4 Mistakes to Avoid When Buying and Selling a House at the Same Time

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Offered by: Scott and Lora Nordby – Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices

Buying and selling a home at the same time is pretty common, but that doesn’t make it any less stressful. If you’re considering a move, but you’re concerned about what to do (and also what not to do), check out these 4 mistakes to avoid before you buy or sell a home this year.

Start Moving Now
This doesn’t mean that you begin moving out of your home immediately. But you should be addressing any repairs, begin packing, decluttering, and getting your house ready to show as quickly as possible. Not planning on listing for another 2 months? That’s okay! Get professional photos taken of the outside while there are still leaves on the tree. It will make your house stand out when you do finally list.

Being Too Inflexible
When you need everything to just right, most people begin to get really rigid on their must-haves, selling price, or contingencies. It’s important to remember that while you’re getting a double dose of stress, your buyer and your seller are also experiencing their own stressors. Having a mind for compromise will allow some grace for everyone involved.

Not Having a Backup Plan
When you’re trying to manage both sides of a transaction, you’re counting on a lot of things going right, at the right time, and in the right order. Any number of things can cause delays or your transaction to fall through. The key is to have a backup plan for every scenario.

Going it Alone
When you’re coming up with your strategy, it makes the most sense to have a professional in your corner. Working with a REALTOR® means that you have someone who has seen it all and knows how to ensure you reach your goals as quickly and with as little stress as possible. They can also help you plan for delays and strategize backup plans with you. If you’re staying local when you move, it also makes sense to use your REALTOR® to help you sell and buy your home.

Sound like too much? There’s an alternative. Knock offers homeowners an opportunity to work with their local REALTOR®, who has been trained as a Knock Certified Agent, and receive home financing directly through Knock. This allows them to make a strong, non-contingent offer on their new home and take ownership immediately. By avoiding the hassle of living through repairs, showings, open houses, and dealing with offers, homeowners can move into their dream home and begin earning equity right away!

If you’re considering buying a new home and selling your current house, call us at 303-905-8850. We can talk with you about Knock and make sure you have all the information you need to make the best decision for you and your family.

Premier Pediatrics Welcomes Melissa Johnson, CPNP

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Offered by: Premier Pediatrics

Premier Pediatrics would like to welcome Melissa Johnson CPNP to our practice

Melissa is a Colorado native and earned both her Bachelor’s degree in Nursing and her Masters in Advanced Practice Nursing from the University of Colorado-Anschutz Medical Campus.

Melissa is a Certified Pediatric Nurse Practitioner and excited to join the\ Premier Pediatrics team. She enjoys working with children of all ages and feels a strong relationship between provider and family is imperative when providing the best medical care. Outside of work she enjoys reading, golfing, traveling, and spending time with her family.

Tips on How to Get Your Kids to Wear Masks

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Offered by: Kelly Fausey, CPNP- Brighton Pediatrics, PC

With heading back to school and fall activities fast approaching your family might be spending more time in the community. In the time of COVID and the state mandate of wearing masks to help slow the spread of COVID 19 in the community, some families are finding it difficult keeping masks on their children.

There is a recommendation from the Centers of Disease Control and Health Department of Colorado that everyone should wear a mask in public. The exceptions are kids under 2, anyone unable to remove their mask independently, anyone having trouble breathing, and people with cognitive disabilities. (CDC.gov).

Wearing a mask for children can be a challenge for families and kids themselves. Here are some easy steps to approach wearing a face mask for kids. First, be a role model and wear your mask in public, showing your children that wearing a mask in public is a good thing to do. Allow time for your child to get used to wearing his/her own mask by setting time aside at home and have your child practice wearing the mask at home for short periods of time. As your child becomes more comfortable wearing his or her own mask, gradually increase the time periods of wearing their mask at home. Have your child help pick out their own mask and decorate their face mask to make it fun for them. For school age children, talk to them about the reasons why it is important to wear a mask to prevent the spread of COVID 19 in the community and for their family to stay healthy (childrenscolorado.org). For further questions or guidance on helping your kids wear mask contact your pediatrician.

