air conditioning | Rachael Goldsworthy Realty

Episode #35 The Drive Home to the Hawkesbury with Rachael Goldsworthy – Maintaining Air Conditioners

14 July, 2016 · Posted by Rachael Goldsworthy

Good morning, good afternoon, or good evening, depending on what time you’re watching this video. I’m Rachael Goldsworthy, checking in with you on the drive home to Hawkesbury. And today I’ve hopped out of my car and into somebody’s lounge room, just to show you in regards to air conditioners. Now air conditioners are a great invention, because they keep us cool in summer and nice and toasty warm in winter, but when they’re not working, (sigh), it makes us a little bit frustrated with the process, so we want to get that maintained well [00:00:30] so that we don’t have or we have minimal breakdowns on that machine.

One of the things that’s quite common if the air conditioner’s not heating or cooling to temperature, sometimes it can be as simple as cleaning the air filter. And what I’ve done is I’ve lifted the top section of the air conditioner, the front section of it with the two clips on either side, and then you’ll notice that that has actually exposed the three filters that are within the air conditioner.

It’s a really simple thing to do if you’re experiencing the air conditioner either not heating [00:01:00] or cooling correctly. Sometimes it’s as simple as taking that filter out, washing it under some warm water, and then putting it back in, and you’ll find that that temperature comes on correctly. Other things that may be wrong with it is the gas that is not to the height that it should be within the unit, so that needs a mechanic to actually assess that.

Um, another thing that can happen is you can sometimes get a water leak from that when the overflow is blocked, and that will come back through the unit, rather than exiting [00:01:30] through the usual channels that it does outside through the overflow. Anyway, that’s a couple of things that may help you with your air conditioners. Always best to stay on top of the maintenance. It’s like driving a car. If you don’t get it serviced regularly, it’s not going to look after you or drive you to where you wanted to be. Same thing with the air conditioner. If you don’t look after it regularly, it’s not going to keep you hot in winter and cool in summer.

Anyway, if you’ve got any questions in regards to air conditioners or the mechanics that need to … You can call [00:02:00] to help you with that process. We’re more than happy to put you in contact with them and answer any questions that you have. I’m Rachael Goldsworthy, and I look forward to catching up with you on the next video.

Episode #29 The Drive Home to the Hawkesbury with Rachael Goldsworthy – Motor Homes and Houses

30 June, 2016 · Posted by Rachael Goldsworthy

Good morning, good afternoon, or good evening depending on when you’re watching this video. My name is Rachael Goldsworthy on the drive home to the Hawkesbury. Just checking in with you today on a question that I had from a buyer. A buyer had a motor home and they weren’t too sure as to whether the motor home is actually going to fit into the driveway. I said, “Why don’t you bring the motor home to the inspection and we’ll see what we can do for you.” That’s what they essentially did. They brought the motor home to the inspection. Obviously we measured out prior too, to make sure that it would actually fit before driving into the driveway, because that could be an unfortunate accident, if it wasn’t the right size. It all worked out really well. I guess the main thing is, never be frightened to ask a question of your agent because your agent’s more than happy to help you with that process especially what we do at Rachael Goldsworthy Realty. Any questions that you have in regards to property, more than happy to help you with that. I look forward to catching up with you on the next video.

Episode #20 The Drive Home to the Hawkesbury with Rachael Goldsworthy – Renovating for return on your investment

3 April, 2014 · Posted by Rachael Goldsworthy

Hi. My name is Rachael Goldsworthy, and I’ve just come from a house in South Windsor. The owner has just settled in the last couple of days, and they’ve purchased a home from another agent who had a mortgage in possession sale. They have managed to secure the property a little bit more affordably than normally, so they got a bit of a discount on the sale price. Want to do it up quickly and then turn the property over. Often i find my clients ring me up and ask me what they could do to improve the value of the property, and turn it over quickly so that they can get a good return on it.

It’s really important when you’re doing these sorts of promotions, and also sorts of renovations that you do the right renovations because if you spend a lot of money with the principal and of putting things there that you would ordinarily like if you lived in the house, I can tell you right now you’re not going to make any money on the property. The reason being is we get involved with the process. We get emotionally attached to the process, which is okay, but equally is a lot of money involved when we like things that we like, and we put them in the homes and then they just cost us a lot more money.

I guess my advice to you is when you’re renovating a home for profit, make sure that you don’t spend it as though you were going to live in it. For example, in the kitchen instead of a particular style of appliances, stainless steel appliances, just go for the low end or the middle range as opposed to the top end. You wouldn’t be going for the De’Longhi. You would be going for something like Whirlpool or Westinghouse. Still good brands. Still recognised by the buyers as good brands, but it won’t cost you as much, and you’ll be able to get a higher profit on the sale process.

