Home renovations & Home InsuranceTuesday, August 13, 2019
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Planning on renovating your home? Or, buying a new home and planning extensive renovations before moving in? Well here are some important points to consider concerning your home insurance.
Mark Carruthers is a Registered Insurance Broker with Pioneer Insurance Brokers in Kitchener, Ontario. [email protected] |
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5 Steps To Tackling Debt That Will Make You Feel GoodTuesday, July 23, 2019
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The following tips will increase your confidence in your ability to take back control of your life. 1. Determine The Size Of The "Opportunity" Problems are actually opportunities waiting to be discovered. Adopting this attitude will help you see that you can make choices that will positively impact your life.
Action: recognize that not all debt is equal. Classify your debt by the interest cost of the debt. The highest interest cost debt is the first opportunity to pursue.
2. Follow The Money You’ve likely heard the expression “follow the money”. Begin by reviewing your expenses. When expenses exceed income, savings reduction, debt accumulation or both is always the result. Next, what opportunities exist to increase your income?
Reducing your expenses is often easier than increasing your income.
Action: make a monthly list of expenses for each of the past 3-6 months and categorize each expense as either “must have” (example: food) or “like to have” (example: entertainment).
3. What Are The Viable Alternatives? It is easy to get “locked” into your behaviour as it is related to how you spend your money. Your past experiences have shaped your habits and consequently your beliefs about the future .
Be willing to confront your past behaviour by changing saving and spending habits.
Action: Identify less expensive alternatives for some “must have” and “like to have” purchases with the objective of reducing your total spending. Establish a savings goal.
4. Start Small Provide yourself opportunities to succeed. If you start with a small change in behaviour, you can experience success more quickly and provide yourself with needed encouragement.
Action: eliminate one or more small expenses from your “like to have” list. Use the savings to reduce high interest cost debt and/or increase savings.
5. Celebrate It is important to recognize the progress that you make on this journey. Keep the celebrations small but do celebrate. They will become a habit that you’ll want to repeat.
Action: set a modest goal that you can achieve quickly. Take the necessary action to achieve your goal; have a small celebration and then repeat the process.
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Cleaning Tips For Selling Your HomeMonday, July 22, 2019
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Cleaning Tips for Selling Your Home
Everyone knows you should clean your home before you list it for sale but are you only touching the surface? When it comes to the sale of your largest asset, it is crucial that you deep clean your home top to bottom as buyers will be looking everywhere.
Here is a list of commonly forgotten about areas that definitely need to be cleaned:
By following the above list you will have a sparkling clean house that buyers will appreciate. You should also go over this checklist on a weekly basis while selling to ensure your home is clean for all Open Houses and showings.
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Home Staging in 3 StepsWednesday, July 10, 2019
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Home Staging in 3 Steps
Part 1 is the Staging Consultation. Whether Occupied or Vacant, the Home Stager will meet with the homeowner and go room by room to address the current condition of the home. We will provide a full, detailed report with recommendations for the homeowner to complete in order to prepare their home to be listed for sale. This could include, and is not limited to, painting, cleaning, de-cluttering, updating, neutralizing, depersonalizing, organizing, reconfiguring and removal of furniture and accessories, exterior, landscaping and curb appeal improvements. We are able to walk through the home with “Buyers eyes” and make you aware of the things that buyers will notice. The report also includes an Open House and Showing checklist for the homeowner to refer to before their home is viewed by potential buyers. We will also include a proposal outlining the investment of going forward with showcasing the home.
Part 2 is Completing the Recommendations. The homeowner is responsible for completing the recommendations outlined for them in the Consultation Report. This crucial step prepares the home for part 3 of the Home Staging process. It is important to address any repairs or updates needed to improve the overall condition of the home. If necessary, the Home Stager can supply the homeowner with a list of tradespeople who can assist them in completing these tasks.
Part 3 is Showcasing the Property. This is when the Home Stager returns to the home and completes the transformation. A team of Home Staging Professionals will go to work placing furniture, artwork, accessories, lighting and other necessary design elements to showcase your home at its best and brightest. We use our training and experience to highlight your home’s best features in order to attract the best buyers who will bring you the best offer. We take into account how each room will show in MLS photos as well as how buyers will navigate through the home during showings and Open Houses.
