Settling on the first real estate agent that you come across is one way to buy or sell a home, but it’s not the best way to do either. An agent should work with you to reach your end goal, whatever that goal may be. But before you choose the most popular agent in your neighborhood, make sure to take out this list of questions and ask away. Interviewing real estate agents can mean the difference between an agent that works part-time for you, and one that will pull out all the stops. If you’re moving to Fort Collins or anywhere else, take the time to read through these vital questions.
Important Questions to Ask
1. Ask to see a realtor’s resume. Everyone that applies for any kind of job position has a resume, and that includes real estate agents. If an agent doesn’t want to show you a resume, move onto the next one. A realtor’s resume should include the number of homes sold, education information, and any other details that pertain to the job at hand.
2. Find out how many other clients a realtor has. Agents take a large percentage of a home sale, so you want an agent that will work for you full-time. It’s normal for realtors to have additional clients (they have to eat too!), but set the limit at 3 or 4 other buyers or sellers. Any realtor that has more than 30 different clients won’t have much time to spend on your needs.
3. Negotiate realtor fees. In most cases, agents take around 6% off of a home sale (this tends to be the case if you are selling in or moving to Fort Collins). Many people using a realtor assume that these fees are set, but that’s not the case. If sales are up in your area, agents may be willing to negotiate those fees, and it never hurts to find out.
4. Determine a game plan. How often will a realtor contact you? When can you expect to hear about new home listings or find out what’s happening with visits to your home? You don’t want to be bothered around the clock by an overly anxious realtor, but you do want to find out when you can expect to hear news. Set up a weekly time when the agent you’re using will report back to you with any new developments.
5. If you’re selling your home, ask a realtor how they plan to market your house. If they just plan to put a sign up on a road that’s already crowded with signs, that’s not the best plan. There’s no reason why an agent shouldn’t be able to present you with a complete marketing plan that you can go over and talk about.
6. Ask for specific examples. Find out what a realtor did in the past to go over the top for another client. What makes the agent you’re considering different or unique?
7. Does the agent know the area that you want to live in? One of the most frustrating things is working with an agent that doesn’t know the difference between one area and the next. Most realtors work within a certain neighborhood (or maybe two neighborhoods), so find one that really knows the ins and outs of the area that you are looking at.
8. Will you be dealing with the agent directly? Sometimes, that popular agent in town may work as part of a team, and that might mean that you’ll never see his face. Following the initial meeting and evaluation, whom will you be speaking with on a regular basis? Will you be passed off to another agent? This is important to find out. If you will be working with someone else, that other person should be answering all of these questions.
Moving Into Your New Home
CC Image Courtesy of Diana Parkhouse
We want to make sure that your move is seamless from A to Z, and that means helping you find the right home and realtor by showing you the inside scoop on our blog. When you do find the perfect home, we can help you move into that home. We operate a full-service Fort Collins moving company, and we also have ample storage space in both Fort Collins and Denver. Whether you are moving to Fort Collins or anywhere else in the Colorado area, we can help you get there.
Take a look around our blog, read the ins and outs of buying or selling a home, and contact us when it’s time to move – we’re your trusted Fort Collins moving company. And, remember, realtors work for you, so make sure to ask the right questions.
The warm weather is here, and that means hiking season in Colorado. There’s a lot to see when you hike through Colorado trails including tons of wildlife. Any sunny day is a good day for a hike, but make sure that you heed these safety tips before you pack your backpack!
CC Image courtesy of gareth1953 the original on Flickr
Get Ready
You probably warm up before you work out, right? You may even stretch each morning in order to move your muscles. Well, hiking is no different. In fact, hiking burns lots of calories and gets plenty of muscles moving, and that means that you have to stretch and warm up before you try and conquer any mountain. Conduct some basic stretches at the base of the mountain before you start your hike – you’ll be glad that you did!
It’s also vital to drink plenty of water before, during, and after your hike. Make sure to hydrate properly before your planned hiking day. Drink more than your normal amount of water the day before your hike, carry two water bottles with you during your hike, and make sure to drink plenty of water after your hike too. Drinking lots of water will prevent any kind of muscle cramping.
Trail Safety
Were you the kid that always went off trail during a ski trip? It can be fun to explore trails by finding paths that aren’t part of the main trail, but this habit is also dangerous. Stick with the marked trail, don’t venture so far away from the trail that you can’t see the main path, and always plan out your hike before you leave. If you are going to hike alone, make sure that a few people know where you will be at all times, and check in with a park ranger if you plan to hike up a treacherous path.
It can also be tempting to eat berries or pick up plants along the path. But, this isn’t a good idea unless you are certain of what you’re touching. If you pick up the wrong plant, you could wind up with poison ivy or worse! Likewise, leave any animals that you see alone – a moose might not look like it can run very fast, but that moose will catch up to you quickly if you taunt it enough!
