How Long Would It Take to Sell Your House!

This information is from June's Market Report for Lafayette Parish only!

I know this report looks confusing.  Here's what to do:

1.  Find the price range your house falls into!
2.  The numbers to the right of your price mean this:
     Column 2:  Number of properties sold!
     Column 3:  Current # of listings!
     Column 4:  Approximate number of months it will take to sell your house!

This representation is based in whole or in part on data supplied by the REALTOR Association of Acadiana Multiple Listing Service. Neither the Board nor its MLS guarantees or is in any way responsible for its accuracy. Data maintained by the Board may not reflect all real estate activity in the marketplace.

Organize under you sink!

If you are anything like me, you have really good intentions at keeping things organized under your kitchen sink (or any sink for that matter), but then after a while it's a mess with cleaners, sponges, trash cans, etc.  Here are a few ideas I got from Pinterest on ways to organize!

Myhomeideas.com

Think: 

Stacking shelves

Door racks

Lazy Susan

Plastic buckets

My sink has WAY more things in it than this but I LOVE the idea of a rod for spray bottles!!!

June 2012 Market Report

June marks the 6th month in a row that home sales have been up in 2012 compared to 2011!!!

Homes sold in June 2011: 222
Homes sold in June 2012: 230
Change for June 2011 - June 2012: +3.60% (I LOVE to see those + signs!!)

Cumulative total from January - June 2011: 1,083
Cumulative total from January - June 2012: 1,249
Cumulative change: +15.33%


Average days on the market January - June 2011: 115
Average days on the market January - June 2012: 103
That is 12 days less!!!

How does 2012 (January - June) compare to previous years!?  Remember, the + sign is what we want to see because that means we are doing better in 2012 than we did in that year!

2006:  -3.55%
2007:  -10.91%
2008:  +5.40%
2009:  +18.61%
2010:  -1.58%

This representation is based in whole or in part on data supplied by the REALTOR Association of Acadiana Multiple Listing Service. Neither the Board nor its MLS guarantees or is in any way responsible for its accuracy. Data maintained by the Board may not reflect all real estate activity in the marketplace.

After this post, we are all updated on HGTV's colors of the month for 2012

After this post we will be all up to date on HGTV's monthly colors for 2012 and I'll just start posting them once a month!

February: Fresh Mint

I like this color, but on HGTV's link it doesn't have any pictures of mint in a room.  I was curious how mint would look as a main color of a room, and I have to say, after I looked up some pictures on Pinterest, I couldn't decide on which ones to post because there were so many favorites!  It's so fresh and clean looking, don't you think?

January: Pink Champagne

HGTV's site says this no longer has to be a "girly" color and is becoming a new neutral!  I do have to agree that it can be a very elegant color if it's done right!

Need A Job? Move to Lafayette, LA!

I was gonna post the last update on HGTV's colors of the month this morning, but I changed my mind when I read this article!  Don't worry, I'll post the colors on Monday!

A friend of mine posted a link to this article on Facebook yesterday and just the title of it made me infinitely happy:  NEED A JOB?  MOVE TO LAFAYETTE, LA.

You can click this link to read the actual article on CNNmoney.com, but, to me, the first paragraph says it all!


"Lafayette is expected to have the nation's largest gain in jobs among metropolitan areas, thanks to its booming energy sector, according to a new report from IHS Global Insight. Employment is expected to soar 8.8% this year, while the area's economy should jump 7.5%."

A few more colors from HGTV...

I'm still getting us caught up on this years suggestions on color from HGTV.

April:  Coral

Coral doesn't have to be just a spring color, you can help make it year round by pairing it with deeper palettes like gray or bronze, according to Kayla Kitts (Assistant Editor at HGTV).

I googled "coral room" on Pinterest.com 

March: Copper

My first thought?  I LOVE COPPER!!!!  This color can be feminine or masculine and please both traditionalist or modernist.  It doesn't necessarily have to be a paint color.  It can be an accent piece, a sink, a range hood, a light?!  It can even be a floor!!!

Have you seen this picture of the copper flooring made out of pennies floating around facebook?  I LOVE this idea!

