Moving to a new city is exciting, but it also has challenges. If your new city is more than a couple of hours from your current home, then house hunting might be one of those challenges. How do you go about finding a home from a distance? We've helped plenty of out-of-town buyers find lovely Richmond homes for sale. Along the way, we've compiled a few tips.
Saving for a down payment may seem difficult, especially if you're new to the idea of buying a home. It's not impossible, though, and a carefully planned strategy can make all the difference in helping you save. Here are a few suggestions from our real estate agents to help you save up a down payment.
The last few years have made people rethink where and how they work. It comes as no surprise that the number of coworking spaces and people who use them has skyrocketed in 2021.
In all fairness, coworking was already a major trend before the pandemic changed everything—the number of flexible workspaces in the U.S. grew by more than 200% between 2014 and 2018—but being forced to work from home has shifted everyone's perspectives. After all, wouldn't it be great if you could work from home... but not from home?
Sometimes a myth is fun to believe, but other times, it has a negative impact on your ability to accomplish your goals. Our real estate agents know that real estate myths are fairly common in our industry. Here are several we've heard over the years that we want to debunk.
Credit scores have long been a mystery to homebuyers, in both how they are determined and how they matter in the long run. Most people think that if you pay your bills on time, you'll have a good score, but our real estate agents can tell you that there is far more to it than that. But while the exact formula used to determine your score is not public knowledge, you still have a great deal of control over it. Here's how you can optimize your credit score and qualify for a mortgage with a good rate.
From Dinwiddie to Colonial Heights, to Fort Lee from Petersburg – we've got the Tri Cities covered!
Contact Napier Realtors ERA for your buying and selling needs. https://www.napierera.com/contact/
Buying a new home can be exciting, complicated, and overwhelming all at the same time. After all, it's also commonly considered one of the largest financial decisions many people will make in a lifetime. With so much on the line, it can be easy to make mistakes, especially if you're buying your first home. Being prepared is the best way to avoid costly pitfalls. If you're considering these Richmond homes for sale, below are six things to know before you buy.
May & June are going strong in Richmond's Real Estate Market
It's a GREAT time to list your home in Central Virginia because home inventory is low and prices are rising.
The real estate market in our area continues to be extremely active and in the month of May alone, 2,513 homes were listed, and 1,952 homes were successfully sold!The average sales price in our area was $300,826 in May 2020 compared to $288,203 last May – more than a 4% increase!
If you've been putting off listing your home, this could be the perfect opportunity to contact a Napier ERA sales professional, who can give you an accurate assessment of what you can expect in your market.
Contact Napier ERA today to get started!
2019 is here and the annual Consumer Electronics Show is over, unveiling new technology that allows us to be more automated and updated on what's happening in and around our homes.
Automation is still new and it may be hard to tell which devices may actually improve your life and your new home, so we have put together a list of the top items that will allow you to start making your home "smart" in 2019 and make your life easier.
Regulate Inside Temperatures and Save Money: Nest Learning Thermostat
With proven energy settings and the ability to change the temperature of your home remotely, the Nest Thermostat solution allows you to have more control over the temperature of your home than ever before. You can control the temperatures of different rooms all from their app and with their sensor feature, you can make sure the coldest room of your house is still feeling the love from the heat. Nest also learns your schedule and will turn down the HVAC when you're not home automatically, meaning no more wasted energy or money. This product isn't new, but it is always improving and could help you improve your energy bill, too.
Set the Mood, Save Money, Even Turn on Alerts: Philips Hue Smart Light Bulbs
You can put these light bulbs throughout your home and have full control of your lighting. From the intensity of the lights to the colors, these smart light bulbs are so popular probably because of the effect they can have on mood. Wake up to the color of the sunrise or turn your daughter's room fully pink for princess playtime with the smartphone app. You can also sync the lighting to the sound of your music or have your lights blink a different color when you receive a text message or phone call. These bulbs aren't new but are always getting updates to sync with other smart devices.
Monitor your baby, smartly: Motorola's Halo baby monitor
Baby monitors are hardly new technology, but Motorola has made the baby monitor smart in 2019. The Halo baby monitor attaches to a cot or crib for an overhead view of the baby. The 1080p camera includes night vision and two-way audio that you can use on your smartphone. Above the camera, a ring of soft light glows and changes colors, while a virtual mobile projects scenes onto the ceiling. There's also the option to play lullabies or your own voice recordings through the Halo's speakers.
