rainmakers_annemarie.cdr

Daytripping: Decluttering 101: Brighten Up! Exploring Charlottesville The Selling Advantage Adding a Pop of Color MAGAZINE Celebrating the Region’s Most Influential Real Estate Professionals It Takes a Rock Star ® Realtor To Lead One of The 100 Most Influential Real Estate Teams in Virginia Annemarie Hensley REALTOR®, CRS, CLHMS A Conversation with the #4 Ranked REALTOR Team ® In Chesterfield County

DID YOU KNOW? A FEW FUN REAL ESTATE FACTS Warren Buffet Monica’s A couple sold is one of the richest apartment an acre of land in men in the world from “Friends” is North Carolina to and he still lives in estimated to cost Apple for $1.7 the same house he $3,500,000. million. They paid bought for $31,500 $6,000 for it. in 1958. Aspen, Colorado The landmark has such high real In Scotland, “Hollywood” sign estate prices that in homeowners paint originally read 2011, the cheapest their front door red “Hollywoodland” listing was a when they pay off and was constructed The White House $559,000 trailer. their mortgage. in 1923 as a is valued at $110 publicity stunt to million. Builders in China sell real estate. are able to build a 30 story skyscraper in 1 only 15 days!

WELCOME TO MAGAZINE Celebrating the Region’s Most Influential Real Estate Professionals ANNEMARIE HENSLEY Team Leader CRS, CLHMS ALMA MATER Virginia Commonwealth University FAVORITE RESTAURANT Tazza Kitchen in Midlothian SUPERPOWER Nailing home sales prices on listings YEARS IN REAL ESTATE 12 3 PROUDEST MOMENT 7 Lots of them as I watch my beautiful Rainmakers are selected based on their 5 girls grow up! sales accomplishments earning them a HOW I START MY DAY spot among the top 20% of Liz Moore With a work out and a healthy & Associates’ top performers. green drink In addition to sales volume standards, Rainmakers share client-centric It was a pleasure philosophies, a dedication to being working with Annemarie masters of their craft, and a and her team. They did a commitment to giving back to the fantastic job in selling our communities they serve. home quickly and at a I am thrilled to have been selected as the good price. Team Hensley featured Rainmaker for the month! is professional, organized, competent, and Annemarie Hensley friendly. 2

Rainmaker Spotlight: Annemarie with her Opposite page: LMA colleagues; her two ANNEMARIE HENSLEY daughters; with Bruce Springstein; with Liz Moore and Richmond’s Managing Broker Tonya Morrow Named among the 100 Most Influential Real Estate Agents in Virginia 2016: Team Hensley. From left: Jim Ashley, Sheri DeSimone, Maryann Nettesheim, Annemarie Hensley, Mike Dunleavey, Diana Rodreguez, Jana Mills MEET While some rock stars do their thing on a stage in front of thousands of fans, others take to smaller stages and wow more intimate crowds. ANNEMARIE Annemarie Hensley is the latter, dazzling clients while chatting across their kitchen tables, winning fans one successful transaction at a time. HENSLEY: A Virginia Commonwealth University graduate with a degree in Business and Marketing, Annemarie has always had an interest in homes and real ROCKSTAR estate. In 2002, she decided to learn more about the industry and got her license. Her instructor gave her a lot of encouragement and felt she’d be a REALTOR ® great REALTOR®. Turns out she was right. Annemarie is in her 16th year of real estate and has enjoyed much success. She and her team are currently ranked #4 in the Chesterfield market overall. Annemarie brought her team to Liz Moore & Associates last year, with the goal of joining forces to deliver an enhanced level of service to her clients. 3 “Teaming up with Annemarie is definitely one of the best business decisions

