Posts made by author 'Jay Mattlin'

With summertime comes the need for yard work – it can't be avoided! But, what if you could trim down the time you need to spend on your yard so that you could have more time to do other things instead? While everyone loves the look of a neatly mowed lawn trimmed with pretty flowers, there is a trend today towards conserving water and reducing the maintenance needs of a large yard. There are dozens of ways you can accomplish this, from quick-growing ground covers that need zero maintenance to replacing grass with different colored and sized stone.

Let's look at five great ways to reduce your yard work chores.

1. Reduce the size of your lawn

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You've seen this happen…

A house sits on the market forever, and it doesn't get sold.

You see an agent's for sale sign sitting in the yard for months and months. And then, all of a sudden, another one appears.

Sometimes, the new agent will get the house sold.

But sometimes, no matter how many different agents list the house, it just never sells.

You've been watching that house "expire".

That is industry-speak for when a house doesn't get sold during the time frame an owner has a listing contract with a particular real estate agent.

When a listing expires, it's not uncommon for the owner to hire someone new to list their home…figuring the first real estate agent just didn't have what it takes to get their home sold.

But, it usually isn't the agent that was the problem. There are a few common problems that cause a house to expire.

However, it almost always boils down to one specific issue…and one specifi...

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If you are thinking about selling your home, there are several things to consider working on in your home before listing it. These are typically things I as a REALTOR will go over with you at a pre-listing appointment as well.

This list will serve as a place to start as to ensure that you as a homeowner will be doing things to get the most out of your home when it comes time to sell.

Let's take a look at several areas for sellers to consider.

Big Ticket Items
How old is your furnace and air conditioner? When was the roof last replaced? Maybe the water heater has reached it's end of usable life. These are things to consider when selling. Worse yet, being unprepared when an inspector or appraiser requires a replacement of something before the deal can close is a nightmare.

If you do not have the budget to replace such items, consider offering a credit to the buyers to help with replacement cost or some of the cost. If an...

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If you are thinking about selling your home, there are several things to consider working on in your home before listing it. These are typically things I as a REALTOR will go over with you at a pre-listing appointment as well.

This list will serve as a place to start as to ensure that you as a homeowner will be doing things to get the most out of your home when it comes time to sell.

Let's take a look at several areas for sellers to consider.

Big Ticket Items

How old is your furnace and air conditioner? When was the roof last replaced? Maybe the water heater has reached it's end of usable life. These are things to consider when selling. Worse yet, being unprepared when an inspector or appraiser requires a replacement of something before the deal can close is a nightmare.

If you do not have the budget to replace such items, consider offering a credit to the buyers to help with replacement cost or some of the cost. If anything, I always sugg...

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In my Hidden Gems of Fairfield County, I will be showing places in and around the County that people, including myself, always seem to forget exist or forget why they are even around.

In today's installment of Hidden Gems, I want to talk about Alley Park. Specifically named the Charles Alley Nature Park. Alley Park is located on Old Logan Road just off of Route 33 East right outside of Lancaster. 

The park sits on 300 acres and boasts a good size parking lot, several miles of hiking trails, a couple of ponds and a nature center.

Coming in from the parking lot, it looks like you're going to be hiking a paved trail but that is just the drive back to the nature center. Once you get to Lake Loretta just inside the park, you can either continue straight back to the nature center or take a left and walk around the lake.

There are several trails including Alley Trail which is a couple of miles around the outer edge of the park....

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