This blog was created by Amy Taylor, administrative assistant

10 steps to take before planting Judy’s sign in front of your home

In real estate, the “first impression is the lasting impression”. Taking certain steps to improve your home’s appearance can possibly help it sell faster and for a higher price. However, this does not mean that you should make plans for major home renovations to get your property sold. There is no guarantee that the costs incurred will be recovered once the home is sold. Here is a list of 10 cost effective things you can do to get your home ready to be placed on the market

1. GET OUT - To ensure potential buyers feel comfortable while viewing your home, you must leave the property. In order for buyers to visualize themselves living in your home, they need to picture themselves living in the space, how they would like to decorate, where they would put their furniture, and what bedroom would belong to each family member. With the homeowner walking around with the buyers, they will simply feel like guests in a stranger’s home.

2. RE-PAINT – Adding a fresh coat of paint can quickly spruce up any room in your home. Neutral color selections will appeal to most buyers and can allow your home to appear larger.

3. ADD/ENHANCE LIGHT – Another quick fix to brighten up your home is to accentuate light in each room. Clean your windows and take down any dark window treatments blocking out natural light for day time showings. For night time showings, turn on all lights in the home before the buyer arrives at the home. If there is a dark area in a room, add a lamp to open up the space.

4. LANSCAPING – Improve your home’s initial curb appeal to catch the eye of someone driving by or a buyer scheduled to view the home. A buyer’s opinion of the home begins from viewing it from the outside. Pull any weeds and mow your lawn, plant new flowers, and pick up any flyers from your lawn.

5. DE-CLUTTER – Your home will instantly become more eye-catching once you de-clutter each room. Not only will your home become more attractive to potential buyers, it will also make your home look larger. Remove, discard, or store any excessive decorative pieces, magazines, papers, and personal objects.

6. CLEAN OUT CLOSETS – Your closets need to look as over-sized as possible to the potential buyers viewing your home. When de-cluttering, don’t just throw everything into your closets. Cleaning out your closets will also benefit you. You will discard any extremities you don’t need before you move. You can sell items on E-bay, in a yard sale, or donate your belongings to a charity.

7. REPAIRS AND REPLACEMENTS – If you notice that something in your home will not pass an engineers inspection, fix the problem before it arises.

8. BE ODOR CONSCIOUS– Having your home smell like a pet or smoke can be unpleasant and a turn off for potential buyers. Air your home out before a buyer comes to see your home, have air fresheners throughout your home, or a candle lit to mask and odor. If you smoke in your home, clean your walls and possibly have your carpets professionally cleaned.

9. CLEAN – Try to keep your home as clean and tidy as possibly when buyers come to see your home. Clean bathrooms, your kitchen, and pick up children’s toys. This will help improve the first impressions of your home.

10. REMOVE EXCESS FURNITURE – Store or remove any furniture that does not add to the look or design of the room. This will make your space look bigger and create more floor space.

It is so true when they say that a picture says a thousand words. Hello. My name is Joe and I am the listings manager for The Energized Realty Group. I am writing today about marketing homes on the internet. Statistics show that approximately 85% of all buyers begin their search on the internet and they want to know everything before they contact an agent.

One of my functions here is to photograph homes and create virtual tours for our listings to display on the internet. Would you want to go see a home that had really bad pictures or no pictures at all? Probably not, especially in the technological age we are in today. We take great pride in representing our properties for sale in the highest manner. In fact, we feel a level of pride which is about as strong as the seller’s pride of ownership. We want our sellers and clients to enjoy seeing their home online as much as consumers do. To achieve this goal I combine both still and “moving” photographs. Moving photographs give the illusion that the camera is “panning” the room.

I shoot anywhere from 25 to 75 photos for a property depending on how many rooms or amenities there happen to be. Once shot, each photograph must be edited, copied and resized for use on the web. And what about those pictures which pan around the room like a video? Those pictures are actually not moving, but are a series of still photographs “stitched” together to create the illusion of movement. Here at The Energized Realty Group, our virtual tours do also get converted to video streams and can be found on YouTube.com. Just search for “Judy Markowitz Real Estate” and take your pick of tours. We happen to think that’s pretty cool! How about you?

Did you ever hear the old line, that you need wiggle room in your asking price? Well I’m here to tell you that nothing can be further from the truth! In the internet age that we now live in it is absolutely critical to price your home properly. What do I mean by properly?