I have made,” says Liz Moore, President of Liz Moore & Associates. “Her production is impressive, obviously, but even more important is that she makes every client feel like they are her ONLY client.” When asked about her success, Annemarie is humble, like a lot of truly great rock stars are. While she doesn’t like talking about her accomplishments, she credits hard work, going the extra mile, and client service as keys to her success. “It’s just second nature to my team,” says Annemarie. “Our job is to get the transaction done. We’ve done some unusual and interesting things to make it work, it’s whatever the client needs.” Her professional approach and dedication to her clients have earned her a lot of fans. Annemarie and her team currently have an extraordinary 5-star rating on Zillow with 102 glowing reviews! That is a lot of happy clients and raving fans! Annemarie herself is a fan of another humble rock star, Bruce Springsteen. She’s traveled all over the world to attend 51 of his concerts! She’s brought both of her daughters to multiple concerts and once, one of her daughters even ended up on stage singing with Bruce! “My 10-year-old daughter bet me an iPhone she could get on stage with Bruce,” said Annemarie. “I wasn’t ready to buy her an iPhone but I thought it would never happen so I agreed.” Her daughter held up a sign detailing the wager during the concert and Bruce saw it and called her up on stage to sit on his shoulder and sing with him! Annemarie doesn’t collect many souvenirs like t-shirts or ticket stubs from her concerts. Instead, she cherishes the memories and friendships made. Much like in real estate, where she says the real reward for her is the feeling she gets helping her clients and pride she feels when they refer her a new client or leave her a positive review. “We not only want to get our clients to the finish line but we want them to be excited so that they want to write a review or send us a referral,” says Annemarie. “Because we treat our clients well, we do get referrals and it is always a pleasure to work those friends or family of our past clients.” If you’re looking for a rock star REALTOR® with professionalism and a proven track record, Annemarie is your ticket. We bet you’ll become a fan in no time! 4

EXPLORE THE The days are getting shorter and the weather crisper. If you’re looking for a fun way to appreciate the beauty of this season but don't want to travel very far, BIRTHPLACE OF then look no further than Charlottesville, Virginia. AMERICAN WINE Charlottesville is a short drive from Richmond, only about an hour from anywhere in the capital city in fact, but feels like another world with wide AND DELIGHTFUL expanses of farm land, rolling foothills and towering Blue Ridge Mountains in LOCALLY CRAFTED the distance. This rural setting is the perfect place to appreciate nature’s beauty and observe the vibrant reds, oranges, and yellows of the changing autumn BEVERAGES leaves. According to the Virginia Department of Forestry, the typical fall foliage peak color period for this region is October 25th through November 10th. And what better way to enjoy gorgeous views than with a relaxing beverage in your hand! Charlottesville is home to many wineries, breweries, cideries, and distilleries. Wineries Charlottesville has a long history of grape growing and wine production dating back to Thomas Jefferson and earlier, often called the “birthplace of American wine.” The gentle rolling hills with fertile granite-based clay soil and mild temperatures combine to yield grapes with a rich and multilayered old world flavor. Today wines from this region are considered among the best produced anywhere in the Eastern United States. DAY TRIPPING TO CHARLOTTESVILLE 5

