Should You Be Worried About Real Estate in NW Indiana?

Want to sell your home? Get a FREE home value report   
Want to buy a home? Search all homes for sale

Right now, there is a major housing shortage in Northwest Indiana, and we need your help! 

If you’ve considered selling your home, or if you’ve failed to sell at some point in the past, now is the perfect opportunity to give it another try. Buyers are out looking, but there are simply not enough homes available! 

In a market this tight, it’s not uncommon to get multiple offers when selling, which often results in a high purchase price. If you’ve been waiting for the perfect time to get top dollar and sell fast, now is the time to make a move!

If you have any questions about the state of the market, or if you need our assistance buying or selling real estate, we’re always available to chat. We would love to hear from you soon!

Upgrade Your Home with Little to No Cost

Want to sell your home? Get a FREE home value report   
Want to buy a home? Search all homes for sale

You don’t have to spend money to make improvements in your home. It’s easy to upgrade your home at little to no cost at all. We’ve listed five effective ways to help you give your home a fresh feeling.

Declutter. Without spending any money, you can give your home a fresh look. Start by getting rid of things you don’t need.

Add or rearrange lighting. Playing with lights can make a room appear larger. Open window shades and feel better.

Invest in new hardware for kitchen cabinets. Instead of replacing cabinets entirely, hardware can add a fresh, polished touch to old fixtures. Consider it a new facelift. 

Repaint. With its minimal cost, paint can potentially be the biggest return on investment. If you’re going to add your home to the market, ensure your paint purchase is a soft, neutral tone. The walls should have a relaxed, even flow throughout different rooms.

Focus on your decor. Sometimes, you have too many things in a single room. My advice: less is more! It’s okay to pack up outdated furniture.

If there’s any topic you’d like to discuss, give me a call! I can research it and report back to you.

How Can You Ignite Activity on Your Home?

Want to sell your home? Get a FREE home value report   
Want to buy a home? Search all homes for sale

When your home has been on the market for a while and is not selling, reducing the price isn’t always the right answer. Today we are going to talk about how you and your agent should go about addressing issues with your property not getting a lot of activity.

The first thing is you’ve got to hire the right agent. You need someone who is constantly watching the activity on your home once it goes on the market. It’s the agent’s job to know the heartbeat of the market and to educate you along the way. Once one of our homes goes on the market, we send email updates to them with homes that are in a similar price range and condition that are selling. We want you to know the movement in the market and how you stack up against the competition.

After you’ve done your research, you’ve got to determine what price range the buyers are at. Once you determine what price range that is, you’ve got to decide whether your home belongs in that price range or not. If you are trying to sell your home at $200,000 where the market is extremely slow moving, and all the buyers are at $170,000, you have a decision to make. Do you adjust to where there is more activity, or do you hold out and wait for your price? A good agent can help make this decision easier.

Is your home being advertised out there? We have found that 45% of buyers pick up the Homes and Lifestyles black and white magazine at the grocery store, so we include all of our listings in there. Additionally, 54% of buyers want virtual tours of homes online, and that number is only going to increase.

If you’re thinking of buying or selling or if you have any questions, give us a call or send us an email. We look forward to hearing from you!

Seven Tips for Living in a Listed Home

Want to sell your home? Get a FREE home value report   
Want to buy a home? Search all homes for sale

How do you live in your home while it’s for sale? We have seven tips to offer if you’re living in a home that’s currently on the market!

1. Start packing now. Invest in a storage unit. Start today.
2. Decide to store, sell, chuck, or donate items. There are tons of organizations that would be happy to pick up any unwanted items. 
3. Get squeaky clean. Your home will show better if it’s clean. 
4. Maintain your privacy. Personal items should be out of sight. 
5. Pack away valuables. This includes family keepsakes! 
6. Involve your children and make moving fun. Make it a game!
7. Hide items away last minute before showings. Grab a laundry basket and throw everything in it! Cover it up with a towel and pack it away.

If you have any questions at all, please reach out. Give me a call or send us an email if you’re thinking about buying or selling.

How Can You Add Value Through Your Garage?

Want to sell your home? Get a FREE home value report   
Want to buy a home? Search all homes for sale

Let’s face it, your garage is the catchall of your home. It’s the place where you put things you don’t want to be in the house. It’s likely not the focal point of your home, there could be oil stains, dust, and who knows what else. Now it’s time to put your home on the market, so you’ve got to clean it up and make it look nice for potential buyers. You can certainly add value to your home through your garage, and we’d like to tell you how to do that today. Here are a few of our best tips:

• Toss out, donate, or put into storage all the things you don’t need, and anything that could be considered unnecessary clutter.
• Pressure wash the floors.
• Consider painting the floors with a high-gloss painting.
• Buy totes or organizers that will help your garage look appealing and put together.

Taking care of little details like this in your garage tells buyers you are a person who takes care of every detail in your home. This will help them feel more assured when they bid on your home and reassure them that it’s a good investment.

If you have any questions for me or anything you’d like me to do a future video on, don’t hesitate to give me a call or send me an email. I look forward to hearing from you!