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Last Minute Tips for Winterization

18 Wednesday Nov 2020

Posted by The Hanley Home Team in #DIY, #HanleyHomeTeam, #HomeOwner, #HomeSeller, #Jacksonville, #JacksonvilleFL, #KellerWilliams, #RealEstate, DIY, Jacksonville, real estate

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energy audit, gutters, Hanley Home Team, Keller Wiliams, real estate, real estate advice, real estate information, real estate jacksonville fl, Real Estate Team, real estate tips, The best real estate agent in Jacksonville

It’s not too late to address a few home maintenance musts before winter fully sets in. Here’s a list of last-minute tasks to knock out before you go into hibernation mode. 

Photo by Mitchell Henderson on Pexels.com

1. Check and clean the gutters one last time. As the last leaves have fallen, take time now to make sure your gutters are completely cleared out. Blockages can create ice dams, which will damage your gutters and prevent proper drainage of water away from your foundation.  

2. Check your furnace. If you have a furnace, replace your filter if you haven’t already, and commit to changing it once a month. A dirty filter will increase your heating costs and reduce the life of your equipment. Home heating systems that aren’t properly maintained may be less than 50 percent efficient. If you can spring for it this year, an inspection done by a licensed professional is always recommended.  

3. Maintain your home’s exterior. Trim back trees and branches that are hanging too close to your home. Seal driveways, brick patios, and wood decks. Look for cracks and gaps around doors, windows, and eaves, and seal them.  

4. Test smoke/carbon monoxide detectors This one is easy to overlook, but takes only a couple seconds: hit the “test” button on your smoke/carbon monoxide detector. If the alarm sounds — you’re good to go. If not, replace the batteries and test again. Replace your smoke detector if fresh batteries don’t result in a proper test.  

5. Consider an energy audit An energy audit can show you how and where your home is using energy, so you can make simple updates to increase your home’s efficiency – saving you money. Home energy audits typically range in cost from $200-$400, and many energy companies offer rebates that make them even more affordable (or sometimes free). 

Perform your own quick energy audit by following some of these tips from Energy.gov. Taking these steps will not only lower your utility costs, but they will protect your largest investment, your home, from the unexpected weather conditions ahead. If you have questions about professional services for home energy audits, contact us! Kevin and Jennifer Hanley, REALTORS http://www.HanleyHomeTeam.com The Hanley Home Team of Keller Williams Realty Atlantic Partners Southside

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Stage Your Outdoor Space This Winter

07 Saturday Nov 2020

Posted by The Hanley Home Team in #DIY, #HanleyHomeTeam, #HomeSeller, #Jacksonville, #JacksonvilleFL, #KellerWilliams, #RealEstate, #sellingyourhome, DIY, TIPS, HACKS

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energy audit, energy bill, energy efficient, home improvement, homes for sale, homes for sale in Jacksonville FL, protect your home in the winter, staging, staging your home, staging your patio, winterization, winterizing

Colder weather ahead doesn’t mean you have to forfeit your precious outdoor space. This year especially, you’ll want to enjoy your backyard or balcony as long as possible. Here are some tips to make the most of your space this fall and winter. 

Clean up ahead of winter
Spruce up your yard to create an outdoor environment you’ll be motivated to enjoy. Take time to clean up and dispose of leaves and fallen branches. For your flower beds, pull out the dead annuals, add compost, then plant cover crops or add mulch. 

Warm it up
Electric or propane outdoor heaters can help extend the outdoor mingling season. With free-standing, tabletop, and umbrella-style versions available in a variety of sizes, there are options available to fit your needs. (If you live in a condo, check regulations first.) 



Use what you have
Instead of putting it all in storage, leave your patio furniture outside. Add some machine-washable covers to give your cushions a fresh look. Circle your furniture around a fire pit and you’ll be roasting (and burning) s’mores in no time. 

Look on the bright side
Garden lighting at ground level will illuminate your landscape, and string lights with clear white LED bulbs can create an inviting ambiance. Solar powered, weather-resistant lights are more affordable than ever and make for hassle-free installation and upkeep. 

Food for thought
Keep the barbecue in working order and your propane tank filled. Grill up some goodies, then enjoy them outside. It’ll be just like a winter tailgate, only cheaper and without a line for the bathroom.
Last Minute Tips for Winterizationdecorative imageIt’s not too late to address a few home maintenance musts before winter fully sets in. Here’s a list of last-minute tasks to knock out before you go into hibernation mode. 

