Real Estate news

Have you considered the Move to Prattville?

Prattville is Growing!

  New business is steadily opening up in Prattville.  It might be a smaller city on the outer skirts of Montgomery, But Prattville seems to be striving to provide their folks with all the Shopping and restaurant choices the bigger cities provide.

  I moved to Prattville back in the early part of the year of 1980. And then Prattville was so small, that everybody knew everybody. Our choice of shops and restaurants were very slim. Since then the population has more than doubled. And our choices have grown extremely well over that.   I was a kid back then, and in order to get a job, I just about had to drive to Montgomery. Now kids here have the luxury of quitting a job and walking across the street and going to work for somebody else.

  Prattville folks are really enjoying the new shopping center on the south side of Cobbs Ford road near the exit of 179 and I65. With the brand new Target, Home Depot, Books a Million, Pet Smart and other shops. The outer new Restaurants like Olive Garden, Road House, Jim n Nick's BBQ, CiCi's Pizza and other various places to eat. Soon to come Mello Mushroom and IHOP, will be a big hit also. And whatever else they will fit in there.

We are all awaiting the Grand Opening of J.C. Penny's, Best Buy, and Publix. I especially love Publix's Birthday Cakes. I have talked with so many people who have said, when they open, that they will no longer need to drive to Montgomery.  I am personally still waiting on a Khols. But now I hardly ever have to drive to Montgomery, so that does save me a tremendous amount of Gas. Which these days is way over priced. And most likely will stay that way for quite some time.

  I apologize if I have spelled any of the listed business's names wrong. This is actually not an advertisement for any of them. And I am in No Way affiliated with any of them. Other than I shop or eat there and spend money there.  I am a Real Estate agent that loves the town or city ( we are a city now) in which I work, live and play.  I could ride you through so much of this area and reminisce about so many things from my experience of living here from the short past 28 years. But I do not wish to bore you with all of that either.  What I am looking to do is encourage you, if you are looking to move to the Montgomery area, is to consider making the move to Prattville. At least take the time to look around and do some research and compare the two cities. I believe you would be real satisfied to set down roots here. We are just minutes from Montgomery. And it well worth it.

  Give me a call or shoot me an e-mail. I would love to show you around. Please check out my web site for additional information on Prattville. I plan to add more to it soon.  So do check back. I believe Prattville will prove to be the perfect place. And I would love for you to give me the chance to show you. I won't just show you a house. I will show you a whole city and a lifestyle, because that is what you will be looking for.

Thank You So Much for Reading my Blog.

Lynn Rawlinson, Associate Broker, Realtor

Coldwell Banker Towne Realty

334-467-5727 (cell, available anytime)

Email : fnd14u@aol.com

www.tricountyhomepages.com

www.LynnRawlinson.com

Fixer Uppers :

More Space for the Money

Housing Prices have come down. But in the case of big Families needing more room. You may be thinking on the lines of a fixer upper to get a home within your budget that also has the needed square foot. That is not that bad of an idea. But it will require more work, patience and time.  But it still can be done.

There is still a loan out there  available just for this purpose. But not everyone offers it. The FHA 203K. And conditions still need to be met for this one to take place. The main thing is, Will the home meet appraisal once the repairs are made? The home must be able to appraise for the cost of purchase and the cost of repairs combined. You can find this out from a Computer Generated Analysis of recent comparable sold within the area in the last 6 months. Any Realtor can provide you with this information. You take the information from that, giving you average price per square foot sold. And then take what it will cost you for all repairs total and the asking price and divide that by the amount of square foot living space in the home you are interested in and see if it comes out to be a little less.  If so, you are doing good so far.

 The Lender will have An FHA Inspector  come out and inspect and tell you exactly what needs to be done and may give you his estimate on what it will cost for those repairs to meet FHA standards. You will need to have estimates from professionals for the repairs needed and add about 10% - 15% for a possible increase. Contractors will never know what they will find until they get in there to actually do the work. Contractors try to give you their best estimate, but all in all it is still a guess until the work starts. So be prepared.

If the repairs will stay within the budget, the lender may grant the loan. Check with your lender and see what the current limit is for repairs. It may be a 35,000. limit. And in that case, you would not want to choose a home that requires repairs in excess of that limit. You must stay within the limits.

If you can qualify for this loan, you will close on the home and the repair money will be put into an escrow account and held until the work is completed and it is inspected. So, the contractors you choose to do this work need to be notified of this and can expect payment after the fact. So many, may want 1/2 up front for materials and the rest at completions. So you will have to do your homework to find those that can wait. It will also seem a little difficult to get everyone there as quickly as possible to get the job done in a timely manner so everyone may get paid.  Contractors do not like it when you hold up there money, and they have completed what they needed to do, but the next guy hasn't, so you can't get the inspection off, to get everyone paid. And they will be calling you almost daily. That is where patients comes in.

But all in all this is possible and I have done them. They can turn out to be a headache. But when you actually get moved into the home, it is a good feeling. Especially knowing you got the home, that met your families needs at a price you can afford. 

 Thank you so much for visiting my web site. I hope you have found it useful. Please return back often, as it is updated. If you should have any questions, please let me know, as others would be interested also.

Lynn Rawlinson, Associate broker, Realtor

Coldwell Banker Towne Realty

fnd14u@aol.com

334-467-5727 (cell) available anytime

www.tricountyhomepages.com

www.lynnrawlinson.com

Deciding on Selling your home, should raise the question on whether to paint or not to paint.

