Barbi Dickison Blog

So it's overcast, a little breezy and just plain cold. If you don't feel like venturing out into the woods and it's too cold for a bike ride, how about a little home improvement!? This is my favorite time of year to dig into a quick remodeling project. It is a perfect project to tackle while the Patriots are banging up on some other hapless team and you can feel less guilty about those adult beverages you're enjoying while you're at it! Let's take a peek at a few projects that will make you AND your prospective buyers giddy.

The National Association of Realtors did a big survey and assigned a "Joy Score" to the possible projects that homeowners could undertake. The factor relates to not just how happy the homeowners were with the completed project and how it made their home better, bu...

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I simply love living in northern New Hampshire and there's nothing quite like the seasonal transitions to keep us entertained and amazed by nature's beauty and strength. One of the more exciting and visually stunning changes is our migration towards Fall. I know, if you are reading this and are under the age of 18, you are cursing those words and are bemoaning the end to the carefree days of summer and YOUR shift towards homework and study hall. If you are a homeowner, I hope you are asking yourself the question: "Is my home ready for the colder temps?"

As we are forced to reach for that extra blanket at night and even move the slider in the car from blue to red, our thoughts should also be directed towards readying our homes for the coming white stuff!
Getting and Staying warm inside the home...

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The first property I bought was in desperate need of some TLC in the downstairs unit. I ripped up all the flooring, entirely replaced the bathroom and painted nearly every surface in the whole place. In that instance it was all well worth it. The upstairs unit was covering the mortgage and thankfully the repairs did not end up being that extensive (or expensive). In many cases though, folks get too excited about some (likely false) fantasy of a fixer-upper they see on some reality TV show and are more than disappointed at the end-result. Let's take a look at some history in the "needs some TLC" world and see if we can come up with a more solid strategy.

Porch.com did a study of over 1,000 homeowners and the data below comes from their findings. Most of us think that buying a home that needs so...

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One of my favorite sayings for real estate professionals, and a saying (and mindset) that eludes far too many sellers, is this: "I'm contracted to SELL your home, not LIST it". While this may seem like an obvious tenet, what it lacks in complexity it makes up in its lack of broad understanding. If you are serious about selling your home there are a few details to keep at the forefront of your mind. Today I'd like to peel back the curtain a bit and talk about what the true professionals focus on when it comes to listing (and selling!) a property.

One of the primary considerations to understand about the sellers is motivation. Of course there are countless reasons one could have for selling a home. Sometimes there is a new addition to the family. It could be a job or school change that prompt...

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I'm finally at a point where (I think) I am ready to dip my toe back in the real estate world. Much like the first time I did this, I'm heavily leaning towards an investment property. All that really means (to me) is I'm not buying this property to simply live in and call "home". The idea behind an investment property is it affords you a myriad of options beyond simply being a place to hang your hat. As someone who does not have a lot of "extra" income, it is important to approach this strategically. Today, I'd like to explore a few of the benefits to this path. Come on along!

While there are loads of varying factors to the actual financing of your purchase, in general, the rates are still very low. I have to chuckle when I hear people complain that the rates are creeping bac...

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