1. Check and clean the gutters one last time. As the last leaves have fallen, take time now to make sure your gutters are completely cleared out. Blockages can create ice dams, which will damage your gutters and prevent proper drainage of water away from your foundation.  

2. Check your furnace. If you have a furnace, replace your filter if you haven’t already, and commit to changing it once a month. A dirty filter will increase your heating costs and reduce the life of your equipment. Home heating systems that aren’t properly maintained may be less than 50 percent efficient. If you can spring for it this year, an inspection done by a licensed professional is always recommended.  

3. Maintain your home’s exterior. Trim back trees and branches that are hanging too close to your home. Seal driveways, brick patios, and wood decks. Look for cracks and gaps around doors, windows, and eaves, and seal them.  

4. Test smoke/carbon monoxide detectors This one is easy to overlook, but takes only a couple seconds: hit the “test” button on your smoke/carbon monoxide detector. If the alarm sounds — you’re good to go. If not, replace the batteries and test again. Replace your smoke detector if fresh batteries don’t result in a proper test.  

5. Consider an energy audit An energy audit can show you how and where your home is using energy, so you can make simple updates to increase your home’s efficiency – saving you money. Home energy audits typically range in cost from $200-$400, and many energy companies offer rebates that make them even more affordable (or sometimes free). 

Perform your own quick energy audit by following some of these tips from Energy.gov. Taking these steps will not only lower your utility costs, but they will protect your largest investment, your home, from the unexpected weather conditions ahead. If you have questions about professional services for home energy audits, give us call before Spring is already here! Kevin and Jennifer Hanley, REALTORS Keller Williams Realty Atlantic Partners Southside 904-515-2479 http://www.HanleyHomeTeam.com

Home Flipping Hits 14-Year High

25 Tuesday Aug 2020

Posted by The Hanley Home Team in #buyandhold, #DIY, #HanleyHomeTeam, #HomeBuyer, #HomeOwner, #HomeSeller, #Jacksonville, #JacksonvilleFL, #KellerWilliams, #Passiveincome, #RealEstate, #sellingyourhome, DIY, Jacksonville, real estate, TIPS, HACKS, Uncategorized

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buying a flip, flip, flipped homes, flipping homes, Hanley Home Team, real estate, real estate advice, real estate investing, Real Estate Team, The best real estate agent in Jacksonville, the time to buy is now

 

upside down house

Photo by Magda Ehlers on Pexels.com

While the real estate market in general is adapting to new challenges and market conditions, one segment of the market is going strong. Home flipping is boasting its best numbers in 14 years.

The newly released first-quarter 2020 U.S. Home Flipping Report from ATTOM Data Solutions shows that “53,705 single-family homes and condominiums in the United States were flipped in the first quarter. That number represented 7.5 percent of all home sales in the nation during the quarter, up from 6.3 percent in the fourth quarter of 2019 and from 7.3 percent in the first quarter of last year.” Those are the highest numbers since the second quarter of 2006.

The gross profit for home flips across the country also rose over the same time period, to $62,300. “That was up slightly from $62,000 in the fourth quarter of 2019 and from $60,675 in the first quarter of last year,” the report said.

If you’re looking to get in on the flipping trend, here are a few insights:

  • You don’t need to buy a million-dollar fixer. “Homes flipped in the first quarter of 2020 were sold for a median price of $232,000.”
  • Profits will be larger where the home prices are higher. “The highest first-quarter 2020 profits, measured in dollars, were concentrated in the West and Northeast. Among metro areas with enough data to analyze, 13 of the top 15 were in the those regions, led by San Francisco, CA (gross profit of $171,000); San Jose, CA ($165,000); Los Angeles, CA ($145,000); New York, NY ($141,899) and Honolulu, HI ($140,190).”
  • The lowest profits were generally in southern metro areas, such as “Springfield, MO ($20,203); Daphne, AL ($20,650); Raleigh, NC ($21,250) and Durham, NC ($25,000).”
  • Don’t think you have to turn the home around and sell it in 30 days. “The average time to flip nationwide is 174 days.”
  • You don’t need to pay cash upfront for the home, as the percentage of flipped homes purchased with financing in the first quarter of 2020 was 40.5 percent.

Need some advice on investing and flipping? Get in touch today!  Kevin and Jennifer Hanley, REALTORS – The Hanley Home Team of Keller Williams Realty Atlantic Partners Southside – 904-515-2479 http://www.HanleyHomeTeam.com Team@HanleyHomeTeam.com

How to Redecorate Your Space

12 Tuesday May 2020

Posted by The Hanley Home Team in #HanleyHomeTeam, #JacksonvilleFL, #KellerWilliams, #RealEstate, DIY

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#HomeOwner, Decorate, Decorating Tips, DIY, Home Sweet Home, Interior Design, My First Home

brown wooden desk with rolling chair and shelves near window

Photo by Huseyn Kamaladdin 

Interested in refreshing your home? Want a different vibe? Can’t afford a decorator, but completely lacking in decorating skill yourself?

