Introduction to Home Staging

I just find it hard to believe that the people who actually let their house get that dirty are going to invite the world to see how disgusting their house is. If my house looked like that I would be ashamed.

Sometimes I wonder, too. Maybe sometimes they trash their house just to get on the show.

But, I actually have a friend whose mother has a "hoarding" problem (or disease, really). She literally has a small path through boxes and papers and assorted other junk. It goes from the front door to her recliner and to her bed. From her bed, there is a path to the toilet. She didn’t seem to be too embarrassed for me to see her house. Maybe sometimes people really don’t understand that the way they live is so different!!!

even a broken Pioneer 55" set would work max. size 54 3/4" x 54 3/4"

You can find fake electronic props at:
http://www.propsbyidm.com/

If they don’t have what you’re looking for, do a search for "Home Staging props" and add your city after it for local sources of props.

Landlords too often fall into the mentality that their business is a passive one, where they buy a house, rent it out, and sit back. While this can occasionally be true (for very lucky landlords with rare tenants), there’s certainly plenty of work involved for most properties: mailing notices for late payments, filing evictions, screening tenants, repairs and maintenance… the list goes on.

But that’s all playing defense, trying to minimize losses and address problems. Today, we’re going to walk a less-traveled road, and talk about offense, and how landlords can find good deals on the things they need.

First and foremost, most landlords want to acquire more property. Where can landlords find deals on rental properties? Through the people they know, and I’m not just talking about the people in your real estate investment club. I’m talking about through their very tenants, through their contractors, through the groundskeeper at their office building; in a word, through the people who actually live in the neighborhoods you want to buy rental properties in.

You see, most landlords don’t think to network through non-industry people, but these are the people who will let you know that the neighbor across the street has a “chemical dependency” and needs to sell their house quickly. If you like a neighborhood for rental investing, get to know as many people from that neighborhood as possible on a first name basis, and make sure they know that they won’t be forgotten if they refer a good deal your way.

Landlords also need rental forms, like a rental application and rental agreement. There are a number of places to find these online, some better than others. You might have luck with the website of your local municipality, as they sometimes offer them. I personally like EZ Landlord Forms (see Author Resource Box), because their rental application is free and their rental agreement is customized based on your state and the preferences you enter, and because they have online property management software that keeps track of the rental properties for you.

As a landlord, it may be worthwhile to do minor staging of the property to make it look more attractive (for a great article devoted solely to real estate staging, see the author box). This may involve furniture, or wall decorations, or landscaping, or any number of other strategies to make the house more appealing to potential tenants. For furniture, Goodwill is a great place to start, because they only sell clean furniture in good condition, but they sell it cheaply.

For wall decorations, Hobby Lobby offers excellent sales (i.e. 50% off) on picture frames and all other types of home décor, usually on a biweekly or monthly basis. If you can charge your tenant a higher security deposit, you might consider hanging a flat screen television on the living room wall, because it’ll grab their attention immediately, and sometimes you can find excellent online coupons for these. As for landscaping, negotiate to have your contractor include it when they do the rental unit clean-out from the previous tenant.

Don’t fall into the trap of being an absentee landlord, because it WILL cost you money in the end. Negotiate aggressively for better deals, and remember that being pro-active will save you a phenomenal amount of money.

Brian Davis
http://www.articlesbase.com/real-estate-articles/landlords-how-to-save-money-738304.html

We are at the final stage of buyoing the house we really loved. However during termite inspection, the inspector found termite damage on the roof and the garage. We are wondering if it’s worth persueing the house if the seller agrees to fix it. Also how sever the damage can be if the termites are found on the roof.

I wouldn’t buy it. The seller will probably try to get the cheapest job done. He was already too cheap to have a termite bond.

Don’t forget this. They ate their way to the roof. That is the only way they could have gotten there.

With the real estate market the way it is there is absolutely no reason to take a chance on buying a problem house no matter how much you love it.

You know rule one when buying a house is walk away if everything isn’t the way you want it. Never fall in love with a house, it’s like grocery shopping when you are starving only way more expensive!

Landlords too often fall into the mentality that their business is a passive one, where they buy a house, rent it out, and sit back. While this can occasionally be true (for very lucky landlords with rare tenants), there’s certainly plenty of work involved for most properties: mailing notices for late payments, filing evictions, screening tenants, repairs and maintenance… the list goes on.

But that’s all playing defense, trying to minimize losses and address problems. Today, we’re going to walk a less-traveled road, and talk about offense, and how landlords can find good deals on the things they need.

First and foremost, most landlords want to acquire more property. Where can landlords find deals on rental properties? Through the people they know, and I’m not just talking about the people in your real estate investment club. I’m talking about through their very tenants, through their contractors, through the groundskeeper at their office building; in a word, through the people who actually live in the neighborhoods you want to buy rental properties in.