The best place to start planning your trip is monticellowinetrail.com. Here you can find Want to Find Out More? printable maps, links to every winery, a calendar of events, and a handy interactive map to plan your trip visitcharlottesville.org and get directions from winery to winery. monticellowinetrail.com It’s helpful to chart out your course in advance as cell, brewridgetrail.com internet, and GPS service can be spotty in the valley and the mountainside. winespectator.com Usually a few wineries are grouped together making virginiawine.org it easy to travel between a few in one day. Most wineries have tasting rooms and staff to guide you nelson151.com through structured tastings so you may learn about and sample their wines. Tasting fees typically range from five to ten dollars. Group tastings should be scheduled in advance for varieties of apple cider and hard apple cider, the most larger parties. Many offer guided tours of their famous being Bold Rock Hard Cider. Bold Rock’s production facilities, cellars, and barrel rooms as well Nellysford Cider Barn, located just south of the city is a for an additional fee. large, beautifully rustic timber framed barn overlooking While some wineries have light fare like cheese and the Rockfish River. The facility boasts an expansive crackers for sale, if you plan to tour during meal time, taproom and restaurant and plenty of outdoor seating. picnics are encouraged and welcome at all of the wineries. A few offer a lunch menu like Pippin Hill Distilleries Farm & Vineyards and Trump Winery, and some Recently the craft distillery movement has taken off host food trucks on the weekends. around the country with small batch distilleries popping up everywhere, and Charlottesville is no exception. You Breweries can find tasting rooms offering whisky, vodka, rum, gin Grapes aren't the only vines flourishing in this and a variety of cordials in the Charlottesville area. region. Hop vines thrive here as well, in fact Virginia To plan your tasting visit Virginia.org and search for was once known as the hop capital of the world! distilleries. A few possible destinations include Ragged This area is home to five small-batch breweries Branch, Silverback, Vitae, Virginia Distillery Company, making handcrafted ales and lagers. and Woodsmill Distilleries. These award-winning brew houses welcome visitors For such a short drive away, there are so many adventures for tours and tastings. Some of the breweries offer to be had! In addition to sampling wine, beer, and food menus and festive outdoor spaces for the family spirits, there’s hiking, camping, exploring The to enjoy. University of Virginia’s campus, apple picking, catching To plan your brewery tour, visit brewridgetrail.com, a show at John Paul Jones arena, watching a sporting named in homage to the nearby Blue Ridge event at The University, exploring the booming foodie Mountains. Here you’ll find a trail map and scene, visiting the Downtown Mall, and so much more. suggested itinerary, calendar of events, and links to There are so many things to do, you could take a day trip all of the breweries. every weekend and experience something new! Cideries It’s no secret Virginia is known for its apples and 6 Charlottesville has a few cideries serving up several

DECLUTTERING 101 HOME STAGING Home staging is one of the most powerful ways to help buyers imagine themselves in your home and make them want to buy it. Decluttering is IS ONE OF THE the first, and most important step, in home staging. Removing clutter MOST POWERFUL allows buyers to see the structure and space of your home. WAYS TO BOOST Sentimentality can be a powerful disincentive to declutter. You might feel guilty packing away your grandmother's china, or your YOUR SELLING budding Picasso’s finger paintings, but doing so allows your home ADVANTAGE to really be seen. Buyers need to be able to picture themselves living in your home, with their furniture and their belongings, and if too many of your things fill their field of vision, they might not be able to see their life there and they might walk away. Decluttering can be overwhelming, so we’ve broken it down and provided some helpful tips. Study your entire house. Go room-by-room, starting with the entryway. Try and view each room for the first time with a stranger’s eyes. Notice anything that sticks out? Try and make each room resemble a neatly organized, clean hotel. Taking it little by little makes the task more manageable rather than trying to tackle the entire house at once. 7

shine. A few well-placed home décor items can add Making piles is very helpful. sparkle to the space. Home stagers follow a “rule of As you go through each room, make a stack of items three” for clustering items into small groups to create to keep, one to donate, one to sell, and one to pack visual interest but not distract from the room. away. Evaluate the value, need, use, and sentimentality of every item, place it in one of the piles, and move on. This organized approach can Purge attics, basements, and garages of clutter. These storage spaces often don’t get much make the task easier. attention and quickly become cluttered, unorganized and untidy. Arranging items by type or holiday into Creating a spreadsheet can also help. clear, labeled tubs can help keep the space looking Each room will have different needs. Upon nice and neat while keeping you organized. It also evaluation, you might find one room needs new helps potential buyers see all of the storage space your paint, while another needs shelving for organization, home offers. and another needs boxes to pack excess items away. Organizing these tasks and needs into a spreadsheet Make sure your bathrooms are spotless. can help prioritize expenses and improvements. Not every house has a luxurious spa, but by cleaning your grout, tile, toilets and showers you can help your Emptying closets makes a difference. bathroom shine. Clearing off vanities and cleaning out Closets often become catchalls and graveyards; drawers, cabinets, and medicine cabinets can help when homeowners don't know what to do with buyers see the storage your bathroom offers and help something they often stash it in a closet and it them imagine their toothbrush by your sink. becomes forgotten with the out-of-sight out-of- mind mentality. A good rule of thumb is discarding Unfortunately, our homes can become cluttered on the anything you haven’t worn in the last year. Studies outside as well as the inside. Check around your show we only really wear about 20 percent of our home’s exterior for outdoor toys, decorations, and clothes and that extra space will make your closets natural clutter like leaves, branches, etc. This is also a look bigger and more attractive to buyers. great time to evaluate your home's overall curb appeal and make sure your home is making a good first Clearing off countertops impression. Lawns, shrubs, trees, and flower gardens and bookcases creates clean, visual lines and neutral should all be kept trimmed and tidy. style, allowing your home, and not your stuff, to You have loved your home and worked hard to maintain it, you want that care and maintenance to show. By removing unnecessary items, you allow your home to shine and make the great first impression needed to impress buyers. Don’t forget your bathrooms! Clean and clutter free is your goal. 8

