5 Tips to Make Summer Home Renovations Pay Off

NEW YORK (MainStreet)—Younger homeowners are likely planning renovations this summer, according to a new study, with some improvements benefiting property values more than others.

The Zillow Digs Summer Home Improvement Trend and Spending survey found that 71% of those aged 18 to 34 plan a home improvement or addition compared to 51% of homeowners 55 and older.

The survey found that 40% plan to work on their outdoor spaces while 17 percent plan to improve their bathrooms.

"As we head into the long days of summer, we are seeing increased interest in outdoor spaces with very natural elements such as stone fireplaces as well as bringing more light into bathrooms with clear glass on the walls and shower enclosures," said Cynthia Nowak, a trend expert with Zillow Digs.

Overall, 60% of American homeowners plan renovations and expect to spend $1,200 with 65% of homes housing children planning three or more home improvements compared to 57% of homes without children.

But not all home improvements pay off and positively impact property values, according to the Appraisal Institute, a professional association of real estate appraisers.

Siding replacement, entry door replacement, attic bedroom addition, minor kitchen remodel and garage door replacement rank among the projects with the highest expected return on investment, according to Remodeling magazine's most recent Cost vs. Value report.

"Projects that take a home significantly beyond community norms are often not worth the cost when the owner sells the home," said Appraisal Institute President Richard L. Borges. "If they don't match what's standard in a community, they're considered excessive."

Other renovations with high expected pay-offs include basement remodel, deck addition and window replacement.

"Consumers should be aware that cost does not necessarily equal value," Borges said.

Below are 5 tips to consider before launching home renovations:

• 1. Arrange a feasibility study for an unbiased evaluation. "During a feasibility study, a professional real estate appraiser will analyze the homeowner's property, weigh the cost of rehabilitation and provide an estimate of the property's value before and after the improvement," said Borges.
• 2. Add green and energy-efficient renovations. "Adding Energy Star appliances and extra insulation are likely to pay the homeowner back in lowered utility bills relatively quickly. Lower utility costs also are a draw for potential homebuyers," said Borges.
• 3. The longer a homeowner stays in a property, the greater the opportunity for a return on investment As a result, Borges advises holding off on big renovations when a homeowner isn't sure how long they will be in their home.
• 4. Check online for home renovation ideas. About 37 percent of homeowners look to the internet for home improvement ideas and inspiration, according to the Zillow Digs survey. HGTV.com, Pinterest and Zillow Digs were among the most common online sources for inspiration.
• 5. Download the Appraisal Institute's free Remodeling & Rehabbing brochure at www.appraisalinstitute.org

--Written by Juliette Fairley for MainStreet

10 Decorating Tips for A Stress-Free Home

Create a Clutter Free Environment-

Most people tend to store stuff they don’t really need such as piles of newspapers or trash bags full of garbage or outgrown clothes. Take a little time to designate a specific area or container for items that need to be taken out of the house and another container for you to place items that you bring home. Do you really need a lot of end tables and clutter in your living room? If you confined, then you most likely will feel stressed. Also, re-arrange areas that limit your walking ability such as a coffee table that fits close up to your couch. You will lessen the chance of stubbing your toes while trying to relax.

Have Less Lighting-
Everyone knows that low lighting can be more relaxing. Rather than have a bright overhead light on in your living room or bedroom, bring in a few lamps to place around the room. You will instantly feel more at ease thanks to the softer glow of lamp lights.

Be Less Bold in Your Color Choice-
If you truly want a relaxing stress-free home to come home to then you should consider keeping bright colors and bold patterns to a minimum. If you want to add a little color that is fine, a bright red throw pillow or something on the couch is fine, but your walls should be painted a more neutral earthy tone. If your eyes are busy focusing on all the bright colors in the room, you will have a harder time relaxing. If painting a room isn’t something you want to do, then focus more on pale colored lamp shades, throw pillows, and other decorative items.

Express the Nature Lover in You-
One very important decorating tip for a stress-free home is nature and incorporating natural elements into your home. House plants, mirrors across from windows and natural landscape artwork will bring a relaxing and fresh feeling to any room inside your house.

Surround Yourself with Home-
You may also want to consider putting a favorite item such as an old cabinet with photos of your family on it, a vase of flowers etc. near your front door or the main area you walk into when you first get home. This will remind you that you are home as soon as you walk in the door and you will instantly feel more relaxed. This idea can also be incorporated into other areas of your home. It is always good to “feel at home”, your photos and other favorite things will emphasize the “home” feeling.

Say Good Night to Electronics-
If you have a TV in your bedroom or a computer that stays on all night or blinks while in standby mode, you are telling yourself to stay awake and not relax. This will increase your stress level throughout the night cause you didn’t get the sleep you should have and the next morning, you will start the day filled with tension.

