Resolve to Face the Facts!

Since 2007, 8.9 million homes have been lost to foreclosure and millions more are headed in that direction. As a real estate professional who has earned the Certified Distressed Property Expert (CDPE) designation, my mission is to ensure that you or anyone you care about does not add to that statistic.

The unfortunate fact is that so many homeowners who have played by the rules and never imagined that they could be facing foreclosure are now in a very tough situation. More than one in four homeowners owes more on their mortgage than their home is worth. On top of that staggering statistic is the fact that millions of homeowners are unemployed, or underemployed and falling further behind every month.

Sound familiar? Rest assured you are not alone. If you feel that you are headed toward foreclosure, or if you are avoiding facing that fact, the sooner you reach out for help, the better your options. As a CDPE agent, I help distressed homeowners to work through every aspect of the denial and discouragement that accompanies a mortgage which is no longer manageable, and in the process, to move toward financial solvency.

If you or someone you care about is ready to tip the scales back toward financial solvency, contact me today and let’s get started.

Recent economic upheaval has taken a hefty toll. Looking forward to 2012, it’s impossible to know what’s next and the kind of an impact that an upturn or a downturn at the national level stands to have on your family’s finances. Regardless of what happens in Washington or on Wall Street, two things are very clear: you are not alone and now is the time to prepare for a new normal.

With a national epidemic of unemployment or underemployment, and 25 percent of the homeowners in the country owing more on their home than they could net for it in today’s market, homeownership for many has become a financial liability. Not being able to make payments on a home that you can’t afford to sell feels like an awful trap, but the fact is, there are solutions—and foreclosing on your mortgage is not one of them.

 
Loan modification is an option for many and banks are increasingly willing to negotiate short sales. In many cases, they’re offering sizable financial incentives to help financially strapped homeowners to get a fresh start on their lives. As a real estate professional who has achieved the Certified Distressed Property Expert (CDPE) designation, it is my mission to give homeowners the gift of a fresh start.

Contact our team TODAY and let’s get started.

-Terri Bias

But how did Winston-Salem stack up against its North Carolina competition?

Not too swell. Out of 52 NC cities ranked, Winston-Salem finished 34th. Nearby Clemmons finished in the bottom 3.

All isn’t lost though! There are plenty of pedestrian friendly neighborhoods and communities in Winston-Salem. Take, for example, Winston’s very own West End. A beautiful, quiet neighborhood near downtown Winston-Salem that offers easy walking to all the restaurants and shopping downtown has to offers. Similarly, communities like Kinderton Village in Advance, are close enough to nearby grocery stores that all isn’t lost if you don’t feel like driving.

See how other cities in NC scored here. Think being able to walk places is overrated? Let us know! Leave feedback below.

Many sellers hear the word “staging” and immediately think it means spending a lot of money, but that is definitely not the case!  Below are cheap and easy tips for staging your home.

First things first, “what is staging!?!”

Home staging is the act of preparing a home (and its contents) for sale with an emphasis on presentation and appearance. It’s about more than preparing the house for sale: Staging is what you do after you’ve cleaned, de-cluttered, painted, and made minor repairs.  Staging makes your house look bigger, brighter, cleaner, warmer, more loving and, best of all, it makes home buyers want to buy it.

If you are selling a home, than there is no doubt that you’ve been on the other side of the real estate game.  Think back to the time when you were buying: try to recall why you bought your house, remember the difference between those homes you loved and those you didn’t.

Of course, not everyone has the same tastes.  So, in order to ensure a quick sale for the best possible price, you must present your home in a way that makes it appealing to the largest possible audience.

With that settled, on to the tips!

• Use your eyes (or a trusted friend’s): walk through your entire house, or have a friend do it, and see where your eyes are immediately drawn.  If anything is really horrible and you can’t afford the time or money to fix it properly, hang pictures and strategically place baskets. You won’t cover the problem entirely (which would be wrong anyway), but you will draw your audience’s attention away from the problem and onto something more visually pleasing to focus on.

• Any main room or feature room – like a living room, dining room, or master bedroom – should always be set up to highlight the function of the original design.  That is, if you currently have a home office in the formal dining room, transform it back to a dining room.  If a potential buyer doesn’t see a dining room, they will assume that your home is out of space and must be modified, costing them more money and you a sale!

