Changing the design of your house, the good and the bad!
September 14, 2009
As people make changes to a home, they often do this while thinking they will never sell the house, so it doesn’t matter if anyone else likes the taste. However as recent economic turmoil has shown us, things are not always as definitive as you might think, we are seeing more and more people reluctantly putting up the “For Sale” sign on a place they thought they’d never have to sell.
So what are changes you can make to a house, and what are some of the things you will want to avoid at any cost.
The good
Right at the top on the list would be fresh paint and carpet. Because lets face it nothing helps sell a house more than when you walk in and get that whiff of new carpet and paint; it’s just like that “new car smell.” Painting is something most of us can do ourselves, and carpet is fairly inexpensive. However if you’re in doubt about paint colors, off-white is always a good choice. You can personalize a home with pictures and other accessories, this does not need to include your walls, because we all know that those screaming pink walls can scare off any potential buyer, same with the carpet, stick to natural colors.
While the kitchen from the 70′s was very popular, we are living in 2009. In other words try to modernize the kitchen and bathroom, it really works wonders for a house, and will help increase the selling price. New appliances and countertops are also a fairly inexpensive way to bring new life to a tired, old kitchen. You don’t even need to buy new cupboards, all you need to do might be to repaint them in a more modern color.
When looking at the number of rooms a house has, a rule of thumb is to have at least three bedrooms. When it comes time to sell, you’re at a serious disadvantage if you’ve got a two bedroom house. The same is true with baths, here the magic number is two, people don’t want to fight over who gets to use the bathroom first, and thus at least 2 are needed in a modern household.
Finally, don’t forget the outside of your house. While the inside might look amazing, most potential buyer will not even enter the house if they don’t think the outside looks nice as well. If the house needs painting, paint it, you would have painted it anyways if you weren’t selling it, so why not paint it now.
The bad
We have already mentioned some of these while looking at the good, one of them is wallpaper. While you might think the colorful wallpaper with pink roses and yellow birds will look amazing in the living room, not everyone else does. So if you want to use wallpaper in your house, try to go easy on it and avoid styles that are excessively loud or colorful.
Generally, it’s best to try and avoid trendy modifications to your home. While something currently seems to be popular, it can be difficult to tell the difference between evolving styles and something that’s a short-term fad. When you make an improvement to your house, it’s safer to go with time-tested products, rather than the latest gadgets and gizmo’s.
Conclusion
To conclude, just remember that while you think what you are changing is “the thing” then you might want to ask for a second opinion, because it just might be that even your best friend finds it hideous. Otherwise check in with a real estate agent and get their opinion of what you’re thinking about doing. Agents can give you an objective opinion, and they have a great feel for what will work and what won’t when it comes time to sell.
Why do people move?
September 2, 2009
Ever since the beginning of mankind people have always been on the move, however it isn’t until recently that more extensive research has been completed on the topic of why people move. According to studies 50 percent of people who moved within the last year, did so because the wanted to improve their living situation.
The results show that of the people asked, 26% moved because they wanted to live in a bigger home, this was followed my 24% who wanted to move to a safer neighborhood. 12% of the respondents wanted to move closer to their family, while 6% were forced to move due to a change in their marital status.
While one would expect that during a recession people would be more reluctant to move or to buy a new house, the reality is very different, says Sharon Asher, founder and chairman of Relocation.com, who says that “Even in the midst of the toughest economy in years, people who are moving are still motivated by the same things that motivated them in the past: to make a better life.”
The reasons for this can be found in the fact that prices often drop during a recession, meaning that people get better prices on the houses they want to by, this being due to the fact that during a recession houses often sit much longer on the market, driving prices down.
Furthermore the dropping demand on real estate will equate to lower rents in many major metropolitan areas, this of course is beneficial for renters. Another interesting fact that can be deducted from the results is the fact that people are more likely to move long distances – 60 percent said their move was between 800 and 3,000 miles. This could be due to the fact that as more and more people lose their jobs, more and more will need to look for a job outside of the state, thus including a move of more than 800 miles.
Real estate & global crisis
August 10, 2009
The real estate crisis that began in 2007 in the United States of America (USA), given the deregulation of international financial system and the interdependence of national economies in the context of globalization, has become a global financial crisis, which has deepened in the developed countries and forced governments to rethink the development model of capitalism and the state’s role in it, as well as possibilities for growth in 2009.
Amid this crisis, the victory in elections in the United States of Barack Obama opened a new horizon for a solution to the crisis in the reunion in Washington, as well as the expectations of North-South dialogue to stimulate growth, as recession in the U.S. economy is affecting their business partners and the crisis will be the first item on the agenda of Obama. The major U.S. trading partners are now Canada, from which 16 percent of its total imports, China with 15.9 percent, and Mexico with 10.4 percent, Japan with 7.9 percent and Germany with 4.8 percent.
