New Weekly Article – Paper Trail || Your Home and Lifestyle.
Jonathan Creath
512-406-1086
Setting up an office in your home or creating a computer center to help kids with their studies? Here is a great article to help guide you along the way while staying organized!
New Weekly Article – Study Hall || Your Home and Lifestyle.
Jonathan Creath
512-406-1086
For those who are a month in their New Years resolution or simply trying to consistently prepare healthy food, please enjoy this great article offering a variety in your day to day cooking.
New Weekly Article – Vibrant Variety || Your Home and Lifestyle.
Please enjoy this weeks article brought to you by Creath Partners!
http://article.yourhomeandlifestyle.com/pages/article/YHL_JAN_12_01/23370/index.html.
Jonathan Creath
Please enjoy this article focused on making family dining connections!
http://article.yourhomeandlifestyle.com/pages/article/YHL_DEC_11_05/23370/index.html.
Jonathan Creath
Please enjoy this article from my monthly magazine.
New Weekly Article – Global Gifting || Your Home and Lifestyle.
Jonathan Creath
Top 10 Tips to Home Selling in Winter
By Elizabeth Weintraub, About.com Guide
Winter presents its own unique set of challenges. It is not the ideal time to put your home on the market if you live where it gets cold and rains or snows, primarily because your home won’t show as well. However, there are steps you can take to brighten your home and make the showing pleasant and enjoyable for your buyers.
1. Clear a Path
· Continually shovel a path through the snow, especially if it’s still falling.
· Footprints on freshly fallen snow will turn to ice if the temperature is low enough, so scrape the walk.
· Sprinkle a layer of sand over the sidewalk and steps to ensure your buyers’ stable footing.
· Remember to open a path from the street to the sidewalk so visitors aren’t forced to crawl over snowdrifts.
· If it’s raining, put a rubber mat by the front door or a container to hold wet umbrellas.
2) Let in the Light
· Pull up the blinds, open the shutters, push back the drapes on every window.
· Turn on every light in the house, including appliance lights and closet lights.
· Brighten dark rooms with few windows by placing spotlights on the floor behind furniture.
· Turn off TV.
3) Turn on the Heat
· Pump up that thermostat. It’s better to heat the house a degree or two warmer than usual and then set the temperature at normal. This prevents the heat from kicking on when the buyer is present, because some HVAC systems are loud.
· You want the temperature inside to be comfortable and to give the buyer more of a reason to linger, especially on a cold day.
· Light the fireplace, but open the damper, place a grate in front of it and don’t leave it unattended for very long. You don’t want your house to catch fire!
4) Create a Mood
· Make your living room appear romantic by placing two champagne glasses near a champagne bucket on the coffee table.
· Toss Afghans or throws across the arms of your sofa.
· Turn your bathroom into a spa:
1. Hang plush robes.
2. Roll up wash cloths, tie with a ribbon and place in a basket on the counter.
3. Set up a grouping of soaps, lotions and shampoo.
· Place vases filled with winter flowers around the house.
· Set a breakfast tray on the bed containing a coffee cup, saucer, napkin, rolled-up newspaper.
· Dress your dining room table for a dinner for two.
5) Turn on the Music
· Turn on soft music. I used to play Enya until one day I heard it piped in at a mortuary.
· Jazz or classical is soothing.
· Don’t turn on a commercial radio station – fill the CD changer so your music will be continuous.
6) Ease Up on the Scents
· Many people are allergic to certain scents and deodorizers, so don’t spray the air or plug-in air fresheners.
· Don’t burn candles or spray perfume in the bedroom for the same reason.
· If you’re going to bake cookies or simmer spices such as cinnamon in water on the stove, put out munchies so buyers aren’t disappointed. More than one sad buyer has said, “Oh, darn, I thought there were cookies in here!”
7) Make it Visually Pleasing
· Display photographs showcasing your summer flower gardens and lush green lawns.
· Keep blinds partially closed that otherwise show undesirable outdoor scenery such as a dilapidated fence or a nearby structure that obstructs views.
