Karen Hodges

When you’re on vacation or a business trip, the last thing you want to worry about is what’s happening to your home in Santa Fe while you’re gone. While it’s not good to be obsessively anxious about what could happen, it’s wise to protect your home as best as you can.

Don’t you just hate to come home, perhaps after a long drive or grueling flight schedule, to your home in Santa Fe to find things like this?

• flyers on the door
• cobwebs across the entryway
• shrubs shriveling up and dying
• newspapers piling up on the driveway
• mail spilling out of the box
• swimming pool filled with debris
• garbage cans rolling across the yard

Not only are these unsightly, but they’re also signs to criminals that the house isn’t occupied. You don’t want a thief breaking in and stealing from you or vandalizing your home. It’s not only a huge financial cost, but there are the emotional ravages when your treasured heirlooms are gone forever, as well as the emotional scars of feeling violated.

That’s one of the reasons why so many Santa Fe residents are hiring a home tender when they’re out of town for more than a couple of days. A home tender (someone who visits your home regularly in a discreet way) will keep your place tidy and provide activity that makes your home look lived in. This is a different, and often a more practical solution, than trying to find a house sitter (someone who stays in your home).

Home tenders also care for your household and yard weekly routine so everything looks as good as when you left. They can maintain your houseplants’ weekly watering schedule, provide concierge services such as getting your clothes to the dry cleaner and back, and serve as project managers for large repairs, and so much more!

Wouldn’t it be great to come in from your long trip with everything looking great – pantry and refrigerator stocked and even fresh flowers on the table to welcome you home? That’s what you can have if you’ve employed a home tender who cares for your home just like you do.

So before you take your next trip out of Santa Fe, why not take some time to list all of the things you’d like cared for and turn the job over to the capable hands of a professional and insured home tender.

What are you waiting for? Contact us now at www.HomeSweetHomeTending.com so that you can have peace of mind and really enjoy your next vacation.

I was out for a walk in my new Santa Fe neighborhood recently and saw a vacant house for sale. I do what most of us do and peeked in the window! I quickly realized that this homeowner had a serious problem on their hands. There was a foot of water in the house!

I found the number for the Santa Fe real estate agent and called to let them know what was going on. The next day repairmen were on the site. But it was clear thousands of dollars of damage had already occurred. How much worse would it have been if I hadn’t of given in to my curiosity and peeked in the window?

This has got to be one of the worst nightmares for a Santa Fe real estate agent. Especially in today’s economic climate the market is already flooded with foreclosures so the number of vacant houses is escalating. Think about how many vacant houses you list in your Sante Fe real estate agency and then think about having to sell them after they’ve been damaged by some disaster as described above…

Santa Fe real estate professionals know that houses sell faster and at a better price if they look and smell like home. So here are some tips on making those vacant houses feel lived-in:

Maintain the outside appearance of the property:

• · Keep the front door freshly painted to provide a good first impression.
• · Keep the shrubbery trimmed and the beds weeded and mulched.
• · Keep the entrance swept free of cobwebs, dust, leaves, and other debris.
• · Keep the stucco on your home painted and make sure the garage, decks, patios, and driveway is well-maintained.
• · Keep the hot tub and swimming pool cleaned and maintained.

Maintain the inside appearance of the house:

• · Fresh paint the rooms in light neutral shades to make the home sparkle like new.
• · Replace dirty carpets with inexpensive neutral shades of carpeting. It’s a great return on investment.
• · Clean windows so the Santa Fe sunshine can stream through brightening the home.
• · Stage the house with quality furnishings that accentuate the integrity and beauty of the home.
• · Keep all the utilities turned on and the house at a pleasant temperature.
• · Place bouquets of flowers on the tables before an open house.
• · Keep the home cleaned and dusted so it smells fresh.

The trouble is as a busy real estate agent you have other responsibilities, you don’t have time to take care of all these details yourself. If the homeowner has moved out of the area or it’s a bank owned property what are your options?

There’s a whole new industry springing up to provide just such a service. It’s called “Home Tending.” If you’re not familiar with that term it’s a service that discreetly cares for these vacant homes to keep up the maintenance and quality of appearance. So when your real estate agency in Santa Fe schedules an open house, your prospective buyers walk into a welcoming environment, not one that sends them running for the door because the property screams of neglect and overwhelming work for any new owner.

Many real estate professionals trust the care of their listings to Santa Fe home tenders that discreetly provide regular maintenance and inspections for problems before they turn into disasters. For a free on-site evaluation, give yourself peace of mind and dramatically increase your success by calling us today at 505-919-8711 at www.HomeSweetHomeTending.com.