Real Estate Information Archive

Decorating your home can be fun but no other room is more fun than decorating the nursery for the arrival of a new little one.  Nothing brings more happiness than welcoming a new baby into the world and what better way to welcome your new bundle of joy into your home than by fixing the nursery up for them.  Below are a few nursery decorating ideas to welcome your new little one. 

1. A little baby is nothing more than a miracle from above so why not decorate your new baby’s room like the royalty that they are.  Decorating the nursery  in a royal theme is a perfect idea whether you are welcoming a tiny prince or a princess.  You can keep the décor unisex by adding some rich colors to the wall or adding a chandelier to the ceiling.  Adding a few decorative pillows maybe in the shape of a crown might be a good idea as well. 
2. Another cool idea for decorating your nursery is to make it extremely colorful with balloon décor.  This type of room can be unisex as well if you stick to the primary colors of yellow, blue, green and red.  If you want to get really creative you could paint a balloon mural on the wall and perhaps an outdoor scene to go along with it. 
3. If you like country décor you could use painted pallets to add a touch of southern sass to the room.  This type of country décor can be unisex if you want or you can make it more of a cowboy feel or a cowgirl feel depending on which you have been blessed with. 
4. Yet another great decorating idea to welcome your new little one into their new room is a Hollywood glitz and glam room.  Sheer curtains hung throughout the room with walls painted pink is a great way to get this particular look and feel.  Yet again, a chandelier may be appropriate for this type of room. 
5. If you want another gender neutral idea for your baby's room  you can use colors such as grey and yellow.  These colors are not only unisex they are timeless as well.  

Courtesy of New Castle County DE Realtors Tucker Robbins and Carol Arnott Robbins.   

If you have recently put your house on the market and want it to sell quickly you may need to take a look at a few of these tips on how to eliminate smells so that your house will be more likely to sell. While selling your home quickly may sound good to you, you may not be thinking about exactly how clean your house smells when you have a last minute showing pop up.  If you are caught in a bind with a last minute showing and you need to get rid of a few household odors, be sure to read below for some ideas. 

1. If you have pets you already know that they have a smell all their own.  Pets that may not be house trained yet may be hard to deal with during a house showing.  If you need to cover up the smell of pet urine quickly there are several ways to go about it.  One way to get rid of pee smell in the carpet is to soak the area with enzyme spray.  Another way to get rid of the smell all together (however it may take a bit longer) is to get rid of the carpet once and for all and put in hardwoods. 
2. Another way to eliminate smells so that your house might sell is to open up your windows while you are cooking.  If you know you have a showing one night, be sure to keep your windows open while you are cooking with the hood fan on as well.  Another good way to get rid of the smell of a recently prepared meal in your home is to set a bowl of coffee grounds on the countertop over night (if your showing doesn’t happen to be the same evening of course.)  If you don’t want to take any chances of having your dinner linger during the showing you could always just go out to eat for the evening. 
3. Garbage smell in a home is some of the worst odor possible.  One easy way to get rid of that particular smell is to be sure and take it to the curb before you leave for the showing. 

These are just a few ways that you can get rid of smells in your home  so that your showing might go well and you may be more able to sell your home.  Hopefully they will get you started in the right direction.  

Courtesy of New Castle County DE Realtors Tucker Robbins and Carol Arnott Robbins. 

You must admit the housing market is booming right now and this means that many folks are getting more than one offer on their house.   Knowing which offer you should accept  can sometimes be a daunting task.  If you do get multiple offers you may think that opting for the highest bidder is the route to go, but not in all cases is this true.  Below are a few tips for making sense of it all and deciding which home offer is best for you and your family. 

1.  If you want your home to be sold to a family member but their offer is just too low as compared to someone who is going to use your house as an investment for example, try coming back with a counter offer.  Just because you get a really high offer from someone doesn’t mean you have to accept that offer.  If you don’t want to see your home be flipped for example, don’t accept the offer from that person.  If you can afford to do so, accept a little bit of a lower offer to keep the house in the family.
2. If you have a potential buyer make an offer with contingencies it may be best to skip over that person.  You don’t want to get involved in things such as waiting for a potential buyers house to sell before they can purchase yours.  In most cases it will serve you best, if you have more than one offer, to skip right over those with contingencies. 
3. If you have a buyer that makes a good offer on your house but they cannot close for a month or two, pick the one that can close more quickly if that meets your needs. 
4. Just because someone makes a really high offer on your house doesn’t mean they are the ones who need to win the bid war.  Many times folks that make very high offers may back out in the end leaving you high and dry.  Be careful not to just accept the highest bid and not look at any of the rest. 

