This home is nestled in the beautifully master planned community of Vista Ridge. Tennis Courts, Community Poo, and the Colorado National Golf Course only feet away.
This beautiful 2 story home has just over 2700 finished square feet and includes a full, unfinished basement.
Many thoughtful details have been added to this home such as:
* Laundry Chute at Main Upper Bath
* Outdoor Kitchen complete with a Gas Grill, Sink with Hot/Cold running water, and a Beer Fridge.
* Vegetable Garden
* Yoga area that looks over Stunning views of the foothills.
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So many more lovely features to take in, visit the virtual tour for more details!http://vu.realbiz360.com//Listing-176146.html
Hello again my fellow Active Rainers. This is the final part of my Open House series, I hope that you have been able to find some helpful hints throughout this. The last few points really touch on some bonus points, they may be no brainers to some and a light-bulb-over-the-head for others. Thanks so much for reading the series and I look forward to hearing from you!
NO TOUCHY!!
9. No matter what, people are going to touch things. You'd be amazed how many people just plop down on a bed or couch, it's almost like they forget what they are shopping for. With this in mind, touching tends to come along with the visual appeal of the home. Everyone loves to touch a granite countertop or stainless steel appliance. Be sure the home is clean and dusted. Touching is inevitable. If you don't want anyone to sit on your satin comforter, I recommend that they switch it out while the Open House is taking place. Agents should always accompany visitors through the house, not only as a guide, but a guardian.
10. Temperature. Yet another way to welcome visitors into the home is by making the home comfortable. If there is snow on the ground and it's chilly outside, turn on the fireplace (if it's gas of course) and create a little mood with the fire. On the other hand, if it's warm enough outside, turn on the A/C. This not only makes the home more comfortable, it's a subtle way to show that another feature is included in the home.
Ah, the sound of music
11. If you are holding an open house in an empty home, it's always nice to bring a little music. Not only does it keep you company, but it also welcomes visitors to the home. If the home has built in surround sound, this is a great opportunity to show off this feature.
Try not to have the latest music on your playlist that consists of offensive and obscene language, that will not welcome visitors and it certainly doesn't make you look very professional in the eyes of your sellers. Music that people can hum along to or just feel at home listening too is great. I pretty much take my iPod, shuffle the songs, put in a portable speaker box (if there is no access to the stereo system and such) and it's great.
That's it!! Remember, you are representing the home and you should have it show as well. Take the time to check everything before you leave such as, windows, side doors, garage doors, crawl spaces, etc. Leave the home the way you left it and just take care of it. If you brought things with you, take them so you don't leave your clutter in someone else's home.
If you need a visual example, visit a model home complex nearby and see how it's done. These sales representatives take exceptional care of their models and we can learn a lot from their time on site. I know I did and I cherish that training each and every day!!
Now that you've prepared the outside of the home for the Open House, it's time to make the inside SHINE!
KNOCK, KNOCK!!
4. Vacant Homes. When homes are empty, you may want to place some furniture in the home to give an idea of what furniture looks like...kind of like giving a scale to visitors so they can say, "that is like the size of our bed" or "if they can fit that in here, then our couch will fit too"...get them thinking about how their belongings will live in the home too. If doing this is not possible, maybe provide dimensions (which may be listed in MLS) of each room so they can measure their existing furniture to see if it will work. Most people don't want to have to purchase new furniture along with the new home.
5. Occupied Homes: Many sellers tend to remain in the home until it sells, makes sense, no need to move if you really don't need to right? Everyone's tastes are different...this is SO IMPORTANT. If you have a rustic taste in your home, don't force your taste on someone who is very modern. Neutral is usually better but the definition of this is open to interpretation. Embrace their differences. Now, if there is a puke-green wall in the living room and it just sticks out like a sore thumb and visitors negatively comment on it frequently, you may want to mention that to your sellers and they can decide whether or not to change it, in my past experience, most tend to repaint over the undesired color, but definitely leave the decision to them to save yourself some possible stress between you and your sellers. Some visitors just cannot look past wall color, carpet, furniture, you name it. Your job is to overcome those objections and get them to look at the shape, size, functionality, of the home, get them to visualize THEIR things in place of the existing ones.
