Sonia's Real Estate Blog

Many people think about just the cost and the interest rate at which they can get a loan while buying a new home. However, the lending process in extremely important and there are other costs that you should consider as you prepare to buy any property. As both a licensed REALTOR® and Mortgage Broker, I’ve come up with a few tips to keep in mind while buying a house:

1. Have a Trusted Realtor® It is no secret that Realtors® get a cut of the sale price of the house. This makes some buyers hesitant to hire one, believing it drives the overall rate up. The seller and not the buyer pays the commission rate. Listing agents (the agent who represents the seller) in most cases does not have your interests in mind and can simply keep both sides of the commission. It means that you are saving no money. Having a Realtor® in your corner can help you a great deal. The Realtor® will help negotiate the price and also inspect the home thoroughly for any defects.

2. Remember That Purchasing a House Involves Contracts There are many papers and documents to sign while going through the process of buying a home. Many of these papers look like standard contracts with no room for negotiation. However, this isn’t true; contracts are meant to be negotiated. There is no need for you to sign a standard agreement. Realtors® come in handy when you require more time for reviewing the house inspection, or wish to have a radon test or need a mortgage approval.

3. Focus on Your Future Plans Buying a house is one of the biggest financial commitments that you might make. However, before buying your dream house you should consider these points:

• Do you plan to continue working at your current job?
• Are you getting married in the near future?
• Are you considering having kids?

If yes, based on the market conditions and terms of the mortgage, you will end up paying for your mortgage over the duration of the loan. It’s important that you keep your future plans in view while considering buying a home.

4. Keep Commitment in Mind When you are planning to get married the laws generally determine how your assets will be treated & how will they be distributed if you get a divorce. These rules do not necessarily apply when you’re single. You have to think about the future. If you purchase a house with someone who isn’t your spouse, having an exit plan if things don’t go too well is a good idea. Make sure to have an agreement made with respect to mortgage payments, repairs, titling and liability. It is better to take the assistance of a lawyer and get all of this in writing.

Buying a home is a major financial commitment and getting it right is about taking a 360-degree view of your current and future situation and needs. This will help ensure you are able to make the proper provisions while purchasing your home, without straining your finances excessively.

Whether it’s your first time buying a home or you’ve bought and sold property a dozen times before, teaming up with the right Sherwood Park & Edmonton Area REALTOR® is the critical first step in making a great experience.

Sonia Tarabay puts her inner tiger to work for each and every one of her home­-buying clients, delivering outstanding 5 Star Service every time. When you’ve got Sonia on your side, buying a home is easier, faster, and way more fun!

As many of you know, along with being a REALTOR® I have been a licensed Mortgage Broker for almost nine years which has been a huge benefit to my clients. I love that I can work both sides of the equation which helps save people time, stress and money. However, rules are always changing in the mortgage industry and since I love helping people buy and sell homes so much, I have decided to make some exciting changes!

I am very pleased to announce that I am partnering up with Gerri Vaughan from Invis, whom I have known and trusted for many years. My partnership with Gerri means going forward, she will be there to help my clients obtain financing for their homes. This relationship is definitely a win-win for my fabulous friends and clients. It allows me to focus on what I love doing most and it allows Gerri to let her expertise shine and offer her excellent services to my clients!

We’re so excited to strengthen our team and bring the best of both real estate and mortgages to our clients in Sherwood Park, Strathcona County and Edmonton. We have access to some of the best financing options in the marketplace and we are looking forward to finding you a home and getting you the financing that works for your situation.

Gerri and I can’t wait to work with you!

Warmest regards,

Sonia

If you ever need a reminder of how special Strathcona County or how inspirational its people, all you need to do is attend the Great Canadian Trade Fair and Sale, which was held last weekend at Millennium Place.

Walking through the Trade Fair, I got a sense of all of the incredible things that people are doing in Strathcona County. There are so many passionate people in this community doing what they love and all of that positive energy is invigorating.