Well basically what that means is it’s smartest to price a home around or maybe slightly above what the house is appraised for. In other words if your house is worth $500,000 to $525,000 don’t price it higher than $529,000 or $539,000. The reason we say this is because the way people search for homes has drastically changed in the last couple years. The typical REALISTIC consumer who’s looking to spend $500,000 for a house will go to his/her computer and conduct a search with a criterion no higher than $530,000 or $540,000. So if you’re one of those people who believe firmly in the old saying that you need wiggle room and incorrectly price your home at $579,000 or $589,000 there is going be a huge portion of buyers who aren’t even going to know that your home exists!!! Now believe me when I tell you that no one wants to give your home away but it’s so important to price it in alignment with what it’s worth because doing it the other way means more days on the market, and the longer a house is on the market the more a buyer starts to ASSUME that something is wrong with it! When in fact the only thing wrong with it is that it was just priced a little bit too high. I can’t tell you how many times we’ve seen a house go on just a little bit too high and then when a minor tweak in the asking price is made all of a sudden the house that no one was interested in is now the house that EVERYONE wants to buy!

So folks remember, price it right and sit tight and don’t forget to call the Energized Realty Group!

"Need a job done? Give it to a busy man" (unknown author)
Many people ask me,"how can you get so much done, if you sell so many houses?", "Won't I be just another number to you if I buy or sell my house with you?", "How would you have time to give me personalized service? " To this I say, with the right systems, and the right, dedicated staff, how could I NOT give you great service, and focus all my negotiating skills and experience on you?! My business, at this level, depends on repeat and referral business. I will earn my commission when you sell or buy, but I will only earn your referrals if you have a wonderful experience, if we make the transaction easy for you, and if you feel comfortable with what is going on. So at least for me, its not really about the numbers, but in order to really give great service, I have to list a lot of great properties, and I have to have a large funnel of buyers. Otherwise what good am I as a realtor to you? So to those less busy agents that say they will give you personal attention, I say, how much attention do you need to give if you have no houses in your inventory, how much service do I want from you , if you don't already have ready, willing and able buyers to sell my house to, if I list my house with you? It's like a patron in a restaurant that has no food; what good is it? Or a buyer in a clothing store, that has no clothes? What good is it? But now, take that same patron to a restaurant filled with happy patrons, and delicious food, well cooked, and served efficiently and with with the highest regard to your every need, and you are one happy consumer. Or go to the clothing store, where the systems are superb, there is an expert in every department, and the store owner/ manager (that would be me) comes by to say hello, and make sure you are getting everything you need, and that everything you like comes in your size, and you are one raving fan, and repeat customer waiting to happen. In this case the owner would spend as long with you as you need, but most importantly, you came to this shop to get good value, look and feel great, get what you want when you want it, and save time in the process. Welcome to the Energized Realty Group..

Remember the line in the “Pina Colada” song where Jimmy Buffet sang “If you’re not into yoga…” Well, times have changed and yoga is very popular now. Feng Shui seems to be another Asian practice that’s developing a following. Even HGTV has a show called Fun Shui which explains the principles of the ancient Chinese art of positioning objects in the home or business to create a harmonious atmosphere.
Feng shui literally translates to “wind water.” Traditional feng shui required an extremely accurate Chinese compass to figure out the best area in a desired location for placing an object. We’re not experts and we wouldn’t even know how to use that compass. We just wanted to share some very basic feng shui concepts relating to real estate and interior design. For example, did you know…
· Houses situated at the end of a T-intersection are considered to have bad feng shui because cars will always be driving towards (“into”) the house.
· A staircase located immediately in front of you as you walk into a house is considered bad feng shui because the good chi (spiritual energy) will flow out the door.
· Circles are good design elements in feng shui because a circle represents continuity and it will enhance the flow of chi. Objects with sharp edges, therefore, are viewed negatively because they can cut the flow of chi.
· A tree or fire hydrant in front of the main entrance is also viewed negatively because it is blocking the path into and out of your home, which will cause blockages in other areas of your life.
· A bathroom located at the top of a flight of stairs is also not good because all the water and chi will flow down the stairs. And if that flight of stairs leads to the front door…ohh, double-whammy. (Not good.)
· Rooms that are uncluttered and open will help the flow of chi and create a more peaceful atmosphere.
· Mirrors can be used to block/reflect negative energies that might otherwise have bad effects.
At its most basic level, feng shui is based on the idea that our surroundings affect us. You might not buy the whole thing, but some of it definitely has merit. Please share any other feng shui concepts you might know.