Here is an example of a color that may not appeal to some people, but it is my bathroom and I'm not planning on moving so I have no need to change it :) haha
Another trick that some builders and agents will do is go through the home and make signs pointing out features that visitors should pay extra attention to. For example, if the home has a finished basement, you may want to place a sign on the door leading to the basement that says "Finished Basement, take a look!" or something to make them want to go downstairs.
I'VE SEEN THE LIGHT!!
6. Lighting: If you are in a home that tends to be dark, open the blinds, turn on some lights, make the home shine!! If there is a beautiful chandelier in the dining room, turn the lights on. Pendant lights are amazing over an island...they brighten up the area and really draw your eye in...if your eyes are focused on them, you naturally want to walk in and take a closer look. Turn lights on in bathrooms and closets, turn them on where you think a visitor would be drawn to. Master bathroom lights are great, especially in showers (clean ones only, if there is a lot of clutter, don't focus on that area)
Follow Your Nose
7. We used to bake cookies in the models and you'd be amazed at the response. If a home smellsgood, you naturally want to find out where it comes from. Be sure they don't get too sidetracked trying to find the smelly stuff, keep them on track and show them the home.
Now, you don't have to mix up a batch of Toll House cookies to make the house smell good, there are some amazing air fresheners out these days, pick up a couple inexpensive ones and keep them on hand. You can also coordinate with the seller on this too. Some people may be sensitive to fragrance so I recommend leaning towards the more subtle, natural fragrances like vanilla, sugar cookies, etc. My personal favorites are the Wallflowers from Bath and Body Works (they have awesome sales on these often).
Place one right by the front door, and 1 upstairs in 2 story homes. For Ranch plans, place one by the front door and toward the back of the home. The scent will go throughout the home and be lovely!
8. MMM, MMM GOOD! Depending on the time of year, it's nice to offer refreshments or a little snack. You'd be amazed at how sellers are open to baking or buying something for people to enjoy while they tour the home. Suggest this to your seller and let them decide of course...that's is the golden rule! The home is still theirs and they will be the best to decide whether or not they want chocolate chips in and around their furniture, you want to take into account the little ones that come along with their parents.
Sometimes having a pitcher of water with lemon (or cucumber is really refreshing and different) available during the warm weather months is best. Provide cups that aren't breakable. By having this, it also allows them to work around the kitchen to see how it feels to them. It's really a test drive and you'd be amazed at how well this goes over. The Kitchen is truly the heart of the home and if it doesn't feel right on a tour, it won't feel right when they move in.
That is all for part 2...the final part of the series will touch on more aspects of the interior of the home! You can always contact me if you want more ideas or some clarification on any of these points! I'm always here to help my fellow Active Rainers!!
Holding Open Houses when a home is listed for sale can be both helpful, and if not done properly, hurtful. Open Houses are a fantastic, cost effective way, to market a property but it truly does need the combined efforts of both the seller and the listing agent.
I've had many years of sitting on site as a builder representative and have seen what works and what doesn't. Now that I'm on my own in the real estate industry, I take a lot of my experience from working in model homes to individual seller's homes. Here are a few tips that I feel can make your Open House a success.
WHERE'S WALDO'S HOUSE???
1. Signage...Duh!! For open houses, the key to getting some traffic is by having lots of signs that walk you straight to the home. Every entrance to the home should have a sign and every turn should help potential buyers easily get to the home.
If you are holding an Open House on a day where there are multiple signs that all look the same, make yours stand out by placing balloons that are the same color leading to the home, or, use a dry erase marker to write on the signs (if they are plastic, this works better, if you are using metal, I don't recommend the markers. The whole idea is to make your house stand out!!
If your budget allows, hire a sign guy that will add some movement to the signs, I don't care what you say, those people throwing the signs around always catch attention, just make sure they are moving around in the right ways so that passers-by can actually read the sign they are tossing around.
THINGS THAT MAKE YOU GO HMMM!!
2. WeatherCourtesy. Here in Colorado, we tend to get snow so, be aware of what the snow can do to the home. Recently I held an open house after the snow and the steps leading to the home had a bit of snow on them. Either arrange with the homeowner to have a shovel or broom handy (depending on the amount of snow of course) so you can clear the path for visitors or carry a small shovel with you in your trunk so you have it when you need it. This makes the entrance to the home safer and more welcoming. It allows the visitors to look at the home as they walk up to it instead of the steps they may slip and fall on. Be courteous to those that visit and do what you can to show your seller that you care about their home. Not to mention, it saves the homeowner and yourself a lot of grief if someone were to get injured on the way in, ice can be tricky so be sure to take the proper precautions when it comes to colder weather.
