Dale Samar – Real Estate – PGA Life Member

Your GOLF LIFESTYLE Professional™

Home Renovations

HOME RENOVATIONS FOR MOM

After Picture of Hall – New Flooring, Baseboard, Door Hardware, Cabinet Hardware & Paint LED Lights & Fresh Shoji White Paint on Walls – (Before Pic Below)
Picutre Shows Home before renovations with many dated finishes including old tile, inefficient lighting, small baseboards and cabinet & door hardware

SPECIAL PROJECT FOR MOM
My mom and dad were always pretty conservative on their spending…okay, they were very frugal. While this characteristic served them well throughout life in many ways, it prevented them from updating their home in a manner that best resonates with today’s home buyers. The flooring, finishing and color choices of 1999 as well as hardware choices have changed. Because the home hasn’t been updated and there are also some worn areas throughout, its condition has left a pretty large gap in the “As Is” value and the potential updated value of my mom’s home.
For some homeowners, the only option is to sell to a home flipper/investor so it can be updated and then sold for a profit – for the record, there is nothing wrong with this and this is how many homes get the renovations needed to appeal to today’s buyers (and this also helps neighborhoods maintain or increase home values). However, the profit margin of the investor/flipper is what the homeowner is leaving on the table when selling in this condition. In some cases, selling to a flipper may be the best option because a quick sale is needed/desired. However, when the time, financial resources, expertise and desire are available, it may be possible to realize a much higher net sale amount when renovations can be done prior to the selling the home. This is what started our current journey…

Step 1 – Move Mom Into a Senior Community (resort-like and she loves it)
Step 2 – Remove important documents and family artifacts/pics etc. Also, remove all junk that isn’t saleable – call a junk removable company if needed – I can provide a referral.
Step 3 – Prep Home for Estate Sale – Steps 2 & 3 took approximately 200 man hours. (professionals can be hired to reduce this time for you)
Step 4 – Conduct Estate Sale (2-3 days) We did it ourselves but pros can often be hired.
Step 5 – Donate unsold items and/or continue to sell any valuable items that may be left.
Step 6 – Haul away any left over large items/trash – there always seems to be more than you think.
Step 7 – Begin Renovations – The Planning for this should certainly start earlier to gather estimates and schedule contractors. Creating an accurate budget is important. Depending on the scale, renovations can take 4 – 12 weeks or even longer.
Step 8 – Final preparations for selling the home for top price. There are many details to this step which will be detailed in a later issue.
Quick note: I gathered offers from investors – some small and one large company just to be able to illustrate the extent of the price gap. The offers were in the mid-300s for a home that we will likely list in the low-500s when renovations are complete.

Please contact me for more details and I would be honored to help!
Dale Samar – 602-799-7335

HELP FOR OUT OF TOWN BUYERS

Here is an example of videos I do for remote buyers so they can better visualize the layout of homes that may be of interest to them. Many listings only provide highlight photos that don’t necessary show what is it like to walk into the home or how it flows. These videos aren’t designed to be quite as good as a professional listing video or take the place of the listing photos but it does enhance the ability for a buyer to evaluate the home.


Although I often add music and sometimes other comments, I also try to focus on things that are important to my client. In this case, my client has a desire for a quiet backyard with no road noise. Google maps showed that road noise might be an issue so I added some shots of the road behind the backyard wall.


I have seen other agents using Facetime or other similar live video but I think the YouTube video allows for multiple views, pauses, and even sharing to family/friends. I have seen some videos get dozens of views by the same client even after they go under contract so they can make preparations for furniture and possible updates or changes that they are considering.


Let me know if I can help you or someone you know from out of state that might be interested in a home in the Valley.

Colorado Retreat Project

Just Wanted to Share Some Pics of the Amazing Colorado Project by Mongrel Design Interiors

-Michelle Samar, Designer/Owner

Michelle was honored to be part of the design of this amazing Colorado home from very early in the process so she could really enhance the aesthetics and functionality of this beautiful home. It will provide incredible memories for multiple generations of family members as they utilize it in the coming decades.

There is too much to list for this home but just enjoy the pictures and feel free to let it inspire your next build or re-design project!

These details make homes sell for significantly more when it is time to sell as well – not that anyone would want to sell such an amazing home…

Great Job as sual Michelle!!

RING Cameras

My Favorite New Products – RING


You’ve certainly heard about the RING Camera Doorbell and seen the videos of people tripping, slipping and/or running off with Amazon packages.
However, maybe you’ve been afraid of the effort/complexity or cost it would take to add one of these to your home. It always seemed difficult and expensive to run wires for such a device. The only friends you had that did it themselves were engineers or tech geniuses.


And what if you want additional cameras throughout your home to create a proper security network? Even if you found a system that could function through your wireless network, you still need power right? Who has outlets high up on the exterior of the house?
Thanks to the RING battery operated system of products, I now feel like a TECH GENIUS (without really being one). We are renovating our new home so we wanted to quickly add some cameras to monitor the home when we weren’t there.


We started with the Ring 4th Generation doorbell (battery model). It took more time to gather my drill & drill bits than any other part of the installation. I do recommend connecting the door bell to your WIFI first to make sure you can get the right camera angle before attaching it to your house.


With a very busy front door due to renovations, we are having to recharge the battery about once per month but the other cameras with less activity can last a few months or more. Even better though, you can also purchase a solar panel charger from Ring for about $40 that keeps the batteries continuously charging with no need to change batteries. I did this for three of my cameras and they work great- doesn’t work for my doorbell because it is always in the shade (but easy to change the battery by having an extra one charged – the App even lets you know when battery is starting to get low!


