Introduction to Home Staging

In the 1980s, a Southwestern decor craze swept the United States, bringing the look of this unique slice of the American frontier into homes from Oregon to Maine and beyond. While the howling pink coyote that characterized that trend has since been relegated to the dustbin of design history, an updated, sophisticated look that combines unique ethnic and cultural elements with a more contemporary decor approach has emerged as a more refined alternative for lovers of Southwest style.

Across the board, the kitschy interpretation of regional trends that characterized home design in past years has been discarded in favor of a more subtle evocation of the unique attributes that make places like the Southwest so irresistible.

Gone are the chili lights and cow skulls that represented clumsy attempts at Southwestern decor in the past. Today’s sophisticated alternative combines contemporary and transitional furniture and design elements with a subtle Southwestern palette and unique, understated ethnic touches.

Shimmering shades of light teals and turquoises, coral, terra cotta and adobe-inspired tans provide the backdrop for eclectic furniture with distressed finishes and primitive details. Bold accent colors drawn from the dramatic natural palette of the desert Southwest are also important.

Art, accessories, and accents bring a lively sense of place to Southwestern interiors. Paintings, pottery, and sculptures featuring Hispanic or Native American themes and subjects are common, as are indigenous pottery and artifacts.

Roughly textured fabrics and textiles also provide a level of heightened authenticity in this decor style. Architectural details that mirror those found in many traditional Southwestern dwellings, such as arches, kiva fireplaces, and plastered walls, can also help complete this look.

Window treatments should be minimal, drawing on natural materials or regional textiles whenever possible. Whether you want to honor your Southwestern heritage or you just crave a little extra spice in your life, Southwestern decor presents an easy-to-achieve alternative to ho-hum interiors.

Matt Trostle
http://www.articlesbase.com/advertising-articles/add-some-spice-to-your-home-decor-with-southwestern-style-decorating-55953.html

How do you ground a cat?
A bit of background; Gus is is an older, very affectionate black tomcat comparable in mass to a small planet. In a nights lazing about on our new couch we estimated he generates enough electrical potential to power most of california. So when i come home from a long day I am no longer greeted by a cuddly feline but rather a poping, sparking, lint covered electromagent.
Sounding like a microwave full of foil and attracting bits of fluff and paper as he bounds towards me, I prepare for an experience which I can only describe as akin to closely embracing a tesla coil. So, as my girlfriend runs for the heart paddles, Gus sadly moseys off, as he doesn’t understand whats gone wrong or why hes also recieving a hefty dose of current. I tried to explain it, but hes never been one for the hard sciences and mentally files all forms of electricity under ‘human witchcraft’.
How do I safely discharge my little buddy without him zapping us with his static sparks?

defuse it by swiftly touching your cat using your backhand, once there’s a contact made the static charges has made its way to you unnoticeably…it works to me.

My husband and i just bought our first home and i need to get on with the whole decorating although im not too creative. I was wondering if anyone could pin point me to a website that offers nice home decor at affortable prices…. Thanks. In my small town there aren’t any fancy stores to go to so im relying on the web…

Congrats !!! Take pictures and show us we’ll give you our 2 cents…

Go to Google select images and Enter the following with the type of room after it…as you look at the pictures write down ideas that you like..you’ll soon come up with what appeals to you.

French Country

Tuscan Italian

Modern

Rustic

Designer

Shabby Chic

Eclectic

Victorian

So for instance French country dining room http://images.google.ca/images?hl=en&source=hp&q=french+country+dining+room&gbv=2&aq=f&oq=

When you see a picture you really like right click it select "Add to favorites" select New folder and make a folder named House Ideas then rename the picture or page so it makes sense to you –For example "French country red and yellow diningroom" and save it.

As you start defining your taste you can alter your search for instance "French country dining room blue white" http://images.google.ca/images?gbv=2&hl=en&sa=1&q=french+country+dining+room+blue+white&aq=f&oq=&start=0

Dating back over 2000 years, Leicester is one of the oldest cities in England and has plenty to interest historians. The history of the origins of Leicester are, of course, lost in time. However, there are two main theories concerning the origin of the settlement now known as Leicester.

