The Little Realtor

 If you have looked at homes in the Philly suburbs at all (honestly, any part of the Philly suburbs) you've seen several split levels.  Via Zillow  A split level home, to be clear, is a home where you enter into the main floor, with living/dining and kitchen, generally, but the next level, generally bedroom level, is only half a level up, not a full story, and below that bedroom level is a lower "den" level. There are variations on this, but I am not talking about a bi-level home (one where there is no main level - the front door leads immediately to stairs where you have to go upstairs or down immediately). Just to be clear since the nomenclature is often confusing!  But why am I talking about such a confusing floorplan? Because they are all over the greater Philadelphia area and make up a huge amount of inventory.  The split level design became popular in the 50s during the big housing boom. Here in rocky PA, they made sense to build into the terrain.  Bu...

I'll be the first to admit, I am surprised I am writing this post as part of my introduction to my new brokerage, Compass.  Previously, my business has been an island.  Yes, I had support from my brokerage.  Yes, I learned from my local board and ongoing training.  Yes, I connected with other agents, especially learning during transactions.  But ultimately, thats where things stopped. There was no workplace culture outside of my one-on-one relationships with my clients.  And that was completely fine. I was 100% happy with that.  But then I started at Compass and it became clear VERY quickly that there was a culture at Compass, both nationally and locally. One that valued integrity, high levels of professionalism, creativity and progress, and collaboration.  And a month in, I'm surprised that my island-loving-self is very into it.  --- Here are  Compass's Principals :  For a quick run down of what these mean, you can visit Robert Ref...

 If you are one of the many homeowners who have been thinking of taking advantage of the soaring home prices and insane buyer demand, then you might be wondering what that looks like for you.  While thoughts might immediately jump to taking care of that landscaping project you've been putting off and whether or not you should put a fresh coat of paint on the front door, its important to also take a look at the financial considerations of selling.  Home Value - Of course, one of the main things you should look into is whether or not you can get as much as you think. Just because 6 months ago the house 3 doors down got $650,000 doesn't mean you can get the same, or higher. If you are counting on the $650,000+ to sell, then you absolutely need to make checking your home's fair market value a top priority. Your trusted real estate agent can take care of creating a Comparative Market Analysis to get you the info you need.  Cost - Selling a home isn't cheap. Those high s...

I'm really excited to post today about one of the aspects I am most excited about working at Compass: Concierge.  Concierge is a Compass-exclusive program where sellers can do improvements to their property before listing in order to make their home look its best and recoup the greatest amount of money.  I have been an advocate of doing small cosmetic projects to properties since starting in this business. Buyers have a hard time visualizing a property's potential. Staging can do a lot but sometimes small home improvements can make a drastic visual change to a property. Often, I recommend painting projects, small cosmetic improvements in bathrooms (like resurfacing dated tile and installing new light fixtures). Generally, a bathroom doesn't need a $20k overall to suggest a higher price tag. Same goes for kitchens. Paint, new fixtures, and some updated tile work goes a LONG way. Even the above picture, which was all new cabinets, counters, appliance and backsplash shows the ...

 I have been an agent in the greater Philadelphia area for almost 10 years now, the whole time with the same, wonderful brokerage.  But a few months ago I was approached by a new brokerage called Compass.  I knew about Compass. They were the hip new brokerage with beautiful marketing and a great technology platform. But I wasn't unhappy where I was and had a great brokerage behind me.  But as Compass approached me, I knew my business was going without certain tools that I wanted, not just for myself, but for my clients.  I will dive deeper in to what tools do what but here are the top reasons I have moved my business to Compass:  A Streamlined Platform  This doesn't outwardly affect my clients, but I am able do pretty much every aspect of my business from one platform now. Market listings from various beautiful designs, print brochures, do social posts for my business or client listings, create a CMA for a new seller, and keep all of my contacts in one...

With inventory limited, move in ready homes at a premium and more and more new construction filling up the market, there is a trade off thats becoming more common - buying new instead of old.  It used to be that first time buyers would have to buy an old house and spend time and money fixing it up. And while thats still a common option, I'm seeing more first time buyers buying new construction, often townhomes, or homes with less "character" than they would prefer. While making old new is more of a common theme in renovation stories, we are seeing more people have to make new look old to add the touches of warmth, history and place that so many people crave.  But how do you make a new construction townhome with builder-grade finishes look like something with history?  I'm sharing some great starting ideas and some of the people who have done it best!  Add architecture  Via BHG Ornamental architecture additions might be one of the biggest-impacts to making a new ...

Its been a very crazy 2021 so far. The market started as the craziest, busiest market we've seen in decades and has been a rollercoaster since. So the last thing on my mind (which has also been occupied with my own home renovations and two kids) has been writing new content, but its about time to pick back up with it!  For the rest of 2021, I will only be focusing on homes I consider to be good starter homes . These are homes priced under $500,000 (which I know is the top end of where many people are even looking at for second homes) and have aspects I personally think make for a good starter home.  What makes a good starter home, you ask?  1) "Good" or up-and-coming area  - If the idea is you are buying this home to have for the next 5-10 years (as in not the 'forever' home), then it needs to be something you feel comfortable selling in that shorter time frame and not losing money on. That means being relatively comfortable in the neighborhood, school district or...