REALTORS®…
This is a reminder to save the date for TOMORROW night (Thursday night)…

Please join us in networking and fun with “A Happy Hour, Hors d’ Oeuvres & A Chance to Win Airfare to NYC!!”. 

Don’t miss out, this is always a great time and if you have never seen a home built by Idea Homes, you are in for a treat!!

You can go to Movember.com and form a team, join a team or do it solo. They will set you up with your own Mo-Space page so people can easily donate to help fight the cause and support the radness that is your MO. The participating men in Austin, Texas homes all over the area start off Mo-vember 1st with a fresh clean shave and grow their Mos the entire month.

ATX Stache Crew Team Captain Brian Watson

So this Mo-vember, be Mo involved, have Mo fun and be Mo generous!!

If growing a Mo isn’t your thing but would love to donate to help fight Cancer, donate to Stone Slade’s Mo-Space page found here: Stone’s Mo-Space

They once again have a long list of awesome local businesses that have stepped up to sponsor the party. If you made it out last year then you know it was one of the most fun Halloween parties of 2010!!

Come as you are or dress up in your favorite Halloween costume, party the night away with ACL or come by here first to get your Halloween weekend started. Citizen Generation is asking for a $15 donation at the door which goes directly to charity and once your inside you can sample some of Austin’s favorite eateries as well as spirits from Patron, Corona, Ultimate Vodka and more… If you’re in costume be prepared to be judged and possibly win some great prizes. I look forward to this all year and am so excited that it’s now less than a week away.

For more details visit ACL’s website www.AustinCityLiving.com or call 512.323.9006 and ask for Lee Ann.

Furniture

Choose furniture that serves multiple functions. Use a futon or a sofa-bed instead of having both a couch and a bed. Substitute a trunk for a coffee table and storage cubes for end tables. That way you not only have great furniture, but extra storage space as well.
Instead of big, bulky chairs and a huge table, buy a small table that can convert to be bigger when needed and smaller chairs or stools that can be stacked in a corner when not in use.

Storage Space

Utilize every inch of possible storage space. Underneath the bed, every shelf in every cabinet, the area under the sink, etc. Make good use of the phrase, “A place for everything, and everything in its place.” Book shelves are not only good for storing books. You can put CD’s, movies, clothes, knick-knacks, food, or any number of things on them. Put everything away when not in use.

Mount It

When floor space is scarce, take advantage of the wall space. Get a TV that mounts on the wall. Consider wall/ceiling mounted lighting fixtures instead of floor lamps. Wall mounted shelving takes up much less space than book shelves. Be careful when hanging shelves above a sofa or bed; know how low you can go without the danger of anyone hitting their head. Another neat idea is to buy or create your own ceiling rack for your pots and pans. This will leave you with a lot more cabinet space in the kitchen.

Décor

Choose soft, light tones like blues and greens to make the space seem open and airy. Also, the space should be well lit. Add some extra lighting if possible. Get rid of heavy draperies and open the windows when you can.

Coordinate the furniture colors with the wall color. Contrasting colors will break up a space. The furniture will blend with the space and be less interrupting if it matches the wall color.

A well placed mirror will also make a room look bigger. Just be careful of the size and placement. Mirrors with bulky frames may have the opposite effect. You should never place a mirror in the kitchen/dining area, or anywhere that will have a reflection of the television.

8005 Sharon Road, Volente TX 78641

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• Consume less. One person produces about 4.6 lbs. of trash in one day. If you have a family of 5, that is 23 lbs. of trash a day from your home alone. You can help lessen this number by doing things like using reusable rags instead of disposable wipes, installing a low-flow shower head, or starting a compost pile with yard trimmings and food waste. The less that you are throwing away, the better.
• Recycle. Newspaper, aluminum cans, plastic bottles, batteries, old computers, fax machines, DVD players, VCRs, fax machines, appliances, wooden doors, pallets, lumber, furniture… can all be recycled. Please contact the city of Austin for a complete list of things that can be recycled and where to drop them off.
• Cut back on toxic products. You can buy less toxic cleaning products by looking for the ones that have the ingredients listed on the label or that make more specific claims rather than general ones. You can also use household and natural items to make your own cleaning products. Click here for some make-it-yourself cleaning products.
• Conserve energy. You can do this by simply remembering to turn off a light when you leave a room or unplugging any battery or cell phone charger when it’s not in use. You can do even more by replacing your normal light bulbs with energy conserving bulbs and planting trees in your yard to shade your home.

1. Condition

The first thing you have to do is disassociate yourself from your home. Of course you love your home. You purchased it and decorated it and have many good memories there. But you have to remember that a buyer is trying to picture themselves in this home. So they are going to be nitpicky and judgmental.
Look at the outside of your home from across the street. If you were a buyer, would the curb appeal stand out to you? You may need to add a fresh coat of paint to the outside, plant some new landscaping, or even replace rotted wood or shingles.
When considering the condition of the interior, check out the carpeting. Is it matted, stained, or outdated? It could need replacing. What about the countertops, fixtures, and paint colors? The color schemes throughout the home should be completely neutral.

