AGENT FRECKLES Real Estate Blog

Connect the dots with Portland's coolest real estate insider, Agent Freckles (aka Loren Eschardies with Re/MAX Equity Group). Co-author of STAGE IT RIGHT & WATCH IT SELL: Top Tips, Tricks & Techniques for Staging a House Like a Real Estate Pro. Call [phone], come say hi on Facebook or follow me on TWITTER!

[agentfreckle]

Clever pun-kins What's everyone doing to their pumpkins this year????

[agentfreckle]

This week in agent land... We celebrated setting the tatas free on Sunday (excellent start of my week if you ask me). I planned/executed my first broker tour successfully (Over 40 people attended yesterday) And I've picked out my Halloween costume! "Zee bride of Frankenstein muahahaha"🔮🎃👻 It's hump day and I'm working on making my open house theeee place to be on Sunday... All while maintaining my weirdness of course! Freckles OUT

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I sat down with my in-house mortgage broker yesterday and she assured me that Equity Home Mortgage is still loaning money! #FHA #VA you name it... She said she can cross reference My client's W2 and tax info and still loan if all is comparable. #relieved

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A Good Home Decor or Staging Resource

This hand-pulled screen print by strawberryluna studio is from UncommonGoods.com, a treasure trove of cool stuff at equally cool prices that are good for sprucing up any interior - whether you're intending to stay put for a spell...or hoping not to.

For more tried-and-true home staging tips, be sure to pick up your copy of STAGE IT RIGHT & WATCH IT SELL: Top Tips, Tricks & Techniques for Staging a House Like a Real Estate Pro (only 99 cents & downloadable immediately!)

- by Agent Blondie for Team Freckles

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Exterior Home Staging: The Open & Shut on Shutters

As long as they’re in good repair, properly painted and hung straight, they add oodles of buyer-friendly charm to the look of a house. If you like the look of wood, but not the worries of cracking, splitting or rotting, then good shutter options to consider are fiberglass and high-density PVC. Note, though, when you go to paint: shutters that are too close in color to the rest of the house are hard to see, which kind of misses the point. Instead, go for a color that stands out tastefully.

This exterior features colors by BEHR: Aged Parchment UL150-10, Gallery White UL260-15, Dark Truffle UL140-2

This tip on shutter is just one of many in STAGE IT RIGHT & WATCH IT SELL: Top Tips, Tricks & Techniques for Staging a House Like a Real Estate Pro (only 99 cents & downloadable immediately!)

- by Agent Blondie for Team Freckles

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To Sell Your Home Quickly Repeat After Me: White & Light is Right

"After location, light is the second-most cited reason buyers choose a particular house," explains real estate maven Barbara Corcoran. "Paint the inside walls white, clean the windows, trim back shrubs and trees, replace heavy drapery with sheer curtains or shades, put sheer white shades on your lamps and higher-wattage bulbs."

by AGENT BLONDIE for Team Freckles. For tried-and-true home staging tips, be sure to pick up your copy of STAGE IT RIGHT & WATCH IT SELL: Top Tips, Tricks & Techniques for Staging a House Like a Real Estate Pro (only 99 cents & downloadable immediately!)

(image: BEHR.com)

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A Focal Point: Good for Feng Shui & Home Seller Bank Accounts Both

When a lot of furniture is crowded into a room, it sends the message that there’s no storage space in the house, so if you're planning to sell your place, be ruthless about editing what is allowed to stay. Focus on getting a good flow; tables that are round or have rounded edges encourage a natural flow. If there are awkward barren areas, try scattering some area rugs, putting up room dividers, moving in some shelving and/or hanging art on the walls. Make sure there are at least a few pieces of large furniture in every room. When odd spaces are left empty, such as a room over the garage, the lack of furniture makes home buyers wonder if…. 

…maybe the roof leaks, which will add to their costs. 

…the space is too cold or hot to be useful, meaning they’d be paying for square footage they wouldn’t use. 

