Blog

Do-it-yourself projects are in vogue these days. You can find advice online for everything from investing in crypto-currency to tearing down the living room wall. When considering the cost of moving, it’s natural to wonder if real estate commissions are one way to save money, but it would be a mistake. A good real estate agent might make it seem easy, but the fact is that selling your own home could actually cost you thousands of dollars.

5 Reasons You Shouldn’t Sell Your Home without an Agent

1. The Safety of Your Home and Family is a Priority – Real Estate agents control access to your home.
2. Most Serious Buyers Start their Search Online – A professional listing area will market your home aggressively online, which is where the buyers are searching.
3. The Buyer Might not be Qualified – A real estate agent knows how to qualify a buyer and what to look for with lender letters. Selling your home on your own risks wasted time with an unqualified buyer.
4. You Don’t Know How to Negotiate Properly – Every aspect of a real estate transaction is negotiable; you don’t have the experience to know what to negotiate to get the best deal.
5. You Could Expose Yourself to Liability – Required disclosures and paperwork for a home sale is extensive; unless you plan to use an attorney, you could miss critical disclosures and expose yourself to financial harm.

Finally, more often than not, sellers net more when they use an agent than when they try to do it themselves. In addition to selling faster, a professional agent knows how to properly price and promote your home, ensuring you get the best possible sales price and terms.

It seems almost everything is connected these days. Want to check the temperature of your oven from outside? See how much milk you have in the refrigerator from the market? It’s possible! You can now control almost every aspect of your home from your smartphone. Yet with all this connectivity, you need a powerful internet network. If you’ve suddenly realized you have “dead spaces,” then it might be time to consider a mesh network.

A basic wifi network relies on the antennae of the router to reach all the connected devices. A mesh network uses a series of access devices that connect to the main hub and each other – forming a mesh of coverage. This helps eliminate the dead spaces because, in essence, you are creating overlapping wireless zones.

Smart devices benefit from the mesh network system. Unlike extenders that have their own identity, every device in a mesh network has the same name. This provides seamless coverage as smart products move between connectors. For example, items such as camera systems or multiple thermostats stay on the same network, allowing them to better coordinate with each other.

The smarter our homes become, the greater the strain on our internet connections. Mesh networks are just one way to ensure the best possible coverage throughout your home and property. Smart products are only valuable when they are online.

We are spending more time at home than ever before. This impacts how we view and use our homes. If your home no longer fits your needs in this new environment, you may be considering a right-size move. The open floor plans and great room layouts that have been so popular over the past few years may not allow for the various work spaces your family needs now. Separate and private areas for work and school needs may require more rooms or nooks, causing you to wonder if a larger home makes sense.

The fact is, before you buy a larger home, consider your long-term needs. Will the kids be returning to the classroom? Will you need extra rooms in the future? Most people need to stay in a home for 5-7 years to recoup the cost of moving, planning for this time frame is an important factor in considering a move.

Another consideration is the real estate market itself. Most of the country is experiencing a strong sellers’ market. Homes are selling for over the asking price. Not only can this make the move difficult to achieve, but the potential drop in future prices can saddle you with a home for longer than your intended time frame.

Before deciding to move, consider the impact today’s move could have on your future. It’s advised to always plan to stay in a home for at least 7 years and if your potential new home doesn’t fit into that model, it may make more sense to redesign/remodel your current home.