Pack Smart
Not only should you bring plenty of water with you, but it’s also wise to bring tons of food – hiking can really work up an appetite! You’ll want to bring food that’s nutritious and can help you with a boost of energy when you will need one. In addition to food and drink, wear lots of layers and pack an extra sweater. This way, you can remove layers when you get too hot, or add a layer when it’s too cold.
Even though it’s a great idea to leave your cellphone off during your hike (that’s the whole point of enjoying nature, right?), you should bring it with you. If you need to call someone during a hike in case of an emergency, you’ll want to have your phone with you. You may also think about packing a flashlight.
Enjoy Your Hike
There’s no better time than springtime to get outdoors and enjoy the many trails that Colorado has to offer. If you are moving to Colorado for the first time, you’ll love what this state offers when it comes to nature. If you’ve lived here all of your life, there’s no excuse not to get outdoors and check out the scene! Sunshine, wide lazy trails, rivers, and wildlife wait!
Do you need a moving company to help you with your move to Fort Collins or Denver? Call Exodus Moving and Storage today. Not only do we know a lot about Colorado nature, we also know how to move you and your things to this great state. In addition to moving, Exodus also offers storage facilities in both Denver and Fort Collins, so you can store your items all year long. What are you waiting for? Come and see what Colorado has to offer today! Call us (your Fort Collins moving company) for a free estimate or for any other reason – we can’t wait to talk to you.
Relocating to a new town can be a lot of fun! You have a new home to decorate, new friends that you haven’t met yet, and a whole new life just waiting to be explored. There’s just one thing that you’ll need when moving to a new town: a job! Looking for a job in your new area doesn’t have to be a struggle! We have some amazing tips for you on how to relocate and find that perfect job.
1. Narrow it down. Take a tip from popular Google searches, and try to narrow down your job search. Instead of using a major job website, try to find some local job search boards. You’ll have a much better chance of finding work in your town if you go local. You can also try using the ‘+’ key when conducting a Google search to really keep things narrowed down.
Example: Fort Collins + Name of Desired Position Here + Job Openings.
2. Start to branch out. It can be hard to network when you first move to a new town, but this becomes easier if you use social networks like LinkedIn. Try to find groups in your area that you can connect with through these networks. You’ll soon find lots of opportunites for brunches and meetups. Once there, start asking about work in your field.
3. Hand out cards. Work from home? Have your own business? If you want some local work, try haning out your business cards wherever you go. You never know if the girl at the coffee shop is in need of web designer for her new business!
4. Post to local job boards – the physical sort. You know those bulletin boards you see at grocery stores and other places? Consider posting a few business cards to those areas in your town (ask first).
Here’s an even better tip: think about where your target client may like to shop, and post your business card on a bulletin board in that store. Example: if you are targeting health-minded people, look for a bulletin board at your local vegan restaurant or healthfood store.
5. Try Craigs List. This job site has gotten a bad reputation recently, and there are some scams to watch out for, but Craigs List can also be a goldmine of great job postings. It’s worth a shot, right?
Upkeep Is Important!
Looking for new work can be tiresome, but the best lesson I can give you is this: search for new work every single day. It never hurts to spend some time looking at job boards and sending out resumes. Even if you are tired at the end of the day, shoot off an email or two – it can’t hurt!
Keep Your Resume Current
If you’ve spent the last five years at the same job, I’m guessing your resume still looks like it did when you last searched for a job. Don’t send out an incomplete resume. Instead, update it the best that you can, or look for a professional resume writer to help you out.
Search In Advance
If your move is still a few weeks away, start looking for a new job now. It can take a few weeks to get any kind of a response from some people, so it’s a wise idea to start as early as possible.
Get Your Moving Day Ready First!
Here’s a bad situation: you have to search for jobs because you are moving in three days, but you haven’t booked your Fort Collins moving company yet. Yikes! Is there anything more stressful than packing, booking a moving company, not knowing when you are actually going to move (day and time), and having to looking for a job? Make your life a lot simpler by calling us for your move today. Even if you are under a time-crunch, we can help you pack, move, unpack, and make those reassuring arrangements. We want to make sure that your move goes smoothly, so you can save time for other things like sending out job applications, sipping some local java, or connecting with that new friend you haven’t met yet (but you will!).
Exodus Moving and Storage is a full-service moving – and storage – company with locations in both Denver and Fort Collins, Colorado. So, if you want to store things, need help moving simply, or just want some quotes, give us a call! We’re here to help.
It is officially the first cold day in Colorado, which is not necessarily the best weather to be moving in. However, since Colorado’s weather is so unpredictable you can’t exactly decide on which day is going to be good and which days going to be bad until it is the day of, or within an hour of what you want. However, you can get a general idea on what the weather is going to be like by tightening your move to coincide with seasons that are generally considered nicer.