Visit our website at www.brightonpeds.com

Celebrating 18 Years!

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Offered by: Melissa Rippy – Rippy Insurance Agency / Allstate

On October 4, 2002, I entered into the insurance industry and never left. I began my career as an insurance claims adjuster investigating auto accidents and homeowner liability claims. I worked first hand with policyholders and other parties involved in a claim to resolve bodily injury and property damages. I have been on the other end of a 1-800 number and know how frustrating it can be sometimes to reach a live person.

That’s exactly why the Rippy Agency does things differently. We do not transfer our clients to a 1-800 number to file their own claims. When you call our agency, we answer. If we are on the other line, we will call you back. If you have an accident or loss at your home, we will ask questions to determine if filing a claim is the right approach for your situation. Not every loss is covered for various reasons. It could be that the accident was the other person’s fault, or you have liability coverage only but damage to your car and you are at fault. The damage could also be less than your deductible, so it doesn’t always make sense to file a claim anytime something happens, and that’s why we recommend our clients call us first. Once a claim is on your record, it will not come off. We are here to help!

Let’s celebrate 18 years! The first 18 people to email melissarippy@allstate.com will receive a $20 gift card to 3 Margaritas. Make sure to mention the Brighton Buzz in your email!

Allstate Rippy Insurance

What is Neurosculpting®?

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Offered by: Molly Campbell, C.N.S.F.

Have you ever had someone say to you: “You should just stop worrying, everything will be OK,” and you wonder: “How am I supposed to do that?” “How do I just stop my emotions, my fears, my anxiety?” I’ve always taken the position that if someone makes a remark about what I “should do,” they “should” offer a solution!

Well, I now have a personally tried and tested method that I’d like to tell you about called, Neurosculpting.®

Neurosculpting,® as the Founder, Lisa Wimberger states, “is a mental training process that quiets our fight-or-flight center and activates our prefrontal cortex, which is the mind’s seat of compassion and empathy. It also engages left-and-right-brain stimulation and incorporates a somatic awareness for a whole-brain and whole-body approach to meditation and rewiring…(it) helps individuals identify and create a ripe environment for the brain to drop its old stories and prime it to believe a new and better story or belief about oneself.”*

I began receiving Neurosculpting® sessions in 2019 via Zoom during the worst time in my life when I was completely consumed with fear and anxiety about the future. I found remarkable relief and crisis management and even help sleeping from those early personal Neurosculpting® sessions.

This year, when the COVID-19 Pandemic hit, and I was isolated at home newly widowed, I decided to embrace a full immersion in the online training program and become a Certified Neurosculpting® Facilitator. It was perfect timing, and a true blessing in disguise as I could spend hundreds of hours over many months reading, studying, attending classes and applying what I learned to my own wide range of emotions and limiting thoughts and beliefs.

I fondly referred to myself as my own “lab rat” and each new tool, new understanding of brain anatomy, meditation experience, nervous system calming practice or brain-supportive diet information was immediately tried out on myself and proved to be helpful.

This experience gave me things to do, a self-help toolkit, to help me control my responses to the out-of-control, surreal, isolating lockdown world consumed with buying toilet paper, hand sanitizer and masks.

Neurosculpting® has become a daily habit for me since I can use the tools and basic practices to quell fear, calm emotions and develop a creative partnership with my brain instead of being imprisoned by my old programs.

I am pleased to be able to offer on line Neurosculpting® sessions to you through comfortable, convenient and safe Zoom meetings to help you on your journey to find a happier way to live by incorporating the same tools and practices I use.

