AW Realty Group

As the holidays are approaching, many people are busy decorating their homes, lighting the tree, and marking their calendars to visit friends and family. With all the busyness of the season, you might be wondering if now you should even attempt to sell your home. Any potential home buyers are also busy attending get-togethers or traveling out of town, right? After all, that is how it has been in the past. Yes, You Can Sell Your Home During the Holidays The reality is that home buyers today are always looking at properties, including during the holidays. Smartphones and other mobile devices have made it easier and quicker to search for homes on the go, and home buyers can search anywhere — including at a holiday party. So in light of this modern development, here are three main benefits of selling your home during the holidays. 3. You Have Less Competition Many home sellers believe that the holidays are not the best time to sell, so they would rather wait until spring when the ...

It's back-to-school season. School supplies are front and center in the stores, back-to-school sales are everywhere, and school buses are becoming part of the morning commute. Even if the public school district is not an important factor in your home search, the location of public schools can still have a significant impact on your home buying decision. If you are looking for a home near a school, you may want to take these factors into consideration. 1. School Speed Zones Pay attention to the speed limit around schools and times that the school zone speed is enforced. You may want to consider a home that has convenient alternate routes around the school zone. 2. School Bus Stops Whether there is a bus route through your neighborhood or on a major thoroughfare, it can affect traffic around your home. Call the school district and ask if there is a bus that stops near your home to pick up students. 3. Morning and Afternoon Traffic Traffic congestion near public schoo...

You’re smart. You’re doing your research about home buying and homeownership (like you are right now!), so you feel like you’re prepared to avoid common home buying pitfalls. But you’ll soon find that once you’ve moved in, there is a whole new list of common problems that plague unwary first-time homeowners. To help you make the best buying and ownership decisions possible, we’ve outlined some of the the biggest blunders that first-time buyers make after closing on their home. Investing in Too Many Upgrades Not every home improvement project is worth the money or effort. Many first-time homeowners make the mistake of not considering a project’s return on investment, at least until it’s time to  sell the house down the road . If you want to know which home improvements are worth the investment, talk with a real estate agent or  get a market report for your neighborhood . Contact us and we’ll send one to you. Ignoring “Minor” Maintenance Issues As your home ages, s...

From personalizing your living spaces to turning a profit when you sell, there are dozens of reasons why first-time home buyers can’t wait to find a home and make it their own. Though there are plenty of benefits of owning a home in the Triangle, here are the six benefits that stand out from the rest. 1. You Can Customize Your Space Whether you want to invest in the latest high-tech home features or paint your walls neon green, owning a home gives you the freedom to do just about anything you want. 2. You Make the Rules Unlike with a rental property, where a landlord can dictate what you can and can’t do while living there, living in your own home means you have the freedom to host parties, adopt a pet, plant a garden, you name it. As a homeowner, you are in total control! 3. You Can Take Advantage of Tax Breaks It’s true what they say: owning a home is an investment. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t ways that you can reap financial rewards up front. The IRS allows...

Many Triangle home sellers have considered skipping the real estate agent to save on closing costs, but very few have actually succeeded in seeing those savings. There’s a good reason: the average homeowner doesn’t have the rigorous training and real estate knowledge that a licensed agent does. But just what makes For Sale By Owner (aka FSBO) such a bad idea? From incessant inconveniences to costly paperwork mistakes, here are a few of the horror stories that FSBO sellers inevitably encounter. The Daunting Task of Marketing Your Home It takes more than a “For Sale” sign in your front yard to  make buyers notice your home . According to the National Association of Realtors, 95% of buyers use the Internet in their home search. This means that online marketing — starting with listing your home on the local listings database, sharing your listing to dozens of social media platforms, and advertising your listing on numerous websites with a global audience — is essential to sell...

Record-low inventory of homes for sale is forcing some homebuyers to build their own homes, but they still need think about where they will build. Buzzfeed recently tested ordinary people on their real estate knowledge with some surprising results. Do you know how to calculate how much land you will need for that dream house and how much a parcel of land will cost? How many square feet are in an acre? Does your real estate knowledge stack up to the Buzzfeed challenge? Here are some real estate tips to better your score on  BuzzFeed’s Regular People Take a Real Estate Exam . DO THE MATH The National Association of Home Builders reports an average cost of $85,139 for a buildable lot. Now’s the time to bust out that handy calculator. The percentage or ratio of the size of the building to the land on which it resides is called the “ land-to-building ratio .” To arrive at the land to building ratio, divide the square footage of the land parcel by the square footage of the buildin...

