Mary Ellen Vanaken Team: November 2015

Monday, November 23, 2015

The Mary Ellen Vanaken Team Sells Norcross, Georgia Town Home in 30092

The property located on Windsor Trace is located in the neighborhood of Windsor Trace in Norcross, Georgia, 30092. It is a 2 bedroom, 2 1/2 bath town home with a terrific floor plan with two spacious master suites, both with updated baths with granite, new fixtures, and new tile.

The kitchen features granite counter tops, a tiled back splash and a bright large eating area with plantation shutters on the windows. The home included upgrades such as new light fixtures, hardwood floors throughout, two HVAC zones, and extra insulation in both the attic and the garage. The deck off of the sun porch is the perfect location for morning coffee, as it overlooks pool area and meticulously maintained green space.

The home sold for $162,500 by Susan Jennings of The Mary Ellen Vanaken Team.

The community of Windsor Trace is located in Gwinnett County Georgia in the City of Norcross, 30092. This neighborhood is located close to Peachtree Industrial and Holcomb Bridge Road just off of Crooked Creek Road.

Windsor Trace is one of the areas popular town home communities complete with a home owners association and swimming. Children who live in Windsor Trace will attend the following public schools: Elementary: Peachtree; Middle: Pinckneyville; and High: Norcross.

Realtor, Mary Ellen Vanaken states "Fall and winter are a great time to sell your home. Inventory is low so there is not much competition out there. Homes are selling within days of listing. Our team is excited about helping families sell and find their next home in the North Atlanta area."

Although The Mary Ellen Vanaken Team specializes in luxury homes of North Atlanta, their team also works with relocations, international properties, and first time home buyers.

Wednesday, November 11, 2015

15 Phone Calls Results in Perfect Home!

Mary Ellen Vanaken of The Mary Ellen VanakenTeam of Keller Williams Realty North Atlanta, assists a North Atlanta family with the sale and purchase of homes on October 30th.

Years ago, a young family moved to the North Atlanta, Georgia area of Alpharetta. Originally wanting to rent, the young family contacted over 15 real estate agents, but only Mary Ellen Vanaken responded. Mary Ellen and her team found this family a great rental property and after a period of time, the family realized their goal was to buy a home. The first home, purchased by this family, was a town home on Township Circle in the community of Herring Township.

This fall, the family realized they needed more space and decided to sell their stunning town home. The home on Township Circle sold was last week due to it's great location. Move in ready, the town home is located in the top school district of South Forsyth High School. The convenience to shopping, restaurants, and Georgia Highway 400 made this a very desirable home and sold within one day. The newest homeowners are thrilled with the hardwood floors, stainless steel appliances, open kitchen with lots of counter space and cabinet space. The home offers three bedrooms and two and a half baths with separate laundry room, spacious master bedroom and bathroom, private patio and backyard. The home sale closed with in four weeks for the asking price of $199,000 and the new homeowner paid cash.

The Herring Township neighborhood is complete with gorgeous European style town homes with amenities that include a clubhouse, tennis courts and a swimming pool. These homes were built from 2006-2010 by John Thomas Homes.

The young family who sold this Alpharetta, Georgia home then purchased a larger home in the Cumming, Georgia community of Autumn Cove. With the help of The Mary Ellen Vanaken Team, they purchased the home on Falling Leaf Lane. It is a four bedroom, two and a half baths with a full basement. The new construction home listed at $246,900 sold for $247,900 due to the request for an addition of hardwood floors and a fenced in back yard. The young family's children will attend schools in the North Forsyth High School district. This home listed in September of 2015 closed on the sale thirty days later.

Autumn Cove is a swim community just minutes away from downtown Cumming and Lake Lanier. Close by are fantastic restaurants and shopping at the North Georgia Premium Outlets and Market Place Boulevard. The neighborhood offers several distinct floor plans, some with the master bedrooms on the main level. The neighborhood offers a pool, cabana, recreational area and sidewalks. Almont Homes is the home builder of Autumn Cove.

Realtor, Mary Ellen Vanaken states, "The fall and winter months are upon us and are a perfect time to sell your home. Sellers will likely have less competition because the inventory of available homes tends to drop during this time of the year. And homes look festive this time of year with the fall and holiday decorations."

The Mary Ellen Vanaken Team specializes in luxury homes of North Atlanta, however their team also works with relocations, international properties, and first time buyers. Contact us today to sell or buy a home today! http://northatlantaluxury.com/

15 Phone Calls Results in Perfect Home!

Top 5 Tips for Effective Home Staging

By Karly Howell

Staging a home is one of the most important steps in a quick sale. With the abundance of design shows on TV today, many sellers think that staging only includes furniture and that it costs a lot of money, but neither is true. Here are 5 easy, low-cost tips to help prepare your home for sale.

