Tags:help, Home, Sell, Staging, Techniques.
If you’re selling your home, you’re probably aware that there are more homes for sale in Cary NC than there are home buyers, giving buyers the opportunity to be a little selective about choosing a new home. Price, location, and quality are important, but when checking out your home, buyers are also looking at the style of each room. Not all buyers possess the ability to see past your decor to envision renovating your home to fit their individual style. The following home staging ideas will help buyers see themselves living in your home.
What Style is Your Home?
If your home has “gone country,” “high-tech modern,” or any other specific style, it may be costing you the sale. Buyers usually shy away from homes decorated in a too specific style. The only thing worse to buyers than a home with a specific style is a home with no style. In addition, empty homes are sometimes a turnoff to buyers who need furniture to imagine themselves and their furniture in your home. A furnished home helps a buyer envision a different wall color, new curtains, or even changing from carpeting to hardwood floors.
If potential buyers have a hard time picturing themselves in your home because of your florescent pink bathroom, you will lose the sale. Home staging assists buyers in envisioning themselves in your home by helping them picture the home the way they would like it decorated. Try using home staging ideas from home decor magazines, by taking a trip to your local decorating store, or by visiting open houses of other homes for sale to get inspiration for what works and what does not.
Give Rooms a Purpose
Do you hang clothes all over the labyrinth of dusty exercise equipment in your master bedroom? Does your home office really belong in the living room? Is there laundry piled all over your dining room table, giving the impression your home is short on closet space? Take the time to clean your closets, move extra pieces of furniture from cluttered rooms into a storage space, and remove items that don’t belong in a room so that each room has a clear purpose. Home staging will help buyers see a room’s potential by showing off the amount of space with an efficient and stylish layout.
Depersonalize Your Home
Your charming collection of thimbles, children’s artwork on the refrigerator, and shelves full of sports trophies may mean a lot to your family, but it makes buyers feel as if they are intruding in personalized home. Move your collections into storage to help buyers picture their things in your home without having to get past your personal belongings. It’s fine to leave up a couple of family photographs, but move every other personal item into storage to help your buyers feel welcome in your home. You want buyers to look at your home, not your possessions.
Clean it Up
Nobody wants to buy a dirty house. It’s easy to overlook the dust bunnies living in the corner when you see them every day, but a buyer will notice them immediately. Clean your home like it’s never been cleaned before. Make sure you maintain the clean you’ve achieved, even if it requires hiring a house cleaning company. Many cleaning companies offer specials for people selling their homes. This ensures your home is always “ready to be seen” and gives you the time to focus on home staging.
The Exterior is Important
Just because you have finished home staging inside your home doesn’t mean you’re ready for buyers. Home staging is just as important for the exterior of your home as it is for the interior. Cut the lawn, plant colorful flowers, stain the deck, fill cracks in the driveway, and paint your home if needed to give a great first impression when buyers drive up. A beautiful yard will entice buyers to come inside and give the interior a look.
Home Staging Personalization
Packing away your personal items is a wonderful way to depersonalize your home, but consider adding a touch of home staging personalization. Place a vase full of your favorite fresh cut flowers in each room to add a personal touch. In addition, burn a nice smelling scented candle or put a relaxing CD on the stereo. These little home staging personal touches will give buyers a good feeling and positive memory when viewing your home.
Posted on 9 September '10 by admin, under Painting. No Comments.
Tags:Benefits, Home, Improvement, Loans, Secured.
Make your house more welcoming and comfortable to live. A heavenly abode, is not a distant dream any more. Online secured home improvement loans help you attain a complete make over of your house. Decision has to be made whether you want to do it yourself or get an expert help to do it. However if your project seems complicated and you don’t have much experience with your home improvements, it is best to leave it to the professionals. A budget includes setting aside an amount of money for any eventualities this includes mistakes, any accidental damage inflicted on your home and soon.
If the home improvement requires repairs that are beyond his expertise or skill, does he have qualified contacts to do this or do you want to start from scratch looking for another person to do this? Think, twice before you decide on any home improvement help.