Good news! Even with all those constraints, you can still pull together a fabulous room. You’ve been in homes you like, so you already know what you like when you see it. You can use that natural ability to your advantage.

3 Places to Get Inspiration

Here are three places to start.

  1. Start with an inspiration room. Look through magazines or websites like Houzz, Studio McGee, or Apartment Therapy. Find a room that perfectly reflects what you like. Then study that room. Understand what they’re doing that you love. Then look around your own space and translate that into your space. Don’t sweat about how you’ll do it yet. Just focus on what would be different to make it work. Later you can figure out the project management bits, like budget and steps in the process.
  2. Start with an item you love that reflects your style. Maybe you absolutely LOVE the multi-colored ceramic frog you bought on a trip to Mexico. Or you bought a blue and white Delftware cookie jar on vacation in The Netherlands, or an ornate Louie the Fourteenth reproduction clock. To design around an object, identify three main colors, as well as the general style of the object. For instance, the Louis the Fourteenth clock has gold and white color, and is an ornate style. Now Google “gold, white, ornate room inspiration.” Then see #1 above.
  3. Start with a store or shop that reflects your style, like Ikea, Crate and Barrel, Target, Pottery Barn, or Bouclair. Go there and ask the workers for advice about how to decorate your home. Take photos. Purchase a few items that can act as the color and style guidelines for your room.

How to Use Your Inspiration

Once you’ve selected a style and color scheme, sit in your space and rethink it. How would you translate your inspiration room to your own space? What is currently in your space that doesn’t reflect the style you want? What could you switch out to better match your style?

For instance, suppose I selected the picture above as my inspiration. That wall color is a perfect mossy green that makes me feel like I’m in a forest. The gray couch is similar to what I already have, but I can substitute different pillows. I like a little more going on in the pillows, so I can pick up the same tone of green, but add more design. I love the gray coffee table and want something like that. I also like the minimalist frames of the photos and can reframe some of my existing photos.

Sometimes you won’t have any existing furniture or décor that fits the style you want, and you’ll need to start from scratch. Sometimes you’ll already have a few things you can keep. And sometimes, you like everything you have and you just need to move it around and add a different paint color or additional décor.

Create a Project Plan

A project plan can be a simple list of things to do and buy. The order of redecorating is fairly linear.

  1. Start with deciding your design and budget. After spending mental time with your inspirations, get practical. Decide which pieces of furniture you’ll keep and what else you’ll want to buy. Add the cost of paint and other supplies. Then create a budget so you’ll know how much you can spend on décor and furniture.
  2. Next, remove your existing furniture.
  3. Then paint. If you need to do any wiring or other construction, do it now.
  4. Next, move stuff back in. Start with the furniture you want to keep. Move it around to different spots before settling on one place. Then add the existing décor you want to keep.
  5. Buy and add the additional new furniture and décor you want (see below).

Buy What Else You Need

Main pieces: Some items carry more weight than others. For instance, lamps and light fixtures can set a tone or style. If you don’t already have lamps that fit the style you want, put them on your buy list. Curtains or window coverings are another highly visible décor item. Finally, end tables or coffee tables or other “main” pieces of furniture can affect the feeling of your space. If you plan to buy second hand furniture, you’ll have a better sense of what to look for.

Décor pieces: Once you have the main items in place, you’ll want to add the fun stuff. If you started with that colorful Mexican pottery frog, now you’ll want to look for other pottery, as well as other Mexican décor items. Or if you started with a blue and white Delft cookie jar, now you’ll want to find more Delft pieces, or use blue frames on your photos with white matting. Your inspiration rooms will give you more ideas about décor items.

A Few Décor “Tricks”

Mirrors: If you lack natural light and can’t add a skylight or window, then consider using mirrors. For instance, we had a living room with just one outside window. The light lit the opposite wall, but didn’t do enough to light the whole room. A floor to ceiling mirror on the window wall and the opposite wall really lit the room!

Height: Don’t be afraid to fill up your wall with a painting or photo wall. Put your curtains up higher above the window. Use very tall lamps. Use layers of height, small, medium, tall.

