Tips for Pet Owners Who Want to Sell Their Home

If you have a pet and you're looking to sell your home, I’ve got some helpful advice.

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Two out of three of us have a pet, and 61% of pet owners say they have trouble finding a home that is a good match for their pet.

In fact, a recent survey noted that 31% of animal owners don't put in an offer because a home would not suit their pet.

This means that if your home is a good match for a pet, it will be attractive to animal owners.

On the other hand, 67% of Realtors also estimate that having a pet in your home can make it harder for you to sell.

So what should you do? There are three things I typically recommend:

Number one, repair any damage

From the floors, to the walls, to the doors, and the yard — these are areas that pets love to chew on, scratch at, and dig up. Repairing this damage is an investment that will pay for itself many times over in terms of a higher sale price.

Secondly, get a professional to remove pet odors

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Pet owners are less sensitive to odors in their home than prospective buyers are.

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Pet owners are less sensitive to odors in their home than prospective buyers are. That's why you should hire a professional cleaning crew to clean carpets, rugs, or upholstery that has absorbed pet smells. Once you're done, ask a friend or your Realtor to sniff around to make sure the job is really complete.

Number three, take your pet out of your home during showings

Some people are afraid of animals. Others might be allergic. Regardless of the time, money, and effort you've put in to clean and repair your home, some buyers will be prejudiced by simply knowing that a pet currently lives there.

By following these simple guidelines, you will be able to sell your home for the highest price possible, whether the buyer is a pet owner or not.

If you have any questions or concerns about preparing your home for a sale, give me a call or send me an email today.  I’m here to help.

What’s the Secret to Selling for Top Dollar in Northern California?

Today we are joined by Anna from Cozy Chic Design. We use them for all of our clients who have home staging needs, and she is our preferred vendor for this sort of work.

By definition, home staging is a marketing process where a home is shown to its full potential in order to attract the largest number of buyers possible. Stagers focus on the presentation when you sell, and they aim to appeal to your particular audience of home buyers.

A stager's job is to create a welcoming, yet neutral environment. When a home is staged properly, it should show the potential of the home. Staging only takes a small amount of effort, but can yield fantastic results.

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Staged homes are proven to sell for more money in less time.

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It has been proven that homes will sell in less time and for more money when you hire a professional stager. Please don’t hesitate to contact Anna or myself if you want to make your home pop when selling this spring.

We look forward to hearing from you!

Why Is Deep Cleaning So Important to Your Home Sale?

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Today we are once again talking about how to prepare your home for sale, but today we are talking specifically about cleaning your home. When you’re moving, getting your home sparkly clean and ready for potential buyers is tough work. By hiring a cleaning company to come in and do the job for you, the process is made much simpler in the hands of professionals who know exactly how to deep clean a home.

We are joined today by Ashley from Cleanest Maids, who is here to talk to us a little about what her company does, and how they help buyers and sellers ensure their home is spic and span.

One thing that Ashley recommends for sellers that are getting ready to put their home on the market is a classic full house cleaning. This is a top-to-bottom cleaning, starting with all the ceilings and light fixtures, working your way down to the walls, windows, and the floor. A lot of the things Ashley and her team do during a full house cleaning are things that most people wouldn’t even think of cleaning, like fingerprints on the walls or smudges on doors. We use HD photography and videos, and you’d be surprised at what can show up on film when you aren’t thorough enough with your cleaning. 

In addition to offering a full line of cleaning services, Cleanest Maids now offers solar panel cleaning. A lot of panels have been getting bombarded by wind, dirt, and ash from forest fires. Most people only need to clean them once or twice a year, but if they are dirty, they won’t work properly. 

Cleanest Maids is a full maid service, doing laundry, errands, and all of that. If you need any of their services, or want to learn more about what they do, visit their website here.

If you have any questions for us, just give us a call or send us a quick email. We look forward to hearing from you!

Money-Saving Tips When You Have an Appliance on the Fritz

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Today we have Lisa Sanchez with Vacaville Appliance Repair Service. We'll be talking about appliances and how to repair and maintain them properly so you can avoid pouring money into them for repairs.

Lisa has done quite a bit of work on my own appliances, and I highly recommend her company for your repairs.

When moving into a house with older appliances, what can a new homeowner do in order to ensure that these appliances will keep working properly? Keeping appliances clean is important, especially if you have pets. Lisa recommends cleaning out dryer vents often, and hire a specialized contractor to clean your appliances if you cannot do so yourself. You may notice your dryer failing to operate as well as it used to, and this can indicate a blockage.

