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Is the cost of a real
estate agent’s commission worth it?
(read more)
85% of home buyers use a real estate agent; 75% of home
buyers use the internet to search for homes. After finding a home of interest,
they typically drive by to check out the neighborhood. The average home buyer
searches for eight weeks before purchasing a home.
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It was something we wanted
and needed to do. Something we knew would be best in the long
run, but that didn’t make it any easier. We said “goodbye” to
a good, cold friend. Two weeks have passed and things are different now. It
sounds different at our house. It feels different at our house. When they took
our cold friend away, it left a strange, silent hole. When they were loading
our cold friend into the truck, my 6-year-old asked if he could say “goodbye” one
more time.
“ How could you do it?” you ask? Well, when the electric bill for
$328 came in the mail, we knew it was time…time to replace our 31-year-old
air conditioning unit. Over the years we had lovingly cared for it by replacing
the duct tape that held the front panel on. We regularly emptied the bucket that
stood under its condensation pipe in the basement, and when it would stop, we
would turn it off, give it a break, and turn it back on again when it was refreshed
and had defrosted itself. When we smelled smoke from the downstairs unit, we
just called “the man” to come mend it. Whenever it tripped the switches
in the electrical panel, we kept turning them back on to provide it with the
electrical nourishment it needed to keep on running.
In the process of removing our good, cold friend, we discovered that our heater
was just that…a heater, not a heat pump. I am told that our winter electric
bills will be significantly lower because the old way of heating is just plain
ol’ inefficient. Looking back on it, we probably could have paid for our
new unit with just the money we would have saved on our electric bill. But, it
is hard to actually make the decision to spend so much money on a house.
Keeping a home maintained can be expensive, but repairing damage caused by lack
of maintenance can cost even more. This is true when deciding to do things like
replacing the roof, filling driveway cracks, keeping the deck well-waterproofed
and maintaining a good coat of paint on the home’s exterior.
Putting in a new heating and cooling unit, as we did, cost us just over $4,000.
If I were to put my house on the market today, I would not be able to increase
the asking price of my house by $4,000. After all, the buyer expects the house
to have an air conditioning system, and wants that system to be functional, whether
it is 31 years old or 31 days old. I am, however, more likely to get an offer
for an amount closer to my asking price if I have maintained the systems in my
home and replaced them when necessary. A well-maintained home speaks volumes
to a potential buyer.
The roof is next, then, we’ll have to either paint or put new siding on
the house to keep our home in good condition. We will hate to have to pay for
these updates, but I know we will enjoy them after the sting of mailing the invoice
fades. And, when we sell one day, we will be glad we did it.
Our good, cold friend
sits silently somewhere, enjoying a much-deserved rest, after a long, long
life. But, we have the opportunity to get to know a new friend
who has come to live with us and to bring us comfort over the next several
years.
Welcome, new, cold friend.
Claudia Stallings
Coldwell Banker Wallace & Wallace
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Why Use a REALTOR®?
Real estate transactions involve one of the biggest financial investments most people experience in their lifetime. Here are 12 ways...(read more)
ABR, CRS, GRI, ePro... What do these mean???
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