Preserving old trees means preserving home value

Michael Barera [CC BY-SA 4.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0),
CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)
 or GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html)], via Wikimedia Commons

Landscaping plays a major part in your home’s curb appeal. When preparing a home for sale, it’s common practice to spruce up lawns by planting fresh flowers a bushes, weeding, trimming back trees, and staying on top of the overall condition of the lawn.

But there is one major contributor to your property’s value which you can’t just drop in when you’re getting ready to sell: old growth trees. It turns out that the number and quality of established, mature trees on your property can have a direct impact on the value of your home.

Staging Your Home for the Right Buyer

Staging a home to sell is the process of redecorating or cost-effectively renovating aspects of your home to present it in the best light. Much like cleaning up a home’s curb appeal to appeal to buyers, staging can position your house to sell faster and for a higher price than it might otherwise.

It’s important to remember with staging that you’re not decorating the home to appeal to you, the seller, but to the prospective buyer. When working with a stager, you have to learn to set aside your own aesthetic preferences and ask yourself how a buyer might see the home. Imagining who those buyers might be can help your stager make decisions about which direction to take the interior design.

Flu Season Protection for Your Home

By U.S. Navy photo by Photographer's Mate Airman
 Philip A. McDaniel. [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

The peak of flu season tends to be between December and February, and during these months a little extra cleaning can really pay off. When we go out and about, we can easily bring home the flu virus, and it can continue to be a threat on surfaces throughout the home.

Using a disinfectant registered with the Environmental Protection Agency is a smart move. Remember to wash your hands regularly and avoid touching your face while cleaning.

Here’s a checklist of places you’ll want to clean more regularly during the flu season: