Daigle's Digs: July 2015

Monday, July 27, 2015

Welcome Home...

Curb appeal is a huge factor in real estate. Often times it is the determining factor of whether people actually look at your home or now. What's a fun way to draw attention to the front of your home? How about a bold paint color for your front door?

Here are the ten best doors I have seen lately:

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Who wouldn't want to come into a home with these doors?!

In addition to writing for Daigle's Digs, Elizabeth works full-time as a Real Estate Agent with Keller Williams Realty Downtown, LLC. Elizabeth's expertise is in buying and selling a home, first time home buyers, short sales, and investment properties. Contact Elizabeth for any real estate needs. Cell 303-819.73.71. Work 720-314-8352.

Friday, July 24, 2015

The hustle mentality.

Hustle (n) - busy movement and activity.

In real estate or really any industry, the ability to hustle is a great quality to have. It keeps you moving forward. I used to date a man who was in sales and his amazing knack at hustling was like an art form. I think of him and his ambition often as I entered into this new career. The concept of hustling to me is similar to the childhood game of hot potato, you NEVER WANT TO STOP, as that is when you will drop the potato and lose. You constantly want to be charging forward.

I started following some of the big names in real estate - Ryan Serhant, Katrina Campins and Luis Ortiz and, man, can they hustle. They eat, breathe and sleep real estate. Every waking moment they have is dedicated to real estate. For a woman that loves real estate, it is incredibly admirable to see how much these icons can get done in a day. In the end, it is about steering your career forward and in the direction that you want it to take.

In real estate it's quite easy to get pulled in multiple directions. Most of your day is spent in the car and the details of a transaction can be time consuming. I recently read this article which outlined a curtail flaw in the hustle mentality as lack of strategy. You can work as hard as you want/can but if you do not have a plan or strategy, you may be wasting your time.

The ability to hustle and constantly be moving forward is an act that we can see. We can see the number of sales or closed transaction an agent has or how many hours they clocked. The plan is personal. From the outside, it may look like these real estate superstars just hustle, they most definitely have a plan and goals to meet. While all of us will inevitably get bogged with life's twists and turns, it's crucial to keep moving forward in the direction of our goals, making it necessary to detail our goals for both our life and career.

In addition to writing for Daigle's Digs, Elizabeth works full-time as a Real Estate Agent with Keller Williams Realty Downtown, LLC. Elizabeth's expertise is in buying and selling a home, first time home buyers, short sales, and investment properties. Contact Elizabeth for any real estate needs. Cell 303-819.73.71. Work 720-314-8352.

Monday, July 20, 2015

Just Sold In First Creek!

Green Valley Ranch is one of the hottest neighborhoods in Denver. It's locale, close to the Airport, and lower home prices makes it incredibly desirable. Nestled north of Green Valley Ranch is a development called First Creek. First Creek has both town homes and condos and average days on market is roughly a week while average price is roughly $172,000 for townhomes. The closest comp to 5770 Ceylon St had sold at $192,000 only a few days after putting 5770 Ceylon St. on the market.

This complex had some hurdles to overcome as the HOA is in the process of a litigation with the builder. Although potential buyers may be impartial to the litigation, lending on it may have been difficult. After close to 30 offers on this one property we closed on the home at $206,000, a record breaking price for First Creek!

Are you wondering what your home is worth? Let's chat! I can give you a free market analysis and go into detail how I can market your home, including any items that may deter buyers, such as a current HOA litigation.

Monday, July 13, 2015

Gold Fixtures

One of the hottest trends of 2015 is gold fixtures, especially in the kitchen and bathroom. My love for gold runs deep so I love this trend.

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What do you think about gold fixtures? Would you do it in your home? I most definitely would, although, my home currently came equip with all silver fixtures. I will not be switching the fixtures out anytime soon and get my gold fix through pictures.

Friday, July 10, 2015

Creativity

Creativity is a huge motivating force for me. It allows me be imaginative, think bigger and colorful. Steve Jobs explained creativity the best:

But what happens when your creativity is depleted? I tend to be very creative but when I get incredibly busy or stressed, I lose most of my creativity. I no longer have the head space needed in order for me to create. As a real estate agent, the spring and summer tend to be my busiest part of the year and often times it is then that I lose sight of my creativity. I put one foot in front of the other and plow through the summer helping people buy and sell a new home. In times of stress and when life gets busy, what the best approaches to maintain creativity?

Full disclosure: I had to do research on this as I still struggle with this concept.

1. Meditate. This clears your mind and increases focus.

2. Write. In a journal, on post-its, anywhere to keep the ideas flowing.

3. Take a break. This helps refocus and take a step out of the day to day activities.

4. Organize. I find if my physical space is organized, my thoughts tend to be. Creative people do not tend to be the most organized people.

5. Surround yourself with other creative people. Bounce ideas off one another and chat about projects.

6. Start working on a new project. Often you are the most creative when you start a new project. Start a new one and then go back to the old project with your newfound creativity.

7. Attend a class. Freshen up on your skill set.

8. Exercise. This helps clear my mind and refocus.

How to you stay creative when life gets mundane or busy?

Wednesday, July 8, 2015

Buying a Home: The Lender Letter.

Whether you have bought numerous homes or you are a first time homebuyer, it is a good idea to freshen up on the process. Since 2008, the process of getting a loan has changed drastically, which has changed the home purchasing process.

One of the first steps in the home purchase is speaking with a lender. In the Denver market, it is imperative to have a Lender Letter along with your offer. This means you will have to provide a Lender with proof of salary and other supporting documentation up front. Lenders will write one of two letters:

Pre-qualification letter. This is an estimate of your purchase power based on what you told the lender.

Pre-approval letter. This is a more formal process as you have filled out the application. The lender as pulled credit, salary and other financial pieces of information.

In cases of a multiple offer situation, a pre-approval is the best type of letter to receive from a Lender. It means the lender has more of an idea of your financial situation and therefore you look like a strong buyer.

Have you talked to a lender to see what you are approved for?

In addition to writing for Daigle's Digs, Elizabeth works full-time as a Real Estate Agent with Keller Williams Realty Downtown, LLC. Elizabeth's expertise is in buying and selling a home, first time home buyers, short sales, and investment properties. Contact Elizabeth for any real estate needs. Cell 303-819.73.71. Work 720-314-8352.

Monday, July 6, 2015

Rugs on Carpet.

The concept of layering is often talked about in design. Layering can create the room with the right amount of texture, color, shape and light. One mode of layering is using rugs as it helps bring texture and color into the room. Many people shy away from putting a rug on carpet but it is a great way to layer and break up a large carpeted room.

1. It can define a space in a large room.

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2. Provide a softer surface for your feet to land.

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3. Rugs can add color and texture to a room.

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4. Also, rugs are a great way to hide a carpet stain.

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What do you think? Do you like area rugs on carpet?

Wednesday, July 1, 2015

Learning to appreciate the mountains...

I absolutely love Denver but I hate the lack of water. This is the first time in my life that I am landlocked. I was explaining this to a friend who has also lived on the ocean all her life until moving to Denver. She agreed but pointed out that the mountains here have the same affect. Every morning she looks out her window to the mountains. Each day the mountains take on a different look, color and feel - very similar to the ocean.

Living in Denver (and owning a North facing condo) I often find myself taking the natural beauty of the mountains for granted. We may not have an ocean but we are blessed with mountains. The mountains, like the ocean, are expansive and help keep our place in the universe in perspective.