How does Secured home improvement loan benefit you?
Such a home improvement loan will be secured against your home itself. A lender will make use of your house as a collateral which will assure him of your loan repayments on time. With this, you as a borrower will also be benefited as you will be lent a higher loan amount at lower interest rate in comparison to those who opt for unsecured home improvement loan. A lender would be more than willing to lend you a loan regardless of your poor credits too. Incase, your credit report reflects a bankruptcy, County Court Judgement, defaults on loan, a secured home improvement will help you overcome this stained credit status. With a collateral pledged, a lender will be care free about lending you loan despite of your poor credits, as he has the collateral to bank on, incase you default on your loan repayments.
Simply don’t hire the first person who shows up at your door step telling you he noticed that your home needs to be remodeled or repaired. Another pitfall that commonly causes any home improvement project to fail is not having searched efficiently.
What can you do with the help of a secured home improvement loan?
You can carry out the following with the help of home improvement loan:
Painting your home
Smaller or bigger repairs of home
Adding a new room
Redecoration
Adding up a storey
Garden
Creating your kids room
A swimming pool or a basket ball court etc.
Posted on 1 September '10 by admin, under Painting. No Comments.
Tags:Home, latest, Market, Ornate, Trends.
Who doesn’t think of decorating home with the latest things in the market – U, Me or our neighbor? Decorating ones home is the best hobby one can have or generally ladies have. We all love to paint our homes with beautiful colors, flowers, bed sheets, curtains, bed covers, cushion covers, sofa covers, table covers and things like this. Shinning, glossy, silky, crappie, hand woven, handloom made – oh, there is loads of things which come into our minds when it comes to home decoration.
Curtains which drape down in artistic manner, bed covers stuffed, 2 plied and silky, change the look of the house entirely. Branded or non – branded, when chosen carefully keeping in mind with the background color, texture of furniture and color of doors and windows, these give a complete makeover to home. The home shines and the lady of the house goes gala with happiness. After all, what better can be for her than a few words of praise for the work she has done and the time she has spent in making her home glow just like her own kid.
Bed sheets, bedcovers, curtains, cushion covers – all come in different variety of cloths – embroided, printed, self designed, floral, plain, embedded – one has to just choose according to their own choice. You can choose from a range of them like the rajasthani embroidery, the south silk, Gujarati mirror work, bead work from haryana and so on. Coming in different colors and shades like royal blue, blazing red, flowery pink and orangish color, these change the way one looks at home.
Decorating home with furnishings is a way of expression of house the lady of the house thinks. It also shows the kind of thinking she has. It just not a simple décor, but also way of telling the world – this is what I am, this is what I think and this is the way I would like it to be. So, whosoever comes to the house, gauges and captures the way they will be welcomed in the house by the way the furnishings of home are. It’s a mindset, which shows in the walls and windows of the house.
So, next time you look out for a home furnishing, choose carefully.
Apart from buying the home furnishings from a store, you can also buy them from a reputed online store like HomeShop18 which offers a range of home furnishings. Such kind of online shopping stores are good in cases where you need to give furnishings as gifts. This way, you not only saves time but also a lot of money in the form of discounts. What more, you can get your products delivered at home…
Posted on 24 August '10 by admin, under Painting. No Comments.
Tags:Home, Making, Sellable, Staging.
You’ve listed your home and the agent wants to start showing it to prospective buyers. Here’s a few tips to help it look its best.
You may have already read the importance of clearing out clutter. Well, that’s because it can’t be stressed enough. It is one of the most important aspects of making your home appealing to buyers, for two reasons. First, not just papers and dishes, clutter includes decorations and furniture too. Too much of it can block a persons view of the house itself. If everywhere they look they see stuff, a buyer doesn’t see your home. It is imperative that they have a clear view, or they won’t want to buy. Second, all that clutter screams personality. Your personality. And this is not what a buyer wants to see. When someone is looking over a home, what they need to do in order to be motivated to buy is to imagine themselves living in that home. If the house is so full of the current owner, a potential buyer can’t get past that and make the mental leap to visualizing themselves in the home.
