At Home With Valerie

Is it time for you to move to a bigger home?  Well, good news: Baby Boomers are often looking for smaller homes with features to make living more comfortable as they age.  Here are some tips for marketing your listing to Boomer generation buyers. Baby Boomers all over are downsizing to properties where they can age in place. Often these buyers are well-qualified, meaning they have no problem getting a mortgage or they may not even need one. (An all-cash buyer can truly speed along the closing process!)  So how do you make your listing more appealing to Boomer buyers? Here are some tips for giving your home an edge: 1. Market the low-maintenance aspects of your home. Small yard? No yard? Stain-resistant countertops (like quartz)? The last thing your Boomer buyers want are long weekend to-do lists full of maintenance chores they would rather not hassle with or pay someone else to do. If there’s any way you can make your home easier to maintain, consider ...

Including earnest money with your offer? Be careful about how you proceed.  There are mistakes you won’t want to make when it comes to betting part of your bankroll that everything will go as planned. Earnest money is a great way to show a seller you’re serious about the offer you’re making on their home.  By placing a portion of what amounts to your down payment on the table to demonstrate your commitment to follow-through on the contract, you’re saying “I love this home and I’m ready to go.” But there’s a real risk involved: If you make a mistake, you might just be out a chunk of cash. Here are some ways to avoid burning your home-buying bankroll in lost earnest money: 1. Make sure it’s the home you really want. Seem obvious? Sure. But it’s easy to get swept up in the moment. Recognize that you’re about to enter into a legally binding contract and that the money you’re risking will hurt if you change your mind. While you may not be able to drag your f...

When you’re preparing your home for sale, it’s not unusual to need to fix up a few things around the property.  After all, you want your home to look its best to buyers, so that you get good offers, quickly. What do you need to fix? Here are three categories that will help you create and prioritize your list. Anything that squeaks or creaks. Is there something in your home that makes a noise it shouldn’t be making? Perhaps it’s a rattling closet door or a creaking floor board? You may be so used to it you no longer notice the sound. But buyers will. Be sure to get those items fixed. Anything that’s unsightly. You don’t have to make your home look perfect. However, things that are unsightly will likely get buyers’ attention. You want them to focus on the terrific features of your property, not the scuff on the wall. Take a walk through your property, including the yard. Pretend you’re the buyer. Do you notice anything that doesn’t look good? If so, tidy it u...

Thinking about buying? You’ve probably used one of those rent vs. buy calculators to help you decide. Well, here’s one giant fact those calculators often ignore… Are you doing the math these days around renting versus buying a home? Trying to decide if you can afford to buy?  If so, you’ve probably Googled one of the many “rent versus buy” calculators out there to help you get a handle on your budget. True, they’re helpful, and they can also help clue you in to things like insurance expenses and property taxes, but they overlook a number of key factors in the decision. A mortgage is a surefire way to build wealth. Provided you don’t buy more home than you can truly afford, your mortgage is like a mandatory savings account. A portion of your payment each month is going straight into your equity in your home. With renting, it’s your landlord who is building equity, not you.  The tax situation has profound implications, especially in expensive markets. Un...