Robert PiazzaPalotto's

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If you’ve got it, flaunt it! Don’t hide gorgeous bathrooms. 

Sometimes the most appealing rooms don’t make the cut. When deciding on real estate photos for your listing, don’t be afraid to throw in a brilliant office or impressive wine cellar. Remember to show off the best of what the space has to offer.

Have a room you’d like to highlight? Make sure you tell your photographer ahead of time so they can effectively photograph the space.

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How to Declutter Before an Open House

When it’s time to sell your home, editing your decor will help make the sale. Buyers need to picture themselves living in your home, and they can’t do that if your stuff is crammed into every corner. Even if your house is dust-free and your fixtures are sparkling, your personal clutter can be a potential turnoff to buyers.

Hiring someone to stage your home will help, but before a stager even enters your home, see how much of your clutter you can clear on your own. As always, follow the rule of three piles—keep, donate, and throw away. Time allotted: 2-3 Weekends

If you have a enough time for a yard sale, set aside sellable items, but remember that selling your house is top priority and budget your time accordingly. Donating can save you some time, because some charities will come right to your door and haul your old stuff away. For stuff you need to keep, consider renting a storage unit and clearing everything out to make your house clutter free.

As you attempt to eradicate clutter, here are some tips on how to keep your home looking great for potential buyers: Furniture: Pare down the pieces in your living areas so your rooms have an open flow. Entry: Clear out any shoes, coats, umbrellas and other outdoor items from your foyer or mudroom. Equipment: Put exercise equipment in storage or in the garage. Bookshelves: Edit your shelves so that you have a neat, orderly space with books and perhaps a few decorative items. Don’t have overflowing, sagging shelving units weighing you down. Periodicals: Recycle old newspapers and magazines clogging up your coffee tables and nightstands. Photos: Take down any personal photos. Buyers need to imagine pictures of their own family on the walls, tables and shelves. Cables and cords: Organize the cords for your televisions, computers, and other electronics so that they’re not hanging out all over the place. Plants: Toss sickly looking plants and keep only a few healthy ones on display. If you have a lot of greenery in your home, edit your plants and put some in the backyard. Kitchen counters: Remove everything from your kitchen countertops, keeping only essentials like a toaster and microwave. Decorate sparingly—buyers need to envision the kitchen without your stuff all over the counters. Clear magnets, coupons and children’s artwork from the refrigerator. Cabinets and pantry: Arrange the shelves neatly with items and labels pointed in the same direction. Bedrooms: Make sure the beds are made and the floors are clean. Nightstands: Put away tissues, medicines and magazines and just keep lamps and maybe a book or two. Closets: Organize your closets so they aren’t overflowing with clothes. Bathrooms: Put all toiletries and medications in a cabinet while your house is being shown. Spruce your bathrooms up with fresh soaps and towels.

Contact us so we can show you why we are the the #1 RE/MAX Team in New York State for transactions, The RPP Sold has proven to sell homes faster than any leading local firm. And as Rochester relocation experts, we will help you find the ideal neighborhood for your needs. The RPP Sold Team is your resource for making the most out of living, working, playing and thriving in Rochester.

Visit our website at www.findrochesternyhomes.com

© 2015, Robert PiazzaPalotto All rights reserved article resources realtor.com

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7 Things Buyers Need to Know Before Buying a Short Sale http://on.trulia.com/1FY6Nxp  

#rppsoldteam #thingstoknow #trulia

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What would you do if you won our $25k* giveaway? Let us know! http://on.trulia.com/1BPTKAs  

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https://foursquare.com/top-places/new-york-city/tastes-that-make-the-city

The Tastes that Make the City: New York Edition

Foursquare's team of data scientists crunched the numbers, looking at where more than 50 million people go and what they do. The result: top trending tastes in New York and the best places to experience them. For instance, for people who like pancakes, we’ve found the best pancakes in the city (spoiler: they’re at Clinton Street Baking Co.).

Our challenge to you: Go and experience them all! Make it a goal to cross one off each week. Heck, change your plans and tackle one tonight! This list represents some of the best the city has to offer, curated by the tens of millions of people who’ve visited, written tips about, liked, or rated places. Challenge accepted?

