In real estate, the terms buyers market and sellers market are tossed around quite often. First-time home buyers or those with experience buying in a buyers market may be caught off guard when trying to navigate the current market trends. In laments terms when inventory is low and demand is high the power swings from the buyer to the seller. There are many ways that Realtors measure this but the most commonly used method is the absorption rate. This measures how many months of inventory there is if homes continue to sell at their current rate. Anything 6 months and below is considered a seller’s market. This past year the Ithaca area has averaged an absorption rate of 5.5 (Ithaca Board of Realtors March Statistics Report), and inventory is historically lowest in April-June. That shouldn’t discourage you from buying now but you definitely want to be prepared.

The first step is to GET YOUR FINANCES IN ORDER. At the very least you’ll want to make sure you’re pre-qualified for a mortgage, better yet, get pre-approval before you begin shopping. This helps you know what you can afford and makes your offer much stronger to the seller. Make sure your approval is with a LOCAL BANK, this makes the process much easier and using a national bank may cause unforeseen complications that will cause doubt in sellers. If you’re able, you may want to consider waiving the mortgage contingency clause all together and pay cash.

BE READY, and separate your NEEDS FROM YOUR WANTS. In a competitive market you may have to compromise a little bit on location, amenities or condition of the home. Think long and hard about which features are deal-breakers and which features would be nice but that you could do without. For example, are 4 bedrooms MORE important than the school district or could you make 3 bedrooms work in order to get the school district you really want? Its a good idea to rank your needs before looking at properties so you’re able to make a decision quickly. A well-located home at a good price will sell quickly so you may not have time to weigh your options afterwards.

REMAIN FLEXIBLE.B B This is important in all aspects of your home search and sale. In a sellers market, buyers have to be prepared to visit homes when it’s convenient for the seller, not the other way around. During negations remember that 99% of the time you’re buying a used home, nitpicking small defects may cause the seller to walk, especially if they’re taking back-up offers. If it’s a home you love, being too rigid or holding out for a deal may not work out in your favor.

SWEETEN THE DEAL. Your goal should be to make the sellers life as easy as you can. Not everyone can remove a mortgage contingency but you can sweeten the deal in other ways. Perhaps you can be flexible on the closing date, pay the sellers closing costs, and schedule your home inspection as early as possible. The cleaner the offer, the better your chances are of having your offer accepted. Even if the only thing you do is WRITE A PERSONAL LETTER to the seller expressing why you love their home and how you and your family will enjoy it that may be enough to make your offer stand out from your competition.

And finally, HIRE A REPUTABLE REAL ESTATE AGENT. As a CBR (certified buyers representative) I am uniquely qualified to assist you in all the steps of your home purchase. Agents often have knowledge of homes about to hit the market before they are published on MLS and when inventory is low, this is very valuable!! Agents can also help you navigate multiple bids, help you draft an escalation cause if necessary and make sure you’re doing all you can to present the strongest offer. If you or someone you know is looking to buy this Spring I’m happy to help!!

Spring brings a lot with it, chirping birds, roaring streams, tulips, daffodils. For me- it brings about a time of year when I am CRAZY busy. March, April and May are the 2^nd, 1^st and 3^rd highest months of home sales. I am swamped for three months straight. Add to that the plays, concerts and tests the end of the school-year brings for my kids and I am firing on all cylinders.

Even though business is booming I would DREAD spring. Real estate can be completely consuming and is a 24/7 job. I would constantly complain about how busy I was and let stress take over my life. My colleagues, family and friends would avoid being around me this time of year.

As this busy season approached I came across this wonderful blog post called, Busy is a Sickness. I encourage you to read the full article but you’re a bit busy yourself, here are the key points

• Most of our busy-ness, stress and anxiety is self-created.
• Our fear of just being still keeps us from enjoying the moments in our lives, busy or otherwise
• busyness is a luxury

Immediately after reading the article I decided I would approach this busy season differently. After all, I’ve chosen this profession, I’ve chosen to be a mother and I’ve chosen to be active in my church and community. I wanted to enjoy the fullness of my life and not coast thru on auto-pilot!!!

