Let’s talk real estate

 

Lynda Cox

Buying or selling a home? Celebrate

When you buy or sell a home it’s a big deal, a really big deal. It’s the largest purchase or sale you will likely ever make. Along the way there are many events to celebrate: hearing your realtor say, after your participation in a bidding war, “You got the house!”; hearing your lender say, “Your mortgage has been approved,” right down to the day you get the keys from your lawyer. Consider these ways to celebrate the day —

1. Once you get the keys, head over to the property with some champagne and take-out from your favourite restaurant. Spread a blanket on the empty living room floor and have a picnic. Take lots of pictures.

2. Plant a tree or bush that you can see from inside. As it grows it will be a reminder of the memorable day.

3. Invite friends and family over for a party. Take advantage of having an empty home.

4. Write a note to your future selves and tuck it away somewhere in the home, to be found and read on the day in the future when you have to move again (or if you forget where you put it, for the new buyers, who will have a laugh when they find it).

5. Take some drinks and a couple of lawn chairs and sit on the deck or balcony, discussing plans for each room.

6. If it is your first home, get a spare key cut and frame it along with the closing date and address.

7. Take a family picture sitting on the front steps or opening the front door for the first time. This is especially relevant if you hope it to be your “forever home.” Years later when you have to leave, take another photo and look at the changes in the home and in your family.

8. Write or carve your initials and the date in an out-of-the-way place.

9. Run through each and every room christening it as your own. I’ll leave the details to you.

10. Buy a new Home Sweet Home plaque and install it by the front door. Make sure you write the date and address on the back.

11. Go to your favourite bakery and pick up cupcakes to hand out to your neighbours. They will never forget you, and you just might form some lasting friendships.

12. Plan a simple housewarming party. Take advantage of an empty home, or at least one where the breakables are still in boxes.

13. Pick a special song that will be your “new home song”: Suggestions: I’ll be Home by Randy Newman, Looking Out My Back Door by Creedence Clearwater Revival, Our House by Madness or Crosby Stills Nash and Young, or Homeward Bound by Simon and Garfunkel, just to name a few. For years to come, whenever you hear that song you will have a vivid memory of that home.

14. Make a playlist of all your favourite tunes and blast the songs, without disturbing the neighbourhood, while you take your first steps in and through your new home.

15. Do something, anything, that will make this day special for you and your famil.

I know that if you move a great deal for your job, or yours is a military family that moves every couple of years, this might not seem so important but it is. Each home you live in will experience milestones in the life of your family: births, first steps, graduations, promotions, engagements, weddings, divorce and even death. The memories of those homes will linger and be clearer long after you move, if you have taken time to celebrate Moving Day.

I wish you all the best as you plan for this very special day in your lives. Moving in or moving out, make it a day to remember.

Sandy Hill Real Estate update from March 17 to May 23, 2019

Houses:    Active, 11;  Conditionally Sold, 3; Sold, 11. 6 sold over list price; Days on Market from 3 to 206

Condominiums:   Active, 47;    Conditionally Sold, 9;    Sold, 33. 3 sold over list price.  Days on Market from 3 to 313