…you ran out of money & are more likely to accept a lowball offer. 

SOME PRO TIPS: If the fireplace looks wonderful, keep it front and center by placing a single tall palm next to it; if you think a pair of palm trees would look even better, go for it. Should a room be lacking in natural light or have an awkward corner, then create an interesting focal point. First place a large plant or silk tree in the uninviting area with a spotlight behind it. Train it so that when the leaves are lit up, it creates an interesting shadow on another wall.

From STAGE IT RIGHT & WATCH IT SELL: Top Tips, Tricks & Techniques for Staging a House Like a Real Estate Pro (only 99 cents & downloadable immediately!)

by Agent Blondie for Team Freckles

- image: Presotto Italia (via)

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The Emotional Costs & Benefits of Buying a Home

Buying a home isn't all just dollars & cents. Beneath the bottom line is an entirely different bottom line located in pretty emo territory. A Coldwell Banker Real Estate study of Millennials in relationships uncovered some interesting stuff:

Buying a place together forces people to face how they feel about money both individually & as a couple. Being able to bridge any gaps in the money-as-a-couple part is a significant accomplishment & a big reason that home-buying is the "new engagement ring” for many couples.

Owning your own home is still atop the bucket list for many people so when someone helps you reach one of your dreams, you always feel a special bond with them. Small wonder then that almost 90% of marrieds who bought their first home after tying the knot felt that the home-buying experience & achievement of this goal made their relationship even better.

The resources required to buy a home - finances, paperwork, having to stay put - can be pretty staggering. So to jump into the home-buying ring and not just alone but with someone else indicates that a) you must really trust that person and b) you trust the future will be good. As a result, when a lot of people become first-time home buyers, it's more than just an economic boon to the economy, there's also a large feel-good factor that the hard data don't really describe.

by AGENT BLONDIE for Team Freckles. For tried-and-true home staging tips, be sure to pick up your copy of STAGE IT RIGHT & WATCH IT SELL: Top Tips, Tricks & Techniques for Staging a House Like a Real Estate Pro (only 99 cents & downloadable immediately!)

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YOU ARE HERE. Find out where that is on the Home Buyer Foodchain

Redfin just launched this handy new tool that gives you an accurate idea of how much house how you can probably afford. You plug in your zip code, the amount of your down payment & your monthly expenses. It calculates the home-price range to start your house-shopping. 

Here, I plugged in a Portland, Oregon zip and the same down payment amount of $10,000 but changed the monthly income to compare. Interestingly, when I jumped to $80,000 a year from $60,000, the house-price range was lower. Why? Because of higher monthly-debt figures (hello, student debt repayments, anyone?). What a great way to see at a glance where in the market you should be doing your home shopping.

by AGENT BLONDIE for Team Freckles. For tried-and-true home staging tips, be sure to pick up your copy of STAGE IT RIGHT & WATCH IT SELL: Top Tips, Tricks & Techniques for Staging a House Like a Real Estate Pro (only 99 cents & downloadable immediately!)

[agentfreckle]

Meet the Solar Panels of the Future: Paint!

Solar panels are great for many things - reducing the co$t of life, lightening your carbon footprint, improving your status as an eco citizen - but they look pretty awkward glommed onto stretches of roof, especially on more classic styles of architecture. “We want to do something transformative, to move beyond current silicon-based solar technology,” says Prashant Kamat, John A. Zahm Professor of Science in Chemistry and Biochemistry and an investigator in Notre Dame’s Center for Nano Science and Technology (NDnano). He & his team rethought how to access all that solar goodness just without the paneled clunkiness & came up with this clever notion: incorporating it into a mixture that you apply to a structure's exterior like paint, dubbed Sun-Believable. “By incorporating power-producing nanoparticles, called quantum dots, into a spreadable compound, we’ve made a one-coat solar paint that can be applied to any conductive surface without special equipment.” When the paste is brushed on and exposed to light, it creates electricity. Clever. (via)

by AGENT BLONDIE for Team Freckles. For tried-and-true home staging tips, be sure to pick up your copy of STAGE IT RIGHT & WATCH IT SELL: Top Tips, Tricks & Techniques for Staging a House Like a Real Estate Pro (only 99 cents & downloadable immediately!)