Okay, so you can always pick and choose when you need to move. Sometimes there are extenuating circumstances that force you to move from one place to another with very little notice or decision upon when you want to move. However, if you have the ability to do so then you should definitely plan to move either late spring, anytime during the summer, or early fall. As you can clearly see, once you find yourself in fall, some days just turned to crap.
For example, take a place like Fort Collins. Moving to Fort Collins is one of the easier places to move to an Colorado because of its convenient location next to I 25 and its relative ease of access when it comes to the layout of the roads. However, being a northern city in Colorado means that they suffer a little bit more from inclement weather. In this case, you’ll want to definitely try to make a move before early fall. Once October rolls around the city can be covered in snow at any point because of its close proximity to the type of whether you would see in Wyoming. Fort Collins is only about 50 miles south of the Wyoming border which is a hop skip and a jump for most clouds. It’s up to you to blend these types of endeavors to coincide with the move that you want to do. If you don’t have the option, then it’s totally understandable that you would need to make a move in the middle of winter. It’s not the best time and the weather can cause some serious problems if there is any snow on the ground, but even still you should be able to make it work. If you can choose however, make the right choice and get it done during the summer. You will thank yourself for doing so.
It is official, Fort Collins moving season is over! All of the people who are going to school here have moved in, and the streets are quieting down. Yes, there are still people moving up to Fort Collins because the town is quite busy. However, the big rush to get up to this glorious town has subsided for now and will be this way until the beginning of the year. Sure, this isn’t all that great for the Fort Collins moving companies, but like I said, people are still moving.
You might be thinking to yourself at this point, well how would I go about finding the best time to move to the Fort? Well I’m glad you asked, or didn’t but I’m going to tell you anyway! Think about what kind of town this is. Fort Collins is a college town, which means that at certain points in the year, mainly when school starts and ends, the town turns into a madhouse! All you have to do in order to remember when it’s a good time to move is think about if people are going to be returning to school in the next 3 weeks or so. If the answer is no, then hey look it’s a great time! If your answer is yes, then you may want to consider stalling out your move if possible.
At this point I should probably clarify something. I’m not saying that there’s a “bad” time to move to this town. It’s large enough and has enough roads to alleviate that issue. What I am saying is if you can avoid moving during the student moving times, you probably should. Unless you are a student of course. Then you have no choice. You will be forced to move with the rest of the students in order to be at school that first day.
Fort Collins is a wonderful town that is highly thought up by more than the people who live up here. However, you should still be smart about when you do your move. You could save yourself a lot of problems by simply waiting.
In the city of Ft Collins, moving can be such a huge hassle, particularly this time of the year. People are coming and going from the school as they graduate and come in for the remainder of the year. This means that the roads are in absolute disaster, and every single subdivision is packed with people moving in left and right. In order to avoid all this hassle, there are a couple things we should recommend for you.
First off, if you can avoid moving in from August 15 till around September 1, that is the most advisable. Any time before or after that is going to be the easiest time, but during that particular time of August, the road to become a disaster in the neighborhoods become packed with college students. Granted, not every neighborhood is a disaster. Places that are much more residential don’t see this kind of activity. However, in the districts that are much more apartment and condominium related, it’s extremely busy.
Secondly, it’s important that you know a few roads that are going to be very beneficial to take. If you’re coming in off of harmony, and need to get to the north side of town, then Lemay is one of your best options. It provides you with a very clear road without the massive number of traffic lights that can be found on College. If you need to go east and west, then harmony is going to be one of your best options. It’s one of the fastest roads in Ft Collins and it’s one of the most frequently used. Though moving may not put cheery exactly on these roads, they can still be good access points for you to use.
These are just a couple of the little tricks that can make your life a great deal easier when moving into Ft Collins. Just remember to keep them in mind when deciding when to make your move date. Try to avoid between the 15th and the 31st, and remember those couple of roads. Your life will be so much easier if you decide to follow them.
After every move Exodus Moving & Storage completes, we will request your input about your moving experience with us. Continuous improvement is the hallmark of our success as a company and we are always anxious to get your feedback on how well we did our moving job.
Competitive and Accurate Estimates
The Cost of relocation is either based on weight or number of men and trucks needed as well as distance traveling. At no charge to you, one of our experienced and courteous Move Coordinators will review their move in great detail and provide you with an accurate move quote. Our Move Coordinator will also confirm requested pick-up and delivery dates.
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1. Narrow it down. Take a tip from popular Google searches, and try to narrow down your job search. Instead of using a major job website, try to find some local job search boards. You’ll have a much better chance of finding work in your town if you go local. You can also try using the ‘+’ key when conducting a Google search to really keep things narrowed down.
5. Try Craigs List. This job site has gotten a bad reputation recently, and there are some scams to watch out for, but Craigs List can also be a goldmine of great job postings. It’s worth a shot, right?
