TIPS FOR BUYING IN ANY MARKET

     Get Pre-Qualified for a mortgage. You’ll be certain of your price range, able to make a firm commitment to buy and your offer will be more desirable to the seller.

          Spend plenty of time in advance deciding what your new home must have – and what kind of location (close to shopping or bus lines, for example, or in the country with lots of privacy) – so your real estate sales associate can zero in and show you only those properties that have the potential to be your new home – and you won’t be unsure when it comes time to make an offer.

Measure your present rooms and furniture, so you’ll know what size and shape of living spaces you need in your new home.

Take along some graph paper and sketch out the main rooms of the houses you walk through; when you go home, try to ”place” your furniture in those rooms.

HINTS TO PREPARE YOUR HOUSE FOR SALE

Trim bushes so they don’t block windows and make rooms seem gloomy.

Be sure kids put away their toys – inside and outside.

Make sure outside lights and doorbell work.

Wash your windows – and inside your oven, too.

Establish a place for everything, so you can “live” in your home while it’s on the market, but if a buyer wants to come through, it’ll be easy to pick up clutter quickly and stash it where it belongs, showing that your home has adequate storage.

Give the dog a bath – and his bedding, too.  Clean those litter boxes daily if necessary (buy new ones if your present ones are beyond redemption).  A buyer who’s a pet lover will still appreciate the fresh smell of “clean” in your home.

Quotation of the week  

"The lowest ebb is the turn of the tide."  Henry Wadsworth Longfellow