You see, most landlords don’t think to network through non-industry people, but these are the people who will let you know that the neighbor across the street has a “chemical dependency” and needs to sell their house quickly. If you like a neighborhood for rental investing, get to know as many people from that neighborhood as possible on a first name basis, and make sure they know that they won’t be forgotten if they refer a good deal your way.

Landlords also need rental forms, like a rental application and rental agreement. There are a number of places to find these online, some better than others. You might have luck with the website of your local municipality, as they sometimes offer them. I personally like EZ Landlord Forms (see Author Resource Box), because their rental application is free and their rental agreement is customized based on your state and the preferences you enter, and because they have online property management software that keeps track of the rental properties for you.

As a landlord, it may be worthwhile to do minor staging of the property to make it look more attractive (for a great article devoted solely to real estate staging, see the author box). This may involve furniture, or wall decorations, or landscaping, or any number of other strategies to make the house more appealing to potential tenants. For furniture, Goodwill is a great place to start, because they only sell clean furniture in good condition, but they sell it cheaply.

For wall decorations, Hobby Lobby offers excellent sales (i.e. 50% off) on picture frames and all other types of home décor, usually on a biweekly or monthly basis. If you can charge your tenant a higher security deposit, you might consider hanging a flat screen television on the living room wall, because it’ll grab their attention immediately, and sometimes you can find excellent online coupons for these. As for landscaping, negotiate to have your contractor include it when they do the rental unit clean-out from the previous tenant.

Don’t fall into the trap of being an absentee landlord, because it WILL cost you money in the end. Negotiate aggressively for better deals, and remember that being pro-active will save you a phenomenal amount of money.

Brian Davis
http://www.articlesbase.com/real-estate-articles/landlords-how-to-save-money-738304.html

Which of the following is the name applied to the stage house or changing room behind the raised platform in a typical ancient Greek Theatre complex?
a. Skene

b. Proskene

c. Tymele

d. Orchestra

The skene.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skene

I already have a distributor (http://www.furmansound.com/products/pro/power_dstrbtn/powerdist1.php), but need to know how to hook it up. I do not have the funds to hire an electrician to work alongside my lighting and audio techs, and I’m at a point where I’m thinking of just taking career electrician classes just to learn how to be able to draw power from different sources to get to my tech booth and staging equipment if I can’t get an answer on how this would be done.

At venues they usually have electricians to give me power, but some events (IE weddings) obviously don’t since they’re done in homes and I’ve been having to run 15amp cables all over the house and it’s very unprofessional. I’d just like to figure out how to get one main line from the power source to my distro box and I can handle all the electrical loads and balancing from there.

You may want to consider purchasing a generator that can supply you with constant 100 amps (12000 constant watts) and running cord long enough to supply your rack mount distributor with the needed power. That way you will have the flexibility to set up anywhere that the client needs you to. Just remember to get cords that are rated for outdoor use and make sure that they are large enough for the load.

I think its called "staging". I know it involves Interior Designing and most likely requires a certificate, right?

I dont want to work with the public (telling people how to decorate their house), I want to be able to decorate it the way I want.

I was wondering who I would need to work with to do this, the company that builds the house or the realtor?

Any other information you can give me on the subject is greatly appreciated. Thanks!!

You go to a University with a degree program in Interior Design. Investigate some colleges and university and dedicated Design Institutes.

Im going to see The Maine, All Time Low, Mayday Parade, and Every Avenue At HOB in Cleveland. I have general admission tickets, and wanna be close to the stage. Any Tips? November 22nd, 2008

I’ve done it a million times. You have to be tough and be rude. Whenever you get a chance try to squeeze your way into the next closer space, do it. You have to look for opportunities though, catch people slippin. Usually when crowdsurfers slam by is the best opportunity to advance.

But be warned – you are being rude by taking peoples places, but it’s the only way to advance. You should know that you will irritate some people.

My inlaws have two homes. It has been long known when they were near retirement, their daughter (my wife) would buy the oldest of the homes, the one all the kids grew up in.

We have little to no cash down and our credit scores are in the high 500’s. The inlaws are willing to do almost anything to help us get into the home, even staging an elvated price to make it look like we dropped a big downpayment, though we can not prove it beyond word of mouth. Living there paying rent for a year may be another option, before we take owner ship of the house.

The house will be going on the very low side of the price range for this area at approx $200k. Average house price in this area is $350k or higher. We can afford the monthly depending on interest rate as we are already paying $1000/month rent now.

Any advice would be greatly apprecaited. Again little or no money down, poor credit, willful inlaws, and a family history in the house.

They can sell at an elevated price if you want. The rest can be a gift of equity to you and your wife. It must be in letter form and in the sales contract. If your scores are in the High 500 then financing is no problem. try to get them to give you a 10% gift of equity and them to pay the closing cost and you should be good to go!