If you cannot repair an appliance on your own, you can call Lisa and her team will try to pre-screen your problem via a troubleshooting method to make sure that they actually need to come out and make repairs on your home. They don't want to waste your time if they don't really need to come out and service your home.

If you have any further questions about appliances, please don't hesitate to contact me or Lisa.

Also, if you have a question about real estate in Northern California and we answer it on this blog, then you will receive a $10 Starbucks gift card.

I look forward to hearing from you!

What You Need to Know About Pest Inspections

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A pest inspection is often referred to as a termite inspection, which leads people to think that the inspector is also on the lookout for ants and spiders. That is not the case. A termite inspection is really a WDO inspection, which means we look for wood destroying organisms. Those include different types of termites, beetles, or carpenter bees, as well as fungus and dry rot.

Different types of termites require different treatment. Subterranean termites live in the ground and come up into your home through the ground. Dry wood termites fly from trees or other houses and just live in your house.

Orange oil is a great new treatment for dry wood termites. It used to be that we had to fumigate the home, and the owners would have to relocate for awhile. With orange oil, you don't have to go through the hassle of finding another place to stay, and it smells great.

If termites are found, the typical eradication treatments range anywhere between $750 and $2,000, although the average is probably around $1,100. Dry rot treatment can be more expensive because you may need to hire a carpenter to replace the wood.

When you get your pest inspection report, it is broken into three sections. Section one lists active damage, which means termites are in the home. Section two lists anything that could lead to termites or dry rot, such as a termite colony nearby. Section three is simply a summary and a quote for any necessary treatments.

If you have any questions, give us a call or send us an email. We would be happy to help you!

How to Maintain Curb Appeal in a Drought

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Today, we discuss a topic many homeowners in the area are dealing with right now: dead lawns. What should you do if you're trying to sell in these drought conditions? 

The last thing you want is a brown yard if you're trying to get your home sold, but under current dry conditions here in Northern California, is there really anything you can do about it? You have two options:

• Qualify for a rebate: If your lawn is still alive, you can qualify for a rebate from the Solano County Water Agency to make your yard more water efficient. This means taking out some of the turf and putting in drought-resistant soil or ground. The rebate is a dollar per square foot up to $1,000.

• Spray paint your yard: We are seeing a lot of this nowadays. There are paints that are nonflammable, nontoxic, and look a lot like real grass. It's only about $150-$200 for the entire front yard and last 12-16 weeks. So, the money you would have spent on watering the yard for 4-6 weeks can be stretched further by having your yard painted.

We've found that a lot of buyers in Northern California understand that we're in a drought and aren't looking for perfectly manicured lawns. However, it definitely helps your curb appeal to have some resemblance of a nice yard. You don't want the yard to be completely dead, so we recommend taking advantage of the above options.

If you would like to know how to go about getting the rebate, where to find a good yard painting company, or if you have any real estate questions of any kind, don't hesitate to reach out to us. We would love to be your go-to resource for all things real estate here in Northern California!

How Can You Take Control of the Selling Process?

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As the spring market really gets going here in Northern California, I want to address a question I've been getting from a lot of clients. What exactly is a pre-inspection? Should you get one? Today, I answer both of these questions for you.

As part of our Smart Home Selling Strategy, we always recommend that you get a home pre-inspection. The home inspection will mostly address safety concerns and other basics. The inspector will make sure your ground fault indicators are working, the foundation isn't sinking, and the roof is in good shape, among other things. We also suggest getting a pest-inspection report. This inspection will look for structural pests and defects, like dry rot, termites, fungus, and other things that may impact a buyer's willingness to pay top dollar for your home.

We recommend getting a pre-inspection and a pest inspection before selling because it puts you in control of the process. You get to choose the vendors and deal with all the problems beforehand, so there are no headaches and surprises once a buyer is involved. It also reduces the negotiation time and the ability of the buyer to negotiate the price for a second time. Typically, when they get their inspection, you have no idea who they are going to use and the buyer often asks for everything in the inspection report to be fixed by the seller.

You can save yourself a lot of time and money by getting inspection reports up front and by taking care of those issues with a licensed contractor. If you have any questions about the process, or if you have real estate questions of any kind, give us a call or shoot us a quick email. We would love to help you out!