Here is a great article for your next home purchase.
20 Ways to Save Money and Stretch Your Household Budget
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An article of this title appeared in the August 2014 issue of "Room" magazine. The story featured the prestigious VanGilder home in one of Iowa City's historic neighborhoods.
Located at 330 S. Summit Street, the house was built in 1890. Since then, the VanGilders are the fourth owners of this lovely property. Dr. John VanGilder and his bride, Kerstin, purchased the house in September of 1976, 44 years ago, for their family of six. The VanGilder children, Sarah, Rachel, John, and David all grew up here and now have families of their own in Cleveland, Des Moines, Great Falls, and Seattle.
"Why did you buy this house?" I asked Kerstin. She answered, "John and I loved the warmth of old homes; we loved established neighborhoods; we loved large gatherings of family and friends; we loved having enough space for the kids to have playrooms and a house flexible enough to be their home while they were in college. This place has done all that."
Living in this home, Kerstin and John made continual improvements to it, all of which reflect their love for quality workmanship. They hired the best contractors to help them make the quality upgrades that such a historic home deserves.
The kitchen was remodeled in 1977 by Gene Duffey Construction. Kerstin was so delighted with the workmanship, that, in 2009, she again asked the Duffey Brothers to help design a significant addition to the structure. This project added 800 square feet to the original house; it enlarged the kitchen and added, on the main floor, a master bedroom, which includes a large walk-in shower. No expense was spared.
In the kitchen, the Duffey craftsmen built quarter-sawn oak cabinets with glass door fronts. The kitchen also features such rare amenities as granite countertops, a 500-pound handcrafted oak table, a 36-bottle wine cooler, a floor-to-ceiling pantry, a "food-planning" kitchen nook, and a granite-top breakfast bar. Deserving special mention is the Thermador cooking ensemble embracing a 6-burner gas stove-top, a vent hood that boasts food warming lights, a double-wall bake oven, and a separate warming oven. The kitchen must be seen to be fully appreciated.
An east-facing door leads to a covered porch where one can enjoy a coffee or, perhaps, feed the birds. This porch overlooks a big back yard with a masonry cooking grill and a custom-built swing. Just another place for people of all ages to congregate.
The 2009 addition has heated floors, so spending time there is remarkably pleasant in the winter. It is not hard to imagine that much of the VanGilder household's life was lived in the kitchen.
Parties and more formal occasions can be held in the separate dining room, away from the preparations in the kitchen. The dining room can be closed off with solid oak pocket doors, although, by keeping the dining room open, one does not lose the cozy aspect of this spacious house.
The living room has custom-built bookshelves and a wood-burning fireplace. It would be the perfect place to park your baby grand piano. If your job permits it, and if you like to work from home, this house accommodates you with an office/library/reading room right off the living room. Also accessible from the living room is the screened porch, which extends your living space to the outdoors.
A leaded glass window designed by fine-arts student Ronna River graces the ample and inviting foyer. It was Ms. River's thesis piece. The period in which magnolia trees are in bloom is quite short, so this stained-glass window gives you magnolias the year around.
The wraparound porch was completely redone in 1990. Kerstin found light fixtures that had been in a school to lend atmosphere and charm to the porch. I envision some begonias and ferns to transform the porch to a party space or a summertime retreat.
Of the seven bedrooms in this house, two have private bathrooms. The master bedroom is now downstairs, a part of the renovation project of 2009. This room was designed with agingin-place philosophy; access from the kitchen to all points of the main floor is direct and easy. Whether for a person who has difficulty with stairs or just for those who prefer sleeping on the main level, the new addition is perfect.
The old, upstairs master bedroom also has large windows, heated floors in the bathroom, and a private, three-season room with wainscoting on the ceiling and walls. There are 16 windows on three sides of this air-conditioned porch. It could be a summer bedroom or yet another place to please your fancy.
While he was in medical school, Kerstin's son lived in the attic. The attic is one big room, but it's sort of like an apartment with bathroom and space for a bed, space with shelves for a study, space for a dining table, space for living-room furniture, space for you-name-it. The attic space is a vast room almost 36 feet by 30 feet wide!
A new roof was installed in 2010, and the house has been repainted since then. The concrete driveway is about 15 years old.
There is even a carriage house, which now serves as a double garage. Half of this space has been used for storing wood for the fireplace. A workshop/storage space also exists in the carriage house. You could use it, for example, to store your golf clubs or outdoor furniture.
The upstairs of the carriage house is unfinished; it is an open area with a high-pitched ceiling. It would make a fabulous art studio or a spacious office. Outside of the carriage house, there are three car parking pads.
As I visited with Kerstin, I realized that her love for this home is reflected in every corner of every room, in every detail and in every improvement. The tradespeople and craftsmen who helped her with the upgrades were rehired again and again. They did such outstanding work that I asked her to give me a list of their names so that the new, fifth owners will know who has been taking care of the house, trimming trees, doing gardening work, removing the snow, and maintaining the mechanical items. I have that list and am personally visiting with the contractors.
This home is a jewel, an Iowa City gem! If you loved "This Old House," the TV program, you will be able to live it yourself in this beautiful, warm, distinctive home. Indeed, a home "For a Family."
Please look at the articles from the "Room" and "Elements" magazines. The VanGilder home was featured in both publications for its excellent custom work and splendid layout.
Sanja Hunt
Listing Agent
Serious About Selling? 5 Steps to Make Your Home
the Best on the Block
We all want to be good neighbors. But when it comes to selling your home, it’s not just about “keeping up with the Joneses.” It’s about outshining them at every opportunity!
