Midtown Tulsa Real Estate - Lori Cain: January 2010

I have a confession to make...I've got a thing about staging Laundry Rooms. The Kitchen may be the "heart of the home" but many hours are spent each week in the laundry room. And THAT makes this room a very important space to feature when selling your home.

Many times when I am consulting with homeowners and we get close to the laundry area, they'll ask if I want to see it because after all, it's only the laundry room. In their minds, it's that space that's a catch-all for dirty clothes, shoes, coats, 5 cases of water bottles, dog food and old paint cans. Oh yes! I tell my clients, I DEFINETLY want to see what's behind that door.

The Laundry Room needs some attention and staging too. This is one space you don't want to forget about! The biggest issue is getting rid of everything that is not needed so the room can breathe and look spacious. Yes...that means you have to get rid of the 20 pairs of shoes on the shoe rack behind the door, the dog food has to find a new home and you're going to have to store all that water neatly in the garage.

(Image: Hampton Designs)

Here's a few Staging Tips that can help you transform your laundry room into a fabulous space that buyer's will love:

• DECLUTTER: Get everything out that you don't need. The only thing that should be in there is the stuff you need to do laundry...(detergent, softener, etc.) Now is not the time to buy the HUGE 50 gallon jug of detergent. I'll tell you why in a minute.

• CLEAN LIKE CRAZY: Wipe down that washer and dryer from top to bottom. Push it back against the wall if needed. I've seen a lot of washer and dryers pushed out with all those hoses showing. Tuck the hoses in while you're at it. Think NEAT and ORGANIZED.

• PAINT. Most laundry rooms need a fresh coat of paint and a different color. For some reason, I see alot of sponge painting in these spaces. Probably because it was a "safe" room to try your hand at the technique years ago. I'm speaking from personal experience here and mine looked just dreadful! Trust me, a fresh coat of paint goes a long way.

• STAGE: Canvas Bins and Baskets make a HUGE DIFFERENCE visually when used to store all those detergents. Buyers do not want to see all those bottles that look like clutter anyways. It looks so much more organized and fresh staged with these pretty bins or baskets. This is why you don't want to hit Cosco for the jumbo size detergents. I want you to hide it in the bins.

• KEEP UP THE LAUNDRY: Not letting the laundry get out of hand during selling can be a challenge. We lead busy lives. Doing a load a day keeps you on top of the process. Buyers should NEVER see dirty clothes in piles, in a basket, anywhere. Ever. The same goes for clean laundry. It should not be sitting out on the counter or top of the dryer waiting to be put away or hanging around. Buyers don't want to see your laundry. They want to see the space. Show them an organized room they can emotionally connect to. Not how much work laundry can be.

• HANGERS & CLOTHES BASKETS: Yes...we need them to do laundry but during showings, they should not be anywhere in sight. Storing all those extra hangers on the clothes rack is not an option either. Throw them in one of the bins/baskets or if you are lucky to have a closet in your laundry room, store them there.

• HIDE IT: And one last mention here. If you have a last minute showing or you are just REALLY behind on laundry because you didn't listen to my "one load a day" advice, make sure you get it out of sight and HIDE those baskets. When I sold our house a few years back, I would actually take those baskets of dirty laundry and hide them on the garage shelves during a last minute showing. (They were concealed well and no one ever knew!) I have also been known to take it with me in the car. Hiding it in the actual washer or dryer is good too. For those that have always kept your laundry up, stop laughing. The rest of you know what I'm talking about and it's a great strategy to use.

Here's a few examples of past clients that followed my advice and created FABULOUS Laundry Rooms:

Ready to prepare your home for the Spring selling season? We're ready to help you and look forward to your call!

Happy Staging!

Teresa Meyer is the Owner and Lead Staging Designer at Stage a Star, Cincinnati's Premiere Real Estate Staging company located in Cincinnati, Ohio. Teresa is an ASP, Accredited Staging Professional and CSPE, Certified Staging Professional Elite and Ohio Certified CSPE Trainer to real estate professionals in Cincinnati. She is a member of RESA, Real Estate Staging Association and currently is the State of Ohio RESA President.   Teresa can be reached at 513-379-5488 or by email: teresameyer@fuse.net to answer your questions about the staging process and looks forward to assisting you in preparing and staging your house for the Cincinnati real estate market.

JOIN OUR FAN PAGE for exclusive coupons, tips, ideas and our latest staging projects here in Cincinnati!

Stage A Star provides home staging services to Hamilton county Ohio, Butler county Ohio, Warren County, Ohio, Clermont county Ohio, West Chester, OH., Liberty Twp, OH., Mason, OH., Fairfield Twp., OH., Monroe, OH., Hyde Park, OH., Loveland, OH., Maineville, OH., Morrow, OH., Deer Park, OH., Indian Hill, OH., and surrounding Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky areas.

 

Today I will be announcing a series of changes to FHA that will affect some of you. As you read about them, please note a few key points.

