Top 3 Reasons To Move To Montgomery County

In Montgomery County neighborhoods like Ambler, Blue Bell, Ardmore, and Hatboro, a competitive real estate market means that homeowners looking to sell need to be extra savvy in showcasing their property to rise above the competition.

This is an area where partnering with a local real estate agent can make all the difference. When you work with a real estate agent who is familiar with the area, you are primed to position your home to its best advantage, giving prospective buyers as much incentive as possible to consider making your neighborhood and home their own.

With so much to recommend it, there are many reasons you and your real estate agent can focus on to attract buyers to your Montgomery County home. Here are three of our favorites:

 

1. It offers the convenience of a city without the hassle. Montgomery County is situated close enough to Philadelphia that the city can serve as a source of employment and entertainment, yet is distinct enough to have its own identity. As the third most populated county in the state, Montgomery County can also stand on its own as an employment center, with many jobs tied to local offices for large-scale healthcare and pharmaceutical organizations and businesses.

 

2. It’s a diverse area rich in opportunity. Montgomery County runs the gamut from areas that are very urban and highly populated, offering residents an experience that mirrors living in a large city like Philadelphia, to areas that are quite rural, interspersed with local farms. The same breadth of options is echoed in the styles of homes you can find in Montgomery County, ranging from ranch-style houses to colonials, craftsmen, and farmhouses to cape cods and split-levels. Whatever your preference for lifestyle and home style, Montgomery County has something for you.

 

3. It’s a dining and shopping mecca. Montgomery County is full of vibrant downtown areas with shop and restaurant-lined Main Streets offering everything from antiques and coffee to art and high-end cuisine. If quaint and unique is what you crave, towns like Skippack offer one-of-a kind cafes and boutiques. For those who love the convenience and extensive options that malls can offer, Willow Grove and King of Prussia are known for their expansive shopping centers.

 

Montgomery County manages to combine the best of city living with the eclectic charm of small-town life. When selling your Montgomery County home, be sure to talk with your real estate agent about how to highlight the many advantages of the area as selling points for your prospective buyers!

Seller’s Guide to Home Styles

The beautiful homes of Bucks and Montgomery Counties come in all kinds of styles, from ranch to colonial. Of course, when you are looking to buy a home it helps to know which styles will best suit your needs. But being knowledgeable about different home styles can help sellers, too. Knowing more about the unique features and style of your home can help you market and stage it more effectively for prospective buyers, showing it off to its best advantage.
Check out the guide below to locate your home’s style:

 

Ranch.  Ranch-style homes originated in America and first gained popularity in the 1920’s. Often boasting sliding doors and attached garages, they are characterized by long, low roof lines, and feature a single-story construction that makes them easy to access. Up until very recently, ranch-style homes were the most popular in the U.S., prized for their casual ease.

Split-Level. Split-level homes are a variation on ranch-style houses. While still featuring the trademark low and long roof line, split levels generally offer three levels for living: a main level with dining and living areas branching off with a half-stair leading to a lower basement level and a half-stair leading to an upper level with bedrooms.

Colonial. While originally influenced by the style of early European immigrants, colonial quickly became a style distinct to America. Known for its symmetry, colonial homes are generally square, with the front door in the middle flanked by two windows on either side. A second floor often features five windows, neatly aligned with the windows and door below.  Wood and brick are popular facades, and the architectural style makes it relatively easy to make additions to a colonial home.

Cape Cod. Cape Cod homes are very similar to colonial homes in their symmetry and ease of building out with additions. The main distinction with Cape Cod homes, however, is that they tend to be even simpler than colonials, due in part to the influence of their roots in Puritan New England. Cape Cods were often originally built as wood frame homes that were one-room deep. Unlike Colonials that usually have matching chimneys, Cape Cods frequently feature one central chimney.

Craftsman. Craftsman homes originated out of England as a reaction to the Industrial Revolution. With their emphasis on simplicity, functionality, and the use of handcrafted natural wood, Craftsman-style homes gained popularity in the U.S. in the early 1900’s. Craftsman-style homes are distinguished by architectural features like covered porches, window seats, built-in storage, and fireplaces that serve as the focal point of a room.

Not sure what style home you have, or how to market it to its best advantage? Talk to your real estate agent today!

Top 3 Reasons To Move To Bucks County

In Bucks County neighborhoods like Doylestown and Jamison, the real estate market is highly competitive, and home owners looking to sell need to use every resource available to them to stand out from their competitors.

 

One way to distinguish yourself is to work with a real estate agent who specializes in the area and is able to use that knowledge to show your home—and neighborhood—to its best advantage.

In consulting with your real estate agent on your marketing strategy, be sure to incorporate reasons a prospective buyer may want to move to Bucks County. Here are three of the top reasons to get your conversation started:

1. It’s perfectly located. Bucks County’s location is an ideal balance between connected to everything and far enough away to have some breathing space. While less busy than a major metropolis like New York or Philadelphia, those cities are easily accessible from Bucks County, along with a wide array of recreation and vacation spots including the Jersey shore points, the Poconos, the Delaware River, and a vast network of parks and walking trails.

 

1. It’s a great place to raise kids. Bucks County boasts some of the best school districts in the region, offering rigorous academic programs rounded out by sports, the arts, and other extracurricular activities. The area provides parents and students with a wide range of options, from public schools to private education, and is also home to universities and colleges affording opportunities in higher education.

 

1. It’s rich in culture and history. Bucks County has a rich history that is still celebrated today, through the preservation of historical homes as well as local events and attractions. It’s also an area with a thriving sense of culture and community. Whatever your interest, Bucks County likely has a way for you to enjoy it, from the carefully curated art displays at the Michener Museum and the cool vibe of downtown Doylestown to the riverside walking paths and quaint shops of New Hope. Add world-class dining, music, and theater to the list, and you’re just scratching the surface of what Bucks County has to offer!

