Margaret "Maggee" Miggins

By planning ahead you can avoid some pitfalls that may put a damper on your moving experience. Here are some tips on planning a moving day that will go off without a hitch so you are left with time to enjoy the experience.

1. Take Care of Your Real Valuables Yourself. If you have things that are truly irreplaceable to you, or are of great personal value, take the necessary additional steps to ensure that these items get to the destination preserving your piece of mind. Anything you would keep in a safe - then keep it safe through a move with special arrangements or by moving personally. Isolate and make arrangements for these things to be safely transported.
2. Get Rid of The Clutter. Long before the movers get there, try to eliminate all items that no longer serve purpose to you or your family. Now is the time for a thorough room by room sweep to declutter and simplify. Throw away all things no longer of use or value, then donate the rest or have a garage sale.
3. Move things to the Correct Room Ahead of Time. It will really slow things down if you are trying to decide where things will go as you are packing. If you want something to end up in your new family room, then put it in your current family room before packing or at least with all the other items that will furnish your new family room.
4. Don't Prepack Things When Using a Professional Moving Co. I know that we may think we are being helpful by prepacking our treasures, but in reality, we are not being helpful when using professionals. In my experience with movers, it will make more work for them, as they will have to unpack and repack the items. Because they become responsible for items in transit, the good companies will make sure that they have packed all items according to their standards.
5. You Haven't Hired Professionals - Make Sure to Have Enough Packing Supplies. Many people remember the boxes, but forget to have enough packing material, masking tape, boxing tape and black Sharpies. Also another common mistake is too big of boxes making for heavy loads which lead to accidents. It is also easier to keep the box sizes as limited as possible, this will make the car/truck packing much easier.
6. If at all Possible Remove Your Pets From The Home. Moving can be very stressful on animals, and to them having a bunch of strangers putting all of the family's goods into boxes and moving them will only add to the stress. Not to mention that all people, including the movers may not be attached to our little furrballs as us. The day will run much smoother without pets in the house to watch after.
7. If You Have Professionals, Be Available, but Stay Out of the Way. Homework to hire a specific company should have been done before your hired them. Now is the time to rely on your judgement and leave the job to professionals. They will have questions but for the most part, general chitchat only slows them down or distracts the movers from their job.
8. Expect the Unexpected. This is one day where it is great to have a plan, but do leave a little leeway for the unexpected to take place. Make up your mind that this will be a day to "go with the flow" and handle any surprises as they arise.
9. Have Snacks & Refreshments Available. Packing and moving is a physical job and it is nice to have refreshments and snack type items available for the workers. When buying the snacks, think fast, easy and non-messy.
10. Find the Time to Enjoy the Experience. By planning ahead, the day will go much smoother, giving you the time to enjoy the experience with fun and laughter. I know that it can be sad to move, but now is the time to be grateful for your new home. Start by using your moving day to really live in the moment, appreciating the joys and fun that can be part of the moving process. And if you have a camera, don't forget to capture some these moments to share.

If you are interested in more tips about moving, selling or buying a home please contact me at www.maggeemiggins.com.

Smart buyers kept home sales strong through the usually quiet month of August, locking in their mortgages at the current low rates. If you’ve been waiting to "time the market", you might want to move quickly to avoid rate increases and to capitalize on a rare gift from the Federal Government: you can now borrow up to $729,750 without tipping into the more expensive “jumbo” category. In January, that maximum is scheduled to fall back to $417,000. This is a great time to buy! We’re on our way back up from a market bottom that had far less impact on our area than it did nationally. Why? We’re a local market where people buy houses to live in them. That spared us the sharp value falloff of speculative markets where investors bought homes to flip them and got caught holding the bag in the downturn. For more information about the following communities, please visit www.maggeemiggins.com • Belleville • Bloomfield • Chatham • Livingston • Madison • Maplewood • Millburn/Short Hills • Montclair • Mountainside - New! • Scotch Plains - New! • South Orange • Springfield • Summit • Westfield • West Orange

In the perfect vision, buyer meets seller, buyer loves the home the seller has to offer, buyer has the resources to purchase the home, buyer buys the new home, and both buyer and seller leave the transaction with a good feeling and with the feeling of getting a good deal.

So where does this whole process start? According to expert John Peek, President and owner of Peek Brothers Contractors, " Getting your home ready to close the deal, for the most money, starts with knowing where to begin, and, often, that means quite literally, you need to paint the perfect sale."

Simple and relatively inexpensive tasks like cleaning, wallpaper, and painting of the walls are well known to significantly influence a buyer in a home sale. And there are expert contractors in all areas of the country ready to help with your needs and answer your questions.

To paint the perfect sale, Peek also suggests carefully looking around your home for holes that frequently don't get filled in after taking down family photos or artwork.

"I'll often times go into homes and homeowners have put spackle up and they've just smeared a big chunk on the wall and then let it dry," says Peek.

He offers this little trick to get a better outcome. "Take the spackle and put it in the hole and then take a wet sponge and lightly wipe the surface. It removes all excess spackle from around the hole and it just fills the hole itself. Often times you can get by without having to touch it up," says Peek.

If you do need to paint the interior or exterior of your home, Mike Chism, President and Owner of Chism Brothers Painting, says you can avoid painting the whole house by touching up critical areas such as the front door, trim, and fascia board.

