THIS MONTH
How Home Maintenance Saves You Thousands in Resale Value
This month, I’d like to shed some light on how you can (and should be) protecting one of your largest lifetime investments: your home. After nine years in the real estate industry, I’ve seen a lot - clients losing thousands on their resale in repair negotiations or necessary pricing adjustments after not caring for their homes properly. Often times, it’s difficult to tell if an issue is something minor that we can fix at our leisure or if putting it off is causing a major determinant to both the quality of our home and our pocket book. I’ve seen many sellers procrastinate on handling repairs and general maintenance on their home, only to have what would have been a $100 quick-fix a year ago turn into a $1000+ job.
This is something my wife and I are personally tackling at the moment as well. This week, we had our contractor come out to take a look at our home. Our goal was to have him analyze the property both inside and out to see what maintenance and repair items we were due for. After a thorough investigation of the property, we decided to address paint, grout repair, interior and exterior caulking, new support posts on the back deck and fence, weather stripping, sealing the kitchen sink, repairing a squeak in the flooring, fixing an exterior hose bib leak, sanding & refinishing the deck with an oil stain, and some dry rot issues. Recently, we also had our gutters cleaned, moss removed from the roof, and our windows professionally cleaned. It’s this type of regular maintenance that keeps small items from turning into huge, costly repairs.
As a homeowner myself, I understand it can be hard to get around to these things and to know who to trust. That’s why I want to give you an easy resource, my personal contractor (who’s now become a trusted friend), Andrew Trotter. Andrew owns A-T Contracting and has worked on home repairs for both my buyer and seller clients, as well as my personal home. He’s someone I trust to get the job done right and put people before a paycheck. He’s agreed to be featured in my newsletter this month as a vendor recommendation for you, my amazing sphere of friends and family!
If you have home maintenance and repairs that may need to be addressed, or simply haven’t had your home evaluated in a while, give Andrew a call or shoot him an email to set up a 90 min walk-through of your home. He’ll bring everything he needs to assess the interior of your home, as well as the roof, crawlspace, attic, and exterior walls. Then, he’ll give you his opinion about items you may want to check off the to-do list to keep your home in optimal health. And don’t worry - one of my favorite things about Andrew is he’s not a pusher and he won’t try to up-sell you! He’s there to give you his honest, expert opinion, it’s your decision what you do with that information. Check the top and bottom of this email for contact information and cost.
INSPIRATION WITH LOGAN GERRITZ
Being True to Who You Are in Your Relationships
Sometimes, we can get bogged down in worrying too much about other people’s opinions of us. We end up changing how we act, the things we say, and our entire attitude to suit other people’s expectations. This month, I want to encourage you to shed the weight of what other people expect you to be and embrace the truest and best version of yourself. As many (or all) of you know, I’m typically a pretty happy guy. And while I do have my bad days, I’ve worked hard over the years to build my mindset and stay positive in the face of obstacles. This all comes from a desire to encourage and love others in a real and sincere way, but to some people, I can come across as "to nice" or "fake" because of my positive focus. I found myself feeling a bit down about this, so I decided to do what I like to call a "self-check", and I wanted to share and encourage you to do the same. Ask your real friends to evaluate you honestly and kindly, to share things you might be able to work on to better yourself - and things they LIKE about you and think are positive attributes. While it’s important to not bend ourselves to other’s expectations, it’s also important to understand how we make others feel and to strive to be the greatest version of ourselves. When we do this, it’s easy to dismiss negativity knowing we’re staying true to who we are and putting our best foot forward each and every day.
