I caught this good summary of new tools for house hunters in the June 16th 2009 issue of Realtor.org Daily Real Estate News.

New technology continues to make it easier for shoppers to identify homes to buy. Here are some of the latest and greatest.

*There’s an iPhone app for that: Zillow.com released a free iPhone app that allows consumers to check out homes for sale. The GPS-powered app allows shoppers to drive by a home for sale and see price and other details like number of bedrooms and baths.

*Search for ROI: Web sites like Investorloft.com rank homes by the profits they produce and identify properties with big differences between listing price and estimated value. The site has listings in 20 states and will be in all 50 by early 2010.

*Search for falling prices: Trulia.com will let you look for price reductions. Enter a zip code and reduced listings will come up.

*Guided tours on YouTube: Coldwell Banker has partnered with YouTube to launch a homes-for-sale video channel.

*Project value for $9.95: Cyberhomes is offering a market report for slightly less than $10 that provides neighborhood price projections and 12- to 24-month price-change forecasts. It also identifies the number of distressed, foreclosed, and REO properties nearby.

Source: CNNMoney.com, Les Christie (06/15/2009)

I would also add a couple more.

Look for active and data oriented real estate agent blogs in your area. These can be excellent resources for micro level data to help you get an even better understanding of the market you are most interested in. There are a few in the Boulder Colorado area but two great examples are:

The Silver Fern

Zachary Epps

Also, if you are not yet using Twitter, you need to be especially if you are looking for a house. Savvy real estate agents are tweeting super current information and thoughts that can help you again learn more about the micro market you are interested in and get a jump start on others.

If you are selling a house it is critical that you and your agent take all these technology and online resources seriously. Buyers are doing a very large amount of research online before they set foot in your home. They are weeding out the houses that do not grab their attention so make sure your house is in all the right places online and that it is shining in its online description and more importantly in its pictures. Design Matters Home can help you make sure your house is looking its best online through our home staging services. Call us today at (303)249-4661, use our contact form, or stop by our office at 820 Main Street, Suite 109, Louisville, Colorado 80027

Labels: Boulder Colorado, Home Staging, real estate, technology

The home marketing and re-design seminar we held last Wednesday was a great night with a lot of information shared and great questions from the attendees. Everyone walked out with more knowledge about the Boulder housing market which I am happy to report is not as grim as you may think.

Price points at $400k and below are the hot properties in the Boulder area. Houses between $600k and $1 million are a harder sale although Carrie Nash with WR Starkey said she has seen more jumbo loans come through in the past week. This is a good sign. Caryn Geiger of Coldwell Banker Residential says she has seen some investors re-entering the market at the lower priced properties. This is also a good sign.

With low inventory, the real estate market is like a beauty contest. The properties that are listed are pristine. Trying to compete against them without taking steps to make your house as equally beautiful and better yet more beautiful is a big mistake.

Home staging is a smart step to increase the chances of selling your home. There are great local companies in the Boulder area offering professional home staging services that will make your home shine. Most home staging companies like ours offer a range of staging services from guiding you on how to arrange your own furniture, to supplementing your furniture with outside inventory to fill in gaps and update styles, to completely staging vacant homes. Design Matters Home also offers other services that will give you peace of mind that your house remains in top condition if you have to move away from it while it is on the market.

If you choose not to hire a professional, CLEAN and DE-CLUTTER. These two things give the property a larger ROI (return on investment) than anything else. You would think this these two steps would be no-brainers to people selling their home. Unfortunately we and real estate agents we work with continually see people not taking the marketing of their home seriously. This is an expensive mistake. In addition to cleaning and de-cluttering your home do what you can to repair and update as much as possible. I know it is not always practical to update and repair everything so work with your real estate agent to determine the best focus areas for your home.

PLEASE don’t reduce the price, especially if it is what is known as a chicken price reduction (a gratuitous price reduction that is basically meaningless), before a t least talking with a staging professional. ROI on staging is over 100%. Your first price reduction will most certainly cost you a higher amount than the costs of staging. Once you take the step to reduce the price there is no ROI as you will not get that money back.

This workshop was part of our monthly workshop series. We are working on a workshop about outdoor kitchens next. Check back on our website for updates. Re-caps of our past workshops along with other articles written by us, including another recent article on home staging and more of our thoughts on home marketing, can be found in the Design MattersHome Blog. You can also always send any questions to me at helly@designmattershome.com. If you are into Twitter you can follow me, and ask me questions there as well – http://www.twitter.com/askhelly.

Labels: Boulder Colorado, Home Staging, real estate

Design Matter Home is hosting a workshop tomorrow, Wednesday, April 29, 5:30pm, on home sale strategy and marketing. We are really excited about this workshop and think it will bring value to you whether you are looking to sell your home soon or just want to learn more about the best investments to make in updating you home for future sale.

If you are in the Louisville Colorado area (Just east of Boulder) and have time tomorrow please attend our workshop. Light refreshments will be served.

Perspectives will be from interior designer, Realtor, and mortgage provider.

Topics will include - ROI on interior additions and updates, trends, home marketing via staging, competing against foreclosure pricing, Looking behind the Headlines - what you don't hear from the National Media, "Should I stay or should I go?", Declining inventory - what does it mean?, What are your odds of selling?, how the value of your home affects lending, how can I access my equity and should I?, and more.