• De-personalize your space: As cute as your family Christmas card was last year, you must take it off your fridge.  And those pictures on the walls? They have to go too! Buyers must be able to imagine themselves in your house, and with pictures of you all over, it will be very hard for them.
• FURNITURE! Furniture is a huge part of staging a home, which is why we have a number of tips involving it.

• A common belief is that rooms will feel larger if all the furniture is pushed against the walls, but this isn’t true.  Instead, furnish your spaces with floating furniture.  Reposition sofas and chairs into cozy conversational groups AND place pieces so traffic flow is obvious.  This will make your spaces more user-friendly and open up the rooms, making them seem larger.

• Allow yourself to move furniture (along with artwork and accessories) into other rooms. Just because you bought that chair for your living does not mean it won’t look perfect in the sitting area of your bedroom.  You can put a little-used table in front of a window and with a few accessories, you know have a great writing desk or library table.

• Consider renting furniture.  If your family room ensemble consists of that old couch from college or a cheap table with dents and wobbly legs, replace them with some nicer rental pieces.

• Slip covers are a great friend! If your furniture is worn, but otherwise intact, use a slip cover as a low-cost way to enhance its appearance.  Additionally, slip covers can neutralize overly bright fabrics.

• If you are selling your house, you’ve got to move out- so pack up any unnecessary or overbearing furniture before you show your house.  Over-packed spaces are red flags to buyers that your home lacks storage space.  So pack those excessive items up and move them to a storage facility.  Clear the way for a sale: buyers want to see that square footage and not your junk.

• Along those lines, storage space definitely sells.  While only a very rude guest would look through your cabinets and closets, it makes perfect sense for a buyer to!  So clear out the needless clutter and organize your shelves to show off how much storage your house has.  Plus, this will give you a chance to start packing, as you’ll definitely be moving after those buyers see all your closet space!

• Other essentials: air and light.  You don’t have to keep your windows open at all times, but make sure to let in fresh air- no one likes a stuffy house full of stale air and certainly no buyer wants to purchase a house full of pet or smoke odor.  And while it may seem like mood lighting to you, dimly lit rooms tend to look small and dingy, especially during the day.  So keep it bright! If you have a particularly dark room, consider investing in a floor lamp that will bounce light off the ceiling. And if your walls are so dark they suck up all the light, consider re-painting.  (You can even buy a small can of a lighter shade of your original wall color, mix it with some glaze and rub it onto your wall.  It will reflect more light and give the room a more open feeling.)

• Bathrooms can be expensive to upgrade (but if you are up to it, pedestal sinks are huge with buyers these days); instead hang some high-quality plush towels on display over your towel rack, making sure to color coordinate them with the bathroom’s scheme.

• Remember: A master bedroom should appeal to both sexes. Get rid of features that seem too gender-specific. Paint the walls a neutral color, and choose bedding that matches. Then accessorize with items that complement the overall color scheme.  The master bedroom is a very important room in the house, because it is most likely where the buyer will be and the buyer must be happy with the space in order to buy!

• A note on accessories: Using the right accessories can make a room more inviting and when it comes to pleasing the eye, odd numbers are more preferable, especially three.  But rather than lining up three objects in a row, imagine a triangle and place one at each point.  Scale is important too, so make sure they vary by height and width.  Where to get accessories? Raid your yard! You don’t have to spend money on expensive fresh flowers, instead get similar effects by collecting fern, blooms, and foliage from outside your door.

In the end, the number and scale of improvements you make to your home before selling are only limited to your time and budget.  Just keep in mind that there is a fine line between spending enough for staging and spending too much.  After all, the goal of staging is to make more money and not spend it.

If you have any further questions, don’t hesitate to ask! Helping clients sell and buy homes is what we do for a living.

• A completely customizable home search unrivaled by any site in Forsyth County
• Tons of new information on buying and real estate to simplify the process for buyers & sellers
• A completely new blog that will allow us to easily keep the entire Triad area updated on news and events. We want to leverage our knowledge of the area to keep you informed of all the important things going on!
• An “Explore Winston-Salem” feature that introduces buyers and sellers alike to The Winston-Salem area’s best neighborhoods & communities AND lets them see listings in those neighborhoods
• Custom pages for all of our listings; so that any interested buyers can see ALL our photos and find out whatever they want about certain properties quickly and easily.
• AND MORE!

