Terri Favata, Broker, Kent & Sussex County Delaware

Let’s face it; if your house is on the market, you WANT it to sell. You don’t want it to sit there for months and months without any showings, any offers, or no one showing any interest. You can’t always blame this on your Realtor, because it may not be their fault.

What I want to talk about today is the dos and don’ts of today’s market. Just a few tips that may help you sell your home just a little bit quicker.

DO price your home accordingly. We all know what you would “like” to get out of your home, but in today’s market that may be unreasonable. Have your Realtor do a CMA so you are educated on what homes are going for in your area!

DON’T overprice your home thinking that everyone will be interested in it, because it is that much better than everyone else’s home. Sure you have a great home, but if it is overpriced from the door, people may not even stop to look at it. This will not be your Realtors fault if they can not get anyone grabbing at it. Overpricing your home is not going to sell it.

DO make sure that the outside appeal is just as nice as the inside appeal. A lot of people look at homes on the internet or just go out driving to look for homes before they ever come in contact with a Realtor to actually schedule showing to see your home. Make sure you are grabbing the consumer’s attention from the first picture or that first drive by.

DON’T leave unused cars, trash, work equipment, etc. at your house if you do not have to have it there. The nicer your home looks on the outside the more chances you have to reel in a consumer. As much as we say “don’t judge a book by its cover” most people do, remember that!

DO keep your house ready to show at any given moment. That means beds made, dirty clothes in hiding, dishes put away. It’s tough, but people want to look at a clean house. If they see you live like a slob, are they going to think you take care of your home? No. Even if it isn’t that dirty, there is a certain standard that consumers expect to see when they are looking at homes.

DON’T keep personal items out on display. People walk into your home imagining if they could live there. Seeing your pictures or personal affects takes away from there dream.

DO listen to your Realtor when they talk to you. Believe it or not, we do know a bit about the Real Estate Market. We are not trying to steer you, or push you in a direction you don’t want to go. We just want you to be educated, and expectant of what may come in the future. Don’t take it personally; we are just doing our job. More importantly, we WANT to sell your home!

DON’T listen to your aunt, cousin, sister, neighbor, etc about what you should do with YOUR home (unless they are in the Real Estate business too). A lot of people form their opinions from things that either happened to them, the news, or what other people have told them. They are not the professionals, we are. We want to help you, so let us!

** There are more details that I could give you, but I don’t want to flood everyone’s brain on a Monday morning! If you would like anymore tips, please feel free to contact me today!!!! **

Today I had the chance to visit a pretty intriguing place, called The Victorian Lady, which is located in the historic district of Milford Delaware. The Victorian Lady is a Tea House, as well as a gift & antique shop.

If you want to go to a place that makes you feel like you are in another era, to sit and relax with your friends for a calm afternoon, then this is a good place to start! With a large dining room & a small meeting room, The Victorian Lady can service everyone.

In the afternoon they offer The Queen's Tea, which is a 4 course meal including tea sandwiches, soup, scones, & tea. In the early evening they offer The Victorian Tea, which is a 3 course meal including tea sandwiches, scones, & tea.

They also have a full service menu, or smaller items like the Cream Tea or the Luncheon Tea. They do small meetings, church groups, baby shower, bridal showers, Red Hat Meetings & classes on the health benefits of tea. In the past they have had events like Phantom of the Opera night where people dressed the theme, played music from The Phantom of the Opera, they served The Queen's Tea, & in the end they gave a surprise that made everyone want to stay for more! They have had Princess Tea (for the little girls), Valentine's tea, and chocolate lover's tea (mmmmm, that sounds like the one for me!)

In the gift shop they offer 65 different loose leaf teas that are available in 2 & 4 ounce tins. They also offer pillows, linens, music, tea cups, tea pots, & lots more!

This wonderful place has been open for 4 yrs, but the building dates back to the early 1800's. It is on the historic registry, and the beauty that has been preserved within this building is magical. All of the scones are homemade by one of the owners & have been quite a hit with the guests at The Victorian Lady!

Really, go see for yourself! If you EVER have a chance to stop in to Milford Delaware, I highly suggest you stop at The Victorian Lady! Located at 112 NW Front Street, Milford De 19963! If you would like more information you can visit them personally on the web at The Victorian Lady!

I hope you enjoyed this as much as I did!

Are you currently thinking about buying a home in the Kent or Sussex County Milford Delaware area?

• Do you need more information on the area, or want to view houses in those areas and have no idea how to get what you need?

I am a dedicated, knowledgeable Realtor who is ready to work for YOU! If you are interested in buying a home in Milford, Harrington, Lincoln, or Houston area, or any other area throughout Kent or Sussex County then please feel free to contact me at anytime.

• I have Buyer's packages ready and available for all of my customers so please don't hesitate to ask!

I also have previously posted some blogs about information pretaining to Kent & Sussex County, as well as Milford Delaware that may be beneficial to you.

If there is anything else I can do for you, please contact me today!

Terri Favata

Realtor

ERA Harrington Realty-Milford

(302) 422-2424 Office

(302) 242-1782 Cell

http://www.terriandmickeyhomes.com

Have you ever felt like you were on a wild goose chase looking for a home?

