house: Buying Homeowners Insurance for your Roseville, MN Home - 07/19/11 05:25 PM
Buying a home in Roseville, Minnesota is an exhilerating, complicated process. One of the many details you need to sort through is homeowners insurance. Where do you find it? How much coverage do you need? What does it cover and not cover? Particularly for a first-time home buyer, these questions can seem daunting. Here is some good information to get you started down the road to getting a good policy:
1. Start with what you already have. It’s quite likely that if you’re happy with the company you use for your auto insurance, you’ve already found your homeowners insurance company. Many … (1 comments)

house: Removing the Rose Colored Glasses to Buy or Sell in Hugo, MN - 07/18/11 06:54 PM
Whether you’re buying or selling a home in Hugo, MN, you may find yourself wearing a beautiful pair of rose colored glasses. Buying or selling a home can be an emotional process, and sellers and buyers have different blind spots that they are susceptible to in a sale or purchase. This article outlines a few of the ways that you can prepare yourself for a successful transaction by taking off the glasses.
As a seller, you have an emotional attachment to the house you’re selling, particularly if you’ve had it for many years or if you’ve raised a family in it. … (3 comments)

house: Getting the Money Right to Buy a White Bear Lake, MN Home - 07/07/11 12:52 PM
Looking for a new home in White Bear Lake, MN? Once you've made the decision that it's the right time to buy, it's so tempting to just get out and start looking. But there is some very important financial groundwork that you should lay before even stepping inside a house for sale.
This CNNMoney article gives some very good tips on what you should know and do before you start the process of buying (or even looking at) a house:
Start with your credit It's never been more important to have good credit when buying a home. Lenders are much more … (0 comments)

house: Tips for Summer House Hunting in Stillwater, MN - 07/07/11 12:50 PM
We're mid-way through the summer, and you may be wondering if you've missed your best chance at finding a home in Stillwater, Minnesota. The answer is "no"! It's true that many home owners list their homes for sale in the spring, because many buyers want to be moved into their new homes well before school begins.
But there are other advantages to finding homes for sale later in the summer!
Good deals on the "leftovers" If you're looking at "old" (i.e. initially listed in April or May) listings, it's very probable that the price on the homes are finally at the … (1 comments)

house: Boost the Value of your Forest Lake Home's Garage - 07/07/11 11:33 AM
As you prepare your Forest Lake home for sale, don't neglect the garage! It's easy to allow garages to become (or remain) catch-all holding tanks for your possessions, especially as you prepare to move. It's a mistake, however, to treat the garage any differently than you treat the rest of your house as you clean and stage it. Garages are huge selling points to many people, and seeing one in disrepair or completely filthy has a proportionally inverse effect on many buyers' desire to live in your house.
Here are a few good tips to prepare your garage for sale:
1. … (1 comments)

house: Selling Your Woodbury, MN House? Give it a Bath. - 07/07/11 11:28 AM
If you're working on getting your Woodbury, MN home ready to sell, you're probably getting sick of the phrase "curb appeal". You want to do everything you can to make your property attractive to potential buyers, but it can be overwhelming to think about all the possibly ways you could spend money sprucing up your house and yard.
One simple, time-efficient and cost-effective thing that you can do to immediately boost the look of your house and yard is to pressure wash it! This is particularly good for stucco homes, but will produce positive results on any kind of siding. For … (1 comments)

house: Ten Tips for Getting a Good Price on a Home in Center City, MN - 07/06/11 10:39 AM
If you're fortunate enough to be looking for a home in Center City, MN, you have many advantages on your side: housing prices are low, mortgage rates are at record lows, and inventory is high. But does that mean that you will automatically get a home for a good price? This article gives good tips on how to evaluate the investment value of any house:
Research Recently Sold, Comparable Properties Your real estate agent is your best ally in helping you determine whether any given house is priced to high or suspiciously too low.
Check Out Comparable Properties Currently on the … (1 comments)

house: Help Sell Your Lindstrom House With a Gorgeous Lawn - 07/06/11 04:03 AM
To sell your house in Lindstrom, MN, you need good curb and web appeal. Most potential buyers will be viewing your house online before coming in person for a showing. A beautiful lawn is key to presenting your house in the best light, and achieving it is not as difficult as you might think. Here are some simple steps to getting a gorgeous green lawn to attract buyers:
Soil - your lawn may become compacted, which will hinder growth. Having it aerated will allow water to seep into the group and soften the soil. Testing your soil's pH balance is also … (0 comments)

house: Tips for Buying a Home in Chisago City, MN - 07/05/11 05:06 PM
Looking for a home in Chisago City, MN? Follow the timeless advice of getting your financial paperwork together and finding a good real estate agent who knows the area well, like us! After that, here are five tips to put you on good house-hunting ground: 1. Don’t Take a “Good Location” for Granted You may have a preconceived idea of where the “good” neighborhoods to buy in are located in Chisago City. You might be right…or you might be wrong. Areas that were good five years ago may be currently full of foreclosures, which leads to decreased home values for the … (0 comments)

house: Avoid These Landscaping Mistakes to Sell your North Branch, MN House - 07/05/11 04:57 PM
If you're working toward selling your house in North Branch, MN, you may be looking around your yard and considering ways to improve your curb appeal. You're wise to do so - Smart Money magazine indicated that consumers value a landscaped home up to 11.3 percent higher than its base price, and a study by Aspen Environmental Companies found that a landscaping investment is nearly always recovered and can help reduce time on the market.
But as you determine where to spend your landscaping dollars, keep in mind a few common landscape and patio mistakes that homeowners often make, as outlined … (0 comments)

