The Little Realtor

Its finally summer and that means its time to think about the seasonal to-dos around your home. Luckily, summer is an easy time of the year where you don't need to take much time from vacations and outdoor lounging to take care of maintenance items around your home. Photo by Fredrik Öhlander on Unsplash 1) Get Your AC Serviced  Ideally, you can take care of this before summer hits, but now is still a good time to make sure all is in working order before any issues arise. Same goes for installing window units and making sure they are all in working order! 2) Clean Out the Gutters  Typically thought of as a fall activity, summer is a good time to get a jump on this. After all of the Spring rains and falling flowers, your gutters will likely need a clean out to stay functional. 3) Exterior Painting and Masonry  Summer is a good time to get to exterior work before the leaves of Fall and after the cooler temps and rainy season of Spring. Check for any repo...

Its rare to get into a coveted school district for a "reasonable" price without having to do a ton of work. Yet, this home at 513 Chandler Ln in Villanova seems like just that! Listed at $450,000 and currently low taxes for Radnor (~$7000) its a price many people can still afford. For that you get 3 full bedrooms, 2 full baths, one an ensuite from the master, and half bath! There's a nice sized living room with fireplace and dining room and an updated kitchen. The kitchen is small, a galley, but its a very liveable condition. Plus there is central air in place! Whats really great here is it sits on an acre of land so not only is the yard space fantastic, but there is room to expand, which makes this house a great opportunity. An addition off of the kitchen/dining could allow for an expanded kitchen, family room and potentially a 1st floor bedroom for guests. It has a charming stone front and a two car garage that could get connected to the home via a mu...

I talk a lot on this blog about DIY updates, inexpensive upgrades, and not passing on homes that require a little TLC. I do all of that because I personally find a lot of value in saving the money, making your own equity in a home, and putting your own spin on things. I've had a chance to compare two bathroom projects in my own home. We are finishing up our master bathroom renovation 4 years after we renovated our hall bathroom. Our house is a mid-century split and it came with all of the wonderful mid-century bathroom tile that you surely know well. We had a blue bathroom... A fuchsia half bath with carpet (eww...) We had a light pink master bathroom with a corner shower.... We had/have a yellow guest bathroom.... The reason we were able to afford a house with 4 toilets was because they were dated, and for that I am very grateful! And these bathrooms were SO WELL MADE. I know there are some people out there who hate gutting these mid-century baths, even ...

Selling a home for ANYONE is a difficult, complicated, time-consuming and often very emotional process. Adding kids, especially young or school-aged kids, can add an even more stress-producing factor (for you AND them!). After years of seeing people do it right, and do it wrong, here are a few tips to getting through the process with the fewest tears and yelling! Photo by HiveBoxx on Unsplash Stage Appropriately  You have kids, but not everyone does. Knowing your target audience is EVERYTHING with home staging, with or without adding kids in. For the average home buyer, they either have kids or are thinking of having kids in the future. Unless you have a condo or are catering to older audiences, its not a bad thing to show off the fact you have kids. Continuing to have a play room or toy storage in the family room can be a positive thing - it shows that there is room for those things that people may be planning for. (But don't repurpose rooms. If you turned your dinin...

If you are planning a kitchen or bathroom remodel, you've probably seen it by now - mixed metals . A space that somehow wraps a nickel faucet with wrought iron chairs and antique-brass lighting. Its an eclectic look that can lend to a luxurious, layered feel, regardless of your style. But how in the world do you mix 2 or 3 different metal tones without it looking like you just bought the wrong thing? Photo from Lindye Galloway 1) Pick A Dominate Metal or Look  Are you envisioning a big, black mirror in a small bathroom or are you looking for a feminine, delicate look with marble and soft brass tones?  Focus on that and add a "pop" with another metal for a "moment"  2) Keep an Eye on the "Pop"  Certain metals melt into a background more. Nickel can feel see-thru. (Did you even notice that the designer above is mixing 3 metals? Your eye automatically disregards the nickel as it looks like a neutral). Similarly, wrought iron or ma...

While we are open for business again here in Philadelphia, the real estate market is unlikely to look the same for a while. If you are thinking about buying a home this year, its worth prepping for the "new normal" in house shopping. Photo by  Marie Chiong  on  Unsplash Showings  Showings will be limited to just two people and their agent for a while, we assume. That means while in the past, family members often walked through homes as well to weigh-in, only two primary buyers may walk through at any given time. Further, during a walk-through, you'll be asked to wear a mask and potentially shoe covers/gloves. Further, you should refrain from touching every single surface as everything has to get wiped down. Sellers' Priority  While a seller may have listed their home and opened it to the market, they have the right to lay down additional stipulations. Some may require additional time between showings, ask for further coverings, or even limit ...

Since Gov. Wolf's mid-March, statewide shutdown, real estate has been deemed a "non-essential" service and industry. Not only has that meant real estate agents can't show homes, but all rental/sale activities have been halted, including any in-person showings, even by a seller, in-person mortgage appraisals, home inspections, etc. While there have been homes going on the market, and some even pending sale, homes that have gone under contract after March 18th have been all-but-impossible to close. And even those homes that went under contract were often accompanied by clauses from the buyer stating that they still had the option to view the home before choosing to purchase. Many of them were still waiting to see the house they had made an offer on. Until yesterday at 3 p.m. when Gov. Wolf changed his initial order to allow real estate activities to be conducted as an essential service across the state, regardless of "Red" or "Yellow" status. Th...