Colorado Springs Real Estate Facts & Fun

This post is for all of you who close your master bedroom door when visitors come. It’s that one unfinished room, with out-of-date bedding-but-who-cares-no-on-is-going-to-see-it.

We spend about half of our lives sleeping, and yet we pay so little attention to the surface and space that we are living half of our life in. Give yourself the permission to have an equally nice room of the house, even if all you are doing in it is sleeping.

Let’s start with the bed. The bed is the largest piece of furniture, so it makes sense to work from biggest to smallest. If you don’t remember when you bought your mattress, or it was a hand-me-down from so-and-so 10+ years ago, it’s time to do some shopping and get yourself a new mattress. This is especially important if you haven’t been sleeping well, wake up stiff, sore, or have a sore back. If you don’t have a headboard, it’s time to get one or make one. Watch any DIY show and they will create one in an afternoon. Lowes and the Home Depot also have projects to do this.

Next, update the linens. A show on Oprah one day made me realize how nasty bed sheets can get, and you’ve undoubtedly seen the hotel horror stories. If you haven’t changed out your bedsheets in a very, very long time, it’s now time. Soothing colors can be really nice. Moss greens, mauves, creams, even whites. Bright colors can wake up your mind, which is great for the morning, but can make  you feel anxious as you are closing your eyes.

If you have standard blinds in your room, it doesn’t hurt to have curtains over those. If you have a room pointing east, this is for you. Light wakes us up. That’s nature’s way of saying a new day is here, get up. By hanging heavier drapes/curtains over these windows you help block out the light allowing you to sleep until the pesky alarm goes off, or until you are naturally ready to wake up! Curtains can also help with drafty windows, and outside noises.

I just covered mood lighting in the previous post, so I will let you scan that later.

Bedside tables can be a really nice addition to the space allowing you a place to set an alarm clock, lamp, book or glass of water. Do not allow it to collect clutter.

Other extra items to consider would be a colorful rug. This can help break up the calming colors or add some pop in an otherwise regular room. Paint on the walls in calming colors can be a nice touch, and can make you feel like you are in a sanctuary. A reading chair with a lamp is nice to have if you like to unwind at the end of the day with a good book. This also allows your body to start it’s calming phase making sleeping easier.

If you’ve been waiting for permission to treat yourself to a great bedroom, permission granted.

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Let there be light! Motel 6 promises to leave the light on for you, and you should do the same for your own house.

Series Part 10: OUTSIDE LIGHTING

Put up sconce lighting on the outside of your garage doors and front door. It adds a warmth to the outside of the house after the sun has gone down. It helps to see the house when it’s darker out, and after a recent trip through some neighborhoods at night, shows what kind of neighborhood you are living in after the big light in the sky goes out.

It’s creepy at night when driving through a suburban neighborhood and no one has lights on the outside of the houses. I am all for being green, but when you don’t have lights on, it sometimes attracts unsafe behaviors from others. Don’t give criminals a reason to break into your house by providing them plenty of darkness to creep around outside.

Beyond the house itself, having lights in well-landscaped areas can be a nice touch. There are several options to provide lights in landscaping which range from spot lights, spot lights in rock formations to blend it in, solar-powered lights, LED lights, string lights (backyard please), or the electricity run underground to an area for traditional lighting solutions.  For more information on lighting options click here.

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Did you hear the joke about the roof? Aww, nevermind....It's over your head! Yes, the reason we like houses and shelters in general is the roof, or that thing Dad was always reminding us of providing to us when we seemed ungrateful.

Series Part 9: The ROOF

In Colorado roofs have a tough life. Think about it for a minute. In the summer we have really hot temperatures, dryness, and hail. Sometimes all on the same day. In the winter we can get ice storms and snow storms, bitter cold temperatures. Having a professional inspector or roofing company to check out your roof before you decide to sell your house is a smart decision. Roofs can cost thousands of dollars if you need to repair or place on a new roof. By doing the work in advance, you are saving yourself from losing a buyer to negotations after a house inspection. What's more, you can advertise that you've kept the house well-maintained, by keeping up with your roof it is an immediate  example of how you've done that.

It seems basic, but when my friend Theresa went to buy her first house in Oklahoma City, the inspection came back that the house had shake shingles under the layer of composite shingles. Her home owners insurance wouldn't cover the shake shingles, no company would in fact, not even his current insurance company. The owner of the house had been grandfathered into that policy, but they would not allow new owners to have the same coverage. Had he taken the time to get an inspection before hand, he might have avoided these issues earlier. An agreement was made, but for everyone's sanity, it's better to know these things about your house before you try to sell.

In addition to the roof, have the gutters and spouts checked over too. Replace damaged gutters and spouts to avoid leaks, and add to the curb appeal, especially if they are older and showing age.  These steps sound simple but overall work together to give your home the best "overall impression" possible in a market where your house can be competing against a lot of other homes for sale.

