mcdonough home search: Setting Your Henry County Home’s Price: More Science than Art Setting - 03/23/14 11:06 PM
A major home-selling decision arrives right at the start: setting your home’s price. It’s a step that can be decisive for good or for ill.But what is the “right” price? We know what it probably isn’t—it’s not the first number that pops into your head, nor is it likely to be The-Price-of-Your-Next-House-Plus-the Cost-of-a-Family-Vacation-in-Tahiti-Plus-the-New-Sportscar-You’ve-Always-Wanted-to-Own. It’s also not a price that will ‘test the market’ (to make sure there hasn’t been an upward spike in demand since the last comparable neighborhood home sold).Setting a home’s price in the right ballpark can be easier than many people assume. You can get there by a … (0 comments)

mcdonough home search: Housing Market - 03/17/14 10:37 PM
The details seem stubbornly worrisome. Mortgage requirements have grown stricter. The Federal Reserve may or may not turn off the cheap money spigot—and if anything causes the stock market to sputter, it’s uncertainty. Occasional bits of good news in the labor picture can’t overcome the fact that unemployment remains stuck on high in many states.
All of this should be bad news for the housing market in Henry County, except for one overriding factor: apparently, American consumers aren’t buying it.
Despite uncertain economic news, consumers’ overall expectations for the housing market remained steady. The Federal Reserve Bank of New York’s monthly … (0 comments)

mcdonough home search: Buying a Home in Henry County - 03/17/14 10:32 PM
When it comes to buying a house in Henry County, almost the first thing most of us do is to check the online listings to see what’s out there that catches our eye. That quick first look will usually reflect some preferences most of us don’t even bother to think about (that is, until we’re buying a house).
Sometimes they stem from our earliest childhood memories—the impressions that shape what ‘home’ should look like. Sometimes, those preferences have developed over time as an expression of our personal style. One preference can be a real trouble-maker if a couple discovers that their … (0 comments)

mcdonough home search: 2014 Trends in Home Design Bring Fresh Notes to the Kitchen - 03/17/14 10:29 PM
Keeping your Henry County kitchen looking up-to-date doesn’t have to be difficult or expensive. Contemporary home design in our neck of the woods is all about knowing what the latest trends are and which to choose when regular maintenance calls for a change in appliances or décor.
This year, eco-friendly appliances are definitely ‘in’—as are the pops of bright color meant to create a vivid and welcoming kitchen. And as convenience features continue to evolve, those are increasingly prominent factors influencing design choices. Especially if you are planning to sell your Henry County home in the near future, there are a few home … (0 comments)

mcdonough home search: Getting a Loan for Being Your Own Boss and Getting a Home Loan - 03/17/14 10:21 PM
You don’t have to tell anyone who is self-employed that there are extra costs that go with the benefits. In addition to the long hours and weight of responsibility that come with the job description, getting a home loan has always added special challenges. Now that we are into the new Dodd-Frank era of federal oversight, some of the changes warrant an early heads-up.
The 2010 legislation that went into effect on January 10 created the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, with the function of tightening the rules lenders follow in order to discourage the issuing of mortgages that borrowers can’t be … (0 comments)

mcdonough home search: Endless Winter” Fails to Deter Listing Rebound Outlook - 03/10/14 12:07 AM
Real estate offices have been gearing up for the imminent spring selling season, the time when Henry County listings swell to meet the expected surge in buying activity. I sometimes put quotes around ‘selling season’ because so many factors go into home sales that it can be slightly misleading—we do sell homes all year long, after all!
But there is a lot of truth (and historical verification) to the idea that springtime brings a burst of new Henry County listings and accompanying selling activity. There can be lots of reasons why that happens, but this past weekend, area homeowners who were reading The … (0 comments)

mcdonough home search: Henry County Home Loan Rate-Watchers Eye New Fed Leadership - 03/10/14 12:01 AM
On January 6, the Senate confirmed Janet Yellen to head the Federal Reserve’s Board of Governors, making it the first time ever that a woman has led the nation’s most important financial institution. In some respects, it makes her the most powerful woman in the United States.
As with every personnel change in the Fed, Yellen’s rise has fostered plenty of concerns about the direction the Federal Reserve will take under her leadership. Since it’s the institution that determines the federal funds rate—which in turn dictates how much businesses and individuals pay for their loans—any change in Federal Reserve policy has a … (0 comments)