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Stage it Right & Watch it Sell! The Must-Have New Book on How to Stage a Home or House

Homes that aren't staged correctly not only take longer to sell, but sell for less. So what's the solution? Learning how to stage it correctly - straight from your favorite ladies on Team Freckles, Agent Freckles & Agent Blondie! "STAGE IT RIGHT & WATCH IT SELL: Tips, Tricks & Techniques for Staging a House Like a Real Estate Pro" shares all the best secrets, tips, tricks & techniques used by industry experts, home design gurus, real estate experts and home staging pros to get the job done right and for maximum profit. And it's only 99 cents! That's a whole lotta home-seller cashish in the bank for a small amount of dosh.  About 30 people have left reviews on Amazon since we published it and they're all 5 stars. They all love the way it's written, how packed it is with information, how easily it is to access the info when you need it plus the fact that it's fun & funny - which is a relief after so many boring, stuffy books on the subject.

You'll learn:

THE BIG SECRET

understanding what buyers actually want & how to avoid the biggest mistake sellers make

what triggers home buyers to fall in love with a home 

how long it takes a buyer to decide they love a home

WHY YOU SHOULD THROW HOUSE UNWARMING PARTY! Tthe stylish way to break up with your home & mentally shift gears into staging it to sell

HOW TO DEAL WITH CLUTTER For. Good. 

PROVEN EXTERIOR STAGING TECHNIQUES

step-by-step instructions on how to stage the exterior for maximum curb appeal 

the proven paint palettes that are most popular with home buyers

tips on landscaping, pruning, prepping the walkways & patios

why lawn paint can be a sellers bestie

how to get the scale of exterior lighting correct

cleaning windows, including stubborn hard water mineral stains

important things to NOT ever forget to do when your home is listed

what to do when bad neighbors happen to a good house for sale

INTERIOR STAGING DONE CORRECTLY

the paint colors most popular with home buyers

the areas of the home most important to home buyers

the areas not to spend as much of your time or money on

kitchens & bathrooms 101

flooring options & fixes

excellent insider tips on how to clean a fireplace, wash a window & the best light bulbs for every area of the home 

offbeat but awesome insider secrets such as using ice cubes to remove furniture dents from the carpet, a spray paint that will transform any appliance with a chic & durable stainless steel exterior, the cheapest way to "fake" a bed when you're staging otherwise-empty rooms and using Lemonade Kool-Aid to clean out the dishwasher 

HOW TO TAKE AMAZING LISTING PHOTOS

technical tips including the best time of day to shoot equipment to use 

ways of creating the most attractive and editorial-looking images

tips on what to focus on

guidelines for creating a Home Tour DVD 

HOW MUCH VARIOUS HOME IMPROVEMENTS PAY OFF 

a summary of some of the more important or interesting statistics (such as how long on average homes stay on the market once listed & how long it takes a buyer after they walk in the door to fall in love with a home)

comparing typical home-improvement investments & how much they return in terms of the sale price of the home

the "don't bother" list of stuff buyers really aren't interested in

HANDY CHECKLISTS

what your realtor will need from you

all the fixes, both inside & out, you'll need to make

shooting the house & showing it

WHERE TO FIND WHAT YOU NEED 

all the various equipment lists & specific products listed in one place to make any shopping & prepping go that much more smoothly

great places to find recommended handymen, organizers, photographers, videographers, home stagers & other pros

"STAGE IT RIGHT" is like having all the best advice from top industry pros right at your fingertips for every step of the way, enabling you to stage a house to its best possible advantage and get the best sale price possible. And all for 99 cents! It's available HERE on Amazon.com for immediate download.