Create Your Idea of Paradise-
In your bedroom, living room; bathroom, etc. wherever you want to feel at ease, surround yourself by the essence of paradise for yourself. If you love walking on the beach during the summer months, why not surround yourself with things that remind you of those long walks? If your idea of heaven is a mountainous terrain or a cabin in the woods, bring in rustic furniture or paintings of trees and mountains, gentle streams, etc.

Pets Help with Relaxing-
Incorporating a fish tank into your home will also serve to create a stress-free area. You will enjoy sitting back watching your fish swim around their tank and it will calm you. If space allows, other pets can relax you as well. Everyone loves to come home to a welcoming committee and your beloved dog or cat can do as much for you as your spouse and children
A Corner for Yourself-
Create a corner or a special area inside your home for you to go to when you need a moment to unwind. This can be in the bedroom or a spot in the living room. Tell your kids that when you are in this area that you are taking time to relax and ask them to not bother you while you are there.

Natural Lighting Sooths the Soul-
Eliminate the dark window blinds and curtains in your home, even in the bedroom. You will feel more at ease and peaceful waking up to natural light coming in the windows. You will also be more willing to wake up when the alarm clock starts buzzing because your body will see the morning light and take it as a clue to get the day going.

When considering all the tips for decorating stress-free home, it can be as simple or as complicated as you want. Nothing has to cost you a fortune and there is nothing you shouldn’t do while creating your haven as long as you feel relaxed when you’re surrounded by it.

Author Bio- This post has been written by Tresssy Jones. She loves to write about Home Improvement. She is evangelist at Atlanta Ductless Air Conditioning. They provide best heating and air conditioning services.

Mastering the Art of Negotiation

Before the Negotiation
Before you enter any kind of formal negotiation, make sure you know exactly what the expectations are. It helps to put down on paper exactly what you will do and accomplish. You should map out every scenario out to your client, but remain optimistic. 

Also finding potential weaknesses in the opposing part is ideal, to negotiation tactics. Knowing the opposing's weaknesses shows that you have done your homework and it shows you have valid information to back up your points, or why the negotiation should lead in your favor. This may also help both parties to find a middle ground. Another tip, is to come up with a list of reasons why your proposal would be beneficial to the opposing party. For example, one Realtor may bring up that their offer is more favorable, although it is offering a lower price, it is an all-cash offer, as opposed to a riskier financing. By specifically laying out the advantages  the negotiator increases the odds of getting the deal done in their favor. 

The NegotiationIn Person
Ideally, each party should state exactly what their objective is coming into the negotiation. This allows each party to understand where the other stands. It also establishes a basis for a give-and-take conversation. At this point, each party may then offer its fall-back proposals and counter proposals in order to hammer out a deal.

Body language analysis can help you to understand how the negotiation is going. Was your proposal well received? Positive signs include nodding of the head and direct eye contact. Negative signs include folding of the arms (across the chest), aversion of the eyes or a subtle head shake as if to say "no". 

By PhoneNegotiation by phone, can be a little more difficult, because body language can not be determined. This means that the negotiator must do his best to analyze his counterpart's voice. But this also means, their is less emotion and you don't have to sit face to face with one another, and makes it easier to stand your ground. As a general rule, extended pauses usually mean that the opposing party is hesitant or is pondering the offer. However, sudden exclamations or an unusually quick response (in a pleasant voice) may indicate that the opposing party is quite favorable to the proposal and just needs a little nudge to seal the deal. 

By MailHere are some tips for negotiations done through the mail (such as residential real estate transactions):

• Words or phrases that leave ambiguity may signal that a party is open to a given proposal. Look specifically for words such as "can", "possibly", "perhaps", "maybe" or "acceptable". Also, if the party uses a phrase such as "anxiously awaiting your reply" or "looking forward to it", this may be a signal that the party is enthusiastic and/or optimistic that an agreement may soon be reached.
• When the opposing party makes an initial offer or a counter proposal, see if you can incorporate some of those ideas with your own and then ink a deal on the spot. If compromise on a particular issue is not possible, propose other alternatives that you think would be favorable to both parties.
• Finally, while all agreements should be sealed with a hand shake, a more formal contract memorializing the negotiation is a must. To that end, have an attorney draft a formal contract soon after the negotiation process is completed and make certain that it is signed by all parties in a timely manner.

No Agreement? No Worries

If an agreement cannot be reached in one sitting or phone call, do not panic. It may take sometime for both parties to think about the offers on the table. Leave the door open for future negotiations or plan another meeting, this will come across as though you sincerely believe that a deal can be worked out and you are willing to work to make that happen. Maybe all it takes is for the party to realize that there are no other offers or that your party has provided the best possible offer. Regardless, never under any circumstances, burn your bridges.

