AT HOME

With the low inventory of homes on the market, home sellers might think they can just sell their home as is, and they can but they probably will not get top dollar. Here are a few tips to help give your home the “wow” factor and see how many offers you collect in a week or less.

Improve your landscaping. Curb appeal is crucial to a good first impression, so make sure your home's lawn is immaculate. Mow the lawn, prune the bushes, weed the garden, and plant flowers.

Clean the outside. A sloppy exterior will make buyers think you have slacked off on interior maintenance as well. Be sure to clean the gutters and pressure wash your home's siding.

Make repairs. In any kind of market, you want your home to be in the best condition possible. Take care of major defects like broken windows or a leaky roof that could discourage buyers.

Make the front door inviting. A fresh coat of paint, especially in a color that contrasts with the home, will make the front door stand out. Replace faded house numbers so buyers can see them from the curb.

Buy a new welcome mat. Let buyers know they are invited into your home.

Remove clutter and depersonalize. Buyers want to envision their belongings in your home. Clean up by renting a storage unit for knickknacks, photos, extra furniture, and other personal items.

Organize closets and drawers. Messy closets give the appearance that your home does not have enough storage space.

Make every surface shine. From ceiling fans to floors and everything in between, clean your home until it sparkles.

Take color down a notch. You might like your lime-green bedroom, but it may sour buyers. Paint your walls a neutral color that will appeal to a wide range of buyers.

Eliminate bad odors. Hide the litter box and spray air neutralizer throughout your home. When showing the home, fill it with inviting smells by putting out fresh flowers and baking a batch of cookies.

From sunrise to sunset, our community of active adults experiences a life-changing opportunity of participating in Activities, Fitness, and Golf here at Sun City Grand. Our way of living allows residents to be involved in various ways to enhance health, hobbies, skills, knowledge, and socialization. 

A key factor to maximizing your Grand Lifestyles is taking advantage of every happening in our community by becoming involved and volunteering. From Clubs and Organizations, to Neighborhood Representing, there are countless opportunities to experience a great lifestyle. We offer Grand Learning classes suited for your interests, Communications for you to stay connected with your community, and assorted restaurants to dine-in or out of the community. 

As you enjoy your new journey here at Sun City Grand, we encourage you to live life to the fullest by taking advantage of our leisures and enlarging your Grand Lifestyles!

Hunting for a new home online is a great place to start your search, but it should not be your end

all be all. Good listing agents are excellent at highlighting the best features of the home, but keep

in mind there may be more than meets the eye. To make the most of your time and efforts and gather

a well-rounded picture of home listings online, keep the following three things in mind.

1. Stay up to date. When you start your search, make sure you find a site that pulls up-to-date listings
2. directly from the multiple listing service (MLS) where real estate agents actively post their most
3. current homes for sale. Many online resources update less often or fail to remove listings that are
4. off the market, making it more difficult to sort through the clutter.
5.  
6. Pictures can be deceiving. Real estate photographers are experts at showing a home in the best
7. possible light. Many use tools and strategies to boost appeal, such as a fisheye lens to make areas
8. look larger and creative editing to make colors and textures really pop. But, often listings will not
9. contain photos of unappealing parts of the home, like small closets or outdated bathrooms.
10.  
11. See it to believe it. Once you find what appears to be your dream home online, call up your real
12. estate agent and schedule a showing. You want to take the opportunity to vet the home in person
13. and explore every part of it before beginning the offer process. Your real estate agent will help
14. you cover all your bases and will ask questions you may not have thought of.

For most of us, our bedroom is little more than a place to sleep and relax. However, just because

it’s always been that way doesn’t mean that we have to settle for drab and dreary.

One trend that’s gaining steam these days is converting your current bedroom into a luxury suite

(or something comparable). If you want to live like you’re renting a room at the Ritz, then you

want to follow these tips.

Compartmentalize Your Activities

Making your bedroom more functional is going to make it more luxurious. Add a gorgeous desk

for working and a TV area for entertainment, and you’ll be living it up in no time.

Make it Chic

Choose a color palette that is both luxurious and classy. Silver and gold can seem tacky, so choose

muted shades that compliment each other.

Also, a brilliant and commanding headboard can instantly upgrade the look of your room without

any other changes.

Light it Properly

Finally, make sure that you have the right light to show off your designs. If it’s too washed out

or yellow, then it will look drab and run down. Switch to brilliant LEDs and see the difference.

Choose Your Accents Wisely

We already mentioned a headboard, but some elegant drapes can also make your room feel more

royal. Being strategic with your furniture accessories is going to both keep you under budget and

avoid doing too much with the space.

Are you ready to lux your bedroom? You’ll be impressed by the results, and the feeling of

decadence will make you more confident in your surroundings.

Ever get the itch to do a DIY project? Whenever we do, our favorites involve getting outdoors and mixing up our landscaping features.

Whether it's as simple as installing some lighting or a little more time-consuming like re-plotting plants, a fresh look for the lawn always gives your home a fresh look as well. Here are our top five easy landscaping projects!

Create a pathway.

To guide you and visitors throughout your yard and link different areas together, install a pathway. You can use materials from a variety of materials, including reclaimed pallet wood, flagstones, gravel, and more to add texture and color.

Add a wall or border.

Installing a flagstone, rock, or brick wall around flower beds or trees adds a sleek, clean look to your landscaping and helps separate different sections of your yard.

Install a water feature.

Nothing says zen quite like the sound of trickling water as you relax in your backyard. You can start simple with by purchasing and installing a small feature powered by a solar panel or create a larger focal point in your yard by installing a waterfall wall or small pond.

Light your way.

An easy way to transform your yard is to strategically use lighting. Place cool-colored lights high in trees to recreate a moonlight feel, use pathway lights to naturally guide the eye, or highlight objects or plants.

Plant upwards.

Expand your yard space by drawing the eye to the sky with a trellis fence or screen made of wood or metal. Once you install your trellis, select your climbing plants and vines and get to planting!

When you own your home, things are going to break and, unless you want to spend your money

on visits from a neighborhood handyman, you’re going to need to fix them yourself. Luckily, you

don’t need an arsenal of tools to handle most home maintenance fixes. These five tools will cover

most of your basic projects.

1. Cordless drill. A cordless drill is a must-have for installing cabinets, drawer pulls, hinges,
2. picture frames, shelves and hooks, and more. Whether it’s for do-it-yourself projects or repairs,
3. you’ll use your cordless drill just about every month.
4. Drain cleaners. Shower and bathroom sink drains are susceptible to clogs because of the daily
5. buildup of hair and whisker clippings. You can use chemical clog removers like Drano, but
6. they’re expensive and the lingering chemical scent is unpleasant. Instead, buy some plastic
7. drain cleaners that can reach into the drain to pull out the clog of hair and gunk. You can
8. purchase them on Amazon or at a local hardware store for a low price.
9. Shop-vac. No matter how careful you are, spills and accidents will happen and there are some
10. tasks that just can’t be handled with paper towels or a standard vacuum, like pet messes or
11. broken glass.
12. Loppers. Even the minimum amount of care for your landscaping will require some loppers
13. to remove damaged branches, vines, thick weeds, and any other unruly plants in your yard.
14. Flashlight. You’re going to want something a little more powerful than your iPhone flashlight
15. when you’re in the crawlspace!