mcdonough home search: Real Estate Books Aid Henry County Buyers, Sellers, Investors - 03/09/14 11:57 PM
When it comes to making the most of Henry County real estate, knowledge is power. The schools didn’t teach us anything about selling a home or how to decide which home to buy, yet those are subjects that have lasting impacts on our lives. When such key decisions are in our immediate future, we come face-to-face with the importance of making the right choices, asking the right questions—and engineering the best deal.  
Whether or not you’re about to head a foray into Henry County real estate, here are a number of excellent recent books that will help arm you with actionable knowledge:
… (0 comments)

mcdonough home search: Selling a Property in Henry County Can Hinge on Location Issues - 03/09/14 11:50 PM
This spring, all signs point to our Henry County real estate market being a sizzling hot one. For anyone who will be selling a property soon, it’s time to take stock of the factors that will influence how attractive (and competitive) their offering will turn out to be,
 Always near the top of the list is, of course, location: location as geography (how close it is to Henry County’s key shopping, parks and recreation areas) and location as setting (how desirable is the surrounding neighborhood).
And when it comes to location, a stubborn fact of life is that selling a property in … (0 comments)

mcdonough home search: Buying a Home: What About Flood Insurance? - 03/02/14 11:44 PM
It can be perplexing—and not least because it’s one of the least-discussed details you run into when buying a home. The issue is flood insurance, and it’s sometimes first brought to the fore when you are buying a home in Henry County that you would not have thought was on a “flood plain.” If it is, it’s going to require flood insurance before the bank will sign off on a loan.
As we only see from time to time, devastating floods can strike when and where least expected: sometimes, in areas where that ruinous flooding is unprecedented. In 2005, when FEMA … (0 comments)

mcdonough home search: Empty Nesters Have Alternatives to Simple Downsizing - 03/02/14 11:38 PM
The children have grown; home feels…a little empty…
Many people assume that an empty nest means it’s downsizing time—time for a smaller house or condo. In truth, for many a homeowner in Henry County,  downsizing is just one of a number of appealing directions.
It may sound obvious, but it’s your interests and plans that should guide your next step. After a lifetime of deferring to other people’s priorities, many of usare ill-prepared to think creatively about what it is we want. When we do, downsizing might not necessarily be the springboard to life’s next great adventure.
For instance: consider Upsizing. Moving a smaller family into a larger home … (0 comments)

mcdonough home search: Henry County Real Estate Watchers Eye Trend to Micro Apartments - 03/02/14 11:32 PM
Micro apartments, once considered a momentary fad, are become an increasingly popular choice for city residents across the nation. It's a trend that might signal the beginnings of a shift in Henry County apartment living as well.
The tiny apartments known as “micro apartments” generally feature a small bedroom, private sitting area, bathroom...but not much more. In a typical floor plan, a living unit has 200 square feet or less ­-a far cry from American norms for the better part of a century. It is true, though, that there is nothing new about cramped apartments and shared living spaces. What sets today’s … (0 comments)

mcdonough home search: Things your Henry County Real Estate Agents wants you to know - 03/02/14 11:14 PM
Real estate agents in Henry County are true veterans when it comes to every aspect of what needs to take place for a home to be sold. We know in advance what all the pieces of the puzzle are, and what needs to be done for them to fit together properly. We’ve also seen why some homes stay on the market for too long, while others get snatched up right away. And the best part is—we want our clients to know all those same things!Every rule may be made to be broken, but here are three generalities that just about every Henry … (0 comments)

mcdonough home search: Relocating to Henry County: Vetting Your New Neighborhood - 02/23/14 11:06 PM
When searching for a new house, topping most people’s list of requirements are the number of bedrooms, number and configuration of bathrooms, square footage, yard size—characteristics that are easy to compare. Architectural style might be important; asking price, certainly highly important, although many prospective buyers assume some wiggle room might be possible.
There are so many facts to consider, particularly when that new home might include relocating to Henry County, that one extremely important factor sometimes gets short shrift: the neighborhood.
When I escort my clients on a tour of the properties they have decided to check out, I’m sure to … (0 comments)