Celebrating Earth Day

Happy Earth Day!
What does this mean for you and your household. It can simply mean turning off the lights when there not in use, or don't keep the water running when not being used. Today you can make the decision to go a little more green and save money along the way, here are some household tips to achieve that: 

Power off

• The screensaver on your computer uses the same amount of power as when it's on and being used. Switch your PC off if you're going to be away for a while.
• Turn down your water heater. By lowering the temperature on your water heater from 140 to 120 degrees will reduce your water heating costs by 6-10%
• 50-70% of a household energy costs come from heating & cooling according to the Department of Energy.
• Installing a programmable thermostat will save you approximetly $150 a year.
• Aim for 78 degrees of higher when you are at home while reducing your cooling loads 10-20%. When you are away from home make it 85 degrees, and save an additional 5-12%.
• In cold weather for every degree you lower the thermostat you will save between 1 and 3% of your heating bill. 

Unplug

• Unplug unused chargers, plugged in cellphones, laptops or anything for that matter. Americans throw away about 8% of our annual electric bill from having objects just simply plugged in.

• The easiest way to save is to buy a surge protector that can plug in multiple units, that way you can turn off more than one charger in one switch.

Light Fixtures

• Install CFL's, the spiral-shaped bulbs known as compact fluorescents use less than a third of the energy regular bulbs use and last 10x longer. 
• If every household in the U.S. replaced just on regular bulb with a CFL, the amount of energy saved could light 2.5 million homes for a year.

Water Fixtures

• Buy low-flow toilets, they use less than a gallon of water, brands such as American Standard, Toto and Kohler. Toilets used to use about 5 gallons per flush, so if your toilet is outdated it may be time to make this change.
• Buy low-flow shower heads, which can decrease water usage by 50-70%. They only cost about $8
•  install low-flow faucets.
• Wash clothes in cold water whenever possible. As much as 85 percent of the energy used to machine-wash clothes goes to heating the water.
• Use a drying rack or clothesline to save the energy otherwise used during machine drying.

Upgrade to Energy Star Appliances

• Look for the blue and white label which means the item uses at least 10-50% more efficient than standard models. more than 18,000 products have the Energy Star design.

Other

• Use a water filter to purify tap water instead of buying bottled water. It will save you money & help you live a more green lifestyle.
• Bring a reusable water bottle, preferably aluminum rather than plastic, with you when traveling or at work.

By making these small changes you can save money & make for a cleaner earth one household at a time

DIY Painting Basics

Did you know that painting is the one thing that will make the biggest impact to your home for the least amount of money? A fresh coat of paint can transform your home from drab and dreary to fresh, clean, bright and updated.

If you are thinking about selling your home, then it would be in your best interest to give your home a fresh coat of paint inside and out if you can afford it. It could mean the difference between a quick sale or no sale or an asking price offer from a low ball offer.

Here are a few things you can do to give your home that fresh, well taken care of, upgraded look.

You will need:

• Stepladder
• Screwdriver
• Angled sash brush
• Wide paintbrush and paint roller and tray
• Extension pole for paint roller
• Paint
• Painter’s masking tape
• Cleanup rags and drop cloths to cover the floors and furniture etc.

What To Do:

• Scrape away old layers of paint if necessary
• Remove wallpaper if necessary
• Sand the imperfections
• Fill any nail holes with putty
• Apply your primer coat
• Cover the floors, furniture and anything you don't want to get paint on
• Remove hardware - light switch and plug covers, curtain rods etc.
• Cover all the trim with masking tape
• Paint a three inch strip of paint out from around the top and bottom of the trim using your angled paint brush because you won't be able to get that close to the trim with a roller
• Now take your roller and fill in the remaining wall areas that need painted. You can use a paint brush but it will take much longer and won't look as smooth as when you use a roller
• The best way to cover the roller with paint is to fill the paint tray with paint. Then dip your roller into the deep end of the tray then roll it over the ribbed section of the tray to cover the roller evenly. Now you simply take your evenly coated roller and roll up and down the wall making vertical lines. Then take the roller and paint right to left diagonally across the vertical lines you just painted and this will give you an even finish


Their are so many small and simple things you can do for your home, to give it those finishing touches. Do the little things now and the next thing you know you will be packing and getting ready to move into your new home.

Thanks for Reading,
The Inman Team

Prime Time for Social Media

When is the best time to Post, Tweet, Update Statuses and Blog? How can I get more likes and traffic to my page? Those are the big questions many people are wondering for their businesses. Knowing when to post a status update, tweet a blog post or send out an email newsletter can make the difference in its effectiveness. After all, it does not do much good to share a video early in the morning if your readers, fans or customers are typically not active until late in the day. Does it really matter what time and day of the week you post on? The answer is YES, although it does not mean that if you don't post at the specific time, you wont get more "Likes" it just means on average this is when more people are on, therefore more people will view your post.

According to data from bit.ly, The BEST day to Post/Tweet/etc is Wednesday with the ideal time between 1pm to 4pm.

