How to buy and sell a house at the same time!

AOL Real Estate posted a great article about how to buy a sell a house at the same time.  It had lots of great information, but my favorite part was about knowing your numbers.  Click on the link to read the whole thing, but here is a recap!

1.  Prepare to be stressed!

• Buying a home is stressful.  Selling a home is stressful.  Prepare yourself to be stressed and that will help in the long run!

2.  Meet with your agent early!

• Even if you are months from selling or buying a home, it's good to meet with your agent early so you know what you should expect to sell your house for.  Lots of times, sellers think their home is worth less (or more) than it's worth and an agent can give you the right market value and can also let you know what improvements need to be made before you list your home.  Also, the value of your home can affect the value of the home you can afford when you buy!

3.  Learn the market where you want to purchase.

• After knowing what your current home is worth, you need to know how much you can afford when you go to buy!  What's on your wish list?  How long will it take to find exactly what you want?  Is the area you want to buy, more competitive than where you live now?  If you are moving to a different area, your listing agent might not be your buying agent so you might need to find a different one in that area.  

4.  Know your numbers.

• Many people can not afford to buy a home before they sell their current one, so it's important to know that upfront.  
• Buying in a competitive market?  Negotiate a contingency that you must sell your home first!
• Selling in a competitive market?  Negotiate rent back or a longer escrow to give you more time to find the right home
• Selling in a slow market and buying in a competitive market?  Need the sales proceeds in order to do the purchase?  Consider the option of selling your home first and then moving into a rental for temporary housing.  This might lesson your stress.  

Louisiana made another list!

Who knew that Louisiana was a great place to retire!  I can't say I'm surprised, but this morning KATC posted a link on facebook from Bankrate.com saying that Louisiana ranks No. 2 in the 10 Best States for Retirement!

Here is the write up:

"Besides jazz and beignets, Louisiana offers retirees an excellent combination of low taxes (the Tax Foundation ranks it as the fourth lowest in the nation) and balmy weather. Louisiana has a 30-year average temperature -- that includes both winter lows and summer highs -- of 66.7 degrees. That's higher than every other state except Hawaii and Florida. It also has better-than-average access to medical care and a relatively low cost of living. One major knock on Louisiana, however, is a crime rate that's among the highest in the nation. The FBI says there are 4,244 property and violent crimes per 100,000 people in Louisiana."

Then I googled, "Lafayette, LA retirement," and I found an article on Forbes.com, and Lafayette, LA was listed as one of the "Best Places for a Working Retirement in 2013!"  Here is their write up:

"The capital of Cajun culture has a lot going for it besides tasty food. This includes a 3.7% unemployment rate, a cost of living 12% below the national average, and a typical home price of $150,000, 19% below the U.S. average of $186,000. The state's tax climate is good and so is the local air quality."

Sneaky Way to Organize Junk!

When you are selling your home and showing it to buyers, you have to keep it clean!  If your like me, you have junk drawers or bins that are unorganized and overflowing.  I clean them out, every once in a while, and find things that I've looked for for months!  The nest.com wrote an article about nifty ways to hide the clutter, but still keep it organized.  Check out the article, but this was one of my favorites!

HGTV's May 2013 Color of the Month

It's the 1st of May, so that means it's time for a new color of the month at HGTV!  I like to know these things to help keep me up to date on the "in" colors and this month surely didn't disappoint.

Here's the article, but I'll give the run down.

They couldn't decide between Whisper Gray or Orange-Red Poppy and suggested both colors look great together as you can see in this picture:

Picture from HGTV (and didn't disappoint! I love the look.)

In the end, they chose whipser gray.  Grays are so hot right now, so I think they made the right choice. It is a great color that goes with any brighter color and can be modern or traditional.   Who knows... maybe Orange-Red Poppy will be next, but for now, here are some examples of whisper gray from HGTV's pinterest boards.

5 Low Cost Curb Appeal Tips!

It's Spring and a popular time to spruce up your yard!  The outside of your home is the first thing people see, so you should try to create a good first impression.

AOL Real Estate had a great article about low cost tips for good curb appeal.  I thought they had some great ideas!

1.  Remove debris everyday.

• If you just take a few minutes everyday to pull a few weeds.  Personally, I love to use Roundup in my flower beds.  If your weeds are bad, you use this and they are gone!  Make sure not to spray your plants though.  I've used this since I moved into my house and now I rarely have any weeds.  
• Also, pick up the pine needles or extra leaves, it makes your home look well taken care of and easy to maintain.  You don't want buyers to be overwhelmed by the amount of work that needs to be done to spruce up your landscaping!

2.  Trim everything back to a "just planted" look.

• You want all the plants to seem slow growing, and again, easy to maintain.  Windows and natural light are big selling features so it's important to not have plants or trees blocking the windows!  

3.  Make a splash with annual color.

• Color makes your landscaping pop and gets those buyers to give your home a second glance!  I, personally, love impatians and vinca, for our area because they are so easy to maintain (no pruning and not much watering), grow full and bright, and last from spring until the beginning of fall!