And if you're looking for other inspiration, fire up the Foursquare app on your phone and find the best of everything, everywhere in the world.

0 of 50 Save this list to your Foursquare account. Bagel: Everything Bagel at Ess-a-Bagel (Turtle Bay) Bloody Mary: Bloody Caesar at Joseph Leonard (West Village) Bourbon Cocktail: Old Fashioned at Maysville (NoMad) Burger: Black Label Burger at Minetta Tavern (Greenwich Village) Burrito: Ramenrrito at Press Tea (West Village) Cheesecake: Famous No. 1 Original Cheesecake at Junior's Restaurant (Downtown Brooklyn) Chicken: Roasted Chicken at Barbuto (West Village) Chipotle Sauce: Crack Sauce at Calexico Cart (SoHo) Chocolate Pastry: Chocolate Babka at Breads Bakery (Union Square) Cold Brew Coffee: Cold Brew at Little Collins (Midtown East) Cookie: Chocolate Chip Cookie at Levain Bakery (Upper West Side) Corn: Jerk Grilled Corn at Miss Lily's 7A (East Village) Craft Beer: NY Local Brews at The Jeffrey Craft Beer & Bites (Upper East Side) Cream Cheese: Wasabi Cream Cheese at Tompkins Square Bagels (East Village) Croissants: Pretzel Croissants at The City Bakery (Union Square) Donuts: Cronuts at Dominique Ansel Bakery (SoHo) Dumplings: Pork And Crab Soup Dumplings at RedFarm (West Village) French Fries: Pommes Frites at Balthazar (SoHo) French Toast: Parmesan French Toast at L'Apicio (East Village) Gnudi: Ricotta Gnudi at The Spotted Pig (West Village) Grilled Cheese Sandwich: Three Cheese Grilled Cheese at Milk Truck Grilled Cheese (Midtown East) Hidden Place: Japanese Restaurant at Bohemian (NoHo) Ice Cream: Chorizo Caramel Swirl at OddFellows Ice Cream Co. (Williamsburg) Lamb Chops: Tandoor-grilled Lamb Chops at Tulsi Restaurant (Turtle Bay) Lasagna: Yesterday's 100 Layer Lasagne All Piastra at Del Posto (Chelsea) Mac & Cheese: "world's Best" Mac & Cheese at Beecher's Handmade Cheese (Flatiron District) Margarita: Margarita De Toronja Picante at Gran Eléctrica (DUMBO) Off-menu Item: Cheeseburger at Gramercy Tavern (Flatiron District) Outdoor Seating: The Patio at Central Park Boathouse (Central Park) Pancakes: Blueberry Pancakes at Clinton St. Baking Co. & Restaurant (Lower East Side) Pastrami: Pastrami Sandwich at Katz's Delicatessen (Lower East Side) Pie: Crack Pie at Momofuku Milk Bar (East Village) Pizza: Vodka Pizza at Rubirosa (NoLita) Pork: Rocket Pig Sandwich at Rocket Pig (Chelsea) Ramen: Akamaru Modern Ramen at Ippudo (Greenwich Village) Rooftop Garden: Rooftop Bar And Cafe at The Metropolitan Museum of Art (Upper East Side) Sandwich: Fried Chicken And Waffle Sandwich at Root & Bone (Alphabet City) Scenic View: Bench Seating At 17th Street at High Line (Chelsea) Seafood: Grilled Octopus at Taverna Kyclades (Astoria) Sliders: Meatball Sliders at Little Owl (West Village) Smoked Salmon: Bagel With Lox And Cream Cheese at Russ & Daughters (Lower East Side) Southern Food: Shrimp And Grits at Red Rooster (Central Harlem) Speakeasy: PDT at Crif Dogs (East Village) Steak: Porterhouse at Peter Luger Steak House (Williamsburg) Sushi: Uni at Sushi Nakazawa (West Village) Taco: Short Rib Pastrami Taco With Mustard Seed Salsa at Empellón Taqueria (West Village) Tasting Menu: Chef's Tasting Menu at Per Se (Hell's Kitchen) Toast: Crab Toast at ABC Kitchen (Flatiron District) Vegan Food: Vegan Blt at Blossom Restaurant (Chelsea) Wine Tastings: Tasting Pours at Terroir (Tribeca)

Share your progress. Join the conversation.

