Grade 9 graduation day for my crazy Frazy.  He disliked taking pictures (hmmm, I wonder where he got that from).  Frazer came into my life at a young age.  It was a roller coaster ride with him and a considerable parenting challenge for me.  

One of my biggest fears when I had my daughter Amaya years later, was making sure he knew that I loved him equally very much.  

@frazer_christie you da bomb ❤️.

Going through a divorce and selling a home at the same time can be overwhelming, so it’s easy to make mistakes. Here are 6 of the most common mistakes I see.

Mistake 1: Failing to preserve the capital gains tax break. When you sell a house, you won’t be taxed on the first $250,000 of gain. Talk with an experienced real estate agent to make sure you can claim this as it will save you a ton of money. 

Mistake 2: Allowing emotions to cloud financial decisions. Selling a house is an emotional process for most people. And when you throw the emotions of a divorce into the mix, it can get ugly. It’s so important to stay collected and logical. Otherwise, you could end up making mistakes that will cost you!

Mistake 3: Making the divorce obvious to potential buyers. Buyers can be superstitious, and people might be scared to buy a home where a divorce took place, especially if they’re newlyweds!

Mistake 4: Not sharing relevant portions of the divorce decree with your agent. Your agent needs to know the whole story to accurately guide you through the selling process, so share what’s necessary with them. 

Mistake 5: Hiring a real estate agent who hasn’t worked with divorced clients. Working with an agent who has served divorcing clients will make your life much easier because they’ll have the experience you need to avoid these mistakes.

Mistake 6: Letting maintenance around the house slide. A divorce is mentally, emotionally, and physically draining, which makes it easy to let maintenance go. Don’t let this happen to you and stay on top of maintenance. 

At the end of the day, remember that selling a house is a business transaction, so you need to stay focused. A great real estate agent will provide the experience, knowledge and help you need to stay sane throughout the process. 

If you’re buying a house, you probably know that many different things can impact the value of a home. And the value of the house ultimately impacts how much you buy it for—and sell it for down the road. 

And one thing that can impact the value of a home is the school district the property is located in. Even if you don’t have kids, you should pay attention to the school district. Because whether you end up using the schools or not, they can impact your home’s value! 

A good school district with highly rated schools nearby is a major draw for many buyers, which can add to your home’s resale value. That can translate to more cash in your pocket when you sell your home in the future. In fact, one study found that homes in high-rated school districts sold for $50 more per square foot compared to similar homes in lower-rated school districts. That’s a huge increase in value! 

So when you’re looking at properties, don’t forget to take a look at the surrounding schools while you’re shopping. Your real estate agent will be able to give you some facts on the neighbourhood, but websites like Niche.com or SchoolDigger.com and your state’s Department of Education can help you see how the schools in the area perform. 

That being said, the school district isn’t the end-all-be-all when it comes to choosing a house. You should focus more on how the property itself will fit into your lifestyle and whether it meets your needs. 

But school districts are something to consider as they do impact resale values. And if you’re trying to decide between two similar properties, the school districts might be a deciding factor. If you’re looking for a house that fits your needs and retains its resale value, I’ll help you find the perfect house for your goals. 

1. Improving too much. A house doesn’t need to be perfect to sell. Buyers like to see nice, move-in ready homes, but they’re often not looking for much beyond the basics: a nice kitchen, pretty bathrooms, and good flooring and paint. Improving beyond that could mean spending money on upgrades buyers don’t really care about, which could decrease your ROI.

2. DIYing and failing. Doing a few DIYs around the house is a great, fast way to increase your home’s value. But DIYs tend to turn into bigger projects, especially if you make a mistake. Sometimes it actually ends up being cheaper to hire the professional from the start. Make sure you’re realistic about your skills before you start a project and consider whether or not it would be better to hire the work out to a professional. 

3. Custom renovations. Since you’re doing these upgrades with selling in mind, it doesn’t make sense to do custom work on a house you’re not going to be in long-term. Instead, just take the stock options when you’re renovating your kitchen or bathrooms. 

4. High-end upgrades with no added value. Buyers love luxury, but they’re not going to pay $10,000 over asking just because you have a Sub-Zero stove. Keep this in mind when choosing what to upgrade in your house. Most of th tie, low mid-range choices will get you the best bang for your buck while high-end will actually cost you more than you make back. 

