Coldwell Banker Hedges Realty Blog

Viewing Posts tagged "use a realtor" 18 Posts Found.
  1. When searching for a realtor, ask your friends these questions
    When searching for a realtor, ask your friends these questions

    Everyone has a friend, relative or co-worker who never has any difficulty saying something negative. They’re quick with a critique and can find fault in just about everything, from ice cream to puppies.  Big house hunting hint: If one of these people tells you about a great realtor they’ve worked with, save that name and number. Because if a realtor can make a difficult person ...

  2. What is the right amount of feedback to provide when viewing a home?
    What is the right amount of feedback to provide when viewing a home?

    Once you start looking for a home to buy, you'll encounter a whole new set of etiquette rules you probably never thought of — guidelines you never even knew existed. These rules are unwritten, but most buyers would be smart to take time and consider how they should act at an open house, how to negotiate without being too aggressive, and so forth. One issue that regularly ...

  3. 5 inexpensive landscape ideas to boost the value of your home
    5 inexpensive landscape ideas to boost the value of your home

    If you’ve been preparing to sell your home, you’ve probably heard it a thousand times: don’t underestimate the power of first impressions! From the moment a potential buyer pulls up to your home, they are forming a judgment that may very well affect their decision to buy. Even if you have meticulously staged your home and remodeled it with popular upgrades, you still need to lay ...

  4. 5 reasons your home isn’t selling
    5 reasons your home isn’t selling

      “Why won’t my home sell?” is a question many homeowners end up asking themselves. Even after a week or two, many homeowners throw up their hands in despair, thinking they’ll never sell. It’s not uncommon for homeowners to get impatient. You want to sell your home fast and if no offers are coming in after that first open house, you start to get anxious. But ...

  5. What to do on the final walk-through
    What to do on the final walk-through

    There’s nothing quite like buying a home. Thanks to the inevitable mix of excitement and anxiety, it can often seem like an unnecessarily long process. After finding the home, making an offer and going through the home inspection process, you can almost feel the key in your hand. But before closing on a home, there is the extremely important final walk-through. This is ...

  6. The enduring charm of the American foursquare house
    The enduring charm of the American foursquare house

    Perhaps you haven't heard of a foursquare house. Maybe the first thing that came to mind when you heard “foursquare” was the game you used to play as a school kid. (You know, the game that literally consists of four squares.) Well, in much the same way, foursquare homes are distinguished by the fact that they have four square rooms on each of their two main levels, and it all fits inside ...

  7. An architectural overview of Cedar Rapids
    An architectural overview of Cedar Rapids

    Located in the southeast quadrant of Cedar Rapids, the Oak Hill neighborhood might not be the place you think of when you want to go look at historic buildings. The neighborhood really began to grow at the end of the 19th century when workers for the T.M. Sinclair Packing Company made their homes in the area around the plant. These modest homes were nothing fancy, and that may be why many ...

  8. The Cedar Rapids Airport
    The Cedar Rapids Airport

    Founded on a broad river in the center of a fertile growing region, Cedar Rapids was an ideal hub for farmers to bring their harvest to be milled then transported throughout the country.  The river created the city, but, if you look up, you’ll notice there’s a lot of open air up there as well. And that’s pretty close to what Dan Hunter was probably thinking in the 1920s ...

  9. What a Home Inspection Is and Isn't
    What a Home Inspection Is and Isn't

    A Home Inspection Is: 1. Information. Pure and simple. 2. A report to learn about major deficiencies such as safety, structural, mechanical etc. 3. A report may also include minor concerns and maintenance items for your knowledge. 4. A high level inspection that doesn’t typically go into much detail about a system, why it occurred, how to fix it or what it would cost ...

  10. Character yes, termites no: Weighing a vintage home purchase
    Character yes, termites no: Weighing a vintage home purchase

    There’s no doubt about it: Vintage homes built by old-time craftsmen often offer charm, detail and general quirkiness that newer homes just can’t match.  In a National Association of Realtors report this year, nearly one-fifth of the 84 percent of home buyers who opted for pre-owned houses said they preferred older homes for their “charm and character.” And ...

  11. Buyers are making fewer cash offers - What does that mean for you?
    Buyers are making fewer cash offers - What does that mean for you?

    If your house is on the market, there may be nothing sweeter to your ears than hearing the buyer wants to make a cash offer. Cash cuts through a lot of the paperwork and shaves off some of the anxiety that builds up during negotiations and closing. But as housing market remains healthy and prices continue to climb throughout the country, cash offers are becoming increasingly rare. ...

  12. Can I get my Earnest Money Back?
    Can I get my Earnest Money Back?

    I had a client ask me this today and, well, as with most things, it depends.  There are a few different ways the buyer could get their earnest money back, but I am going to mention two of the most common ways. 1st Scenario: Inspection Findings - if the home inspector would find a major item during the home inspection, such as a leak in the roof, and the seller refuses to fix it, the buyer ...

  13. Tips for using plants to help you sell your home
    Tips for using plants to help you sell your home

    Whether it’s big windows to let the sunlight flood in, knocked-down walls to create open-concept kitchens or wraparound decks to help people enjoy their home's exterior, it seems like some of today's most popular trends in home design have to do with creating the feeling of being outdoors. We all want to be outside more, and fortunately, if done right, there ...

  14. 3 ways to help your home stand out in real estate photos..and how a panda costume could help
    3 ways to help your home stand out in real estate photos..and how a panda costume could help

    With the proliferation of online real estate sites, its almost certain that before a potential buyer pulls up to your house for a showing, they will have looked at pictures of your house. Photographs that show a spacious interior, attractive exterior and all the many assets (and few of the defects) attract potential buyers like catnip. This is great news for photographers who, over the years, have ...

  15. 10 mortgage terms everyone should know
    10 mortgage terms everyone should know

    Once you’ve taken that big step and decided you’re ready to stop dreaming and start looking to actually buy a home, you’ll come across a variety of new vocabulary words. At times it might seem like the specific mortgage terminology is a bit much, but with a little practice you’ll be speaking like a native. Here’s a mortgage glossary with 10 essential terms. Adjustable-rate ...

  16. How you know when you've found "the one"
    How you know when you've found "the one"

    They say it happens to everyone. Even those hardened hearts know what it feels like, those disillusioned souls who never feel like luck is on their side — they too sometimes go to bed wondering if they’re too picky. And then, like magic, it happens. The floors are just the right hue. The curtains rustle in the sunlight, the updated kitchen sparkles and shines, and the wood ...

  17. Getting an outside opinion on your home
    Getting an outside opinion on your home

    There’s a reason best-selling authors have an editor and Stephen Spielberg has a separate cinematographer. Even if you know exactly what you’re doing, it’s helpful to have a second set of eyes to point out the things you just don’t see. This is particularly true if you’re preparing your house for sale. If you're selling your home, it’s likely that you’ll ...

  18. Realtor's Focus: Why realtors love working with people
    Realtor's Focus: Why realtors love working with people

    It’s safe to say that cooks usually like food, accountants typically like numbers, and firemen, well, they probably really don’t like fires at all. Now, if you apply the same logic to a realtor, you might guess that one really has to love houses to get into the profession. Which is true. But above all, to succeed as a realtor you have to love working with people. To gain more insight ...

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