Neurosculpting® Can Help:

  • Stress
  • Worry
  • Unhealthy habits
  • Anxiety
  • Fears
  • Nervousness/Uncertainty
  • Rewire old brain patterns/stories
  • Body image issues
  • Free limiting beliefs
  • Calm emotions

If you would like to learn more, please call Molly Campbell, C.N.S.F., at 720-684-8000. You can also find out more at www.neurosculptinginstitute.com, or at www.reworkyourbrain.com

Annual Notice of Changes

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Offered by: Integrity Insurance

If you or a family member are currently enrolled in a Medicare Advantage plan or a Part D Prescription Drug plan, you should have received a booklet from your carrier called the Annual Notice of Changes (ANOC). This document explains changes in the plan coverage for the coming year, compared to the current year. For example, if there are: changes in premiums, copayments and or coinsurance.

Look for the easy-to-read table usually referred to as a Summary of Important Costs. Review the chart to see if your plan will continue to meet your health care needs in the following year. You may need to consult the Evidence of Coverage for your plan for full disclosure of changes. Check for the extra benefits that may have influenced your choice of plan, like, dental/vision/ hearing benefits, gym membership, transportation, etc.

If you are satisfied with the plan changes and want to continue with your current plan, you do not need to do anything during the Medicare Open Enrollment Period (October 15- December 7). However, if your needs have changed, or you are not satisfied with plan changes, you may want to look at other options in your service area. You can begin looking at other plan options on October 1 when 2021 plan information is released to the public. You can find information on carrier websites or reach out to me for assistance with most carriers in the Colorado markets.

Call today, 303-887-8584, Lisa Asmussen, Licensed Independent Medicare Broker. Find me on Facebook and online at: www.insure-integrity.com/lisa

Socially distanced appointments available in person, by phone and virtually.

Integrity Insurance

Mountains and Small Things

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Offered by: Jan Hepp-Struck, Hepp Realty

In his poem Gnomic Verses, William Blake said “Great things are done when men and mountain meet.” I don’t think anyone will argue that 2020 has been a ‘mountain’ of a year for us all, though definitely more for some than others.

Over the past few months, seeing the rally cries across social media to support our local restaurants by ordering take-out when they couldn’t offer dine-in service; to purchase gift certi cates from small shops or do curbside pick-up when they could not open their doors to the public; the efforts of everyday citizens and local organizations to help fellow residents experiencing food and basic necessities insecurity because of the pandemic; or watching the distribution numbers for meals and basic supplies provided each week through the partnership between Let Your Light Shine and Northern Hills Church with the images of smiling volunteers and donors; and the ‘Love Your Neighbor Adams County’ Facebook page with the requests and answers for help, as well as the various items and services proactively offered to help others—these all remind me of Van Gogh’s quote, “Great things are done by a series of small things brought together.”

It’s during times like these that I’m reminded of how glad I am to live in a community that, when push comes to shove, still has small town charm and an undercurrent of connectedness and caring for one another. It shines as a bright beacon of hope amid the divisive political climate and negativity we are bombarded with nearly everywhere we turn. It shows that we are, after all, able to rise above it in the end, and remember that we are neighbors and all in this together!

For proven expertise in establishing your home value and/or searching for a new or existing home, please call Jan at (303) 520-4340.

Hepp Realty

More About Coverwell

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Offered by: Sandra Bay, Coverwell

Coverwell

Coverwell Solutions became a new adventure for Mark and Sandra Bay in 2009. We started out as a manufacturer of window well covers for wholesale only. We sold to window well installers and basement renovation companies here in Denver, also in Wisconsin and Pennsylvania. Originally, when we began, Mark was full-time, there were two part-time employees and I kept the books.

As we looked at our production process, we decided we needed to make an update, so we purchased a CNC Router and began to o er retail sales for the Denver area. We now employ 12 full-time employees including a fulltime salesman, and two full-time installers. We manufacture over 20,000 well covers a year, and service Colorado from Fort Collins to Castle Rock.

Coverwell covers are made of a very stong plastic called polycarbonate, which is virtually unbreakable. Our plastic is UV coated so it will never yellow – made to always look beautiful on your home. The support system, made of custom aluminum, o ers strength, and unlike steel, will never rust.

Colorado offers a variety of weather for the residents here, but Coverwell covers will not break due to heavy snow, hail or rain.  The covers will protect your family from injury and keep out small animals.

