Tag: prepare your home for spring

Jump-Start Your Spring Cleaning

It’s spring break and if you’re anything like me and not taking a break, here are some simple yet effective tips to jump-start your spring cleaning.

Granted not everyone likes to clean but a couple of times a year it’s necessary to tackle some big projects. So whether you hire it done or you are the cleaning lady, make a list this week of 5 things you should do around your house and get busy.

5 ideas to jump-start your spring cleaning

  1. First of all, wipe down your kitchen cabinets and appliances – whether you have painted or stained cabinets, they can get pretty grungy after a few weeks. In addition, use a good cleaner or lemon oil and wipe down the outsides of all your cabinets. Likewise, clean your knobs and pulls as well. Then tackle your appliances. Take your stove apart, clean the oven and do the same with your refrigerator.
  2. Clean your baseboards all through your house. This includes moving the furniture away from the walls and getting behind there. If you have pets, you’ll be surprised how much pet hair is trapped that you didn’t know was there.
  3. Wash your throw rugs, furniture throws and store them away for spring and summer.
  4. Shampoo your carpets or have them professionally cleaned. If you need a referral to a professional carpet cleaner, contact me here.
  5. Finally, with a week of nice weather predicted, open your windows and let some fresh air in and stale air out. Clean your window sills and wipe down your blinds – one slat at a time.

Those are the 5 things I do every year. You can copy from me or create your own 5 projects to jump-start your spring cleaning. Either way, keeping your home clean is not only good for your health but your house will love you for it as well.

Once you get these big things out of the way, the rest of the spring cleaning will naturally fall into place.

The faster you get this done, the more time you will have for the fun stuff. What will you do to reward yourself for a job well done? I’m having lunch with friends, making a carrot cake with my granddaughter, Brooklyn, and vintage shopping, of course.

Above all else, if you have any questions or need help with any of these tasks, you can call or text me at (913) 515-3250 or contact me here.

Spring Home Maintenance

No matter the weather, it’s time to get started on your spring home maintenance. While we’re currently experiencing spring-like weather in Kansas City, Mother Nature will surely have winter rearing its ugly head one more time before it’s all over. So don’t get ahead of yourself but maintaining your home only increases its value!

Winter and cold weather can do a number on your home. It’s time to get busy and check things out. This is your March Home Maintenance Checklist for your home and is an important part of homeownership.

Here’s your spring home maintenance checklist

  • Wood rot – take some time and walk around the exterior of your home. Grab a screwdriver and look for areas on your decks, spindles, doors, trim and especially around your windows. If the area looks soft, poke it with your screwdriver. If it goes in easily, you probably have wood rot that needs to be repaired or replaced. Allowing water to get in behind your siding will cause you bigger problems later.
  • Gutters – clean your gutters so the spring rains can get through. Check the downspouts and make sure you have a splash block under them or a downspout extension to direct water away from your house.
  • Foundation – here’s another biggie. Check to make sure you have enough dirt around your foundation. It should not touch the siding but needs to slope away from your house so the rain water will run away from your home – not into your basement or crawl space.
  • Roof – look up at your roof and check your shingles to see if any are missing, buckled or cracked. I have a roofer that will perform a FREE roof maintenance evaluation if you have any concerns.
  • Tools – now is the time to check your tools to make sure things are working. If your lawnmower needs maintenance, don’t wait until it’s time to mow the grass. Get out your power tools and get them ready for use.
  • Detectors – if you haven’t checked your smoke detectors and carbon monoxide detectors this year, now is a good time to do so. Remember, smoke and carbon monoxide detectors save lives.

Spring home maintenance appointments to schedule:

  • Air conditioner check up – hopefully you are on a maintenance plan with your heating or cooling people. Get your spring check up scheduled now. Those guys get busy and you don’t want to be put on the back burner. Yearly maintenance will keep your systems running better and longer and will save you money in the long run.
  • Termites check-up – you should do this once a year to make sure you don’t have any active termites. Even if your house has been treated, checking it yearly is always recommended. Those pesky termites can do major damage to a home in no time. Believe me, I’ve seen some horrifying situations due to termites.

Everything on this list will save you time and money if you use preventive maintenance. Print this off and stick it on the refrigerator. It’s a good reminder that spring weather will be here shortly and you need to be ready.

