Tammi Copsey REALTOR® Baltimore County Maryland

A FULL TIME real estate agent working with home buyers and sellers in
Baltimore County, Harford County, Baltimore City and surrounding areas!

If you are buying or selling a home, contact me to set up a consultation at no cost!

Having a Blackberry ensures that you have access to me 24/7, anytime, anywhere!

Long and Foster Real Estate, Inc.
Perry Hall Office
8712 Belair Road
Baltimore, MD 21236
(410) 529-1900 Office
(410) 258-5123 Blackberry
PIN # 31DDDA44
1(800) 514-7355 Toll Free
(410) 529-5954 Fax
http://tammicopsey.lnfre.com
tammi.copsey@longandfoster.com

"Are you pre-approved for a mortage or have you spoken to a lender?"

Mortgage Pre-approval.

You are not alone if those words intimidate you. The truth is that those two words are your best friend when you are searching for a home.

Why you ask?

1. You will have no question as to “how much home can I afford?” – You will know before your search begins.

2. You will know that the hardest part of the entire buying process has been taken care of and out of the way.

3. You will be looking at properties that are neither priced too low nor too high, thus saving time (and potential heartbreak) in the home search.

4. You will give your agent the confidence of knowing that you are motivated and serious about buying a home.

5. You will have the confidence of the seller knowing that you can afford their home when your agent sets up a showing.

6. You will have the confidence of knowing you can fall in love with a home today and write an offer on it tonight.

7. Your pre-approval letter will be attached to the offer, thus giving the seller the assurance there won’t be financing issues

8. You and your agent will know your “wiggle room” for negotiations should there be multiple offers on a home…it can (and does) happen, even in today’s market.

I’ll let you in on a secret…when I was buying my first home, I didn’t heed the advice of my agent and wasn’t pre-approved when we started looking. After seeing several homes, I fell in love with one and we wrote an offer to purchase it. We did not have a pre-approval, but there wasn another offer and they were pre-approved. They got they house, we didn’t. It set back our process by a lot, causing us to miss personal deadlines and a lot of heartbreak finding another home we loved just as much. Every other home was measured against that one and we relived our heartbreak on a daily basis. It could have (and should have) been avoided if we had just taken the advice of our agent from the first meeting we had with him and gotten pre-approved.

Now that I sit here as an agent, I am met daily with buyers that share the same fears I had. It is a scary process to “step into the unknown”, but a lot of the fears are taken away if you go in prepared and knowing where you stand financially is part of being fully prepared. When we meet and I ask if you’ve seen a lender or have been pre-approved, I am trying to save you the heartbreak I once experienced myself by my own inaction. It’s common knowledge that the business of mortgages has gone through some major changes in the past few months...this is all the more reason to act now before beginning your home search. The more you know now, the quicker you will be on your way to owning the home of your dreams!

If you want more information on the home buying process, feel free to contact me for your 1st Time Home Buyer Packet and consultation!

I’m in the business of fulfilling your real estate dreams and I would love the opportunity to fulfill yours!!

Daylight Savings Time begins this Sunday, March 8 at 2:00 AM!

The dreaded loss of an hour, yet the joy of knowing Spring isn’t far around the corner! Probably the most loved and hated day of the year…

How can you prepare your kids for the time change?

• Spend some time outside with your kids every day – the sunlight has been proven to help with body rhythms.
• Exercise and physical movement helps your body adjust better to outside changes.
• Encourage quiet time instead of napping, this will help them “quietly” adjust to the change rather than causing the issue of too much sleep.

How can you prepare for the time change?
In addition to the ideas above for your kids:

• Try to sleep a little longer the couple of days leading up to the time change and a couple of days after the time change.
• Take a nap for a couple of hours on Sunday afternoon (don’t we all love the idea of this?)…it will help your body regulate itself, but NOT if you nap too close to bedtime which will cause your body to get too much sleep.

Protect your investment, your home and your family! Change the batteries!

Daylight Savings is also the perfect time for a reminder to change the batteries in your smoke detectors and carbon monoxide detectors!

Changing batteries twice a year when you change your clocks ensures that you will be protected should a fire occur and double your chances of surviving a house fire! The most common cause for faulty fire detectors is dead or missing batteries! Once you’ve changed the batteries, you also want to take a moment to clean dust from the device and to push the test button to make sure it is working!

Enjoy your weekend and remember SPRING is right around the corner!!!

Copyright Tammi L. Copsey 2009

Spring “selling season” is right around the corner…if you are in the market to sell this Spring, start preparing your home NOW!

First impressions count, not only in social situations, but also in home sales. It takes less than 30 seconds for someone to form a lasting impression of you…or in this case…your home.

Take an objective look at your home inside and out (as if you were the one buying it)…what is your home saying to you?

This is a very important step in the preparation for sale and if you are like most home sellers, a very hard thing to do. You have strong emotional ties to the home you live in, the things in your home and the memories attached to all of them. Potential buyers are looking at your home making sure their furniture will fit into the rooms; they are visualizing themselves living there and thinking of building memories of their own. You want them to be focused on picturing their life in your home and not be distracted by seeing you and your memories.

