There are SO many questions you will have if you are buying or selling a home in 2020/2021.
When is the best time to sell? What is the best time to buy? What will my costs be? How will you determine my listing price? I have some repairs and updates I need to do before I sell. Do you have someone who can help me with those? Can I pay for them out of my proceeds? Do you have any mortgage companies I can talk with? How long will it take to sell my home? And more… I have been using Zoom to facilitate these personal meetings when a one-on-one in your home is not available. It’s easy and private! Call me to schedule our 1st meeting…you need the information BEFORE beginning the buying or selling process! 25 years of helping Buyers and Sellers in North Harris and Montgomery counties has enabled me to have the Real Estate Experiences that will give you the answers you are looking for!
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Mop with microfiber. Instead of using a commercial hardwood floor cleaner with harsh chemicals, start cleaning your hardwoods with microfiber mop pads, which use only water to remove dirt and grime effectively.
Eliminate clutter. Put simply, clutter attracts dust, and too much clutter makes finding that dust more and more difficult as time goes on. So if you want your place to stay clean for longer, don’t give dirt and dust so many good hiding places! Ditch paper towels. Invest in a large stack of premium cotton cloths, and use them daily to clean your kitchen instead of using paper towels, which add waste. Naturally clean the garbage disposal. To remove foul odors from your garbage disposal, cut up a lemon and grind it in the disposal. Follow by grinding a cup of ice to loosen any smelly grime that may cling to the disposal’s blades. Use olive oil to make appliances shine. A little dab makes for a great polish for stainless steel refrigerators, dishwashers, and other appliances. Steam-clean your shower. Most commercial bathroom products are loaded with toxic chemicals. A better way to cut through soap build-up on shower walls, doors, and tiles is to use a steamer. And there’s no scrubbing required! Feeling cramped at home? These tips can help open up a room without knocking down a wall!10/14/2020 1. Accentuate the vertical: Draw the eye upward so a room looks more spacious. Add a bookshelf that reaches to the ceiling. Install vertical shiplap or wallpaper with vertical stripes. Hang a pendant light fixture. 2. Consider “see-through” furniture: Choose chairs and sofas with visible legs instead of furniture with skirts that reach the floor. This allows you to see under and around pieces so they appear to float in the room rather than dominate it. Glass coffee tables are a good choice, too. 3. Go big with accents: Many people think small when designing a small room. Instead, add a couple of oversized accessories, like a big piece of art or a single large chair. A lot of little objects make a room appear cluttered while one or two big ones make it feel more spacious. 4. Simplify the color scheme: Use a monochromatic color scheme for walls, furniture, and accessories. When objects are a similar color, your eye doesn’t dwell on each one but rather sees them in a unified, uncomplicated form. 5. Skip the curtains: Curtains block natural light and the view to the outdoors, making a room feel smaller and darker. Excerpted from Realtor.com magazine
On Wednesday, Oct. 7, 2020, the average rate on a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage rose two basis points to 2.953%, the average rate on a 15-year fixed-rate mortgage was unchanged at 2.546% and the average rate on a 5/1 ARM fell two basis points to 2.957%, according to a NerdWallet survey of mortgage rates published daily by national lenders. A basis point is one one-hundredth of 1%. Rates are expressed as annual percentage rate, or APR. The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage is one basis point higher than one week ago and 101 basis points lower than one year ago. In the unpredictable week ending Oct. 2, not all mortgage rates moved in the same direction.
Despite the pandemic, a lot of people have been buying homes in the last few months. Home resales rose to an annual rate of 6 million in August, which was the fastest pace since December 2006, according to the National Association of Realtors
However, further slowdowns in hiring could cause some households to delay decisions to buy. Excerpted from NAR and NerdWallet.com The popular “grandmillennial” style draws design inspiration from trends past, and millennials, who love vintage, are reviving wallpaper. Welcome back to your grandmother’s living room. Floral wallpaper is the central focus of this trend, though a tad updated with larger prints. Just think how pink peonies against a black backdrop can give that floral wallpaper a more modern edge. Floral wallpaper also is being used in smaller doses: You may only spot it in the powder room or as an accent wall in an otherwise neutral room. See the bathroom picture included here - see how the floral wallpaper is dressing up this space! From Design Trends By: Melissa D. Tracey, Realtor.com 9-2020
The Texas Housing Market Cooled in August, But Sales are Still Higher than They Were in 20199/23/2020 Texas’ housing market slowed in August after a surge of pent-up demand inflated sales numbers the previous month. "Sales activity is no longer catching up from the economic shutdown that hindered the showing of homes and closings at the beginning of the spring buying season," said Real Estate Center Chief Economist Dr. James Gaines. "Existing homes sold through Texas Multiple Listing Services peaked in July as the economic consequences of the ongoing pandemic continued to develop." Existing-home sales fell 14.6 percent from July but remained 3.4 percent higher than in August 2019. "Low mortgage rates supported the year-over-year increase, but the effect of that stimulus may dwindle if persistent unemployment shrinks the number of qualified homebuyers," Gaines said. According to the National Association of Realtors, existing-home sales at the national level increased for the third consecutive month on a seasonally adjusted basis and maintained double-digit year-over-year growth. They attribute the gains to robust demand but note rising supply-side constraints. Center Research Economist Dr. Luis Torres highlighted the supply-demand imbalances that will challenge the housing market over the next year. "While sales surged during the summer, the number of new listings hitting the market has not matched that recovery, worsening the state's housing shortages, particularly for homes priced less than $300,000," said Torres. "This mismatch has pulled the months of inventory for homes priced less than $300,000 to record lows of fewer than 2.5 months." Diverging trends across price ranges have led to increases in the median sale price for existing homes, which increased by more than 10 percent year over year for the second consecutive month, according to Center research. Excerpted from Texas A&M Real Estate Center