Here are some other pictures I found that I love!

Let's get caught up on HGTV's past colors of the months!

I got some interest in my blog post Friday, so I decided to catch us up on all the colors HGTV has featured this year.  I'll go backwards and do a few months at a time.  I'll post the others throughout the week.

June: Neon

Honestly, I was thinking, "WHAT? UGLY... well maybe it can be done in a kids room?!?!?!"  Then I looked at pictures and found that neon can be great if it's done right.  Paint an accent wall, or just have an accent piece and it can make the room pop!  Here are a few pictures I found that I liked!

May:  Navy Blue

I love this color and when I googled for pictures, it was hard to choose what to put on my blog!  It's classic, traditional, preppy, and sophisticated.  

HGTV's Color of the Month!

I know people are always looking for the "it" colors for their home.  I just discovered that HGTV features a color of the month.  July's color?  Driftwood Grey.  I really like it!

I googled some pictures of Driftwood gray and this is what I found:

Better Homes and Garden

Pinterest

nauticalcottageblog.com

What do you think of this color?

Carpet stain removal ideas!!!

A friend of mine bought a house and the previous owners left this terrible red candle wax stain!  She hired a carpet cleaner to clean the carpets and although he did a great job cleaning them, the stain didn't fade a bit. After some research she learned a trick  She put a white towel over the stain and ironed (low heat) over it to get the wax up.  Fortunately, it worked with the wax, but not the red dye.  She then put Goo Gone on the stain.  It's important not to rub the carpet because it will fray.  Use your fingers or the soft side of the spoon to rub it in.  Then use the towel over it and iron again!  The stain transferred to the towel.  Although she had to repeat that process several times, she was thrilled with the results.  Here are the before and after pictures!

I found this site that gives tons of suggestions for all different kinds of carpet stains!  

Do you have any cleaning tricks that I could add to my blog?!?!  Let me know!!!

Now might be a better time to buy than rent!!

I read this great article on AOL real estate!  Check it out if you have time, but I'll give a brief synopsis!

It states that, in general, rents keep rising, while home prices inch higher.  However, rents are rising faster than home prices.  That, coupled with record low mortgage rates, could help make the decision easier for a person on the fence about renting or buying.

Over the last 12 months in the US, rents rose an average of 5.4%, while asking prices for homes rose a small 0.3%.  Since his is the 5th month in a row that home prices have increased, the market is showing signs of improvement, but it's a modest rise compared to the rental prices.

Does a Pool Add Value to Your Home?

I've been seeing lots of pools going in backyards this summer and I get this question a lot:  Does a pool add value to my home?

A pool may slightly add to the value of your home if the buyer wants a pool, however, if you put a pool in your backyard you will not receive the full value of the pool when you sell.  You may be able to add $5,000-$10,000 to the list price of your home, but even that is very questionable.  Therefore, when deciding whether you should put a pool in your backyard, do it for the pleasure of your family and not for an investment!

10 DIY Projects To Help Sell Your Home Faster!

On yahoo news I found an article about 10 things you can do to sell your home faster.  Click on this link to read the whole article, but here are the main points:

1.  Create a welcoming entrance
     - Remove weeds, trim plants, paint the door and remove clutter (i.e. shoes, keys, mail)

2.  Mulch
     - make it 1-3 inches thick

3.  Eliminate odors
     - you might not think there is an odor, but buyers might.  Baking soda is a great odor neutralizer

4.  Resurface cabinets
     - Replacing cabinets is expensive, but sprucing them up isn't!

5.  Base-board repairs
    - make sure they are clean, repaint if you need, and fill all nail holes!

6.  Nail-hole repairs
 
7.  Caulking
     - Pay special attention to caulking in the bathroom because lots of times the caulk can get moldy!

8.  Spruce up your appliances
     - Clean, clean, clean!  Notice a pattern?!  Buyers want a nice, clean home!

9.  Change a handle
     - This article talks about changing appliance handles, but change outdated door knobs and cabinet knobs can be an inexpensive way to update your home!

10.  Clean out closets
     - Buyers look behind all doors, so you can't cheat and shove everything into a closet!