PREPARING YOUR HOME FOR SALE

With our market slowly coming out of its slump, it is time for you to start thinking about the preparation of your home if you wish to sell it without a short sale or foreclosure.

Hire an Agent.

Now is not the time to try to sell your home on your own. You need a real estate professional like Just Right Realty Company to help you price your house, do open houses; we hire the professional photographer for you and also for us for brochures.

Curb Appeal.

Make sure your house looks excellent from the outside as well as from the inside. Drive by your home a couple of times, stop and view it to make sure it looks excellent from the curb. Landscaping is a very cost effective way of making a property look fantastic from the curb. If your buyer does not like the looks of it from the outside, they will not even enter the inside to take a look at it.

Clean the Area.

One of the easiest ways to have your house looking great from the curb is to haul away all of the trash. The trash also includes any material left over from anything you built or whatever is lying around your yard. Get rid of all of the old swings etc. that you are not going to be using. In this same vein, get rid of all of the excess clutter in your house and make it as appealing as possible. A clean house sells.

Fix everything.

You need to repair any broken joints or cracks in the walls. If there is anything that needs fixing, be sure you have a handyman or you; yourself fix all that is necessary to be fixed. Painting is one of the least expensive and best ways to make a house look bright and shiny. If you are an excellent painter, you can do it yourself but if you are like me, it would be important for you to hire a professional to paint your home. Painting the interior will dramatically increase the value of your home and if the exterior needs it, it will be necessary to paint that as well.

Home Staging.

Last, but not least, maybe it’s time to hire a professional stager to really increase the value of your home. It is hard for the individual who has lived in that house a while to see it and they sometimes need a stranger to help them see it. This stranger should be a professional re-stager.

Be sure to hire professionally licensed contractors etc. to help you make your home stand out. You can check with the Better Business Bureau and call references before hiring anyone to do any of the work in your home. Just Right Realty Company has a list of these contractors that we have used before and can help you with the hiring of anyone you need. We have an “in house” handyman who we guarantee his work and can get him to your property at the time you want him there. The timing certainly seems to be a factor in Southwest Florida. While you are getting the work done and re-staging the home for the sale, we can take a ride out on Revelry to catch fish, dive, or just have a great day of a beautiful boat ride.

Have a great day in Paradise!

Jerry Ruzicka, Broker

CITY OF CAPE CORAL CODE ENFORCEMENT OVERVIEW

I feel very fortunate to have been able to attend a Code Enforcement overview given by Frank Cassidy. Frank has been the Division Manager for the City of Cape Coral’s Code Compliance Division since February 2007. Frank holds many certifications as well as being

a former law enforcement officer in Southern California and he also holds a Bachelors Degree with Honors from Florida Gulf Coast University. The meeting with Frank was held on Tuesday, February 15, 2011.

Code Enforcement stands for voluntary compliance to our rules and regulations. Code Enforcement does have the power to levy fines but it is non productive. Their entire purpose is to have the City of Cape Coral community work together so that we can all live in the “Paradise” that we have come to know as Cape Coral. The staff and organization of Code Enforcement today is 34 officers. Their goal is to have us work together for the betterment for the community. They have a huge task as a result of the short sales and foreclosures. There are 65,000 housing units in Cape Coral and thus far, 40,000 of them have been in foreclosure or short sale. Code Enforcement must strive to get the community to maintain these properties so we do not have blight overlooking our city.

The following are some of the common violations that can occur:

· You are allowed to store a boat in your back yard as long as it is licensed and operable. The boat must be stored between the end of your building structure and your lot line.

· If you own the vacant lot next to you and you strap that vacant lot to your property, you are allowed to use that vacant lot for storage as well.·

You are allowed to get a permit to park your RV for 3 days if you are the owner of the RV.

· You are allowed to get a permit for 10 days which is owned by an out of town guest.

· There are no costs for either of these permits.

· There are no rules or regulations regarding parked cars. Cars are allowed to be parked anywhere on your property.

· Utility trailers are not allowed to be parked anywhere on your property or on the vacant lots.

· A-Frame signs and realtor signs are allowed but there is a size limit.

· You are allowed to plant in right of ways as long as you contact the City of Cape Coral and get approval on what you wish to plant in that right of way.

The distressed sales have declined to 62% of the total. 35% of the totals are short sales and foreclosures so far in 2011. This compares with 2009 where 73% were short sales and foreclosures. By

getting these properties sold and in the hands of owners, it helps Code Enforcement because the owners will take care of their properties.

Just Right Realty Company will be happy to help you with your short sales and foreclosures. We have a very good history of receiving waivers for judgment deficiencies on our client’s short sales. Please contact Jerry if we can be of any help to you in selling or buying real estate.

HAVE A GREAT DAY!

Jerry Ruzicka

jerry@jrrc1.com

239-337-7387

http://www.justrightrealtyco.com/

http://www.capecoral.net/

Family First, Enjoy the little time we have with each other

There are few things in life more important than family.  I love this time of year when the Northerners including my extended family start flying south.  My relatives are only here for a week or so at a time, which is perfect because our home become a very quaint bed and breakfast for the month of February and March, but we love seeing everyone.  The other night my nephew who is down staying with his in-laws at their vacation rental was over for dinner.  It was wonderful, my son his wife and two children coupled with my nephew his wife and two children then the in-laws too.  A house full of laughter, stories, memories and lies, since we all know once we get to talking our stories somehow work off a multiplier effect.  “I caught a 10 footer the other day in the Gulf of Mexico” really means; I cough a 30 pounder but saw a guy at the dock with the catch of the day and I am taking credit since nobody knows…LOL.   As a grandpa it brings me great joy to see the smiling faces of my grandkids every chance I get.  Don’t get me wrong, I don’t spoil them, but I do embrace them often with love and affection.    The story of my family is similar to the story of my business as well.  I have never been one to sit on a high horse and demand this or demand that of my employees and now subcontractors for the realtors working for Just Right Realty.  Rather, I chose to place myself as an equal to my hard working staff.  As an equal it allows my staff to feel more comfortable asking questions and not worried about being judged.  As an equal it allows me to keep an open mind when a team member makes a suggestion that might not have been otherwise spoken if they didn’t see me as an equal.  We all have our roles, we all need to work hard and thoughtful in those roles, but we need to consider those around us are just as smart as we are and often can solve a problem in a different manner and yet have a successful result.  If you haven’t spent a minute or two lately with your family, then I suggest you take a day off soon and make them the spotlight for the day.  After all the reason we work so hard and tirelessly is for them in the end.   If you want to listen to some fishing stories or have a talk about anything else, feel free to drop me a line.

Jerry Ruzicka