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AGENT FRECKLES DAILY DOSSIER - Edition: What Home Buyers Who Are Millennials Want (September 6, 2013)

...well-designed space

...hardwood floors

...smart functionality

...digs as unique as they are

...to stop paying rent

by AGENT BLONDIE for Team Freckles. For tried-and-true home staging tips, be sure to pick up your copy of STAGE IT RIGHT & WATCH IT SELL: Top Tips, Tricks & Techniques for Staging a House Like a Real Estate Pro (only 99 cents & downloadable immediately!)

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[agentfreckle]

Smart Layout, Space for Entertaining, a Snazzy Living Area & Other Stuff Home Buyers Who Are Millennials Want

“Millennials have witnessed the housing boom and bust, but still believe homeownership is a good investment,” observes Fred Ehle, vice president for PulteGroup. “Consistent with other third-party research that shows more than 90 percent of millennials plan to buy a home someday, we see a lot of young adults who are making financial sacrifices to afford a place of their own. With the combination of incredibly low mortgage rates, rising rental rates and very low inventory levels, millennials realize now is a good time to purchase a home.”  When PulteGroup surveyed Millennials, over half of them reported being weary of living in apartments & paying out so much money to someone else by way of rent each month; this group is ready to own something & build up some equity & as a result, and in 2012, 30% of PulteGroup's buyers were Millennials purchasing their first home. But not just any McMansion, thankyouverymuch. They like spaces within walking or biking distance of the action that needn't be 8-bedroom, 50-bathroom affairs so long as the space is intelligently laid out. “Millennials today want a lot of value in their home that makes efficient use of every space,” continues Ehle. “In fact, the single most important home feature to a millennial buyer today is the floor plan layout.”

Research by PulteGroup found this is what their Millennial home buyers are looking for:

enough storage for daily items: 84%

room for watching TV, movies & sports: 76%

an entry way in the house: 73%

an open, combined kitchen/living room for entertaining:  69%

an outdoor living/deck: 63%

a home office or other way to work & conduct bidnez a casa: 36%

by AGENT BLONDIE for Team Freckles. For tried-and-true home staging tips, be sure to pick up your copy of STAGE IT RIGHT & WATCH IT SELL: Top Tips, Tricks & Techniques for Staging a House Like a Real Estate Pro (only 99 cents & downloadable immediately!)

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[agentfreckle]

AGENT FRECKLES DAILY DOSSIER Edition: Home Interiors of *The Future* (September 5, 2013)

As long as human crave their creature comforts, don't expect the interiors to become too Star Trek...at least for now. (Think today's spaces just with a lot more tech from brands like Apple in the mix.) So what will living spaces look like?

"We are the sizes we are, and we like the comfort that we like. Furniture has to remain the same, because it has to keep with the proportions of human beings." - interior decorator Alex Papachristidis

"I see warming spaces up becoming a bigger theme—using carpeting and luxury materials like chrome and brass and stone."- designer Ryan Korban

"I hope and pray that antiques will last well into the future. They give rooms their soul. I could not work without antiques or books, which are already on their way out." - Nathan Turner

"The trend of splashy technology—kind of wearing it on your sleeve as a badge of honor—will fade out. We're going to see more thoughtful integration of technology and display. It will be more people-first technology." - Lori Gee, vice president of applied insight for furniture manufacturer Herman Miller

"Technology is not just the obvious things like LED lighting or security systems or cooking technologies. It's also the technologies in weaving, which have transformed the industry and given it such exciting new materials to work with." Like microfiber: soft as organic cotton and even in the face of kids' and pets' best efforts - indestructible. - Newell Turner, editor in chief of the Hearst Design Group, which includes Elle Decor, Veranda & House Beautiful.