Because of this, some sellers choose to box up a lot of their personal goods and put them in professional storage. This gets it right out of the house, so even the boxes aren’t clogging up the spare rooms and closets, which are also important selling features.
It is also important to fix things around the home. Keep in mind how well the doors around your home work, as buyers will almost always open closets and cupboards. If the doors are sticky or squeak, that gives a bad first impression. Obviously, your front door is the first candidate for a good hinge-oiling.
While you certainly don’t want to enter into major renovations, a new coat of paint can really brighten up a home and make it more appealing. Consider both the outside and inside of your home. And as tempting as it is to choose trendy colors or things you are personally attracted to, neutral tones are best. White or off-white are your safest bets as they will help a home appear bright, and give a new owner a good base if they wish to paint the home more uniquely.
Speaking of a bright home, be sure to leave all the lights on when your home is being shown. Open all the curtains, too, so that viewers feel that your home is bright and welcoming, and they can see clearly. Dusting every surface also helps your home look brighter.
Consider smell, an important sense that impacts our first impression. Do a good deep cleaning, especially if you have pets or smoke indoors. Air the home out a bit. You may wish to install some air fresheners, but be sure not to choose anything too overwhelming, as more and more people have sensitivities to scents these days.
Good luck with showing your home!
Posted on 16 August '10 by admin, under Painting. No Comments.
Tags:Home, Polish.
Real estate is like any industry, a product has to look appealing for people to want to buy it. Just like the bruised and scabby apples will be the last ones chosen in the produce isle, so the houses with glaring flaws sit on the market, unsold. Sure, there are those that scout-out the best deals and often buy up damaged homes on potentially valuable lots, however your average home buyer needs to want to live somewhere in order to consider buying it.
That means that a little physical make-over can do a world of good when it comes time to sell. I’m not advocating putting a false front on a decaying foundation. Sprucing up your home for sale isn’t about deception, it’s more like polishing up a gem—a little elbow grease helps it shine to its full potential.
So where do you start? Well, how about starting with what a buyer is going to see first—your front yard and entry-way. Landscaping goes a long way towards making a yard look good. Prune old, dead branches off of shrubs and trees. Rake up any leaves. Anything looking old and dried-out will not make a good impression. However, if it is winter, be forgiving. Those bare twigs may not be dead at all.
If your porch stairs are broken at all, get them fixed. Consider re-painting your home, or certain key areas if the paint is still fairly fresh. Depending on your siding, a thorough cleaning might be enough. Does your front door stick or squeak? Fix it, then go clean your windows. Whatever it takes to have your home looking bright and fresh, that’s what you should do.
One thing that makes a big impression is good lighting. You’ve already cleaned the windows, now consider cleaning your drapes or blinds. Be sure to have the drapes open on showing days, to allow as much natural light in as possible. Turn on lights in all the rooms. This isn’t the day for energy conservation, as you want buyers to see your home as bright and clean.
Bathrooms and kitchens are important places, and tend to be key features that can impress or turn off buyers. Be sure that these rooms are as clean and well organized as they can be. While some people recommend setting up cinnamon sticks in water to make your home smell nice, I wouldn’t necessarily recommend it. However, if you do decide to bake, leave some goodies out for viewers. It’s a guarantee they’ll remember your home if they ate something there. Even a bowl of individually wrapped candies, or perhaps more practical, some bottled water on ice in the sink, and a pot of fresh coffee on.
But don’t feel like this food and drink is a necessity if you really don’t have time or energy. The most important thing is making your home look good. All you can really do is get your house looking its best, and hope the right person comes along.
Posted on 8 August '10 by admin, under Painting. No Comments.
Tags:California, Green, Home.
Now-a-days the emphasis is to do environmentally friendly things. The best place to start on such ideas is your home. Home builders are coming up with ideas by which they can make home more energy efficient and environmentally friendly. You can see such kinds of specification come out from home builders in California, particularly with the recent emphasis on people living her to go green.
