How To Sell Your House Yourself! (How to For Sale By Owner / FSBO)

Martha Loveless of Loveless Real Estate Services
The Best Carmichael Realtor | HomeSmart ICARE Realty 916-.270.7081
Homes for Sale in Carmichael / What’s Your Carmichael Home Worth?

Thinking about selling your home in Carmichael or the Sacramento area but you want to do it yourself? Well, here is how its done…

1. Price Your Home to Sell
2. Obtain a Flat Fee Listing on the MLS
3. Market Your Property. Zillow, Realtor.com, Craigslist, sign post, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, mail out post cards etc…
4. Hold an Open House
5. Know Your Property’s Selling Points
6. Show Your House
7. Perform Your Own Negotiations
8. Comply with All Laws in Your Area

By following these steps you can sell your home yourself. Is it a lot of work? Of course. Can it be done? Yes. Keep in mind that selling a home is not for everyone. Many people will not have the time or the patience to deal with the process. And for some, if the listing price is low enough, the potential savings might not be worth the time and effort necessary to sell the house without a realtor. Hopefully this video was helpful. Have a great day!

Martha Loveless
916.270.7081
Sacramento Realtor
Loveless Real Estate Services
www.HomeValuesinCarmichael.com
www.LoveSacMetroHomes.com

Lighting Your Home…Because Lighting Matters

Martha Loveless of Loveless Real Estate Services
The Best Carmichael Realtor | HomeSmart ICARE Realty 916-.270.7081
Homes for Sale in Carmichael / What’s Your Carmichael Home Worth?

Light has a powerful influence over the way your home feels to you and how others perceive your space when they come to visit. It can affect how you use different areas, too. If you’re looking for a quick and relatively inexpensive way to give your home an attitude overhaul, consider relighting the place. You’ve got tons of fixture options available to help you create the exact look you’re going for without having to close rooms off to let the paint dry or the tile set. So, how will you light up your life?

The First Order of Business: Choose a Theme

There’s nothing more jarring to a visitor or potential buyer (when you’re ready to sell down the road) than to be constantly confronted by spaces that are incongruent. When your living room has an island paradise theme, as implied in part by your banana-leaf ceiling fan, and your kitchen is all retro diner, with sleek stainless steel track lighting, it’s a huge shock to the system.

Before you buy anything lighting-related, have a plan. Decide what color your fixtures will be, and, really, what the overall look of your home will be as you slowly make it your own, and stick to it. That’s not to say that you can’t tweak things here and there, but if you don’t have a plan on a big project like this, you’ll just end up with a mess. You can play it safe and select standard fixtures, all in polished nickel, or you can be bold and choose fixtures that may fall out of fashion, like shiny brass Sputnik chandeliers. As long as you’re consistent, it’ll be ok in the end.

There’s one exception to this rule. Bedrooms are not generally considered to be public spaces in the home, and thus most people don’t subconsciously expect them to adhere to the overarching design theme. If Bobby wants a ceiling fan in his room that has airplanes on it, go for it. You can always replace it before you resell your home.

The Light Layering Two-Step

In most modern homes, you walk into a room and you’re greeted by one weak light coming from the center of the ceiling. This infirm little bulb is trying very hard to pull the weight of several light fixtures and lamps that should be in the room, but it just can’t cut the mustard.

Since homes are generally shown during the day, with the benefit of natural light, both home builders and remodelers often give little thought to the lighting in a house they have for sale. Often homeowners are guilty of this, too.

As a result, when you move in, you may suddenly find that your airy, bright space is actually a dark, cave-like alley where you could as easily be mugged as find a safe place to sleep. This isn’t good, you need more light! Part of the problem is that the one sluggish fixture needs a team to back it up. One light bulb simply isn’t enough, that’s why most interior design experts recommend light layering.

There are three main components to light layering. Your space may not need them all, so feel free to toss out what doesn’t work. They are:

Ambient lighting. This sort of lighting is what that tiny light in the center of the room is trying to be. Ideally, ambient lighting provides a comfortable level of brightness for the entire room. At minimum, you’ll want a multi-bulb central fixture, be that a chandelier or ceiling fan, but some people also incorporate recessed lighting or track lights as well.

Task lighting. You’ll see a lot of task lighting in well-lit kitchens and other work spaces. That under cabinet lighting you were admiring at the home improvement store is a good example of task lighting. It can be any sort of light that’s placed in such a way to make performing a task easier. Just make sure that when you place said task lighting, it doesn’t increase the shadow or create glare.