3. Welcome Home!! If the snow or rain hits on your Open House day, do what you can to keep the elements outside and not track them into the home. Provide construction booties for visitors to place on their shoes to protect the flooring or place a nice sign requesting that visitors remove their shoes.
You may also want to provide a door mat to place inside the entry door to catch any snow, rain, mud, etc. that may attach to shoes. Do everything you can to keep the seller from having to clean up after your Open House. It's enough work to have them leave the home while you are there.
Not only do you want to keep the elements out of the carpets, you also want to just show your seller that you care about their home. Try to have visitors be aware of their shoes even if the elements aren't a factor. You never know what lingers inside of treads on a shoe...that would be embarrassing for everyone if something made it's way around the house that should have been left at the door.
I hope that this part of the series was helpful getting you to the door, the next part will explore the various aspects of preparing the interior of the home for an Open House!
My neighbor is an active volunteer for Habitat for Humanity and yesterday I had the opportunity to support her efforts by attending the 1000th Habitat for Humanity celebration in Longmont. A lucky family was finally able to reach their dream of homeownership thanks to the wonderful program.
I wasn't that familiar with Habitat and how they worked, I really thought it was just a family helping to build a house they got for free...I was mistaken. These families work at least 250 hours helping to build their home and they undergo numerous classes to become better educated about owning a home and the financial obligations that go along with it. It reminded me of when I obtained financial aid for college and before the government would even give a check, you had to go through a class to learn about how to be financially responsible.
To learn more about the myths of Habitat for Humanity, I visited their page at http://hfhi.org/how/myths.aspx I had believed some of the myths to be true until I attended the event yesterday. I never would have known the Habitat house was a Habitat house...it was cute and it fit right in with the surrounding community.
I had to write this blog because I learned something and I thought I would share my new knowledge with my fellow agents. We certainly don't know everything there is to know about housing but steps like these certainly do help.
I wish the owners of their new home the best of luck and I feel they are very prepared to venture out into the world of homeownership.
Can you believe Thanksgiving is just around the corner?? It's that time of year where most people gather around a table full of family recipes and mouth watering treats but during these difficult economic times, some are unable to enjoy this luxury. This year, Becky and I wanted to give back to the community that has given us so much this past year.
We held our 1st Annual Erie Commons Food Drive the week of November 10th and picked up bags on Friday, November 14th. Both myself and Becky Coet were like 2 proud parents when we started collecting on Friday.
House after house had the bag we had provided and some had even added additional bags to their donation. We couldn't believe how generous our neighbors were. We had a feeling they were wonderful but this event truly showed the spirit of our wonderful community. We even found out that Blackrock Elementary School and 9News were holding their own food drives so we had an amazing response even with the "competition". It was fun driving around the community shouting "there's one!" or "stop the car, there's a bag!" It was great. I even had the pleasure of hanging out of the back of her car so we could move quicker.
We decided to donate to Sister Carmen Community Center in Lafayette and when we arrived with 2 car loads of food, I think I may have seen the manager of the food bank's jaw drop. I wanted to just hug everyone that was there helping us unload our cars. Now I think I know how Santa feels. The community center was busier than I could have imagined and it was great to be a part of making someone's holiday a little more enjoyable.
During the weekend we received an email telling us that we had donated 799lbs. Becky even received a few calls after Friday which added about 5 more bags to the donation, needless to say, our 1st food drive was a complete success!! Over 800 lbs. of food in just one community, we couldn't have imagined a better way to start this tradition.
We want to send our deepest
"THANK YOU"
to each and every member of our community for their generosity. Our efforts would have meant nothing if it hadn't been for our community coming together to help others.
We look forward to continuing this tradition in Erie Commons and can't wait to see how much more we can help others during this time of year (and possibly others).
Happy Monday to all my fellow Active Rainers. I received a newsletter this morning from the Mayor of Erie Andrew Moore and he had some great information about the upcoming events in our town. I wanted to share them with you because these events always make for some fun during the holiday season. The Erie Rotary Club has a lot in store for the Town of Erie.
