The Importance of Landscaping

Courtesy of sweethomedecorating.com

As Spring approaches, I told my wife the other day my entire goal was to get my yard plush and green this year, with freshened-up mulch and plants.  I don't know about you, but whenever I go to a golf course, or Sea World or a nice hotel like JW Marriot with beautifully landscaped grounds- I can't help but walk away vowing to make my yard a better place by putting a little more effort into it.

At Mattern & FitzGerald we offer landscaping assistance to the homeowners prior to moving in.  There are some different ways that you can tackle it, and I just wanted to point out a couple.

First, you can interview several different reputable landscape companies, and have their draftsman draw you a plan.  This is a service that can be free if you use them, or somewhere in the $500 range if you don't. Usually the hook is they will donate the drawing time to the cause if you decide to use their services.

The next way that I like best is to have a master plan designed by a landscape architect.  Two years ago, I engaged Matt Stevens mwsla.com to do my personal residence.  Matt is a Landscape Architect and got his degree for it from Texas A&M.  My wife and I were extremely happy with his design and he won a Summit Award for it last year.  The cost can vary but a ballpark number for detailed drawings is $2500.  Yes, that's a lot of money, but what it gives you is detailed drawings, quantities, a master plan and lighting and elevation considerations.  The most important benefit though is it gives you a level playing field from which to solicit bids.  There's no real way to cheat the system when it's laid out in detail like that.  My thought is that you will almost recoup the investment in the plans by getting it competitively bid out from the same basis point.

I would encourage you to do a little advance, thought-out planning on the landscaping portion of your home and get some assistance to help you make your yard an oasis from a stressful day.

How to Host a Successful Open House Party

This picture cracks me up of people doing the YMCA and having a great time.  Okay, so maybe your open house party wouldn't want to get this rowdy, but you do want people to leave feeling glad they made the trip to see your house.  At Mattern & FitzGerald we take our open houses very seriously.  If you are in the  market, or will be to sell your home in the near future- I wanted to give you some tips to think about if considering doing an open house.

1. Identify a core group of attendees- there are people of influence in the real estate community that can help get your home sold like realtors, lenders, organizations, etc.  Write down a list of key attendees and give them a special invitation to your event.
2. Put your best foot forward- make sure your home shines.  Try your best to walk the house with the eyes of a stranger, observing everything as you make your way around the house.  Be critical because you have one shot to make a good first impression.
3. Advertise- there are a ton of mediums available to us today that are relatively inexpensive to get the word out about your event.  Internet, newspaper, targeted mailers, etc.  Create a budget and maximize it by putting your dollars where you will get the greatest return.
4. Have some sort of offer- get people to the door by offering some kind of door prize or benefit for seeing you.  encourage people to sign-up with their information in a quick, hassle-free way.  Sometimes a name and email is good enough, but a phone number is ideal.
5. Follow-up- let's face it, chances are high you won't sell your home that day.  However, you now have an invaluable database of influential leads with which to follow-up with.  Make sure you do that on a fairly regular basis.

Top 10 Questions to Ask Your Builder

When interviewing builders to potentially build your dream home, these are some of the more important questions that can be asked:

1. How long have you been in business?
2. How many homes do you build in a year?
3. What is your average price point of home that you normally build?
4. How stable are you financially?
5. Have you ever, or are you currently involved in any legal disputes?
6. What is your ratio of projects to project managers that you average?
7. What lien prevention measures do you have in place?
8. What kinds of warranties are offered with your home?
9. What kind of post-build documentation do you provide to me that was gathered throughout the build process?
10. Can I get a list of past clients that have built with you in the last 6 months to speak with?