This was my sixth year as an exhibitor at the Trade Fair and it’s a date I always circle on my calendar. One of the best things about the event is seeing all of the familiar faces, from clients who I have bought or sold houses for, to all the members of this tight-knit community that I’ve had the pleasure of getting to know over the years.

It’s also an excellent opportunity to meet knew people and I had a blast making new friends over the weekend, and talking about why they call me Sherwood Park’s Real Estate Tiger. I also enjoyed connecting with my fellow Chamber of Commerce members and with the members of Strathcona County Council.

I’d like to extend a huge thank you to the Chamber and all of its volunteers who once again did a fabulous job organizing the show. Also, thank you to the great restaurants, which brought their tastiest dishes to Taste of Strathcona and to the more than 300 exhibitors. I’m already looking forward to next year’s event!

Warmest regards,

There is nothing I want more than to see a smile on my client’s face. Those happy moments when their house sells or they find their perfect new home are the moments I crave every day.

At the same time, I’ve grown to be great friends with many of the people from our Sherwood Park community who started off as clients. Unfortunately, in this business, you have to say goodbye to many of those friends who you’ve grown to know over the years. This just happened to me, as longtime clients were moving out of the province.

As sad as it is to see them go, I take pride in the fact they are leaving Sherwood Park with big smiles on their faces. Their home sold in less than a week and for $8,000 more than the asking price! It was a pleasure to be able to help them and I look forward to helping so many more wonderful people in Sherwood Park!

Warm regards,
Sonia

I love awesome quotes and what better way to nurture our minds! So here are some of my favourite quotes that I want to share with you. I hope you’ll write some of them down, pin them to your wall or put them on your fridge to give you inspiration over the next year! I know these quotes inspire me every day!

“A tiger doesn’t lose sleep over the opinion of sheep” – Shahir Zag

“Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind don’t matter, and those who matter don’t mind” – Dr. Suess

“I can’t change the direction of the wind, but I can adjust my sails to always reach my destination” – Jimmy Dean

“Try to be a rainbow in someone’s cloud” – Maya Angelou

“My best creation is my children” – Diane Von Furstenberg

“Perfection is not attainable, but if we chase perfection we can catch excellence” – Vince Lombardi

“Falling down is how we grow. Staying down is how we die” – Brian Vaszily

“If opportunity doesn’t knock, build a door” – Milton Berle

“No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted” – Aesop

“Shoot for the moon and if you miss you will still be among the stars” Les Brown

“It is never too late to be what you might have been” – George Eliot

“In a gentle way, you can shake the world” – Mahatma Gandhi

“Everything you want is out there waiting for you to ask. Everything you want also wants you. But you have to take action to get it” – Jules Renard

“The best way out is always through” – Robert Frost

“No matter what people tell you, words and ideas can change the world” – Robin Williams

“Why fit in when you were born to stand out!” -Dr. Seuss

“Every day we should hear at least one little song, read one good poem, see one exquisite picture, and, if possible, speak a few sensible words” – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

“If the world seems cold to you, kindle fires to warm in” – Lucy Larcom

“I am not afraid of tomorrow, for I have seen yesterday and I love today” – William Allen White

“Do your little bit of good where you are; it’s those little bits of good put together that overwhelm the world” – Desmond Tutu

I hope these words bring you as much inspiration as they bring me! I wish you all a happy and prosperous 2017. Have fun my friends!

Warmest regards,

Sonia

Through hard work and dedication to my clients, I’ve been fortunate to receive many honours in my real estate career. While it’s not about the awards, I was truly honoured and humbled when I was notified that I have been awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award from REMAX of Western Canada, after just seven years in the real estate business!

The award is very special to me because it affirms that doing what you love is the key to success. What I love the most is helping my clients obtain the best results when buying or selling a home. It’s what I’m most passionate about in my work.

When I think back at my career as a REALTOR®, I have learned so much and I’ve met so many great people, but it has absolutely breezed by. As they say, time flies when you’re having fun!

I’m very excited for this honour and to share it with my family, who is so supportive of me. I also owe a lot of gratitude to all of my clients from Sherwood Park, Strathcona County and Edmonton.

