Selling Your Home In the Fall

Late spring is commonly known as the best time of year to sell your home, but it’s not the only time to successfully sell your home. In fact, autumn is a close second with benefits all its own. While late spring and early summer are popular because kids are just leaving school, fall is the season of coming back from summer vacation, kids preparing to return to school. It’s a period of transition, but there are still a few months before the hectic holidays roll in.

In College Station, the somewhat cooling temperatures can also be a benefit, as no one likes to move in the worst of summer heat. So let’s talk about tips to help you sell your home in the fall.

Spruce Up the Yard

Staging your home is important when selling, no matter what time of year. And staging your home isn’t just reorganizing the living room. It’s an inside-and-out process. In fact, your yard is one of the most important elements of your home staging. If your yard is a mess, it sets the impression for your entire home. Fall is a tricky season for lawns as well. Summer vines are still clinging to the walls, and weeds are beginning to wilt as leaves fall from the trees. You’ll want to rake your yard thoroughly, pull up any lingering weeds and vines so that it looks neat and clean when prospective buyers see it. Then you can plant autumn flowers like crocuses and dahlias to give your front yard more of a thematic WOW factor.

Updates and Maintenance

Autumn is often a good time to do preventative HVAC maintenance, making sure nothing got clogged in your system over the summer. When was the last time you replaced your air or furnace filters? What does the house smell like when you turn the furnace on after resting for a while. No prospective buyer wants to walk into a home and immediately take in dusty air. Keep your HVAC system up to date and your air quality clear before opening house. Additionally, now might be a good time to clean or even replace your home windows, clean out your roof gutters, and see if your roof needs any repairs.

Lighten Up

With autumn comes shorter days, and cloudier days at that. With the darker lighting outside, it’s all the more important to keep the house well-lit inside. If you’re relying on lamps for the most part because that’s what suits you, now might be a good time to install another light fixture, or use brighter bulbs. It’s always hard to sell a home that looks dim and gloomy, but when the outside weather is also dim and gloomy, it can be that much harder. A well-lit house looks inviting and warm and your buyers will easily fall in love.

No matter what time of year you choose to sell your home, don’t forget to enlist the help of an experienced College Station realtor. They’ll have the expertise you need about market trends and what sets autumn — or any other season — apart from the rest when it comes to selling your home.

Home For Sale in College Station

Sarah Miller, your RE/MAX realtor bryan-college station can help you discover a lot of great tips for making a profitable sale of your home. Call Sarah Miller at 979-255-1904 for your real estate needs in Bryan-College Station and the entire Brazos Valley! Sarah Miller, Associate RE/MAX BRYAN COLLEGE STATION 3030 University Dr East Ste 100, College Station, TX 77845 License #: 500065

How to Close on a Home Quickly

Closing on your dream home can be one of the most stressful parts of the process. After all, if you’re looking for a new home, chances are you need to move — sooner, rather than later. In some cases, there’s even a timeline. So it can be nerve wracking to have to volley offers back and forth, unable to be completely certain that the house you want is the house you’ll end up with.

An experienced realtor can help make the process smoother and more efficient, so you can stress less. Here are a few other steps to help the closing process along:

Get a Pre-Approval Letter

Many homebuyers get pre-qualified and later qualified for a loan from a mortgage lender, but assume they’ll need to worry about approval after the closing. As we’ve discussed before, that’s not always the case. Sometimes the loans you qualify for and the loan for which you’re approved are very different, so it’s better to get the pre-approval letter early in order to have a better sense of your budget. It also helps the seller to feel more confident in your offer, seeing that the bank has always approved it. And the better the seller feels about your offer, the faster you’ll be able to close.

Check With the Lender

So the seller approved your offer. That’s a big relief, but it isn’t the same as closing. Next, you’ll need to go to the mortgage lender and turn that pre-approval into an approval. Go to the lender and tell them that the offer was accepted. Ask if they need any additional financial documents from you before approving the loan. It helps to have all of your financial documents organized and ready in case they do need it. If not, it’s a matter of the mortgage closing on the loan so you can close on your home.

Do What You Can

There are some parts of home closing that are simply out of your control. The time it takes the homeowner to accept your offer, the time it takes the bank to approve your loan, all of these elements are in someone else’s court and sitting around waiting for them will only make you more anxious. Instead, focus on what you can do to help the process along. Home inspections should be scheduled the first week the offer is accepted by the seller. Home appraisals take about 1-2 weeks, so order the appraisal as soon as possible. While you’re waiting on those things, you can take care of selling your own home or preparing for the big move.

Let Your Realtor Do What They Do Best

Closing on a home can be stressful, but that’s why you have a real estate agent. They’re ready and qualified to help, whether it’s negotiating with the seller to make sure you get the best deal, offer guidance about appraisal and mortgages, and finding ways to help speed up the closing so you can move into your new home as soon as possible. So don’t sweat. If you have any questions, just ask your expert College Station realtor.

Sarah Miller, your RE/MAX realtor bryan-college station can help you discover a lot of great tips for making a profitable sale of your home. Call Sarah Miller at 979-255-1904 for your real estate needs in Bryan-College Station and the entire Brazos Valley! Sarah Miller, Associate RE/MAX BRYAN COLLEGE STATION 3030 University Dr East Ste 100, College Station, TX 77845 License #: 500065

Best Parks and Playgrounds in Bryan-College Station

As temperatures begin to drop and the leaves on the trees start to change colors and fall, it’s the perfect time of year to visit the parks of Bryan-College Station. Whether you like to go to the park yourself to read a book or feed the birds or whether you prefer to take the whole family, there are beautiful parks to choose from. These parks can be ideal for weekend plans or even a place to stop after school.

