Pets and selling your home

When preparing your home to sell, it might be a good idea to examine it from a pet’s perspective. My advice is to remove as many excess pet items as possible, in particular toys and food. Make sure you have cleaned up well after your pet, in particular where they are fed, outside dog runs and the location in which you store the litter box.  Look for stray fur-balls floating around the floors, and use a lint brush if necessary on your upholstered furnishings and draperies.  It might also be wise to repair any damage done by your loveable but perhaps destructive puppies or kittens:  Touch up scratched paint or polyurethane, fill in any holes dug by dogs outside in your yard, remove any torn furnishings or carpets, and remove all pet stains.  Also, disinfect or deodorize if there are pet smells in the home — a sure turn-off for a prospective buyer, especially one that does not like pets. Hire a professional carpet cleaning company to sanitize and thoroughly clean your carpets before your first showing. Once this is done, you may want to limit the areas in which you allow your pets.

via Pets and selling your home | Lewiston Maine Homes For Sale.

Thinking of selling your lakefront property in Maine?  Curious to know how the economy has impacted its market value?  The spring season usually generates much interest in waterfront buyers.  Now is a great time to review your holdings in Maine Waterfront / Lakefront real estate.  Contact me for a Free, no obligation market analysis.  Thank You!

Sue Meservier
Meservier & Associates
Keller Williams Realty Mid Maine
34 Center Street
Auburn, ME 04210
office: 207-784-2525
email: agent@meservier.com

www.meservier.com

Make your Maine move easier:

If you’re getting ready to move, here’s a helpful list of companies you will want to call two weeks before your move-date.  Ask them to set dates to end your service at your old place and subscribe to utilities at your new place. Much easier to do this when not under pressure, so try not to wait to the last minute. These utilities usually include:

• Electric
• Water
• Gas
• Telephone
• Cable and internet
• Sewer
• Postal service
• Trash collection
• Home care service providers (lawn care, snow removal, etc.)

I suggest this list as a guide; feel free to tailor it to fit your specific needs.

Have you moved or are you moving soon? Congratulations!  Have you notified friends and family yet and are you one of those people who likes to stay in touch with greeting cards, but sometimes forgets a date or deosn’t plan ahead too well? Try this instead: Send a card from your desktop. Online or the old-fashioned way — with a stamp! With a little searching online, you can find numerous companies that send cards out FOR you. Hallmark, The Card Store, tinyprints.com, and Cards Remembered are a few companies that will address and mail paper cards for you. Enter your addresses into their address books once, and you’ll be ready to go at a moment’s notice. Many sites also allow you to upload your own photographs for full customization, and Blue Mountain offers beautiful, animated cards. Many services allow you do try them out with 7 or 14-day free trials.

The temperature here in Maine is steadily on the rise. Every day there is a noticeable snow-melt and in some areas we are already experiencing Maine’s most famous and notorious SEASON, Mud Season. All this being said, Spring is just around the corner which means Daylight Saving Time begins at 2:00 a.m. on March 13, 2011. Don’t forget to change your clocks this Sunday!

Daylight Saving Time starts the second Sunday in March and reverts to standard time on the first Sunday in November. In the U.S., each time zone switches at a different time.Want to know more about DST and where it is not observed? I found this site informative, visit http://www.webexhibits.org/daylightsaving/b2.html

Want to know more about Mud Season? It happens every year when the frost starts to come out of the ground and affects everyone using dirt drives and pathways. Just pay us a visit and you’ll experience it first hand!

Photos via Its Time To Change Your Clocks! | New Gloucester Maine Homes For Sale.

S-P-R-I-N-G is in the air!

Get an early dose of spring by heading to the Portland Flower Show, March 10 through 13. Adult admission price is $15 ($13 in advance). Located at the Portland Company Marine Complex, 58 Fore St., Portland. This year’s theme is “Enchanted Earth,” and, as always, will feature landscapers, growers, gardeners and industry retailers. While you’re breathing in the fresh smells of flowers and greenery, it might be nice to look for some “hot” new ideas to perk up your yard. Perfect for either a new homeowner or perhaps someone wanting to prepare for selling in the near future. For more info, go to www.portlandcompany.com.

via S-P-R-I-N-G Is In The Air! Maine Flower Show Coming Soon | Gray Maine Homes For Sale.

