This is the second post in a series of preparing your Richmond home for the market! Read the first post here!)

Many homeowners get a slight case of anxiety in anticipation of listing their home for sale. After all, it is understandable that one who doesn’t do this on a daily basis could be a little intimidated by the preparation and maintenance of having your home walked through by strangers that are judging every nook and cranny on a daily basis.

Rule Number Two: Go with Neutral Colors

For the walls of your home, get rid of the bold colored paint on your walls and opt for a neutral tan/cream color (and no, not antique white either) something with a hint of warmth. Try Benjamin Moore Manchester Tan or Sherwin Williams Accessible Beige, which are two of our favorites.

On the beds in your home, go for white or single color coverlets or bedspreads are ideal. Stay away from the bold prints and heavy colors on your bed coverings. This stands out like a sore thumb in pictures. You want potential buyers to see the room, not your bed. (Wouldn’t you hate to be “the house with the BRIGHT GREEN bedspread!”

In the bathrooms, hang white towels and a white shower curtain (try a white waffle shower curtain, hung high). No matter the color of the walls, white makes everything look clean!

Looking for a property with a gorgeous lake view? Check out this well-maintained town house in Lakepointe. This amazing property, close to shopping and restaurants, features  2 bedrooms and  2.5 baths, along with an open floorplan.

The spacious kitchen has a new refrigerator, new oven and corian countertops and opens to the living and dining area with a gas fireplace and tons of windows.  The second floor has a versatile loft that can be used as an office or play area.

The Lakepointe community has walking paths along the water and a low HOA fee.

Interested in taking a look? Give Jenni Jennings a call at 804-247-2568 or send an email to jenni.jennings@kw.com

Today, The Jenni Jennings Team is happy to feature one of our preferred vendors, Capitol Home Inspections. We use this company, owned by Ray and Jenn McMurdy, for many of our clients’ home inspections. Since January is National Radon Action Month, I asked Ray and Jenn  to provide some facts about radon gas for our blog readers.

Ask The Inspector: “I am buying a home.  Do I need to be concerned  about radon gas?”

Many people have heard of the dangers of mold and lead.  They often go down a list  of questions in reference to what their risks are when it comes to these dangers in the home.  But the question that seems to always go unasked is one of the most  important ones, “What about radon gas?”

A surprisingly large number of people are not familiar with radon. You cannot see, smell, or taste radon and without testing for it, you will not know if it is in your home at a dangerous level. Radon is a gas that can seep into buildings from the earth, accumulate, and pose a substantial health risk. While it can accumulate in a home at dangerous levels, exposure to radon is a preventable risk.  By taking steps to test radon levels in your home, you can prevent unnecessary exposure.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has estimated that as many as 20,000 lung cancer deaths are caused each year by radon.  It is the number one cause of lung cancer among non-smokers.  By bringing awareness to our community, more people will become alerted to the dangers and have their homes tested.

There are many ways to test for radon and one of the most effective ways in the real estate transaction is through the use of a continuous radon monitor. This machine is the size of a shoe box and takes hourly readings for a minimum of 48 hours. The home must maintain closed house conditions 12 hours prior to the test as well as throughout the testing period in order to ensure accurate results.  At the end of the 48 hour process, an average is provided to the home buyer allowing them to know how to proceed.

For home owners, they can schedule a test with a local provider that uses Continuous Radon Monitors or they can use a kit, available at local hardware stores or online, for under $25.  If your home does have an elevated level of radon, a qualified radon mitigation contractor can make repairs to solve the problem and protect your family.

January has been designated by the EPA as National Radon Action Month.  What can you do?  Take action and have your home tested.  Spread the word and encourage others to learn about radon and test their homes. The U.S. Surgeon General recognizes radon as a health risk and recommends that all homes across the country be tested for radon. Testing your home, and making repairs if necessary, is a small price to pay for the health of your loved ones. The world is full of unknowns and potential hazards like radon, but thankfully, we can eliminate it before it can hurt us. Life is short enough—don’t let something as easy to fix as radon make it even shorter.

Capitol Home Inspections is a full service inspection firm owned locally by Ray & Jenn McMurdy.  Ray McMurdy is a Virginia State Certified Home Inspector and a Certified Inspector of American Society of Home Inspectors. He also holds a certification by The National Radon Safety Board as a Radon Measurement Specialist. More questions about radon or how to prevent it in your home? Visit the EPA’s website at www.epa.gov/radon or Capitol Home Inspections at www.RichmondInspector.com.

To start the year, we thought we would share with you some insight on what our friends ar Keeping Current Matters (KCM), a real estate trends blog, is predicting will happen in 2014!

Home Sales Will Surge

 Some housing pundits are calling for home sales to do slightly better in 2014 than they did in 2013. To the contrary, KCM strongly believes that home sales will skyrocket with increases of 10-15% in 2014. Locally, we’re still awaiting numbers to see how the Richmond area fared in 2013, but Q3 2013 showed a 17% gain from the same period in 2012. We fully anticipate a good report to finish u the year. We’ll surely keep you posted.

Supply Will Struggle to Keep Up with Demand

With a dramatic increase in demand, it will be up to real estate professionals and builders to make sure there is the necessary inventory to satisfy this demand (i.e. why we are constantly bugging you for leads to folks you may want to sell!). This will be a challenge for much of the year. If you thinking about selling your home, we may have a buyer for you! See our Qualified Buyer List below! Who do you know that fits what our buyers are looking for?

Interest Rates Will Increase Significantly

Fixed mortgage rates continued an upward climb, with the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage starting the year more than a full percentage point higher than last year at this time, Freddie Mac reports in its weekly mortgage survey. “Mortgage rates edged up to begin the year on signs of a stronger economic recovery,” says Frank Nothaft, Freddie Mac’s chief economist.

Freddie Mac reports the following national averages for mortgage rates for the week ending Jan. 2: 30-year fixed-rate mortgages: averaged 4.53 percent, with an average 0.8 point, up from last week’s 4.48 percent average. Last year at this time, 30-year rates averaged 3.34 percent. How much does this affect a payment? See here!

Photo courtesy of Scottsdale Ranch Online

With the record breaking temperatures this week, we saw tons of posts across social media about pipes bursting. Though it looks like the temperatures are warming up (Woo hoo for 71 degrees on Saturday), we still have quite a bit of winter to go.

Check out this full article from The Washington Post’s Capital Weather Gang on how to protect against frozen pipes. Here’s some quick tips to put into place right now:

Tips from the Red Cross include…

• Remove, drain, and store hoses used outdoors. Close inside valves supplying outdoor hose bibs. Open the outside hose bibs to allow water to drain. Keep the outside valve open so that any water remaining in the pipe can expand without causing the pipe to break.
• Open kitchen and bathroom cabinet doors to allow warmer air to circulate around the plumbing. Be sure to move any harmful cleaners and household chemicals up out of the reach of children.
• When the weather is very cold outside, let the cold water drip from the faucet served by exposed pipes. Running water through the pipe – even at a trickle – helps prevent pipes from freezing.
• Keep the thermostat set to the same temperature both during the day and at night. By temporarily suspending the use of lower nighttime temperatures, you may incur a higher heating bill, but you can prevent a much more costly repair job if pipes freeze and burst.
• If you will be going away during cold weather, leave the heat on in your home, set to a temperature no lower than 55° F.