Bee Creek Park

Bee Creek Park is great for any age. If you’re a single professional and you like a place to jog or hike, Bee Creek Park has paved walking paths as well as more natural trails following a peaceful stream. There’s a playground for kids, as well as a water fountain that runs during the summer. Here you can bike or sit on a bench and catch up on homework. You may even spy rabbits and birds while you’re there. Bee Creek Park is easy to reach, and their walking trails stretch all the way to Lemontree Park.

Veterans Park and Athletic Complex

Looking for something a little more athletic? At Veterans Park, you’ll find a baseball or softball field as well as a soccer field. It’s a great place to watch amateur soccer or find a little league team for your kid. There are also walking trails for those who like to get in their workout while exploring nature. But that’s not all Veterans Park has to offer. There’s also a pavilion to stop and eat lunch and a playground for the kids. As the name indicates, you’ll find many veteran memorials scattered throughout the park, including World War II memorials and Vietnam War memorials.

Lemontree Park

Lemontree park is an ideal friendly, neighborhood sort of park. It’s calm and quiet, full of greenery, and connects easily to Bee Creek Park. However, you can be sure the kids won’t be bored, either. There’s a baseball diamond and a basketball court for sports enthusiasts young and old. There’s a small playground for little ones, as well. With so much nature around, Lemontree Park looks especially beautiful as the leaves start to change in the fall.

Lick Creek Park

This park is a jogger’s ideal. There are over 4.5 miles of trails, going through wooded areas and over bridges as well as through the main green of the park. You’ll get a mixture of elevation changes, hills and valleys, running through Lick Creek Park, as well as passing by quiet neighborhoods in College Station. You can also see wildlife like rabbits, birds, deer, and even frogs. Birders in particular love this park because of the wide variety of species that gather here.

These are just a few of the parks that Bryan-College Station has to offer. If you’re moving here for the first time, talk to your College Station realtor about neighborhoods and homes close to the right parks, whether for the family or simply for a morning run.

House for Sale in College Station

Sarah Miller, your RE/MAX realtor bryan-college station can help you discover a lot of great tips for making a profitable sale of your home. Call Sarah Miller at 979-255-1904 for your real estate needs in Bryan-College Station and the entire Brazos Valley! Sarah Miller, Associate RE/MAX BRYAN COLLEGE STATION 3030 University Dr East Ste 100, College Station, TX 77845 License #: 500065

4 Things to Watch Out For When Viewing a House

Sometimes, you just fall in love with a house at first sight. As soon as you step through the door, you can see yourself living there and you don’t care about any of its little quirks and blemishes. In fact, you might not even notice them. However, after the rose colored tint fades, you’ll have to live with all of those imperfections and you might feel less than sentimental about them.

There’s nothing wrong with buying a house that needs a little work, as long as you’re prepared for that work. However, it’s best to notice these warning signs before you make an offer on the home. Your home inspection will point out much of what you’re getting into, but there are a few things you can notice all on your own, if you know what to look for.

Roof

Before you go inside, check out the house’s roof. If it’s a shingled or tiled roof, do you notice shingles that are curling back or broken tiles? Dark or discolored spots could speak to water damage, potential leaks or rotting. These are all issues you’ll have to take care of sooner or later, and they can potentially drive up the homeowner’s insurance. A new roof will lower homeowner’s insurance, but boost the home’s value.

Scent

Sometimes, filling the room with a pleasant scent or air freshener is part of staging the home. Even if there’s nothing wrong with a home’s natural smell or air quality, the gentle aroma of cinnamon or fresh pine can be very inviting. But if that scent overpowers the room as soon as you step inside, there’s a chance the seller is trying to mask something less pleasant. How do you know when the air fresheners are masking less than fresh air? Look at the ceilings and walls for water damage, the floors and furniture for pet dander, and the bathroom tiles for mildew.

Floors

The floor can also tell you a little about the house. Sagging floors can speak to structural problems in the home. If the floor seems to dip down near the bathroom, that could be an issue with the plumbing. Old hardwood floors might sometimes have a slight crack between boards that herald wearing down, and if you can see a gap between the trim and the floor, the home probably isn’t very well insulated.

Windows

Finally, there’s the windows of the home. Certain issues with windows will be immediately obvious. For instance, windows that look grimy could be the result of gas-fillings and broken seals. Fortunately, the gas fillings used to keep windows insulated are non-toxic, but it can be an unattractive look. If it’s later in the year — fall and winter — you may also be able to notice drafts near the window if it’s not properly sealed and letting too much air through.

If you’re aware of the potential problems the house might have before the house inspection, you’ll be better able to decide whether it’s worth the work you would need to put into it. You can also discuss your viewing with your College Station realtor to possibly negotiate a lower price for the home.

House for Sale in College Station

Sarah Miller, your RE/MAX realtor bryan-college station can help you discover a lot of great tips for making a profitable sale of your home. Call Sarah Miller at 979-255-1904 for your real estate needs in Bryan-College Station and the entire Brazos Valley! Sarah Miller, Associate RE/MAX BRYAN COLLEGE STATION 3030 University Dr East Ste 100, College Station, TX 77845 License #: 500065