To RSVP go to http://event.pingg.com/HomeSaleStrategy

Labels: Boulder Colorado, Home Staging, real estate

Last Tuesday night (3/31/2009) Design Matters Home and A Natural Bliss sponsored a presentation Beefy O’Brady’s restaurant in Louisville.

Labels: Boulder Colorado, Interior Design, Landscape Design

I attended a presentation about the color trends as predicted by Sherwin Williams this past fall. It was an outstanding presentation that stirred a lot of excitement in the audience of interior designers. View the Sherwin Williams 2008 Color Forecast.

Two forecasted color groups were the most relevant to my inspiration and creativity for the New Year.

The first amazing color group was Around the World. This group of colors struck me because the colors are very earthy, yet there are wonderful pops of color that make the group really fun land unpredictable like Dynamo, SW 6841 and Tupelo Tree, SW 6417. This color group reflects the type of colors that are very user friendly in my geographic area of Boulder and Colorado. The reflection of the outdoors and connection with nature are amazing, and help bring the outdoors in, which is a very important concept to Coloradans.

I was also impressed with the No Place Like Home color group. The Sherwin Williams rep, who gave us the presentation a few months ago, told us that we would see more ethereal colors, and this color group nails ethereal. Who doesn't need a dose of ethereal in this busy world? Being delicate and light and intangible sounds like plan to me after an overbooked day of chaos. Spa is out. Ethereal is in! No more white towels, go with Evening Shadow SW7662 or Restful White SW 7563. There are a few pops of color in this group to keep you grounded so you don't float too far away from reality.

There you have a Colorful Colorado 2008 color forecast. Have fun with these fantastic colors.

Labels: Boulder Colorado, Interior Design

"Boutique Traditional", "Clean Transitional", "Modern Contemporary", "New Eclecticism", "Warm Modernism", "Tradition With A Twist", "Neo-Neo-Classicism"

What is going on here? Are we as an industry making this harder for consumers than it should be? My answer is yes. It does not have to be this complicated though. All the above terms were mentioned in an interesting recent article in the New York Times by Julie Scelfo called Marketing Décor for a Conflicted Era .

"American Leather is one of many manufacturers and retailers now contending with the problem of naming or describing furniture that is designed to defy categorization. In recent years, as decorators and indie furniture designers rebelled against the minimalism that held sway early in the decade, an individualistic, mix-and-match aesthetic has become fashionable, and is now becoming the norm. This look - contemporary spaces peppered with antiques and craftsy pieces, bespoke furnishings that tweak traditional forms with unusual materials - has filtered into the mainstream consciousness, thanks largely to TV makeover programs, magazines and blogs. Now companies aimed at the mass market consumer are having to figure out how to package it."

While there may be reasons for the manufacturers to struggle with these terms so they can refresh their brands to sell product don’t let it impact how you put it all together so it works in your home.

A name should not define what works for you in your home. When you are sitting in your living room on your new sofa, does it really matter if it is from the Arlington line that was worded to reflect the blend of traditional and contemporary? No. What matters is whether or not the sofa, and other pieces you purchased for your interior design, create an interior space that is comfortable to you in your home.

"It’s an eclectic mix of designs," said Mr. Plasman. "Naming it after a specific design period was harder than coming up with a name for your own child."

Merriam-Webster defines eclectic as "composed of elements drawn from various sources," and transitional as, "a movement, development, or evolution from one form, stage, or style to another." It sounds like both are a mix of different ideas that come together to form one concrete idea. So, call it what you want. It is simply a blend of styles, colors, and philosophies that marry together to form dynamic interiors.

If you like transitional interiors which blend traditional and contemporary styles, focus on neutral color palettes, and highlight clean lines with minimal accessories then I say COOL, especially if you live in a geographic area where casual is key to life like Colorado.

People in Colorado don't want fussy interiors; we need interiors that can stand up to muddy hiking boots, dusty running shoes, fishing poles, skis and ski boots. That does not mean that people in Colorado necessarily value function over aesthetics. People here want gorgeous interiors that can stand the test of the great outdoors indoors. This translates to casual, but nice interiors, that allow a fabulous blend of clean lines, fun pops of color, and unique yet appropriate accessories.

"One of the greatest paradoxes of this human condition we live in is people have these conflicting desires: first, to belong to a group, and second, to be unique. And these two things fight with each other and that happens with furnishings too."

Let the marketers stay in their world of names and descriptions to attempt to solve this paradox while you focus on design matters to build the best interior design solutions for your needs.

• Are the pieces aesthetically pleasing to your senses? I recommend asking this question on pieces individually and along with others you want to mix and match in your home.
• Do the pieces provide the functionality you need to make your life easier?
• Do the pieces match your goals of making the earth a better place to live?
• Do the pieces represent your goals of saving money or future investment?
• Do the pieces provide the health benefits to make your mind and body thrive?

If you use the above approach rather than focusing on names and descriptions then you will end up with an interior design that exceeds all your expectations no matter what category it falls into.

Labels: Boulder Colorado, Design Matters, Interior Design

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