About Polk County, OR

Sexy, stylish, fashionable or even all that interesting your water heater is not. (unless you have one of those tankless systems, but that another blog) Although much maligned your water heater is an important part of modern living and it really makes indoor plumbing enjoyable.
There are a few things that I look for and that are important when I am inspecting homes in Salem, Oregon and the water heaters therein, on of the first things is:


Where is it?
If it is in the garage there are a few rules that need to be followed for safe operation. If it is gas, the flame source needs to be at least 18″ off the ground. This condition will apply to gas units that are more than 4 years old because we have now gone to a sealed burning unit that does not have an exposed flame. If you can get to the pilot light so can combustible gasses. Combustible gasses in garages tend to hug the ground so if the flame is sealed or 18″ off the ground it will help prevent those combustible gasses from igniting.

I will discuss some other important items in my next posts on water heaters…….

Jim Allhiser President/Inspector
http://SalemOregonHomeInspections.com
503.508.4321 jallhiser@perfectioninspectioninc.com

“Always on the cutting edge”

Nearly every home I visit has a stash of no longer used "valuables" -- an old computer monitor, cameras, pdas, game consoles. These items were expensive when we purchased them, and even if no longer in use, it's hard to give them away and finding someone to buy them may be challenging.

Here's a great option I just came across that I had to share! Costco has partnered with Gazelle and is offering Costco cash for your unwanted:

• Cell Phones
• Digital Cameras
• MP3 Players
• Laptops
• PDAs
• GPS Devices
• Gaming Consoles
• Camcorders
• Video Games
• And More

Sounds easy . . enter what you would like to trade in and Gazelle lets you know the value. They send you a shipping box and pay for the postage. You get a Costco Cash Card and don't send these items to a landfill! Sounds like a win-win to me! I'll be checking out the value on my old pda . . . and a few other things we've got kicking around here as well. For more information or to give it a try check out the website here.

If you haven't used it in a year do you really need it? Thinking about decluttering and finding it overwhelming? Creative Concepts and Contracting has great tips and ideas to make the process streamlined and effective. Whether you're moving or improving, home staging can help you create the spaces you love!

Dear Real Estate Agent –

I’ve enjoyed getting acquainted with you and think you have a great many admirable qualities that home sellers will find important. Perhaps your attention to detail, negotiation skills and networking abilities set you apart from other agents, and I should start referring clients to you. I know you have lots of experience and vast areas of expertise. Yes, your personality is fun, witty and entertaining, but your real estate photos online are killer.

Killer in a bad way. They kill any thought of me referring business to you and are an example of what I tell my clients to look for when choosing an agent. With over 85% of home buyers looking online for a home they can’t afford to go onto the MLS or real estate listing site with too few or poor photos.

Now I know you have probably received training on taking great photos and marketing -- then WHY am I continuing to see . . .

Cars - in the driveways drawing attention from the house and blocking the view or parked in front on the house.

The house is for sale - not the cars - right?

Tilting Photos -- I'm sure the house doesn't have a structural problem, but when your photos lean to the right or left I'm feeling like I'm going to slide out of the room. Any simple photo editing software can help remedy this problem -- Let's all straighten up please!

The mysterious photos of . . . who knows what. Photos that don't feature the focal points, room sizes or architecture shouldn't be posted. Sometimes less is more - seriously!

I'm sure this home has other features to highlight than this!

Please don't keep me in the dark! I've looked at your listing photos and they are all so dark, that I still don't have a clue on what your listing looks like. Additionally, when I look at this photo I have no concept of this room's size or flow.

Clutter . . . I am overwhelmed by the stuff in the photo that I can't see the room. When it's wall to wall furniture or counters full of stuff the photos buyers are going to click on by. At minimum - have the seller move some items out of the area to get a better photo. Better - refuse to take photos and list until the house is properly prepared for sale!

Yes, I think you may be a great real estate agent, but in this market, you can't afford to appeal to each and every home buyer that checks out your listing! Top agents must have top quality online photos in order to market effectively. When we get asked for a recommendation on a real estate agent in our area, we always advise clients to view agents listings online first. What do your photos say about you?

Personally we use picnik to edit our photos and find it quick and easy to use - turning mediocre photos into ones that are memorable and create great first impressions! Creative Concepts and Contracting is a professional home staging company in Salem

How does a small business start marketing when many people who may need services probably don't know your occupation exists, what it is called, or how it can benefit them? Newspaper ads? Yellow Pages? Target Mailings? How do we get visible on the internet? When we googled for our company name - it didn't even appear on page one. And if you googled for "home stager Salem Oregon" we weren't there either. If I couldn't find our business - I was convinced no one else would!

This was our company's situation a year and a half ago, and these are questions most small businesses face as they attempt to market effectively to their target market without "breaking the bank". It was a year ago today that I joined active rain and entered into the world of "blogging". I had no idea of what "utilizing blogging as a marketing strategy" could mean to our business, but was convinced that we had to find a way to market online so clients could find us!

Would anyone read my blogs? I am not a marketer or writer - was this a waste of time and efforts? These posts took time and energy that I wanted to direct elsewhere. But - I blogged on. I won't claim to be an expert blogger or social media expert - but lets fast forward one year of consistent blogging.

When I goggle for our business name our company shows as nine out of ten listings on page one. When I google or yahoo search for "home stager or home staging in Salem Oregon" we are shown four times out of the first ten listings.

Success? Yes - our clients can find us if they are looking for us! It isn't enough to set up a website and think traffic will find it. When we analyze our website traffic, much of it comes as a result of searches, or as a direct response to blogs we have posted on active rain and other sites. This traffic has resulted in new clients and jobs that would have passed us by if we had not found a way to obtain an internet presence.

Our blog has brought us many opportunities -- from radio show interviews to model homes jobs in other cities. Additionally, it has helped us present our work, ideas and portfolio to home sellers and real estate agents in the comfort of their home! Real estate agents got to "know" us before hiring us - and felt comfortable recommending us to their associates and clients. We now work regularly with so many of the local agents that first learned of us from our blog.

While it's been a turbulent real estate market during the past year, our business has thrived and grown - and we think we owe much of our success because we took the time to utilize blogging as one of our marketing strategies!

Creative Concepts and Contracting provides professional home staging and redesign services for Salem Oregon and surrounding areas. While we love learning about social media and blogging - our expertise is helping home sellers prepare their homes for the quickest and best possible sale. Contact us at 503-881-0886 for ideas on obtaining the competitive advantage in any market!

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