Accent lighting. Does your house have some really cool stuff in it? Well, this is where you can use lighting to really point it out. You can use accent lighting to highlight artwork, draw the eye to interesting architectural features or simply influence where visitors look around the room. To be most effective, accent lighting should shine three times brighter on the focal point than the general room light.

Small Changes, But High Praise

Simply making small lighting changes can completely change the way your home looks. Your paint may even be a slightly different shade when it’s all said and done! So many homeowners don’t take advantage of this one simple investment that can give their home such a big boost. Maybe it’s because they’re afraid to tackle the job themselves, but they don’t really know who to call, either.

But you do, don’t you? Well, as your Realtor I can recommend a pro. After all, if your Realtor is willing to stake their reputation on an Electrician’s work, they’re probably someone you can trust. Go pick out your new light fixtures and get ready to have a home that’s perfectly yours.

Homes for Sale in Carmichael 95608 under $800,000
Homes for Sale in Carmichael 95608 under $700,000
Homes for Sale in Carmichael 95608 under $600,000
Homes for Sale in Carmichael 95608 under $500,000
Homes for Sale in Carmichael 95608 under $400,000
Homes for Sale in Carmichael 95608 under $300,000
Homes for Sale in Carmichael 95608 under $200,000

What’s my Carmichael Home Worth? Call us today at 916-270-7081 for a free consultation or log on to www.HomeValuesinCarmichael.com to find out.

Martha Loveless
916.270.7081
The Best Carmichael Realtor
www.LoveSacMetroHomes.com

What’s On Top Matters: Safely Inspect Your Roof for Damage

Martha Loveless of Loveless Real Estate Services
The Best Carmichael Realtor | HomeSmart ICARE Realty 916-.270.7081
Homes for Sale in Carmichael / What’s Your Carmichael Home Worth?

Depending on where you live, the end of winter means different things. Maybe it’s the anticipation of an explosion of colorful wildflowers, or maybe it’s just a break from the rain. Either way, those warming days when winter starts to turn to spring are ideal for checking your roof for damage from the past season’s storms.

You don’t have to be a roofer to do a simple roof inspection on your own home. There are a few common symptoms of a sick roof that can tip you off that you need to get a set of professional eyes on the job.

Safety First: Looking Up or Climbing Up?

Before we go any further, it’s important to stress the safety considerations involved in roof inspections. Walking around on a roof is dangerous business, even if you’re an experienced roofer. This is why roofers often wear harnesses and other types of safety gear. For the purposes of the style of homeowner roof inspections we’re discussing, you’re not going to set foot on the roof — period. No ifs, ands or buts. Instead, you’ll use no more than two handy tools: a pair of binoculars and a tall ladder.

All roof inspections should start on the ground with your eyes and binoculars, you’ll want to be certain that the fascia is intact and in good shape all around your home before you lean an extension ladder against it. If it isn’t, a six foot stepladder is called for. As always, when using any kind of ladder, make sure someone is nearby to help you stabilize it and to call for an ambulance if you were to fall. Ladder work should be considered potentially dangerous, so proceed with care. Use your binoculars whenever possible, save the ladder work for those hard to get to spots.

Sign of Trouble Up North

Now that we have the disclosures out of the way, let’s get to the meat of the thing. Since about 80 percent of the roofs on North American homes are asphalt shingles, that’s what we’re going to focus this roof inspection on. Follow this checklist as you go around your house, completing one whole side before moving to the next.

Ground Check

– Fascia. Begin at the beginning. Check the fascia for signs of rot or water damage, including soft spots, green algae or places where the board is starting to come apart. If the fascia is pulling off of your house, dig deeper and look for rot or damage before proceeding. This may call for expert help.

– Soffit. Your soffit keeps critters out and lets just enough air in for proper ventilation. If screens are torn or vents are blocked, this is a good time to clean them out. If you’ve got other problems, it might be time to replace these work horses.

– Gutters. They’re not really part of the roof, but they’re roof accessories, so make sure your gutters are also looking good while you’re checking the roof. Sagging or signs of separation will warrant further examination.

– Drip Edge. In the space where your shingles stop and the open air begin, there’s a thin strip of metal called the drip edge. It literally does what it says, it moves drips and drops of water from the shingles and away from the fascia. If you have gutters, you may not be able to see this from the ground, but if you can see it, just check that it’s not rusted, bent or broken.

