If you are a "Home Improvement Show Addict", you have probably seen "Designed to Sell", "The Unsellables", and any number of other television shows tailored to the home seller. All of these shows stress the importance of preparation, preparation and even more preparation.

"BE PREPARED"...this is the Boy Scouting motto. I learned this as a young boy, working my way from Cub Scout to Boy Scout and then eventually to Eagle Scout. After spending numerous years (and I do mean many, many, many) in adult Scouting leadership positions, and raising two Eagle Scout sons, I take "being prepared" very seriously in my personal life and in my professional life.

Being prepared in my role as realtor, means being honest with sellers about what it will take to get their house in tip-top shape so it will sell quickly and for top dollar. After working with numerous buyers over the years, I have a keen eye for identifying the things that will appear as negatives to buyers. My 30+ years in the home repair business give me a unique opportunity to be very involved in actually creating the kind of drastic changes that you see in the TV shows. REALLY! We are always VERY mindful of limited budgets and I personally do many of the repairs. I also love to TEACH home-owners how to do routine maintenance. So, working side-by-side, we prepare our houses for sale. This is all part of how we actually EARN the real estate commission you pay us.

Once the necessary repairs are made, we "set the stage". This means making the changes to the décor which will create positive "buyer emotion". This generally involves significant de-cluttering, as well as furniture re-arranging, and the addition of lamps, artwork and other accessories. Again, being very mindful of limited budgets, we have made a commitment to maintaining an inventory of home accessories, which we provide free of charge to our sellers while their house is on the market. Our clients are always very pleased with their "make-over" and often make comments like, "now I don't want to move" and "I want to go shopping with the stager to buy things for my new house."

The buyer's emotional connection is what transforms "just another house" into a "home". Experience tells us that when buyers feel that positive emotion from the moment they walk into a house, they begin to make that mental transformation. Let us help you PREPARE your home and create that POSITIVE EMOTION, so that when people are SCOUTING for the perfect house, they'll make YOUR house their HOME!

Call me for a free, no obligation consultation.

Bob Webster
913-406-9731

Cool Tool!

For years I have been replacing washers on faucets.  No big deal.  I have always had a love/hate relationship with bathtub faucet handles.  Either they come right off and I am a happy person or they are so corroded that I end up practically pulling he whole faucet out of the wall! (not so happy)

I cannot believe I did not know about this tool that has been around for as long as I have. ( A very long time.)  It is a handle puller.  Very simple, there is a pin that sticks in where the screw comes out of the center of the handle and then two clamps hook on the sides of the handle, twist the knob and the handle pops off!  Who knew simple things could bring so much pleasure!

My niece is a student teacher in Lawrence and was staying with us since we live so close on the west side of Olathe.

She had just bought a new car. A beautiful pearl white car. Within a few weeks of owning it, the car was plastered with bird poop. These birds must have been eating a whole lot of red berries (if you get my drift).  She took it to the car dealer and they said they had never seen paint stain so deeply and had the front of the car repainted.

Not three days after getting the car back she was once again hit by the (very full) birds.  (I need to mention she was not parked under any trees) She was very upset and called me to help out. I found out online that Meguiar's Scratch X is supposed to remove bird poop stains. We ran out and picked some up and to our surprise it worked! It took a lot of hand rubbing, but the stains came out! I thought I would pass this along as I was amazed that it worked! I also had no idea that bird poop could stain paint so deeply.