house: Short Sale or Foreclosure for your Highland Park Home? - 07/05/11 06:57 AM
If you are facing the reality of a potential foreclosure on your home in Highland Park, St. Paul, MN, you’re probably considering the option of a short sale. It can be a very confusing process, and one that you shouldn’t attempt without experienced professionals helping you through it – both legal help and real estate help.
But is a short sale better for your credit in the long run than a foreclosure? There has been some confusing information put out in the past few months, but the bottom line is still the same: yes. A foreclosure is always the worst option … (0 comments)

house: Why Use a Realtor to Buy a Minneapolis Townhouse? - 07/04/11 08:27 AM
If you want to buy a townhouse in Minneapolis, chances are you’re looking at every possible angle to make sure you’re getting a good deal and making a good investment. Let me take a few moments to tell you why working with a realtor is the smartest way to go. There are over a dozen good reasons given here, but I’d like to highlight four:
Your REALTOR® can assist you in the selection process by providing objective information about each property.Someone who is a trained realtor has knowledge, experience and resources to help you find the right home. The amount of … (0 comments)

house: Top Things to Know About Buying a Home in St. Paul, MN - 07/02/11 04:22 AM
Ready to buy a home in St. Paul, MN? There are all kinds of things you’re likely thinking about. What kind of house do you want? Which neighborhoods are you most interested in? Before you get really invested in thinking through a lot of these kinds of issues, however, you want to have some fundamentals together. CNNMoney gives a good “Top Things to Know” list for buying a home:
1. Don’t buy if you can’t stay put. I think this is a lesson that most buyers understand these days. Selling is currently much harder than buying, so investing in real estate … (0 comments)

house: Study These Trends to Sell your Grand Avenue, St. Paul House - 06/30/11 03:08 AM
Want to sell your Grand Avenue, St. Paul house? You would be well-advised to study recent buyer trends when it comes to home priorities. Ron Phipps, president of the National Association of Realtors, lists several noted trends that show what buyers are looking for. Some may surprise you! Among them:
Homes in Good Condition This may seem like a no-brainer; everyone wants a home in good condition, right? The point, however, is that fewer and fewer buyers are interested in DIY fixer-uppers. They want homes that are ready to move into, with all necessary repairs completed, and completed well. As Phipps … (0 comments)

house: Selling Your Maple Grove, MN Home as a Short Sale - 06/29/11 04:57 AM
There is good news and bad news on the horizon if you want to sell your Maple Grove, MN home as a short sale. If you owe more on your mortgage than the house is currently worth and need or want to sell, a short sale is quite possibly your best option. It’s important to state up front that you should always talk to an attorney who specializes in real estate issues and preferably short sales/loan modifications before making a decision or signing any kind of agreement.
But back to the good and bad news – you probably already feel like … (0 comments)

house: Staging Your Shoreview, MN House to Sell - 06/28/11 02:32 AM
If you’re thinking about selling your Shoreview, MN house, one of the most important things you need to do is something you can’t do: view your house from a detatched, unbiased perspective. Your real estate agent is someone who can help you make important decisions about the price of your home, and a stager is someone who can help you make good decisions about how to present it.
Just as you can sell your house without a real estate agent, you can present it to buyers without the aid of a professional stager. But the numbers don’t lie: you will sell … (0 comments)

house: Why It’s Time to Buy a Townhouse in Cottage Grove, MN - 06/27/11 04:18 AM
Looking for a townhouse in Cottage Grove, MN? You might be wondering if it’s a good investment. The past five years of the real estate downward spiral in the United States has been discouraging for some, but surveys show that most Americans still believe that buying a home is a good way to invest their money. And with good cause, per the Wall Street Journal. There are indications that 2011 might be exactly the right time to buy:
Mortgage rates are near 50-year lows ARMs are at record lows  Homes are more affordable than ever  The high number of foreclosures has … (0 comments)

house: Mortgage Tips for Buying a Home in Lake Elmo, MN - 06/24/11 08:59 AM
Should you be in the market for a home in Lake Elmo, Minnesota, you might be facing a chicken or egg conundrum: do you find the house you want first, or first get approved for a mortgage? Increasingly the answer is the latter. “It used to be, if you wanted a house, you went out, found a house and then spoke to a mortgage broker or went to a bank to get a loan and it was fairly easy,” says Ross Weinstein of Exclusive Capital. “Today, you really need to get on the mortgage game early and find your mortgage first, … (1 comments)

house: Tips for First-Time Home Sellers in Mahtomedi, MN - 06/22/11 05:26 PM
If you are selling a home in Mahtomedi, MN and this is your first time as a home seller, the good news is that you have no previous experiences to compare this to. That’s good news because all your previous experiences would have had very little bearing on what it’s like to sell a home in today’s market.
Hmm. I said “good news”, right? Well, maybe “real news” would be more accurate. There’s no point in pretending that it’s easy to sell a house today. Sellers have to work harder to make their house stand out from the pack, and in … (0 comments)

house: Five Things That Can Help Sell Your Blaine, MN Home - 06/22/11 06:22 AM
Interested in selling your home in Blaine, Minnesota? You likely know the importance of pricing your home correctly for the market and your area, and have taken care of major repairs and decluttering. But some other surprising factors can help sell your home, as mentioned in this article:
1. Neighbors We all know that bad neighbors can be bad news for selling a house; their unkept landscaping and old rusted lawnmower in the yard can be a turn-off to potential buyers. But conversely, they can be a huge asset as you sell. Your neighbors have personal motivation to secure good neighbors. … (0 comments)

 
Barb Goerss, Helping You With All 14 Moves You'll Make

Barb Goerss

Helping You With All 14 Moves You'll Make

Forest Lake, MN

More about me…

Address: 1398 Lake Street South, Suite 100, Forest Lake, MN, 55025

Office: (651) 464-1179

Fax: (651) 379-1555



Links

Archives

RSS 2.0 Feed for this blog