Differentiate Your California Luxury Residence from the Competition

If you want to sell a luxury home in Los Angeles, Cupertino or elsewhere in California, you likely will need to differentiate your residence from the competition. Otherwise, you risk a long home selling journey due to the fact that your Golden State luxury residence is unlikely to stand out from comparable properties in your city or town.

Fortunately, there are many ways that a California luxury house seller can differentiate his or her residence from similar homes. Let’s take a look at three tips to help you distinguish your Golden State luxury house from comparable properties, and ultimately, make your home an attractive option for buyers.

1. Craft an Effective Home Listing

How you promote your luxury residence in Beverly Hills, San Francisco or any other California city or town can have far-flung effects on your property selling experience. If you craft an effective listing to showcase your Golden State luxury residence, you may make it easy for buyers to fall in love with your house.

Include relevant information about your California luxury residence in your listing, along with details about any unique home features. Also, it may be beneficial to include high-resolution images of different areas of your Golden State luxury home in your listing to help buyers visualize what it would be like if they purchase your house.

2. Eliminate Clutter

If your California luxury home features a wide array of distinct antiques, paintings and decorations, you may want to remove these items from your residence. By doing so, you can cut down on “clutter” and show buyers the true size and beauty of your house.

For those who want to eliminate clutter as quickly as possible, you can list your excess items online or host a yard sale. In addition, you can always rent a storage unit in Malibu, Sacramento or anywhere else in California to keep your personal belongings safe until your residence sells.

3. Work with a Real Estate Agent

Differentiating a luxury home from the competition may prove to be difficult, particularly for a California luxury house seller who tries to work alone. Lucky for you, real estate agents are available in cities and towns across the Golden State, and these housing market professionals can help you distinguish your luxury residence from the competition.

A real estate agent typically will meet with a California luxury home seller and craft a personalized property selling strategy for him or her. Therefore, if you want to sell your San Diego luxury residence without delay, a real estate agent will create a house selling strategy to help you do just that. On the other hand, if you want to maximize the earnings from the sale of your Bay Area luxury house, a real estate agent will do whatever it takes to help you get the best price for your home.

Ready to add your luxury residence to the California housing market? Use the aforementioned tips, and you should have no trouble distinguishing your Golden State luxury home from all others in your city or town.

A beginners guide to qualify for mortgage approval

Things to know before you start the journey of mortgage qualification featured image

As you prepare for homeownership, it is beneficial to become familiar with requirements necessary to qualify for a
mortgage. 

Mortgage payments are paid over an extended period and give potential homeowners the ability to find and pay for the
home of their dreams. Knowing how to qualify for a mortgage allows you to line everything up to get the funds needed
for your desired home.  

Mortgage income requirements

Even though potential homeowners of all income levels can apply for a mortgage, a few key financial factors can make
or break your mortgage loan qualification. 

Having a well balanced debt to income ratio demonstrates you have enough funds after paying off monthly debts such as
credit card payments, to comfortably afford a mortgage. A ratio of 36 percent or lower is considered most ideal to
lenders. 

Next, your gross monthly income should be steady and expected to be received for at least the next 3 or more years to
demonstrate financial stability. This too demonstrates to lenders you can afford a monthly mortgage payment. 

Collateral & mortgage loan eligibility

Sometimes, to qualify for mortgage approval, lenders require the loan borrower to put down collateral that can be
seized if the loan is not paid back in terms of the mortgage contract. For mortgage loans, the collateral would be
the home itself. 

As you prepare to apply for a loan, it’s essential to manage your debt which boosts your credit history in the eyes
of lenders. Your new home is a large asset, so before applying for a mortgage, consider speaking with a lender near
you to answer any questions you may have.

Flipping: 4 Avoidable Mistakes to Remember

Image by Free-Photos from Pixabay

The potentially high-profit world of house flipping typically gets ambitious entrepreneurs going on the offensive. House-flipping profits reportedly topped an average of $67,000 in 2020, proving that the ambitious can certainly earn a good living in the industry.