There’s a high chance that houses built before 1976 were painted with a lead based paint. Lead poisoning can occur when exposed to an excessive amount of lead, and a person may suffer from anemia or experience nerve damage. Children are more easily susceptible, especially those under age 6. Because lead is a toxic, if absorbed or ingested, it will interfere with nerve and brain tissue development.

Because young children are likely to chew on painted items, they are more likely than other members of a family to absorb significant amounts of lead and suffer harm from lead paint in a home, especially if the paint is peeling and easily chipped. People who work with paint, especially paint removal, must also take proper precaution or hire a professional. Lead dust can be especially problematic. Information about lead paint can be found at Healthy Androscoggin. Call 795-5990, or go to www.healthyandroscoggin.org. They offer a one-day course, required for those who do renovation, repair and painting work in pre-1978 housing and child-occupied facilities.

…via Maine’s Healthy Androscoggin Information On Lead Safety | Poland Maine Homes For Sale.

Warm air leaking out of your home during the winter can waste a lot of your heating dollars. One of the easiest and quickest things you can do to prevent this is to caulk, seal and weather-strip all seams, cracks and openings to the outside. First, test your home for air tightness. On a windy day, carefully hold a lit incense stick next to your windows, doors, electrical boxes, plumbing fixtures, electrical outlets, ceiling fixtures, attic hatches and other locations where there is a possible air path to the outside. If the smoke stream travels horizontally, you have located an air leak that may need attention. See the attached graphic to see where from which areas most heat is lost.  The opposite holds true in the summer, when hot air can leak in.

via Winter Waste – Were Talking About Air Leaks | New Gloucester Maine Homes For Sale.

Moving can be stressful for everyone in the family, but don’t forget to talk about it in advance with your children. Make sure to answer all their questions as honestly as possible. One way to help them in advance is to show them their new room, and help them decide where their furniture and belongings will go. For young children, read books such as “The Berenstain Bears: Moving Day” or “Who Will be My Friends?” by Syd Hoff. Help them sort, pack and label their belongings, and celebrate afterwards with a fun meal. Put together a Moving Day Kit, with essential items they might need. If you are moving to a new town or school district, make sure to help them say goodbye to their friends, and help them stay in touch if possible.

via Tips For Helping Children Move | Turner Maine Homes.

Design tips at your fingertips! Offering the “best of” from the HGTV network, this app allows you to look up real estate videos, photos, tips and review their advice. Watch clips from popular shows, “Curb Appeal” and “Designed to Sell.” Getting ready for an open house? Look up design tips, and tutorials for staging and designing your home for more buyer appeal. Also fun, you can see before and after photo slide shows of their room transformations. Especially great if you you’re like me and don’t have time to watch much TV!

Looking for more Real Estate app choices? Visit http://www.topappcharts.com/search.php?show=search&string=real+estate&start=0&price=free to review or download the top 16 free iphone / ipad apps for real estate. Choose from top names like Realtor.com, Zillow, Loopnet, Trulia, Redfin, Homes.com and more. View Photos of that home for sale that you’re driving by and any pertinent home information.  FYI,  Not all of these companies provide Maine real estate information. Inman News writes about these and categorizes them in order of relevant category in the  Lifestyle Section. Go to http://www.inman.com/news/2010/05/5/top-16-free-real-estate-iphone-apps for the story.

As always, you can fell free to speak with a Maine real estate professional at Meservier & Associates of Keller Williams Realty Mid Maine. We can set you up on an automated home search with results direct to your email. We also will let you know of a just listed property by Meservier & Associates that meets your criteria before any other company can notify you. How’s that for service! Call us at 207-784-2525