Some of the events include:
Light Up Briggs Street! Friday, Dec 5, 4:30-6:30
Holiday Arts & Crafts Fair Saturday, Dec 6, 10:00 - 5:00
Erie Community Library Winterfest Saturday, Dec 6, 10:00 - 4:00
Erie Holiday Lighting Contest - Entries by 12/8, Judging on 12/11, sign up at the Erie Community Center
Polar Bear Family Bike Ride - January 1, 10:00 - 1:00, click here for more information on how to sign up for this and other events.
I always love getting these updates from our Mayor and wanted to pass on the information.
Located on the west side of County Line Road in Erie Colorado, this beautiful community is very easy on the eyes!
One of the most appealing communities in the town of Erie, if you are looking for a change in scenery and an amazing street appeal, you definitely need to check out Erie Village. The color schemes in this neighborhood are so much fun and, a nice break away from normal neutral tones. You see bright blues, pinks, reds, greens, every color in the rainbow. The colors are an amazing addition to the Victorian architecture and they add so much character to each individual home.
Many homes in this community are not only easy on the eyes, but they are also kind to the earth featuring many Built Green options to save on heating and cooling bills.
Words cannot fully describe the feeling of this "old fashioned" community. If you are somewhat curious and live in Colorado, you should really make the trip, it's worth seeing and if you are looking for a great place that is unique, this is definitely a place for you!
My neighbor and business partner, Becky Coet and I decided to give back to our community here in Erie, Colorado by starting an annual Food Drive. We simply delivered donated paper bags to each home in Erie Commons and will be picking up the filled bags at the end of the week. We have had such a warm response already and people have been contacting us to come and get their bags, I'm pleasantly surprised to see how much people are donating. I have a hard time believing that one neighbor had 3 bags of food just lying around their pantry (which consisted of 3 huge jars of peanut butter) and have a feeling they actually went out and purchased items for the drive...it makes me goopy just thinking about that extra effort being given to help the hungry!! The picture below is just a fraction of what my family donated...
I'm so proud of Erie Commons for coming together to support the local families. We do our official pickup on Friday and are so excited to see how well our community has come together! I can't wait to deliver all the food to the food bank and be able to help the families that are feeling the current economic pinch.
So, be sure to be thankful for what you have. As Sheryl Crow put it in the song Soak Up the Sun, "It's not having what you want, it's wanting what you've got." Be thankful for the things that you have and the things we often take for granted like food and clothing. If you can spare any items that others would die for, please give this holiday season. You will make a difference in your community and maybe even a family that you wouldn't be able to help otherwise.
Thank you to Safeway for donating 250 bags!!
And mostly, Thank You to Sister Carmen Community Center for providing such an amazing service!!
Disclaimer: ActiveRain Corp. does not necessarily endorse the real estate agents, loan officers and brokers listed on this site. These real estate profiles, blogs and blog entries are provided here as a courtesy to our visitors to help them make an informed decision when buying or selling a house. ActiveRain Corp. takes no responsibility for the content in these profiles, that are written by the members of this community.
This beautiful 2 story home has just over 2700 finished square feet and includes a full, unfinished basement.
comfortable. If there is snow on the ground and it's chilly outside, turn on the fireplace (if it's gas of course) and create a little mood with the fire. On the other hand, if it's warm enough outside, turn on the A/C. This not only makes the home more comfortable, it's a subtle way to show that another feature is included in the home.
Try not to have the latest music on your playlist that consists of offensive and obscene language, that will not welcome visitors and it certainly doesn't make you look very professional in the eyes of your sellers. Music that people can hum along to or just feel at home listening too is great. I pretty much take my iPod, shuffle the songs, put in a portable speaker box (if there is no access to the stereo system and such) and it's great.
good, you naturally want to find out where it comes from. Be sure they don't get too sidetracked trying to find the smelly stuff, keep them on track and show them the home.
walk you straight to the home. Every entrance to the home should have a sign and every turn should help potential buyers easily get to the home.
elements outside and not track them into the home. Provide construction booties for visitors to place on their shoes to protect the flooring or place a nice sign requesting that visitors remove their shoes.
;)
;)