Another great feature is that the cameras even record sound and you can actually talk to someone through the camera as well as set off an audible alarm to scare them away – it’s hilarious to do to nosy neighbors… 😉
You can purchase these cameras/doorbells from numerous stores locally or online such as Lowes, Best Buy, or Amazon. I recommend getting the latest models so you have all the best features. There is no monthly fee required but for $10 per month or $100 per year you can have your recordings saved online for up to 6 months.  

Feel free to ask me questions about it anytime! Call me at 602.799.7335

YouTube TV

My Favorite New Products – YouTubeTV


You probably already have a smart TV and maybe you’ve subscribed to Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime or any of the others but do you still have cable supplying all your local channels?


Our cable bill was getting out of control (over $300 per month-included internet) so when we recently moved to an area of Cave Creek that isn’t served by a cable company, we had to search out alternatives for all our favorite channels and shows. I opted to go with Youtube TV but you can compare many of the details yourself with this article
These services allow you to get local Valley channels along with some of the most popular “cable” channels. We are now paying $65 per month plus the internet services fees which we pay Verizon just $50 per month for a 4G network box that is working very well so far. They also offer 5G options in some areas.


It does take a little time to get used to it as it is a little different than traditional cable but there are a ton of “On Demand” options as well as the ability to record shows to watch later – in fact, Youtube TV actually makes suggestions. It also gives you the ability to set up as many as 6 family members with their own preferences and place to store their recorded shows. More information can be found here  

Feel free to ask me questions about it anytime! Call me at 602.799.7335

SONOS Music Sound System

SONOS Wireless Music System & Soundbars
What is Sonos? — it’s the Latin word for sounds but SONOS takes sound to the next level for your home.   Remember when you had to tear up your house to install wiring when adding speakers in every room? Quality sound can now be set-up without any destruction or cost to rebuild your walls & ceilings.

Michelle & I decided to make SONOS part of our recent home renovation project – it wasn’t complicated and can easily be done without renovating but we did it during the process as we added new TVs and wanted the enhanced acoustics of a soundbar.   SONOS is a leader in home audio and offers high-quality speakers that can stream premium sound around your home. What makes Sonos stand out is its expansive streaming library. It supports everything from Spotify, Pandora and Tidal to Audible, Stitcher, and SiriusXM to Amazon Music, YouTube Music and more. The best part is that it can support all these apps at the same time – it often seems that every member of the family has their own app preference – no problem with SONOS. You can even tie some of the speakers to a Google Assistant app and it acts just a Google Home component.   The speakers connect directly to the internet but are also controlled by an app on your phone. You can play different types of music in multiple rooms all at the same time or play the same music throughout the home. The soundbars are perfect for enhancing the sound quality of your TVs as well and you can play the TV sound from multiple speakers as well. There are both plug-in powered speakers as well as rechargeable speakers that can be easily moved anywhere in the house. The sound quality is awesome as well.
 
Another nice feature is that you can start out small and then add more speakers/rooms as you find the need. Our home has two soundbars – one under each main TV in the house and then we have another plug-in speaker for the kitchen/dining area that is great for allowing us to better listen to the TV while eating or preparing meals. We also have a rechargeable speaker that is utilized in the primary bath or can be taken outside on the patio or garage when needed.

Most of the SONOS products don’t require physical installation but the Soundbars can be mounted on the wall and we went with a professional to do the work. It helps to work with someone knowledgeable and will definitely save you time. We worked with Jon Yorkis of Home Theater Plus who was great. Feel free to contact him for any of your audio/video needs – 623-853-6445 or https://hometheaterplus.tv

Feel free to ask me questions anytime – Call me at 602.799.7335

VERIZON Home Internet

VERIZON HOME INTERNET
I found this internet option somewhat by accident as we were beginning our renovation project on our new home several months ago. The home is in an area of Cave Creek that doesn’t offer the traditional internet/cable solutions such as Cox or Century Link so we had to explore other options.
There are a couple of what I can line of sight dish options in our area but only one that could guarantee good connection and it was around $90 per month which may have been fine except I only needed it to operate some Ring cameras for security while we weren’t there.
Because the home became a major construction site, having a system that required wires into an non-mobile spot was also challenging so I searched for other options and came across the Verizon 5G Home Internet option which was around $50 per month for Verizon Customers. After entering our address, I found out Verizon doesn’t offer the 5G option in our area but they do offer a LTE Internet Option which uses 4G (I’m not techie but doesn’t sound as good as 5G).
There are no contracts or set up fees so I decided to give the LTE a try. As a current Verizon customer, signing up online was simple and the box showed up a couple of days later. Just plugged it in and connected my ring cameras through Wifi as the cube acts as a modem and router and it worked great. We then connected our computers & TVs which now utilize several apps including YouTubeTV and all work incredibly well – including the SONOS music system throughout the house. Download speeds vary but are as high as 45 Mbps (Megabits per second) – As a general rule, the recommended internet speed for streaming in standard definition videos is 3–10 Mbps. To stream Hulu, Netflix, and Sling TV, you’ll want a minimum download speed of 25 Mbps. For more devices and users, you’ll want a speed closer to 50 Mbps.
Find out more at: https://www.verizon.com/5g/home/
Our home currently has a network of 4 TVs, 4 SONOS soundbars/speakers, 2 cell phones, a tablet, and a wireless printer – all are working great – just an added option for you to consider if you are not happy with your current internet provider.
Note: T-Moble also has similar services available but I haven’t been a user so I can’t report on whether it works as well or not.