Warmest regards,
Sonia

Happy first day of Fall! Here are some of my favourite things about this beautiful season. Hope you enjoy!

-Sonia

Curb appeal is tremendously important to keeping up the value of your home, as well as your neighbourhood. There are so many awesome ideas out there, but here are a few of my favourites:

1) Professionally landscape your yard. Depending on your budget, a lot of this you can easily do yourself. To start, the removal of dead wood, broken branches and pruning of your hedges restores the health and aesthetic appeal of your yard. If you want to stand out from your neighbours, replace a portion of your lawn with flowers. Plant perennials, use landscape stone for a lush landscape that sets your house apart. Planting flowers in raised flower beds or planter boxes, even added pots of flowers, provides a giant boost to your curb appeal.

2) Add big, bold house numbers. It’s so easy to swap out house numbers, and this one thing can make a huge impact. Echo your house style in the numbers you choose — a clean sans serif font for a modern house, aged copper for a Prairie-style home, contrast is to match your trim, etc.

3) Paint the front door. A front door that pops can be very cheering. Paint your front door a tasteful color you like and make it work. It’s all a matter of coordinating the door color with your home’s architecture and the other colors and materials on the house.

4) Add fresh porch furniture and symmetry to decor. Whether it is a set of Adirondack chairs or a cozy glider, is a must when you have a front porch that is visible from the street. Symmetry is not only pleasing to the eye, it’s also the simplest to arrange. Symmetrical compositions of light fixtures and front-door accents create welcoming entryways and boost curb appeal.

5) Repair the driveway and paths. Cement, stone and pavement all can split and crack over time. Repairing or replacing damaged areas can do wonders to freshen up your home’s street view.
Edging the driveway, installing a border adds a crisp, elegant look. Edging materials such as brick, pavers, stones or a combination to bring a boring paving driveway to life.

6) Change the hardware. Add a shiny new door knocker. Gorgeous hardware can make even the plainest door look very classy. Your Mailbox even makes a statement! If your mailbox is rusty and falling apart – consider sprucing it up or getting a new one. Other inexpensive hardware idea is to add brackets to your garage door that turn the most basic garage into an elegant one!

7) Change your lighting. The lighting on your porch may be old, outdated or even broken. A great way to update your curb appeal is to replace the porch lighting with something more modern, or unique to the architecture of your home. At this time you may even consider installing a motion detector which increases the safety to your home. Also installing lighting along your pathway leading up to your home not only increases the safety, but adds a warm and inviting welcome to your front door.

8) Wash your House and Refresh the Paint. Before you scrape any paint or plant more azaleas, wash the dirt, mildew, and general grunge off the outside of your house. You would be surprised as to washing a house can add tremendous value to your home. The most commonly offered curb appeal advice from real estate pros and appraisers is to give the exterior of your home a good paint job. Buyers will instantly notice it, and appraisers will value it.
Consider hiring a professional- getting quotes if it’s a large job. Even refreshing the trims make a huge difference!

9) Regard your roof. The condition of your roof is one of the first things buyers notice and appraisers assess. Missing, curled, or faded shingles add nothing to the look or value of your house. If your neighbors have maintained or replaced their roofs, yours will look especially shabby. You can pay for roof repairs now, or pay for them later in a lower appraisal; appraisers will mark down the value by the cost of the repair. While you are looking at your roof check out the condition of your gutters and eavestroughs, cleaning and checking for any damages.

10) Windows speak volume. If your windows have seen better days, replacing them with up-to-date energy efficient, double pane windows can significantly reduce your heating and cooling bills while adding value and curb appeal to your home.

Some of these things may be more costly than you imagined, but they can have a huge impact on your sales price. Some are simple inexpensive yet can make an impact! If you are wondering which items should be updated, ask a friend to drive to the house and tell you the first thing they think of when they pull up. This will give you an honest assessment and a starting point for your work. If you would like to know how much your home is worth, feel free to call me for a complimentary Market Evaluation. Thank you!