The first is that the name is derived from a Celtic one, Coriletav. This theory is supported by the name the Romans are known to have given the settlement, Ratae Corieltauvorum. The other theory is that a mythical British King, Leir, founded the settlement of Kaerleir around the same time as the Celts were supposedly in the area. King Leir, is supposed to be buried under the River Soar!

What we do know for sure is that around in 47 or 48 AD the Romans built a fort there and then by about 50AD a city had grown up around it. Ratae Corieltauvorum was important to the Romans as it was one of the key staging posts on a major Roman road, the Fosse Way, which linked what are now Exeter and Lincoln. Rapidly becoming a market town for local people and their produce, the settlement thrived on the trade that the Romans brought to the area. When the Romans left, moving North to conquer more of England, the settlement was well enough established to continue to prosper. The main feature still visible in Leicester of the Roman occupation is the Jewry Wall and its Bath House.

As with most of England, little is known of the history of Leicester during the Dark Ages following the departure of the Romans. The next significant event was in 680 when Leicester is known to have been given a Bishop; life in Leicester at this time seems to have been a good one with the settlement continuing to prosper. Artefacts have been found showing that Leicester, alongside its farming community, had cloth weavers, potters, blacksmiths and carpenters. The ninth century saw a down-turn in fortunes when the settlement fell to the Danish Viking invaders. The Bishop ran away which, for some canonical reason, left Leicester without a Bishop until the twentieth century.

The Norman Conquest sees Leicester mentioned in the Doomsday book as Ledcestre. This name is thought to have been derived from Ligeraceaster; a combination of Castra – Camp and Ligore – Legro, an early name of the River Soar. In medieval times Leicester was a city of some importance. With a population of some 1500 the Normans deemed it important enough to build a wooden fort, which in the 12th century was re-built with stone. As was custom in those days Leicester was ruled by an Earl. Unfortunately, in 1173 Robert – Earl of Leicester – rebelled against the King (Henry II), causing the citizens much suffering, indeed such was the King’s wrath with Robert that many were killed. It was during the Middle Ages that Leicester became well known for the quality of the wool cloth it produced and the hosiery it made from the wool. At this time leather was also an important industry in Leicester, giving rise to its association with shoes and footwear.

In 1464 trade was so strong that the cities merchants managed to form a corporation and Leicester could from then on elect its own Mayor to run the town. By 1500 the population had doubled to 3000 and it continued to rise despite the frequent outbreaks of plague which could decimate the population of a town. In 1619 the town was granted a coat of arms. During the English Civil War Leicester declared itself for the Parliamentarians and was laid to siege by the Royalists in 1645 who, after breaching the town wall, again killed many of the inhabitants. At the beginning of the 18th Century the population had again doubled to about 6000 and the birth of the industrial revolution saw both the population and prosperity of Leicester flourish. By the end of the 18th Century the opening of the Soar canal in 1794 quite literally fuelled the boom in industry, by providing cheap and quick methods of transporting coal and iron into Leicester.

The first national census of 1801 gives the population of Leicester as 17,000. The town expanded rapidly and places that were once rural farms became subsumed in the city as boroughs. The Victorian era is accepted as being an age of enlightenment in terms of science and engineering. In 1832 Leicester got its first railway line and in 1857 got a line connecting it with London. Leicester got its first Public library in 1871, ten years later its first telephone exchange and in 1894 its first electric street lights. By the time of the 1901 census the population had grown to a staggering 210,000 with boot and hosiery manufacturing being the main source of employment. Civic pride must have been at an all time high during the Edwardian period when in 1919 Leicester was made a city by Royal Charter; in 1926 it regained its Bishop and a Cathedral and in 1928 had its first Lord Mayor. A period of light engineering expansion took place when the Imperial Typewriter Company set up premises in the city and between 1908 and 1950 the number of people employed in Light engineering in the city more than doubled from 6,000 to 13,500.

