Posts with tag 'Delaware OH'

Remember when Valentine's Day meant a class party with lots of homemade cookies and a carton of milk? Times have changed and most schools don't allow such activities anymore, but that doesn't mean kids of today need to miss out. Our own kitchens are great party venues. Our REALTORS® would like to share a few tips with you to help bring those parties home! For easier clean-up after the fact, line the counters with waxed paper before you begin. 

• Classic Sugar Cookies
  Hands down the most popular valentine's cookie of all time, sugar cookies are simple to make, inexpensive, and versatile enough for the youngest children to participate in the process.  Traditionally decorated with a buttercream frosting tinted pink, you don't need to feel tied to that.  There are plenty of options for toppings or add-ins. Toddlers are delighted to spread colored sugar sprinkles on top to bring them to life. Bonus: to let children decorate cookies without making them from scratch, you can always purchase pre-made dough and count on perfect results every time. Add a can of pre-made frosting and some writing icing in a tube and inexperienced bakers can look like pros.

  Click Here to Read More...

A lush green lawn can be a great way to attract attention when you list your home among Mansfield or Ashland homes for sale. Green grass is a real eye-catcher, so you won't want to neglect nourishing the green in your lawn this summer. 

So how do you get there, transforming your thin, sparse, weedy lawn to a perfect, uniform expanse of healthy-looking green? Follow the tips below, and you'll see some big improvements this summer.

Tips for Getting a Greener Lawn

1. Improve your soil
   A greener lawn starts with improving your soil. You can determine your soil's pH with a testing kit. Talk to a lawn care specialist about what amendments you'll need to bring your soil up to the right pH for the kind of grass you want to grow.

   Click Here to Read More...

Real estate markets across the country are red hot. It is not uncommon for sellers to receive numerous offers within days of listing their property. Time and time again, our REALTORS® have seen homes sell for well above their listing price. If you have your eye on the perfect property for your next home, we recommend taking the time to get prepared before you jump into the pool of buyers eager to get their hands on your dream home.

• Preapproval
  Start by getting preapproved for a loan. This is more rigorous than a prequalification process and shows you precisely where you stand and how much the lender will loan for your purchase. There are multiple advantages to this when searching for Mansfield or Ashland homes for sale. It helps narrow down your search to only those properties within your price range. This speeds up the process considerably. It also shows you how high you can go if a bidding war breaks out. Equally important, when multiple offers are submitted, sellers are more likely to accept offers from preapproved buyers than those who are merely pre-qualified.
  
  In fact, be prepared to pay more than the listing price. This is especially true for well-maintained homes in desirable locations. It's not unheard of for homes to sell for 100-110% or more of the asking price. As you search, factor this into your calculations and search for homes that are 95% or less of your preapproval.

  Click Here to Read More...

Our community has been blessed with many exquisite mature trees, some of which have gracefully shaded our towns for more than a hundred years. Many of the most beautiful Mansfield and Ashland homes for sale boast the majestic beauty of giant white ash trees or red oaks. As you seek to add value to your property, investing in trees is a wise option. But before you buy, there are some important options to consider, from what you plant to where you plant it. This handy guide may help you begin:

• Northern Red Oak
  These magnificent beauties will grow at least 2 feet each year for at least 10 years. At their full maturity, they will reach a height of at least 60 feet offering a canopy of shade about 45 feet in diameter. It should reach a height of about 20 feet in 10 years. It loves direct sunlight and tolerates drought, although it thrives in moist, well-drained soil. Since its roots will readily tolerate compacted earth, it is often the choice for newly constructed homes. Blue jays and squirrels may put up a fight over the tastiest acorns.

  Click Here to Read More...

Since the COVID lockdowns began last year, almost half of U.S. employees shifted to remote work. The dining table was fine for some time. But as weeks turned into months and months into a year, we started looking for working spaces out on the patio, in the kitchen nook, or behind closed bedroom doors. Now more than ever before, people are saying goodbye to open floor spaces and seeking to find designated home office spaces from which they can be as efficient and productive as possible. And so the "cloffice" trend re-emerged. According to the 2021 Pinterest trend report, there has been a two-fold increase in the volume of searches for "cloffice ideas" on the platform over the past year.

If you're unfamiliar, a cloffice is a closet that has been converted into a functioning office space. It offers a functional yet design-savvy way to create a feasible workspace at home when square footage is tight. Here are tips for creating a stylish, affordable cloffice as recommended by our REALTORS®.

Click Here to Read More...