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When you decide that you’re going to buy a home, it is a huge financial decision. Down payments, closing costs, moving expenses, it can all add up pretty quickly. Once you move into your new home, you’re excited to put your own touches on it. Decorating a new home can also take a big chunk out of your wallet. It doesn’t have to eat away what money you may have left; there are ways to save money decorating.

Decorating on a budget doesn’t have to mean shabby chic, there are some great finds if you are patient and have a great imagination. One of my favorite places to find great items for a reasonable price is Craigslist. This loveseat was free on Craigslist and is in great condition! This is a great way to decorate and save money because many of the people getting rid of items aren’t doing so because it’s junk. In the case of the loveseat from Craigslist, the young lady was moving and just didn’t have room to take it with her.

You can locate more free items on Yahoo. They host various groups and one of the groups is called Freecycle This particular group offers items for free as opposed to throwing them away, Freecyle = recycle, get it? I get literally hundreds of updates daily of people giving items away. Again, you must sift through so that you don’t end up with someone elses junk but overall, there are some great finds in both of these places.

Lastly, don’t throw out the idea of thrift stores, here in the Tampa area, we have a thrift store that specializes in nothing but furniture and other decorative items for your home. You don’t have to spend a ton to give your home a great sense of style, there are fine furnishings at great prices available and sometimes, it’s even free. Best Wishes!

I am a very big fan of thinking outside the box. To be able to sell a home in this market under your own terms as a seller is rare. If you decide you don’t want to pay closing costs, have to wonder or worry if your potential buyer has enough money for a down payment. In this market, you’ll be fortunate if they even qualify for a loan so to think you can get your full asking price is almost insane. Right?

If you just won’t settle for less than your asking price & don’t want to pay any portion of the buyers closing costs, how do you expect to sell your home? Not only has one homeowner come up with a way to do all of this, she’s figured out how to do it without any haggling, no Realtor, no broker and from the looks of things, no financial institutions. Her asking price you ask? $40.00! Yes, you read correctyly, it’s not a typo, $40. Ok, ok, that is not quite the truth, there’s a twist. The owner is holding a contest, the rules are simple, write a 150 word essay on why you would love to own this home and pay a $40 entry fee. That my friends is how you buy a house for $40!

Home in Tampa

The owner will not release the home unless she receives 9,000 entries. That’s a cool $360k, no haggle on her asking price. Whoever wins (which is determined by impartial judges & monitored by a local accounting firm) basically gets a home that is free and clear of a mortgage for $40. In my opinion, you can’t beat that with a stick! Creativity, I give her a 10 and everybody wins, she gets her asking price and the new owner has no mortgage. I don’t know about you but after this blog post, my next entry will be into this contest. Best wishes!

Perhaps I’m being a bit pessimistic about these “Bail Out” packages. Who exactly are they bailing out? Back in September, each family was going to contribute $6,500 to this bailout that was to be $700 billion and now this new stimulus package is going to increase that. I don’t know about you, but if we had an additional $6,500 wouldn’t we put it towards our homes?

It appears the purpose of these programs is to encourage lenders to free up some capital to help the home owners find relief. Well, if you have bad credit, you’re not getting modified. If you are not behind in your payments but maxxed out on your credit cards trying to stay ahead, you’re not getting modified. In my opinion, it’s welfare for big business, they got their checks and now they’re going on vacation & they are going to spend until the next check arrives. I’m still trying to understand how AIG & Wells Fargo could dare book vacations for their best performers? I’d like to perform to the level of causing my company to require bailout funds and get compensated for it. No work, big payday all at the taxpayers expense. Sad, and the only reason Wells Fargo cancelled its trip is because of all of the negative press. This trip, in my opinion should have been cancelled as soon as they asked for bailout funds.

The foreclosure deals are out there & if you have cash, you’re king because in spite of receiving bailout funds, many banks are not lending. However, with 10,000 homes a day being foreclosed on, at least some banks are halting more foreclosures temporarily which I suppose is a step in the right direction. We are all asking for relief but I firmly believe that the bailout packages amount to robbing Peter to pay Paul and are only putting the American people further in debt.

Welcome to the Vacant Home Solutions store! Here we hope to help you fill your happy home with great items at reasonable prices. We also offer books to offer inspiration and to help you bring your ideas to life. Thanks for looking and happy shopping.

