Month: July 2019

Staging your home is all about putting the best foot forward for potential buyers. By highlighting its most desirable features, you can draw more interest for your home and leave a lasting impression that is sure to help you sell it more quickly. Here’s what you should keep in mind as you prepare for your next open house or viewing!

• Help them visualize it as their own. Make it easier for buyers to imagine themselves making your house their home by removing personal memorabilia, knick-knacks, and photos. Instead replace them with simple décor, such as paintings, nature images, and plants. 
• Think sleek instead of comfy. Modern-day buyers are leaning toward modern, crisp, clean interiors over comfy, homey looks. When staging your home, keep a minimalist mindset and incorporate bright colors and metal accents.
• Deep clean the small spaces. It’s obvious to say you should clean your home before viewing, but don’t forget to cover your bases by deep cleaning the small spots. Take time to scrub porous areas like grout that may hold on to stains and baseboards where small pet hairs and dust love to cling.
• Spruce up your landscaping. The first impression your home gives to potential buyers is its exterior. Ensure you have a freshly mowed lawn, neat hedges and shrubbery, bright flowers, and a clean driveway. 
• Set the mood. A home is so much more than just the way it looks, so you need to appeal to the other senses. Prior to having potential buyers over, set the mood by burning delicious smelling candles and selecting an upbeat, happy soundtrack to play in the background.

One of the huge benefits of owning property is the home equity you can build. But with equity comes the temptation to dip into it if a large expense or possible investment arises. There are many strategic ways to use your equity without ruining any personal financial advances you have made. The most crucial step you need to take is to fully understand your options for tapping into that money and the associated risks.

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Simply put, your home equity is the market value of your home relative to any loan balances remaining. There are two main ways to utilize this value. Getting a home equity loan provides you with a lump sum of money that you pay off in monthly installments, generally over five to 15 years. As with any loan, you will be required to pay interest on the amount, but it is usually a fixed rate. Choosing to use a line of credit instead offers similar benefits, but instead of receiving the money up front, you are given a pool you can draw from as needed. With this option, the lender provides a maximum borrowing limit and you can choose to use it or not until it is reached. 

Before dipping into your home equity in, either way, it is important to understand the possible consequences. In both instances, your home is used as loan collateral. This means if you are unable to make payments on the loan for any reason, the lender can sell your property or take your home in foreclosure. Additionally, there will likely be closing costs and fees you have to pay in association with the loan.

 When you put your home up for sale, one of the best ways to determine the asking price is to look at comparable sales. There’s rarely a perfect apples-to-apples comparison, so a pricing decision often relies on comparisons to several recent sales in the area. Here are five criteria to look for in a sales comparison.

 1. Location: Homes in the same neighborhood typically follow the same market trends. Comparing your home to another in the same neighborhood is a good start, but comparing it to homes on the same street or block is even better.

 2. Date of sale: It varies by location, but housing markets can see a ton of fluctuation in a short time period. It‘s best to use the most recent sales data available.

 3. Home build: Look for homes with similar architectural styles, numbers of bathrooms and bedrooms, square footage, and other basics.

 4. Features and upgrades: Remodeled bathrooms and kitchens can raise a home’s price, and so can less flashy upgrades like a new roof or HVAC system. Be sure to look for similar bells and whistles.

 5. Sale types: Homes that are sold as short sales or foreclosures are often in distress or sold at a lower price than they’d receive from a more typical sale. These homes are not as useful for comparisons.

A bonus 6th tip? Get yourself a Yancey Realty agent to help you get your home sold faster, and for a higher price! Our agents are trained in negotiation tactics, and are highly knowledgeable of the Charlotte area and market!

Revamping your landscaping can be a huge undertaking. It takes a lot of time, effort and money.

So, how can you give the exterior of your home a facelift without breaking the bank, or taking out a second mortgage?

Select perennial plants. Choosing Perennial plants over annuals can help reduce both cost and time. These types of plants continue to bloom year after year with less upkeep, so you won’t have to set aside more money for new plants and spend the time replanting them in the coming years.

Shop at the end of the season. Shop for plants, accessories, mulch, containers, and more towards the end of fall for the best savings. Most garden centers and nurseries are looking to clear out plants and tools before winter, so you may be able to save up to 50%!

Creatively source materials. Often extra materials can be found at construction sites, or other landscapers may be giving them away for discounted prices. Check Craigslist or Facebook Marketplace for people selling materials for cheaper than stores. Make sure you look around before paying full price for rocks, wood, gravel and more.

Use a mix of materials. Building surfaces like pathways or patios can often carry a large price tag for both materials and installation. To reduce costs, consider mixing materials, such as gravel with pavers or concrete with cut stone to create a unique surface for less.

Keep up maintenance. Taking care of your yard throughout the year can save you from high-cost repairs in the future. Make sure to weed regularly, reduce standing water, keep patios and pathways clean and ensure paint doesn’t start chipping!

We’re here to help make the home buying process easier for YOU! Call us at 704.467.8877 today 🙂

With the constant shift in car shapes and sizes as your family grows on top of storage requirements, ensuring you build the perfect, secure garage to hold everything as your needs change is crucial. But not to worry, we’ve put together a comprehensive list of options to help set you on the right path!