Clean Up With Little to No Effort: Ecovacs Deebot N79S Vacuum
Most of us know that vacuums can be wildly expensive in price, plus the effort that you take to vacuum your home often can eat into your family time. You can now get the job done quickly with a smart vacuum that's remote controlled and can be automated to run when you're not even home. This vacuum is truly smart -- it can steer itself around your house, picking up grime from all types of surfaces and then drive itself back to its homebase to charge for the next clean sweep.
Caller ID at the Front Door Keeps You Safer: Ring Doorbell and Camera
Ring's approach to the doorbell allows you to view exactly who is at your front door in high resolution. With instant mobile alerts and two-way talk features, Ring can help you recieve mail deliveries, avoid stranger danger, and reduce crime in your neighborhood. Ring's newest feature boasts improving community safety by helping neighbors identify potential delivery thieves among other crime.
Get Smarter at Doing Laundry: Samsung's Bixby-enabled smart washer
Unveiled at CES 2019, Samsung is bringing their voice assistant, Bixby, to your laundry room. Use your Samsung phone to get suggestions on the best laundry cycles for different types of garments, check-in on a cycle, or schedule a wash for later. It also has a SuperSpeed setting that's supposed to wash a regular load of laundry in just 30 minutes.
Best Speaker and Connector: Amazon Echo
Amazon's Alexa-enabled devices top all the lists of the most useful smart home devices. The device itself looks like a speaker but it can do so much more than turn on the music. It can also take voice commands from users by talking to "Alexa." This device easily connects to many other smart home devices and makes it easy to have all your smart devices work together. On its own, it can give you daily news stories, set alarms and reminders, make calls, help you with your grocery list and so much more.
Take Them With You When You Move
Investing in smart devices is worth it, even if you are planning to move soon. Many devices are easily portable and will fit just as well into your new home!
Fall is in the air and the holiday season is gearing up. As you prepare to do your holiday shopping, our real estate agents want you to know that there is no better gift to your family than a new home. As you consider homes for sale in Henrico, the following are seven tips that can turn your homeownership dreams into a reality this holiday season.
When you're buying a home in a new city, it's hard to know if you're making the right choice by choosing a specific house—not to mention an entire neighborhood. Home buyers often ask our REALTORS®, "How do I know if this neighborhood is the right one for my family?"
There are a lot of answers to this question; however, finding your own best place to live is a personal process. Your list of wants, needs, and preferences will shape what you're looking for in a home. Understanding how to prepare, prioritize, and reach an informed decision ultimately goes a long way in finding the right Richmond homes.
When you begin to search for homes in our community, here are six tips to help you get started:
For the first time since the 2008 housing bubble, homes are going on the market en masse – and the Richmond, VA housing market is one of the hottest places in the United States.
Napier ERA President Jim Napier put this into perspective in the June, 2017 publication of Richmondmag.com:
"Six months' worth of inventory is considered a normal market that favors neither buyer nor seller. On average, the Richmond region has a little more than four months of inventory based on home sales from the first quarter of 2017."
2018 will be a promising year for anyone who wants to buy one of the homes for sale in Richmond. Richmond is a desirable real estate market for both growing families and upwardly-mobile professionals, and there are plenty of opportunities to find amazing homes in our community.
While Richmond is still the same great area for home buying it has been for years, some aspects of the housing market are shifting. The more you know, the easier it'll be to navigate your options, make the best choices for you, and find the Richmond home you've been searching for.
Let's review some of the most important trends influencing area home buyers today:
When you're searching for a home in Richmond, finding the perfect neighborhood definitely matters. A favorite location loved by Richmond locals is the Fan District. Located between Broad Street and Main Street, this culture-filled neighborhood lies at the eastern part of the West End area.
So what is so appealing about the Fan District? Find out why Richmond locals love this historical and picturesque neighborhood.
The historic city of Richmond, VA lies in the heart of the Mid-Atlantic region with the sprawling Chesapeake Bay to the east and the majestic Appalachian Mountains to the west. The Richmond area is filled with big-city attractions along with a healthy dose of small-town charm. When you're shopping for Richmond real estate, it's a great idea to take a look at all of the communities that make up the historic Richmond area in order to find the right fit. Today, we'll be taking a closer look at Richmond City along with Henrico County, Chesterfield County and Hanover County.