During the holidays, there are expectations about when to put up the Christmas tree, the best appetizer to bring, and what you can tackle before the holiday begins. From the smell of pies to the light twinking in the newly darkened sunset skies, the holidays come with fun, challenges, and the making of memories.

Things to Remember About Your Home Needs During the Holidays 

1.  Start Now!

No matter how you spend your time, starting early and working towards your goal is excellent advice from The Spruce.   Some of us are procrastinators. Some of us are social butterflies. Time flies during the holiday season. If you plan now, the holidays can be exactly how you pictured, as perfect as the Hallmark Channel movie you wanted last night.

You shouldn’t plan a home renovation just because guests are coming. Still, if you’re already itching to get new appliances or replace your floors, the finite timeline that comes with holiday hosting might be the nudge you need to make those updates finally.

2.  Declutter and Get Ready!

Pottery Barn has excellent tips and tricks for holiday fun in your home, and it brings us to one of the more important things we forget cleaning out the drawers for guests and decluttering in general. The irony is no one uses these items much anymore, but our memories sometimes hold us for decluttering. How can you declutter and keep the memory; Be Creative!

3.  Hire a Professional

Sometimes hiring someone who likes the holidays, knows the industry, or can help you navigate a crazy time is a great way to help you with the nerves on the holidays.  The holidays pull out our most potent memories of families, and moving from a house during this time can be even more stressful to pack your home during a time that evokes a large amount of happiness.  Having a family or team behind you and helping you find what you need to succeed during the holidays is essential.

Ordering dinner, hire a personal shopper and a realtor if you are selling your home during this holiday to make sure someone is on your side when finding a house that will give you the same feelings as you as the home you are selling.

TeamERA is here during the holidays or any time of the year to help our community deal with the changes that come with finding and selling your home.  We love the communities we call home, so we are happy to help families feel the same feelings they might miss.

The time real estate agents hear Show Me the Money, like the screen in Jerry McGuire, is more than most people can handle. However, the clientele works with their life’s most significant purchase or sale. Yelling louder and louder for your client to get everything on their wish list makes the best real estate agents.

At ERA Real Solutions Realty, our real estate market strategy to have the best agents for our clients is the heart of our mission, culture, and team mentality. Creating the best team for each market is how we succeed. If these things are in place, we show our agents the money.

Five things we consider when recruiting:

1. Not Always About the Money:

Changing jobs isn’t all about the money, either, as 74 percent of younger employees would accept a pay cut for a chance to work at their ideal job, and 23 percent of those seeking a job wouldn’t need a pay increase to take a new position.

2. Leadership is accessible.

Leaders are visible and accessible: Employees support leaders who are transparent, accessible, honest, authentic, and who invest in them. When an organization’s leaders are front and center and make themselves available to everyone, it creates a sense that “we’re all in this together,” and employees are much more likely to feel good about the goals they’re working towards and the company’s mission.

3. Give the employees the recognition they deserve.

“Having a positive culture and workplace environment helps a lot, as it encourages teamwork and communication, which increases engagement and opportunities for teammates to learn from each other. We also do regular shoutouts to people at all levels of the organization for great work or superior effort. These kudos cost nothing but provide important public recognition for a job well done, effectively compensating people in the form of social currency, which is highly valued.” – Gary Beasley, co-founder and CEO of Roofstock

4. Foster a collaborative environment, not a competitive one

People, in general, want an enjoyable place to work. For millennials, that means a site that is not cutthroat. According to The Intelligence Group, 88% of millennials prefer a collaborative environment to a competitive one. Working with enthusiastic, positive, energetic people who’re at the same time professional at their fields and share professional values is like a gift from heaven.

5. Opportunity to Advance and Learn

Employees like to know that there is a pathway that will allow them to move up the organization’s ladder. They do not want to be stuck in a dead-end job with no possibility for career growth and development. Employers that promote from within and offer development opportunities will have a higher rate of employee retention than those that do not.

Whether you are an introvert or an extrovert, helping others can be a gratifying experience. At ERA Real Solutions, we are committed to helping people fulfill their dreams by providing expert guidance and support throughout the home-buying process. As one of the top-10 ERA franchise systems brokerages, we take pride in our boutique approach, which has helped us achieve a 98.7% customer satisfaction rating. Our full-time agents are highly skilled and dedicated to providing the highest quality service, making us “The New Standard in Real Estate.” Please don’t hesitate to get in touch with us to learn more!

Some of the new twists to our favorite classics.

The summer is full of traditional summer nights with yummy family recipes and classic libations. The weather heats up, and our urge to create tasty, refreshing icy beverages seems to chirp inside us like the crickets, frogs, and possibly buzzin’ cicadas at night.