As a seller, you are most likely buying another home yourself. Think of what you are looking for in a new home…that is the mindset you need to keep when analyzing your own home. Make the time to visit a model home from a local builder…you will be surprised how easy it is to picture yourself and your belongings in the home. THAT is what you want potential buyers to see/feel when they walk into your home!!

Detail your home like you would detail your car!!

Even though none of the following items have anything to do with how someone else will utilize your home, they become points of distraction for the potential buyer:

∙ Personal Photos / Items

∙ Memorabilia / Collections

∙ Clutter / Knickknacks

∙ Wallpaper / Bold Paint Choices

∙ Rooms without an Obvious Purpose

∙ Dirty Carpeting / Worn Hardwood Floors

∙ Dirty Windows / Dark Window Coverings

∙ Cluttered Storage Spaces and Closets

∙ Odors from Pets and/or Smoke

When doing cleaning and repairs, look at everything! This includes light switches, power receptacles, interior glass on light fixtures (bugs, dust, cracks, burnt out bulbs), ceiling fans, window blinds, loose hand rails, flooring baseboards, etc...even behind the stove and refrigerator. As they say…”the devil’s in the details”.

These small fixes now will net you a quicker and larger return on your sale. They give the potential buyer confidence in knowing that you protected your investment and they are purchasing a well maintained and loved home.

Where do I begin?

Even before you hire a real estate agent, there are several things you can do to prepare your home. The biggest thing is to make an appointment with yourself (and your family/friends) to view your own home as a buyer. This should be done after you think you’ve prepared your home for sale (thorough cleaning and basic yard maintenance) and with every person involved in the buying process present.

Here are the steps you should take:

1. Start at a neutral point (local restaurant after a nice dinner?) and drive up to your home. **Bonus**A nice family/friends outing!
   
   
2. Take a notepad for taking notes on the home and take a camera for pictures of the items that need attention. The camera can also be utilized to photograph the rooms to see what potential buyers see and to see how your home will present itself on the internet. **Bonus** You can use the photos you’ve taken to make a scrapbook which will document your home and each of the rooms!
   
   
3. Look at the curb appeal:
   ∙ Garden
   ∙ Lawn
   ∙ Outside of home
   ∙ Porch
   ∙ Roof
   ∙ Driveway
   ∙ Sidewalk.
   
   Is there anything that would turn you away before walking in?
   
   
4. Enter the house and view each room from a buyer’s perspective. Remember to take notes of things such as carpets that need to be cleaned, walls that should be repainted, where your focus was on the room (furniture and things OR the room itself), etc.
   
   
5. Test the following items in each room to make sure they are in good repair:
   ∙ Windows
   ∙ Doors
   ∙ Appliances
   ∙ Sinks, faucets and showers
   ∙ Lights
   ∙ Fans
   ∙ Thermostats (heating and air conditioning)
   ∙ Smoke detectors and carbon monoxide detectors
   
   These are things the pickiest buyer will be doing! Is there anything that is not working, leaking, burnt out light bulbs, dust/dirt/buildup in any fan, ceiling or floor vents, etc.?
   
   
6. Enter the attic, garage, tool room and all other “storage” areas. Are they clutter-free or do they give the appearance you’ve run out of room?
   
   
7. Don’t forget the backyard, deck, patio, screened in porch and other outdoor living areas.
   
   
8. Make an appointment with yourself (and your family/friends) to discuss your notes and photos you’ve taken. Discuss what you can and can’t change on your budget and time frame. Use the photos you took to explain to each other the things you think will make the home more appealing to a home buyer. **Bonus** Extra family/friend time!

The above exercise becomes an even better judge when you involve a neutral party such as a friend, relative or business associate. Just remember that any criticism is not to be taken personally, it is about your home (not you) and your home’s ability to sell in today’s market.

Remember, your goal is to see a SOLD sign as quickly as possible and with the maximum return on your investment in your pocket!!

Life has a way of handing out lemons now and then…today I received one. While I might not be able to make a pitcher of lemonade out of it, I’m still going to squeeze it and hope for at least one glass!

I learned a valuable lesson with being handed today’s lemon…

Your reaction will dictate the outcome of the situation! You are in control of how people perceive you, your business and your future business!

I handled this lemon with a gracious smile, ‘thank you’ for giving me the opportunity to assist you and an offer to be here when circumstances improve. Am I disappointed? Yes, but instead of showing my disappointment, I gave compassion and a smiling voice on the other end of the phone. I comforted them when they needed it and offered to continue to be there for them. That’s it. I really didn’t do anything to deserve their gratitude; I was just being human and following the golden rule of “do unto others”.

This netted me a reaction I was not expecting…the offer to refer business to me! It was an offer I certainly didn’t expect…I mean, after all, I didn’t complete even one business transaction for them to this point.

I know, it sounds like I’m “tooting my own horn”, but really, I’m writing it as a reminder to my future self of who I am and what I believe in…

Life is what you make it…

Your smile might be the bright spot in someone else’s day…

Everything is OK in the end, if it’s not OK; it’s not the end…

Life happens when you least expect it…

When life hands you lemons…MAKE LEMONADE!!! (You might get enough to fill your pitcher)!