Leicester escaped any heavy bombing during the Second World War but a slum-clearance programme was instigated in 1945 to rid the city of much of the old housing built in the boom years of the previous century. At this time there were influxes of Jewish, Latvian and Polish refugees into the city. These were followed in the 1950s by West Indian immigrants and then in the 1960s the population was swelled by the arrival of Asian immigrants. The last major influxes of immigrants were mainly Indians who had been forced to leave Uganda in the early 1970s. Recently there has been a small community of Somali refugees arriving in the city, apparently drawn by its free and easy attitude and the number of Mosques within its boundaries.

Article by Susan Ashby of Leicester Singles. To read more articles like this or for dating in Leicester visit http://www.Leicester-singles.co.uk

Susan Ashby
http://www.articlesbase.com/home-and-family-articles/a-brief-history-of-leicester-138594.html

This is the one you were dreading, isn’t it? Mention decorating with color, and you have conjured these pictures of an interior decorator flouncing around your abode waving a waif-wristed hand at the walls. “Honey, a chiffon lemon base with saffron trim when you’re obviously a fall person? O, look, you’ve wrecked your fung shui!” In a world where we’re not always sure if this tie goes with this jacket, we have to now pick colors for our house which, barring tornadoes, we will have to live with for a decade or two. One wrong color choice and Martha Stewart will be ringing your doorbell at six AM Sunday to whack you with a copy of “Better Homes and Gardens”.

What the experts don’t tell you is that color palettes are actually very easy to learn and, in spite of their apparent inscrutability, actually have set rules to follow!

The Color Scheme Families
There’s just four of them: Primary, secondary, tertiary, and monotone. Every color scheme you can find in the world fits into one of these four families.

The primary colors, as we leaned in grade school, are red, blue, and yellow. They are the only pure hues, and all of the other colors come from different mixtures of these three. Primary colors add a bold accent, but are overwhelming in strong doses.

The secondary colors are green, orange, and purple. They’re ’secondary’ because they’re what you get when you mix two of the primary colors together in equal amounts. Secondary colors in broad splashes are even more striking than primary colors, but in restraint are a gentler accent.

Tertiary colors are the same rule we used to get secondary colors, but this time we’re using every color we can get from pairs of primary and secondary colors. So where the first two had three colors each, the tertiary colors get six: blue-green, green-yellow, yellow-orange, orange-red, red-purple, and purple-blue. Tertiary colors aren’t quite so powerful, and are seldom used for accents.

We could actually go on and on mixing these colors to make fourth and fifth and so on, but they figured to stop here before it got too complicated.

The last of the four color schemes is monochrome. A monochromatic color scheme pairs one color with only white or another neutral.

The Color Moods

Of course, we’re not speaking of the colors themselves having moods, but the moods which are evoked in you, the viewer. If you’re looking at a color and asking “What mood? It’s blue; am I supposed to feel sad?” just go along with the silly people who feel emotions from colors. Honestly, there are people who react from them and we’d better go along with what they say. It’s like long division; you may not understand the process but you know you’ll get an answer from the formula. However, it has been established that different people don’t react with the same intensity to color schemes – but all react in the same kind of mood.

The three moods are active, passive, and neutral.

Active colors are also called warm colors and they’re all the hues of yellow, orange, and red. These colors are energetic and inspire action and alertness. Red is the ‘panic color’, the one that gets all the attention. Yellow and orange are ’sunny’ and are good for inspiration and cheerfulness.

The passive colors are also called cool colors and they’re all the hues of blue, green, and purple. These pacify, staying quietly in the background to calm and restore the mood. Green and blue are the natural and serene colors, while purple is just a little bit edgy.