Welcome Home sounds so good to hear, and even nicer to experience a welcoming home feeling. What does the front of your house say to you? If it doesn’t say, “please come, join us,” then it’s not very curb appealing.

Series Part 6: The FRONT PORCH

I’ve blogged about the front porch before, so for additional or more indepth ideas, please scroll through previous posts.

The front porch was once heralded as the social center for many homes. Newer communities are bringing back front porches and areas to create a welcoming, “Come sit with me and have some lemonade or a glass of wine as we catch up.”  You will find some of these put the garage in the back so that the front porches are the focal point.

To make these areas shine, particularly during a time you are trying to make your house as magical and different from the others on sale, just a little elbow grease and ingenuity are needed.

First, powerwash the space. Clean out the cobwebs, dirt, dust, and yard debris that has collected. If you have an unused rug, bring it out to add instant color and texture to the space.

Next, find a couple of chairs. Rockers are not mandatory but can be nice to sit on to create a little breeze on those hot days and nights. You can find unique chairs at GoodWill or garage sales this time of year which might just need a little sanding and a new layer of paint. While you’re at it, pull out a side table going unused, or pick up one at a similar sale and paint it to match.

Bring out a pot of flowers to set near a chair, on the side table, or near the stairs to add more color and life to the space.

Adorn the chairs with a light-weight blanket (put out before a showing), or pillows with indoor-outdoor fabric.

To really go the extra mile, set out a pitcher of fresh lemonade and glasses on the side table with a little sign saying, “Please help yourself. Enjoy the view.”

The buyers will keep coming back to your house as they discuss what they’ve seen.

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In Part 1 I performed an experiment in which I drove up to 10 random houses I’ve never seen before to figure out curb appeal, and what I noticed first at each house. All three items were obvious, and yet thought of for only a half-second. These touches I’ve noticed can do a lot for curb appeal, and general appearance of a property.

Series Part 2: FRONT YARD

Here’s the deal sellers and those who want to sell your yard, it has to be maintained. If your yard has obvious spots, I’m going to know that you have at least one dog, you let it go in your front yard, and there may be other areas of the house which have pet-marks ranging in costs to fix.

It leaves an unsettled feeling in my stomach ranging from, “They don’t care” to “How do I fix this, do I want to fix this?”

Create an area in the back yard where Fido can go relieve himself. Preferably a rocky area so the excretement doesn’t burn holes into your backyard. Pick up some dirt from a nearby landscaping center, and rake in some fresh dirt over the yellowed spots. Plant seed and grow new grass in those areas. This same fix can be used for weed killing gone awry. Explain to your agent that the yard has had some trouble spots, but you are working to create a beautiful green yard, and you are waiting for the grass to grow. You should have sprouting grass within a few days, and a well-blended yard in a couple of weeks.

If the patches are large, consider digging up the area and planting a new tree. Then landscape around it with wood chips, rocks, or a flower bed. A flower bed can allow some unique curves should you need to extend the new growing area to cover up problem areas.

Make sure you keep the yard mowed and weed-free. If you have already moved or are about to move and the house will be vacant for awhile, hire a landscaping crew to come by once a week or so to mow and tend the shrubbery.

This is the time of year yards and gardens should be shinning, welcoming me to your home. If it doesn’t do that, it feels depressing, and no one wants to buy a depressing house at asking price.

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I performed an experiment today. I wanted to see what was the first thing I noticed when I drove up to a house I’d never seen before. It was really tough to do, but after doing this 10 times, thinking after 10 times I would start to see a trend or pattern, I did in fact find that I often looked to three areas first.

Today’s series is about The GARAGE DOOR:

When you first pull into a driveway, what is the first thing you see? The garage door. It’s staring you in the face. You wouldn’t believe me how many times I’ve seen cracked, chipped, and dirty garage doors. This area of the house is probably one of the most neglected and unthought of places, yet one of the most visable.

After pondering why this is one of those areas that goes neglected I thought a few things. 1. When you come home, you push the button, the door goes up, you drive inside without thinking about it, once inside you hit the button and the door goes back down. Therefore, you never really see the door. 2. When working in the garage, one of the first things you do, unless it is really cold outside is hit the button and put the garage door up. If the car is out, you might sweep the floor and the corners of the doorway, but never think about the door itself. And 3. If you are working outside, you are probably getting yard tools out of the garage, so again the door is up and you don’t see it.

The next time you drive up your driveway, put the cell phone down and just look at it. See if it looks dirty, chipped, dinged, bent, or dented. If it is any one of these, fix it. The people who are coming to view your house with an agent or are driving by your house will notice these flaws no matter how minor, and will mark that down as something they want fixed.

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