FHA fell below is legislated requirement to have 2% in excess capital for reserves above and beyond forcasted losses. Being below this 2% requires me, by law, to make changes to get the funds reserves back over 2%. Virtually all of the losses are from 2006, 2007, and 2008 book years. These are the worst years in the housing crisis from an origination standpoint and they contained programs like the SFDPA (seller funded downpayment assistance) that have extremely high default rates.

The changes announced today will get the reserves up and put in place some controls to protect the fund and FHA for the long term, while making sure not to overly, adversely, impact this housing market at a critical time.

You can read about these in any major newpaper today or perhaps tomorrow, but please understand that these are necessary to keep FHA functioning. Without some tightening, we would be under extreme scrutiny and the lack of fiscal soundness could threaten FHA for the long term.

The housing market is slowly coming back to life in many markets across the country. Let's keep working at making this american dream of homeownership be part of a safe and responsible system for the long term.

Thanks for listening and for being a professional in this industry - it's why I post here in active rain - this place is filled with real pros.

Have a geat day.

The number one reason to buy a home right now may surprise you. The number one reason to buy a home now is NOT that the first time home buyer tax credit or the repeat home buyer tax credit is ending this spring. However, both of those are good reasons to buy a home right away.

The number one reason to buy a home NOW is found in the following quote from last week--

"April 1 will be the first day that the Federal Reserve will end its debt purchase program and allow the struggling U.S. mortgage market to operate unassisted. As a result, the Fed believes mortgage rates will rise about three-quarters of a percent to about 6 percent," Boston Fed President Eric Rosengren said recently.

Here is the projected economic impact if you a buy a home in April or later according to the Fed-
· If you buy a $200,000 home with a FHA loan and put 3.50% down your monthly payment just increased by $93 a month or $1,120 a year! That's equal to eating out 4 times a month at Chili's and their 3 Courses for $20 Menu.

· Your monthly payment increase is 8.6%, this is equal to every home seller in the country raising their prices by 8.6%. Yuck!

· Finally, if your debt-to-income ratios are really tight your pre-approval for a home price of $200k, just got decreased to $182,800.

· Or if your pre-approval is good for a price of $175k, it just got decreased to $159,950.

· Or if your pre-approval is good for a price of $150k, it just got decreased to $137,100.

So, how do you avoid this from happening to you? First, you could hope or pray that the Fed will extend their purchases of mortgage bonds. Second, you could buy a home BEFORE the Fed's purchase plan expires on March 31st.

It's your choice. You have been warned.

It is no secret:  I enjoy blogging - but how to blog better, more effectively for my readers and Google Rankings?  Check out these guys...Jason Crouch & Jeremy Blanton.

While many people know them from ActiveRain, they have formed a company, 210 Consulting, to teach what they've learned about social media to anyone interested in taking their blogging to the next level.

On Monday, I attended their first webinar, "How To Chug Google Juice & Get 15 Years of Fame" and not surprisingly, was very glad I did!  What I like about their approach is that they teach in a very user-friendly manner, engaging with the attendees and answering questions without making me feel like a pupil in 3rd grade.

In the future, I hope to attend more of their seminars, perhaps even hiring 210 Consulting for some 1-on-1 coaching.  Often, money spent on paid "training" sessions is little more than finding yourself in the middle of an infomercial that leaves the attendees feeling ripped off while the instructor gives endless "now or never" plugs for spending more money on their "secrets" - not so with Jason or Jeremy.

You get what you came for, the price is right - and you leave with a head full of good info, ready to learn more.

Thanks 210 Consulting - you guys are doing this right.  I wish you much success & look forward to learning many new things from you.

Specializing in Buyer Representation in the Tucson, Arizona real estate market.

"Never forget - Real Estate Is About People"

I know it's not Christmas yet, but I just couldn't help it: I wanted to make your day.  If you are a Twitter addict like myself, you will cherish this list.  Who loves you baby?