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Broadway Week – New York City – 2-for-1 Tickets

Buy 2-for-1 tickets to participating Broadway shows during Broadway Week (January 20 – February 5)

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Try a New Trend in 2015

See the latest designs by our favorite tastemakers and get tips on how to incorporate top current trends in your own home.

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7 New Year's Pledges for Home Sellers

7 New Year's Pledges for Home Sellers

December 31, 2014

The New Year is a time for resolutions. If you're thinking about selling your home in 2015, here are some resolutions that could help boost your chances of a quick sale. Repeat to yourself: "I pledge to…" 1. "Avoid drastic design changes" – Unless you plan to turn your bold color palette into a more neutral one, then it's best not to try and anticipate what buyers want in design and décor. The best approach to freshening up your home for sale is to simplify and depersonalize the look and feel so that potential buyers can picture building their own lives there. If you think repainting a bright purple wall, replacing an old toilet or buffing and restaining kitchen cabinets would help the home sell, by all means make these types of updates. Just be sure to keep your personal preferences in check. Your real estate agent can help you prioritize and remain objective.  

2. "Stop neglecting the drippy faucet" – This applies to any repairs you might view as minor but actually could be a symptom of a larger system problem. Addressing things like plumbing leaks, poor ventilation and cracks in walls helps everyone avoid surprises from the inspection report and avoid the delay or even cancellation of a sale. When you have the information, you can either make the fixes or work with your agent to adjust pricing during negotiations with the buyer.

3. "Price my home reasonably" – It's understandable to think your home is the best on the block and worth more than all the others – especially if you've invested in key upgrades and remodels. And, frankly, you might be right. But the only way to truly know is to consider recent sales of comparable homes in your area. Your real estate agent can provide you with the latest information and help you list at a competitive price that's appropriate for your area and the local real estate climate.

4. "Make my home inviting" – This starts with creating curb appeal. The condition of your home's exterior is a big part of getting buyers in the door. Maintaining the yard, sweeping the porch and driveway, replacing the tattered welcome mat, replacing missing house numbers, and removing clutter all are things that can help improve curb appeal. 

5. "Thin out the clutter" – The best time for making tough decisions about what stays and what goes is BEFORE you put your home on the market. By the time the for-sale sign goes up, the home should be clutter free. You can either toss things you don't want, sell these items, or move the more personal ones to storage. The types of items to remove include your prized knick-knack collection, clothes overflowing from the closets, and family photos. You want all closets and cupboards to appear as spacious as possible. When they're jam-packed, it gives the impression that storage is limited even if that's not the case.

6. "Clean like I've never cleaned before" – Think about under, behind, around and between. It's easy to focus on cleaning the major surfaces, high-traffic areas, and areas that are visible. But what about the dust on top of the refrigerator? How about the slats in the window blinds? Have you cleaned the cabinets under the kitchen or bathroom sink recently? Did you notice the cobwebs behind the guest-room door? Look high and low for the dirt. 

7. "Nail down my next step" – Don't let your new plans and new place get lost in the shuffle of selling your old place. Determine where you'll go next before your home goes up for sale. Are you prepared to move if your home sells that quickly? Although it might not be typical, a quick sale is certainly possible. On the other hand, are you prepared if your home doesn't sell quite so quickly? Be sure to talk with your real estate agent about your relocation needs and timeline.

I will help you meet your real estate goals.

@rppsoldteam

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At this time of Thanksgiving we pause to count our blessings. The freedom of this great country in which we live. t's opportunity for achievement. The friendship and confidence you have shown in us. For all of these things we are deeply thankful.  Our best wishes for a Happy Thanksgiving!!