Expect the website to be launched in the coming weeks. Thank you for your patience as this will likely cause downtime, and not all features will be fully functional yet.

Texas Pete Twin City RIBFEST

When: June 9th-12th (11:00am-11:30pm 9th-11th; 11:00am-7:00pm on the 12th)

Where: Dixie Classic Fairgrounds

What: A four-day national BBQ and music festival featuring BBQ teams from across our great land. This event also has thematic music days with two stages.

Why We Like It: What’s not to like!? It’s only $7 to get in, and parking is FREE. Grab your tickets early and hit the festival on Saturday, when the most stuff is going on. Pick a favorite competitor to root on and enjoy the fierce competition between contestants in both the professional division or the largest-ever amateur division. You can’t sample the competition’s ribs, but if you’ve built-up an appetite there will be plenty of food available from a HUGE variety of vendors. Professional pit-masters will be offering ribs, brisket, chicken, pork, and turkey. Additionally, there will be lots of other great shopping from local vendors selling their wares. If you’ve got kids there will rides and games for them to enjoy. Or you can dance the day away to the live musical entertainment that will be offered throughout the festival! From what we’ve heard, it’s like a smaller version of the fair (with, dare we say it, BETTER food?). So why not get your warm-up in for next fall’s Dixie Classic Fair.

Website: Visit www.twincityribfest.com for more information

Winston-Salem DASH vs. Wilmington Blue Rocks

When: June 10th and 11th at 7:00PM

Where: BB&T Field

What: Hometown team Winston-Salem Dash take on the Wilmington Blue Rocks in ‘America’s Sport’.

Why We Like It: School’s finally out for most of Forsyth county’s schools, and that means it’s time to celebrate! What better way to spend a pleasant summer night than at the ballpark watching America’s favorite past time? If you’re not a huge fan of baseball, there is other entertainment offered too! The Friday night game will be offering a post-game fireworks show that is sure to be fantastic. Or catch the game Saturday (after Ribfest) for a glimpse of the “world-famous” & hilarious Zooperstars.

Website: For more information or to buy tickets, visit www.wsdash.com

Visit Bowman Gray Stadium for the Craftsman Stadium Stock 50

When: June 11th from 8pm-11pm

What: Enjoy multiple exciting races on the flat, quarter-mile track at Bowmany Gray stadium. The main event is a 40 lap Stadium Stock race that will be sure to thrill!

Why We Like It: If you’ve never been to Bowman Gray, it is a great place to catch a race. Get there early to catch the earlier races (there are 6 total!). They aren’t always as heralded, but tensions are usually high–fueled by driver rivalries,  dizzying crashes, and high speed action. Some of Nascar’s earliest heroes learned the sport on this track, and the level of competition hasn’t dropped off since!  If you’re buying tickets at the gate, be sure to bring cash. Credit/Debit cards aren’t accepted at Bowman Gray.

Website: www.bowmangrayracing.com

Star Wars Day at the Children’s Museum of Winston-Salem

When: June 12th, 2011, 1:00pm-5:00pm

What: The Children’s Musuem of Winston-Salem is sponsoring Star Wars Day! Join them in a galaxy not so far away for an exciting day! Complete a Jedi Training Course. Meet interesting characters from the Star Wars universe! Enjoy a storytime, practice your lightsaber skills and BIG BANG BOOM will play a special rock concert at 2 p.m.

Why We Like It: Jedi Training!? Hmmm… Jedi persuasion could be useful in convincing Buyers that now is the time to buy! This looks like a great event for children of all ages. If your kids aren’t familiar with Star Wars this is a great chance to introduce them to this scintillating fantasy world created by George Lucas. What kid is going to say no to practicing lightsaber skills? Bring the camera, because there are sure to be plenty of memories made! We’ve never heard of BIG BANG BOOM, but it’s a pretty sure bet they’ll be very entertaining. This event is cheap, too! It costs $10 for non-museum-members and $8 for museum-members.

Website: http://www.childrensmuseumofws.org/

Website: www.bowmangrayracing.com