INCORPORATING A POP OF COLOR BRIGHTEN UP Want to try some bold, trendy colors in your home but don’t know where to start? We’ve got you covered. YOUR LIFE! A cayenne red can make bold, spicy statement. A deep purple or blue can EXPERIMENT add depth and richness. A sunny yellow or warm orange can brighten WITH FUN, any space. A soft green or light blue can bring the peace of nature inside. Color showcases our emotions and our creativity, and always makes a BOLD COLORS statement. These bold, trendy colors are fun, popular and can update any home, but trends can also be passing. A great way to stay current and protect your investment from becoming outdated is to incorporate these colors in your home in small bursts, also known as pops of color. Pops of color can highlight architectural details and add personality to any space. The best part is you don't have to commit an entire room or wall to that trendy color to achieve the effect, a pop is just that, a small area or item in that special shade providing a flash of color. Try an accent wall, half wall above or below your chair rail, or a piece of furniture. Even painting a frame, chandelier, lamp, or pair of candle sticks in a bold shade can add a pop of color and lend visual interest to a room or area in your home. 9

Great areas to play with color are laundry rooms, bathrooms and entry ways. You don’t spend hours in these places, rather you pass through and fun colors here can leave a lasting impression. You’re not a painter? No problem. You can always hire a professional for a big job, but this is a fun way to put those hours you’ve logged watching HGTV to good use. What you’ll need for your DIY makeover paintover: an old rag, painter’s tape, primer or white paint if you're covering a dark color, your paint color of choice, and an appropriate size paint brush for the Think small for big color! Even lowly clay flower pots project. For added appeal, find updated or funky can make a colorful statement in your home. accessories for your piece like a new lamp shade or drawer pulls Remove any tape and reaffix the necessary items like lamp shades, light bulbs, or drawer knobs, and wait for Color showcases our emotions the compliments to start rolling in. and our creativity, and always The possibilities don’t end with paint when it comes makes a statement. to playing with color. Throw pillows, blankets, vases, and framed prints are It’s really quite simple once you have all of your just a few easy, low commitment ways to play with color supplies. First, wipe away any dust so you have a in your home. smooth, clean surface. Next, remove drawer knobs or So, go ahead and make a splash with bold, trendy colors tape over any hardware or areas you don't want in your home! We want to see your projects and how painted. Apply a primer coat if needed to cover you incorporate pops of color in your home. Would particularly dark colors and stains. Next, apply one to love to see what you’ve done. Share pictures with us at two coats of your chosen paint color and let dry. @ with the hashtag #lizmoorePOC. Put those hours of watching HGTV to use! Make a bold, spicy statement with an accent wall of brilliant cayenne red. 10

WE ARE THE SUNSHINE BEHIND THE RAINMAKERS Brian Lytle, Esq. and the entire staff of Lytle Title are proud to support the exceptional real estate professionals who truly make a positive difference across our great region. And we are equally proud that these top agents put their trust in our team to successfully deliver a closing transaction experience that far exceeds the expectations of all parties involved. Congratulations, Annemarie! Lytle Title C l o s e w i t h C o n f i d e n c e Main Office/Oyster Point In Williamsburg In Newport News In Richmond Newport News 5350 Discovery Park Blvd. 749-A Thimble Shoals Blvd. 11449 Robious Road 11801 Canon Blvd, Suite 101 757.645.2168 Suites 1 & 2 804.594.5886 757.643.7899 757.240.4149