12 tips to keep your Scottsdale home safe for the holidays

There are so many dangers when we're out and about, especially during the continuing Coronavirus outbreak, which is spiking once again. We want and need to feel safe in our own homes.

Although this post is made during the holiday season, these tips are not only to help you keep your visitors to stay safe (if you have visitors this year), but to keep you and your family safe throughout the year.  Here are 12 tips to keep your home healthy this holiday season and all year long:

1.  Home Lighting

This is something I'm guilty of.  We have plenty of lights in our house, but as a night owl, I'm up late and tend to walk around in the dark.  Since I've broken my hip (not because of the dark), I always tell myself not to trip over anything.

Make sure…

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using virtual tours to sell your Scottsdale home and real estate

Although virtual tours have been used for many years for foreign and out-of-state buyers, they have become more popular during the Covid-19 pandemic.  During the pandemic, some buyers want and need to make a home purchase, but they don't want to take the risk of going into multiple strangers' homes.

Many home sellers took their properties off the market because of the pandemic.  This is why Scottsdale real estate, including Cave Creek, Carefree, North Phoenix, and Paradise Valley, plus many areas in the United States, have such low inventory.

Agents have suggested that sellers allow the listing agent to take a virtual tour that can be sent to potential buyers and their agents, or the sellers can just allow the selling agents to go through their…

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the new normal for scottsdale real estate - couple walking dog2020 has given us a gut punch like no other that most of us have ever experienced.  The housing bubble bursting was bad for real estate, but I was able to survive it like I've survived several recessions in my long history as a licensed real estate agent.  The strong really do survive!

I received a phone call this past Spring when Covid was getting widespread publicity and government mandates were starting.  It was a woman wanting to see a house for sale that was either my listing or something that showed up on my website.

She questioned the price and stated that because of the pandemic and a pending recession, home prices will be going down.  I tried to explain to her that the only time (in our lifetime) that prices went down was during the Great…

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I was introduced to Frank Lloyd Wright in my teens or early 20's after watching a PBS documentary.  It showed his Frank Lloyd Wright School of Architecture and the compound.  I was mesmerized by it and was never really attracted to architecture before.

It was decades later that I actually visited Taliesin West and I keep going back.  The funny thing is, I really don't care for the small rooms and his furniture, but I was drawn to his building into and with the earth, trying to blend in as much as possible.  I'm still delighted by the acoustics in his very red Music Pavilion.

taliesin west scottsdale entry wall

Although I was first attracted to Taliesin West, I learned to have an interest in the man himself.  He certainly lived a colorful life.  I was sad to learn that the…

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