Tag Archive for: real estate agent athens

Home Environmental Features in Athens Real Estate

Helping Your Home Be More Efficient in the Greater Athens Area

(Information  and graphic via Keller Williams)

When you’re ready to sell your home, it’s important to know what features home buyers are looking for. Whether their motivation is to save the planet or just to save money, buyers in today’s market are looking for energy efficiency in their homes.

What features do buyers say are most important to them?

Upgrading your home with environmentally friendly and energy-efficient features can attract more buyers to your home and increase your home’s value. Before investing in any upgrades, give our team a call or submit a request for contact and we will help you customize which upgrades are most appealing for your home to buyers in the greater Athens GA area.

Love Your Dog and Your Beautiful Back Yard

Two Tips For Landscaping and Your Dog in the Greater Athens Area

Here are two tips to help you keep your landscape looking top shape for you and your best friend (information and photo via Keller Williams)

1. Set Some Boundaries: Even the smartest pooch in the pack can have a hard time telling which areas of the yard are off limits. Your flower bed or vegetable garden can easily look like fair game, so adding permanent or temporary barriers to these areas may be the best way to keep the peace between you and your pet.

2. Hate those Brown Spots? Watering regularly and keeping your grass a little longer than is typical can help reduce the appearance of brown spots in your grass, but it won’t solve the problem entirely. If you can’t live with the burn marks that come from the nitrogen found in your dog’s urine, consider creating a new special place for your dog to eliminate. A fenced off area or a section of the yard with some gravel that can be easily sprayed down from time to time are great options.

As always, we appreciate referrals from our friends and past clients. If you know of anyone who is looking to buy or sell real estate, please send them our way! Give us a call or send us a request for contact today.

Real Estate on the River JWA and Northwest Exterminating

Team JWA’s Brandon Talks with Northwest Exterminating

On this week’s episode of Jennifer Westmoreland & Associates’ Real Estate on the River, Team JWA’s Brandon talks with Scott Jones of Northwest Exterminating. Looking to buy your next home or sell your current home in the greater Athens GA area? Contact us today! Looking for past episodes or other recent JWA videos? Visit our Youtube channel!

Jennifer Talks Real Estate with the Oconee Chamber

Team JWA’s Jennifer Westmoreland Sits Down with Clint Watson of the Oconee County Chamber of Commerce

Thanks to the Oconee County Chamber of Commerce for the opportunity to talk about real estate, current market trends and more! Watch this video and you can even learn if Jennifer prefers ice cream or potato chips!

What Would A Rate Increase Cost You?

The effects of rate increases in the Greater Athens area

Information via Keller Williams)

Securing the right financing is critical when you find the right home. Many buyers put such a heavy focus on low home prices that they miss out on the real opportunity in today’s real estate market – historically low mortgage rates! Now is the time to lock in a mortgage rate to offer you the peace of mind you deserve with your next home purchase.
Submit a request for contact or call us today to discuss how you can take advantage of today’s market. We’re here to help with your every move.
Please share our contact information with anyone you know who may need real estate advice.

Five Ways to Update Your Space in Greater Athens

Five Ways to Update Your Space in the New Year

(Information and photo via Keller Williams)

When the ball drops on New Year’s Eve, we tend to start thinking of all the ways we want to overhaul our lives, but what about our houses? Here are five pieces of inspiration for updating your space in the new year. This may also give you some ideas in a new home that you may be reviewing.

1. Go bold. Paint an accent wall or a piece of furniture an of-the-moment, intense hue – like bright blue, fuchsia, kelly green or purple.

2. Embrace nature. Lacking a green thumb? Try succulents, which are some of the easiest plants to keep alive. Planters in natural materials like concrete and wood extend the organic feel.

3. Play with patterns. Geometric patterns continue to dominate décor designs. Integrate them into your space in a low-stakes way through patterned throw pillows or removable wallpaper.