"I see hanging beds, heated flooring, soothing ethereal lighting seeping through the walls. Very modern womb." - Barbara Barry

by AGENT BLONDIE for Team Freckles. For tried-and-true home staging tips, be sure to pick up your copy of STAGE IT RIGHT & WATCH IT SELL: Top Tips, Tricks & Techniques for Staging a House Like a Real Estate Pro (only 99 cents & downloadable immediately!)

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In housing design, it make take a while, but form eventually does follow function. Showy McMansions will be giving way to smaller, smarter layouts that deliver a boatload of functional space on a far more petite footprint. And not because the big-deal home builders suddenly got hit with the eco-stick but because they follow the money, and the next wave of buyers with clout are the Millennials. Born between 1980 & 2000, they comprise the largest population cohort ever seen. And what do they want from a home?

a combined space that allows for kitchen access as well as TV & movie watching & online-whatever

tons of storage space for all life's daily necessities

an outdoor deck or living space

the ability to work from home

This wall-mounted appliance was an entry in the Electrolux Design Lab competition in 2010. Mathew Gilbride designed this cool set-up around a technology providing power wirelessly through the wall & supplementing with solar energy. The units for cooking, cooling the space, lighting and refrigeration are modular, providing a great deal of flexibility and customization for the user. (via)

by AGENT BLONDIE for Team Freckles. For tried-and-true home staging tips, be sure to pick up your copy of STAGE IT RIGHT & WATCH IT SELL: Top Tips, Tricks & Techniques for Staging a House Like a Real Estate Pro (only 99 cents & downloadable immediately!)

[agentfreckle]

AGENT FRECKLES DAILY DOSSIER: Edition *What Millennials Want Out of...* (September 4, 2013)

...work

...cities

...shopping (including life insurance)

...cars

...life

by AGENT BLONDIE for Team Freckles. For tried-and-true home staging tips, be sure to pick up your copy of STAGE IT RIGHT & WATCH IT SELL: Top Tips, Tricks & Techniques for Staging a House Like a Real Estate Pro (only 99 cents & downloadable immediately!)

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[agentfreckle]

Brave New World of Millennial Discovery

“What we’re seeing is a shift in the function of a road from merely a line between one destination and the next to more of a habitat for people,” notes Rolf Pendall, director of the Washington-based Urban Institute. “Since urban real estate is getting more expensive, having and using roads as public space with pop ups and pedestrian lounges is becoming more important. You have this smudging of the private and public realm.” Millennials don't mind living spaces that are small if they're interestingly designed with extra flair points awarded for building materials that are in some way eco or less burdensome to the environment. However, when it comes specifically to the actual Great Outdoors, Environics Analytics found that Millennials are somewhat ambivalent. 

What they are passionate about? City spaces loaded with secret spaces and other treasures they can discover and then bring along a pack of their fave pals for a chill-out session - a vibrant vision of urbanity that allows them both the connection with others they want and their desire to discover cool hidden spots. This combination is what feeds them emotionally and socially. So what does this translate to when it comes to the future of residential architecture & design? 

Cool happenings that take place in public spaces, such as art events where the works are projected onto the sides of buildings or dumpsters.  Wider sidewalks that allow for people to walk in groups and those on bikes to pedal around.  Public spaces reminiscent of Bangkok's Night Market which many Millennials experienced while traveling (they're a well-traveled group). And living space such as the community-friendly ELEVE Lofts and Skydeck (above) in Glendale which feature a 26,000 square foot SkyDeck with a very Kitchen Stadium-inspired Demonstration Kitchen area, a large screen projector for movie nights, spa tubs, ritzy rooftop seating, a dog run & even a "Poet's Corner" with a piano.

by AGENT BLONDIE for Team Freckles. For tried-and-true home staging tips, be sure to pick up your copy of STAGE IT RIGHT & WATCH IT SELL: Top Tips, Tricks & Techniques for Staging a House Like a Real Estate Pro (only 99 cents & downloadable immediately!)