But the other side of the coin doesn’t always trend in the news or social media. Inexperience and/or a lack of caution can sometimes cause otherwise savvy business people to make critical mistakes. If you are considering buying, renovating and selling homes for profit, it may be in your best interest to play a little defense. These rank among the most common mistakes that could cost you money.

1: Overpaying for a Property Cannot Be Undone

It’s not unusual for novice house-flippers to begin their property search in familiar places. These often include popular real estate apps and search engines. But only a few inexpensive homes in need of renovations appear. What happens next stands among the biggest mistakes. An eager house flipper buys the cheapest listed property.

Although it may make sense at the moment to select from inexpensive inventory, these houses are not often priced for resale. While some homeowners are looking for possible kindred spirits who want to take on a low-priced home and invest some DIY equity, don’t jump on the property just yet. Experienced professionals won’t buy unless the property cost and total rehab tally 70% or less of the expected resale price. The "70 Percent Rule" is a wise philosophy to adopt in the flipping business.

2: Not Having the Rehab Infrastructure in Place

Securing the right property makes up only part of the battle. To remodel it into a valuable and marketable asset, you will need the tools and people to get the job done. It’s not unusual for newly minted house flippers to try to nail down the equipment and necessary subcontractors after the fact. Lack of preparedness often results in the project taking too long to complete. Every day you own a fixer-upper is a day that money goes out the door. It’s essential to have the equipment and people in place before buying.

3: Beginning a Project Without Adequate Funding

People who enter the fix-and-flip world should probably have some experience in the construction sector, especially since new construction and rehab projects routinely run over budget.

Common reasons for overspending include increases in materials or labor costs. Sometimes unexpected structural or abatement issues arise that add to the job. Other times, subcontractors find themselves choosing between your project and another that will pay more money, in which case you may have to negotiate a new deal to keep your project on track. Anticipate that your contractors may add an additional 20% to their original estimate as a buffer for incidentals that may arise. 

4: Failure to Create an Exit Strategy

The business model involves buying low, renovating the home and selling it quickly for a profit. What happens when the property does not move? That’s a caveat that too many house flippers usually forget to consider.

Like any business proposition, there needs to be a fallback position that doesn’t involve a lender exercising a lien on the property or draining your resources. It may be worthwhile to set up lease-to-own options or converting the short-term fix-and-flip financing into a long-term mortgage.

Gardening tool guide: Dethatcher vs aerator

When homeowners need to improve air circulation in their lawns, they usually come to a decision between two different tools: dethatcher vs aerator. Both tools are essential to maintaining healthy grass lawn aeration, but in different ways.

To help you understand the difference between dethatchers and aerators, here is a basic guide to help:

What is a dethatcher?

Dethatchers are tools used to pull up the accumulation of “thatch,” or dead organic matter underneath the grass. Dethatching allows water, air and nutrients to reach the soil to help the living grass.

There are multiple dethatching tools you can use, including rakes, power rakes and verticutters.

What is an aerator?

An aerator is any tool used to dig holes into the soil to improve lawn aeration. By piercing a few inches deep into the ground, aerators reduce soil compaction, so water, nutrients and air can get to the lawn’s roots.

Many devices can be used to aerate a lawn. There are engine powered aerators, push aerators and aerators you can tow behind you. For smaller spaces, you can also use special aerator shoes similar to soccer cleats.

How to decide

While both dethatching and aerating are keys to maintaining a healthy lawn, different scenarios require different tools. For example, aerating is best for when you have extremely compacted soil. One common sign of soil compaction is poor drainage – if water accumulates on the soil surface instead of absorbing quickly, the lawn might benefit from aerating.

Dethatching, however, is useful when you have at least an inch of dead grass and debris hindering your lawn’s health. If your lawn seems dull or pale, you might have a thatch layer suffocating the grass’ roots.

Timing is also important in deciding whether you need to aerate or dethatch. The best time to use an aerator is in the early spring or fall during mild temperatures. Prime dethatching time is late winter, after plenty of dead grass and organic matter has had time to accumulate.

Lawn aeration and dethatching are both important aspects of lawn care. While you can accomplish both tasks on your own, there are professionals to help, especially where particularly compacted soil is concerned. Consider a lawn aeration service or dethatching service to assist with large properties and especially thick thatch layers.