4. Head toward the fringes. Textile trends are leading toward the tactile, with fringe popping up on everything from bedding to curtains to ottomans.

5. Gild it. Metallic accents make a room pop, and today’s tones can be mixed and layered, so consider trying brass serving trays with polished nickel cabinet pulls.

Looking to buy, sell or invest in real estate? Let’s talk about it. Submit a request for contact or call me today to arrange a personalized consultation.

6 Ways to Stage Your Home in the Greater Athens Area

Expertly staging your house could be the difference between whether or not a buyer is captivated by your house.

Here are six ways to make sure that your house makes an outstanding impression and is staged for success (information and photo via Keller Williams):

1. Store Personal Items: As your real estate team, our goal is to make sure your house appeals to the largest segment of likely buyers in order to secure the best possible price. In order to do this, it’s important to make sure the buyer can picture themselves in your house, so that means safely storing any personal items.
2. Minimize Furniture: Rearranging and even storing furniture will allow your house to appear more spacious as well as show off its charm and unique details.
3. Go Easy on Scents: One buyer might love the smell of a candle or freshly baked cookies, another might not. It’s best to keep scents neutral and minimal in order to boost appeal.
4. Show off Storage: Clearing out closets and other storage areas will show off their size and capacity.
5. Create a Hotel-like Space: Some of the best hotels invite guests to feel at home – and that is precisely what a buyer should feel when viewing your house.
6. Curb Appeal: The first impression is often the most important. We will help you identify landscaping that complements your house’s distinctive style.

 

Interested in learning more about what Team JWA can do to help market and sell your home? Submit a request for contact today, or give us a call for more information!

Steps in the Real Estate Home Buying Process

Steps in the Real Estate Home Buying Process

Let Team JWA guide you through your next home purchase in the Greater Athens area

You need a good representative who will work hard for you. Our real estate team is dedicated to helping you find the right home, at the best price. We want you to find the home that will make you happy and successful in real estate ownership.

When you hire us to help you buy your home, we want to know what you want and how much you can afford. Then we’ll find a way to merge these two priorities and find a residence that you’ll enjoy owning.

Keep your objectives in mind when visiting a home. Sometimes the idea of owning a home can overwhelm your practical sense, so keep your feelings in check. Keep a list handy of the features that you need and want in a home, and judge each home by the list instead of by details that could distract you from your goal. When you’re alone with your real estate professional, you can go over the pros and cons of each home. We can help you stay on track while still keeping our eyes out for a great property.

Engage the services of a good real estate lawyer. We can recommend several lawyers in the area who might be a good fit for you. Interview them to ensure that you get someone you can work with. The legalities of transferring land ownership can be dodgy, and a lawyer can be your best defense against future legal troubles. A good lawyer can charge several hundred to over a thousand dollars for their services, but the thousands of dollars saved in legal fees later on makes this a good expense.

Make the offer. This can be a maze of “buyer”, “seller”, “chattels”, “deposit”, and “completion”. We’ll be happy to prepare the paperwork and go through it with you before submitting it. Remember, the seller may reject or counter your offer, so even at this late date, avoid setting your heart on the home you hope to own. You’ll probably have to write a deposit check to the seller’s broker that proves the seriousness of your offer.

Get all necessary inspections done. A home inspector will check for signs of harmful materials like asbestos, lead paint and mold. They’ll also check for evidence of pests, faulty wiring and leaks. This is a crucial part of the home purchase. Not getting an inspection done means that you could be stuck in a home with a bad case of black mold and no recourse other than to pay for its removal. Inspections will cost a few hundred dollars, but again, this is more than worth it in the end. There are several inspectors in the area that we’d be happy to recommend.

Do a final walkthrough before closing the deal. We’d be happy to do this with you to make sure that everything agreed upon is completed prior to the final signing.

From the first interview that determines your requirements to the moment that you receive the keys, we can help you with the complicated process of buying a home. Don’t hesitate to submit a request for contact or give us a call to find out more about how we can make the home buying process easier!