Need spring home maintenance service referrals?

As always, if you need any referrals to people to help you with your spring home maintenance checklist, just let me know. Remember, I also have a DO NOT CALL list of those so-called nice guys that advertise a cheap price and take you to the cleaners once they are inside your home. They have repeatedly tried to cheat my clients! DO NOT fall for their gimmicks! Thank goodness my clients called me and I had them get a second opinion!

Call or text me at (913) 515-3250 to see if you are considering hiring someone on my DO NOT CALL LIST or contact me here.

What is your home worth in today’s market?

Want to know the latest stats in your neighborhood? Don’t rely on the Zillow Zestimate. Here’s a quick tool that will research your subdivision and provide you with a report within minutes – direct from the local Multiple Listing Service. It’s fast and it’s FREE! Click here and insert your address.

Overland Park latest homes for sale

Check out today’s new listings either below or in the sidebar. Call or text me at (913) 515-3250 to see inside one of these homes. I AM NEVER TOO BUSY to show you a house. Real estate is my main hustle after 35 years! Everything else I do is bells and whistles to enhance your experience!

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(all data current as of 3/26/2023)

Listing information deemed reliable but not guaranteed. Read full disclaimer.

 
 

Prepare Your Home for Spring

From recent freezing temperatures, warmer weather is just around the corner and here are my best tips to prepare your home for spring.

While shopping over the weekend for fresh, new accessories for my new listings, I went into Home Goods to see what they were featuring this spring.

First of all, I love the feeling I get when I walk into Home Goods. They know how to get you in the mood to shop. It’s the same trick I use for all of my new listings. Home Goods and I both know we’ve got a short time to grab the buyer while they are present and either they’ll buy or they’ll move on. I call it the 10 second rule. It’s based on grabbing the buyer within 10 seconds of entering a house.

Home Goods is bright, full of happy music, and the colors throughout the store are outstanding. Furthermore, it’s such a pick-me-up and an incredible feeling. I love their bright cheery dishes, pillows, springtime furniture and outdoor cushions. It makes me want to buy everything in the store and give my own home a spring makeover.

I also love Home Goods for doormats and front door wreaths. They are bright, colorful, and full of life. The spring season is the best time for a change. It’s like starting over new again. In addition, you get a new lease on life and your home deserves this as much as anything. For that very reason, you will reap the benefits from your mini spring home makeover.

How to Stand Out

This week while working on a couple of houses, I thought about what would make us stand out from our competition. Both houses had substantial front porches so I decided with the new season and the energy in the air, I wanted to focus on the porch and really hone in on the curb appeal to draw people inside.

As a result, at one of the houses I added a new spring doormat, a fresh wreath and added new pillows to the homeowner’s glider. The most fabulous part of this house was the screened-in back porch! After all, who doesn’t want a porch? My buyer, Ashley, (what’s a girl to do with a pedestal sink?) bought a house with a porch and without that pedestal sink a few years ago. I hope she’s taking time to enjoy her porch – especially this upcoming spring season!

Here are My 11 Best Tips to Prepare Your Home for Spring

  • Paint your front door
  • Add an expensive pot filled with colorful flowers next to the door
  • Find a pretty new wreath and hang it on your front door
  • Get some new house numbers
  • Change out your mailbox (if it’s on the house) or paint it to match the color of your door
  • Add some dark mulch to your flower beds
  • Shop somewhere like Home Goods and buy a few new colorful accessories for inside
  • Buy some new pillows for your couch
  • Paint a room (or the entire interior of your house)
  • Throw out last year’s outdoor cushions and get some new brightly colored ones that will cheer you up on a daily basis
  • Buy a new umbrella for your outdoor table

We had a cold winter in Kansas City. Therefore, it’s time to live life to the fullest and enjoy spring. Whether you’re selling and want to create the model home look or dwelling and need help zinging your home into spring, you can call me direct or text me at (913) 515-3250 or get started here.

Start your home search here and check out today’s new listings below in Overland Park. Let me know if there is anything you’d like to see.

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See all Real estate matching your search.
(all data current as of 3/26/2023)

Listing information deemed reliable but not guaranteed. Read full disclaimer.