if it in a good section of town or that it's affordable if it's not what you're looking for.

5. Realize that there is NO PERFECT HOUSE. You will most likely not find your dream home that fits every single criteria and has zero problems. Especially not in a starter house. You are setting your search up for failure if you aren't willing to be flexible.

Timeline for First Time Buyers

I love working with first time home buyers... there is a certain excitement, confusion and fear all mixed together and I love helping them walk through all their questions and helping them sort out what their priorities are in their first home (because, let's be honest, many first time buyers aren't able to get into their dream home right away). I'm going to walk you through some essential things for any first time buyer to know within the next couple of weeks and today we'll get started with your order of events.

Some times closings can happen in a month but that's a very quick turn around for the bank and title companies if buyers are obtaining financing (instead of purchasing their home with cash). I've definitely seen turnarounds that quick but it may be a good thing to factor in a month and a half when designing your timeline for getting into your first home.

Tell me, what are your BEST tips for buying your first home?

Kickstarter Project: MidCentury Mailbox

If you live in Davis or Sacramento area you've seen mid-century modern homes. Streng homes are great examples of mid-century modern homes; they were designed by Carter Sparks and built by The Streng Brothers in the 1960s and 70s. They have large windows, low pitched roofs and many have skylights. The Streng brothers were influenced by California real estate developer Joe Eichler who advocated bringing modern design to the masses (instead of just in corporate offices and custom homes). The photo below depicts a Streng home.

Recently I discovered Greg Kelley, an owner of a mid-century modern home in North Carolina. After purchasing his house he searched and searched for a mailbox that would compliment the style of his house but never found a mailbox that did that (Etsy only had two boxes come up the entire time Greg searched). The last company to produce a mailbox similar to those used during the time retired their mid-century design in the early 1990s. Greg had a vision and he took it to the website KickStarter, which can be seen as the web's answer to ABCs Shark Tank. You can check out his site HERE.

As you can see in the screen shot from his KickStarter page Greg did his research on mailbox design from the 50s and 60s. He then took his ideas to a product developer who designed this mailbox. For these mailboxes to become a reality is for Greg to raise $40,000 to fund this project.

I love that Greg designed this mailbox to perfectly complement his home and mid-century moderns like the Streng and Eichler homes I regularly see. These mailboxes would be a fantastic gift for any buyer who purchases a Streng or Eichler home... my only problem would be deciding which color to order!

Selling Quickly

Why do you think half of those houses sold in under six weeks?

The majority of them probably have these five things in common:

1. They were priced right. A home that will go quickly is priced right at or below where comparable homes have just sold. Pricing a home below market value can encourage a bidding war in the sellers favor.

2. The homes were de-personalized. Homes that sell quickly let potential buyers easily picture themselves in that space. When selling remove anything that defines a home as YOURS. As a seller you want the potential buyer to picture the home as THEIRS.

3. They made a good first impression. You probably think I mean that you should have a house with incredible curb appeal; this certainly won't hurt. But what is the very first impression you get of a home? It's the listing you saw online. Make sure the photos represent your house at it's absolute best. Your agent should highlight all the unique features of your house in a way that the potential buyer has the best first impression possible.

4. They were move-in ready. Fix those items on your "Honey To-Do" list; people don't want a long list of items they have to tackle. On top of that, if they see a bunch of little items that weren't cared for subconsciously they may be thinking there are deeper issues.

5. The kitchen sold the house. If you have limited funds to get your house ready to sell focus them on the kitchen; you will get back on average 85% of what you put into it. Make neutral choices in cabinets, counters and backslashes to appeal to the majority of people.

If you have questions about selling your home, or getting it ready to sell, don't hesitate to email me. I would love to work with you on selling your home and getting you the best price possible.

Kim Merrell Lamb: kim@kimmerrell.com

Start Curb Appeal at the Front Door

Hello! I'm Jen from the blog Migonis Home. My husband grew up in the same town in upstate New York as Kim and since she's moved across the country and AJ and I have met, married and settled into Manchester-by-the-Sea, MA where we are fixing up a small Cape.

I have a new favorite inexpensive improvement to our house. This post has been in the works for years. I mean years. My most memorable home design magazine cover is without a doubt Martha Stewart's {now defunct} Blueprint magazine. The cover showed an incredibly sharp door and I decided to recreate it for myself. After receiving paint from Behr for a house makeover I had the front door paint just waiting to go on the door. I knew that would be an easy to tackle project.