If you already own homes in California, there are many things that you can do by which you can make your home environmentally friendly. Here is a look at some useful tips of this:
• Do not leave your appliance plugged when you are not using it. Plugged appliances take up energy even when you do not use of them. Unplug to conserve energy.
• When you make use of appliances such as your washing machine or your dishwasher, ensure that they are fully loaded. Use them when you can take the maximum potential and do not run them on when you have minimal work to do with them.
• Use products that are environmentally friendly. Search for home products that specifically state this out.
• One factor that is seen to cause more use of heating and cooling system in the home is air leaks. Air leaks can be sealed off through weather-stripping and caulking in areas such as the door, windows, electrical outlets, and plumbing area and so on to stop air from seeping into the home.
• When you decide to paint your home, be sure to select no- or low-VOC paints.
• Buy energy star home appliances because such appliances include technologies that help to reduce power and water consumption by 10 to 50 percent.
• Conserve on your usage of water, by using toilets, taps and shower heads that have low-flow features.
• Buy home materials that are quality and durable because this way you don’t have to go in for a replacement every time.
Posted on 31 July '10 by admin, under Painting. No Comments.
Tags:Green, Home, Upgrades.
A green home is one that is eco-friendly and is at harmony with the environment. You can help the environment by making your home greener. Here is how you can do so by adopting a more energy-efficient and earth-friendly lifestyle.
Read the following top 10 ways to green your home.
1. Upgrade to greener appliances. Make your home energy efficient by upgrading to greener appliances. Replace old appliances with energy-efficient models that are Energy Star rated to scale down your energy bill. According to the Energy Star site, use of energy-efficient appliances in just one in 10 homes is equal to planting 1.7 million new acres of trees.
2. Temperature control. More than 50% of a home’s energy bill is from heating and cooling appliances. Moderating the thermostat according to the weather goes a long way in reducing energy consumption. Other energy saving methods include using a modern furnace, cleaning its air filter every month and the use of ceiling fans instead of air conditioners.
3. Saving water. There are hundreds of ways one can save water and reduce energy consumption. A few include fitting faucets with aerators and installing water efficient low-flow toilets.
4. Clean with green products. Buy green household cleaners that are made of natural, non-toxic substances instead of toxic ones. Carpet and window cleaners containing grain alcohol, detergents made of coconut or other plant oils etc. are bio-friendly.
5. Energy-efficient lighting. Replace incandescent bulbs with Compact Fluorescent Light bulbs (CFLs). CFL bulbs use 66% less energy and last 10 times longer.
6. Use recycled paper. Whenever you buy paper, get 100 % post-consumer recycled paper. These consume less virgin pulp and keep waste paper from ending up in landfills. You can also save more trees by opting out of junk mail lists. Using unbleached paper is more eco-friendly as the bleached paper process results in the creation of harmful byproducts. Also, eschew paper and plastic bags and carry your own cloth bags for shopping.
7. Bamboo floors. Bamboo floors are more environmental friendly than hardwood floors. Bamboo matures in four to six years while it takes 50 to 100 years for typical hardwoods.
8. Shun plastics. Plastics are not bio-degradable. They produce harmful greenhouse gases that contribute to global warming when processed, burned or dumped into landfills. The best way is to avoid plastics, the next best thing is to reuse and recycle them.
9. Eco-paint. Use environmentally safe paints that are organic and solvent-free to paint your home.
10. Green your garden. Avoid synthetic fertilizers and chemical pesticides. Instead use organic manure such as compost and non-chemical pest control methods.
Posted on 23 July '10 by admin, under Painting. No Comments.
Tags:Basic, Component, Decorating, Home, Theater.
Create a home theater decorating your basement or other space into a media room that is both functional and comfortable. A basement is one of the best places to turn into a media room. It generally has fewer windows and a room without windows is ideal. It is easier to control the light and the interference from outside light would not cause glares to the screen or distract the entertainment.
Prepare the room for good acoustics as much as possible to optimally experience movies and if you are starting your project from scratch use sound proof drywall and insulation for the walls.
