Barbara Heil-Sonneck - Home Staging Atlanta

Reduce your utility bills with these energy efficiency upgrades

● Seal Your Windows and Doors (Silicone approx $5 per tube)
● Wrap Your Water Heater (Blanket approx $19)
● Turn Down Your Thermostat
● Install Low-Flow Showerheads (approx cost: $56)
● Wash in Cooler Water
● Install an Electronic Thermostat (approx cost:$40)
● Use ENERGY STAR Lightbulbs (approx cost:$4)
● Add an Insulating Additive to Paint ($15/per gallon)

Don't have plans for this weekend yet? Visit the Atlanta Arts Festival with lots of artists from around the country, live demonstrations, entertainment and so much more. I always find something unique and special and a wonderful opportunity to get inspired. Painters, Photographers, sculptors, glass artists, leather and metal craftsmen and so much more.

Recently started to get my feed wet with creating Before and After Video's and post them on YOUTube. It is a journey, but I am learning every day :-). The newest FREE tool I am using is scribfire and it really comes handy for your blogs. You pretty much write, enhance it, include pictures or videos, copy and paste directly into your blog and voila....

Below one of our recent transformation a historic Home in College Park. I love small changes with high impact. Let me know what you think.

The heart of every Home is the place where a family or homeowner will relax, play, communicate and entertain. The Sanctuary for spending time with family friends and loved ones.

When potential home buyers walk through the living room area of a home, they should be able to see themselves engaging in these activities.

Some Key Principles:

• Define the great features of the room and play them.
• Create a warm and inviting Living Environment
  
• Maximizing space, arrange furniture for the best possible flow
• Making it conducive to conversation / entertaining.

Always step back to the doorway and evaluate your final results. Nothing should be obstructing the view and highlights should pop but never distract. When buyers walk through the room, they should want to sit down and spend time in it.

If they sit and or spent more time, then we are one step closer towards a possible offer.

We are staging vacant homes, but sometimes I enjoy the challange of an occupied property. That one has been featured in the June Home Improvement Magazine

Vacant Investment Property under Contract after 2 weeks :-)

Townhouse for young couple under contract in one week:-)

Buckhead Mansion Re-Design

It’s been cold out there this summer and investors have been frozen out of the market. That right, lenders have been giving real estate investors the cold shoulder. The fear that gripped the banking industry two years ago has begun to thaw a little but now instead of sub-zero the thermometer is reading just around freezing. Many lending problems have hit the real estate investor community. From the loss of Stated Income loans to only being aloud to have up to four financed properties, the investor has been frozen in place.

Now, just as the S&P | Case Shiller report shows some economic improvement in the housing market a new storm is arising. As many of us begin to gain the ability to actually refinance our loans into lower interest rates, we are experiencing a new problem. The most recent problem to hit many real estate investors is a freeze of their open credit lines or a lowering of the line to the current outstanding balance. Many times the banks actions appear to be for no other reason than to limit their exposure to the overall market and often have nothing to do with the borrower’s credit score or home value.

A Thaw in the Coming Winter The good news is this problem is being noticed by the government and some actions are being taken to slow the lending industries ability to continue freezing us out of opportunity. While the government actions are weak right now, the fact that they acknowledge the problem exists is huge in the long run. Anybody that has had an equity line frozen, reduced or closed can take action. The Federal Reserve Board has even posted an acknowledgement of the problem in a pamphlet online. Go to: http://www.federalreserve.gov/pubs/heloctips/default.htm to read about consumer rights and to understand the rudimentary steps people can take to force the bank to reinstate an equity line. While this posting is very basic, it is good news. The fact that the Fed saw the need to at least acknowledge the problem means that someone is working on it.

I found this blog interesting and worth reblogging. Michael Gross is leading an Ethical Investor Networking Group in Atlanta and has ton's of quality information to share.