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Fun photo shoot:)

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Meeting of the minds-:)

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The Many Risks of Pricing Your Home Too High

The Problem With Overpricing a Home

One part art, one part science, determining the correct selling price of your home is no easy task. You want your home to move, but you also want to get as much money as you can out of the transaction. Not only is it probably one of the largest sales you will ever make, it also involves selling something important – a possession that may mean more to you than any other you own.

When you start the process of selling your home, though, you have to make a shift in your perception. This is business, and you are selling a product in a larger market that will dictate much of your decisions. You can choose to ignore the market, but to do so is risky, and a decision most people end up regretting. There are many risks of pricing your home too high the most important being the fact you will sell it for less than if it was priced properly! This makes understanding the correct sale price of your home as a critical exercise.

The thing many sellers fail to realize is that pricing a home higher than it should be does not increase the probability it will sell for more. It is the exact opposite!

How Overpricing Creates Problems

Here are a few common issues and problems that people encounter when they overprice their home all of which can lead to you getting less than you expected.

Time

When you put your home on the market, you want it to quickly spark interest in a number of buyers, and you certainly want to sell it before the listing expires. When your home first goes on the market, it should be appealing and at a price point similar or better to comparable homes in your area. If it is not, it may be ignored, or worse, noticed by buyers and placed into a “wait and see” category.

If it takes you six months or more to sell your home, the market may not cooperate with you. You may be forced to take a price much lower than your original asking price. Say you began with a price of $500,000. All other comparable listings in your area were at $450,000. Your home did not sell while all the other homes around you did. Now, a year later, the average home price is now $425,000 – a price you are forced to take. This is an example of what can happen when Real Estate values are in a downward slide.

Going back a few years ago when markets around the country were going through a correction, I was selling quite a bit of Milford Real Estate and it became brutally apparent to me that this particular town was getting hit greater than some others. It was important to guide my clients by keeping them informed on how prices were in a continuous decline. There were owners who reduced their price but by the time they did home values had slid even further. You can see how it is important to understand how to local market is performing.

Stress

Your family may be incredibly neat and tidy. However, maintaining a home in showroom condition is a considerable amount of work, even for the cleanest individuals. You are setting your home’s price to get the maximum amount of money you can, but it has to be in pristine condition to attract buyers.

Clean floors, carpets, windows, kitchen, bathrooms, no clutter, landscaping – all of these must be maintained for your home to shine. This level of cleanliness is doable for most people for a month, or maybe even three. But can you keep it up for six months, or a year?

Failing to sell your home in a timely manner is enough to lower the spirits of anyone, making it even harder to keep up appearances. Selling is stressful, and should be done as quickly as possible for the mental health of everyone in the home.

Mortgage Payments

Every month your home remains on the market, you are making mortgage payments. Every month it goes unsold, you pour more money into the home that you will not get back. With a high price, there is no negotiating up. If there are no takers month after month, you are giving money away that you should not have to.

Perception

The perception of your home as a desirable product, or a value, is important in real estate transactions. A shift in perception on the part of buyers can cause you serious headaches and lose you large amounts of money. The longer your home sits on the market, the more you risk a negative shift in this perception – something you want to avoid if at all possible.

When your home first goes on the market, it will be considered by any number of buyers as long as the price is comparable to others and as long as your real estate agent markets it correctly. It may or may not be what everyone wants, but is at least perceived in a neutral way.

The longer the home sits unsold, though, the more negatively it is generally viewed. It must be too expensive to sit for so long, or have something wrong with it. Real estate agents working for buyers may steer them away from your property, or tell them to wait for a drop in price. And when you do drop your price, some may see you as an easy target.

This is when you might finally see an influx of potential buyers, only these buyers all hit you with low ball offers that can be frustrating and sometimes even upsetting. You know your home is worth more than these offers, but you are now trapped, and they know it.

One of the questions that almost all buyers ask their agent is “how long has the home been on the market?”. They are asking this question for one reason and one reason only – how flexible is the seller going to be. It is safe to assume if your home has been on the market a while the potential buyer is going to feel like they can negotiate more. It is human nature to think this way because in most instances it’s the truth.