I have heard countless stories within my company, from other agents, from friends and families, where people get so discouraged at looking at all the wrong houses that they just want to give up looking all together! Well thats no way to find your dreanm home or sell a home!!!!

• What can we as Realtors do to make this process easier for us, as well as easier for the buyers?

Its about quality not quantity. Whether you are a buyer yourself or a Realtor, look at houses that you or your clients are going to be interested in. Just because it is in the right price range, area, or neighborhood does not automatically make it the home for you. It may only have 2 bedrooms and you need 3, or one bathroom and you need 2. Make sure you look into the home before you go and look at it.

Find out what you want. If you are a buyer, make a list of things that you have to have, things you want, and things you could go without. That way you can give them to your Realtor and they will know what to look for when they are searching for houses for you. This will narrow down the search for them, and will also make things easier for you!

Give yourself time. A lot of Realtors are willing to give their clients the time they need to look at the homes in their area, but they feel like their clients want to see as much as they can within a short amount of time. Seeing so many houses is going to get your head all rattled and you are going to feel overwhelmed by the big decision you are going to have to make.

Write it down. I tell a lot of my buyers to right down what they liked and didnt like about each house they go to see. Once we are done looking, I have them sit down and weigh the pros and cons. Seeing it, instead of just hearing it, makes it easier to make an informed decision!

Don't settle for Less. Now this could be taken a few different ways, but this is what I mean by this. Dont settle for a home you only semi-like just because you don't want to look for anymore. Most people stay in their homes for quite a long time and you dont want to get into something you don't really want.

Don't get caught up on the small details. I hear so many people say "I love this home, but I just can not stand the wallpaper, the paint, or the carpet. Those are small details. Maybe you wont be able to change the colors right away, but down the road you will be able to do that. Recarpeting is much easier to do than buying a home where you have to rebuild a garage because it only had one, but the room colors were right.

Hopefully this helps everyone! I know what its like to be caught up showing your clients a million homes and they dont like ANY of them. Know your clients, and what exactly they are looking for.

Thanks,

Terri Favata

What type of living can you expect in Mid to Southern Delaware?

Ask yourself this:

Do you wanna be close enough to everything a city offers, but not too close? If thats what you have in mind, then Mid to Southern Delaware is probably a place you should flag.

Its close enough to a few cities like, Wilmington, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Annapolis, as well as Washington DC. But its not too close that you spend more time in your car stuck in traffic than you do with family at home =]. Thats always a plus to me anyway!

Delaware has what I would like to call, four types of living. Town living, country living, beach living, and city living (for Wilmington, Newark area only). What type of living would you like to be in?

Town living is pretty much standard to most people. You know your close enough to Walmart if you need something quick. Everything is right there for you within a matter of say...five minutes (give or take). This would include neighborhoods in town, as well as homes outside of neighborhoods. Not crowded but enough people around for your kids to have friends, people around if you need help, and friends for the new neighbors to make.

Country living (thats the living I do) is growing more and more popular by the second. This is when you live outside of town, your still fairly close in some areas, but you can go to extreme measures and be twenty to thirty minutes from anything. Less extreme would be ten to fifteen minutes. You could still live in a neighborhood, or out of neighborhood. You may have close neighbors, and you may not. You may own over a acre, a couple acres, or just under an acre. It really all depends on where you are and what you are looking at. This area is normally not crowded at all. Your kids may or may not have friends close enough to play with everyday, but they are only a short drive away. You may not have anyone close enough if you need help, but you may, it depends on how close those neighbors are!

Now beach living! Thats my kind of living, even if I never get to experience it. You live relatively close to the beach areas. You may be able to see the beach, you may be able to walk to it, or you may still have to drive. Either case, I am sure you can at least smell the beach in the summer time. They say the living is easy at the beach, but in the summer time here to beaches are crowded and traffic...well...stinks. But its worth it if you want to be close to all of nice places to eat, good shopping deals (tanger outlets), and much much more. This area is going to be more crowded in the summer of course. But if you live in an area where you dont see many tourists than your not going to be too hurt by the change of seasons. Depending on where you live your kids may or not have companions close by, but again probably not too far away either. Lots of adults live in this area so you should not have a problem making friends (if you want them! [= )

City living is living in the city. Apartments, condos, those kinds of things. You may have a yard, you may not. Parking garages, parking on the street, if your lucky you may have a driveway. Everything is at your fingertips, you can probably walk to some places if you want. Things are always busier in the city!

Now with that said. Mid to Southern Delaware obviously is home to only three types of living, if any of those fit you, then read on!

No matter which three areas you choose to live in, the things you can find to do are going to be about the same. The cities which are probably no more than one to two hours away offer things like aquariums, zoos, concerts, shows, water parks, Theme parks, shopping, baseball games, basketball games and football games.

So your close, but not too close as I like to say. Its not something you would have to do everyday, but if you wanted to, its reachable.

The beach area offers shopping, water parks, THE BEACH, boardwalk life, put put golf, surf lessons, and things of that nature. This is also only about half hour to an hour from Mid Delaware, say the Dover area.

So yeah, thats pretty much all there is to it! If you want to check out home in Kent or Sussex County Delaware, you know what to do!