   I am still showing way too many homes that really need to be painted. Just this week, I showed a home that had such loud colors in the kitchen, it yelled at you. It caused the potential buyers to run. If you should have, Blue or Green formica counter tops you really need to paint that kitchen to tone down that a bit. The real suggestion would be to replace those counter tops. You could have someone come in and replace that worn out or out dated formica for little of nothing, rather than give up the extra dollars you could have received at the closing table. Any loud colors in the home need to be replaced with something neutral. A beige or a light tan is still the number 1 choice. White may pass, but a beige will sell a lot faster.

Paint will add value believe it or not. The  value is in the offer. A buyer may want to change the color or add color, but with a neutral, it is not something that needs to be done immediate. So it stops the buyer from low balling the price quite so much. Neutral will at least go with any furniture or any decorate items.

Fresh paint make the home look so much cleaner. And it helps extremely with a vacant home. Most buyers do not want to paint before they move in. They would much rather paint after they get settled and have had time to decide on how they wish to decorate.

Believe me for a 20 dollar gallon of paint, 20 dollar gallon of kilz and 10 dollars worth of brushes and a good weekend, it could bring you much closer to a signed contract which is priceless.

Many times, you may be able to find a painter who will do the job  for you for a good price. Make sure to get some names and numbers of others that have used the painter in the past. That way you can check on the quality of his or her work. You do not just want anyone one coming into your home. And you want them to back their work up. If you paint straight over a gloss finish, your paint could peel. And you surely do not want to be stuck with a tacky job like that.

Remember, you can not cut corners to save money while painting. It all comes back to haunt you. Be sure and tape out your work. Be safe and use a good primer. And do not buy the cheapest paint on the shelf. It will require more paint to coat. And you really just get what you pay for in the end.

The colors you have in your home may have worked extremely well with how you decorated it. But to the majority of the buyers out there, IT JUST WON'T FLY. Stop loosing those buyers over something as simple as Paint.

Thank You So Much for visiting my web page. Check back often as I add more on a regular bases. And should you have any particular subject that you would like discussed, just let me know.

Lynn Rawlinson, Realtor

Associate Broker, Coldwell Banker Towne Realty

Your Local Real Estate Professional

www.tricountyhomepages.com

cell# 334-467-5727

Specializing in the Prattville - Millbrook area

Curb Appeal Can Mean Everything when it comes to Selling your Home.

   Have you ever been driving down the road, then noticed something that really turned your head? Well that is what needs to be done with the front of your home. It needs to turn buyers heads. If the front of your home does not look appealing to buyers, they are going to just keep on driving. Sometimes that even happens when they have made an appointment. You think that They just didn't show, but they did. They just did not stop. The Buyers thought they had seen all they needed too. They just judged a book by it's cover. And it did not matter How nice your home looked on the inside. The outside did not get them to the door.

     Today's market is really tough for sellers. It is not like it was a couple of years ago, when homes were barely advertised for sale and they sold quickly. Today a seller must work to get that home sold. Especially if they want top dollar for it. Yes a Realtor can just keep throwing advertising dollars at it and keep dropping the price until a buyer excepts it. But it is so much better if the seller and the Realtor work together to get top dollar. And by working together a seller must be willing to clean up, fix up, and make beautiful. Because buyers today and every other day want the most for their money. Same as every other consumer. But today there happens to be too much of a larger selection and too few of  ready, willing and able buyers.

If you have been needing to repaint that trim and those shutters, do not think that the next buyer can do it. Get it done. It adds to the curb appeal. Make sure to replace all rotted or soft wood, if needed. If it just could use a good cleaning, then clean it. What have you wasted a weekend? That may have just been the trick to get the buyers in to see the home. Clean the windows also. Make the home shine.

It can be a good idea to have the yard professionally done. Trimmed, edged, weed eaten. Spruce up the flower beds with new mulch. Make sure to water often to get that grass green. Check into a lawn maintenance service for weed killer and fertilizer. Add some color to the front door by adding an arrangement of colorful flowers in season. Remove the hoses from the front yard or hide them when not in use. Remove all the children toys, place them out of site. Pick up all the trash, and get rid of everything that does not belong. Remove any dead bushes or plants. If the mail box looks faded, cover it with one of those pretty magnets or mailbox covers of flowers or lady bugs or something nice. Replace any blown outside lights. If you have a gas light out front that is faded, repaint that. Your driveway  and sidewalks may need pressure washing, if you have stains or it is dirty. You will be amazed at how much pressure washing helps to beautify the yard.

You want to make the home as warm and inviting to buyers as you possibly can. And you have got to get the buyer through the door. So invest an little time and effort. It may require a little money. But in the long run it is worth it. And most of this, you can do yourself.

Make sure to add a splash of color here and there, if your yard is lacking that. You could always buy a few six packs of annuals to add color. If your ground is too hard to plant them in certain area's, put them where you want them and spread pine straw around to conceal the containers. No one will know they are not planted. Just make sure to water them often. This idea works great around mail boxes, Gas light poles, and other various places.

If you need more ideas, just shoot me an email.

Thanks for Visiting!

Lynn Rawlinson

Associate Broker, Realtor, ABR, CSP.

 Your Real Estate Pro for Life!

www.tricountyhomepages.com

email: lynn.rawlinson@tricountyhomepages.com

cell number 334-467-5727

 Email : fnd14u@aol.com