Fall is a great time to sell your home in Delaware and Pennsylvania— in fact, the market has been heating up for months! Motivated buyers are ever-present in today's real estate market, home prices are rising, and more importantly, properties are moving quicker than they have in the past. Listing your home now is an excellent idea as buyers may not have found "the one" on their search this summer and yours could be it!
So what comes next? Soon after listing your home in Delaware or Pennsylvania, you may find buyers scheduling showings to take a tour or have an open house planned and it's important to be prepared.
Follow these tips for securing your home for a showing or open house in our area:
Take your remotes
You may not think about it as you head out the door prior to the showing, but take your remotes with you! Don't take the chance of an open house visitor slipping that garage door opener hanging on a hook in the garage into their pocket. Take all keys, remotes and key Fk ...

If you're a homeowner in Delaware or Pennsylvania, chances are you have a list of upgrades you would like to make around your home— especially if you're preparing to sell. These might include smaller projects like changing light fixtures and boosting curb appeal with new landscaping to full-blown renovations like opening up a kitchen and living space or overhauling a bathroom.
Each comes with their own set of costs and if you haven't crunched the numbers ahead of time, you may find yourself wishing you would have better prepared both yourself and your wallet. As your local Delaware and Pennsylvania real estate expert, I've included a few costs to expect when rehabbing your property in our area:
Initial Set-Up
Before even the smallest nail can be removed, it is important to look into building permits. Will you need a permit for your project? In certain areas, even removing flooring to replace with new will require the proper permit. Permits do have a cost associated with them tk ...

Fall is nearly here! But before the leaves begin to drop from the trees and we finally turn down the AC, there are a few tasks to tackle around your Delaware and Pennsylvania homes. From cleaning the gutters to turning off the water to the garden hose, I've compiled a list of fall home maintenance tasks to add to your to-do list.
Clean out the gutters
To make room for the leaves and debris that will fall into your DE or PA yard this fall, it's important to clean out your gutters now. While you're on the roof, you can also check for any damaged shingles that may have occurred over the summer and take the necessary steps to repair them.
Turn off outdoor water
You probably have your garden hose hooked up and have used it all summer, but you'll want to turn off that outdoor water supply as the weather begins to get cooler. Of course we can have summer-like temperatures well into October here in Delaware and Pennsylvania, so just keep an eye on the dropping temps to determine when to dik ...

In past blog posts, I've shared answers to common Delaware and Pennsylvania homeowner questions like whether or not you should sell your home or simply renovate, as well as trends to avoid when looking for buyers. This week, I'm elaborating for those homeowners in DE and PA who choose to list their property and take advantage of the numerous buyers in the market.
But does everything need to be fixed before you can officially place that For Sale sign in the yard? Read on for four things that you can pass on this year:
Half updates
Unless you plan to renovate your entire kitchen or bathroom, you don't need to bother making partial updates. For instance, don't bother placing an expensive new stone like a marble or granite on top of your old cabinets. Making these half updates tends to only accentuate what still needs fixing.
Cosmetic repairs
If your Delaware or Pennsylvania home has good bones, the foundation is solid, the roof doesn't need replaced right off the bat, and the runningk ...

Becoming a homeowner in Delaware and Pennsylvania is exciting, but the thought of paying on your mortgage for the next 30 years may be anything but that. Not to mention, there are many other expenses associated with your home purchase— the inspection, the down payment, the closing costs.
Delaware and Pennsylvania homeowners can easily feel overwhelmed, but as your local real estate experts, the Kat Geralis Home Team is happy to provide a few ways to keep those expenses down and pay off your mortgage early!
Make an extra payment
One of the simplest ways to start paying down your mortgage is to make one extra payment each month. Most lenders today do not have pre-payment penalties and just by making one full additional payment during the year could take about four years off of your loan.
Add onto your payment
If you cannot swing making a complete extra payment during the year, you can begin to add extra to your mortgage payment each month. Even adding as little as $100 onto yok ...