In past months, the dollar depreciation and the reduction of the Americans caused a substantial decrease in imports from those countries, which has affected the exports of its trading partners and their earnings, forcing them to reduce their domestic production, increased unemployment and fiscal imbalances, impact on growth.
Although Mexico has signed 12 FTAs with 43 countries and diversified its business, has deepened their dependence on the economy of the USA, who sent more than 82.73 percent of its exports in 2007 and 79.9 percent in the first half of this year, making its economy vulnerable to the fate of that country, because it does not have alternative markets to absorb its products despite the agreements signed.
Expectations for the world economy and for Mexico in 2009 are not good. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) in its latest revision on the outlook for world economic growth from last November 6, says that the economic situation has worsened in the last month, the product of collapse of the financial sector and deteriorating the confidence of producers and consumers, which suggests that global growth will be just 3.75 percent in 2008 and 2.2 percent in 2009, after which in 2007 grew by five percent.
But while the emerging economies could grow by five percent, the industrialized countries will suffer a 0.3 percent contraction in growth, confirming a widespread economic recession, the worse after 1929. The IMF notes that “the deterioration of the financial and economic situation, market prices reflect the expectation that the rates of default are much higher corporate and losses related to securities and loans will be larger, partly because now the pressure is being felt in emerging markets, generating new needs for recapitalization. ” But in addition, it is likely a return of capital, which could affect the stability of the exchange rate in many countries, including Mexico, the exchange rate should oscillate at 14.5 pesos per dollar, according to the market.
The Mexican authorities should think about implementing measures to ease the conditions of access to credit and reduce interest rates, measures to support employment generation and economic growth, as proposed in the presidential initiative. In recent weeks we have witnessed is becoming an imperative of the economic policy of many governments, the adoption of measures aimed at the purchase of depreciable assets, recapitalization of banks, the coordinated reduction in interest rates and the liquidity to the markets to rescue the international financial system.
(by: Global Crisis New)
Scammer on Craigslist! – take care!
July 31, 2009
Nigerian scammers find homes listed for sale on these public search sites, copy the pictures and listings verbatim, and then post the information onto Craigslist under available housing rentals, without the consent or knowledge of Craigslist, who has been notified.
After the posting is listed, unsuspecting individuals contact the poster, who is Nigerian, for more information on the “rental.” The Nigerian scammer will state that they had to leave the country very quickly to do missionary or contract work in Africa and were unable to rent their house before leaving, therefore they have to take care of this remotely. The “homeowner” sends the prospective renter an application and tells them to send them first and last month’s rent to the Nigerian scammer via Western Union. The prospective renter is further told If they “qualify,” they will send them the keys for their house. Once the money is wired to the scammer, they show up at the house, see the home is actually for sale, are unable to access the property, and their money is gone.
Swap your next Vacation Home
July 22, 2009
BarterQuest.com is a great alternative to the common home exchange websites. Compare to other websites BarterQuest offers you the opportunity to swap your home in exchange for Goods, Services or Real Estate!
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| Beachfront holiday home in Thailand | Timeshare at Wydham Orlando Resort | Lakefront property on Storrie Lake New Mexico |
SEE MORE REAL ESTATE on BarterQuest
You are not forced to swap only houses you can trade in and between different categories. But that’s not all, due to the rating system on BarterQuest you can check out your trading partner’s reputation.. So you can make sure what kind of person is the owner of your vacation home and the other way around whose going to stay in your house!
And not to forget about the matching system. If you link Wants to your Haves, BarterQuest automatically finds your best trade through the matching machine. You don’t even have to browse through the listings, just describe your dream vacation home the best way possible, we’ll find it for you! Additionally BarterQuest offers you the opportunity to swap your home permanent or for temporary use.
So go ahead and browse through the ‘Haves’ on BarterQuest to see what you can get and post your own stuff!
to find out more about home exchange on BarterQuest Click here!
