Buying a home is an important life decision. Make sure you consider these important tips before you buy: 1. Look at your finances and decide how much you can afford.2. Make sure to physical inspect the home and property for potential fixes and hazards.3. Tour the neighborhood at different hours to get a feel for the local atmosphere.4. If you have children now or might in the future, check out the local schools.5. Check the location of the nearest shopping, such as grocery stores, restaurants, and other stores you already frequent. The post Top Tips for Buying a Home appeared first on Rya ..read more

If you’re thinking of selling this fall, this is the ideal time to start the process. The earlier you get ready, the more successful your sale will be. It will likely go a lot smoother, too. So, with those benefits in mind, here is a quick checklist that will guide you in preparing to list this fall: Financials. Find out how much your home will likely sell for in the current market. That calculation is made by looking at what comparable homes in the area have sold for recently. Fixing. If anything needs to be repaired or replaced, this is the best time to get that work done. You don’t w ..read more

Purchasing a home is not the same as buying a product off the shelf. You don’t simply pay the price on the tag and know it’s yours. You can’t just see a home for sale and say, “I’ll take it!”, especially if the market is competitive. You need to make an enticing offer. That offer, of course, would include the price you propose to pay. That price may or may not be the “price tag” or the asking price. In order for your offer to be successful, it needs other ingredients too. For example, winning offers often include evidence that appropriate financing has been arranged. This gives the sell ..read more

If you’re selling your home and there are other listings in your area, buyers will naturally compare your property to those other listings. Is there something about your home that you’re concerned will be seen as a competitive disadvantage? For example, do you have a small kitchen or fewer bedrooms than most other homes in the neighbourhood? There are a few things you can do to compensate for such disadvantages. First, highlight the advantageous features of your home. Chances are, there are characteristics that make it stand out. For example, the look and style of your home may be co ..read more

When you decide to put your house up for sale, we will start by working together to determine the market value of your property. That’s important to know because if you price your home too much above its market value, you probably won’t get any offers. Alternatively, if you price your property too low, it might get snapped up quickly, but you’ll have left a lot of money on the table. So how do we determine your home’s current market value? We will look at a variety of factors, such as the desirability of the neighbourhood, the features of your home, how well it has been maintained, reno ..read more

The more consumers increase their use of online shopping using a variety of sites and payment methods, the more susceptible they become to fraud. This includes false threats or enticements from scammers posing as retail, bank and credit card companies. With personal profiles being shared more frequently, it stands to reason that hackers will gain increased access to email addresses and other contact information. In addition, the scammers’ methods of “phishing” for personal information has become increasingly sophisticated, with correspondence that is often difficult to distinguish from ..read more

New countertops have always been a major contributor to kitchen makeovers, and the range of choices has never been greater. Beyond laminates and tile, or natural stone, wood and bamboo, some durable acrylics have become quite popular. But, there are also newer composite materials that offer advantages which might make them an ideal compromise between natural and synthetic countertops. Generically known as solid surface, engineered stone or quartz composite, they go by many different brand names, and have unique features not found in other surfaces. For example, they tend to be harder ..read more

There’s an interesting psychological characteristic of clutter. We tend to notice it more in other people’s homes than in our own. In fact, we may not even realize a room in our house feels cluttered and uncomfortable to visitors. That’s why making each room look neat and spacious is so important when you’re selling your property. Although the task may seem daunting at first, decluttering is relatively easy to do. The simplest technique is to box things. You’re going to move anyway, so boxing makes sense. You can store the boxes of items you’re keeping in your garage. If you have a lot ..read more

Is it really possible to improve your kitchen’s look for about the cost of a takeout gourmet dinner with the family? Obviously you’re not going to be able to do anything major, such as replace the cabinets within that budget. But, there are many surprisingly low-budget ways to spruce up the kitchen. Here are a few ideas: Do you have old cabinets? You’d be surprised by how much newer they can look simply by replacing the knobs and/or handles. Pick a colour that blends, rather than contrasts, with the cabinets. Does your sink have a few stains? That’s not unusual! There are special clean ..read more

Asking how much time you should spend viewing properties for sale is a little like asking, “How long should I spend trying on shoes?” The answer seems obvious: As long as it takes to make a decision! Buying a home is significantly more complex than purchasing shoes – and the stakes are higher too! You need to make sure you have all the information necessary to confidently make the best decision. There are basically three stages to viewing a property: Macro, Micro, and Professional. When you view a home on a macro basis, you’re looking at it from an overall perspective. For example, you ..read more