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Archive for the 'Seasonal Comments' Category
Selling your home in the Winter – Three Easy Tips
January 21st, 2011
Ah, the crisp gorgeous snow is falling and you need or want to sell your home. Don’t be discouraged because of the cold, the snow covering your beautiful garden, or a driveway full of snow. Here are three easy tips to help you get ready:
1. Summer Photos.
Find some summer photos of your yard to leave on the dining room table or countertops. Hopefully you have photos of your gardens, trees with leaves, green grass and pool open with water in it (if this applies to you). These photos can even include your family members enjoying the summer weather showing off that great yard.
2. Keep your snow maintenance up.
Make sure you have a plow service hired to keep your driveway, sidewalks and front entry completely clear of snow and ice. If you can’t find a plow service that will take care of your front porch and steps – buy a shovel and some salt to keep it clear yourself. You want any buyer to drive up and not have any concerns about getting into the driveway and a pleasant walk up the sidewalk and into your home. This first look must be positive to encourage an offer.
3. Keep it warm inside.
Have a fire burning in the fireplace (if you have one) – keep the heat turned up (there’s nothing more chilling to a sale than an home that “feels” cold to the buyer.) This is a great time of the year to make a house a “home” – something cozy and warm that makes the buyer feel like buying it. Light some candles, microwave some cinnamon sticks and water for the smell of Mom’s Cinnamon Rolls baking – so that even if the snow if flying your home calls out to the buyers in a warm way.
Many homes today are vacant and winterized – it’s tough to warm these up to a buyer. If you do own a home that is vacant – you need to make a conscious decision to keep the heat on and keep it warm for a buyer or to winterize it to minimize any possible pipes freezing. This is a whole other discussion! Let me know what you think makes the most sense for a seller to do.
Top 3 Things I like about Mother’s Day
May 9th, 2010
Ok – It’s Mother’s Day! It comes once a year – so, at least once a year you need to stay in touch with your Mother. Now, she might not be with you anymore – so, a silent prayer of thanks for her will make your heart feel good; or she might be far away, and a phone call, email, card or flowers will make her feel great; or she might be in your own back yard – and a heartfelt thanks is perfect!
Why I like Mother’s Day:
1. Togetherness
It brings us all together in unison as a family for one reason only – to honor our Mother. The history of Mother’s Day is pretty interesting and really shows what the mothers before us went through in life. My Mother is certainly my hero. She is 89 years old – grew up in a poor small town during the depression (White Cloud, Michigan) and those years shaped her life and eventually mine. Ginny Thomasma – Hurrah!
2. Focus
In this crazy fast-paced world it’s refreshing to focus on our family for at least one day out of the year. Mothers are the heart of most families and are usually the driving force for the direction in which those familes go. Each day we should be thankful for someone who loves us for who we are – encourages us through thick and thin – laughs at our jokes, however lame they might be – and puts a smile on our faces.
3. Fun, Crazy and Unique Gifts
I do think the teachers in pre-school and elementary stay up to the wee hours (perhaps drinking heavily) figuring out what they can do “this year” as a unique gift for their kids to make for their Mothers. Over the years I’ve received – stories, plants (beleagured sprouts in a paper cup), paintings, clay objects (don’t quite know what they are??) – but all done with love and excitement. …and I still have them! Don’t forget the Wacky Gifts that some Dads help the kids pick out – I’ve gotten my share and most often appreciate the smiles and cheers that go with them.
…and there is breakfast in bed made by the kids…Priceless. I think I still have jam stains and toast crumbs after many years.
My favorite “Mother’s Day” Story is about my daughter – Jesi ( now a mother herself) – and in grade school every year the 2nd grade put on a “Mother’s Day Tea” and the 2nd graders all sang a wonderful song about mothers. I got a call from the music teacher a few days before the tea letting me know that they had to change the song for the tea due to Jesi. The original song was all about “Mothers baking cookies” and while learning the song Jesi raised her hand and said “My mom doesn’t bake cookies – my dad does – so why are we singing this song?”
She was right – during those days I was holding open houses pretty regularly on Sunday afternoons and their dad loved chocolate chip cookies (he especially liked eating the dough) and their Sunday afternoon adventures were almost always made up of trying out various chocolate chip cookie receipes.
The tea went on as planned and not a mention of Mom’s baking cookes was heard!
Let me know some of your favorite Mother’s Day stories – and Happy Mother’s Day!