This is when some sellers will choose to remove their homes from the market entirely, if they can afford to do so, and wait for the situation to be forgotten or for the market to shift in their favor. Others have no choice but to sell, and are forced to take less money than they would have had they just stuck with a reasonable price in the first place.

Appraiser Problems

Sometimes, you may be lucky enough to get an offer at your optimistic price. A buyer may agree with you that your home is something special, and worth paying for. This may be due to inexperience, or money may be less of an object to them, or you may have something they really and truly desire. However, you are not out of the woods yet.

For your buyer to get a mortgage, they need to have your home appraised. Your buyer’s appraiser will use the prices of nearby, comparable homes – or “comps” – to help determine the price of your house. If he or she determines that your price is too high, it can create not only a delay in the mortgage process but potentially a lender who will not loan on the property.

Sometimes the mortgage will still go through, sometimes it will not. In cases where homes do not appraise a seller will either need to reduce their price to meet the appraisal or the buyer will need to come up with additional funds to make up the difference. You are going to need to know how to deal with a low appraisal on a home. Most home buyers are not going to be so eager to shell more money over on a property the lender has determined is not worth it.   Either way, you could endure costly delays. This is one of the bigger risks of pricing a home too high.

Online Search Problems

Most buyers use the Internet in their initial home search. This involves putting in certain criteria into a search to screen out unwanted homes. It may seem a small thing, but when you price your home too far above the comps, you effectively screen yourself out of these searches. If a buyer looks for homes from $200,000 – $300,00, and yours is $305,00, it will not be seen.

This means hundreds if not thousands of potential buyers never even know your home is there. Sometimes a seller will cut off their nose despite their face thinking that if I price my home five thousand higher I will put five thousand more in my pocket. Wrong! It does not work that way. Using that logic you might as well price your home fifty thousand higher.

How To Avoid Pricing Too High

As you can see, the potential problems with pricing your home too high are significant, and can cost you a lot of money. There are several ways you can avoid falling into this trap, though.

Hire an Experienced Agent

A good agent that closes on a respectable amount of properties will not fill you with false hope. He will explain to you that, though you may have raised your family in this home, or purchased it at the height of the real estate bubble, that the market still rules. Respect it, and you will sell your home for a fair price.

Look for an agent that has been in business for a few years, and that tends to sell homes quickly and for near the original offering price. An honest agent that doesn’t NEED your business is critical. Understand what I mean by the word “need”. Agents that need business tend to give advice that suits them and not their clients.

If the Realtor you are working with has very few deals in the pipeline they are probably going to be very anxious for their next sale. This is not the kind of agent you want. A top producer never worries about where their next sale is coming from.

Visit Open Houses

You need to get an idea of the competition. It will help you see where your home stands, either better or worse than those on the market. Accurate information will help you make an informed pricing decision. Keep in mind however, that you should not base the value of your home on what one of the neighbors thinks their home is worth. There is a good chance the neighbors home is not priced correctly especially if it has been on the market for a while with no takers.

Don’t feel bad about scoping out the competition at an open house either. Real Estate open houses rarely ever work for selling a home and are typically heavily visited by other neighbors and tire kickers. There is nothing more synonymous  about an open house than the term “nosy neighbors”! You might as well join the party to get a true handle of what is going on in the local real estate market.

Don’t Use Zillow Estimates as Your Guide

There are some sellers who mistakenly believe that Zillow pricing estimates can be used a good gauge of estimating real estate market value. Don’t be silly! You have better odds of meeting Big Foot that you do of seeing an accurate Zillow estimate or “Zestimate” as they like to call it. An online valuation tool is never going to be able to replace a local real estate agent who know the market. Don’t be foolish enough to believe a computer algorithm can determine the value of millions of homes across the country. I have seen values off by over $150,000 both high and low from Zillow!

Go In A Little Lower Than The Value

You should not be afraid to price your home a little below the comps in your area. If it is priced well, you will see numerous offers and then you will be the one with the upper hand. You may see enough offers to start bidding on your home, and eventually wind up with more money than you expected. Pricing just a hair below the market is a common strategy in real estate that works really well if you can achieve the goal of getting multiple bids on your property. This is the best position you can be in as a seller because buyers often times let their emotions dictate their decision making and not sound logic. A buyer overpaying for your property in a multiple bid situation is not out of the realm of possibility.

