The Little Realtor

If you are planning on selling your home, one of the first things you'll likely do is start interviewing agents. You probably did a little internet research to find one. Maybe another was recommended via a friend. And perhaps the agent who helped you buy is still in contact with you. Regardless of whether or not you've settled on an agent or if you are looking at 12, you'll want to meet with them to discuss what to do to list your home, and what they'll do for you. But if you've never sold your home before, or never done so happily and successfully, then you may not even know where to start when it comes to discussing this with an agent. You want to pick the best agent but you don't even know what criteria to make that judgement on!  So here's a general introduction to what you should expect in when talking to a real estate agent about listing your home.... Styles Are Definitely Different And thats ok. I suppose we should get that out of the way ...

A lot of people notice that come Fall, the real estate market dwindles. Less is on the market and there are less buyers frantically searching for their next, or first, home. We still aren't sure what starts what - its a chicken or the egg argument - do the lack of buyers looking make people hold off on trying to sell or is the lack of inventory popping up in Fall leading to less active buyers? Regardless, if you are trying to sell your home in the Fall, it might become quickly obvious that you don't have the same level of interest as you might in the Spring. Thus, each showing must count when marketing in the Fall, and, more than ever, drawing in buyers is a creative challenge. However, the Fall is a gorgeous season, especially here in the mid-Atlantic and New England, and there is no reason to not use that to your favor. So here are a few tips on showing off your home and pulling in the buyers this Fall. Make it Cozy  #1   #2   Imagine you are ...

So you found the house. You've made an offer, it was accepted and you are feeling both extremely excited and extremely nervous. Now what? Well, now comes the inspection, assuming you aren't an idiot. A home inspection gives you a chance to actually figure out what you just agreed to purchase. You thought you just went under contract for a 3 bed cape with a cute back porch but what if instead you went under contract on an unmitigated termite and carpenter ant disaster!? Wouldn't you want to know? Sure you would. So you get an inspection. Congratulations, you aren't an idiot. But even people who elect to get an inspection rarely know what to expect from one. Often, people expect more from their property inspections than what the reality is. So here are a few pros to a home inspection - the positive things you should expect to receive - and, not the cons (there really are none for you, the buyer) but the shortfalls of a home inspections. Pros  1) T...

Its a little odd that this is my first house of the week feature in East Falls. I love East Falls and work there frequently. Its such a charming community that's a bit of a hidden gem for many Philadelphians. Its easy to commute in any direction, being the intersection of 76, Rt 1 and Kelly Dr, and has a nice train station too. Its got the front-porch, tree-lined street feel of Fairmount on many of its streets, but without the hefty price tag. Its only downfall comes in terms of walkability - for some reason its potential commercial corridor still isn't used. But I think (hope!) that will change over the coming 5 years. But on to the house! There is a wide range of homes and prices in this small community. There's everything from grand-colonials running at Main-Line prices to tiny, worn, stucco-covered rows floating in the mid $100s. But I really liked today's listing for its doable-improvements and keeping with historic charm. Instead of knocking down walls and rec...

This weekend I will be attending the always-outstanding, Invisible River (come visit me on the banks!). The event is a theatrical performance on the river, for the river. Over the years, the mission has been to shed light on the history of and human impact on the Schuylkill River. Its always a stunning, awe-inspiring performance so I highly recommend a visit - plus you can come see me and register for a chance to win a free Nest thermostat ! Anyway, a recent Green Designee from the National Association of Realtors, I have been focusing more on sustainability in design and home maintenance. So in honor of the upcoming sustainable water event this weekend and this recent trend, this week's home is a beautiful, green-design new construction in the heart of Northern Liberties! 827 N 5th St $644,000 This 3 bed, 3 full bath townhome in the heart of hipster mecca is my favorite green new construction on the market right now because not only did the builder pick energy-efficient an...

Let me smash your hopes and dreams before we even start this post: There is no magic formula for marketing a home to get it to sell. There is no way of marketing an over-priced home in bad condition in a poor location to magically sell for over asking and quickly. The best marketing advice anyone can get is to appropriately price their home for sale in the current market conditions. However, when a home is fairly priced and in mostly fair condition, more intricate marketing can be a fun, inexpensive way to sell your home as fast as possible for as much as possible. Its the different between trying to sell your Starbucks coffee at Starbucks prices in a Starbucks cup wrapper vs trying to sell it in a Dunkin Donuts wrapper - at some point, appropriate marketing does help. So here are my 5 tips for making the most of your marketing strategy, after, of course, your home is appropriately priced... Pictures and video  I wouldn't think in this day and age that a real estate ag...

This week's House of the Week is actually more than one. In fact, this week, we are looking at 15! Recently, a few people have brought up to me that the $300,000 house doesn't buy you much anymore. And hey, I can't disagree. Pull a search in Center City Philly and you don't have much to look at. The reason home buyers get so bummed about this is a lot of first-time home buyers can't afford more than $400K for a new home (in fact, most are probably cutting that number in half!) yet city living and the walkability it affords are very important to them. So the growing prices can be a let down. Walkable Fairmount So this week I looked at some of the most desirable neighborhoods in the greater Philly region and looked at what you could buy for $200,000-$400,000. I also looked at only walkable areas. So this list is comprised of affordable, generally move-in ready homes in the $200-400K range. So lets see what we found! Center City Philly Obviously Center...