For most us the holiday season has been a non-stop flurry of activities – shopping, parties, family gatherings, cooking and travel. Now that these events are over, it is time to start looking toward 2023 and what we want to accomplish in the New Year.

If your plans include buying or selling a home in 2023, here are a few real estate resolutions to consider.

For Buyers – Get Your Financial House in Order

Purchasing a home takes planning and plenty of time and effort. One of the first things you should consider is meeting with a mortgage professional early in the year. Getting pre-approved will determine what you can afford.

• Know your credit score and understand what your financial situation looks like from a lender’s perspective.
• If you have credit issues, identify what they are and take the necessary steps to correct them. Sometimes it can take six months to see your FICO score move up the much-needed 20 points to get you a better mortgage rate.

For Sellers: Get others to see the house as their potential home not yours

The key to achieving this is to de-personalize and de-clutter.

• Put away family photos, sports trophies, collectible items, knick-knacks, and souvenirs.
• Clean and organize closets.
• When it comes to preparing a house, painting gives you the best return for money spent.
• At the very least all carpeting needs to be steam cleaned. Any worn, stained or foul smelling carpet should be replaced. Any flooring that is cracked or damaged should be replaced, if possible.
• Clean the fixtures and make sure the bulbs work.
• Replace any cracked windows.

For Everybody: Work out a weekly system for keeping your house clean

In today’s busy world it is not easy to have the perfectly decorated, super organized house we see in magazines and on television. However, there are a few things you can do that will greatly improve its appearance.

On a daily basis

• Put the dishes in the dishwasher every night – no excuses!
• Dirty clothes go in the hamper and jackets or clean clothes are hung in the closet
• Bring everything back to its assigned place

On a weekly basis

• Keep all your cleaners, as well as rubber gloves and spare cleaning cloths, in a portable carryall that moves with you from room to room.
• Stash cleaning implements such as a toothbrush, scraper, sponge, a few cleaning cloths and plastic bags in a builder’s apron that you wear when you clean. Hook your glass cleaner and all-purpose cleaning spray on the loops to keep your hands free as you work around the room clockwise, cleaning from high (cabinets) to low (floors.)
• Focus on one type of cleaning at a time. It’s faster. Wipe down fingerprints on all of the cabinets, for instance, before moving on to spraying and wiping counters. Then move on to windows and mirrors and appliances. Once that’s done move on to sweeping and then mopping floors.
• For optimum efficiency, enlist the help of your family. If you can, divide the jobs among at least three parties: One of you can do the dusting/vacuuming and changing beds, the other can do the bathroom cleanup, leaving only the kitchen and trash emptying for you to handle. The upside? You can get the whole house done in 45 minutes.

Bottom Line: The start of the New Year brings a sense of renewal and revitalization. Let us resolve to be more organized in our professional and personal lives beginning with our home.

Happy New Year – 2023 from the Mesimer Team!

Related Links:
The Complete Guide to Getting and Staying Organized, by Karen Ehman
The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing, by Marie Kondō
101 Best Organizing Tips – Easy Home Organization Ideas

St. Petersburg Communities

If you’re interested in any of these of communities or live in one of them and are thinking of selling, call Estelia today!

Allendale Terrace
Bahama Shores
Bayway Isles
Coquina Key
Crescent Heights
Crescent Lake
Downtown
Greater Pinellas Point
Historic Kenwood
Historic Old Northeast
Historic Roser Park
Historic Uptown
Isla Del Sol
Old Southeast
Placida Bayou
Snell Isle