By Melissa Dittmann Tracey, REALTOR® Magazine
Is this really putting your best photo forward?
That main photo you post of your listing on the Internet–you know, the one that always pops up first and often depends if a buyer will click on it to see more–needs to make a great first impression. But in winter, will that exterior property photo really look inviting under gray skies and snowy mounds?
Some experts will argue that you want your main MLS photo to be seasonally appropriate. If it’s fall, you want the exterior photo of the home to reflect fall. If it’s winter, you don’t want a summer photo because buyers will know it’s a stale listing that has been sitting on the market.
But at a time when more properties are sitting on the market for longer periods of time, will buyers overlook the seasonal disconnect?
By Robert Freedman, senior editor, REALTOR® Magazine
Here’s a slightly different kind of style issue: cars.
Nissan Leaf
2011 is shaping up to be one of the most consequential years for buying a car in a long time. In part this is because of the Chevy Volt, which is now appearing in showrooms across the country and is turning out to be a genuine game-changer. It’s a true electric car. You plug it in at night and, for the most part, you have enough juice to do all of your city driving the next day. If you run out of juice, the gasoline engine kicks in seamlessly—not to run the car but to run the electric generator.
Chevy Volt
Handling and styling are getting high marks, too. So, expect the Volt to give hybrids and the other electric car, the Nissan Leaf, a run for the money.
But there are other innovations coming to fruition this year, with advances in safety technologies and next-generation mobile accessories that are really making your car an extesion of your office.
So, what will the car you choose this year or next say about who you are as a real estate professional? What style do you want to convey?
By Charlene Storozuk, Dezigner Digz
Photo Credit: Berlyn Photography
Fresh back from the International Real Estate Staging Association Conference in Las Vegas, I’m ready to hit the ground running with the information I gained while there!
This year we saw an amazing lineup of speakers: Ashley Whittenberger, Jackson West, Sandy Dixon, Tammy O’Brien, Alice Chan, Audra Slinkey, Jana Uselton, Melissa Marro, Christine Rae, and Dan Eason. One that really stood out and resonated with me was keynote speaker Matthew Finlason. You may know him from the HGTV series “The Stagers” — that’s right, the rambunctious, style icon that everyone loves.
In his address to the 360 professional home stagers in attendance, Finlason highlighted how staging has moved beyond sterile spaces and boring beige. In fact, he is leading the charge on staging “outside of the box” and is doing so with amazing results.
Before decisions are made on wall color, furniture, accessories, or artwork, Finlason researches the neighborhood to get a sense of who is living there. He gets a feel for the age group, such as whether the locals are single, young married couples starting families or retirees. He does this by visiting the local hangouts–thecoffee shops, bookstores, and pubs to name a few.
Based on his findings, Finlason then pulls together a picture of whom he thinks the target audience will be for that specific property and presents it to the real estate professional. In fact, he says that some of real estate pros are shocked by the amount of research that goes into his presentation. Continue reading »
By Melissa Dittmann Tracey, REALTOR® Magazine
So that reddish pink Honeysuckle hue may be stealing all of the glory as far as being the “color of the year,” but more home owners also are seeing gray.
Gray has become the hot new neutral, and a popular choice particularly in kitchens for backsplashes, countertops, flooring, and cabinetry, according to a recent article in Newsday by Kristin Taveira, “The Grays of Our Lives: Moody and Mod, It’s a Hot Color in the Kitchen.”
“The white kitchens never go out of style–you see them everywhere– but gray is the new white,” Jennifer Mabley of Mabley Handler Interior Design told Newsday. “Gray gives you dimension and depth, and helps to tie in the natural colors in the stone countertops. Sometimes, when you have a white kitchen and granite, there’s a disconnect. The gray helps tie in a natural color.”
Designers in the article note gray can:
- be easily adaptable and paired with any shade for a pop of color, such as yellow, for more drama, or you can use it to help soften another hue.
- enhance the look of stainless steel and granite.
- create a sense of permanence. It can ground a long space, whereas white may make it appear that it goes on forever.
Other color trends for paint in 2011:
Do you have a favorite accessory that you use when staging a property for resale? REALTOR® Magazine wants to hear from you!
Send in your favorite staging accessory, and your idea may be included in an upcoming article for REALTOR® Magazine’s annual List issue. Send your ideas to writer Melissa Dittmann Tracey at mtracey@realtors.org. Please include your name, company, and city/state with your submission.
By Melissa Dittmann Tracey, REALTOR® Magazine
Simple, affordable do-it-yourself projects such as cleaning and decluttering and just adding lighting can help increase a home’s resale value, according to HomeGain’s annual home improvement and staging survey.
HomeGain, an online real estate marketing resource, surveyed nearly 600 real estate professionals in creating a list of the top do-it-yourself home improvement projects that offer the biggest return for your buck.
Overall, the home improvement projects that boasted the highest price returns were updates to the kitchen and bathroom–an estimated $3,435 price increase for resale. Painting the outside of the home ($2,222 price increase) also offered one of the highest returns, according to HomeGain’s Home Sale Maximizer study.
Here are six do-it-yourself projects–all under $1,000–that made HomeGain’s list, as well as the estimated increase to the home’s price at resale for each project.
1. Cleaning and decluttering: Remove any personal items, unclutter countertops, organize closets and shelves, and make the home sparkling clean.
Cost: $290
Estimated return: $1,990
2. Light and bright: Clean all windows inside and out, replace old curtains, update lighting fixtures, and remove anything that blocks light from the windows.
Cost: $375 cost
Estimated return: $1,550
3. Staging: Rearrange furniture, bring in new accessories and furnishings to enhance rooms, including artwork and playing soft music in the background.
Cost: $550 cost
Estimated return: $2,194
4. Landscaping: Punch up the home’s curb appeal in the front and backyards by adding bark mulch, bushes and flowers, and ensuring current plants and grass are well-cared for and manicured.
Cost: $540
Estimated return: $1,932
Tailor your next blog post to sellers looking for a new wall oven in time for their Super Bowl blowout. Post the free article “Appliance Guide: Wall Ovens” from the REALTOR® Content Resource to your blog so sellers can update their kitchen and churn out warm, gooey pizza at their Super Bowl bash.
That’s not the only free-ready-to-go article at the REALTOR® Content Resource that you can post on Facebook or Twitter, add to your blog or e-newsletter, or print as a handout. Check out the other three articles in the “The Super Bowl-Ready Home” theme, or just do an easy search of the REALTOR® Content Resource by keyword or topic.
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