4.  Top off the flower bed.

• A little bit of mulch can go a long way!  It just makes your bed look refreshed and new!  It also helps control those weeds!

5.  Keep it green.

• The article suggests painting your lawn with turf paint if your yard is brown, but I have never done that, so I'm not sure of the results.  You can always try weed and feed and fertilizer and see how that works!

About how long should it take to sell your home?!

I love to see this chart every month because it can give the seller more of an idea as to what to expect when they list their house at a specific price range.  For example, if you list your home and it's appropriately priced in the $200,000-$219,000 price range you can see that in March 55 houses were sold, 76 are actively listed and houses in that price range took about 4.2 months to sell.

You can also see the middle category ($150,000-$299,999) is the most popular range in our area because 59.3% of all sales occurred in this price range and 55.4% are listed in this price range.  

Festival International Time!!!

It's Festival International time!  It's a festival that so many people look forward to and travel from afar to see.  I think it's one of the many reasons our city is so great!  I tried to embed a video from you tube about the music line up this year, but for some reason was unsuccessful.  So click on this link and you can see it!

Here is the web page.  It will give you all the information you need to attend!

Lafayette Market Report March 2013 - Pending Sales

I'm loving these results!  A lot of times we see the yearly trend follow the previous years, but in March we had a BIG JUMP in pending sales!  I can hardly wait to see what the "closed sales" are for April because according to the pending sales, it's predicted to be good!

Lafayette Market Report March 2013 - Sales

This is just exciting!  Last year we did great, but this year is looking even better!!!

Number of closed home sales in March 2012: 213

Number of closed home sales in March 2013: 262

23% better than March 2012

21% better than February 2013

Total home sales from January - March 2012: 516

Total home sales from January - March 2013: 676

31% better than last year

Average days on the market January - March 2012: 110

Average days on the market January - March 2013: 93

17 days less than last year

Lafayette is making "Top" lists again!

I love our city and I'm so glad it gets recognized for it's greatness! 

 I saw an article that said we topped the "Top 10 Small American City of the Future" and it led me to other articles where we topped the list!  

Lafayette tops the list for FDI (Foreign Direct Investment) Strategy.  According to Wikipedia, Foreign Direct Investment is an, "investment into production or business in a country by a company in another country, either by buying a company in the target country or by expanding operations of an existing business in that country.  You can read more about this on KATC's  and The Advertiser's website!

Lafayette placed 7th in the overall catagory.  The ranking was based on several points, but some included economic potential, human resources, cost effectiveness, infrastructure, and business friendliness.  Cities were also judged on a written submission about their current strategies for FDI promotion. 

The Milken Institute put out a list of the best preforming cities of 2012.  Although Lafayette wasn't number 1 or even in the top 10, I think it's important to see how much we improved since 2011.  In 2011, we were ranked 93.  In 2012, we ranked 24!  We moved up 63 spots!  That's amazing!

Lastly, Lafayette ranked number 6 our of 10 in Livability's top Foodie Cities.  This probably doesn't come as a surprise to anyone because we certainly do have some good food here!  

 I love living here and it gives me great joy to find homes for new families moving here because I know they will love it like I do! 

How to tell if "recovery" has happened in your neighborhood!

All over the internet there are articles about how the market is recovering, but how can you tell if it's recovered in your neighborhood.  According the this article on AOL Real Estate, there are a few things to look for!

1.  SIGNS!

• Are there for sale signs popping up everywhere?  If so, that's a sign that your neighbors are getting confident in the market and think they can sell rather quickly.
• Are they going down as quickly as they go up?  If so, GREAT!  That is a great sign that your neighborhood is part of that "recovery."  However, if they sit there for months and months, that means your neighborhood has a ways to go!

2.  Are your Neighbors houses look good!?

• If your neighbor starts sprucing up the yard, painting or renovating that's a sign that they are getting ready to sell and they believe buyers are attracted to the neighborhood.  However, if homes are dingy and for sale for months, that is not a good sign!

3.  Traffic at Open Houses

• If traffic at Open houses is picking up, that's a great sign.  Word of warning though, watch the traffic and look for familiar faces!  If they are unfamiliar, that's good, you want to make sure it's not just the neighbors going to check it out!  

4.  New Neighbors?

• It's a good sign if you are getting new neighbors and not just neighbors that bought a house, even if they are renters that can mean that people are interested in your neighborhood!

5.  Is there high enrollment at the neighborhood school?

• Low enrollment = Bad sign, High Enrollment = GREAT SIGN!

6.  Are you seeing contractors!?

• Apprasiers, termite inspections, moving vans, but most importantly, home inspectors!  A home inspection is a sure sign that a closing is coming.  

7.  Are houses selling for more than your asking price?

• Needless to say, if this happens, you are probably in good shape!

Real Estate Checklists

I'm going on a trip this weekend and I'm making a list of all that I need to do beforehand so that I can sleep at night and not have to think about all the things I need to remember.  When I have it written down, I feel like I don't have to worry about it anymore.

That's why I liked the Nest.com's recent post with Real Estate Checklists.  It has a list for your every need!

