1. What’s the angle of the triangle? You want to make sure your refrigerator, sink and stove are in a triangle shape.  Cooking requires all three of those things in different order throughout meal prep and if you have to walk clear across the room to get something from the refrigerator, that doesn’t make sense.  Your kitchen should make sense!
2. Check out the lighting when you are standing at the counter. So many times the lighting casts shadows or doesn’t reach the area where you need it.
3. Counter tops need to be fairly maintenance free. While you may love white Carrera marble,  honed and soft to the touch, it requires sealing, constant cleaning and quick wipe ups if anything that stains spills on the counter.  Keep all that in mind when you are being wooed by that beautiful counter.
4. Consider the size of the oven space. Many homes that have been ‘flipped’ are brand new, no one has lived in them before.  You want to make sure the oven is large enough for a lasagna pan.  Also check the heating element – is it gas or electric?
5. Open the cabinet doors and open the drawers. They should have a soft close hinge if you are paying a lot for a newer kitchen.  Sometimes the kitchen cabinets are just painted, check the sides of the drawers to see if the connections are dove tailed or not.  That helps to keep the drawer in shape for years to come.

Can’t wait to see your new house with that great kitchen!  Please call us if you are considering buying or selling your home!

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The real estate market is taking a little break too – but don’t get too comfortable!  There is going to be another shift here very soon.  How so, you might ask?  Well, remember all those loan modifications that occurred about 4 years ago?  Many of them were only for 5 years…..and they are beginning to adjust.  Those adjustments are putting a financial burden back on the homeowners because their wages have not kept up with the new adjusted interest rate.  They will, most likely, have more equity in their home but not enough to be able to refinance to stay.

How will this affect real estate pricing?  I don’t expect banks to take a big hit here and negotiate as much as they have in the past – now that they are coming out of the financial crisis – because pricing has gone up.  A property might be sold ‘short’ to cover closing costs only –

Look in the $900,000 price point and above for great deals coming soon!

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