Sound reverberates off hard surfaces like wood or tile so this is one room where wall to wall carpet in dark colors works best and hanging draperies or other sound absorbing items on the walls are necessary. For more details www.beat-the-gas-pump.com Furnishing the room with big soft furniture will also insulate sounds from the outside.
Window treatments help to absorb sound and also control the light entering the room. Choose heavy fabrics for draperies and have them overlap in the center by a few inches and extend the windows at each side to block any slivers of light.
Controlling the light is a major factor in the success of your home theater decorating.
* Try to avoid overhead lights. They may produce a glare in the room.
* Lighting should be on dimmers to truly capture the movie theater experience and if possible locate the control near the seating area.
* Sconces lining the wall will offer soft lighting that can also controlled with dimmers.
* Consider any light coming in from under doors, closets or other openings into the room and block at the bottom with weather stripping.
The quality of movie viewing is affected by paint color.
* To ensure an optimal viewing experience, paint your home theater decorating space with deep colors such as charcoal gray, chocolate brown or deep red or plum.
* Use matte finish paints to avoid reflections or choose textured wall coverings or fabric for the walls in dark colors.
TV is a basic component of home theater.
* Consider the amount of available space you have before buying a big screen TV.
* The viewing quality is affected by the distance from the screen as much as the size of the screen itself. The larger the screen the farther the distance must be between it and the seating area.
* To calculate, multiply the diagonal of the TV size by 2-2.5 in inches and that should give you an idea on the distance the seating should be. For more details www.buy-a-car-with-no-credit.com For example, take a 30 inches TV screen and multiply the screen size by 2. So 60 inches or 5 feet of viewing distance from the TV.
* A 55 inches TV is best viewed from a distance of nine feet.
* For your home theater decorating, use a theater system of six speakers to provide high quality sound. A left and right speaker for each side, one speaker for in the center, and two surround speakers for in the back, and a sub woofer.
Manufacturers design specially made cable accommodating pieces for housing electronic equipment in exquisitely crafted armoires, credenzas and modular units. These cabinets accept a variety of TV sizes and are available in styles suited for most everyone.
Be sure to compare both the width and the depth with your TV. A display wall with a media cabinet in the middle is an effective and stylish solution. Most pieces will include storage for videos or CDs and some will feature pocket doors to close off the TV when not in use.
Center seating for optimal sound and screen viewing.
* A seating arrangement with large sofas or sectional sofa units is a great way to seat a lot of people and accommodate kids comfortably.
* A set of recliners, swivel chairs or chairs with castors can seat guests individually and offers many alternatives for lounging. High backs support the neck but not too high that affects the surround sound.
* Choose upholstery materials in dark colors that are easily cleaned, like the washable suede, lightly textured chenille, brushed twill and leather.
* Have tables within reach for each guest when possible. Use wood tables with a low sheen finish or ottomans that can be used for supplement seating.
Posted on 15 July '10 by admin, under Painting. No Comments.
Tags:Cents, Home, Improvements.
A couple of years back, housing prices skyrocketed and interest rates hit rock bottom. Homeowners everywhere refinanced or took out home equity loans for remodels, pools, and decks. Backyards became outdoor living areas. Home Depots spawned Expo Design Centers and soon granite countertops were de rigueur. As conspicuous consumers we contented ourselves that these improvements were worth it because they increased the value of our homes.
But what kind of return did we get on our investments? The truth is that most home improvements cost more than they add to the value of your home. And no improvement is valuable if you can’t sell your home. So before you run out willy-nilly remodeling this and that, ask yourself how soon you want to sell that house. Sometimes inexpensive home improvements are best for the short term.
What are homebuyers looking for? First and foremost buyers want a solid house in good repair. A newly renovated kitchen may be eye-catching, but if the roof leaks what good is it? At best the buyer will ask for the cost of the repairs to be deducted from the price of the home, so make sure all the basics are in tiptop shape. Your first investment should be in the roof, gutters, foundation, plumbing, electrical systems, and chimney. Plus, according to soundmoneytips.com, repairing plumbing and electrical problems has a 260% average return on investment.