If you’re looking to sell your home fast and for the most money possible, you’ll need a strategy to set it apart from all the other listings competing for buyers in your area. That’s why we’ve outlined our proven, five-step plan for serious sellers.
Use these five tactics to help your listing get noticed, win over buyers, and net a higher sales price than your neighbors!
STEP 1: Stage Your Home to Show Its Full Potential
The average seller will do the minimum to prepare their home for the market: clean and declutter, fix anything that’s broken, mow the lawn. And while those tasks are essential, today’s buyers want more than just a clean house and tidy yard. When they dream of buying a new home, they envision a designer house with modern finishes. Help them see your property’s full potential by staging it.
Home staging is one of the hottest trends in real estate—because it works! According to the Real Estate Staging Association, homes that are professionally staged spend 73% less time on the market.1
So what exactly is staging? In a broad sense, staging is the act of preparing your home for the market. The goal is to highlight your home’s strengths, minimize any deficiencies, and help buyers envision themselves living in the space. When staging a home, you might rearrange the furniture to make a room feel larger or remove heavy curtains to make it appear brighter.
Some sellers choose to hire a professional home stager, who has specialized training and experience, to maximize the appeal of their home to the largest number of potential buyers. Others may opt to do it themselves, using guidance from their agent.
We can help you determine the appropriate budget and effort required to push your home ahead of the competition in your neighborhood. The good news is, an investment in staging pays off. A 2018 survey found that 85% of staged homes sold for 6-25% more than their unstaged neighbors homes.2
STEP 2: Draw Buyers in with High-Quality Listing Photos
You only have one chance to make a first impression with potential buyers. And many buyers will view photos of a listing before they decide whether or not to visit it in person. In fact, 87% of buyers find photos “very useful” in their home search.3 Poor-quality or amateur-looking listing photos could keep buyers from ever stepping through your door.
Since good photography plays such an important role in getting your property noticed, we only work with the top local professionals to photograph our listings. But we don’t just rely on their photography skills when it comes to showcasing your home.
We go the extra mile to ensure your listing photos showcase the true essence of your home. We’re always on-site during the photoshoot to help the photographer capture the best angles and lighting, and to let them know about unique or compelling selling features that they should photograph. The extra effort pays off in the end. In fact, listings with high-quality photography sell 32% faster than the competition … and often for more money!4
STEP 3: Price It Properly From the Start
Even in a strong real estate market, there are homes that will sit unsold for months on end. This can be the “kiss of death” in real estate, as buyers tend to imagine that there must be something wrong with the property, even if it’s not the case.
But why are those houses still on the market in the first place? It’s because they are often priced too high.
Every buyer has a budget. And most will be viewing listings within a particular price range. If your property is overpriced, it can’t properly compete with the other houses they’re viewing that are priced correctly. Which means it’ll sit on the market until you’re eventually forced to drop the price.
Alternatively, if you price your home aggressively, it can be among the nicest homes that buyers have seen within their budget. This can lead to emotionally-attached buyers, who are often willing to pay a premium or settle for fewer seller concessions. And in certain markets, it can lead to a multiple-offer situation or bidding war. The end result? More money in your pocket.
We can help you determine the ideal listing price for your home in the current market. Pricing it properly, in the beginning, is the best way to ensure a fast and profitable sale.
STEP 4: Put on a Good Show at Each Showing
Once buyers are interested enough to schedule a visit, it’s crucial that you put on a good show at each showing.
The first step is to make your home readily available—and often on short notice—for buyers to see it. A missed showing is a missed opportunity to sell your home. If you set too many restrictions on when it’s available to view, busy buyers will simply skip over your listing and move on to the next one.
Part of making your home available means keeping it relatively show-ready as long as it’s on the market. Most of us don’t live picture-perfect lives, and our homes reflect the day-to-day reality of our busy (and sometimes messy) families. But a little extra effort spent keeping your home clean, fresh-smelling, and ready for buyers will help it sell faster … which means you can get back to your regular routine as quickly as possible!
STEP 5: Use a Proven Promotion Plan
Most agents are still marketing their listings like they did 20 years ago … put a sign in the yard, put the listing in the MLS, and pray that it sells. Yet, we know that 93% of buyers search for real estate listings online.3
That’s why we invest in the latest training and technology—to ensure your listing appears in the places where buyers are most likely to look. Our dual-level promotion strategy includes both pre-launch activities designed to seed the marketplace and post-listing activities to ensure your home stays top-of-mind with potential buyers.
By utilizing online and social marketing platforms to connect with consumers and offline channels to connect with local real estate agents, your property gets maximum exposure to prospective buyers.
LET’S GET MOVING
Are you thinking about listing your home? Get a head start on your competition! Contact us for a copy of our Home Seller’s Guide, which offers a complete guide to the home selling process. Or call us to schedule a free no-commitment consultation. We’d love to put together a custom plan to maximize the sales potential of your property!
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Curious about local real estate? So are we! Every month we review trends in our real estate market and consider the number of homes on the market in each price tier, the amount of time particular homes have been listed for sale, specific neighborhood trends, the median price and square footage of each home sold and so much more. We’d love to invite you to do the same!
You can sign up here to receive your own market report, delivered as often as you like! It contains current information on pending, active and just sold properties so you can see actual homes in your neighborhood. You can review your area on a larger scale, as well, by refining your search to include properties across the city or county. As you notice price and size trends, please contact us for clarification or to have any questions answered.
We can definitely fill you in on details that are not listed on the report and help you determine the best home for you. If you are wondering if now is the time to sell, please try out our INSTANT home value tool. You’ll get an estimate on the value of your property in today’s market. Either way, we hope to hear from you soon as you get to know our neighborhoods and local real estate market better.