Blog - Stovall Team, Fountain Valley, CA, Real Estate

Spring Preventative Maintenance

By Micah Stovall | Published: March 5, 2013

Here’s the cold, hard truth: Your home undoubtedly took some sort of hit during the chilliest months of the year. With the weather warming and Spring upon us, you might want to consider these seasonal checks to help ensure that your home is in tip-top shape. Here’s a quick checklist to help you manage your mission and prepare for Spring.

Hit the deck: Water stains near walls, splintering or sagging, as well as mold and moss can all indicate problems. Examine your fencing as well. We are embarking on staining our side and back fences in the next few months to help add a few years to them. A good power washing can help you assess the situation. Clean your barbecue. Check outdoor lights.
The roof, too: Inspect your roof from the ground looking for loose, miss-ing, or damaged roofing materials. If you have access to the underside of the roof, check for signs of leaks by discolorations. Check vents, sky-lights, and chimneys for leaks. Have any repairs fixed as soon as possible so water doesn’t get inside your home.

Attack the attic: Check insulation and venting in attic. Make sure vents are not covered. Inspect the attic for signs of roof leaks, condensation, or frost build-up. Your attic should run within 10 degrees of the rest of your house all year long. Otherwise, you might have trouble with your climate system or insulation. And if you find any bird’s nests or rodent droppings up there, call your pest person. Pron-to.

Bugging out: “Termites eat 24-hours a day, seven days a week,” says Missy Herriksen, a spokeswoman for the National Pest Management Association. “They cause serious and costly damage and compromise the structural stability of a home.” Think $5 billion worth of destruction last year alone! Look for pellet-shaped droppings or shed wings. When in doubt, get a pro to inspect.
Cracking up: Having cracks in your pavement or paths is no laughing matter. Seal with concrete filler before weeds can take root or ants invade!

How important is preventative maintenance? Without it, a home could easily lose 10 to 12 percent of its appraised value. Researchers suggest that regular maintenance increases the value of a house by about 1 percent a year.

Call Micah at 714.343.9294 or Steve at 714.393.5377 for your free pre-market evaluation.

Sources: Steve Stovall, Stovall Team, and HGTV

Posted in Sellers | Tagged Fountain Valley, Home Value, Micah Stovall, Real Estate, Steve Stovall, Stovall Team | Comments closed

Stovall Team at the Top: Named Top 1% at Star Real Estate

By Micah Stovall | Published: February 12, 2013

Stovall Team of Star Real Estate have retained their status as one of the Top 1% of agents in Orange County.

We blend high-level professionalism with integrity and action to get our clients results. We look forward to serving our clients in 2013 and beyond.

About Stovall Team: Providing excellent Fountain Valley Real Estate service since 1976. The Stovall Team strives to stay on the cutting edge of marketing and technology. A top producing real estate team, Steve and Micah Stovall are consistent, top producing, agents ranking in Star Real Estate’s Top 1% ‘Presidents Club’ year after year. The Stovall Team has also ranked within the top agents in the Orange County Association of Realtors over three decades. In addition the Stovall Team employs a Professional Interior Designer to insure Staging and Merchandising Excellence for each and every home seller they serve. With over 1700 successfully closed transactions the Stovall Team brings the negotiating and marketing skills needed to help you fulfill your Fountain Valley Real Estate goals.

Micah and Steve go the extra mile for their clients. Steve and Micah Stovall are Certified Short Sale Specialists.

Posted in Buyers, Sellers | Tagged fountain valley real estate | Comments closed

Complimentary Listing Staging

By Micah Stovall | Published: February 10, 2013

The Stovall Team always offers complimentary pre-market staging tips and complementary staging with each listing. Our Staging program has proven to achieve a higher net and a faster marketing time for every one of our sellers.

Call The Stovall Team, Micah at 714.343.9294 or Steve at 714.393.5377 for your free evaluation.