mcdonough home search: Flipping a home in Henry County - 02/23/14 10:58 PM
In conjunction with the rise in house prices, the profit potential for flipping a home in Henry County is once more drawing the entrepreneur-minded. 
Flipping a home is the process of purchasing a property—often one in a rundown condition—then improving its value and reselling it for a quick profit. Quick is the key word in this strategy, since a fast turnover allows capital to be devoted to purchase and renovation rather than operating and maintenance costs. It’s why successful house flippers generally focus on quick gains over maximizing profits.  
While this has proven to be a lucrative strategy in the past, … (0 comments)

mcdonough home search: Remodeling Surge Reflects Rise in real estate in Henry County - 02/23/14 10:40 PM
That Henry County real estate prices have been on the rise for a while is certainly one factor that has coaxed some of the more cautious buyers off the sidelines. It’s made the market a much more lively (and happy!) place than it was a few years ago—and forecasters are fairly uniform in predicting continuing growth, though at a less overheated pace.
For those who are even more cautious, the question remains whether property values and the Henry County real estate prices that reflect them are likely to hold up over the long haul. They may know that, historically, homeownership has proven to … (0 comments)

mcdonough home search: Unfinished Rooms for Staging Henry County Homes Should not be a issue - 02/23/14 10:30 PM
You can have 100 reasons for wanting to move onto a larger, smaller, or just different house or neighborhood—and 101 why it keeps getting put off. Chief among them for most of us is the hassle factor. You start to run down a mental list of everything that will have to be done, and one of the larger issues stops you cold—just too much sheer hassle!
Let’s deal with a typical one: the unfinished room. Staging a Henry County home might seem doable enough, but when a portion of the house is actually unfinished, it can present a barrier that’s too time-consuming … (0 comments)

mcdonough home search: To Buy a Home in Henry County or Wait—Signs Help Decide Five Indications That Time is Ripe to Buy a Henry County Home When is Key in Decision in Whether to Buy a Home - 02/17/14 10:59 PM
Spring signals the traditional start of real estate’s busy selling season, and while that’s all well and fine, when it comes to making your own momentous personal real estate decision—whether to buy a home or to sell your own—trying to decide exactly when to make the move is easier said than done.
It is true that this year national observers are unusually unanimous in expecting that last year’s sales upswing will continue. But if you are deciding whether now is the right time to buy a Henry County home (or list yours for sale), the reasons behind the quickening sales activity … (0 comments)

mcdonough home search: An Open House in Henry County is Like Your Own World Premiere An County Open House - Your Property’s Moment in the Limelight - 02/17/14 10:55 PM
Your first open house in Henry County can be compared to a movie’s world premiere. We may not have strobes flashing and paparazzi jostling each other, but all eyes are definitely on the above-the-title headline star: your house.
It’s a star that has to look its glamorous best, too, or the fans will be disappointed. The purpose of any Henry County open house is to sell buyers on the largely emotional dream of potentially owning your home. Doing so means banishing everyday imperfections—the debris created by daily living—from the stage (at least to the extent it’s practical). Absolutely essential is insuring … (0 comments)

mcdonough home search: Henry County Listings Show Changes After Real Estate Resurgence Why They Resemble Fashion in Men’s Ties - 02/17/14 10:48 PM
It’s a little like fashion in men’s ties. The really wide or narrow ones you laugh at today will be back in style sooner or later. There’s an analogy in our Henry County listings.
After the financial crisis in 2007, the average size of homes began to shrink. One major casualty was the “specialty room.” Specialty rooms (or special function rooms) are any room that serves a non-standard purpose. In the Henry County listings, you find them described as gyms, saunas, home offices, laundry rooms, home theaters, au-pair suites, “man-caves” and outdoor living rooms.
These are extras: desirable, but not really … (0 comments)