In occupied homes, we are able to work with the homeowner’s existing furniture and accessories to better market each room. We are also able to bring in an assortment of pieces if necessary. In vacant homes, we are able to supply all furniture and accessories necessary to showcase the home.
Showcasing can be completed throughout the entire property or just the impact rooms, meaning we can work with all different budgets. |
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Send Me Your Wish ListThursday, June 27, 2019
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Your Dream Home Wish List
If you’re thinking about buying your next home or your first home, a wish list can be very helpful to me as your realtor. When I search for properties for buyers, I am able to drill down a little further and get more specific with a home than a consumer is able to view on realtor.ca, so by sending me your wish list, I can make sure that properties that have what you are looking for are sent to you immediately. No matter which stage in the home buying process you are, send me your wish list and share all your dreams with me, my job is to make those dreams a reality. I look forward to seeing your wish list and helping you in the future. |
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8 Reasons Why You Should Stage a Vacant PropertyWednesday, June 26, 2019
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Most homes that are listed for sale are still lived in by the Seller until the home is sold; however many homes are now listed after the Seller has already moved out and into their new home. The biggest mistake these Sellers make is trying to sell the home while it is empty. Vacant homes feel cold, boring and uninviting and because of this they take much longer to sell. Buyers are not wowed when they tour the home and cannot visualize how they will live in the space.
If you are planning on selling your vacant home, your next step is to hire a professional Home Stager to showcase the property at its best. Here are 8 reasons why you should stage a vacant property:
1. Empty Rooms Appear Smaller Than They Truly Are
2. 90% of People Cannot Envision Furniture in an Empty Room
3. Staged Homes on Average Sell 70% Faster Than Un-Staged Homes
4. Staging Puts Money in Your Pocket
5. Staged Homes Photograph Better
6. Staging Draws Attention Away From Any Flaws & Focuses Buyers’ Attention on the Architectural & Selling Features of the Home Instead
7. Staging Creates a Lifestyle That Appeals to the Home’s Target Demographic of Buyers
8. Staged Homes Sell Faster in Slow Markets & for More Money in Hot Markets
Home Staging is a smart investment that is crucial for selling vacant properties. It is a proven marketing tool that brings real results – higher sales in shorter amounts of time. By not staging your vacant property, you are risking having it sit on the market, reducing the asking price, and having it become stale – ultimately costing you much more than the investment for staging ever would.
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Why Neutral Is Best When SellingThursday, June 20, 2019
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Why Neutral Is Best When Selling
Often times when I view a home for the first time during the staging consultation I see rooms painted in bright colours. Accent walls, matching trim, I’ve even seen colourful ceilings! Sometimes the colours work beautifully in the space, highlighting the furniture or artwork that the homeowner has. Other times the colours just aren’t the right hue and don’t work with the fixed elements in the room (cabinetry, built-ins, flooring, etc.)
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Your Couch is a Beast!Monday, June 17, 2019
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Your Couch is a Beast, is it affecting the sale of your home?
Is your couch so large that it's affecting the sale of your home? We all know that we want the largest, softest, most comfy couch when we veg out and watch TV. Cuddled up with our blankets, popcorn bowls, books, remotes, dogs and kids, the need for a large couch space is apparent, but is your beast of a couch slowing your home sale?
Often I find clients trying to fit their furniture in the home for sale and if the furniture in their potential new home is much larger than what they have, they will find it hard to think that their furniture will fit. Less truly is more, letting people know that there is room for a full couch and a loveseat is great, but they don't need to see your mammoth couch and 2 more matching lazy boys too!
Here are some tips on picking the right couch for the space that you have:
If you have high ceilings, choose a couch with a tall back or oversized back cushions to help soften the rooms starkness
If you have a small living space, try an apartment sized sofa, or a loveseat paired with 2 chairs to give a conversational space, odds are that people won't notice it's not a full sized couch if it's laid out right
If your space is open and you have it broken into 2 room spaces - consider a sectional couch if the space is large, it will help your mind break up the space into 2 different rooms and make it feel more spacious, there is nothing worse than an open concept home with too much furniture
If you have a lot of furniture, consider removing it for selling your home, take out that bulky couch and matching chair, they take up too much space and probably look worn anyways - that's why they are so great for relaxing, but that worn in look doesn't sell homes.
If you need to rent furniture to make your space work , the small cost for the month that you may need to rent will pay off. The better your home looks, the quicker it sells and the quicker you can go back to regular life and well, packing!