– Shingles. Shingles are pretty cut and dry when it comes to aging and damage. Either they’re torn off, curling up, missing grit or growing moss or they’re more or less ok. The black streaky stuff on your lighter colored roof isn’t anything to worry about, especially if there are big trees over your home. This is just a harmless variety of algae that grows on shingles that aren’t algae-resistant.

– Flashing. Anywhere that your roof joins something else, like a chimney or even creates a valley, there may be metal flashing to protect against leaks. Check that it’s not rusted or oxidizing and that any tar looks like it’s still healthy, not dried out. Rust is rust colored, irregular and almost stone-like, oxidation is white and powdery.

– Vents. There’s not much to know about vents, except that having plenty is great, and fewer isn’t as awesome. However, if you can see them well from the ground, check that they’re not too dented and if they’re the type that rotate, they’re functioning. Dents indicate they’re hail storm survivors and your roof may need to be checked by your insurance company for hail damage.

– Chimney. Since you have your binoculars out, go ahead and check any masonry chimneys you have. Just make sure all the chinking (the filling, if you will, between the bricks) is intact and the bricks are whole and where they should be. If any brick faces are breaking off or the chinking is crumbling, this is cause for concern and a call to a brick mason sooner rather than later.

From the ladder, pretty much everything on the ground list applies in the same fashion. You’ll just be closer and possibly have an easier time discerning the details. Although there are some people who will tell you that you must walk the roof (or at least climb the ladder), the International Association of Certified Home Inspectors seems to think it’s perfectly fine to inspect a roof from the ground to determine if it needs further examination by a roofing expert.

How Often Should You Inspect Your Roof?

If your roof is less than five years old, a quick look now and again, along with a longer exam after a severe storm or high winds, should suffice. Roofs between five and ten years old should definitely be inspected yearly, though more often is obviously better. Any roof older than ten years should be inspected quarterly, along with a professional inspection from a roofing contractor once a year.

It may seem like a lot of hassle, but a compromised roof can damage a lot of other things, too. Along with the insulation in your attic, the sheetrock in your ceiling, your attic-mounted furnace and even the lumber holding that roof over your head could be at risk. It’s a small investment of your time to ensure that your home remains safe and mold-free.

And, of course, when it comes time to call in a roofing professional, you know you can just….ask for a referral

Homes for Sale in Carmichael 95608 under $800,000
Homes for Sale in Carmichael 95608 under $700,000
Homes for Sale in Carmichael 95608 under $600,000
Homes for Sale in Carmichael 95608 under $500,000
Homes for Sale in Carmichael 95608 under $400,000
Homes for Sale in Carmichael 95608 under $300,000
Homes for Sale in Carmichael 95608 under $200,000

What’s my Carmichael Home Worth? Call us today at 916-270-7081 for a free consultation or log on to www.HomeValuesinCarmichael.com to find out.

Martha Loveless
916.270.7081
The Best Carmichael Realtor
www.LoveSacMetroHomes.com

What’s My Carmichael Home Worth? – February Market Trends and Housing Data for Carmichael 95608

Martha Loveless of Loveless Real Estate Services
The Best Carmichael Realtor | HomeSmart ICARE Realty 916-.270.7081
Homes for Sale in Carmichael / What’s Your Carmichael Home Worth?

The median sold price for homes for sale in Carmichael, CA 95608 for February to March (past 30 days) was $417,000.

Carmichael Housing Inventory Trends

The median home value in Carmichael is $387,400. Carmichael home values have gone up 8.2% over the past year and the market predicts they will rise 4.9% within the next year. The median list price per square foot in Carmichael is $242, which is higher than the Sacramento Metro average of $229. The median price of homes currently listed in Carmichael is $419,000. The median rent price in Carmichael is $1,595, which is lower than the Sacramento Metro median of $1,795.

Median Listing Price: $419,000

Median Days on Market: 34

Active Listings: 37

Homes for Sale in Carmichael 95608 under $800,000
Homes for Sale in Carmichael 95608 under $700,000
Homes for Sale in Carmichael 95608 under $600,000
Homes for Sale in Carmichael 95608 under $500,000
Homes for Sale in Carmichael 95608 under $400,000
Homes for Sale in Carmichael 95608 under $300,000
Homes for Sale in Carmichael 95608 under $200,000

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What’s my Carmichael Home Worth? Call us today at 916-270-7081 for a free consultation or log on to www.HomeValuesinCarmichael.com to find out.

Martha Loveless
916.270.7081
The Best Carmichael Realtor
www.LoveSacMetroHomes.com