Susan Sawyer, Your Stow OH Real Estate Expert

A very popular activity in Cuyahoga Falls is the Rockin on the River concerts. They are held during the summer every Friday night. There are very good memory bands that come and play. One of the most popular is the Led Zeppelin memory band. It is usually very crowded that night. There are two bands that play. There is some seating, but you will need to get there early to get a seat. Most of the people that come stand in the courtyard and listen to the music while having a beer or wine and enjoy the food vendors. This year there were more food vendors. You can see many people there from young to old enjoying the music and taking a stroll along the river. Local charitable organizations serve beer to make money for their charities. What a way to bring people together!

There are some fun activities to do in Hudson. One is Art on the Green which takes place every August. There are a a number of artists that show their work ranging from oil paintings to jewelry. Kettle corn is always popular and there are several organizations such as the Masons and Rotary Club that serve lunch. I have seen woodworkers and pottery designers there as well. The weather is usually nice at that time of year as well. It is held across the street from the clock tower and a good time is had by all.

A Taste of Hudson is held on Labor Day weekend at the First and Main shopping area. You pay for a cash card and then go around to local restaurants and give them your card to enjoy a taste of their food. I found it interesting to see what the foods tasted like. There was one restaurant I always wanted to try and since they were there took advantage of trying their foods. There was a new restaurant there too and I really enjoyed their food. I won't mention any names as you need to try it for yourself. This year Acme was there giving out food samples and I got to taste some new brands of tortilla chips, crackers and even some cheese. It is a fun way to spend an afternoon. Here is the card you get:

On Memorial Day there is a parade through downtown Hudson. It is about 30 minutes long and is very enjoyable. The Hudson Band marches. They are always a treat to hear. There are old cars, firetrucks, dancers, sometimes even horses. My children always enjoyed going.

Having a good mortgage lender can make all the difference in making your home sale process easier and more likely to close on time. Especially today with underwriters being very carefully to have every document possible, it is really important to have a lender who is knowledgeable about his industry.

I recommend Dennis Belline at Howard Hanna Mortgage Services. I use him, not because he is affiliated with Howard Hanna, but because he is so knowledgeable. When he gives you a preapproval letter you have a 99% chance of getting your loan approved. He makes sure you bring in all the documents you need and that the underwriters will want to see when they make the final loan approval for you.

Another lender I recommend is Mark Thomas of Fairway Mortgage in Cuyahoga Falls. He always returns my phone calls asap and he is helpful and friendly. He gets right on the phone to my customers and is ready to help them get a loan.

I can't stress enough the importance of having a reputable lender and also a lender that has a good underwriting department. One of my sales took 4 weeks for the underwriter to approve the loan instead of the usual 2 to 3 days. Understand that if the underwriters want more documentation from the buyer, this will delay the process by another 1 to 3 days, so the importance of getting the documents turned in is imperative.

Guess what, reputable lenders also have very competitive interest rates and competitive closing costs. You need to ask about both interest rates and closing costs and whether there are any points involved.

I was out showing a home to my buyers and took a picture of a flower bed in front of the home we were looking at. The color of the flowers made the home look more inviting and cheerful. A few well placed annuals can brighten up the front and even the back of your home. Many people drive by homes before they look at them and seeing flowers out front will show them that you take good care of your home and that you love your home. Even a couple of pots of colorful flowers on the front steps will make a difference.

In my last blog on making the outside of your home look fresh and bright, I mentioned painting the trim on your home. As you can see by the picture, the person who painted this trim didn't do a neat job. Too bad they didn't wipe up the paint when it was wet. Now they will have to find some kind of paint solvent to try and get it off.

I showed this home to my buyers and they noticed this right away. There were more paint splatters than in this picture. Already before we even went in the house, they were thinking they didn't want the house.

If you want to paint the trim yourself, please be sure to do a professional job. If you don't, you can end up paying for a professional or having to drop your price as the buyers will be thinking they are going to have to repaint. I did have a home for sale, where the buyer did a "not so neat" job painting the interior of his home and the feedback was that the buyers felt it was too much work to have to repaint and cover up all the mistakes made by the "seller painter".