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Tips: Selling a Home With Pets

By Micah Stovall | Published: February 8, 2013

Do a good “down to the bone” deep cleaning. Before your house goes on the market, make sure that it gets a huge deep cleaning, behind all furniture, all closets, under all beds, etc.
Have a quick pre-showing clean-up routine. After your house is cleaned “to the bone,” it’s much easier to tidy up in a hurry.
De-clutter. Find a quick spot for all of your pet friendly items. Dog bowls, toys, bones, should have a quick hiding spot for showings. Try a bin in a pantry for example.

Sources: Stovall Team, and www.about.comSelling a House with Pets at Home, Sell a House Where Pets Live

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Home Selling Season Hits Early

By Micah Stovall | Published: February 7, 2013

There are indications of an unusually early start to the 2013 season as buyers rush to get off the sidelines before home prices and mortgage rates go higher. Could the chilly December-to-February months, which traditionally see fewer buyers out shopping for houses com-pared with the warmer months that follow, be more active than usual?

And if so, what does this mean to you as a potential home seller or buyer?

There is growing evidence, anecdotal and statistical, that there are more shoppers on the prowl in many parts of the country than is customary for this time of year, more people requesting “preapproval” letters from mortgage companies, more people visiting websites offering homes for sale and more people telling pollsters that they expect home prices to continue rising and that the worst of the housing downturn is long past. There is even data showing that during holiday-distracted December, there was a jump in visits to homes listed for sale.

Polling by Fannie Mae, the government-backed mortgage investor, may shed some light on what’s motivating buyers. In a survey of 1,002 adults in December, Fannie found the highest share of consumers in the survey’s 21/2-year history who expect home prices to rise during the coming 12 months. Forty-three percent expect mortgage rates to jump, and 49% believe that the cost of renting will increase.

Roll all this together, says Doug Duncan, Fannie’s chief economist, and you can see why consumer sentiment “could incentivize those waiting on the sidelines … to buy a home sooner rather than later” — pushing spring behavior into midwinter.
What’s missing from this equation? More owners listing their homes for sale. Inventories of available homes are down in most markets, mainly because many sellers are under the impression that it’s still a buyer’s market filled with low-ballers who won’t pay them a fair price. In many parts of the country, that is last year’s news. In 2013, it’s simply no longer the case.

Sources: Full Article can be found in LA Times Business Section, Real Estate 20130120,0,6866407

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Ask STOVALL TEAM

By Micah Stovall | Published: February 6, 2013

Q: We are looking to sell our home and move to another within the next 18 months. Based on your real estate experience, can you please answer a couple of questions for us?
A: Start by determining an approximate value for your home.
Call Micah at 714.343.9294 or Steve at 714.393.5377 for your free pre-market evaluation. Contact the Stovall Team for a comparative market analysis, an informal but accurate estimate of value based on the recent selling prices of similar neighborhood properties. The Stovall Team will visit your home to determine how your property compares with other similar sales in your area over the past 90-120 days.
Next, we will perform a pre-sale evaluation. This will help you maximize your net proceeds by pointing out items that will insure the highest possible return when you sell. We want to make sure your home is in the best condition possible before showing it to prospective buyers, this will insure that you’ll obtain top dollar. These items will include general repairs, painting, flooring upgrades or carpet cleaning and updating of outdated fixtures, etc. Dollars spent on pre-sale upgrades will return a much higher net at sale, if attended to prior to going on the market. We will also suggest a termite inspection be performed as to save you from unsuspected expenses.

The “curb appeal” of your home is also extremely important. It is the first impression that buyers form of your property as they drive or walk up. So make sure the lawn is pristine– the grass cut, debris removed, garden beds free of weeds and freshly planted or pruned, and hedges trimmed. We will help with a gardener referral if needed.
There is a balance when making pre-sale repairs and upgrades, especially if there are few homes on the market but many buyers competing for them. The better your home presents itself the more you’ll receive at escrow’s close. In any and all market types, the better your home presents itself the higher your return on investment, we will help you balance your costs to maximize your return.

Finally we will help you with the final staging just prior to going on the market. ll Team offers professional design services to each of our clients. This service has proven most valuable for our past clients. This service is always complimentary and part of our marketing package.

Call Micah at 714.343.9294 or Steve at 714.393.5377 for your free pre-market evaluation.

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