Call us today for a free estimate and we can have your wells covered, usually within two weeks. Always custom built, using materials made in the USA. We are not a “man in a van” selling door to door, we are an established company, Colorado residents, and here to help you “cover your wells.”

Bullyproof or bully-target

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Offered by: Willy Strohmeier – Colorado Karate Club

At 5 feet 7 inches I am not a big guy, I’ve never been. Some folks say: “I was really tall for my age when I was a kid”. Well, that was never me. My parents were short, my brothers were short, and I’ve always been short. At school, we used to line up by height and while I wasn’t the  rst one in line I was usually within the front five.

I attended a large all-boys Catholic school in Lima, Peru (Colegio Maristas) from first grade to High School (during the 80’s) and as it may be expected, when you put a bunch of boys together, things often got interesting. We had 6 classrooms per grade, each of about 45 students. Classmates teased one another nonstop, sometimes jokingly, sometimes mean spiritedly, guys would steal your lunch from your bag if you got distracted, and at times the usual fist fight would break out.

Don’t get me wrong, it was a very good school, and we had fun, made lifelong friends, academics were demanding, and many of our teachers were amazing folks. However, in such an environment it did not pay to be timid – being small was bad enough. Bullies would target and torment those seen as weak, and back then and there, telling the teacher only earned you more torment, or even a reproach from the teacher for being “soft”.

In any case, within my small frame, I always made myself tall, my posture, the way I walked, sat, and stood, told all around me that I was not about to become a victim of their sport. Well, that worked most of the time, until some big boy decided to put my swagger to the test. While I tried to avoid confrontations, backing down would only empower the bully, so I stood my ground. Most of the time the bully backed away, making an excuse that he didn’t want to bother beating up a little twerp like myself. Other times, however, things didn’t go down so smoothly, but I was always ready for it.

What I learned though is that once I stood my ground to a couple of “bad boys” (regardless of the outcome), I was pretty much left alone for months or years. And I could even a ord to stick up for others.

While in today’s American schools there are many other avenues to exhaust before resorting to such an attitude, I believe that the basis of what I did to navigate school dynamics, still holds true. Being con dent in yourself, your posture, how we walk, and carry ourselves is the best deterrent against predatory behavior (whether in school, work, or the street.) And having the knowledge of how to defend yourself reassures you that you would be able to protect yourself and those around you.

We counsel our Karate students to always avoid the situation to begin with. Defending oneself is the very last resort, and only when our physical well being is at stake. Good Martial artists are peaceful folks as long as we are allowed to remain so.

As the falied: “It is better to be a warrior tending to his garden, than a gardener in a war”.

While I continue to train avidly, I’ve been tending to my garden for many years, and that’s alright with me.

Colorado Karate Club

Medicare Annual Election Period is HERE!!!

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Offered by: Jennifer Bell – Bell Benefits, LLC

‘Tis the season for endless Medicare ads. That’s right! The Medicare Annual Election Period (AEP) is here!!!

What is AEP you might be asking? AEP is the time each year when a Medicare beneficiary can change his/her Medicare Advantage (MA) Plan or Prescription Drug Plan (PDP) for the following calendar year. The time period starts October 15th and goes through December 7th at midnight.

What can you do during the AEP? You can make multiple changes to your MA or PDP plan. If you happen to choose a plan and then realize you don’t want it, you can change to another plan on or before December 7. Whatever plan you select last, will be the one that starts on January 1.

You also don’t have to do anything. If you don’t change your coverage, the plan you currently have will just roll right into 2021.

There are some plans that may not be available in 2021 and if you do not do anything, the insurance company will automatically assign a new plan for you.

I always tell my clients that it is really important to review your plan details each year. With PDPs, the medication formulary list can change from one year to the next and the coverage can change. It’s wise to compare plans each year.

As always, I am more than happy to help anyone with plan comparisons or other questions that come along. There is no cost to have me help you with your situation. Please call 720-626-6524 today to find answers to your questions!