Doing the right upgrades can seriously boost the value of your property and help you make more off the sale—but the wrong upgrades can cost you. Work with your real estate agent to determine just which upgrades are needed to get you the best ROI when selling your home. 

Want some help deciding what to update in your house? Just reply to this email and I’ll give you suggestions on what buyers are looking for right now. Then you can make the right renovations and increase the value of your home!

Smart move: Upgrading your home before you sell. Bad move: Making the wrong upgrades to your home. 

If you want top dollar for your home, making repairs and upgrades to your home is smart. But making the wrong home upgrades is a fast way to lose money and even decrease the value of your home. 

To help you avoid that, here are 4 home upgrade mistakes to NOT make!

If you want to buy a home soon, for the first time or the tenth time, you’ll need to take a look at your credit score. Your credit score is one of the factors a lender will look at when determining 1) if you qualify for a mortgage and 2) your interest rate on that mortgage. 

Higher credit scores will help you secure a lower interest rate on your mortgage, which can save you tens of thousands of dollars over the lifetime of your loan. So you’ll want to get your credit score as high as possible before you talk to a lender. But how exactly can you boost your credit score? Try these four strategies. 

1. Keep balances low and pay on time. This might seem really basic, but it’s so important! A big part of your credit score is based on how well you repay your debts, so make sure to always pay your credit cards and other loans on time. Also focus on getting your balances under 30%—the lower they are, the better!

2. Increase your credit limits. Even if you know you won’t spend as much as your credit limit, every time you have an opportunity to increase it, do! Your credit score LOVES this. If you already have a good or very good credit score, this is a great way to boost it. 

3. Don’t request new lines of credit. The average age of your credit accounts also plays a role in calculating your credit score. The younger your accounts, the worse your credit score. 

That means that every time you open a new line of credit, you decrease the average age of your accounts. Applying for new lines of credit will also drop your credit score a few points for a couple months because of the hard pull on your credit report, so you’ll definitely want to avoid it before getting pre-approved.

4. Check your credit reports for inaccuracy. Sometimes mistakes happen and inaccuracies can get filed on your credit report. It’s your responsibility to check for these and get them corrected. You can get a free credit report from your bank or from apps like CreditKarma. It’s a good idea to just check them out and stay on top of it so you can catch any errors fast. 

With these strategies, you’ll have an amazing credit score and get a great rate on your mortgage. But if you have any questions about getting a mortgage or need some pointers, just reply to this email!

One of the most nerve-wracking things about selling a home is pricing it. Pricing makes such a big difference in how your property is perceived by buyers—and ultimately, it determines how much money you can get out of your home. 

That means you want to get it right so you don’t lose out on any money. But going too high can scare away the perfect buyers. So what are you supposed to do? 

Well, first things first: work with an expert to price your home. Your real estate agent will complete a market comparison and analyze your home against your local market and house comps to find the perfect listing price. 

But sometimes sellers aren’t so sure about the price their agents come up with. I occasionally get questions about whether or not it’s a good idea to plan some room into the listing price because of negotiations. 

Here’s why you shouldn’t leave some space for negotiating when establishing the sales price.

1. Buyers use price filters. Almost every buyer out there does the bulk of their home shopping online. And because there are so many properties on the market, buyers will use filters to find a home that meets their needs. If you price your home too high, the perfect buyers could never see it, which means that they’ll never make an offer on it. 

2. Pricing too high can prevent a bidding war. A bidding war is when multiple buyers make offers on the same property and then start one-upping each other’s offers to win the house. A bidding war is a great thing for the seller, and they’re happening all the time due to the competitive market we’re in. 

But pricing your home too high can make it so a bidding war won’t happen. Instead of having multiple buyers fighting over your home, you might just get an offer or two that come in under your listing price. In this market especially, your home can do so much better than that!

This is why pricing your home properly is so critical to get top dollar. Too low and you’ll miss out on money. Too high and you’ll miss out on the perfect buyers. Working with a real estate agent and understanding their pricing strategy is one way to make sure you price your home correctly.