Is there a Best Time to Make an Offer on a House? We recently posted about the best time of year to list your home – spring – and best day of the week to list – Thursday – but is there a best month to buy? Although many experts say the best month to make […]
Spring is the Best Time to Sell Your Charlottesville Home
Now that we’ve passed the holiday season, our thoughts are already turning to when the weather will start warming up as we all want to skip right over winter, right? Here at Solutions, we know that spring is the ideal time to show off a house to its best advantage, and many of our listing […]
Getting to Know the Forest Lakes Neighborhood
Forest Lakes celebrated its 25th anniversary last year as Charlottesville’s first planned community of its kind. Developed by Frank Kessler and the Kessler Group, starting in 1989, Forest Lakes, at the time, offered Charlottesville a suburban experience just outside the city lines that it had never known before. Kessler wanted to create the “ultimate living […]
The Pros & Cons of Owning a Home in a Rural Area
Many people come to the Central Virginia area because of the natural beauty in the form of the Blue Ridge and Southwest Mountains that surround the towns of Charlottesville, Ivy, Crozet, Earlysville, Afton, Earlysville, Free Union and Ruckersville, to name a few. Although you might be familiar with the challenges that living in a more […]
Questions to Ask A Mortgage Lender Before Writing an Offer
Questions to Ask A Mortgage Lender Before Writing an Offer You’ve chosen your dream house, gotten pre-qualified and are about to write your offer – so now what? At Solutions, we recommend finding out as much as possible about your mortgage before you make the next big leap. In fact it is a good idea […]
Homeownership Based on Age
Does Your Age Make a Difference When It Comes To Owning a Home? When it comes time to make the leap from renting to owning, many people wonder if it makes a difference depending on their age. We all know about the Baby Boomers – those born from 1946-1964 – the Gen X-ers – those […]
9 Listing Tips During the Holidays
9 Listing Tips During the Holidays Although many market experts point to the spring as the best time to list your home, we’ve found the period from November to January is still an active real estate market because competition is slim. Here at Solutions, we know serious Buyers will view homes and negotiate contracts right up […]
Deer Safety around Charlottesville
How Best to Handle a Deer Encounter While Driving As many Virginia drivers already know, navigating local roads usually has the added element of necessary deer watching built right in as evidenced by the plethora of yellow “Deer Crossing” signs about. Everyone has near miss or accident stories – even in the city of Charlottesville […]
Relocating to Charlottesville Virginia
Top Reasons Why Charlottesville Should Be Your Next Place To Live Charlottesville has been at the center of some much-deserved attention in the press – the most recent news was being named the “Happiest City in the Nation,” according to the Harvard Gazette. Our area has drawn the attention of university students who stay after […]
Tips for saving on Winter Energy Bills
How to Save Energy This Fall & Winter As the cooler days and nights of fall turn into full blown winter, thoughts turn to how to keep your house warm and snug. Here are some strategies to help you save energy. Some of the tips below are free and can be used on a daily […]
A Visit to Charlottesville’s Historic Downtown Mall
A Visit to Charlottesville’s Historic Downtown Mall Charlottesville’s Downtown Mall has become THE destination for visitors to our area – right up there with Monticello and the University of Virginia. Many travelers mention similar pedestrian malls in Burlington, VT – the Church Street Marketplace – and Boulder, CO – the Pearl Street Mall – but […]
Exploring our Monticello Wine Trail
Exploring our Monticello Wine Trail As many of our area residents and visitors have discovered, Charlottesville is surrounded by top-notch wineries – many of which are a short 25-minute drive away through our beautiful countryside. Many in the know would also point out that two are owned by celebrities – singer Dave Matthews (Blenheim Vineyards) […]
Process of Moving Out and to Another House
Here in the Charlottesville area many residents often remark that we have a transient population as people move here for either work or schooling at UVA for several years and then move on, or come to work for many local businesses and then get transferred to another area in Virginia or out of […]
Charlottesville Solutions Party
How to pick a home builder in Charlottesville
Here at Solutions we get asked questions all the time about working with area home builders. When thinking about building your dream home, you have your choice between the larger companies and several well-established smaller local builders. If you prefer the “hands-on” approach, working with a small builder may be your best option, and selecting […]
Getting to know the Belmont Neighborhood
Here at Solutions we get asked a lot of questions about the different neighborhoods in Charlottesville. The area known as “Belmont” comes up a great many times in conversation as it’s near the Downtown Mall, has lots of charm, boasts wonderful examples of architecture from the late 1800s to modern day, is the perfect neighborhood […]
10 DIY Home Maintenance Tips
We’ve all watched those Do-It-Yourself Home Repair Shows and thought that the repairs seemed too complicated and that it might be better to hire a professional contractor. This can get expensive, however, so it might be a great idea to look again at those DIY projects and see if you can handle some yourself. Having […]
12 Reasons to “Fall” in Love in Charlottesville
The Charlottesville area is blessed with true four-season weather – from snow showers around January and February to the first buds of spring in mid to late March and April, through the typically humid summer months, we then arrive at fall in September/October. Many people agree that they love the warm days and cooler nights. […]
5 Pet Problems to Fix Before Listing Your House
As many of our Solutions listing clients know, selling their house is hard enough, but trying to do so when you have pets is even more difficult. We all know pets add so much to our daily lives, but, did you know that owning a pet can significantly reduce your home’s value? When left to […]
What’s the Difference between a Pre-Qualification Letter and a Pre-Approval for a Loan?