That’s I guess in essence what I’ve been looking at. Make sure that when you are renovating for profit that you look at the costs. Also, do a layout of the costs, what you’re looking at promoting, what you’re looking at renovating, and then do that list. Then from that list, work out what the costs are and find out what’s a priority and what’s really just a wish list, so that you make sure you do the priority items prior to doing the wish list and that way you won’t run out of money prior to putting the house on the market. And you’ll make a nice little profit for yourself. All right, well I’m Rachael Goldsworthy, and I look forward to catching up with you on the next video.

Episode #18 The Drive Home to the Hawkesbury with Rachael Goldsworthy – Getting ready for an Open Home

3 April, 2014 · Posted by Rachael Goldsworthy

Hi, my name’s Rachael Goldsworthy and I’m just heading off to an open inspection at Bligh Park. That one is going to be for a 15 minute period and as an owner getting your house prepared for an open inspection is really important. If you don’t get the presentation right it’s not going to be attractive for that buyer to be able to pay that … you know, fall in love with it in the first place and then pay that higher price for you that you’re after.

A couple of things that I would probably do, three things in particular, all of the basics like mowing the lawns, cleaning the house up, getting everything in preparation for that open. That’s all fine, that’s all normal. The other two things that I would probably do and say to you is one, I would have appropriate music playing in the background. That might be as simple as Vivaldi Four Seasons or it might be a nice, soft music. Something that doesn’t really have a beat or that anybody can really recognise, but it’s just a really nice … It puts people in a nice mood when they go through your home.

The other thing that I would probably say to you, it’s always good to have some sort of infuser or, I guess, an essence of some sort. Whether that’s a candle burner that has a particular fragrance or an infuser that has a particular fragrance, making sure that you’re trying to remain neutral. You don’t want to have something that’s going to be overpowering and all they’re thinking of is “Oh my goodness. Can you smell that? I can’t get over that.” Somebody may have allergies to those sorts of things so I would stay away from the really strong ones, but just have something such as a vanilla or something really neutral that’ll just take any of the last night’s dinners aromas away from the scenario.

Alternatively I would look at some sort of burner, whether it’s an essence burner, they’re always handy to have and something as simple as eucalyptus in the water. That gives a really nice, fresh flavour to the air or alternatively tea tree oil is another one. Everybody can get that from Coles or Woolworth’s. You don’t need to use the expensive brands. The other thing that I would say with that fragrance is possibly stay away from the incense burners. The incense burners, as much as they’re really nice and some people like them, not everybody will. Given that it provides a lot of smoke with those incense sometimes as a nonsmoker somebody will walk in and be … It’s a little bit offensive sometimes for those people when they’re walking through. Also, again, if they’ve got allergies or their child suffers asthma they won’t want to be going in the property. So just a couple of things there.

Make sure that the curb appeal is right, the presentation is right. Make sure that you’ve got lovely music playing and thirdly, just make sure that you’ve got the right aromas in the house and you’re sure to have a great open home. I wish you well with that. If you’ve got any other questions don’t hesitate to call me. I’ll catch up with you on the next video.

Episode #15 The Drive Home to the Hawkesbury with Rachael Goldsworthy – Rachael talks about the Final Inspection before settling on a property

21 July, 2013 · Posted by Rachael Goldsworthy

Hi. My name’s Rachael Goldsworthy. I’ve just come from a final inspection that we have had for a particular purchaser. What you’ve got to do when you are purchasing a home on the day of settlement or day before settlement, just have a quick walk through the home that you did put the deposit down on, and looking at settling just to make sure that the inclusions and exclusions are there. Check for example, that air conditioners have their remotes, that the locked up spaces like garages that you may not be able to see into have been cleared out. That no pots or bricks or things that aren’t meant to be in the home are not there.

Things like lawn mowing is not actually on the title, a defective title so you possibly can’t hold settlement up because of that. Ultimately, all of those inclusions and exclusions are really important and possibly to look at them on the front end of the contract rather than the back end at the final inspection, because you’ve got a much better chance of things finalising completely the way you want it to, if you have it in that contract for sale. Always mark it off as an exclusion or an inclusion, whatever it is that you need and then with final settlement, just make sure that everything is there as per the contract for sale. Then you’ll have a smooth sailing for a great settlement. All right then. I’m Rachael Goldsworthy and I look forward to talking to you on the next video.