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It's natural to feel a little apprehensive when making a major purchase, but home buying shouldn't scare you out of your wits.
Buyers’ biggest real estate fears sometimes hold them back from buying — not just around Halloween, but throughout the year. The scary thing is, these fears are sometimes well-founded.
Read moreMoving isn’t anyone’s favorite thing to do. Aside from the physical process of shifting everything you own into a new space and/or paying people to do so, there are many other factors to consider, such as budget, location, and (perhaps most importantly) your sanity. But the challenges are worth the struggle if you’ve reached the point where relocation truly is best for you.
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What if your dream home just happens to have ancient wiring and a cracked foundation? So you’ve set your sights on a home that, to put it mildly, needs a little repair work. The stairs are creaky, and you’ve noticed a leak (or three). Still, your mind is made up. What’s a love-struck home buyer to do?
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The papers are signed and the keys are in hand. Here's what you need to know when moving in to a new home. First, change the locks. You really don’t know who else has keys to your home, so change the locks. That ensures you’re the only person who has access.
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While purchasing a property to rent to others includes many of the same procedures as buying a home for your own, there are also a host of factors–both pro and con–that you should be aware of before considering this investment.
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One of the best reasons why owning a home is great is that at the end of the day, it’s yours to do with what you wish. Sure, you may have to take out a great big loan, but with every monthly mortgage payment you’re getting one step closer to total ownership, and you’re building equity, too.
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Buying your first home can seem overwhelming. It can be hard to narrow down what you want, figure out what neighborhoods are the best and decide how much to spend – let alone do all of that with another person! It's common to have a fair share of disagreements while house hunting, so I’ve put together a few tips to help you find your dream home while putting your relationship first and not going crazy!
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Waterfront homes are naturally appealing to buyers. Who wouldn’t want to live right on the water? But although waterfront homes are of interest to most buyers, not many people are aware of the particular risks and issues that can arise with a waterfront home purchase. When you start looking at waterfront homes, you want to know which questions to ask to make sure you do not make a purchase that you will regret. Here are some questions to ask if you're considering purchasing a waterfront home.
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You've spent months, maybe even years researching properties, attending open houses, exploring different options with your Realtor, and saving for that down payment. And now, you've finally put an offer down on your perfect home. Congratulations! That is major progress. Now what? Well, take a deep breath - there's still a ways to go.
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We have so many gorgeous older homes here in Mystic! They may not be for everyone, but there is something unique about older homes that many home buyers just can’t resist. Everyone has different things that appeal to them of course, and for many people a brand new house built just for them might be ideal, but if you’ve been thinking about buying an older home these reasons might sound familiar.
For some people, there is just something intangibly cool about living in a house that has stood through decades, or even centuries. If you live in a neighborhood or town with a good local library or local historians, you may be lucky enough to find photos of your house from many years ago.
Or maybe your house fits into a particular architectural style of decades past: an ornate Victorian, or a sleek, modern mid-century home. Whatever period your home was built in, for many homeowners there is something satisfying about knowing your home’s story and its place in history.
One of the drawbacks of older homes can be that they may need updating or renovation to make them more suitable to our modern lifestyles. But many buyers looking for older homes see this as just more room for creativity! With solid bones and unique architectural features, the prospect of updating an older house to work for your family can be exciting and give you the opportunity to create a truly one-of-a-kind home.
Standard building materials were just different way back when. Solid wooden doors, hardwood floors and thick plaster walls were the standard before more inexpensive materials (designed to look like the real thing!) became the norm for most builders. Siding was made of real wood, facades featured solid brick or real (often local) stone. If a home from a century ago is being lived in today, you can probably assume it was built to last.
Big shade trees, mature hedges and shrubs, flower gardens that have had a chance to grow and establish themselves – when you buy an older home you’re not just buying a building, you are buying the land it sits on and all of the plants and trees that have been planted over the years. Maybe things are a little overgrown, but with a some pruning you never know what surprises will come popping up in the spring. And even if you have to pull out buckets of wisteria or hack back a rhododendron that’s grown too big, you won’t have to wait years before tiny saplings grow big enough to be shade trees, or for flowering plants to finally fill in sparse-looking beds.
Admittedly, some of these may be unwelcome and you should prepare to discover things that may need some upgrades or repairs. But old homes can hold plenty of fascinating little mysteries and surprises, just waiting for you to stumble across them one day. Maybe you discover the wiring for an old servant’s bell, or an old garden statue buried in the yard. It might be a box of mementos forgotten in a corner of the attic, or an old-fashioned tool left in the basement. You won’t know until you move in and start poking around!
Genevieve Stoll, Realtor®. Licensed in Washington. 3800 NE 4th Street | Renton, WA 98056