Kathleen Smith Personalized Real Estate Services

Pre Qualifying for a mortgage is easy and should be done immediately by everyone who is renting. It is important to see if you qualify and if you do, you can end renting forever. I have several sources that are able to pre-qualify you for a mortgage, give you the price range you can afford and we can begin to immediately look for a home in that range. Why spend your time renting when you can buy a home of your very own. Please follow the link below to pre-qualify now. I will return your call as soon as I receive your information. Once you are qualified we can schedule a day to meet and decide what you are interested in and which areas you would like to view first. Please feel free to call Kathleen Smith at Weichert Realtors 401-322-7437 to as any questions you may have. I cover all areas of Rhode Island!

Thanks!

Click the arrow to follow link:

When preparing your home for listing or helping a homeowner prepare, the task is never a pleasant one. I often thought that anyone convicted of a minor crime or fraud should be sentenced to help an elderly couple who lived in a home for 30 years prepare to move. I am sure this would prevent them from ever doing anything wrong again. The harsher the crime the more difficult the move. If you steal from a convenience store you are sentenced to move a piano player to a three story walk up.

Anyway, nuff said. I have a program that I used for 17 years and perfected as time went along and things changed to make this task as simple as possible. You do not need to be listing or moving but because this is the time when most people need this advice, I am focusing on them. The program is being sold and I will offer some of what is contained here. I am hoping that it will give agents something they can randomly hand out to their sellers without hurting their feelings. Every agent knows of several homes that simply show terribly but with some organization and cleaning they will shine up nice and sell fast.

The basis of this is to discipline yourself and your family to live with what you need and stop spending time cleaning, sorting and especially moving items you will not use. It teaches us to use what we need and let go of what we do not. If you follow this you have to follow it to the letter or it is a waste of time.

1. Make a list of everyone in the home and what they do. For instance little Sally is six and goes to kindergarten. Two days a week she takes dancing and one day a week she takes swimming at the YMCA.

After making a list of everyone on a separate piece of paper for each write down what they need for these activities follow the list below which allows each person to keep certain things.

Each person receives a keepsake box. This can be a plain box or a fancy one. Each person receives the same size and can only keep personal items enough to fill the box. Nothing more.

Each Bedroom

1 Bed for each person or one for couples.

1 Dresser for each person in the room

1 Nightstand

1 Lamp for each person

1 Television in each room if allowed

1 Game set for children with 6 games max.

1 Telephone in each bedroom

1 Throw or area rug

1 Jewelry box or men's box for jewelry or items

1 Picture on wall

1 Photo on nightstand

1 Personal kit ie..make-up, toothbrush, brush, comb, mirror, shampoo, conditioner, soap, toothpaste, shaving cream, razor, after shave or perfume two types only.

Clothing lists are included in the program

Living Room

Sofa

Love Seat

Area Rug

TV stand or entertainment center

TV

Coffee Table

2 End Tables

1 Chair

1 Set fireplace tools if you have a fireplace

2 Lamps

3 Wall Pictures

1 Photo of each household member and one family photo

Children have their school backpack on a hook on the back of their door or closet door

Children with activities have a bag packed at all times with their activities uniform or items ready to go. When they arrive home, the items are washed and repacked so there is nothing laying around or racing to get the uniform ready in a moments notice.

Each room has a hamper for clothing, one in the bath for towels, after they are dried and each room has a towel rack in the closet for the bath towel for each person. Towels are used to dry clean bodies and absolutely can be used a few times. This cuts back on wash immensely. Another idea to cut wash is to use only a bottom sheet on children's beds. They do not need the top sheet. If you have three children that is one load.

Dining Room

Table and chairs (one for each person and a few extras for guests)

Lamp

Side Board (china cabinet)

2 Pictures

Kitchen

Table and Chairs

Pantry cabinet or another type of cabinet if needed

List of kitchen items are in the package

Fridge/Freezer

Stove

Dishwasher

Washer / Dryer if in the kitchen area

Bathroom

Towel rack with guest towels

Small decorative items (2) in the bathroom

Shower curtain and liner if necessary

Bath mat

Plunger

Toilet brush under sink

Cleaner under sink

List of other bathroom items are in package

Everything else must be donated or sold. You will not use it and you will not look at it. Why take it from home to home with you.

For anyone interested in purchasing the package, send an e mail and I will forward the package when completed. I have a few more things to add then will upload it to a website for purchase. The package will be detailed and will have exact amounts. When using clothing lists, do not over exaggerate,. Only what is used and worn. Winter and summer clothing exchanges will be made using space bags that are stored in the back of each closet in the off season. Any expensive suits or coats can be stored at dry cleaners or in protective bags in closets.

There are a few other rooms and are included in the packag. There are mud rooms and laundry rooms as well as a few other details that are more specific. Attic and garage are also included. This gives some idea of how to eliminate the clutter and keep things orderly. The methods of cleaning and they products that work best are included. When you are trying to spruce up your home remember to use classic decorations, mute colors like tan, off white and light yellows. All other colors are per taste and could cost you the sale. Everyone knows they can paint. It is just something that causes people to be turned off. You want to please everyone that comes in. Few people do not like the classic decorative items and colors/patterns. Use these and keep it clean and it will pay off many times over.

If there are any questions you can e mail and I will be happy to answer. You can also comment here.

Thanks, and best of luck with any sales and moving.

I made business week online magazine with an expensive beach property listing. I was so excited to see this and see that my name was included. I have already received a phone call about the property and hope this will generate activity. Many times it is difficult to trust a reporter to handle the write up of a listing. You have no control over their content. You know if it is positive that it may lead to a great sale. If it has any negative spin, you could lose the trust of the homeowners. Fortunately for me this was a great article and brought the exposure this amazing multi-million dollar listing deserved and desperately needed. I have used the local media and was glad to have the national exposure. Please view the article here:

http://images.businessweek.com/ss/09/08/0803_most_expensive_beach_houses/18.htm

Thanks,

Katie

FREE!!

Anytime an agent can gain exposure for free, its a huge plus. I list my rentals on point2agent which distributes for several websites free. Craigslist is the favored method because it works so well.

Today, in my e mail box I received another great free website to list rental properties. http://www.rentquickly.com. This is a new site and is actively seeking agents and landlords to list their properties. The name says it all. Once they begin to receive a lot of listings this will be a great site. The name rent quickly will be a easy find for anyone conducting a search for rental property quickly. I hope many of you will take advantage of this. We can always use another free place to attract attention to our listings. In Rhode Island you cannot list a rental property on the MLS. This makes it difficult to gain exposure and to find free exposure. For obvious reasons agents do not want to list rentals on pay to use sites. Because the commission is not enough to pay for several website ads, gaining another place to list free is extremely welcome.

Thanks,

Katie

When I turned 45, I began to wonder if I was making any difference in someones life. I spoke to many women who all stated that they went through the same thing. Some had a desire for knowledge and returned to college. Others wanted to make a change and either changed careers or moved to a new home. It is a feeling that something is missing. For me, I want to know that I am doing something to help and make a difference. While I tried to make myself feel that real estate really will make a difference, I still could not believe that it had anything to do with me. I was just the middleman. Then, today, I received a call from the mortgage company that we use and was told that my clients credit was great and he was approved. I quickly called to tell him and he was so thankful. His excitement made me feel so wonderful and gave me the motivation to work harder and help those who would normally not be able to receive a mortgage. I loved that excitement in my clients voice and would love to hear that over and over. When working 100 hours or more with little action, I need all the encouragement I can find.

Thanks and have a great election day!