Garage Width: The most common garage layout found on homes is a standard two-car garage. Equipped with a single door, generally 12 to 18 feet wide, that allows for two vehicles of the same or different sizes. An alternative garage layout is a two-car garage split down the middle with a vertical beam and two smaller doors on either side. This is a sleek aesthetic that is visually pleasing but may bump up cost with the required dual door setup and door openers. Another option is a single-car garage that starts at 8-feet wide.

Short vs. Tall: The standard height for garage doors is 7 feet tall, which works perfectly for most vehicles. However, if you have a lifted truck or jeep or have an installed roof rack or cargo carrier, you will need to opt for something taller. Raise the height to 8 or 9 feet to ensure proper clearance.

Door Material: Although it’s not the first thing you think of when building a garage, the door material used can make a big impact. Steel garage doors panels are most popular and start at 1/8-inch thick with no insulation and be as think as 1 1/2-inches thick with a piece a foam in between the layers. Additionally, homeowners can choose wood, glass, vinyl, or fiberglass doors.

When you purchase a home, there’s a good chance you’ll have to pay a Homeowners Association fee, especially in gated communities, townhouses, condominiums, and other similar planned neighborhoods. The idea is to keep common areas clean and maintained, and there’s usually an HOA board that is responsible for setting the rules and regulations.

Each HOA is different, but most have the same core elements. You’ll typically pay your HOA fees either monthly or annually, and it’s an important factor to consider when you’re weighing your options for a new home.

So what is typically included in your HOA fees?

First, the fun stuff!
Amenities are typically the big perk of living in a community with an HOA. While you lose out on some of the freedom of living without an HOA, you instead get community amenities like a maintained pool, gym, clubhouse, tennis courts, and other amenities. The HOA fees pay for cleaning and maintenance, so—in theory—you’ll always have a clean pool whenever you want to use it. 

Protecting the community
HOA fees often contribute to insurance for the community amenities, as well as a fund for unexpected repairs to damaged community property—think damage from weather or accidents.

General maintenance
Your HOA fees will go toward maintaining the general safety and upkeep of the community. This means things like elevator maintenance for condominiums, snow removal, and trash/recycling services.

Be active in the association
There may be a board of directors, but homeowners associations exist for the betterment of the entire community, and every voice matters. HOA meetings—and the amenities they support—provide great opportunities to meet your neighbors and make your community a better place.

If you’re looking for a professional, knowledgable and caring agent, your search is over! Give us a call at 704.467.8877 today to speak with a Yancey Realty expert!

Feng shui is the Chinese tradition of balancing your home to achieve benefits and advantages associated with your health, finances, career, relationships, and more.

There are many ways to create good feng shui in your home, starting with your bedroom. Open up the room by moving the bed so that both sides are away from the wall and the headboard is against it. Feng shui best practice also suggests placing it where you will have a clear vision of the door, but never directly in line with it. Next, introduce symmetry into the room with artwork, bedside tables, lamps, and pillows to reflect the balance you want in all areas of your life.

Apply feng shui to the entryway of your home to welcome your guests and allow positive energy to flow in. To do this, commit to keeping it clear of shoes, packages, bags, etc. and use a mirror as décor to open the space and indicate you are expanding opportunities in your life. Additionally, consider purchasing and placing a water fountain in the foyer. Flowing water is known to represent wealth flowing in and diffuses negative ions in the air.

Decluttering is key to implementing feng shui in your home and allowing energy to flow freely. Donate clothing that is not often worn and empty drawers and shelves of things you do not need to rid yourself of the old and make mental room for new things in your life. 

These steps are just the starting point for bringing good energy into your home and making it evolve as you do. Happy harmonizing!

Finding mold in your house is the last thing a homeowner wants to encounter. Not only is it unsightly and smells unpleasant, but it can pose a serious health threat to you and your family.

You should take steps up front to prevent molding in your home by checking gutters and downspouts to ensure water is draining away from your home’s foundation. Check under sinks and near dishwashers and clothing washers for any signs of leaking and repair immediately. Finally, don’t forget to use bathroom fans when showering to limit moisture.

After taking these steps, if you still encounter mold, don’t fear! Here are our top tips for dealing with it.

• Take precautions. When cleaning mold found in your home, make sure to wear proper protection such as eye covers, face masks, and rubber gloves. Try to keep children and pets out of rooms where mold exists and run fans and dehumidifiers to expel moisture. 
• Use proper cleaning solutions. The best way to remove mold really depends on the surface it has grown on. For interior walls and flooring, use a mixture of bleach, detergent, and water with a sponge or mop. For exterior walls or cement, use the mixture alongside a strong bristled brush to scrub the area.
• Clean clothing immediately. To prevent the transfer of mold spores, place clothing worn while cleaning in a plastic bag and wash separately with hot water.
• Consider hiring a professional. If the mold in your home is extensive, it may be beneficial to hire a professional. A good rule of thumb to follow is to call for help if affected surfaces surpass 10 square feet.