BEST TIMES TO POST ON...

FACEBOOK:
The prime time for links is between 1 p.m. and 4 p.m.
Bit.ly data, says 3 p.m. on Wednesday is the peak time to post links on Facebook.

-Best Facebook "Sharing" is done on Saturdays
-FB "shares" spike around noon and after 7pm.
-"While traffic starts to increase around 9:00 a.m., one would be wise to wait to post until 11am,"
-Posts from fan pages generally last for 22 hours, and 51 minutes.
-You should not Post more than once a day on Facebook Fan Pages

TWITTER:
The prime time for clicks is between 1 and 3 p.m. on Monday through Thursday.
The worst times are after 8 p.m. and after 3 p.m. on Fridays.

-Most Retweets occur around 5pm. So try to Tweet before then.
-Best time to tweet generally, Noon and 6 pm. Lunch time, and average time people get off of work.
-Best time to tweet for the most traction is on a Monday between 1:00 p.m. and 3:00 p.m. ET.
--Life span of a Tweet on average is 2.8 hours

PINTEREST
-The best time to share things on Pinterest is Saturday morning, according to data from Bitly,
-12% of clicks comES from mobile devices.

TUMBLR:
-It's suggested to wait until at least 4:00 p.m. ET. to post important content, and posts that go up after 7:00 p.m. get the most clicks during a 24-hour period.
-It's also suggested that Friday evenings are a key time to post on Tumblr
-Traffic from Tumblr peaks between 7:00 p.m. and 10:00 p.m. on Monday and Tuesday

INSTAGRAM
- Use Statigram.com to come up with the statistics for your personal Instagram, and figure out when the best time for you to post is.



-Nearly 50% of Americans are on the Eastern Time Zone. This may also affect your traffic coming in. Figure out your market, are trying to provide posts for traffic nationwide or more locally. For Our Team, we focus on local areas and times.




*These are all tips & data taken from different researches, they may contradict each other, but generally provide the times and days most beneficial to use social media.

*times/numbers data from bit.ly.

DIY Or Hire A Professional?

This weekend, may be a perfect opportunity for you to show you creative side and start a DIY project. With all the DIY shows and Pinterest app its easy to find really good ideas. Sometimes these DIY projects can actually cause more of a headache. Have you ever seen an amazing post on Pinterest, and thought "I can do that", But after you attempt to recreate it, you quickly learn that it is not turning out the way you planned. You have to find that fine line between what you can manage on your own and what you should leave for a professional to accomplish. With that being said, there are some home improvement projects that can absolutely be done yourself. So how do you determine if you should DIY or hire a professional?

Here are a few questions that you can ask yourself to help decide whether or not your home improvement project is one that you should try to tackle yourself or if you should hire a professional in order to avoid a DIY disaster!

1. Make a list. Write down the name of the project and everything you will need to complete that project. On your list make a pros and cons column. Write down in the pros column all of the tools you already have and know how to use. Then write down the extent of the knowledge about the project you know how to do. Then write in the cons column all of the tools you don't have for the project and what knowledge you are lacking to complete the project. This will help you determine whether or not you should hire a professional. It could be that by the time you buy all the tools you will need for this one project that you could have saved yourself the trouble and hired a professional for relatively the same price. You quite possibly could have saved yourself a lot of time and hassle.

2. Will your project require permits? Quite a few projects do. Do you know how to obtain a permit? Call your City's Building Services or Building Permits Division to determine if you need a permit and how to go about actually getting the permit. Getting a permit, if you are not well versed in doing this, can be extremely tedious, stressful and time consuming. Sometimes one project can trigger the need to meet another city requirement. Therefore, this may be something best left to a professional.

3. Are there any safety issues? Does your project entail having to use a ladder, electrical issues, gas or anything that could potentially collapse? If so, you will need to determine your level of expertise and then either proceed with caution or just go ahead and call a professional. It's not worth it to take a chance on your safety or the safety of your family.

4. Get bids. Get several bids and then compare the cost of doing the project yourself. You might be pleasantly surprised. Example: you may be perfectly capable of painting; however, more than likely, a professional will do a better job and do it more quickly and without all of the mess. Additionally, most contractors get their supplies at a reduced cost because they buy them in bulk. This could mean savings for you.

5. Time. Do you have time to do this project? Do you really want a project to be drawn out for a month or more just because you don't have time to complete it?

6. Do you enjoy the whole DIY thing? If so, go back over what you do and don't know how to do and then have at it.
Generally speaking, if you have the money to have your DIY project professionally done then do it! If not, take a good hard look at what needs to be done and think about every step very carefully to determine what could go wrong.

So next time you try to paint your kitchen cabinets, like the ones on Pinterest take the time to research and see if it is worth Doing Yourself or Hiring a Professional.

Thanks for Reading,
The Inman Team