To say I'm thrilled would be an understatement. :)

The door is Club Navy by Behr.

Here's how I did it...

Once I painted the door navy I made a stencil for myself. I traced the characters that I taped to the door and then did a little free-handing on the "N" where the closest font in Word didn't match up to the vision I had for the door based off the Blueprint magazine photo.

pardon the huge dot on the photo... something was on my lens. :)

I made sure to press down incredibly hard with my pen so there would be a faint outline that I could use while painting. Once I was done attempting to fill in the outline with Country Chic Paint's Simplicity for the numbers I realized I had to do some touch-ups with my navy paint after it had thoroughly dried. 

Does it look as crisp as vinyl letters would? No. But I love knowing that I did a custom job myself and that it was a $0 update. 

I used plastic garbage bags and painter's tape to tape off the door and I spray painted the door knocker and door knob. They are so sharp and really pop now. 

It's definitely makes our house stand out far more than it did previously. If you are looking for a quick weekend project to bring some character to your home then look no farther... I'd love for  you to follow Migonis Home for new posts and daily inspiration:

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Thank you, Kim, for letting me pop by your blog today and chat about a simple upgrade to your home! :)

Bad MLS Photography (Part Two)

Are you ready for another  bad MLS photo post?

You know... the kind of photos that DON'T sell a house? Here are three photos that were taken from actual listings... and how they could have been done better.

This photo doesn't show off that this could be a good space... at all. This photo immediately makes the house look like a fixer upper.

Ways the photo could be done better to {hopefully} get more people through the doors:

1. Move the car so you see more of the property.

2. Clean the junk out of the yard... do you really need a table and chairs that have fallen over sitting in the front yard? Or something blocking the front door? Nothing says "welcome!" like that.

3. Have the home owners take 15 minutes to mow their gorgeous green grass!

Just in time for a summer swim...

Nothing says "Buy Me" like turning your pool into a trash and compost bin.

Ways this photo could have been better:

1. Take it from an angle where you only get the yellow part of the house. NO POOL.

2. Move the ladder off the house. You don't want future buyers wondering what you were fixing. (Although chances are there is a lot of work to be done to the house if the backyard looks like this.)

We still see you... 

Ways this photo could be better:

1. Move all the towels and robes out of the photo.

2. Take the photo from inside the shower... if you shoot from an angle there is a better chance you won't be in the photo...

OR 

Kneel on the floor where the photographer is standing. You'll get the same shot if you position yourself correctly.

What are some of the worst MLS photos you've seen?

Staged to Sell

I love hosting open houses. Especially well staged open houses that really give a potential buyer a feel for how a particularly tricky spot can be laid out... like this little desk right in the entryway. 

I visited some open houses a few weekends ago with some real estate clients and came across this little ranch. It was a flip and because no one was living there after the work was completed they had it staged. The photos of a vacant home are typically not interesting and not interesting leads to less showings. Staged homes generally sell for more than unstaged homes.

I want to show off this particular home because I think the stager (unfortunately I have no idea who they were) did a great job finding tasteful furnishings that accurately showed off the size of the house. You'll probably notice that every room has a neutral paint color... which could look very blah to potential buyers if it wasn't paired with great pops of color. When repainting to sell your home you can't go wrong with a neutral wall color... buyers will have a much easier time envisioning their own belongings in the space if they aren't imagining how much work it'll take to paint over a bold or bright color.

I find staging to be especially helpful when you have small bedrooms. A typical home buyer has no idea what size bed would fit into a small space but it's must easier to envision your things in that house if you see that a full sized bed is able to fit with two end tables, for example. Simply staging the bedrooms could protect a buyer from just walking away believing the rooms / house to be too small for them.

The person who staged this home did a great job making the bathrooms feel spa-like with white towels, zero clutter and calming accessories. If you are selling your house, or intending to, take the lead from this home and have zero clutter out (ie: buyers don't need to see any of your toiletries)... it's amazing how much more restful it makes the home feel.

Every home buyer wants a workable kitchen and if staged take the lead from this kitchen and use plants, food that wont spoil and white or neutral dishes.

What are some great home staging tips you've seen?