Summer traditions start over the campfires and backyard chats. Most of these family stories begin with a story “Once an Upon A Time,” “One day while playing insert favorite summer recreation,” or

“Yes, I like piña coladas

And gettin’ caught in the rain

I’m not much into health food

I am into champagne”

Here are the recipes and tales behind some of our favorite summer beverages.

The Bellini; Once A Upon A Time in Venice.

As recalled by Giuseppe Cipriani’s son, Arrigo, in the book “Harry’s Bar: The Life and Times of the Legendary Venice Landmark” in 1948, the Bellini is named after the 15th-century Venetian painter Giovanni Bellini. He is the man to thank for one of the world’s great pre-noon cocktails. “I had no idea at the time that the pink glow my father had so admired in one of Bellini’s paintings would be the inspiration for his famous cocktail,” “He experimented by puréeing small white peaches and adding some Prosecco. Those who tested it gave it rave reviews. So he named it the Bellini, and from that day on, the pink champagne drink became part of the Harry’s Bar culture.”

John Daly; On time at the 19th Hole with Arnold Palmer

Have you seen the 30 for 30 Shorts on ESPN? The golfer Arnold Palmer used to order half lemonade and half iced tea, and named they were named soon later for him. Some have told the story of once being on the 19th hole and hearing, I heard Arnold Palmer, the golfer, order a drink he named after himself. You have arrived in your sports arena when a simple mixture gets you this acclaim from named sporting drinks to this next creation which is just your drink. Add your favorite alcohol, like vodka, and get The John Daly.

But Southern Living saves us with a better boozy version.

Spiked Arnold Palmers

Margarita; Salt or No Salt; Depends on whose story you believe

The margarita story does not have a straightforward fairytale. Many people have tried to say that they were the first to this drink’s origins, but no one is sure from Tijuana to San Francisco. Somewhere along the California coast, the first margarita was made. The first time the recipe was published; in December 1953, Esquire, “Painting the Town” column, pg. 76, col. 3: POTABLES

Drink of the Month

She’s from Mexico, Senores, and her name is the Margarita Cocktail—and she is lovely to look at, exciting and provocative.

·      1-ounce tequila

·      Dash of Triple Sec

·      Juice of 1/2 lime or lemon

Pour over crushed ice, and stir. Rub the rim of a stem glass with a rind of lemon or lime, spin in salt—pour, and sip.

Enjoy these tremendous traditional favorites and their stores this summer with your family, friends, and trivia night.

Or enjoy a fresh one, a chilly beverage on your back deck.

Frequently Asked Questions in the Real Estate Industry

From the consumer side, buying or selling a home is an overwhelming task. It is a huge financial decision that affects the family directly. Most people do not take this decision lightly. It is sometimes a split decision to renovate their existing home or find a new one. It is the premise of the HGTV sitcom, Love It, or List It. The shows have popularity because it plays on the real emotion of making this life decision.

Do you Root for the Spouse who wants to stay or the one who wants to sell?

It is our human nature to be drawn to taking sides.  The show demonstrates an essential technique for making the best decision while purchasing a home. The core premise is the list of the pros and cons and the development of a plan that makes the decision and risk management of the conclusion more logical. If our feelings about a family home only worked that way, the family would always choose the renovated home. Family homes are not built on materialistic needs. It is the smell of the house, the traditions created in the space, and the memories we are afraid to lose if the location is not in our life again. During the holidays, this nostalgia is the epicenter of this dynamic.

Here are the ingredients and steps to follow a successful home purchase;

The ingredients to success in making a house a home lie in the traditions passed down. Holiday traditions do not need a location or people nearby; they need the love that created them.

ERA Real Solutions says this holiday season, enjoy the moment you have and bake your favorite recipe from your family recipe box. The smell of the family dog, grandmother’s apple pie, and laundry detergent that your mom used to wash your clothes growing up make a house your home. Our community mission is to merge traditions to create new ones in our new homes.

“Do you walk into your grandparents, parent’s, or aunt’s house already full from a meal, and walk through the door, and suddenly you are hungry for the smells of the home.”

This feeling is genuinely the warmth of home. The rest can be a list to ready yourself, but the recipe for success is being prepared and following realtors’ advice.

Buying a house to make your home for the first time has great returns emotionally and financially. Having a place to call home is a dream for many. The decision is considered the most significant purchase in most people’s lives. Do you know what to think when it comes to this purchase? Getting a great realtor is essential, but start here with our first-time buyer’s tips.

5 Tips For First-Time Home Buyers

• Know your financial situation
• Put at least a 20% down payment
• Select the mortgage type
• Observe carefully
• Consider the total cost

“Le Corbusier

The home should be the treasure chest of living.”

And know your compromise list?

Read our blog on determining what makes your house your home:  What Can You Not Live Without in Your Home?

“Fiona Apple

Home is where my habits have a habitat.”