Looking to buy a co-op? Things you should know…

With affordability of Real Estate at a 37 year high and interest rates at a 60 year low, people have obviously started to come out of the woods and choose now as the time to purchase their first home. Like I explained in my previous blog, first time home buyers will also take advantage of an $8,000 tax credit. This blog isn’t to convince you how now is the time to buy though, I’m here to tell you what you need to know about Co-ops before making a purchase.

There are distinct differences between a Co-op and a Condo. The most important being that when you buy a Co-op, you are buying shares of a Cooperative. A Cooperative is a “distinct legal entity where the residents own shares reflecting their equity in the building’s real estate”. So in simplified terms, the apartment that you buy represents a certain amount of shares into that Cooperative, and when you buy that apartment you are purchasing those shares.

When working with people looking to purchase Co-ops, a question often asked is, “What exactly does it mean when the maintenance is 50% tax deductible?” Let me explain. One of the major tax benefits to owning real estate is your real estate taxes are tax deductible. Since a Co-ops real estate taxes are built directly into your maintenance, that amount is tax deductible. So if the maintenance is 50% tax deductible and $600 dollars a month, you can lower your taxable income when you do your taxes at the end of the year by $300 a month, or $3600 dollars a year.

Lastly, there are certain requirements that need to be met in order to be accepted into a Cooperation. Remember, getting the seller to accept your price isn’t the only obstacle, you still need to have a board interview and get accepted into the Cooperation. Each Co-op is different, but there are certain financial and down payment requirements that need to be met. In addition, Co-ops also require 2-3 years of tax returns to show that you have a steady income. These conditions are 100% not negotiable and if you are thinking about purchasing a co-op you should definitely reach out to a realtor to see if you qualify.

Owning a Co-op is the cheapest way to own real estate, and even though you may need to do some research I highly recommend now as the time to buy. So hopefully I helped out anyone who had questions on the matter and please let me know when you are ready to start looking =D !

Stage Fright..

Let me start by introducing myself to you. My name is Jen Palazzola and I am the rental specialist here at The Energized Realty Group. I have been with Judy now for almost a year. When Judy and I first sat down to discuss if we would be a good fit for each other, we realized that a lot of people would be surprised to hear that Judy entered into the rental market.

Judy is the best at selling homes, so why would she take time out of selling homes to rent apartments? Well the best answer for that would be - she is not. Judy is not renting the apartments, I am!

You see, to rent an apartment is not a one, two, three thing on my end. This is something that takes months and months to cultivate. I have to "grow" my sources of landlords and create a large enough database so when a "tenant" calls, I can take them to see more than just one apartment. Hopefully, if the tenant meets the landlord’s criteria and fits the "mold", the deal can be sealed.

In a typical real estate office that does a lot of rentals, there will be a surplus landlords that trust the realtor to rent the apartments for them. At no cost to the landlord! The landlords become our clients, to whom we owe a fiduciary responsibility. We are providing the landlords with a service - they won’t have to advertise, we will do it. They won’t have to run the credit, we do it. They won’t even have to show the apartment, we will do it for them. When we offer to do these services for the landlords we can gain inventory. What a typical tenant will see when they look in the paper or online is about one sixteenth of the actual inventory that is available.
When tenants call me because they are in need of renting an apartment they have most likely searched and scrubbed the papers, the internet, and even local deli's to find out that what they are looking for they can't find. So the tenant “employs” the agent to help them search. But what the agent has done that a tenant has not, is they have built reputations and relationships with the landlords, their clientele.
Now let me just touch on this for a second. The landlords are our clients and the tenants are our customers. So how do we benefit customers (tenants)? We offer our customers the use of our inventory, the use of our negotiating skills and the ability to find that perfect apartment. Our job is to connect the landlords with the right tenants and visa versa. I will be honest with you - not all tenants are picture perfect. I always tell my prospective tenants that the landlords picture the worst. For example, if the tenant has a dog - the landlord envisions a 185 lb. Rottweiler even though it’s really just a Tea-Cup Yorkie.
So, I am going to leave the experts like Judy to sell your home and Judy is going to leave the rentals department to the expert – ME! If you have an apartment to rent or you are looking to rent or if you just have questions let me know!
Jen Palazzola of The Energized Realty Group,
718.353.6000