Kitchens can be expensive to renovate, so make sure to choose upgrades that will stand the test of time—and outlast trends that come and go. 1. Quartz Engineered quartz will continue to be a popular countertop option for a long time. It’s less prone to damage than other countertop materials and doesn’t stain from acidic substances, making it an increasingly long-lasting choice. 2. Bright, cool spaces The all-white kitchen will likely stay popular for years to come,” Life Rejoice notes. Still, some of us will appreciate a dash of color, if only to accentuate the squeaky clean impression all those white walls and cabinets give. For example, blue on larger surfaces against mostly white backdrops can add elegance. Keep the pallet sparse, with only one or two other colors used for touches on fixtures and hardware. 3. Add in Texture Texture can help break up the monotony of an all-white space. For example, consider beadboard, shiplap, brass, strap hinges, latches, various wood essences, and combined with gray paint to “give your kitchen a lively, but at the same time restrained look. “Expressing through texture is considered to be an all-around safer bet than doing so with pure colors if a timeless look is what you’re after.” 4. Dark floors Bright kitchens offer cleanliness and warmth. But to balance out predominantly light colors on walls and cabinetry, use darker floors. Hardwood or wood-look tile would be great choices. Excerpted from www.lifechoice.com
A neighbor of mine in our 41 patio home community sent a message to each of us asking if we could consider donating to a special service project she had undertaken: a friend of hers would be filling a 38 foot trailer next week to deliver to Lake Charles and a neighborhood there that desperately needed donations! My neighbors told their friends and they told friends….and Thursday a full load will be on its way! Kindness shines through even in the darkest moments.
The pandemic and the quarantine in place have give me a lot of time to reflect on what is important in my everyday Life. I believe in Kindness. Kindness gives us hope that better days are ahead. But, like many positive traits, kindness must be consistent in order to be authentic. You can’t be compassionate and caring every other day. It’s an all-in, all-the-time proposition! So be kind. Be fair. Honest. Ethical. And do it consistently, so it becomes a habit and part of who you are. The best part: Kindness spreads, creating a ripple effect that can touch many lives beyond the initial act. Kindness also sows optimism, and optimism is exactly what we need right now. Because if we give in to the gloom and allow fear to drive our behavior, each day will move us another step further away from where we all need to be. At its core, real estate is a people business, and being kind to people is a business approach that never goes wrong. Throughout this ordeal, kindness has won the day over and over again. No one knows what the next chapter in the story of COVID will be. What we do know is that people still want to buy and sell homes, and our role is to help them do that. With the right mindset, a sense of empathy, the courage to press forward, the help of each other, and the resolve to be kind, we can continue to thrive—no matter what else is happening around us. The pandemic fast-tracked a number of paradigm shifts that were already reshaping our living habits, and it’s important to consider which of those will “stick” and which ones will revert to form when the pandemic settles down.
Amazon, for example, had already normalized the concept of shopping for items online and expecting home delivery within 1-2 days. To avoid supermarkets, many people quickly became comfortable with the use of Instacart for their grocery shopping, and it is reasonable to predict this practice will also become routine. So, there may be in the future a reduced need for proximity to shopping centers. But other major trends are certain to revert to form once the coronavirus is no longer a concern. Kids will return to school. Diners will return to restaurants. People will congregate in bars, sports arenas and theaters. Schools and entertainment will again be important in our future. As human beings, our innate drive is to be close to others. Fear and circumstances may have us retreating from activities we prefer, but eventually, we will find our way back. The axiom that the majority of homebuyers will plan on staying in their homes for a minimum of 5-7 years, and even longer in many cases, will remain. How will you feel in a couple of years when the home you purchased isn’t near the school district with the curriculum you want for your children? Or the commute to your office is 2 hours away through the traffic that has returned! Your priorities in choosing a home are more important right now than ever. Make sure that the home you are buying in 2020 is not ONLY for the time being, but also for the future. Among all the shifts that have happened this year, the fact that businesses rely on a remotely-located workforce has become an accepted fact; as a result, homeowners are now spending the majority of their time in their houses and condos. This has proven especially true in the luxury real estate market, where buyers are often remote-working professionals with the means to afford a property that supports this new lifestyle. But what exactly does this lifestyle look like, and what are the demands and expectations of today’s higher-end buyers?
Overriding the requirements listed above is a demand for quality. Time to precious to these buyers and the focus on Moving In and Living Fully NOW prevails.
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