1 TweetDeck

2 FriendFeed

3 TwitterFeed

4 Ping.fm

5 Twhirl

6 Twellow

7 Tweetie

8 Twitturly

9 Twitterholic

10 #hashtags

11 Seesmic Desktop

12 Twitterrific

13 BrightKite

14 Twitscoop

15 TwitterFox

16 TwitterCounter

17 TwitterBerry

18 HootSuite

19 TwitterFon

20 Tweet Scan

21 Mobypicture

22 TweetLater

23 WeFollow

24 TweetStats

25 Monitter

26 Twitpic

27 FriendOrFollow

28 Twitter Grader

29 TweetValue

30 HelloTxt 

31 Twistory

32 Qwitter

33 TweetBeep

34 SocialToo

35 TweetGrid

36 Tweetburner

37 Twittelator

38 TwitterBar

39 TweetMeme

40 LoudTwitter

41 Just Tweet It

42 Retweetist

43 TwitThat

44 Mr. Tweet

45 DestroyTwitter

46 Tiny Twitter

47 PeopleBrowsr

48 Twibble

49 Splitweet

50 ÜberTwitter

51 WhosTalkin

52 TwitterHawk

53 GroupTweet

54 Twibs

55 Shareaholic

56 Foamee

57 TwitterFriends

58 TweepSearch

59 Twubble

60 TwitterLocal

61 CoTweet

62 Snitter

63 Slandr

64 TwitterMap

65 iTweet 2

66 Twitbin

67 Secrettweet   

68 Straw Poll

69 Spaz

70 TwittEarth

71 Pocketwit  

72 Twemes

73 Twitxr

74 Twitoria

75 Twitter for iPhone

76 twtQpon

77 Twilert

78 Your Twitter Karma

79 Who Should I Follow?

80 FoodFeed

81 TweeTube

82 Twinfluence

83 SnapTweet

84 Twtcard

85 TwitterPatterns

86 Follow Cost

87 Xpenser

88 Tweetake

89 TwitterMass

90 Twitpay

91 Twittertise

92 Twinkle

93 TrackThis

94 Retweetrank

95 Twitter Digest  

96 Twitteroo

97 Twitter Tools

98 EasyTweets

99 Hahlo

100 Tweetr

Mirela Monte, Your Myrtle Beach Connection                               Join The Optimist Group!

The earthquake that hit Haiti 6 days ago left behind it a path of destruction.  According to official estimates, there are 330,000 Orphans in Haiti right now.   Some of these kids are in the process of being adopted by parents from the United States and other countries.  

Many of these orphanages are in dire need of food and water.  Some of these babies are dying from dehydration as I’m writing these lines.  The situation is desperate.   These kids are dying while their adoptive parents are doing all they can to rescue them. 

After several days of pleas, the US has finally granted Humanitarian Parole to some of these kids, but to my knowledge, only seven of them have made it out of Haiti so far.  Soledad O’Brien has been sending out distress Tweets all day today.  She is at orphanages with babies who are dying, many of whom are in the process of being adopted by American parents, but so far the airlift seems like a fantasy. 

We need to get these kids out as soon as possible.  We also need to get the rest of the orphans out before they perish.  Please help!

With tears in my eyes, but hope in my heart, I humbly ask for your assistance.  Please spread the word and contact your US Representatives about this crisis!  Every hour counts…

Mirela

 

Here is an organization you can connnect with.  They have specifics on what you can do to help:

http://www.HumanitarianParole.com

Here is information about Operation Pierre Pan.

Here is the Latest White House update on this issue.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I started my home staging business not as an outlet for interior decorating -- as some people would assume -- but because I love the excitement of buying and selling real estate. In order to achieve any successful sale, you have to effectively merchandise your product. In this case, it's a house.

What's involved in home merchandising? It starts with saying your good-byes, first of all, and then overcoming the procrastination of dealing with all the stuff you've collected . . . and home maintenance you've put off . . . for someday when you'd have more time.

When you decide to sell your house, that day has arrived, more time or not!

The most important thing is to act early enough to ... sort, organize, pitch, purge, donate, scrape, patch, sand, tape, paint, spray, saw, hammer, glue, nail, fix, tighten, whiten, lighten, brighten, dust, scrub, mop, sweep, wipe and polish.

Phew!

I mean, people detail their car before selling it. They wash it, vacuum it, Armor All it, and even squeegee both sides of the windows!

So why is it that there are home owners who call on Monday for a pre-market consultation, going on to disclose that they are listing on Friday -- (the photographer is already booked) -- and then are stunned during the consultation that gets squeezed in on Wednesday evening (they were "too busy" Tuesday) that I've suggested they address the dozen or so unfinished jobs around the house, clear out closets and clean like they've never cleaned before? They gulp realizing they've got at least a month's worth of work ahead of them, and ask if its really necessary.

Of course, it goes without saying, they are also expecting top dollar for their home. They called about "staging" because they hear it will help their house sell in a week, right?

Staging/styling is great for putting the finishing touches on presenting the home for sale, but it cannot make up for a home that is simply in poor condition -- at least as far as the buyer is concerned.

The biggest favor you can do for yourself when thinking about selling your home, is to call a Realtor who works with a Home Stager, and get that pre-market consultation done 60 days ahead of time! Not only should you find out the real dollars and cents that your property is worth, but get an objective, professional opinion of what a buyer will think your home's assets and shortcomings are -- another function of home staging.

Then, take the time to address all of those shortcomings.

Nobody wants to clean up someone else's mess. Maintaining your home all along the way is the surest way to also maintain its value. You can't possibly cram this into the few days before you decide to list, any more than you can "cram" plowing, seeding, watering, and cultivating wheat into a harvestable crop!

As we all tell our kids, don't leave your homework to the last minute!

When selling a home, let's listen to our own advice.

 

 

Deena Cottingham

GreenApple Staging & Images
Serving Calgary and Okotoks, Alberta