One thing I have admired about the Irish is their magical spirit and joyful energy! St. Patrick’s Day has a way of bringing out the Irish in everyone. Whether it’s celebrating at your local pub or simply donning green to ring in the occasion, the holiday has become a fixture for all – Irish heritage notwithstanding.

Our home can also inspire St. Patrick’s Day and ring in the spring! Bright shades of green color are pleasant and fresh. Modern citrus yellow and olive shades of green color look cheerful, warm and sunny. Most of your home decorating accessories and furniture items will look great with stylish shades of green color, creating fresh, relaxing and comfortable room decor for spring.

You can use trendy green paint colors for quick and dramatic room makeover. Green colored home furnishings that you already have in your home help save money on room decorating for St Patrick’s Day and for spring decorating. Irish landscapes, shamrock symbols and St Patrick’s Day food are beautiful inspirations for choosing spring decorating colors and color combinations for your room decor.

Rearrange your green colored home furnishings, move small decorating accessories to different places, use them in a different way for creative room decorating ideas without spending extra money on green spring decorating.

You can use your home furnishings in all colors for St Patrick’s Day and for spring home decorating, adding few green accents to your home color palette.

A green ribbon on your table lamp, green throw on your bed or a green cushion on a living room sofa are simple, inexpensive and pretty spring decorating ideas that symbolize freshness, awaking of the nature and a new beginning.

If you do not have any green colored items for spring decorating, use green food, – sweet peppers, pears, apples, grapes or limes, arrange them on attractive plates, or use shallow baskets and vases, adding beautiful natural accents and aroma to your room decorating in spring.

You do not need to spend money buying new decorating accessories for St Patrick’s Day. If you are not sure how to add green color to your room decorating, St Patrick’s Day food can inspire you.

Think like an interior designer and select a perfect decorating color scheme for St Patrick’s Day or spring home decor. Every interior designer gets an inspiration from ordinary things, then creates an interior of that experience.

Reference:Lush Home/
Food Inspired Decorating

Looking to buy a home or investment property? Whether it’s your first home purchase or your 10^th, it is absolutely recommended to have a property inspection prior to closing the deal.

I know from experience that most of my clients will choose to inspect a property through the services of a qualified home inspector. As both a REALTOR® and a consumer, I could not agree more.

When walking through a home you would love to buy, it’s hard to put aside your emotions and really ‘see’ what kind of shape it’s in. Now that you are buying, it’s time to see everything. Home inspections rarely cost more than a few hundred dollars and their service can save you from unpleasant surprises when you move in. Your offer to buy may be conditional upon a satisfactory home inspection. This is an increasingly standard condition on any resale home. If the seller doesn’t want you closely examining the home before you take possession, you have to wonder why.

Go with a qualified professional

Make sure your inspector is a member of a provincial association of home inspectors. It’s your guarantee they have the training and experience for the job. Your REALTOR® may suggest several home inspection companies to choose from. Make sure your inspector is credited to one of these Associations:

Canadian Association of Home and Property Inspectors

National Association of Certified Home Inspectors

What will they check during the inspection?

Lots of stuff. Plumbing and electrical systems, the roof, visible insulation, walls, ceilings, floors, windows and the integrity of the foundation. They check for nasty stuff like lead paint, asbestos, mold, outdated and dangerous wiring and they’ll look for evidence of pests like mice or termites. A good inspector should make you feel like you’re watching a CSI detective.

Join the inspection

There’s no better way to get familiar with your new home than being part of this checkup. If any problems are detected, you’ll see them firsthand and you’ll also learn some maintenance tips from a genuine pro.

Home inspection for a new home?

New does not equal perfect and construction quality can vary greatly from builder to builder. Repairs and corrections will probably be covered by a provincial new home warranty program, so bad news doesn’t necessarily mean it will cost you.

So, if you are looking to make your next home purchase, please give me a call. I would love to help you through the process and ensure you protect your investment.

Reference:

Alberta Real Estate

Association