After sharing the blog with some close friends we decided that we needed to become more engaged in our lives so we enrolled in a 10-week course by a local woman who is guiding us thru Jon Kabat-Zinns Mindful Mediation series. I’m learning to cherish moments while I am in them and the importance of stillness. It’s NOT easy, especially for me since I seem hard-wired to go-go-go but I am committed to keep at it and be more in the moment!!B We all need be thankful for our full and satisfying lives, bring positivity to our experience and sometimes just sit and breathe.

You don’t have to burn any incense, and you definitely don’t have to sit on the floor. All you need to do is to take 10 minutes out a day to step back, to familiarize yourself with the present moment so that you get to experience a greater sense of focus, calm and clarity in your life. –Andy Puddicombe

At the start of the New Year I received a nice letter from Karen Governanti at Thinkfresh Interiors.

I have known Karen for several years and have consulted with her on my own home. She was able to come in and take a “fresh” look at some of my design challenges. She offered up some wonderful solutions that I have incorporated into my home. I appreciated how she used many important pieces that I love and she identified my style before I really even knew what my style was.

It occurred to me to share Karen’s letter as part of my blog, as I think that her ideas are great and something that I would like to share. Karen is an excellent person to work with, so if you are thinking of updating any spaces in your home or need help staging your home for sale or just need some help organizing, then you should consider giving her a call.

FROM KAREN:

“I continually look for innovative and exciting design trends for home and business, while always keeping in mind how well these trends will withstand the test of time.
Presently:
–I still see all different shades-of-gray as a neutral that will be around for many years to come.

–Pastels have made a return to the living room; but so have rich lush velvets and textural linens in every color imaginable.

–There are fabulous new and more practical options in flooring and floor coverings. Most have become more reasonably priced.

–Inventive new materials for wall coverings, cabinets, hardware and fabrics are very simply amazing and exquisitely handsome!

–Recycled and renewed materials and furnishings have become part of almost all new designs of every style.

–And smaller scale homes with beautiful and peaceful views are becoming a popular choice for new construction and living.

–Modern is still big, bold and spare but sometimes there is a softening of the edges to give it more appeal. I sometimes view this more malleable modern as being the new traditional, as so many clients are requesting the look.

Comfort and ease are at the forefront of every one of my designs. Visually coordinating all the elements to bring beauty, function and balance to a personalized space is what I find most gratifying.

Id love to hear from you so drop me a line or send a photo to let me know how you and your spaces are doing.”

-Karen

KAREN GOVERNANTI

THINKFRESH INTERIORS

1 PERRY LANE

ITHACA, NYB 14850

BUS 607 256 8331

CELL 607 229 5003

What a wonderful time of year. Time to spend with family and friends and to show our appreciation to those we love by opening our hearts and maybe our homes. It’s during this time of year that I struggle with all the giving just to give and I angst over those less fortunate. I encourage all of us that are able to reach out and give to those in need. Because I sell homes, I am particularly aware of those that don’t have a home, those that live in extreme poverty, those that don’t feel safe, children that are exposed to unhealthy lifestyles within their home, those that are alone in their home…if you know any people like this, I hope you will consider taking a minute to do something to reach out and make their holidays just a little brighter, for it is in giving that we receive.

If you are like me, I replaced my sandals with boots and my tee-shirts with sweaters this week. I always am a little sad to see my boots because it means summer is really over. BOO HOO! However, fall is so beautiful here in Ithaca that I get excited and embrace the changing of seasons. I lived in Florida for a blip and while there I missed the changing seasons. It felt weird that it was ALWAYS summer! I was hooked on four seasons and couldn’t wait to return to the Northeast to once again experience them. We are one of the few areas of the country that have four defined seasons, each about 3 months long. I welcome the new season and want to share some of the reasons I choose Ithaca as my home and am forever reminded how fortunate I am to live in one of the most beautiful places in the world!