How to do ‘House Swapping’
June 16, 2009
This weekend I overheard a conversation about house swapping in a cafe. One of the guys wanted to try it for the first time this summer with an apartment in Australia. And of course his friends were a bit skeptical. I joined their conversation and I quickly found out that house swapping isn’t just going on a trip for little money. People are concerned about all kinds of things. So here are some things I found on the internet that should help you not worry too much about this great thing called house swapping:
Living Details
I don’t know about you, but even though I’m open minded to new cultural experiences some places in this world just work completely different than ours and because of that I’m always very thankful if someone helps me with the cultural differences. So the best you can do, is making a list about all the stuff you would like to know and exchange it with your swapping partner. And also where you keep your daily stuff which grab everyday but only you know where it is. Writing and talking always helps
Cleaner than clean (this includes smells you got used to)
If you think your house is clean, just do it all over again. Just imagine trading a place in Paris, arrive there and then… well start looking for Mr. Clean. I think you wanna do something else (in the city of love).
(DAILY RECORD)BRIDGEHAMPTON, N.Y. — The good news is there are bargains to be had in the Hamptons real estate market. The bad news as Memorial Day beckons, is you will still need deep pockets, aka millions, to get in the game.
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Eastern Long Island’s summer destination for the ultra-rich and famous has not been immune to the worst recession since the end of World War II, brought on by a nationwide collapse in the housing sector and the collateral damage throughout the banking industry.
But brokers and developers in the confederation of villages and hamlets stretching 40 miles along eastern Long Island’s south shore contend that after a financially disastrous winter, Wall Street’s recent stock market rally has inspired optimism.
“Right now, it’s as if somebody opened a spigot,” says Manhattan attorney and Hamptons developer Alan Schnurman. “Everybody is out shopping and the game is how low can they (prices) go.”
Gary DePersia, senior vice president of the Corcoran Group — a major Hamptons real estate player — said his office has seen significant activity in the past two months, but noted asking prices are down. Bargains of 30 or 40 percent off are not unusual, he said.
“At the height of the market in 2007, a house may have been selling for $12 million,” said DePersia. “By the end of 2008 … there may have been some intermediate price drops on that house to maybe $10 million and it eventually sold in the mid-eights.”
DePersia says many factors have aligned for bargain-hunters looking for a vacation home, which is the typical Hamptons shopper. “We have increased inventory, lower prices and sellers who are more negotiable, and cheap interest rates,” he said.
A survey by Prudential Douglas Elliman released last month found that the median sales price for a home in the Hamptons fell almost 24 percent to $675,000 from the same time a year ago. The number of actual homes sold plummeted by almost 54 percent.
“The good times rolled for so long that everybody who had money bought,” said author Steven Gaines, a Hamptons real estate aficionado who hosts a radio program on Hamptons culture every Sunday from the lobby of the American Hotel in Sag Harbor.
He said many who bought in the Hamptons in the past few years are now taking a wait-and-see approach to the market, although there have been some victims of Bernard Madoff’s Ponzi scheme who have had to sell. He declined to name specific victims, noting many are sensitive about publicity.
Generally, though, Gaines said few people are hurting economically, relative to the rest of the country. “When you reach a certain amount of wealth, like a lot of people in the Hamptons have, you’re only half as rich as you were,” he said.
Gaines, whose 1998 “Philistines at the Hedgerow: Passion and Property in the Hamptons,” is still popular in Long Island bookstores, noted that many of what he called “wannabe Hamptonites” who bought homes in the $1 million range have been forced to sell, but he didn’t consider that such a bad thing.
“I think that flushing of people who really couldn’t afford to be here is actually a good thing,” he said over coffee in a Bridgehampton luncheonette. “I think it keeps the elitism going, which is important to the community, because the community’s accessibility and its ubiquitousness hurt the Hamptons.”
Andrew Saunders, a longtime real estate agent who opened Saunders & Associates in Bridgehampton during the depths of last fall’s economic collapse, agreed that as the stock market has rallied through the spring — the Dow is up more than 1,600 points since its low in March — activity is on the rise.
“Buyers are out in significant numbers and renters are out in significant numbers,” he said.
A summer rental can cost more than a house in many parts of the country. The fabled Grey Gardens estate, which is across the street from Steven Spielberg’s compound in East Hampton, for example, is available for $200,000 for the month of July. Grey Gardens, made famous in a 1970s documentary about eccentric relatives of Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis, and the subject of an HBO film this spring, is now owned by author and journalist Sally Quinn and former Washington Post editor Ben Bradlee.
Saunders, however, observed that many confronting possible economic hardship are laying low.
“Despite all the problems, we haven’t seen the ‘Bear Stearns houses’ or the ‘Merrill Lynch houses’ come on the market for sale,” he said. “One here or there, but we haven’t seen dozens of them come on the market, and there are dozens and dozens of those guys out here.”
Saunders said he’s also noticed a reluctance among Hamptonites to flaunt their wealth — a trait that had been synonymous with the resort communities for a long time.