The month of March brings spring, and with spring comes bright budding flowers, longer days, warmer weather, and spring cleaning. There is no better way to shake off the dreariness of winter than a freshly cleaned home ready to welcome the season. Here are 10 easy ways you can clean your home for spring. 1. Open the Windows There's nothing like the sun shining through your windows to usher in the feeling of spring. Throw back the curtains, part the blinds, and open up the windows to let the fresh spring air waft through your home. 2. Organize Your Closets If you are running out of closet space, you can put away many of your bulky winter clothes to leave room for your spring wardrobe. You can even take a few extra minutes to sort out any clothes you no longer wear to donate, giving you even more room for the upcoming season. 3. Use Detergent as an All-Purpose Cleaner A little bit of laundry detergent can go a long way. Warm water, laundry detergent, and items that you...

Email scams are as old as, well, email, but as the years go by, these scams have become more and more sophisticated. Recently, several home buyers have fallen victim to specially targeted email scams that attempt to rob them of their closing costs — sometimes up to hundreds of thousands of dollars. These types of scams are devastating both financially and emotionally, especially when your home is involved. But to help protect you from email scams targeting the real estate industry, we have outlined a few tips about what these scams are and how to avoid them. What Email Scams Are Common? Though the method through which hackers collect personal or financial information is always changing, there are a few basic types of scams that buyers and sellers should be aware of. Phishing This type of scam attempts to “fish” for sensitive personal or financial information (such as passwords or credit card numbers). Many emails used in recent phishing schemes look legitimate; they may use ...

If you’re on the hunt for a new home in the new year you don’t have to wait for the ball to drop – you can start acting on your new year resolutions  now  to prep for one of the biggest purchases of your life! AW Realty Group has put together some top tips if your goal for 2019 is to become a  homeowner . Pinch Those Pennies Saving for a down payment on a new home is one of the most important parts of the homebuying process. It’s important to plan out your savings now if your goal is to purchase a new home in the future. The  median sales price of a home  in the U.S. is now $235,000 – you may need at least 20 percent as a down payment or close to $50,000. Check Your Credit Make sure there are no surprises on your credit report. One of the first things your mortgage lender will do is check your credit to determine your debt-to-income ratio to determine how much of a mortgage loan you qualify for. According to  credit-rating company Equifax , a score of 6...

Anytime you relocate to a new area, whether it's a city just a few miles away or across the country, you face a unique set of challenges. The housing market, the transit, and even the weather may not be what you're used to. Planning your move can be difficult, too, since you need to coordinate when, where, and how you'll be moving your belongings to a new area. Because moving to a completely new area means learning about a new housing market and a new community, we wanted to share a few helpful relocation tips to make it a much easier experience for you. 1. Research Housing Costs Home prices for similar properties can vary drastically from one city to another. Take some time to research the real estate market, and consider these questions when searching for your new home: How much are local property taxes? How large a home can you afford? Is it cheaper to rent or buy a home? 2. Check the Weather If you're moving far away from your current home to reloc...

Warm up to Color The current trend of designing your home with greys, grey-ishes and now greiges (a grey-beige mix) may make it more difficult to be inspired to add a pop of color to your living space. AW Realty Group recommends that you start small with an out-of-the-way, made-for-color room like a kid’s bedroom or entertainment room. Personalize Your Interior There’s no need to go shopping for something new-use what you have. Don’t be afraid to add a bright green picture frame and add in a couple of colorful pillows, artwork and rugs that complement the decor. Suddenly-you’re a master at color! Our friends at Apartment Therapy offer a tour of  The Most Colorful Home in London (Possibly the World)  for  further inspiration . Make a Statement  Dramatic color can help you make a bold statement in your home. Find the perfect accent wall in your home that visitors will see as they first enter your house. Paint color says a lot about someone’s personality-make...