2. Photos

If you are only using one photo (usually of the outside) to market your home, buyers will definitely pass your home by. If there aren’t any photos, they assume it’s because you’re trying to hide something. A buyer doesn’t want to waste their time seeing homes that aren’t even worthy enough of pictures. Hire a professional photographer if you can. But if you can’t you can always take some pictures of your own. Some things to remember:
-When taking pictures of the front of your home, try to get only your home in the picture. If you get part of your neighbor’s house you can always crop it out.
-Some will tell you to only take pictures of the master bedroom. But honestly, the more pictures you have, the better. Take pictures of every single bedroom and bathroom.
-Bathrooms can be tricky. Make sure the toilet lid is down. Also, be sure that you aren’t seen in the mirror reflection.
-Don’t take pictures of narrow hallways. Open spaces and cool features only. Get a good shot of the fireplace.
-The kitchen is one of the most important photos, so take multiple shots from different angles. And always set the dining room table for pictures.
-Don’t forget to take pictures of the back yard, the garden, the pool, the garage, the views, etc. Make your home stand out!!!

3. Sale Price

You don’t want to feel like you’re giving your home away, but overpricing is one of the worst and most common mistakes a seller can make. Overpricing is the quickest way to rack up those days on market, and dated listings almost never go for their list price. It won’t show up in the correct price range, so the people who do look at it will probably be looking for more bang for their buck.
To avoid overpricing, closely examine the comparables. Compare square footages, location, updates, layout, etc. Having one thing can sometimes make up for not having another. For example, say a comparable home in your neighborhood recently sold for $300,000, and it was recently updated, but also next to a liquor store. Your home hasn’t been updated but it’s on a quiet little street. You’d price your home at $300,000 as well because the lack of updates and the bad location are equal to each other.

4. Marketing

Unfortunately, homes don’t just sell themselves anymore. You really have to work at it. Set up a virtual tour. Create colorful flyers with multiple pictures and a great description of the house. Hold open house every weekend. Get feedback from buyers and real estate agents. They can point out things you’ve overlooked.
Take advantage of the internet. 81% of buyers search on line by themselves before they even talk to a real estate agent. There are plenty of places to advertise your home on the web. Try posting a video to YouTube on what you like about living there. Or advertise your open house on Craigslist.

5. Listing Agent

Most sellers will automatically blame the listing agent for their home not selling. But usually that is not the case. In most cases, a real estate agent will be begging a seller to lower the price or make some upgrades to no avail for quite some time. And only after getting a new agent do they realize the problem lies elsewhere.
But there are those cases where maybe the wrong agent was hired for the job. Don’t just hire the first agent you come across. Interview a couple of them before choosing one. Decide what kind of agent you’re looking for. Don’t base your decision solely on suggested sales price or the agent fees. Those should be the last things you should discuss. Find out what their marketing plan is for your home. If you want an agent who will spend money on a virtual tour, professional flyers, and other costly marketing tools, hire an agent from a full service brokerage.

Preparation

• Wipe down the walls and clean off chalky surfaces. Repair any cracks or chips and sand and smooth any rough edges. Wait a full 24 hours for the walls to dry after wiping them down and making repairs.

• Assemble all the painting tools and clean up supplies before you start. You’ll need one gallon of paint for every 300 to 400 square feet. Make sure you have painter’s tape, drop cloths, brushes, rollers, paint tray liners, paint thinner and rags. For fast, easy painting, consider a power sprayer or power roller. Recent innovations make these tools easy to use, easy to control, easy to switch colors, and easy to clean.

• Protect all floors and furniture with a drop cloth or sheet.

• Cover the trim with a low-tack painter’s tape. Low-tack or less sticky tapes are easier to remove and less likely to harm wood.

• Glass Mask is a little known product to protect your windows that is much easier to apply than traditional tape. The product comes in a plastic tube that fits easily in the palm of the hand. To apply, simply press the attached applicator pad to the window and glide it along the trim that will be painted. Once the liquid is completely dry, you can paint the trim. Any paint that laps onto the Glass Mask can easily be scraped off with the included blade. One tube of Glass Mask will cover about the same lineal footage as three rolls of traditional tape. The product is available at hardware, paint supply and home warehouse stores.

• Remove loose fibers from rollers with a lint brush or tape before using

Painting

• Spray or roll from top to bottom, left to right to cover evenly and neatly. Multiple thin coats will cover better than one thick coat.
• When painting a large area or exterior, sprayers offer the best most efficient coverage. Go slow and steady and always back roll to ensure even coverage.

• Use quality brushes or rollers. You’re saving money by doing it yourself so spring for the really good materials.
• If you need to take a break and you don’t want the paint to dry out, cover your paint tray, brush, and/or roller with a garbage bag. This will keep the paint for up to 24 hours.

Clean Up

• If you’re using a water-based paint, rinse the brushes, rollers, and other tools with water. If its oil based paint, use paint thinner. Some sprayers and rollers have disposable parts that don’t need to be cleaned and aren’t expensive to replace. These are really good if you’re planning on using multiple colors.
• Use bristle protectors to keep your brushes like new between uses. You can find them at almost any hardware store.
• Use a fine tooth comb to get any dried paint out of your brushes.