Being friendly to the environment is becoming more and more a part of our everyday lives. There was a time when we took caring for the environment for granted. Now our trash companies send a special truck just for our recycle bins, we have become more conscientious about separating our papers & plastics and many will not opt for paper at the grocery store over the convenient plastic bags. We can also make some changes in our homes that are environment friendly. Some of the things that help the environment will also help save you money.

Low flow toilets use about 1.6 gallons to flush away waste as opposed to anywhere from 3.5 to 6 gallons of a standard toilet. This allows less water to be used (how obvious is that?) and it keeps you from flushing money down the…..you get the gist. These toilets come in various shapes and sizes to fit both your bathroom and your budget. According to an article written by Terry Love who writes about low flow toilets, Americans can save $11.3 Million everyday on the water bill!

Low flow shower heads are relatively inexpensive to install and can save you money on your energy bill as well. The shower head, much like the toilet…maybe I shouldn’t put that in the same sentence. The shower head will use less water but will not give you that trickledown effect like many earlier models. According to one source, installing a high efficiency showerhead will help save in the neighborhood of 7,800 gallons of water. Did I already mention that this in turn means more money in your pocket? Just checking.

Now that we’ve saved you money on your water bill, let’s move on to the electric company. Lighting is obviously an essential part of our lives. Every time you flip the switch you pay. So how can you pay less? Switch to compact fluorescent light bulbs. Energy Star is well known for providing us with ECOnomical ways to live without changing our way of life. If you change to an Energy Star qualified bulb, they say you can help save enough energy to light more than 3 million homes for a year. What does that translate into money wise? Oh about $600 Million annually.

Now that we’ve been practical, let’s do something pretty that makes our home beautiful as well as energy efficient. The next time you are considering a remodel of your kitchen or bath, think about recycled glass. Recycled glass can be used anywhere you would use a natural stone. From my search, this product may cost you a bit more than the stone but what the heck, you just saved on your water and your electricity bill! Splurge a little for something both gorgeous and environment friendly. While these options are certainly not all you can do to go green, they will hopefully give you some insight into how small changes make a big difference. Best wishes!

For the first time in quite a while, that first home is no longer out of range. Inventory is high and prices are low. I see signs all over the place for homes priced well below $100k in the Tampa area. I sure wish I could have purchased for those prices a few years ago. Amazingly enough, during the boom, the prices were so high that young people just starting out could not afford to purchase a home. Now things have changed dramatically.

If you’ve read any of my past articles, you know I’m very fond of getting out of the box to market homes. I’ve mentioned the use of all of the social networking options, I am also a big advocate of organized networking. However, recently, I was asked how I felt about receiving information about homes on my mobile device. My response was, “I don’t even like it when my service provider sends me unsolicited information”. Then I decided to rethink my position. What made me do this self analysis you ask? Well maybe you didn’t but lets pretend you did. My 15 year old son for one who is mesmerized by his sidekick and it’s internet capabilities. Then we went to Starbucks Saturday morning and there in front of everyone, people sat around tapping away on their mobile devices and it dawned on me that this idea can really sell some homes! We have become a mobile device dependent society, so why shouldn’t we shop for a home in the same fashion? Please note that I am not endorsing any particular product or service but I just found this concept very interesting and believe in innovative thinking. So having said that, check out what may become one of the hottest ways to learn about what is listed for sale in your area. Best wishes!

You can say a lot without ever uttering a word. Facial expressions can tell if you are angry or happy as well as a host of other things. Well, your home also speaks volumes about how soon you want to sell. Stagers and Realtors alike will tell you how to make your home buyer friendly. Whether you believe it or not, how you keep your home says plenty to a potential buyer. The unfortunate thing is that most of the things you absolutely love about your house could possibly kill your deal. Lets take a closer look at times when your home says, look elsewhere, we don’t really want to sell.

My Collection Of…

You might think your collection of thimbles is the best thing since sliced bread and it may be a great collection but if the person looking at your home is not a collector, they may be turned off by your collection. When you are preparing to sell your home, the knick knacks need to be stored. Many people cannot envision their things in the home and rely on what your things look like to get an idea of where their furnishings will fit. Clutter needs to be cut when you decide to put your home on the market or else it screams run, run, run!

Isn’t My Family Lovely?

Believe it or not, having too many family photos can also be a deterrent as well, when it comes time to look into the closets to see the size, after walking through the common areas filled with family photos, your home is no longer on the market in the mind of the buyer, they are now just nosing through someones personal things and they feel uncomfortable, not to mention its is again difficult for them to imagine the pictures on the walls that are now covered by your family.

I Really Didn’t Need to See That!