Neutrals are brown, beige, gray, white, and black. As suggested, they mute and restrain, helping other colors blend in to each other or having a low impact effect on their own. Now, you might say “But brown is just a kind of dark yellow-orange, isn’t that a warm, active color?” Yes, you’re right about the dark yellow-orange. But it’s neutral, because it’s the color of the Earth.

Now, along with all of the above, here comes some general rules of thumb about colors and the mood characteristics of each one. You may feel more or less strongly about the colors’ effects, but remember that if you treat color combinations as if these color moods made sense, you will get a complimentary color palette out of it. To make the color’s effect stronger, use a darker shade of it; to lessen it’s effect, use a lighter shade.

Red: empowers, stimulates, and dramatizes; symbolizes passion. The color of fire, stop signs, and Valentine’s hearts.

Pink: soothes; promotes affability and affection. The friendly snugly color. Every now and then you see jails and mental hospitals painted with pink interiors, because it pacifies the residents.

Yellow: expands, cheers, and empowers; increases energy. The color of gold. The color of avarice and ambition.

White: purifies, energizes, unifies; complementary in combination with other colors. Makes spaces feel bigger and seem brighter.

Black: disciplines, authorizes, strengthens; also encourages independence. But too much of it has a depressing, drab effect. It also makes interior space feel smaller, which is why you almost never see black or dark gray interior walls.

Orange: cheers, commands; stimulates conversation, and charity. Orange is also known to stimulate the appetite, which is why most fast food logos are orange (golden arches, for instance).

Green: balances, normalizes, refreshes; encourages growth. Notice how many schools and universities favor green interiors.

Purple: comforts, imbues with a soul; creates mystery and draws out intuition. Purple and violet hues are found wherever there’s a mystic or artistic person that had a say in the decorating.

Blue: relaxes, refreshes, cools; produces tranquil feelings and peaceful moods. Another institutional color; pale blue has nearly the same effect as pink.

Now then, that was your crash course in color scheming. To test your knowledge, try imagining making a statement with different color palettes for different uses. Do you want your home to feel like a warm, rustic haven? Use, reds, oranges, and yellows together with neutral browns. Is your home a meditative retreat to restore and renew? Blues and greens, with neutral whites. Decorating a home office? Gold and green for keeping a mood of wealth and growth, with black for the neutral accent to keep you disciplined.

Now, like astrology, this is a science built around how it’s supposed to work. It doesn’t work for everybody, and even the stronger attempt to regulate mood by color will have less impact on the observer than, say, whether you’re hungry right now. But you at least know the theory behind all the fancy talk.

Josh Stone
http://www.articlesbase.com/home-and-family-articles/a-home-painters-color-decorating-tutorial-72642.html

Paignton is located to the south of Torquay and is a coastal town in Devon in the United Kingdom. The old town is inland from the beach and has grown since becoming a Victorian resort. It has numerous sandy beaches and small coves and has a flat sandy beach with shallow water situated close to the town centre and surrounding the pier. Paignton sands is the longest beach resort in Paignton. The most popular is Preston sands lined with multi coloured beach huts. The sheltered pebbly cove beach Broad sands is popular with water skiers, kite surfing and dinghy sailing.

The seafront area is dominated by Paignton Pier, a 780 foot long structure which opened in 1879. It was designed by George Soudon Bridgman, a local architect who also designed the original Oldway Mansion.

The Festival Theatre which opened in 1967 and was once a seafront theatre capable of staging large summer shows, but in 1999 it was converted into a multi screen cinema

World class restaurants combine with continental style bars, live music, fairs, nightclubs, superb firework displays and carnivals to make a visitors stay enjoyable. There are a growing number of large public houses that accommodate and license for the little people which may be found in town, some by the waters edge and some on the harbours. The children will enjoy the well organized firework displays which are always supported by rich food pickings and visits from travelling fairs.