Hopefully these ideas on how to decide which offer to accept  when you have multiple offers on your home will make things easier for you.   Don’t worry too much about it, after all…multiple offers is a good thing! 

Courtesy of New Castle County DE Realtors Tucker Robbins and Carol Arnott Robbins.

Owning a home is a wonderful thing, but you should always be really careful to make the best choices if you make changes to the outside of your home and this includes putting up a fence of any kind.  There are a few tips for adding a fence to your property that you might want to take into consideration before doing so and some of those are listed below. 

1. Before putting up a fence on your property be sure to talk with your neighbors about it.  You need to keep in mind that you are not only putting up a fence in your backyard but you are also adding a fence to your neighbors land as well.  Talk with the neighbors that your fence will directly affect and discuss such things as property lines and types of fencing etc. 
2. Another thing to consider when adding a fence on your property  is the color of the fence and also the style.  Will the color and style of your fence match your home?  If you need ideas of what style fence will look good with your house consider looking online at some ideas.
3. You may want to consider planting trees to use as a fence if you decide you can’t find a style of fencing that will look good with your homes style.  Cypress and pines are great for this type of privacy fencing and they never go out of style. 
4. If you decide to add a wooden fence, be sure that you know you will have to take care of it and paint or stain it every so often.  If you want something that has less maintenance than that you may want to purchase a vinyl fence.  
5. You may want to consider cost as well when deciding what type of material you want your new fence made out of.  Keeping within your budget is always a good idea when adding to your home.
6. Longevity of the fence material is another thing to keep in mind when choosing fencing for your property.  You don’t want to purchase a material that will need to be replaced sooner than you wish for it to. 

These are just a few tips for adding a fence of any kind to your property.  Once you have gone over these tips you should be able to choose more wisely than you would have without them. 

Courtesy of New Castle County DE Realtors Tucker Robbins and Carol Arnott Robbins.

Moving into your dream home is one of the most wonderful and exciting feelings in the world. However, there are a few moving mistakes that you should try to avoid at all costs if you can.  A few of these mistakes are listed below.  Be sure to do whatever you can do to avoid making these moving mistakes.

1. Typically, when folks move they hire a moving company.  If you are moving from one state to another, don’t make the mistake of thinking or expecting your things to arrive before you do.  Many times your possessions will not even arrive all at one time.  It may be that it takes a couple weeks for everything to arrive at your new home.  Don’t panic.  Realize that this may be the case in the first place and you won’t freak out when it happens to you.
2. One issue when moving into a new home that folks may have is more of just a personal mistake.  To avoid this mistake do your best to let go of the past and embrace the new home and the changes it will bring to your life.  Don’t try to recreate your old home in your new home.  Allow for some growth and change to enter your life and you will be more able to enjoy all that is new. 
3. Be sure to call the school district where you would like your children to attend to make sure they have room for more students.  It is not a good feeling to move into a new home with the expectation of sending your children to a wonderful school only to find out they don’t have room for them and you end up having to send them to a less desirable school system. 
4. If you have to store a few things while you move, do your best to get them out of storage as soon as possible.   Most storage centers charge a monthly fee to store your stuff and there is no need to pay a bill that is not exactly necessary longer than you absolutely have to.   A good rule of thumb is, if you haven’t used something in a couple of weeks to a month you don’t need it and you should throw it out or give it away.  Don’t fall into the trap of storing all of your “stuff” for extended periods of time just because you think you might use it one day. 

Hopefully this list of moving issues you should try to avoid will be helpful to you in your next move.  Do your part to make the move an easy one by realizing what things you should avoid.

Courtesy of New Castle County DE Realtors Tucker Robbins and Carol Arnott Robbins.

If you are currently in the market for a new home it is likely that if you haven’t already you will eventually hear the term HOA.  What does HOA stand for you may ask?  HOA stands for Home Owners Association.  Many neighborhoods have a Home Owners Association these days but not all neighborhoods do.  Let’s take a closer look at what an HOA is all about and what exactly the fees associated with an HOA actually cover.