We are all busy people, and as such, we don’t always have time to make that bed before we leave for the day. However, when you decide to sell your home, you need to make the extra effort to make sure that everything has a place and there is a place for everything. Sad to go into a home and find dirty laundry exposed both literally and figuratively speaking. My personal thoughts on a dirty home is if the sellers aren’t taking care of the surface of the home then chances are, they’ve not kept up with the maintenance on the organs. In other words, when was the last time the a/c filters were changed, have they made sure they have no infestation and so many other questions.

This Is My Favorite Color!

You may think those green walls are fabulous, you may have every shade of green represented but chances are, those green walls won’t translate into the green dollars of a sale. When you decide to sell your home, it’s time to look more toward neutral tones. While the colors you have chosen may be fitting for your furnishings, if the buyer hates green, guess what? No sale, I know, I know, it’s paint, they could just paint over it but again, that’s not the point. If that’s the case, take your own advice, it’s just paint so paint it.

Nothing From Nothing, Leaves Nothing

Lastly, a vacant home shows all the flaws because all there is to look at are ceilings, floors & walls. Rooms appear smaller, little nooks appear as strange places that cause people to wonder what could they possibly put there and the home just appears cold and unfriendly. Not to mention, many buyers figure you now have 2 households to maintain so you must be desperate to get rid of the one you’ve left vacant and will make some very unflattering offers. Often, homes that are left vacant show signs of having been left behind before the front door is even unlocked. Yard maintenance goes neglected, pool cleanings are overlooked and the appeal is lost at the curb. Make sure your home says “You would be right at home here”. Take care of these things before you decide to put your home on the market and I wish you success!

Many homeowners have realized that they may as well hold on to that American Dream by keeping the homes they purchased. Keeping that in mind, it’s nice just to make the home you live in look better. One way of doing that is by upgrading your flooring.

Some flooring options include ceramic tile, natural stone, carpet and porcelain. There are some other less conventional but beautiful options available as well. Being open minded in your design process is wonderful, don’t forget the potential buyer if you have plans in the future to sell your home. Give your design process a lot of thought prior to commiting to an unconventional flooring choice.

You can make a conventional choice and still get a different look. Tiles that are in shapes other than squares can make your flooring more noticeable. Rough textures add a rustic look and light colors can make a room look larger just as darker colors can close in a room giving it a more cozy look.

When making flooring choices, be sure to pay attention to the rooms you will be placing your flooring into. For example, while ceramic tile is lovely, if it has a gloss finish, it can be slippery when wet so it may not be ideal for kitchens and baths. Vinyl flooring is not my personal choice but it is quite durable and easy to care for and there are some great arguments on it’s use and it does come in many colors and patterns and can be a good choice for high traffic areas.

Natural stone is typically a little more costly but lasts virtually forever and adds great value to your home. Perhaps this is why travertine & granite are found in some of the more prestigious homes. Hardwood flooring is a lovely option and now you can choose between the real deal or laminate. Laminate is a lot more forgiving than real wood and can be quite resilient. Hardwood is great for low traffic areas and can create a warm look in any room.

While the flooring choices I have mentioned here are not all of the choices available, they are the most common. Hopefully, you now have a little more insight on flooring possibilities.

So many people are trying to get their homes to stand out. One Realtor mentioned how he is tired of seeing the words “paradise, fabulous & one of a kind” in listings. The real question is, what are you doing to make your property stand out? You have to get out of the box in this market and come up with new and unique ways to market.
Social Networking sites like Facebook, LinkedIn and one I found that is new to me called Real Estate Global Network offers a free way to make connections in areas that you wouldn’t typically have a reach to. These sites allow you to search for people in many cases that you have something in common with and this gives you a new market to work within. Twitter is also a site that while the networking is brief, (140 characters or less) you can make great connections because many of the people there list their websites and they are there for the same reason you are…networking.
Facebook allows you to join groups and there are several groups that are dedicated to Real Estate and these groups are started by other professionals in the industry that offer you a way to market your Real Estate services or goods. For many of these groups, you don’t have to be a Realtor, many are run by investors, brokers, appraisers and some just by marketing people who have learned that you have to find a new way to stand out.
There are so many social networking groups out there, be sure to try visit them and see which ones you think will help you market to your target market. Here are just a few for you to try out. Best Wishes!

www.Facebook.com
www.Twitter.com
www.LinkedIn.com
www.Plaxo.com
www.MySpace.com
www.Ryze.com
www.Spoke.com
www.Tagged.com