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Screen Porches
Many buyers ask for one.
Track Your Home's
Value by watching neighborhood sales
Idea House
I see so many articles about screen porches. Spend a little or lot creating your outside room, adding seating area(s), a dining area, potted plants, lighting, fans, artwork, candles or a string of lights, and more. Southern Living has 75 porch ideas.
I like the idea of using four chairs around a coffee table or a sofa and two chairs for good conversation groupings.
Add color and texture with pillows and rugs.
Use my free website to track the value of your home by searching (use your subdivision as key word in search form). You should find more up to date information than Zillow and Trulia. When it is time to make improvements to your home, it is critical that you do not over-improve. You might lose money when you sell if you do. Get an idea of what other home owners have done and whether they sold for top dollar when they did. One tool that I use is the annual Cost Vs. Value Report. I am not authorized to post it here but Tampa Bay Area homeowners are welcome to contact us for assistance and report details.
Tour the 2017 Southern Living Idea house online now.
Idea houses offer tons of building, remodeling, decorating and landscaping inspiration. Inspiration that is really helpful when you are working on your own home or staging for a home sale. You can get a good idea of what is appealing to others in the way of interior colors, textures and patterns.
Your home will be different in size and configuration but some of the ideas will still be useful.
What is Home Staging
and why bother.
Coupon Shopping List
Download for free.
Save Time With a Custom
grocery list and weekly menu. Free download.
The purpose of home staging is to focus buyer attention on your house’s best features and to help buyers imagine their family living there.
Begin at the Curb. From the curb, you have only a few seconds for buyers to decide if yours is a possibility or not. Clean your drive and walk, green up the lawn, trim the shrubs and place a colorful pot of annuals near the front door.
Make it Sparkle. Cleaning is one of the least expensive items on your list and painting is next if you do it yourself.
Clear it out. Buyers crave space! Removing your clutter, collections, excess furniture and excess family photos will cause your home to appear more spacious. The buyer sees there is plenty of room for his things.
Light and Bright Please. Experts agree that heavy drapes should be open, removed, or replaced with light weight or sheer fabric. Blinds should be open to let in natural light unless the view is unsightly. Windows should be cleaned inside and out. It's okay to remove screens but store them in the garage or attic. Lights should be turned on for showings.
I like to do my coupon shopping separately from regular grocery shopping when I have a lot of coupons. I created this coupon shopping list to help speed up what can be a stressful job. If you are very specific when you add the items to the list, you may not have to even look at the coupons until you get to the register. You could bring two copies of the list with you if you had a shopping helper with you and speed up shopping even more.
Access my Grocery List and Weekly Menu (download link below) for free! My grocery list is set up for a Sweetbay Grocery store but I also use it at Walmart, Publix and Winn Dixie. The items are just out of order.
You could use this one but it is set up for the items I usually buy. It might work better for you if you type in the items you use most and just copy.
To use this list, just print and circle the items. Add special items and any necessary descriptions and go!
I have used several lists and this is the one that works best for me. I keep it near the pantry so I can add items to it as they are used up.
I like to grocery shop when I am not hungry and during off hours when possible. It's good to prepare a weekly menu along with your shopping list.