"With exterior painting, usually the house doesn't go bad all at once," says Chism. He adds, "Sometimes windowsills or thresholds can get a lot of sun and can be prepared and touched up extending the life of the entire paint job for several years."

More advice from the experts at Service Master to increase sale value of a home include: Repaint walls in rooms that have high visibility (kitchen, baths and living areas). Choose a neutral paint color scheme. And to help paint the "sale" vision in the buyer's mind, replace all burned-out light bulbs to add warmth and create an inviting atmosphere.

At the NaturalHandyman.com website, a colorful vision is painted by replacing old, worn grout. Imagine a tile floor that would be beautiful... except for the dingy-looking once-white grout that looks filthy even after cleaning! Or have you ever considered how attractive your tile floor would be with a different color grout?

The solution is here: restore grout to an attractive, uniform color... apply an epoxy grout colorant. Also known as grout paint, it is available in shades of white, many premixed colors and even custom blends. Today's colorants are easy to apply, can last up to fifteen years and, best of all, actually look good!

As you can see, there are many simple, fairly inexpensive ways to "paint the vision" of a beautiful home sale. Simply call or visit your local contractor or paint store today for easy solutions to increasing value of your home.

Plan/Prepare

The home-selling process typically starts several months before a property is made available for sale. It's necessary to look at a home through the eyes of a prospective buyer and determine what needs to be cleaned, painted, repaired and tossed out.

Ask yourself: If you were buying this home what would you want to see? The goal is to show a home which looks good, maximizes space and attracts as many buyers - and as much demand - as possible.

Get a Pre-listing Inspection

Having your home inspected by a professional home inspector before you list is a recommendation from Hud.gov to help eliminate selling "stumbling blocks" in a sale.

Eventually your buyers are going to conduct a home inspection. You may as well know what they are going to find by getting there first. Having an inspection performed ahead of time helps in many other ways:

Copies of the inspection report along with receipts for any repairs should be made available to potential buyers.

Be sure the inspector you use is insured and licensed or certified (if your state requires) or at least belongs to a professional organization such as NACHI, ASHI, NIBI.

Find Out How Much You Can Afford & Learn About Loans and Homebuying Programs

Hud.gov advises to start with learning about your finances. What you can afford depends on your income, credit rating, current monthly expenses, downpayment and the interest rate. The calculators below can help, but it is best to visit a lender to find out for sure.

FHA loan programs offer lower downpayments and are a good option for first-time homebuyers.

Thinking Ahead About "Buyer's Remorse"

If you are thinking of buying your first home, you should take out a pen and paper right now and draw a line down the center of the paper. Calmly and logically, think of all possible advantages to buying a home and write them down on one side of the page. Afterwards, you should list all the disadvantages.

Don't Bite Off More Than You Can Chew

Many people dream of home ownership but it mandates homework, legwork and considerable effort on your part to ensure that the process goes as smoothly as possible.

Strengthen Credit, Determine How Much You Can Afford, and Get Pre-Approved.

Get a Realtor

More than 2 million people in the United States have earned real estate licenses. However, real estate is a tough business with a steep dropout rate, and the result is that only a small percentage of those with licenses actively help buyers and sellers. Find the expert that will help you find the perfect home for you.

Plan/Prepare

The home-selling process typically starts several months before a property is made available for sale. It's necessary to look at a home through the eyes of a prospective buyer and determine what needs to be cleaned, painted, repaired and tossed out.

Ask yourself: If you were buying this home what would you want to see? The goal is to show a home which looks good, maximizes space and attracts as many buyers - and as much demand - as possible.

Get a Pre-listing Inspection

Having your home inspected by a professional home inspector before you list is a recommendation from Hud.gov to help eliminate selling "stumbling blocks" in a sale.

Eventually your buyers are going to conduct a home inspection. You may as well know what they are going to find by getting there first. Having an inspection performed ahead of time helps in many other ways:

Copies of the inspection report along with receipts for any repairs should be made available to potential buyers.

Be sure the inspector you use is insured and licensed or certified (if your state requires) or at least belongs to a professional organization such as NACHI, ASHI, NIBI.

Find Out How Much You Can Afford & Learn About Loans and Homebuying Programs

Hud.gov advises to start with learning about your finances. What you can afford depends on your income, credit rating, current monthly expenses, downpayment and the interest rate. The calculators below can help, but it is best to visit a lender to find out for sure.

FHA loan programs offer lower downpayments and are a good option for first-time homebuyers.

Thinking Ahead About "Buyer's Remorse"

If you are thinking of buying your first home, you should take out a pen and paper right now and draw a line down the center of the paper. Calmly and logically, think of all possible advantages to buying a home and write them down on one side of the page. Afterwards, you should list all the disadvantages.

Don't Bite Off More Than You Can Chew

Many people dream of home ownership but it mandates homework, legwork and considerable effort on your part to ensure that the process goes as smoothly as possible.

Strengthen Credit, Determine How Much You Can Afford, and Get Pre-Approved.

Get a Realtor

More than 2 million people in the United States have earned real estate licenses. However, real estate is a tough business with a steep dropout rate, and the result is that only a small percentage of those with licenses actively help buyers and sellers. Find the expert that will help you find the perfect home for you.