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When staging a home for sale, use neutral colors in flooring, upholstery and window dressing to enhance brighter accents.

Staging Your House For A Quick Sale
Posted: 6/15/2010

(NAPSI)-"Home staging" is increasingly popular among homeowners seeking to sell their house. Curb appeal, clutter removal and a thorough cleaning are important, but a few extra steps can dramatically improve the appeal of your home to a buyer.

Design and model home expert Janice Jones, who oversees model home design and decorating for Pulte Homes, offers a few tips to help you create an up-to-date new and fresh look that can set your home apart from the competition:

1. Use Color: Adding the right punch of color to accent walls or trim can create depth, enhance kitchen cabinets or bring a boring bathroom to life.

Jones encourages homeowners to find pops of color in accessories, such as throw pillows, coffee-table books and decorative canisters. The key is to experiment and not be afraid to add extras such as exciting wall art or a playful chair or an area rug. Different colors have different effects, Jones says:

• Red is stimulating and encourages self-confidence.
  
  
• Orange promotes happiness and celebration.
  
  
• Yellow is uplifting and light-hearted.
  
  
• Blue is calming in softer tones, promotes clarity in deeper ones.
  
  
• Green is the color of nature; it feels fresh and rejuvenating.
  
  
• Aqua is restful while pink is gentle and sweet-making a great pair.
  
  
• Purple tones bring out a sense of compassion.

2. Less Can Be More: When Jones decorates model homes, she takes care not to clutter spaces and aims to keep rooms inviting, comfortable and memorable. This requires appropriate-sized furnishings that allow for maximum seating without crowding.

"Use fewer accessories and try not to overstimulate," she advised. "This makes living spaces appear much larger."

3. Focus on the Home: Homeowners achieve better results by displaying only their most important collectible treasures in a bookcase, a see-through furniture cabinet or open shelving. The focus should be on the house, not the current homeowner's knickknacks.

4. Know the Latest Trends: Design trends have been moving toward simple clean lines, an organic approach and a more relaxed look overall. Flat-screen TVs, laptop computers and other technology have changed the need for heavy, deep pieces.

5. Even Small Changes Reap Rewards: Jones stresses that even a small decorating project can make a significant difference.

"Interior design gives home sellers a great opportunity to make a good first impression," she said. "Simple staging can be livable as well as sellable."

For more home-staging tips from Pulte Homes, visit http://bit.ly/StagingTips.

Ed Wacaster, CMPS

The Mortgage Manager

Well it’s that time of year where I break out my crystal ball and find out that I broke it when I hit with my baseball bat at the age of 10. Why am I just noticing this?  Oh yeah, I bought a new one a few years ago from a lady with a big fat honker that had a wart on it the size of a Chevy. This one should work just fine.

As I look inside I see nothing but fog. Darn! This one is just as broke as the first one. Why did I buy this one again? Someone please, tell me why? Okay, back to the technical analysis to see what I can glean from them.

What the technical side of the housing market is telling me, is this: We haven’t hit bottom yet. But! It is possible we could see the bottom this year if things and organizations can get their act together in time to turn things around this year. Is this going to happen? I have no idea. It could if congress keeps to themselves and allows the market to work itself out. But if they get involved, not much good will happen and it could push back the anticipated turn up in the housing market. Big Ben and his board of Governors can only work within a narrow area so as to keep us out of a recession. Speaking of the impending recession, we need to look at market data to determine where the recession is, and quit listening to the news media. Thus far, the only recession that is in full bloom is on the news. Is there a disconnect here, or is it just me?

Looking at the Core Personal Consumption Expenditures, for instance, is one of the main economic indicators the Fed uses to gauge inflation. Right no it stands at 2.2%. The Fed really likes this number between 1% and 2%. Anything over 2% and the Fed begins to worry about inflation on the horizon. Keep in mind, the Feds main focus is to keep inflation in check, not bailing out the banks or anyone else for that matter. As to a rate decrease at he next Fed meeting, we’ll watch and see, but if they do lower rates, it could trigger a higher Core PCE. This is going to be a year in which watching the economic indicators is going to be a high priority.

You can contact Ed Wacaster, CMPS at 916-677-0996 or www.EdWacaster.com

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