Middle of the Summer already!, Is this the summer when you want to sell your Boca Raton home? It’s a fact that summer buyers tend to be well-motivated buyers. Or they may be jamming activity between vacations, backyard BBQ’s and (especially recently) just trying to stay cool. In other words, they also may be distracted buyers.
Luckily, there are reliable basics you as a homeowner can help best position your home for a successful summertime sale:
- Mow the Lawn frequently – everything grows faster in the summer!
- Create Summer Curb Appeal – colorful flowers in beds and planters.
- Decorate with Summer Accents – bright accents in tropical colors to evoke coveted vacation days.
- Bring the Light Inside – It may be bright outside, but make sure inside can match up to the cheery light outside. Lights should always be turned on for showings and opens.
- Have Flexible Showing Hours – You’re busy—but so are your buyers. When your home is on the market, it’s up to you to make it as easy to show as possible.
- Move Furniture Outside – Sell the dream of outdoor living!
- Offer Summer Beverages and Snacks. – Ice cold or sparkling lemonade are always crown pleasers (and unlikely to stain the furniture).
If you’re readying to sell...
Whenever the U.S. economy is booming, there are naysayers who view it as terrible news. It’s not surprising since economists can disagree about just about anything and point to statistics that prove their point.
A recent CNBC report provides a golden example. It’s one that, if you’re inclined to think it’s time to sell your Delray Beach house anyway, would reinforce that thought. It ran under the gloomy headline “Housing is providing another in a line of troubling signs”—the signs were those “pointing to an economic downturn.”
The report elaborated on a finding that compared home sales statistics from a recent period with those that preceded coming recessions. To the analyst author (Fed economist William Emmons), the result indicated that an economic downturn is likely. Although the trend looked “much less severe” than the one that preceded the Great Recession, he thinks December of this year is a plausible month for “peak growth.”
In other words, starting in 2020, look out!
For anyone who believes Professor Emmons, it means that, for Delray Beach homeowners who are going to sell anytime in the near term, now would be a logical time to put their homes up for sale. That is, before the economy weakens—usually, a trigger for buyer’s market conditions to prevail.
Whether this (or any other) economic prognostication is to be taken seriously is anybody’s guess. But it IS true that if your own plans include selling anyway, the...
Right about this time during most years, if yours is a typical Boca Raton home with typical cooling capacity, its energy consumption will rise (just as it does in the chilliest depths of winter). It isn’t at the top of most homeowners’ summer to-do list, but now is an ideal time to take a hard look at how to reduce your Boca Raton home’s energy consumption.
According to the people who study these things, now is actually an ideal time to assess how your home’s energy use can be improved. That’s because—according to the U.S. Department of Energy—three-quarters of all U.S. homes have air-conditioning. The Consumer Energy Alliance says that cooling demands account for “approximately $29 billion annually to individuals and families.” If you’re used to an abrupt rise in your own Boca Raton energy bills right about now, your family’s budget confirms the claim.
Professional energy audits take between a half an hour and four hours—and are almost always worth the cost. But short of that, there are many budget-saving actions you can take yourself, right now. Here are some of them:
- Clean or change your filters
- Raise the thermostat (rule of thumb is that a 7-10 degree change can save 10% every year)
- Upgrade to LED bulbs
- Clear space around air vents
- If the attic is suitable for frying eggs, see about getting better insulation or (better still) an attic fan
- Check your water heater temperature....
USA Today quoted an eye-opening figure. It’s one that probably means that it describes one of the most common of circumstances that might apply to Boynton Beach home buyers of any age or income group since the “common circumstance” applies to “89% of repeat homebuyers.” Coming as it does from the National Association of Realtors®, that gigantic proportion would have to apply to home buyers of all ages and income groups.
The 89% describes those who aren’t only buying a home—they’re also selling one. The statistic only applies to “repeat” homebuyers since, by definition, first-timers couldn’t face the double-whammy. But when nearly 9 out of 10 of the rest of homebuyers qualify, it’s clear why USA Today thought the situation would interest a lot of readers.
The angle of the piece was “how to take the stress out of selling your house and buying another”—a worthy goal. As Boynton Beach home buyers know, the predictable stress level can be divvied up into two groups: those who can afford to carry two homes, and the rest of us. If the total available wherewithal won’t stretch to support the expenses involved in both, the sale and purchase need to be synchronized to enable both transactions. USA Today rates the “extra pressure” resulting from possible timing hiccups that could derail either or both deals as a delicate “balancing act.”
When I am asked to be your Boynton Beach real estate agent, it’s my job to remove the extra heap of anxiety from all my dual track clients. When you have a firm handle on your...
This Thursday, all of Delray Beach will be out celebrating America’s Independence Day—the 4th of July national holiday that’s only slightly incorrect, numerically speaking. That detail is best preserved in a letter home written by John Adams, the Founding Father who followed George Washington as the second American president.
There was a terrific TV series a while back based on McCollough’s biography of John Adams. In case you missed it, Adams is rightly known as one of the most eloquent of the Founders—although Adams’ “eloquence” was apparently most evident in his writings, since he’s reported to have had a high, squeaky voice. The producers of the TV series wisely refrained from overemphasizing that detail.
The name of Delray Beach’s Independence Day celebrations is wedded to the Declaration of Independence—the parchment proclamation we studied in school. It was adopted by a gathering of representatives from the 13 original colonies. The majority had become increasingly convinced that complete separation from the King of England’s Empire was the only way to deal with the growing civil unrest had already caused the Redcoats to storm Boston. With worse on the horizon and having repeatedly failed at petitioning for a peaceful resolution, they reluctantly authorized the creation of an army with Washington as its General. In that long hot summer in 1776, they had finally decided to formally declare war—but needed to put together a statement of high-minded principles. Without that, they would have been branded by the civilized world as self-serving criminals and anarchists.
The independence declared...
