Saturday, May 4, 2019

Real Life: Sharing Our Experiences in Selling and Buying Houses





Hi dear readers and friends, we are here to re-launch on our blog, as we are investing time and money in our new carrier as Real Estate Agents, we would like to share with you what we have learning selling and buying house in the last 20 years.  We feel that the Lord is inspiring us to work in the Real Estate field, as I can help my husband, without to need to work full time. I can dedicate my time to make art, to write and homemaking and mainly research about Real Estate to help more people. 

We have learned a lot with bad and good RE Agents we have met. We would like to help people to prevent some headaches in their business and to be very well succeed in their selling or buying. We are looking forward to serve with excellence, as we know the first one we are serving is Him, after our own family, the country and the people. 

Real Estate is an amazing field where we can learn a lot  in so many areas: financing, renovating, homemaking, communication, etc.

We will  start this new subject, Real Estate, writing about the amazing experience we have buying and selling our house in Savannah, GA, because this was the most amazing experience we have had in RE.

 Our RE Agent in Savannah, GA, was Mr. Bradford Page, who helped us in 2013 to buy  the house in a foreclosure. He was the same who helped us to sell it in 2018. We have learned a lot with him, but we have learned a lot also  with  very bad agents we have met.

Here are some pictures of the house we bought in Savannah, GA.


We bought this house, 1,400 sqft, in Savannah, GA, in 2013 in a foreclosure. It was totally damage, landscaping abandoned, no floors, garage door destroyed, some walls were thumped, etc. 



5 years later, by the Lord's grace, in 2018, we were able to sell for almost the double price, totally renovated and beautiful. We brought the house to it full potential. It became a curb-appeal. Praise!




Here is what our amazing RE Agent posted in the internet, about the house: 

"This attractive all brick exterior, nicely landscaped home dripping with curb appeal will draw you in. Once inside you will not want to leave. Gas range for the chef. Eat in kitchen. Family room with fireplace. Oversized laundry/utility room. One car garage. Carpet free home is great for people with pets, children or allergies. Large fenced back yard has double gated access and plenty of room for gardening, grilling out or just hanging out. Large shed on permanent foundation would make a wonderful workshop or play house. Shallow well and pump helps keep the garden growing. This wonderful home sits on a large corner lot in the amenity filled southside community of Georgetown. Community pools, playgrounds, clubhouse, tennis courts and more. Conveniently located 4 miles from I95 and just minutes from downtown Savannah. Home warranty included with acceptable offer".




The garage door was totally destroyed as the ex-owner crashed the car in it. Our Agent told that one the best investment in the house was to put a new garage door. We installed gutters in part of the roof also, it is very important to prevent the water damages from the rain.



The landscape was totally abandoned. In 5 years we brought it to the full potentialWe aerated the lawn once and fertilizes sometimes. Tom, my hubby has a trick to cut the lawn in circle with a special lawn motor which ground the grass, which is naturally transform in fertilize after.



The garage door was totally destroyed as the ex-owner crashed the car in it. Our Agent told that one the best investment, in the house, was to put a new garage door. We installed gutter in part of the roof also, it is very important to prevent the water damages from the rain.




Plants, vases, trees and nature in general, brings so much life to a house!



It doesn't matter if we have a big our small space, it is important to have it clean and nicely decorated, without clutter please!


Welcome to our old living room with gas fire place, you can fell the warm Lord's Presence in here. Material decoration is important, but more than this we need to fill our home with the Lord's Word, casting out all demons with the sWORD of the Spirit, which is the Word of God, reading it everyday, better in load voice.

The floors are laminate, we would like hard wood, but it would become too expensive.

The old bricks in the fire place I painted white with canvas brush, one by one . This brought so much life to the old bricks!

The coffee table from Good Will we renovated varnishing with coffee glossy paint. The couch we bought in Sam's Club in a very good deal.









The photos was taken by a very good proffesional who made our home to look more beautiful and streght it out. Our agent, Bradford Page, is a Team Leader, who has a group of people working together: Interior Designer, Photografer, Agents, Secretary, to make to selling and buying processes to go smoothly and with excellent profissionalism



This dinning room table we bough used in Good Will. They painted this beautifull cherry wood black! Tom sanded and brought the beauty back to it. We dont need to spend a lot of money, we must be wise. How they could paint cherry wood black? How people can be so foolish!




The photos was taken by a very good professional who made our home to look more beautiful and stretch it out. Our agent, Bradford Page, is a Team Leader, who has a group of people working together: Interior Designer, Photographer, Agents, Secretary, to make to selling and buying processes to go smoothly and with excellent professionalism



The kitchen cabinets is from the 80's. We painted with this beautiful coffee glossy paint and installed stainless steel handles to match with the appliances. The stove and refrigerate we bought new in a deal in Best Buy, but the dishwasher we bought used, almost new, in Good Will, for just $30.00! Praise!

The floor is linoleum. We love this marble kind one, it is looks so clean.
It was not really a big kitchen, but very functional. Space enough to cook delicious and health meals from scratch.









Master bed. If you are selling a house, it is important you to remove all clutter. Leave only which makes the rooms to become nicely decorated and clean. It is incredible how we see photos of room, of selling houses, totally in a mess, with clutter and dirty.






Second guest room and my art studio. We should always keep our homes nice and clean, without clutter and dusty. This is the art of HOMEMAKING!



The first guest room and the smallest one. Without clutter is easier to clean, to show and live. Simple life, easier life!



Laundry room. The washer and dryer were a very good deal in Best Buy also. This was the only room we didn't remove the pop-corn ceiling, which accumulate a lot of dust, but we installed the marble linoleum as in the kitchen.



The picture above shows a closer look of the fire place: the old bricks in was painted white with canvas brush, one by one, specially between with brick and some of them I painted totally to highlight. This brought so much life to the old bricks!


The patio slab was totally broken and cracked. The fixed the cracks with a special product for this purpose and finished the concrete with other special concrete very easy to apple, we did our selves. To prevent water damage around the house we did a protection with white stones and red bricks, as well we installed gutters.

We pressure washed  all house the house, the side walk and drive way  for the house  to become clean and nit, inside out . In this photo the chimney  is not renovated yet, but before the inspection it was totally renovated and painted white, the old and rotten wood was changed. It is very important to do all fixing we can before and during the showings, before the inspection, this is a good advice to the sellers and the buyers also: - pay attention in the details, this shows care for the house.




The back yard with view to the bird bath and the shed. The bird bath brought so much valor to the back yard, to the point  the buyer asked  us if we would leave it! For his happiness we left it .

The bird bath was a cute project we saw in a magazine: the bird bath in the center, surrounding by paves, bricks, red stones and roses



The shed we painted white. It was very dirty painted with a ugly gray, then painted white. We put some flowers under the windows as our agent recommended us. This little things bring so much valor to the property. The tree in front is a centenary Oak Tree, which we also took care and advice with a professional arborist, we trimmed to prevent the hurricanes to damage it.

Our house in Savannah was sold after only 30 days in the market. Thanks to the Lord, our efforts to keep the house up date and the amazing Bradford Page Team.

After we sold this house we moved to Northeast Alabama. In a future post we will write about our the mini-farm we bought in Mentone.

For now is only dear. Dont forget: 

 "The LORD is nigh 
unto all them that call upon him,
 to all that call upon him in truth"
 (Psalm 145.18)   



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