• Home Owners Associations were created to keep neighborhoods on the up and up so to speak.  They will keep your neighbor for instance from painting their house hot pink or putting up an 8 foot tall fence.  HOA’s will also keep your neighbors yards looking nice and manicured as many of them have strict rules about keeping the grass cut short.
• You can expect to pay as much as $400 per month for a Home Owners Association fee.  This price will vary of course depending on how expensive the homes are in the neighborhood in which you choose to live. 
• Many times neighborhoods that have HOA fees will also have things for your enjoyment such as clubhouses and swimming pools for all to use.  Some may even have tennis courts and walking trails for you and your neighbors to enjoy.  If these types of things are important to you then you most likely won’t mind paying an HOA fee each month. 
• You can choose to take part in monthly Home Owners Association meetings or you can choose not to.  Regardless of whether or not you are active in meetings, you will still have to pay your monthly HOA fees so don’t be confused by that. 
• As a new homeowner you need to be well informed about all the rules and regulations as well as the costs associated with your homes owners association.  By staying in the loop you will know what to expect each month. 
• Before buying your new home in a neighborhood that has an HOA, make sure that your new monthly payment as well as your HOA fees fit into your budget. 

As long as you go into an HOA well informed  you shouldn’t have any issues arise as a result of buying a home in an HOA community and you will be more able to enjoy all that an HOA has to offer!

Courtesy of New Castle DE Realtors Tucker Robbins and Carol Arnott Robbins.

There are many reasons why you might have to leave a home that you have lived in for several years.  You may have had to leave do to not being able to pay the mortgage because it was too high for you or you may have outgrown your home as your family has become larger over the years.  Still another reason you may have to say goodbye to your home is due to a job change that takes you from your home and places you into another area or even another state.  Below are a few ways in which you can say farewell to the place you have come to know and love as your home. 

1. One way that you can say goodbye to your home that may help everyone feel a bit better about a move is to go around the house room by room and have each family member say aloud why that particular room was important to them and what if anything it meant to them personally. 
2. Another way you can say goodbye to a home  or rather feel like you are still connected to it years after moving out is by planting a few trees around the house.  If you and your family are blessed enough to be able to come back and visit the home after some time you can watch as the trees begin to grow and see how they change year after year and perhaps still feel a connection to the house.
3. Yet another clever way to bid farewell to your home is to have someone paint a picture of your home before you leave it.  You can then carry that home with you to your next home and place the picture in a prominent place for all to see.  This is a great way to keep the memory of a beloved home alive for years to come. 
4. Making a movie of yourself and your family inside of your home before you leave it to travel to your new home is another great way to remember the good times you had there.  If you ever feel like you are missing your “old” home place you can always get the video out and feel connected to it once again.

Homes are not just walls and plaster, they are where we raise our families, where we love and are loved.  Leaving a home is never easy but hopefully these ideas about how to bid farewell to your home  will make it a bit easier for you.  

Courtesy of New Castle DE Realtors Tucker Robbins and Carol Arnott Robbins.

New Castle County DE listings decreased 12.7% in July 2016 with 112 less homes. The average sales price climbed 4.62% to $260,980, while market times remained the same.

Courtesy of Wilmington DE Realtors Tucker Robbins and Carol Arnott Robbins.

If you were lucky enough to move into a new home recently then you need to know a few things that you should strive to accomplish soon after the move.    These things will get you set in the right direction for being comfortable in your new home for years to come.  A few of these ideas are listed below. 

• Be sure to take pictures of each room in your new home just before moving in. Sometimes the inspection takes place and then the previous owners come back to get a few last items of theirs moved out.  You never know, especially if the previous owners were forced to move due to a short sale, what they may have done to the house.  Take pictures before you move your furniture inside.  This way if any damage has occurred you will have full documentation of it and may be able to get things fixed more easily.
• If you hire a moving company to move your belongings from one house to the other you will want to check all of your belongings to make sure there was no damage done to anything during the move.  You should have liability coverage in your moving contract and if that is the case if any damage occurs and you document the damage you should be able to get reimbursed for that. 
• One of the most important things to accomplish as soon as you move into a new home is to change the locks.  You have no way of knowing how many folks have a key to your home from the previous owners and you surely don’t want to worry about someone being able to get inside of your home without your knowledge.  Get this task done right away. 
• If you want to make the home have a nice new feel, painting is a great way to do that.  Painting an empty house is much easier than having to move the furniture around later. 
• If you are a registered voter and you have recently moved into a new home that is in a different county, you will want to change your voter registration right away.  It’s not a good feeling to be turned away at the polls because your address is incorrect. 

These are just a few ideas of things you should strive to accomplish soon after moving into a new home. Hopefully they will be of some help to you and yours.

Courtesy of New Castle County DE Realtors Tucker Robbins and Carol Arnott Robbins.