I’m here to save you pain, buyers. There are myths about the home shopping experience that must be addressed. I like to make the home buying experience as stress-free as possible, so please hear me out on these three big mythsabout home buying:

Myth #1: “That house has been on the market so long I bet we can work the seller down easily.”

Not necessarily. Exceptionally high days on market could mean almost anything. The seller could be bullheaded about their price. The seller may not be particularly motivated to sell for emotional or other personal reasons. Don’t forget: A sales-weary seller isn’t likely to respond to your host of rational reasons why their house should be a bargain.

Myth #2: “I want to look at foreclosed homes because they’re a real bargain and the banks need to unload them.”

Banks, like entrenched sellers, don’t always make decisions which seem rational based on obvious information. You can have a hard time divining the reason a bank chooses to reject an offer for a foreclosed or distressed property, and their decision may be based on financials which seem counterintuitive. The truth is, many distressed sales can be longer and more fraught than regular sales.

Myth #3: “I liked this house a lot, but with this market, I bet it will still be there if I decide to buy it.”

It’s very, very painful to see a client love a home but fail to make a move to purchase that home. If you fell in love with it, why wouldn’t someone else? Just because a property has been on the market a little while doesn’t mean it will stay on the market. The bonus myth in this one? Your “perfect” home is probably going to be a home with some small compromises. If you don’t make an offer on a home, you’re effectively saying, “I’m comfortable losing this home.”

My job as an agent is to represent your interests and do my best to protect you along the way. If you’re pursuing a home purchase in the near future, please get in touch. There are many other ways I can lower your stress and help you find a great home. Contact me today at 630-815-8098 or email me at marksotir@realtyexecutives.com with any real estate related questions.

Home renovation projects are a great way to fall in love again with a home you own, or make upgrades buyers will pay top dollar for when the time comes to sell. Redoing a kitchen or bathroom can make a huge difference in how much you enjoy a space. But how do you know what you really want? Are you aware of how much is out there in terms of modern home design?

Searching for inspiration online is a good place to start. While you can haphazardly click from blog to blog, there are some easy-to-use tools to help introduce you to design options and help you organize your project.

First and foremost, if you’re not on pinterest.com, go sign up for a free account. (You can even use your Facebook login to create an account in under a minute.) Pinterest isn’t specifically about home design, but it is the best online scrapbook out there. With Pinterest, you can “pin” images you like and organize them into collections. This is especially handy if you want to separate bathroom elements, living room designs, or even individual elements such as “lighting” or “color schemes.” You can also search on Pinterest and browse other users’ public collections.

Another spectacular resource focused on home design is houzz.com. House bills itself as “a platform for home remodeling and design, bringing homeowners and home professionals together in a uniquely visual community.” Houzz, much like Pinterest, allows you to create idea books which you can then share and collaborate on with others. With each photo you save you can make notes, highlighting what you like or don’t like about a particular image. Houzz also goes beyond design inspiration to connect you with professionals who can actually help turn your dream project into a reality. As you’re meeting with architects of design/build firms, having a Houzz account can be very helpful for guiding in-person conversations about your tastes and preferences.

When you’re in the dreaming phase of a project, it can be fun to allow yourself free reign to select anything and everything your might want in a renovation project. Projects, however, do come down to compromises. Sometimes the compromises are related to building conditions and existing systems, while other times the restrictions are simply budgetary. Keep this in mind as you “go wild” creating inspiration books online. Don’t forget this as you go along… it’ll make the project easier and more satisfying along the way.

Of course you might also decide that renovation isn’t the right move. Sometimes moving is the right move. If you ultimately decide to relocate, I’d be happy to help you find a home which has exactly what you’re looking for (or can be upgraded to meet your needs.) Get in touch!