New Homeowner? Avoid these lawn care mistakes

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Buying a home, curb appeal, first time homebuyer, homes for sale in Jacksonville FL, Jacksonville FL Real Estate, Jacksonville Real Estate, Kevin Hanley, landscaping, Lawn Care, new home owner, real estate, real estate advice, real estate information, Real Estate Team, real estate tips, The best real estate agent in Jacksonville, tips for new homeowner

It’s easy to take a few missteps when it comes to lawn care, especially if you’re a new homeowner and it’s your first time being solely responsible for your yard and landscaping. Here are a few tips that will help you avoid lawn-related frustrations.

Cutting the grass short. Lowering the height of your mower blades may give you a few extra days between each mowing, but it’s bad for your grass in the long run. Don’t go any shorter than 2.5 inches, or your grass could be starved for sunlight.

Watch where your dog urinates. Finally out of an apartment and ready to let the dog into the back yard when it’s time to go? You might regret it. Your pets’ urine can kill your plants and grass. Try to train your dog to go in one spot, preferably in stone or gravel.

Be careful with fertilizer. Fertilizing your lawn isn’t as simple as picking up any bag at a local store. Choosing the wrong fertilizer, using too much, or ignoring the instructions is a recipe for disaster. Do plenty of research or ask a professional if you need help choosing.

Give your plants room to breathe. The nutrients in soil are a finite resource, and your plants and shrubs also need their fair share of water and sunlight. If you plant your shrubs, trees, and flowers too close together, they’ll have to compete for those resources and may become malnourished. Pay attention to the planting recommendations for each plant to make sure that they have the proper space to thrive.

Want more home and lawn care tips? Get in touch today! Kevin and Jennifer Hanley, REALTORS Keller Williams Realty Atlantic Partners Southside 904-515-2479 http://www.HanleyHomeTeam.com

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Getting Ready to Buy a Home? Use These Tips to Boost Your Credit Score

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Buying a home, credit score, homes for sale in Jacksonville FL, Jacksonville FL Real Estate, Jacksonville Real Estate, mortgage loan, mortgage rates, real estate, real estate advice, real estate information, Real Estate Team, real estate tips, The best real estate agent in Jacksonville, tips to buying a home

Your credit score plays a major part in your ability to secure a mortgage—and to secure a competitive interest rate on your loan. So, before you buy a house, you’ll want to do everything you can to get your credit score as high as possible.

So how, exactly, do you do that?

A recent article from realtor.com outlined strategies potential buyers can use to boost their credit score before they purchase a home, including:

• Increase your credit limits. If you can’t pay off your credit card debt, one trick to boost your score is to ask your credit card company to increase your credit limit. Increasing your credit limit will improve your debt-to-credit ratio (how much you owe relative to how much credit you have available)—which plays a huge role in how lenders evaluate your creditworthiness for a mortgage.
• Try to erase one-time mistakes. If you have a history of paying your bills on time, but have one or two late payments on your credit report, try reaching out to your credit card company and asking them to remove the late payment from your credit report. While this won’t work for people with a history of late payments, if you have a mostly positive track record, they may be willing to work with you.
• Pay on time. If your credit score is less-than-perfect because you have a history of late payments, it’s time to start paying your bills on time. The more consistently you pay on time, the more your credit score will improve—and the easier it will be to get a loan.

Want more tips? Get in touch today! Kevin and Jennifer Hanley, REALTORS The Hanley Home Team of Keller Williams Realty Atlantic Partners Southside HanleyHomeTeam.com 904-515-2479

Opendoor Loses in Court – Trust Your Real Estate Agent, Not an iBuyer

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Buying a home, fair market value, homes for sale in Jacksonville FL, ibuyer, Jacksonville FL Real Estate, Jacksonville Real Estate, opendoor, real estate, real estate advice, real estate information, Real Estate Team, real estate tips, The best real estate agent in Jacksonville, zillow

When you’re selling your house, you want to make as much money as you can, as quickly as possible, and with the least amount of interruption to your life.

So when you come across an “iBuyer” company that offers to buy your house for fair market value, without having to put it on the market, and not having to pay real estate commissions, it can sound super appealing.

The problem is, going that route doesn’t necessarily end up making you as much money as you can!

Real estate agents have been warning consumers that iBuyer offers are often too good to be true, and that there are hidden fees and costs that end up costing the homeowner more than they would pay in commissions. To make matters worse, their offers are often for less than the owner would have received on the open market. 

Well, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has confirmed all of that, and more, when they took action and imposed a $62 million fine against the online home buying firm Opendoor Labs, Inc., for misleading sellers and “tricking them into thinking that they could make more money selling their home to Opendoor than on the open market using the traditional sales process.”

In addition to paying the fine, the FTC has also ordered Opendoor to stop deceiving potential homeowners and stop making baseless claims. But that doesn’t mean they’re necessarily out of the iBuying business, nor does it guarantee that they (or any other company like them) won’t deceive consumers again. In fact, it may just lead to a $46,517 fine according to the FTC press release. So, there’s still a chance you could be enticed by Opendoor (or another iBuyer) to sell directly to them, rather than go through the more traditional sales process, and list with an agent.

The problem is, when a company like this pits the consumer against agents and is supposedly trying to save them from agents, it can be hard to trust an agent warning you against that very company or type of offer. So if you aren’t fully informed, it may come across as a self-serving attempt on the part of agents to defend themselves and make money, rather than trying to truly warn and protect you. But knowing that the FTC has fined and sanctioned them ought to be fair and objective enough warning for you to trust your agent over an online company making an offer that sounds too good to be true.

The Takeaway:

If you’re debating whether to sell your house to an iBuyer, versus listing your house with an agent, make sure to interview a local real estate agent you trust before signing on the dotted line with an iBuyer. 

Listen closely to the warnings your agent is giving you, and truly analyze whether the claims and offer an iBuyer makes would net you more than listing on the open market with your local agent. If an offer from Opendoor or any other iBuyer still sounds better and more appealing, just keep in mind what the FTC recently found and fined them for. It’s probably too good to be true…

Get in touch today for a professional market analysis of your home from the Hanley Home Team. Kevin and Jennifer Hanley, REALTORS The Hanley Home Team of Keller Williams Realty of Keller Williams Realty Atlantic Partners Southside 904-515-2479 HanleyHomeTeam.com