When it comes to selecting a Realtor there are many questions that need to be answered.  The first one is simply where to start.

Personal referrals are the best.  Ask your friends if they have any Realtors they have done business with. What did they like or dislike about them.  What can they recall that the Realtor or Agent did to market their house that possibly seemed above and beyond?

If you can get no referrals the next calculated step would be to pick up your Sunday paper and look to see what company has the most homes for sale.  You may also research on the Internet by simply doing a GOOGLE search for Real Estate Companies in your area.

If you are coming from another town you may stop in to your local brokerage and ask them if they have a referral network with any agencies located in the town you are looking to move to.

Contact the selected companies and ask them about how they educate their Realtors. Look for a company that holds regularly scheduled structured classes.  It is important to work with well trained professionals that are kept up to date on industry changes and the latest marketing techniques.

Ask about their fee schedule, are they percentage based or flat rate. Look for the upcoming article ”Percentage vs. Flat Rate”

The largest company may not always be the right one for you, however when you are starting with no information it is a calculated step to making an informed decision rather than simply throwing a dart at the phone book.

  Set up appointments to interview at least three Realtors preferably from different companies with quality training.

 If you do not feel comfortable with any of them, keep interviewing even different ones from the same company until you find the one for you. 

 The time you spend interviewing today will pay off tomorrow. 

If you enjoyed this article look for the up coming “How to interview a Realtor” what to look for and questions to ask also “Percentage vs. Flat Rate” Which one may be right for you and how might it affect the sale of your property.  You can have these and more automatically delivered to your inbox by signing up for our free updates located in the top right corner.

What is Curb appeal? You hear it mentioned every where you go yet no one ever seems to have a good description of it. If you ask 10 different people you are liable to get ten very different ideas. These ideas may include many different types of flowers, plants, retaining walls, and so much more. People start to describe it and suddenly we feel overwhelmed and a bit like our head is going to explode trying to absorb all of the information.

As a former landscape designer and contractor I can tell you curb appeal is as simple as it sounds. It is the feeling and emotion that a person derives from standing at the curb and looking at your house and landscape. No more, no less.

Notice that I used the word Landscape, this word also tends to bring up many mental pictures and ideas that tend to overwhelm people with thoughts of gardeners and great expense. Landscaping is no more that the shaping and care of dirt, grass, plants, bushes, and rock. The following 7 tips will help you to achieve a nice curb appeal and attractive landscape

1. Turf care: When mowing your yard be sure to set your deck height no lower than 3.5 to 4.0 inches this allows for a taller thicker blade and results in a healthier turf. Try mowing in lines rather than squares, if you have a small yard mow in lines from the house to the road. This will give the illusion of a larger yard. You can also use a diagonal line starting from the corner of the house and driveway going to the opposite diagonal corner of the yard.

Fill any bare spots with a quality grass seed, cover with straw and water liberally. Remember that fescue takes 21days to germinate so if you need results quicker for showing then choose a blend with a higher content of rye grass in it.

Watering: If you are looking for great results irrigation is key. Your yard needs water, it likes water it longs for water! Give it water! If you have an in ground irrigation system the best time to set your system to irrigate is so that it finishes it’s last zone about 30 minutes before sun rise and starts a shorter cycle about 30 minutes after sun down. This allows the water to absorb and not sit creating mold and fungus. If you are the lucky one who has but a sprinkler and a hose you might consider the type of sprinkler that you can link 3-4 together and cover a much larger area at one time. Get a timer for your hose and set a similar start time and if you need to then water the 2nd half of the yard in the evening just after sundown. Never water in the direct heat of the day! Along with poor water conservation due to evaporation, water can also act as a magnifying glass for the sun and damage your turf.

2. Edging: A clean cut edge on a lawn is simple to do and gives it a well manicured look. Most trimmers’ today gas and electric are designed to be turned on their side in order to facilitate this. Simply go along the edges of the yard along the driveway, sidewalk and curb and cut a clean line to the dirt along them not much wider than the string it’s self.

3. Trees: With all of the rock in the Ozarks trees tend to spread a lot of roots across the top of the soil. A good method for hiding these roots is mulch. Pick your favorite color and create a circle around the base of the tree. A good rule of thumb is take the widest point at the bottom of the tree and divide by 2 make a circle that size and fill liberally with mulch. Be sure at the base of the tree you create a bowl effect. This will help to hide the unsightly spreading roots and spice up the yard.

4. Shrubs and hedges: Using a hedge trimmer you can trim these nice and neat. Draw a mental line where you envision the bulk of the foliage to be and trim off the excess. This will leave you with a nice clean line. Be sure that they are trimmed away from the house with at least a few inches clearance. Try to keep them below windows unless they are designed to be tall. Avoid trimming too much at a time or you will end up with bare spots until they fill in again.

5. Flower beds: Cover them with fresh mulch or clean the rock in them very well, smooth it out again and clean out any dead plants.

6. Survey your yard, straighten any falling retaining walls, timber walls, etc. remove any dead plants, fallen limbs, dead limbs from trees, leaves and any other yard waste. There are plenty of city provided dumping sites.

7. Make sure that your front door and garage door are nicely painted and welcoming.

Step back to the curb and take a look. These 7 simple tips will make a world of difference in how your buyer will feel about their soon to be new home when they pull up to see it for the first time.

I highly recommend using your local landscape suppliers as a powerful resource for this project. Take some good photos of all around your house and present them for ideas. These professionals are a wonderful resource for just such a project. They can help you choose a good color mulch to bring out colors in your house; they can recommend replacement plants, tree care ideas, just so much which will assure that you get maximum results for your efforts. If you would like further information about curb appeal or how it will increase the salability of your home please contact me.