Later in August is Childrens Week, which includes a wide range of events and competitions. Regatta Week during early August is the peak holiday season. The Zoo Environmental Park is situated on the outskirts of the town of Paignton in Devon, England. The Zoo is one of the largest zoos in the United Kingdom, is situated on the outskirts of the town

The Oldway Mansion is a large house and gardens in Paignton in the United Kingdom. It was built as a private residence for Isaac Merritt Singer 1811 1875, and rebuilt by his third son Paris Singer in the style of the Palace of Versailles in Paris. The interior of the building is noted for its grand staircase made from baluster s of bronze and marble. The ceiling of the staircase is decorated with an ornate painting in the style of the Italian School. The staircase and the ceiling are based on a design by the French painter and architect Joseph Lebrun.

Douglas Scott
http://www.articlesbase.com/travel-articles/the-sunny-coast-of-britain-133791.html

More people decorate their homes during the fall and winter months than at any other time of the year, and with good reason! We spend more time indoors, we owe it to ourselves and our families to create a comfortable place to be! Here are the best ways to save BIG bucks on your Home Decorating

Start with plan. I know you’ve heard this before, but having a plan doesn’t necessarily mean you know exactly everything you want to do in your rooms ahead of time. What it does mean is having a starting point to keep you in the ballpark, and that will save you A LOT of money in mistakes in the long run. So start with the three things you need…Color, Style, and Formality. Color is easy…if you don’t already have a color scheme you love, find one in a book or magazine, and borrow it! Still unsure? Pick your favorite color, plus white, never fail combo. Style? Maybe you know you love Country Farmhouse. Or maybe you like a little of everything! That’s ok, just make sure you give the room style a name that includes the feeling you want in the room, and that will keep you on track. For instance, I have a Fresh and Sunny Cottage Room for my family room. (I use sunny as a feeling as well as a visual clue!) Keep the feeling in the name, and you will pick the right style every time! Finally, formality. Know if you like a more formal room, where things on both sides of the room match, or a more informal feel. So my family room description would go something like this…I want an informal Fresh Sunny Cottage style full of soft blue, green yellow and white. So every time I buy something, I know if it doesn’t fit in that description, it doesn’t fit period!

Look for alternatives to everything!!! Flat sheets on sale are a great buy…I can get one at my discount store for $2.89. A flat sheet is generally 66×96 inches…that’s over 3 yards of fabric for less than 97 cents a yard! Can’t beat that, and flat sheets come in so many colors. When in doubt, buy white! Use them for tablecovers, curtain panels, making comforter covers, throw pillow covers, or even casual slipcovers! If you find a great color, stock up during a white sale…you will always find uses for fabric that fits into your color scheme.

Look for furniture at yard sales and in the classifeds. You can get quality furniture this way for a fraction of what it would cost you new. Learn to make do with the furniture you have with the art of disguise. Slipcovers, paint and floor length tablecloths go a long way towards dressing up an otherwise forgettable piece of furniture. By the way, you can paint ANYTHING these days! The trick is to use a specialty blocking primer before painting…I recommend KILZ Original. Yes, you can even paint that ugly laminate bookcase or computer desk! All your furniture mismatched in style and form? Paint it all one color, and it will help marry and unify your furniture grouping. (I love white or black for furniture, depending on the style of your room.)

Finally, look for good resources to help you learn to create your own accessories, custom paint finishes, and inspirational ideas such as TheBudgetDecorator.com.

With a little advanced thinking and a bit of creativity, anyone can have a well decorated home!

Kathy Wilson
http://www.articlesbase.com/advertising-articles/save-big-bucks-on-home-decorating-58351.html

While Blackpool is known primarily as a tourist resort with amazing amusement arcades and fun fairs, the town also has many museums and art galleries of note.

The Louis Tussauds Waxworks on Central Promenade is certainly Blackpool’s most famous museum. It contains five floors of incredibly lifelike waxwork figures of the Royal family, along with film stars, great singers, superstar athletes and politicians. The museum also has a Chamber of Horrors that is not for the faint of heart and the Anatomy Exhibition.

