Author: Family Friendly Daddy Blog

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Tips for Selling Your First Home

Selling a home is a lot different than buying a home. When you’re buying, there are usually plenty of emotions involved, while selling is typically focused on maximizing the home’s profit potential. 

Get it Move-In Ready

IF at all possible, do everything you can to make your home in San Diego move-in ready before putting it on the market. Make all necessary repairs even the tiniest ones like a leaky faucet, ripped window screen, broken baseboard and loose cabinet knobs. Potential buyers are going to be looking at all the little details, inside and out. Eliminate clutter and store personal items like the kids’ art work and family photos to give them a sense of what it will be like to have their own things inside. It should be sparkling clean, so if you’re not up to the task, hire a professional as it will be worth the relatively small cost in the long run. Your home will have to be in tip-top, ready-to-show condition at all times.

Hire a Top Realtor

While you might be tempted to go FSBO, or for sale by owner, you could end up losing money in the end. The National Association of Realtors reports that over 90 percent of all FSBOs fail and sellers ultimately have to turn to a realtor anyway. If they are successful, on average, they sell for quite a bit less than a home that was sold with the assistance of a real estate agent.

Of course, hiring a top agent is key for selling your home quickly and for the best price. Try to get recommendations from friends, family, co-workers, neighbors and so on. If you’re tempted to work with the realtor who helped you buy your home, keep in mind that buyer’s agents don’t necessarily make the best seller’s agents. The best agent will have lots of experience selling homes in your area, with a proven track record and be able to offer things like a comprehensive marketing plan.

Pricing Your Home

A reputable real estate agent who sells homes frequently, ideally in your neighborhood, can help ensure that your home is priced accurately. They’ll put together what’s referred to as a comparative market analysis so that it’s not priced too low or too high. A CMA analyzes active, inactive, pending and sold listings to get the most accurate information. It will provide a lower and upper price limit – if you decide to price your home at the higher end of that range, it will likely take longer to sell, but if you aren’t in a hurry to move, that can be a good way to go, particularly during a sellers’ market. If you hope to sell as quickly as possible, you may want to choose a price at the lower end of the range as you’ll get a lot more potential buyers coming to take a look.

Be as Flexible as Possible with Showings

While there’s no doubt that having strangers come through your home on a regular basis to inspect it is rather intrusive, it’s a necessary part of the selling process. Be as flexible as you can when it comes to showings, ideally leaving the house so that agents can show your home without interference. 

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Dear Holly: You Entertained Yourself on the Plane by Teaching Yourself What to Do If There was an Emergency

3 years, 1 months.

Dear Holly,

Since we flew on Southwest Airlines to and from California, there were no assigned seats. There were simply two rows of three seats on both sides- and we determined where we would sit.

Naturally, both you and your brother wanted to sit with Mommy. That meant I sat across the aisle from the three of you.

On the flight back to Nashville, you felt like being a little bit independent. You took it upon yourself to remove the emergency guide from the back of the chair in front of you and started reviewing all the steps of what to do in case the plane had to make a water landing.

To you, it was pretty much a comic book.

Love,

Daddy

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Dear Jack: You Won Your Sister and Yourself Prizes from the Crane Machine at Chuck E. Cheese’s

8 years, 7 months.

Dear Jack,

During our 45 minute “all you can play” spree at Chuck E. Cheese’s last week in Sacramento, we were down to the last 10 minutes when you decided to take a stab at the crane machine filled with inflatable balls.

After just a couple of tries, you were able to successfully win a purple ball for yourself!

Naturally, you drew a crowd: your own family.

Your sister immediately expressed that she wanted one too.

And after another couple of tries, you seemingly effortlessly won her a purple ball just like yours.

I have a feeling that had you spent the entire 45 minutes at the crane machine, you would have emptied it!

Love,

Daddy

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Family Summer Vacation in Sacramento: Going to Chuck E. Cheese’s Instead of Disneyland

After spending the first half of our vacation at Lake Tahoe, our family spent the rest of the time closer to Sacramento; staying with my mother-in-law and her husband.

Selfishly, I didn’t mind at all because it gave me several consecutive days to sleep in; since there was never really any planned event or agenda happening before noon the rest of the week.

And after the long, early flight to California (we left Nashville at 2:00 AM), I was pretty much the equivalent of Weekend at Bernie’s for the first few days anyway.

Staying there in the Sacramento area provided more opportunities to visit with more family members, as well as long-time friends of my wife.

But of course, eventually our kids wanted to do something special; since after all, we were on vacation. I suggested putt-putt golf, which was something I kept seeing in Lake Tahoe.

But the kids wanted Chuck E. Cheese’s. It hadn’t crossed my mind since there’s already one just about 20 minutes from our house in Tennessee.

However, I realized how little it would cost us: Just about $13 total for unlimited games for 45 minutes for our whole family.

So I immediately agreed!

We were given what was essentially an infinitely loaded debit card only good for the currency of Chuck E. Cheese tokens.

So for 45 minutes, we frantically passed the card to each other; as ultimately, all four members of our family were constantly earning tickets to buy prizes the entire time.

The time limit actually made it even more fun and challenging for all of us, as we individually learned and decided which games we were best at winning tickets from.

By the end of our California family vacation, my wife suggested that maybe next year the kids will be old enough to visit Disneyland.

Maybe.

But I definitely wouldn’t mind Chuck E. Cheese again either.

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Our Family Spot at King’s Beach on the California Side of Lake Tahoe

When our family is ready to hang out at the beach, why drive 6 and a half hours from our home near Nashville, Tennessee to Destin, Florida when we could fly all the way to the other side of the country to Lake Tahoe in California?

As far as my kids are concerned, they have just as much fun either way. When you’re a kid, it’s sand and waves- and that’s all that matters… even if the water is much chillier on a lake that is more than a mile higher than sea level.

Our tradition is to hang out at King’s Beach, which is at the very northern part of Lake Tahoe. I love being able to see the snow-capped mountains all the way across the other side; which is 22 miles away.

For years now, my son has enjoyed making sand fortresses. He’ll get in the water a little bit, but mainly just to wash off the extra sand in between his toes.

I was amazed this year by what heavy stones he was able to find and carry over to his construction sight.

For all I know, there are much better spots at Lake Tahoe. However, King’s Beach is the most convenient for our family, since we are always ultimately en route to Sacramento from there anyway.

There’s a really nice pier there that is fun to walk out across and take a family photo or two.

Not to mention, there is a playground, easily accessible restrooms, and even a grocery store in walking distance; so you can easily buy everything you need to have a picnic there on the beach.

King’s Beach is our spot on Lake Tahoe. Granted, I’m fully aware that thousands of other people feel the same way, but it still feels like a well kept secret to us.