1) DECLUTTER!

You think your cookie jar collection and prized comic book memorabilia are great, but your potential buyer doesn’t necessarily share the same opinion. The focus needs to be on your house and not on the objects inside or around it. Too much clutter is distracting, and potential buyers may miss the special features of the home with all the visual periphery. Two ideas to help cut down clutter are 1) rent a short term storage unit in which to place all the extras or 2) start packing early and place unneeded items away in a basement or closet.

2) Clean-up

The house should shine both inside and out and look newly cleaned. Pay special attention to wood trim, ceiling fans, and windows. Again, you want to highlight the selling features of the house. If it’s noticeably dirty or there a foul odor coming from the pantry, buyers won’t stay long. Make it feel welcoming and fresh - think about your last experience in a nicer hotel. You’ll want to create the same experience in your home. Avoid using any heavy scented sprays that could be bothersome to your potential buyers.

3) Depersonalize

Take the time to remove family photos, monograms, or name decorations. Potential buyers want to imagine their family in the home and where their pictures and items will be placed. Help to create this experience by tucking away all personal things. Also, depersonalize to protect your privacy since strangers will be in your home. In addition, objects that are considered controversial or offensive need to be removed too. Items that fall into this category are taxidermy, provocative images, and symbols associated with notorious groups/ideas.

4) Appropriate furniture

Furniture is a great benefit in staging a home because it helps potential home owners plan for their own furniture in a room. A few rules to follow: make sure the scale of the furniture is appropriate for the room size. A small kitchen table is not suitable in an oversized dining room. On the flip side, avoid placing oversized furniture, like a large sectional sofa in a small living room. It can make the space feel more confined and less functional. Too much furniture can become an obstacle to. It’s better to have nothing in the room then to have the wrong size pieces. It’s also important to make sure the furniture is appropriate for the location it’s placed in. Don’t place beds in living spaces, offices in dining rooms etc.

5) Highlight special features

This seems obvious but sometimes is a missed opportunity. Special features can include anything that is visually appealing, helpful, cost effective, or just plain cool.

Draw attention to these elements by showcasing them. If you have built-ins or architectural niches, place attractive, decorative items there and keep it neat. If there’s an uninviting concrete slab patio, show it’s functionality by creating a small seating area with potted plants and decorative accents. Work with what you have and draw out the positive attributes.

For professional staging advice, contact Karly Howell Design for a complimentary home consultation. karlyhowelldesign@gmail.com

For more advice for selling your home, contact The Mary Ellen Vanaken Team - Keller Williams Realty - North Atlanta. 5780 Windward Parkway, Suite 100, Alpharetta, GA 30005 www.northatlantaluxury.com

Top 5 Tips for Effective Home Staging

Monday, November 2, 2015

South Forsyth High School & Near By Homes

South Forsyth High School & Near By Homes are sought after by many families in the North Atlanta, Georgia area. South Forsyth High School sits on a 10-acre campus in the southern tip of Forsyth County.

With 2700 students, over 200 faculty, staff and administrators, and over 130 classrooms in 8 buildings, it is a thriving and active community of teachers, students, athletes, performers, and achievers!

The Advanced Studies department offerings provide students with a greater academic challenge than the mainstream curriculum. These include Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate classes.

South Forsyth High School also offers academic organizations and competitions, numerous honor societies, clubs, performance groups and service and leadership organizations.

The school has 23 varsity sports for either girls or boys. In addition, junior varsity teams are offered with most sports, along with freshmen teams in football, basketball, and baseball. South Forsyth is a member of the Georgia High School Association and Region 6-AAAAAA.

South Forsyth High School was voted by Newsweek in 2012 as one of America's best schools and is currently under going major renovations and additions to the campus.

The high school is located in the southern neighborhood of Cumming, Georgia. Cumming provides a growing business community, mixed with a small town ambiance within thirty minutes to the city of Atlanta. Here, businesses and residents alike, enjoy a friendly community complete with a thriving economy and a school system known for its excellence.

Cumming, Georgia is a part of Forsyth County, a county known to be a very affluent due to its closeness to downtown Atlanta and the commuter appeal for people working in Atlanta.

During the recent suburban expansion and rising housing prices of surrounding counties, a large amount of affluent professionals moved to Forsyth County and specifically Cumming, Georgia.

Cumming, Georgia's nearness to Atlanta and the Blue Ridge Mountains, along with bordering the 37,000 acre Lake Sidney Lanier makes the city a perfect place to live and do business. As the area remains one of the fastest growing communities in the nation, and with a School System that ranks among the highest, it is no wonder people love to live here.