Fall is one of my favorite times of year to go on long walks….I was fortunate to find time in my morning to do just that yesterday and what a glorious day it was. I strolled through my neighborhood, up Hanshaw Road, over to The Parkway and then I decided to pay a visit to my son Owen’s school, Cayuga Heights Elementary. I started by meeting the new front desk administrative assistant, Jeannie. I chatted with Debbie and then headed up to Owen’s classroom. He was outside enjoying recess so I surprised him with a hello and hung out for a bit. After my visit I continued on and was reminded of how lucky I am to live in such a caring community. I passed several neighbors all offering a friendly hello, noticed all the improvements going on and then realized I needed to head home and get to work.

Kitchen is done! It took 10 weeks, which seemed long at times, but it was totally worth it. To make it all possible we relocated many things, had a make shift-kitchen, moved down to the basement and then moved in with my parents, and finally took a vacation.

Doing the remodel during the summer made it easier because we could utilize the outdoors — grilling, housing all sorts of things under the eaves and dining on our patio. We did try to stay away as much as we could. I’m sure that my contractor Jack would have preferred that we were gone more than we were, but we did the best we could. Now that we have our house back it feels sooooo good.

The advice I would give to anyone who is considering a kitchen remodel is to gather ideas from kitchen remodeling books, Pinterest, Houzz, etc. and keep files of what you like. Meet with three different contractors, one should be a kitchen designer. Have them provide you with plans and an estimate. Listen to your gut. You need to like who you hire and communicate well with them. They will be in your home for a long time, spending your money so be sure that you trust them. Check references! Once you have found your contractor, have them give you updates every other week so you can see how they are doing with the estimate vs. the actual. Don’t be afraid to tell them if you have concerns; you still have options while it’s under construction. Lastly, practice patience and know that all good things come to an end and this one has a huge prize at the end!

Here are some pictures of my prize!

This month I took a deep breath, committed to my wonderful contractor Jack Litzenburger, and signed his contract to renovate my kitchen. Eight years ago we moved into our home and at closing I said, “The only thing we need to do is renovate the kitchen.” Then the garage flooded and we had to excavate all around our house. Thanks to Jim Proctor and Mancini Ferrara we fixed that problem. Then the roof got ice dams so we hired Kanga Roofing and had the entire roof ripped off. They put on a nice, new architectural shingled roof. Then the plumbing went in the kitchen and damaged our basement so we renovated that. Thank you Chuck Holly from Hollywood Painters for all the painting you have done and Warehouse Carpet for replacing my carpets. My brother, Jay Seaman, put up crown molding throughout the house and of course helped me decorate it with many of his amazing art pieces. Molly Riley has also helped me add many decorating elements. My point is, the house will always be the boss. The best laid out plans typically need altering according to what happens. So here we are 8 years later finally taking down the wall between the kitchen and dining room and opening the floor plan up. So far so good…we have plastic up to separate the dusty space from the “living quarters” and Erick made a makeshift kitchen to tide us over. We are eating out a lot and when we do eat at home, Owen gets a huge kick out of washing dishes in the bathtub! My only condition was that it had to be done by Sept. 1st. We go away for vacation and return for the big reveal. I can’t wait. Stay tuned as I blog about the process. I will be sharing the names of contractors as well. I’m a huge believer in referrals, so please if you do call one of them as a result of my blog, tell them I sent you! You can also follow me on Facebook.

I’ve been super busy! In my line of work, it is a very good thing this time of year. I’m grateful for my loyal clients, my referrals and all my new customers. Five years ago, I hired an administrative assistant to help me stay on top of all the paperwork, entering data onto the numerous real estate websites and to manage my expenses. After two failed attempts, I met my current assistant, Katie Barry. She has been an incredible asset to me and I am grateful for her each and every day. She is the one that keeps me organized so I can do what I do best, sell. People often don’t realize all the work and expense it takes to be a Realtor. I honestly don’t know how some agents do it all by themselves. This year I took a big leap of faith and added a Buyer’s Agent to help me better serve my clients. There is only one of me and many times I am needed at several places at the same time. I knew I couldn’t continue to manage my business without help so I started interviewing. I am so pleased to announce that I will be working with Ryan Mitchell. Ryan will be an exclusive Buyers Agent to help me better serve my clients. He comes with great enthusiasm and energy and he already has fit right in. The next time you see me, I might be with Ryan. Be sure and say hello.