“There is sort of an inappropriateness to buying that really big fancy thing, even if you can afford it,” he said. “I mean there are plenty of people in the Hamptons who luckily were not terribly impacted by what happened and can continue to buy very fancy things, but they’re not.”
Gaines noted that at the nearby Bridgehampton Motor Club — a high-class garage where the elite store their Benzes, BMWs and Ferraris — many of the vehicles have not been taken out of storage for the summer.
“All the Bentleys, all the classic cars are staying in; the guys are going to drive their wives’ Priuses,” he said. “There’s a certain element of shame and embarrassment now. They’re afraid their neighbors are going to think their bonuses were too big, or they were part of that.”
Florida Real Estate: Get It Now!
May 19, 2009
Prices of homes have hit rock-bottom and sellers are desperate to get rid of their houses – which means that now has never been a better time to buy Tampa, Florida real estate! If you need a few more reason why you should purchase your own little slice of heaven next to the beautiful waters of the Gulf of Mexico, then read on for five reasons why you should buy Tampa, Florida real estate!
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PRICES ARE LOW
The prices for Tampa real estate came down 30-40% off the peak of the real estate cycle about 3 year ago. In other words, thanks to the recession, you can now buy what used to be a $400,000 home in 2006 for a measly $250,000 – that’s a difference of $150,000! Potential Tampa homeowners are so impressed by the affordability of real estate (especially waterfront property) that a flood of competitive offers are now on the market. Once too expensive, Florida has once again become the go-to area for families, retirees and individuals seeking warm weather and beautiful ocean views.
MANY HOMES TO CHOOSE FROM
The slowdown in home sales in the last 3 years caused an accumulation of inventory of homes in Florida real estate market. What does this mean for Tampa home buyers? Loads of homes to choose from! And if you are willing to wait, you can get even greater deals on many Tampa bank-owned homes and Tampa foreclosures.
GREAT POTENTIAL FOR PRICE APPRECIATION
There are very few places in the United States – and the world! – where you can find year-round mild weather, sandy beaches and fun tourist attractions; this means that there will be a huge demand for Tampa real estate. Since the Florida market was the first to collapse under the recession, it’ll be the first to recover – and if you act now, you can double, even triple, your real estate investment thanks to price appreciation.
FLORIDA LIFESTYLE
Florida is famous for its pleasant weather and beautiful beaches. No wonder it is one of the top destinations for vacations for millions of people every year. Living in Florida is like being on a vacation 100% of the time. Want to view a sunset on the beach? No problem, just take a short drive or simply walk out of your door – if you are one of the lucky beachfront home owners. Want to go biking in January? It’s easy – choose from tens of parks with miles of on- and off-road biking trails. Fishing? Boating? Dolphin watching? There are so many fun things to do in Florida.
RENT
If you are looking for an investment, you may want to consider beach vacation rentals or a regular house for rent. The key is to find a popular location that is in demand with renters – near some nice beach for a vacation rental or near offices and with an easy access to highways for a regular rental. You may also want to check if the monthly rental payment will cover your monthly mortgage payment, but with today’s low prices it’s easier than ever. Some of the best areas for rentals include New Tampa real estate, South Tampa and Citrus Park.
If you’ve been dreaming of living the Florida lifestyle for too long, now is your chance to buy Tampa, Florida real estate at recession-friendly prices that won’t break your budget, no matter what you can afford.
4 Tips To Building a Real Estate Team
May 15, 2009
To grow a city you need infrastructure. To grow a Real Estate team you need the same thing. I say this because my wife Donna and I tried to grow a team before we were ready. I see other Realtors do the same thing we did. They are successful right out of the gate so they want to duplicate that success with a team. The problem is that they do not have the systems and other key growth factors in place to make a “team” successful. A team needs 4 key items in place before they will be able to grow successfully.
1) A team needs systems in place to handle leads, client care, and all the problems that are inevitable in Real Estate. Without systems the ball will get dropped a lot and everyone will get frustrated. One agent may do very well without systems because of their force of personality or their contact base but this is not something that is easily duplicated. To grow a team you need systems that will allow everyone to duplicate success if they just follow the system!
2) The team needs an adequate amount of leads to keep everyone busy. Without leads Realtors die on the vine. Again, they will get frustrated and begin to drift. Your team needs leads and/or the tools to acquire leads or they will become a group with a bad attitude and it is downhill from there.
3) A team needs a cheerleader. Celebrate all wins! Salespeople in general are motivated by money but they are also motivated by the endorphins released when they make a great sale!
4) A team needs a leader or leaders. They need someone who has paid the dues, learned the skills, knows the direction, and can instill confidence in the team that if they stay the course they will be rewarded!