· Make Your House Sparkle:
1. Wash windows
2. Clean out cobwebs.
3. If necessary, re-caulk tubs, showers and sinks.
4. Polish chrome faucets and mirrors.
5. Clean out the refrigerator.
6. Vacuum daily. If your carpeting is plush, vacuum in one direction.
7. Wash and wax floors.
8. Dust furniture, ceiling fan blades and light fixtures.
9. Bleach dingy grout.
10. Empty trash and recycling bins.
8) Serve Winter Foods
· Don’t serve muffins or any other kind of food that can be popped into the mouth because you want buyers to stay for a while and notice elements they might otherwise miss.
· Hot soups such as tortilla, potato or squash are delicious on a cold day.
· Chili or stew is a great alternative to soup, but leave a receptacle for disposal of the paper bowls and spoons.
· Hot apple cider or cups of cocoa make great beverage choices.
9) Provide Specific Information
· Attach printed cards to items and in rooms that provide further information the buyer might miss or might not know. You have so little time to make an impression.
· If you have an antique chandelier in your dining room, put a card on it that discloses its age and other important details.
· If you have removed the washer and dryer from the laundry room, attach a card to the wall describing the room.
· If your basement stairs are steep, attach a card to the railing that cautions buyers to watch their step.
· Take care when placing a card that says: “Not included in the sale.” That will make a buyer want it, but you can play that later to your advantage.
10) Use Timers and Technology to Your Advantage
· Plug indoor lamps into a timer to automatically turn on at times buyers will be present.
· Consider using motion sensors that will light up in the evening when a buyer approaches your doorstep.
· Set your crock-pot on a timer to warm up soup at designated time.
· If you use an answering machine, turn it off or mute messages.
As we try to envision what 2012 holds for the overall economy, there are already positive signs from a Real Estate perspective. Below are bits and pieces of an article from HousingWire offering some confidence in the overall Real Estate market.
Gradual improvement in the housing market is expected next year, with existing-home sales edging up 4% to 5% and new home sales getting an even bigger boost off this year’s record lows, the chief economist of the nation’s largest real estate group said Friday.
“Tight mortgage credit conditions have been holding back homebuyers all year, and consumer confidence has been shaky recently,” Lawrence Yun, chief economist of the National Association of Realtors, said. “Nonetheless, there is a sizeable pent-up demand based on population growth, employment levels and a doubling-up phenomenon that can’t continue indefinitely.”
Stay tuned for some more local Austin information as we draw closer to the end of 2011. Feel free to contact us with any real estate needs or questions.
Jonathan Creath
www.creathpartners.com
jonathan.creath@sothebysrealty.com
What a phenomenal trip to Miami, FL for the Sotheby’s Inernational Realty Global Networking Event. Yes, Global. Within the network, we are approaching 600 offices in over 40 countries. The Fontainebleau on South Beach hosted 1,150 owners and associates. During the visit, I had the privilege to meet professionals from DC, San Francisco, Hawaii, The Bahamas, Uruguay, Hong Kong, and several other beautiful locations. Along with Aron Ralston as the headline speaker, we gained wonderful information during the keynote sessions.
While Sotheby’s has an amazingly innovative marketing department, they continue to surprise us with new offerings. As I continue to build our Social Media presence, I will also offer up Austin, TX Real Estate information in a periodic blog. In order to kick this off, a series of articles will be written highlighting the value add of the Sotheby’s brand.
Our traditional offerings such as Co-Op advertising through avenues such as The Robb Report, International Herald Tribune to on-line presence such as Wall Street Journal and New York Times. Our corporate website, www.sothebysrealty.com creates a true user experience allowing buyers to search for properties via the lifestyles they desire. We also push our client’s listings to major Real Estate sites such as Trulia, BBC.com, and the prestigious James Place where we are their exclusive Real Estate provider! Sotheby’s has many more offerings above and beyond these so make sure to check back periodically for updates. A few brand new offerings from corporate include custom property videos to be placed on our own You Tube page, a targeted campaign with Google, and a few others.
Whether you read about a new offering or strategy Creath Partners has been leveraging for years, it is clear the Sotheby’s brand is the most innovative company offering world-class luxury service. Whether our clients are buying or selling a $200,000 home or $3 million estate, they receive optimal customer service. Please follow along with our future blogs as I go into more detail of each of these and other topics.
Jonathan Creath