Science lovers will thoroughly enjoy the Golden Mile Centre on Central Promenade which features a popular Exhibition of the Universe, complete with various aliens and UFOs. The exhibit was created by David Boyle, a researcher who specializes in the spiritual, the supernatural and the unexplained.

Now that you are in a “science fiction mood,” you should pop into the Dr Who Exhibition and Museum, which is just a few short steps away. The Dr Who Exhibit includes a massive collection of original props and costumes spanning 40 years of British science fiction on television.

The Blackpool Model Village and Gardens is another impressive sight, occupying two-and-a-half acres of beautiful gardens on Stanley Park. The exhibit features hundreds of models, including a model windmill and castle, set against a stunning backdrop of lakes, running streams and waterfalls.

If boats are your thing, then the Blackpool Lifeboat Station and Visitor Centre on Central Promenade may be just what the doctor ordered. Standing beneath the imposing shadow of Blackpool Tower, the lifeboat station has a delightful visitors’ centre with its own interactive displays, a viewing gallery and a souvenir shop.

Blackpool may have only one legitimate art gallery, but what a gallery it is. The Grundy Art Gallery, located right next to the Blackpool Central Library on Queen Street, is widely regarded as one of the premiere small galleries in the United Kingdom. Built in 1911 as a multi-purpose building, the Grundy Art Gallery offers a tranquil haven of peace and serenity to those who wish to escape Blackpool’s hustle and bustle even for a moment.

The gallery is named in honor of the Grundy brothers, Cuthbart and John, two avid art collectors who donated their impressive collection of paintings to the town of Blackpool in 1903. Hence, the Grundy Art Gallery was formed. Today, the gallery boasts of a huge collection of oils and watercolors, including classic and modern British paintings, Oriental ivories and prints.

Over the years, the gallery’s collection has grown considerably and now includes quite a number of ceramics and old photographs depicting Blackpool’s rich history. Throughout the year, many of the foremost local and national artists stage special exhibitions to the delight of visitors.

Although Blackpool only has one art gallery, there are many temporary exhibitions all year round, especially during the summer months at the North Pier. Recently, the North Pier played host to the George Formby Centenary Exhibitions, which commemorated the 100th birth anniversary of the legendary film star and singer.

Over at South Promenade is another permanent display of contemporary art dubbed as the Great Promenade Show. Some of the leading artists and designers in the UK pool their talents to make this year-round outdoor exhibit a hit by contributing noteworthy pieces of sculptures, art pieces and even lighting. At night, the exhibit becomes an inspirational sight, especially when the light hits certain angles and creates new dimensions.

While touring Blackpool for its museums and galleries, visitors should also take note of the town’s many offerings in the realm of dance, such as the annual Dance Festival, contemporary dance school and the tea dances every Saturday at the Tower Ballroom. For these and other reasons, Blackpool has gained some fame as Britain’s capital of dance.

With its theatres regularly hosting the English National Ballet and with the town itself serving as the venue for the World Ballroom Dance competitions, Blackpool has certainly earned its niche in the world of dance. But nothing reinforces its reputation as Britain’s dance capital than the annual Blackpool Dance Festival.

Now over 80 years old, the Dance Festival brings together top dancers from over 50 countries to compete in ballroom and Latin American dancing. The competition almost always includes the British Open Championships. Being the best looking pair on the floor doesn’t guarantee victory but it certainly helps. And the competitors know that as well, as evidenced by these statistics. During the annual Dance Festival, dancers consume about 2,000 cans of hairspray, 1,000 bottles of nail varnish, 3,000 bottles of fake tan and use up over 1,500 pairs of tights.

If you enjoy contemporary dance, then a trip to Blackpool’s leading theatres should be in order. Both the Grand Theatre and the Opera House are renowned for staging modern and hip musicals.

Meanwhile, if you want to do more than just watch, then bring your dancing shoes and head for any of the many dance schools in Blackpool which offer everything from modern and ballroom dancing to ballet, jazz and tap dancing.