Here at Solutions we get many questions from our Buyers about how to best prepare ahead of time for purchasing their dream house. Our local housing market has very low inventory right now, so, when a great listing comes on the market that is in the right location and is priced well, you can almost […]
Questions Buyers should be asking their Agents
Here at Solutions, we get asked lots of questions by clients in their search for their dream home. Because of Equal Housing Laws, there are some we’re prevented by law from answering, but there are a number of answers we can find out or sources we can point you towards to look up the info […]
Costs To Add Into Your Budget When Buying a Home
Ever wonder how much a house truly costs? You can crunch the latest mortgage rates, estimate your tax & insurance payments, and take a realistic look at how much house you can afford after getting pre-qualified with a lender, but there are more expenses involved in home buying than just the property costs. And those additional […]
How Are Buyer’s Agents Paid Anyway?
Here at Solutions, we often get asked many questions by prospective Buyers, but one in particular tends to stand out – “How do we, when we work as Buyer’s Agents, get paid?”Our answer is very simple – as Buyer’s Agents, we don’t work for free, but it’s the Seller who pays our fee, not the […]
Why use a Solutions agent to help sell your home?
When it comes to selling a home – whether it be because you are moving for a job, downsizing or have finally found your perfect dream home and you need to sell the one you’re in to make it work – having your Solutions agent by your side to help you through the process can […]
Why use a Buyer’s Agent to Help With Your Home Purchase?
For most Americans, a home is the most significant and costly purchase they’ll make in their lifetime, with significant financial and emotional ramifications for the parties involved. Having proper representation, therefore, is critical. In this economy, and with ever greater access to the Internet, it’s easy to see why many people are looking to cut costs […]
How to Avoid a Refinance Nightmare
Recent historically low rates created quite a rush on refinancing activity, making brokers and lenders quite happy with the increased business. Refinancing your home can be a great way to lower your monthly payments, but not all refinance deals are good ones.Sometimes a refinance loan might seem like a money-saver at first, but you could […]
Give a Neighborhood a “Test Drive”
While your Solutions agent is going to provide you with all the available details on the home you are purchasing, there are a few items that cannot be shared as there are Fair Housing laws that any agent must respect. We talked about checking out a neighborhood in a previous blog, but now is the time […]
Tips for a Successful “Walk-Through”
You’ve made it through the home inspection process, have your loan commit letter and approval in hand, placed your calls to the utility companies to transfer the accounts into your name, so, what’s left to do now before you close?One of the most important steps – the “walk-through” – is the next to last thing […]
Can Your Garage be a Major Selling Point?
Garages aren’t typically known for more than a place to store your car and any extra stuff that won’t fit in the house, or didn’t make it past being unloaded from your car. Would you believe that, when it comes to preparing your house for sale, that an organized and sparkling clean garage just might be […]
First-time Homebuyers
What do you think of when you hear the phrase “first-time homebuyer?” Chances are you think of a couple fresh out of college and starting new jobs. Did you know that a first-time homebuyer means anyone who has not bought a home in three years? Yes, you heard that right. This can apply to anyone, whether […]