Groupings: Put a group of photos together with similar or even identical frames. Put a group of décor items together, like several different heights of vases or a group of masks you got on vacation.

Wallpaper: While wallpaper can be overdone, a little can go a long way. If your design idea suits wallpaper, don’t be afraid to use it as an accent.

Wood: If you plan to make wood a dominate feature of your décor, you can often use different styles of furniture as long as the wood is a similar tone. For instance, you might be able to use an ornately carved chair next to a Danish modern coffee table if the woods look similar. Alternatively, you can often use different wood tones if you keep the shapes similar.

Conclusion

You don’t need to decorate all at once! You can start by deciding what one or two things would begin changing things. Maybe your wall color. Maybe a new couch or rug. Maybe a feature wall. Then go from there. For more ideas, Google “Easy Décor Tips.”

Give us a call today; we are happy to lead you in the right direction.

Kevin and Jennifer Hanley, REALTORS Keller Williams Realty Atlantic Partners Southside 904-515-2479 http://www.HanleyHomeTeam.com

Turning a Bedroom into a Lux Bedroom.

07 Wednesday Aug 2019

Posted by The Hanley Home Team in #BedroomDecor, #HanleyHomeTeam, #HomeBuyer, #HomeBuyingTips, #HomeOwner, #HomeSeller, #Jacksonville, #KellerWilliams, #RealEstate, DIY

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Buying a home, DIY, home improvement, Modernize your bedroom look, real estate, tips for sellers, Update your bedroom

For most of us, our bedroom is little more than a place to sleep and relax. However, just because it’s always been that way doesn’t mean that we have to settle for drab and dreary.

bed bedroom ceiling chandelier

One trend that’s gaining steam these days is converting your current bedroom into a luxury suite (or something comparable). If you want to live like you’re renting a room at the Ritz, then you want to follow these tips.

Compartmentalize Your Activities

Making your bedroom more functional is going to make it more luxurious. Add a gorgeous desk for working and a TV area for entertainment, and you’ll be living it up in no time.

Make it Chic

Choose a color palette that is both luxurious and classy. Silver and gold can seem tacky, so choose muted shades that compliment each other.

Also, a brilliant and commanding headboard can instantly upgrade the look of your room without any other changes.

Light it Properly

Finally, make sure that you have the right light to show off your designs. If it’s too washed out or yellow, then it will look drab and run down. Switch to brilliant LEDs and see the difference.

Choose Your Accents Wisely

We already mentioned a headboard, but some elegant drapes can also make your room feel more royal. Being strategic with your furniture accessories is going to both keep you under budget and avoid doing too much with the space.

Are you ready to lux your bedroom? You’ll be impressed by the results, and the feeling of decadence will make you more confident in your surroundings.

throw pillows on bed

Give us a call today!  Kevin and Jennifer Hanley, REALTORS Keller Williams Realty Atlantic Partners Southside 904-515-2479 http://www.HanleyHomeTeam.com

Easy Landscaping DIY Projects

16 Thursday May 2019

Posted by The Hanley Home Team in DIY, real estate, Summer Yard, TIPS, HACKS

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Tags

home improvement, home ownership, Jacksonville, Jacksonville Real Estate, lazy summer, selling your home in the summer. summer real est

garden walkway view

Photo by Jonas Ferlin on Pexels.com

Ever get the itch to do a DIY project? Whenever we do, our favorites involve getting outdoors and mixing up our landscaping features.

Whether it’s as simple as installing some lighting or a little more time-consuming like re-plotting plants, a fresh look for the lawn always gives your home a fresh look as well. Here are our top five easy landscaping projects!

Create a pathway.

To guide you and visitors throughout your yard and link different areas together, install a pathway. You can use materials from a variety of materials, including reclaimed pallet wood, flagstones, gravel, and more to add texture and color.

Add a wall or border.

Installing a flagstone, rock, or brick wall around flower beds or trees adds a sleek, clean look to your landscaping and helps separate different sections of your yard.

Install a water feature.

Nothing says zen quite like the sound of trickling water as you relax in your backyard. You can start simple with by purchasing and installing a small feature powered by a solar panel or create a larger focal point in your yard by installing a waterfall wall or small pond.

Light your way.

An easy way to transform your yard is to strategically use lighting. Place cool-colored lights high in trees to recreate a moonlight feel, use pathway lights to naturally guide the eye, or highlight objects or plants.

Plant upwards.

Expand your yard space by drawing the eye to the sky with a trellis fence or screen made of wood or metal. Once you install your trellis, select your climbing plants and vines and get to planting.

Source: Easy Landscaping DIY Projects

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