Once you’ve taken care of the fundamentals, you can consider the eye candy. Again, sometimes the best investments cost the least. A freshly mowed and edged lawn costs nothing and will be inviting to buyers. Fresh paint looks neat and tidy on the exterior of your home and can brighten up dingy interiors. Always patch and repair any damage to the walls before painting. The average return on painting your home’s interior is 148%.
What is the number one return on investment? Cleaning and de-cluttering your house. Try renting a storage space if you can’t bear to part with your junk altogether. Buyers want to feel comfortable in your home—not creeped out by your dusty, cobweb covered light fixtures. The soundmoneytips rate for return on investment in cleaning and de-cluttering is 973%.
So what about the additional bath, the kitchen remodel, and the pool? These are home improvements you may want to consider if you are planning to stay in the home for a few years. While they still add value to your home, they cost more than the value they add. That’s not to say they cost more than they are worth. Lifestyle can be a big factor in a home sale. People rarely say, “It’s almost perfect, but I just can’t stand a house with a pool.” And while a pool only adds about 40% of its cost to the value of a home, you also have to consider if you and your family will be sticking around long enough to use it.
Kitchen remodels and bathroom additions fall into the same category. A major kitchen remodel with new cabinets, tile floors, and brand new appliances can run from $50,000-$100,000 for a modest single family home and it will only add about 75% of that cost to its value. An extra bathroom will run you about $60,000 and only recoup 70% of its cost.
But they look great to potential buyers, and besides, you get to enjoy them while you live there.
By: Christine Flanders
Edited By: Michael C. Podlesny
Posted on 7 July '10 by admin, under Painting. No Comments.
Tags:Home, Prep, Selling, Tips, Yearround.
Putting your home up for sale can be quite stressful. Preparations are rushed, trying, and usually demand a lot of blood, sweat, and tears. This is especially the case if you’re like most sellers and get your home ready for sale just a few weeks before putting it on the market.
The front yard
If you know in the fall that you might be selling in the spring, be sure to plant bulbs in the fall so you’ll have some beautiful blooms come springtime. Many homeowners focus so much on things like paint, organizing the kitfchen, and arrangement of furniture that they forget that the yard will be the first thing that potential buyers will see when they come to view the home. A well groomed yard will go a long way towards getting buyers to believe that your house is the right house for them.
Your “honey-do” list
Get your “honey-do’s” out of the way when contractors are more readily available in the off-season. Painters are usually extremely busy in the summer so negotiating a painting contract in the winter months will allow you to paint your home (especially the inside) for a better price. The same goes for hvac contractors and renting storage space.
Listing photos
How your home is photographed could mean the difference between standing out from the hundreds of other homes competing for a buyer, and not getting noticed at all. One of the best things you can do to get your home ready for sale is to keep a camera handy for taking pictures when your home won’t be washed out and colorless because the picture was taken at high-noon. Murphy’s law says that if you wait until you put the sign in the yard to take a picture for your home, it will be raining every day your agent shows up to take a picture.
Even if you’re not planning on selling in the immediate future, the next time after it rains, see if you can take a picture of your home that just happens to be right under a rainbow. Come springtime, make sure to get an early morning picture with the gentle glow of the sun shining down on your gorgeous flowers on your front porch. It’s those little touches that make a big impression.
Store it, sell it, or donate it.
Rent a storage locker well in advance, and start making occasional trips to it with the stuff you don’t need. Tackle your kitchen, garage and basement first since those tend to accumulate the most unnecessary clutter. If you don’t use that coffee pot taking up space on the kitchen countertop more than a couple times a week, put it away or store it. (Even if it does get regular use, if it could be easily stored out of the way – store it!) The less “stuff” is cluttering up your countertops, the roomier your kitchen will feel. If there are unused toys that are sitting around the family room, have a yard sale or donate them to godwill! The less stuff you have around in your home, the bigger it feels!
With just a little foresight, you can really enhance the experience of selling your house.
Posted on 29 June '10 by admin, under Painting. No Comments.