Decorate Your Front Door For The Holidays

Happy Holidays!

End the year with a bang with these tips to decorate your front door for the holidays so that you can revel in the season. If you’re thinking about selling, get your home ready to list with some last minute tips. Or, if you're a first time home buyer, get ready for the new year with these resolutions!

Decorate Your Front Door for the Holidays

If the holidays snuck up on you this year, don’t worry! There’s still plenty of time to decorate your home. One project you can tackle pretty quickly, that will make a big festive impact, is your front door. Find some inspiration to create a beautiful door decoration below.

Mittens - Tie a pair of mittens together and fill them with greenery, white branches, berries, pinecones, and other seasonal accents.

Christmas Tree Wreath - Save the bottom branches that you cut off your Christmas tree to make a door wreath. Use some wire or string to tie the branches together in a wreath shape. Decorate the wreath with bows, ornaments, or seasonal flowers.

Herbs - Rosemary grows to around four feet in height, so it’s a great size to weave together into a wreath shape. Adding some thyme, berries, and ribbon will help to fill your wreath out and enhance the festive feel. Hang the wreath on your door, and each time you open it, you’ll waft a breeze of fresh herbs inside.

3 Steps to Take Before Listing Your Home

If you’re thinking about listing your home in the new year, there are some preparatory steps you can start on now to get ready!

Declutter - We all accumulate a lot of stuff, especially during the holidays, but when buyers look at your home, they’ll be looking to see if your home has enough storage space to fit their needs. Make sure your cupboards, cabinets, and closets aren’t overfilled to better highlight the storage space in your home. If you start packing up the items you don’t use a lot now, you’ll be that much closer to being ready for listing photos and showings.

Neutralize the space - If your home currently has a lot of bold paint or floor colors, you may want to consider going with neutral colors or grays. A more neutral color scheme helps potential buyers envision their own decor and color preferences in the home.

Figure out your home’s worth - When you’re ready, we can come over and take a look at your home to help you determine how much it’s worth in the current market. Any renovations or upgrades you’ve made over the years could have an effect on your list price.

New Year’s Resolutions for Aspiring Homebuyers

This year, many of us have spent more time at home than ever before, and what we need from a home has changed. If you’re thinking about buying a home with a big backyard, a home office, or just a place where you can paint the walls and hang up all your favorite decorations, here are some new year's resolutions for you.

Reduce your debt.

Your debt-to-income ratio (DTI) will play an important part when lenders determine whether they want to issue you a loan. Your DTI is the sum of all your monthly debt payments divided by your gross monthly income. You can improve your DTI by paying off some of your debt before you apply for a mortgage.

Improve your credit score.

Your credit history and credit score also play a big part in your mortgage approval. The better your score, the better the rate you’ll qualify for, which can save you tens of thousands of dollars over the course of your loan. Start monitoring your credit score now and look for ways to improve your credit score.

Save for a down payment and closing costs.

There are several low down payment options available, but even a small down payment is typically a few thousand dollars, depending on the cost of your new home. You’ll also have to pay closing costs when you purchase a home. These cover expenses such as title insurance, home inspections, appraisals, etc and could run around 5% of the home price. Start saving now to meet your home ownership[ goals!

After you lower your debt, improve your credit score, and save up your down payment and closing costs, you’re ready to get preapproved and find the home of your dreams! When you want to get started, give us a call. We’ll be glad to help.