Selling home?
Buying a home?
Insurance Inventory?
Moving?
Getting a Home Inspection?
Picking a Mortgage?
Preparing for an Open House?
Go-To Numbers?

I was going to pick a favorite of these lists, but after looking at them all, they are all super helpful and great.  Click on them all and decide which ones are best for your needs and simply print them out!

Friday Favorite

I just love this idea for a back patio!  It's a neat and stylish way to store things like frisbees, balls, dog toys, etc.  It would also be cool for a party!  You could store snacks and drinks in those cool looking bins!  LOVE IT!

*** Picture found on Pinterest

HGTV's April 2013 Color of the Month

As usual, on the first of the month I check out HGTV's color of the month.  Shockingly, on Monday I found out that they chose cardboard beige!

Really?  I was stumped.  I couldn't believe it.  I went to their pinterest page and to see what other pictures they had of rooms with this as the color and the one above was all they had.

Then it dawned on me!

APRIL FOOLS!

I must admit, they got me!

So... onto the real thing!  This months color is RASBERRY!

I must admit, I love this color, but I don't love it for walls.  I like it for accents.  

The picture below is a bit too much rasberry for me!

I love these pictures though...

Home Staging TIps

I found a great article about simple home staging tips here.

Lots of people are tempted to bake cookies or spray some smell goods and some even play music to leave their house feel welcoming to buyers.

Here are 3 general rules to follow if you want to do that:

1.  Keep it simple.

• Choose simple scents.  According to the article, shoppers spend 31.8% more time in home decor stores when the scent was a plain orange instead of a blend of orange, green tea, and basin. The more simple, the less distracting!
• Keep songs slower. Faster tempo songs, leads to faster moving buyers.  You want buyers to move slower through out the house!  

2.  Keep it pleasant.

• If the scent is too strong, buyers will want to rush out of your home so they can get a breath of fresh air.  You want the scent to smell good, but almost unnoticeable so that they buyers can focus on your house, not the smell!
• The louder the song, the more the buyer will focus on the music instead of your house.  

3.  Keep it consistent.

• Have the scent fit the surroundings or season.   If you have a stone and wood home, have a pine scent.  If it's winter, use christmas scents.  If it's spring, use florals.  

Friday Favorite

I wanted to share a few great ideas on this beautiful Good Friday!!!

I hope everyone has a happy Easter!

Parade of Homes 2013

The Acadian Home Builders Association is putting on their annual Parade of Homes event:

April 6, 7, 13, & 14
1:00 p.m. - 6 p.m

This is an opportunity to see the latest in home building.  The public gets to see newly constructed homes and get a sneak peak at home trends, designs, and products.  You will also have the opportunity to talk to AHBA builders about your home building plans.  Tickets include an official guide book, pictures, descriptions and a map to all the homes being featured!

During normal business hours tickets are sold:

Doug Ashy Building Materials (Johnston and Verot locations)
Acadian Home Builders Association (135 N. Domingue Rd.)

During Parade hours only tickets are sold:

Copper Meadows Subdivision (on HWY 89 in Youngsville)
Village at Broussard Subdivision (on Pinhook in Broussard)

Official Rules:

• The Parade is a self-guided tour.
• Homes will be open during Parade hours only.
• Attendees may visit as many homes as they like in any order they choose.
• Each person and child in a party must have a ticket, including real estate agents.  Children under 2 are admitted for free.
• Tickets will be checked at the door of each home.
• Ticket holders may enter each home only ONCE unless given a return pass by the builder.
• Each ticket is good for all four days of the event.
• Builders reserve the right to close homes in inclement weather.
• NO STROLLERS.  All children must be handheld.
• Absolutely NO PHOTOS, FOOD, or DRINKS inside the home.

Click here for participating builders.

Featured properties will be listed here two weeks before the event.

Friday Favorite

I found the most INGENIOUS idea!  I was searching the "home" section on Pinterest and TA-DA!

Smart Tiles

They are peel and stick tiles for kitchen back splashes or Bathrooms that are already pre-grouted!  You simply measure, cut to fit, peel and stick into place.  I think they look fabulous in these pictures.  I'd love to see them in person.  The website says you can find them at Home Depot.

 

Demand Is Back In Lafayette!

During the post hurricane Katrina/Rita boom years of 2005-2007, sales soared 29% above 2004’s pre-storm level. Then in 2008, reported sales fell dramatically. Closed sales bottomed out in 2011 with 2,141 reported for that year – a decline of 20% from 2007’s  high of 2,675 sales reported.

However, in 2012 sales rebounded, increasing by 22.7% over 2011 and less that 2% off 2007’s record high.

Planting

I was looking at HGTV's website for ideas and I found the coolest page.  It's on their garden site!  You put in your zip code and it tells you all the different kinds of plants, flowers, shrubs, trees, etc. that are good for your area.  You can even choose what kind of shade you need (i.e. full sun, partial sun, etc.) and moisture level!

This is what your options look like:

With Spring always comes the time to freshen up your landscaping.  Check out this site and plan what you want to buy before you go to the Nursery and get overwhelmed by all the choices!