Bathrooms and Preparing Your Home To Sell Part 1 of 4

Home Owners and Home Sellers, you may or may not realize this, but what you are doing right now in your home, whether it is on the market or not, will make an impact on how long it takes your home to sell, how much you will make on the sell of your home, and how difficult or easy the sell will be.

You will learn that when your home goes on the market that any semblance of privacy goes out the window. Your house becomes more of a display piece than a home.

Since we are taking a look in the bathroom, you will agree that there are some things (sights, smells, sounds, etc...) that buyers (visitors) will not want to experience while in that room.

Can you think of some of these items? Some of these might be:

1. Personal hygiene items
2. Soap Scum
3. Mold/Mildew
4. Your shampoo and conditioner collection

So what do you do to prepare that bathroom for guests?

We have identified four things to do to prepare your bathroom for guests, and these are:
1. Clean
2. Fix
3. Sanitize
4. Finishing touch

Today, we want to discuss step 1. Step one is to clean. Cleaning can involve a large number of thingssuch a de-cluttering by getting rid of all those old bottles of shampoo, conditioner, medicine, and boxes from every nook and cranny of the room and cabinets. Next, comes the bottle of bathroom cleaner. Everything and everywhere, while cleaned out, needs a good wipe down inside and out. Make sure you check the shower for soap scum, discolored grout, and mildewed shower curtains or liners.

Now, this list is far from totally inclusive. It is to be a starting point. You will see many things while you are busy cleaning and discover even more as you move on to step 2 which we address later. Fix it!

Making Halloween Memories A Treat and Not A Haunt

Halloween can be a fun time for all of us with families, but like all else. We need to make sure we are doing the things to make sure it is safe and fun.

I found this website, Halloween Safety Guide, while doing some searches on Halloween Safety and thought it would be a benefit to us all.

On the site they outlined safety tips for kids, parents, pets, parties, costumes, and yard haunts. Some of the tips they gave were:

1. "Teaching your kids basic everyday safety such as not getting into cars or talking to strangers, watching both ways before crossing streets and crossing when the lights tell you to, will help make them safer when they are out Trick or Treating."
2. "The best bet is to make sure that an adult is going with them. If you can't take them, see if another parent or a teen aged sibling can go along."
3. "To keep things moving for either an adult party or child's party, make sure that you have some games, like a scavenger hunt or a murder mystery planned in advance."
4. "Instruct your children not to eat any treats until they bring them home to be examined by you."
5. "When building your haunt, make sure that the walk ways are far enough away from things so that people can't trip over them or hurt themselves. This also is good for you, this means that your visitors won't be able to ruin your props and sets. Some people just have to vandalize at this time of year and ruin it for others."
6. "If you are going to dress your pet in a costume, keep in mind that unless the dog or cat is extremely receptive to this kind of thing, you could be causing it discomfort and stress. Some animals don't mind at all but others do not want to be bothered with this kind of thing. They'll be under enough stress with the festivities going on outside and people at the door constantly so don't cause them any more nervousness then you have to. You may love to dress in costume but then, you aren't a dog or a cat."

These were just some of the tips they listed. It would be a good idea for anyone participating to check out all the lists themselves! It is Halloween Safety Guide.

Let's make sure our memories are a treat and not a haunting and frightening remembrance!

Sign the final documents, get the key, and move into your new home: Step 8 of 8 to Buying a Home in Birmingham Alabama

Buying a home can be a daunting task. Because, most people only buy a home once every few years (or longer), we wanted to take the time to remind you of the steps involved in buying a home. This way, you can feel like you have some control of this home buying process.

We have identified eight steps to buying a home.

These are:
1. Decide to buy a home.
2. Find a great real estate consultant.
3. Secure financing
4. Find your dream home.
5. Make a written offer and negotiate the price.
6. Open an escrow account. (Earnest Money)
7. Have a home inspection.

8. Sign the final documents, get the key, and move into your new home.
Yes, it is true, it is time for step 8, Prepare to sign the final documents at closing, get the keys to your new home, and move in!

Finally! You decided to buy a home, found a great real estate consultant, secured financing, found your dream home, made a written offer, negotiated price, paid earnest money, opened an escrow account, had a home inspection..... WHEW! You have cleared the title to the property, and you have closed on the deal. All you have to do now is move in and put out the welcome mat!

Welcome home!