Put Time on Your Side

You can sell your home in a reasonable time frame and for a fair price. Pricing too high is never a good idea. Avoid making this mistake, consult a good agent, and make your sale. With the right mindset, a respect for the market and the help of an experienced agent, you can put time on your side. Did you start the listing price a little to high? Are you not getting much buyer activity on your home? Are you thinking it may be time for a price change? Here are some ways on how to know it’s time to reduce your home price. Let these be a good guide that is may be time to get more realistic if you really want to get your property sold!

Additional Helpful References on Pricing a Home

How to determine the correct price of a home via Joe Manuasa Real Estate.

Ten excellent tips on how to get the best price for your home Via Investopedia.

Eight lame reasons homeowners have for overpricing their property that they give to their agent Via Maximum Real Estate Exposure.

Use these additional references to make absolutely certain you price your home correctly and understand the likely consequences when you don’t! When you price your home properly out of the gate the odds dramatically increase the chances of sitting at a closing table in a reasonable amount of time. Best of luck!

The above Real Estate information on the risks of pricing a home too high was provided by Bill Gassett  [email protected]

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(via Arancini with mozzarella recipe - Style At Home)

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Fun Fall Festivities in Rochester

The kids have a long weekend here are some fun fall festivities to keep them busy:) ZooBoo Date(s): 10/11/2014 - 10/26/2014 Recurring weekly on Sunday, Saturday Times: 10:00am - 4:00pm Location: Seneca Park Zoo, 2222 St. Paul Street Contact: Pam Cowan Phone: [phone] Admission: Advance sale, Members: $6.50. At event, non-members $8.50 to trick-or-treat plus Zoo admission Stokoe Farms Pumpkin & Harvest Fest Date(s): 09/13/2014 - 10/26/2014 Recurring weekly on Sunday, Saturday Times: 10am to 5pm Location: 656 South Road Phone: [phone] Admission: $10 per person, children under 2 are free Bristol Mountain Sky Rides Date(s): 09/20/2014 - 10/26/2014 Recurring weekly on Sunday, Saturday Times: See Website Location: Bristol Mountain Admission: $7-10 Ghosts of Mt. Hope Ghost Walk Date(s): 10/03/2014 - 10/31/2014 Recurring weekly on Friday Times: Fridays in October at 9pm, 10/17 & 10/24 additional offerings at 7:30pm & 10:30pm Location: Mt. Hope Ave. & Reservoir Ave. Contact: Rochester Candlelight Ghost Walks Phone: 5855HAUNTS Admission: $10 adults, $5 kids 10 & under LEGO® Castle Adventure Date(s): 10/04/2014 - 02/01/2015 Recurring daily Location: The Strong Museum Contact: Shane Rhinewald Phone: [phone] Admission: Age 2 and older $13.50, under age 2 free, members free. Dinner & Ghost Stories at The Reunion Inn Date(s): 10/07/2014 - 10/30/2014 Recurring weekly on Tuesday, Thursday Times: Every Tuesday & Thursday in October at 7pm Location: 4565 Culver Road Contact: Rochester Candlelight Ghost Walks Phone: [phone] Admission: $10 adults, $5 kids 10 & under BY RESERVATION ONLY Garden Factory - Family Fun Activities Date(s) 9/17/2014 - 10/26/2014 Fall Family Fun activities. Location: 2126 Buffalo Rd, Rochester, NY 14624 Time: 11:00am to 4:00pm Phone: [phone] Admission: General admission is free, however tickets are required for Rides, Games, Arts & Crafts and the Singing Pumpkins Light Show. Tickets are $0.50 each or a book of 20 for $10.00.

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Wisdom of Confucius @rppsoldteam

Wisdom of Confucius @rppsoldteam

It does not matter how slow you go so long as you do not stop.

Wisdom of Confucius @rppsoldteam