Article by Susan Ashby of Blackpool Singles. To read more articles like this or for dating in Blackpool visit htpp://www.Blackpool-singles.co.uk

Susan Ashby
http://www.articlesbase.com/home-and-family-articles/blackpools-museums-and-art-galleries-137351.html

When it comes to creating a simple, stylish and oriental look to the home, many people often turn to oriental rugs. They come in a variety of delicate, intricate patterns and they range in price so that everyone can have a chance of owning one. However, if you do choose to have an oriental rug to help give your home a Japanese Interior Decorating look, bear in mind that you will have to keep it maintained if you want it to last!

Cleaning Your Oriental rug

The most obvious type of cleaning you really need to do on a daily basis is vacuuming the rug. As with many other types of rugs, oriental rugs can look dirty quite quickly and some may even need to be vacuumed more than once a day. However, you do need to ensure that you have the vacuum on a setting which will not damage the rug. Usually it is better to have a setting which does not allow the vacuum to go into all of the fibers deep down in the rug; you only need to go over the top of it to keep the surface looking clean and tidy.

Keeping it vacuumed is usually sufficient enough to keep the rug clean, but what about if you spill something on it? Well in that case you really need to treat the spillage as soon as possible. As with anything, once a stain has had a chance to settle it is a lot harder to remove it. In case you are worried about ruining your rug, you may want to think of taking it to a specialist cleaner who knows all about your type of rug and who will know exactly how to clean it. Your local advertiser paper will allow you to find one close to your area. Failing that, you may be able to find out how to clean it on the rugs label if it has one. Some rugs do and that would make your life a lot easier!

Generally oriental rugs need specialist cleaners in order to remove the stains without harming the rug. It is possible to give it a wipe with water but overall it needs to be specially cleaned to fully remove all stains. If you do attempt to clean the rug yourself without knowing what you are doing, it is possible that the colors will run and that you will end up with a dull looking carpet.

So, overall treat your rug well by vacuuming it daily and try to avoid washing it yourself. Treat all spills as quickly as possible and you should end up with an oriental rug which lasts for years to come.

A.Caxton
http://www.articlesbase.com/home-improvement-articles/use-oriental-rugs-in-your-home-with-japanese-interior-decorating-88924.html

Oakland California real estate shot through the roof during the period from 2001 to 2005, with appreciation reaching 120% in some areas. Homes were routinely selling for 60-100k over asking price and more! It was not uncommon for a desirable property to fetch 30-40 offers. I remember one home in the Oakland Hills went for over 300k over asking price!

However that type of market by nature is not sustainable, and the current market is proof of that. Starting in early 05′, us Realtors started seeing a noticeable slowdown in activity, which has continued to this day. The ironic thing is, prices are still high. They have taken a slight dip(approximately six percent) in the last year, but our median price is still around 500k. There is much more opportunity for buyers right now, because there are plenty of homes on the market which means buyers have more choices and more negotiating power.

Sellers have had to come to the realization that they can’t just get any price they want for their home, and the days of putting up a sign and the next day it’s sold for 60k over asking price are OVER. Sellers have to do more to prep the home for sale now, and staging is much more common. The most important thing of course if price though. I don’t care how nicely a home is staged, if it is not considered a value compared to the others in the area it WON’T SELL. This is, unless your home happens to have historical significance or is in an especially desirable area.

One example of an exception to the rule was a house that just closed last week in Piedmont. It had great square footage, (I personally viewed it on our office tour) but it was in need of a lot of TLC. The bonus was that it was in a particularly exclusive neighborhood in Piedmont and had been designed by a locally renowned architect. The agent also had contractors and interior designers at the open houses to help give buyers ideas. The home went on the market for $1.4 million, and ended up selling a few weeks later for over $1.7 million! Yes, 300k over asking price!

However the reality for most sellers of Oakland real estate today is that they need to price their home attractively and prepare the home for sale if they expect to get it sold.

Hamid Grinage
http://www.articlesbase.com/real-estate-articles/bay-area-real-estate-no-bubble-burst-120101.html