Jul 5, 2017 | Homeowners
To fully enjoy your summer vacation, take appropriate precautions to ensure that home security features are in place in advance of your departure. Consider the following suggestions:
A) Ensure that doors and windows cannot be easily compromised using basic burglary tools by installing secondary locks such as deadbolts and bars, as well as a reliable monitoring system that will alert your smartphone, a neighbour, or your local enforcement agency should a compromise occur.
B) Check that your lighting systems are intact, by verifying that your interior and exterior timers and motion detectors are fully operational, and ensuring older bulbs are replaced.
C) Trim bushes back to prevent concealing exterior access points, lock up or store ladders, and make sure mail and parcel deliveries are suspended (but don’t cancel your scheduled pool or landscape maintenance program).
D) Have a neighbour park a car in your driveway, and look in on your property including inside your garage on a regular basis.
Jul 3, 2017 | Photos
Royal LePage held a social media contest for it’s Realtors, to post fun photos with the Canada’s Real Estate Company signs on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram. Ann and I decided to do a ‘photo shoot’ around town for contest entries and posted them on our facebook business pages. We had SO much fun and ended up with some great photos!
Jun 28, 2017 | Homeowners
You’ve seen fire extinguishers in commercial environments, such as schools, stores and workplaces. Does it make sense to have one in your home?
According to the experts, yes. In fact, a fire extinguisher can quickly put out a blaze that would otherwise quickly grow out of control.
There are several types of fire extinguishers that are made especially for residential use. That means they put out the most common fires that occur in the home (Class A, B & K fires), and they are easy to handle and use.
Since most residential fires happen in the kitchen, that’s the best place to keep your extinguisher. Make sure everyone in your household knows where it is and how to use it.
Keep in mind that a home fire extinguisher is meant for small fires that are easy to put out, such as a pan of vegetable oil igniting on the stove. If you find you can’t control the blaze within a few seconds with the extinguisher, get everyone out of the home and call the fire department.
Also, never attempt to fight a major fire yourself. Leave that to the professionals
Jun 26, 2017 | Real Estate 101
Setting the right list price for a home is a mystery for many sellers. How do you begin to determine what buyers are likely to pay for your property? After all, no two homes are exactly alike.
Yet, setting the right price is crucial. You need to avoid the two price “tipping points” that, if crossed, can cause you a lot of problems.
The first tipping point is a price that’s low enough for buyers to begin thinking something is wrong. They wonder, “Why is your price so low? What are you not telling us about your property?”
But that’s not even the worst problem with this tipping point. If you do get offers at that low price, you’ll have a bigger issue – leaving thousands of dollars on the table.
The other tipping point is setting your price so high it discourages buyers from giving your listing a second look. When your price is that high, you’ll get few enquiries and even fewer people coming to see your property.
Of course, you can lower your price later, if necessary. But experience shows that reduced prices make potential buyers skeptical. Most sellers who price high in the hopes of getting a windfall actually end up selling for much less than they would have if they had priced their properties correctly in the first place.
So what’s the right price to list your property? The answer is somewhere in-between those two tipping points.
Call today for help determining the right price for your property
Email Beth for more information