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Your Photos are DistractingWednesday, June 5, 2019
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Your Photos are Distracting
We’ve all heard that your home needs to be devoid of personal photos when your home is for sale, but do you know why? There are lots of reasons why your personal photos can affect the sale of your property. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen buyers more interested in the family photos on the wall then in the space of your home. I often hear comments such as “oh I think I know them” or “Look at that Mullet! Come here honey and look!” Not only are they distracting themselves, but their spouse as well and now neither of them is looking at the home. I can tell you that I’ve been guilty of the exact same thing with funny family photos, but when I ask a client later what they thought of a certain home; they almost always forget what the features were of the homes with the photos. |
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10 Things Your Home Stager Did NOT Learn From HGTVTuesday, May 28, 2019
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10 Things Your Home Stager Did NOT Learn From HGTV
We get it, you've watched all of the home renovation and home sale shows, read all of the online articles and tips regarding setting up your home to sell, and you have checked off everything on every home selling checklist you could find, so why would you need to hire a Professional Home Stager? We often hear homeowners say, “I don’t need a stager, I watch HGTV all the time, and I know that I need to remove the clutter and the personal items.”
These reality shows have really put the home staging industry in the spotlight over the last few years, and have helped homeowners to better understand the importance of preparing their home prior to listing it for sale. But, while these shows provide the basics of what this preparation involves, they don’t provide the full picture of what it really takes to properly style and STAGE your home in order to evoke the emotional connection that your prospective buyers are looking for.
1. Where to place YOUR furniture so that the room remains open and inviting, while maintaining function and flow
This does not mean simply moving all of your furniture to the edges of the room. This means understanding proper traffic flow, as well as the latest furniture styling trends. We will evaluate what should stay, what should be removed, and where to properly position your furniture to optimize flow, eliminate awkward spaces, and highlight the best features of the room.
2. Shelf Styling
By far one of the trickiest decorating techniques to master, this is the art of filling the shelves to catch your eye, without diverting your attention from the room. This means selecting the right size and style of pieces to compliment the space and the shelving unit, and understanding the balance between too little and too much.
3. Paint Colour selection
Just because a colour is popular or trendy, does not mean that it’s the best one to use for your home. Colours are selected based on lighting, home style, and the colour of the finishes of the home. Sure, we have our favourites, but each colour is selected to best suit the home.
4. What local trades will provide you with the best services, at the best value prices
We have spent a great amount of our time forging valued relationships with highly skilled trades to ensure that you receive quality work, every time. We only work with professionals, and often these professionals will provide special discounts to our clients.
5. Where to shop for the final touches and accessories that your home needs
We spend more time than anyone shopping for home décor items and finding the best deals, and we can provide you with some direction on this to help you to avoid driving all around town looking for the perfect piece. Of course, you would save even more time if you hired us to provide you with the accessories and accent pieces that your home needs.
6. Which updates/upgrades will most benefit YOUR house in YOUR market, neighbourhood, and price range
We not only evaluate what upgrades and repairs would add to the value of your home, but we look at what will help to increase it’s overall sell-ability – upgrades are not worth much if they’re not the right ones to entice your specific buyers. We consulted on a home once that spent a great deal of money replacing their kitchen, but for their target market, their funds would have been better spent doing other repairs to the home and minor updates to the kitchen.
7. How to make a bed
Forget what your mother taught you – making your bed before work, and styling your bed to sell your home are completely different! I can’t tell you how often we see this common mistake in listing photos.
8. How to utilize a piece of furniture for an alternate purpose
This does not mean putting an end table in an office and calling it a desk. It’s about thinking outside of the box when it comes to finding the right piece, often within your home already, to fulfill a purpose for a room and help to clearly define the space.
9. How to enhance your curb appeal
Yes, cut the grass, trim the trees, and mulch the gardens, we know that you have that covered. But there’s likely more that you should be doing. If your buyers are not engaged with the home before they get to the front door, you could potentially lose out on that sale. We are property stylists, and we want to be sure to create an inviting space, inside and out.
10. How to maintain function and daily life, while living in a staged home
The checklists and tips you find online are a great step towards preparing your home, but a Professional Home Stager can provide you with the specific recommendations that will help you to bring in the buyers and sell your home. |
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Stephanie Catcher 43 September 9, 2020 |
Steve Catcher 6 June 9, 2014 |