Real Estate Investing

Pacifier? Check. Elmo DVD? Check. Tranquilizer — wait, that’s for you, right? Moving with kids is inevitably going to be stressful. They’re leaving their comfort zone, their friends, their bedroom, their neighborhood — all for the new and unfamiliar, which is never a welcome thing when you’re a child. Kids thrive in familiar, consistent daily routines. It’s all about the stability. So you’re going to upset the apple cart, but keep your stress at a relatively manageable level with the following tips:

Get prepared

In addition to packing up your stuff in boxes, pack a “road bag” with favorite toys, snacks, beverages, DVDs, books, etc. for your child — and for yourself, for that matter. A happy parent equals a happy child. This is particularly helpful for long-distance moves. Your child will also need some psychological and emotional preparation. Begin this well in advance. Show them on a map where you will be moving and discuss what attractions will be nearby, like a library, zoo, park, etc. Tell your child they will be able to continue communicating with their old friends by e-mail and phone, and possibly even visiting occasionally.

Incent them

Incentives go a long way with kids. Maybe it involves getting a dog if the new house has a nice-sized fenced-in backyard. Maybe it involves getting a new bike if the new neighborhood has bike paths. Give them a reason to look forward to moving day. Maintain a positive, excited attitude and watch them mimic your tone.

Involve them

Kids like to be involved in the process. They like to help. It is a good idea to let them pack some of their things and give them choices about the moving process, like what color they would like their new room to be. This can foster a sense of teamwork, cooperation and harmony. As an added bonus: You can skip the Xanax.

More than anything, you want to sell your home. You are so ready to move on, you’ve got your boxes packed and one foot out the door. Maybe you already have moved on and you’re paying two mortgages. Ouch.

Cleaning house is a good thing, but you don’t want to clean clean house. In other words, sweep away the cobwebs, pet hair and dust. Do not sweep away the furniture. In most cases, homeowners are still living in their homes when they decide to hold an open house in an effort to sell. But even if they’re not, some furniture should remain so the place looks lived in.

Firstly, if the home is completely vacant, people who visit the open house may start thinking, “How long has this been vacant? Why hasn’t it sold yet?” Secondly, if the house is completely vacant, some visitors may not be able to visualize the home’s potential. So leave a few nice pieces of furniture strategically placed to make rooms more appealing (staging), and that’s just for starters. Here are some other tips to make sure your open house gets you the results you so badly want and need.

-Make your signs highly visible. Place them at busy intersections, make them easy to read and accent them with balloons or streamers. Place plenty of signs en route to your house so visitors can’t get lost.

-Clear out the cars. Make sure plenty of parking space is available for visitors, in the driveway and on the street.

-Make your home sparkle and shine. Pay particular attention to the front porch and landscaping to maintain curb appeal. Pay attention to all doors and entryways, check corners and ceiling fans for cobwebs, and sweep, vacuum, dust, the whole nine yards. Remove all debris and clutter, inside and out. Pay extra attention to the cleanliness of your bathrooms and close all toilet lids.

-Lights! Natural light, overhead light, lamps, closet lights — turn them all on. It creates a friendlier vibe and helps visitors get a better look at the home.

-Remove personal effects. Clean off your fridge. Remove family photos from the walls and shelves. Personalize your house as little as possible. It goes back to staging; enable visitors to more easily picture themselves living in the house (kind of difficult when they’re staring at a hall picture of your family at the beach).

-Get your PR going. Didn’t you know you’re in marketing now? Distribute color brochures with a picture of your home from each of the four seasons. Include reasons buyers should buy your home and list financing options. Set out all information from the home (appraiser’s and inspector’s reports, major repairs/warranties, comparable price analysis from surrounding neighborhood, etc.) for visitors to view. Put on your happy face, meet and greet visitors and question them at the end of their tour as to what they did or did not like about the home.

Set the mood. You’ve already got the lighting. You may also opt to play soft background instrumental music on each level of the home. You should also set out refreshments for visitors and consider simmering spices on the stove or dropping a few drops of vanilla in your warm oven to create a scintillating scent throughout your home.

Above all, keep a positive, optimistic attitude about your home and the area. Happy selling!

So you’re going to do it. You’re finally going to finish out that basement. While you’re at it, you might as well replace all the kitchen cabinets, right? And add an island? Oh heck, replace the windows too. All that hard work, you deserve to cool off in a backyard swimming pool.

Whoa! Snap out of it, homeowner! Did you not watch HGTV’s “My House is Worth What?!” last night? Clearly not, or you’d know you need to tone down those power tools. The show featured a couple in Maine who had added onto their house over the years in an exclusive neighborhood community that prides itself on preserving the historical lay of the land. In other words, you can’t spit and hit your neighbor. It’s a lovely, spread-out landscape and their house has oodles of curb appeal, but one thing quickly becomes apparent. This couple’s house is easily the biggest around.

In this case, not a major thing because the neighborhood was so prestigious and the couple had done a fabulous job of updating the kitchen and seamlessly adding on a second story. But generally speaking, you really don’t want to own the biggest house on the block. It has to do with the neighborhood “price ceiling” — i.e. the neighborhood’s average listing price, which bears directly on your home’s value.

Using aquatic life as a metaphor because I’m hungry and it’s dinnertime, you want to be a goldfish or maybe a small-mouth bass in a lake. You do not want to be the crocodile in the lake. Because when it’s time to sell the crocodile, you could lose money on the crocodile. All the surrounding smaller aquatic beings will cramp the crocodile’s style and resale value. Does that make sense?

So stop! For the love of Black and Decker, put the power drill down, take off your protective eye goggles and look around! Don’t just scan the neighborhood, but do actual research on the Internet. Figure out the prices homes are listing for in your actual neighborhood and take that into consideration before you call up Pools-R-Us. By the way, swimming pools are not a great investment — alas, another topic for another day.