Selling Your House: From A Real Estate Sales Associate Perspective

You love your house.  You've made it your own.  You have sweat-equity, memories, and things - lots of items around your house.  Believe it or not, selling your home means creating a new slate.  Sometimes this means peeling back what you worked so hard to create.  The dark green in your living room probably won't appeal to all buyers.  

Step 1: Take a trip to Sherwin Williams in South Portland, and buy some paint.  Fix simple cosmetic things in your house that you've noticed, and your buyers won't like - like that chipping paint for instance.  Or the nick from when you moved your couch in and hit the wall.

Step 2: Declutter.  I know it's hard, but I swear it feels good.  You won't have to move so much, and it allows you to start fresh when you purchase your next home.

Step 3: Get ready to interview agents.  A prepared real estate sales associate should have a marketing plan, a pricing strategy, and make you feel confident that they know they're doing.

For more insight on how to prepare your home to sell, read HGTV's post: http://www.hgtv.com/design/decorating/design-101/10-best-kept-secrets-for-selling-your-home

Beach2Beacon

Today I had the day off, so I took the time to de-clutter my closet as well as my life.  I found lots of clothes I totally forgot I had, including every Beach2Beacon wicked t-shirt for the last 7 years.  I even had a duplicate, probably one from Kris that had shrunk in the wash.

The Beach2Beacon is on my mind as registration opened up for Cape residents today - it sold out in record time, which is crazy because every year the window of opportunity to register gets smaller and smaller, I'm talking under 4 minutes.  

I'll have my computer and credit card ready to go tomorrow at 7am!  Let's hope Kris and I can get in.  It's become an annual staple for this Dambach family.

Superbowl Sunday: Fantastic Recipes for a Vegetarian Crowd

I have to be honest, this year I wasn't as committed to the NFL and gameday Sundays.  I blame in part my crazy life between friends, family and work - all good problems to have - and the fact this winter has been so nice.  I've found it hard to stay inside when I feel so privileged to have such amazing weather in Maine.  I still stayed committed to Tom (Brady) and the Patriots (obviously), however, I didn't watch too many other games, including my husband's beloved Giants.

For today, I have a delicious yet somewhat healthy menu prepared.  For starters eggplant is currently being dried out for some yummy eggplant parmesan bites.  Here's what you need to do: 

1. Dry out eggplant by sprinkling salt on somewhat thinly sliced cubes of eggplant (think of how thick you'd want your bites to make and adjust as needed)

2. Layer paper towels between the layers created in step 1

3. Mix 2 eggs, 1 cup breadcrumbs, and seasoning in a bowl

4. Heat skillet with tablespoon of oil

5. Dip cubed eggplant into step #3 mixture

6. Place cubed covered eggplant into skillet, drop heat of skillet

7. Cook until golden brown which should be 3 - 4 minutes

8. Let cool then enjoy and devour!

Next up, loaded sweet potatoes!  I found an amazing recipe online, so get Google-ing.

Go Broncos!  

Tis the Season

The holiday season is among us, and for me that means browsing lots of sites online, as well as perusing amazon.com/prime for those instant purchases that magically arrive 2 days after I click purchase.

One my list this year are more practical items.  I’ve actually been stocking up a wish list, if you will, for items that I need, but haven’t been willing to buy in the last couple of months.  For instance, rain boots, winter boots, 5 lbs weights are all things I’d love to have.  What’s on your list this year?