 

With so much to attract potential buyers, emphasizing your home’s location in Bucks County is a great way to stand out. Talk with your real estate agent today to develop a home selling strategy that capitalizes on the beauty, practicality, and abundance of educational and cultural opportunities in Bucks County!

5 Things You Need To Know About Selling Your Home In The Fall

Traditionally, spring and summer are considered prime seasons for selling your home, but the fall real estate market is full of opportunities for homeowners looking to sell.

 

Here are 5 tips to help you make the most of the season when selling your home:

 

 

 

 

1. Keep it bright. Lighting is always an essential part of staging your home for prospective buyers, but as the days grow shorter it’s even more important to keep your home bright and well lit. Replace bulbs that don’t work, make sure lighting is sufficient but still warm and soft, and don’t shy away from using small lamps or candles as accent lighting to draw attention to a focal point in the room.
2. Know your buyers. While not a hard and fast rule, be aware that different seasons may draw different types of buyers. Families with school age children may be more likely to try to relocate in the spring or summer so that they are settled in by the time the new school year starts. For that reason, during the autumn months you may encounter more empty-nesters or young couples about to start a family. If in talking with your real estate agent you are finding this to be the case, you can stage your home to be more appealing to this demographic, opting to show how certain rooms could be used for an office or a nursery rather than a spare bedroom, for example.
3. Celebrate the outdoors. Fall in Bucks County is famed for its beauty. Let that work to your advantage by upping your home’s curb appeal. Start with the easy things like raking leaves, sprucing up the porch or fence with a new coat of paint, or adding some flower pots on either side of your door.
4. Incorporate fall colors. Accent pillows, candles, towels, throw blankets…these are all items that can easily be added or swapped out to bring a touch of fall color into your home. While you don’t want to overdo it, tasteful use of autumn hues can up the coziness factor of your home and provide extra appeal for potential buyers.
5. Have a fall treat ready for open houses and walk throughs. Besides the incredible aroma of cookies baking in the oven, preparing a treat for potential buyers adds to the warmth and coziness of the season, lending an air of festivity along with the invitation to sit down and stay a while—and to consider what it might be like to call this place home.

 

With these tips in mind and the guidance of a trusted real estate agent, fall can be a great time of year to sell your home!

The Value of Your Real Estate Agent’s Network

Anyone who’s ever gone through the process of selling their home knows that from beginning to end it involves multiple professionals from a range of industries. Your primary guide in the selling of your home is your real estate agent, so be sure to work with one who can save you the time and worry of finding and vetting the other professionals you’ll need to work with on your own.

 

The following are a few of the people your real estate agent should have in her network:

 

 

 

 

• Loan officers help facilitate the mortgage process and ensure paperwork is accurate and complete.

 

• Notaries witness and notarize legal documents like those signed at closing.

 

• Home inspectors look at a property’s structure (like the foundation and roof) and systems (like plumbing, water, and HVAC) to determine their condition and if repairs are needed.

 

• Movers help you pack and transport your belongings from one property to another.

 

• Handymen are vital for small jobs that can make all the difference in staging your home, or help you bring things up to speed when you move into your new space.

 

• Contractors are essential for structural repairs or improvements.

 

• Landscapers can significantly increase your home’s curb appeal with softscaping (flowers, plants, lawn) and hardscaping (driveways, patios, fences, retaining walls, gazebos).

 

• Plumbers may be needed in the home you are selling to address issues discovered during home inspection.

 

• Electricians can address any safety or cosmetic issues related to wiring and lighting.

 

• Cleaning Services can help get your home in perfect shape for open houses and walk throughs.

Answered: Top Three Questions People Ask Real Estate Agents

Selling your home is a significant life event that requires an investment of time and effort. When you are selling your home in the competitive market of Bucks County, the more you know about the process the better. There are some questions that are common among homeowners, and a trusted real estate agent is an excellent resource for answering these questions and guiding you through the process of selling your home.

Here we’ll answer three of the questions homeowners ask most frequently about selling their homes.

 

Question #1: I live in a very competitive market. How can I get the most value for the sale of my home?

Answer: Getting the most value for your home involves a few key strategies wherever you are, but in a competitive market you need to be all the more aware of and diligent in following them. First, work with a licensed real estate agent who specializes in your area. This is especially important in neighborhoods like Doylestown, Jamison, and surrounding areas, where an agent who has an insider’s understanding of your home and the location can be the difference between a buyer choosing your property over another.

Second, price your home accurately—not high because you want to leave room to bargain, or low because you think it will attract more buyers.

Third, stage, stage, stage. More on that in the next question!

 

Question #2: How important is staging, and what do I really need to do?

Answer: Super important. Staging your home has been shown to decrease time on the market and help homeowners sell for closer to their asking price. How much you have to do depends on the condition of your home, but if you only do one thing, declutter. A neat home that isn’t overcrowded gives prospective buyers a cleaner slate to imagine the space as their own.

 

Question #3: What’s the best way to market my home?

Answer: Marketing is an area where a good real estate agent is worth her weight in gold. All of the open houses in the world won’t help if no one comes to them, but an agent with an extensive network, deep knowledge of and ties to the community, and facility with using a range of modern marketing tools can help you get the visibility you need to fill open houses, book a lot of great prospects for walk throughs, and eventually sell the home for at a good price.

It’s common for homeowners to have questions as they begin the process of selling their home—it’s not something most people do very frequently, and it involves a lot of specialized legal and financial factors. Having a real estate agent you trust to turn to with your questions can give you confidence, ease, and greater value in selling your property.