Beverly Fast Sinclair CRS, GRI

Color accounts for sixty percent of our response to an object or a place. The buzz about color is usually called color psychology. The effects of color are subtle and significant. Color can be connected to our moods.

Start small. If your not sure where to begin with color start in like a bathroom, powder room, or accent wall. If your doing your own painting, pick an area that is quick to do. To get started, select a favorite color drawn from artwork, rug, dishes, or an accessory as a main or accent color.

Think about your mood. When selecting a color think about the mood of a room. In the bedroom you want something restful not super energetic. Soft cool colors and neutrals often achieve this effect. In a dining area you want something sociable and stimulating. Try adding warm contrasting colors, like a deeper blue-green. In a kid's room add energy by using intense bight hues.

Pay Attention to Lighting. Paint stores have light boxes to test paint chips for a reason. Natural light shows the truest color. Incandescent light brings out warm tones and yellows. Fluorescent lighting casts a sharp blue tone. Make sure you choose a color that works with the lighting type you have.

Test Your Color Choice. Check to make sure you love a color before doing all the work in painting a room by testing it on a poster board or large area of a wall before doing the whole room. Tinted ceilings can dramatically change the whole look of a room.

Add depth with decorative finishes. Transform flat dull walls int o interesting spaces with subtle visual textures and broken color. Burnished mineral/metal finishes and layered colored glazes add depth.

Walk into another room. Consider walls as planes of color, see how they interact together. Think about approaching it as a composition where all the colors work in harmony and melodically together. So as you're choosing colors, consider how they will flow from room to room to create a picture.

Play up monochromatic schemes. Create bold or subtle variations within one group with contrasting paint finishes. Use closely related colors for walls and trim in one space. For an accent color, select a warmer or cooler color to complement your main color group. For a quieter ambience, make sure your colors are not extremely bright.

Choose different paint finishes. A single color applied in different finishes can work very differently in the same space. Wall and trim colors can remain the same hue but use eggshell finish on walls and satin or semigloss on trim. The colors will appear slightly differnet on each surface.

Pending home sales rise 6.7 percent in April. Biggest monthly jump in more than seven years signally end of the housing slump.

The number of homebuyers who agreed to purchase a previously occupied home in April posted the largest monthly jump in more than seven years last month. The National Association of Realtors said its seasonally adjusted index of sales contracts signed in April surged 6.7 percent to 90.3, exceeding the forecasted results.

This is another positive indictation of the bottoming process. Now prices might start to stabilize. The index was 30.2 percent above last year's levels and has risen for three straight months after hitting a record low in January. A 9.8 percent jump in the Midwest help to lead the surge.

The boost was probably because of the new $8,000 tax credit for first-time homebuyers that was part of the stimulus package signed by President Obama in February. Buyers need to finish their purchase by November 30 to claim the credit. Many realtor's are expecting to see another jump in activity in the following months too.

Pending sales data is more volatile than in the past because many sellers need banks to agree to take less than the original mortgage in something called a "short sale."

The Federal Housing Administration released details of a plan in which borrowers who use FHA loans can get advances from lenders that let them effectively receive the credit in advnace, so they don't have to wait to get money fromt he Internal Revenue Service.

Times are tough and people are afraid of purchasing a home in this economy. However here are five reasons to stray from the pack and buy a home.

1) Affordability is better than ever: a five bedroom home in the Las Vegas area recently sold for only $255,000 instead of the list price $310,000.

2) Large inventory to choose from: with houses staying on the market for longer and longer the inventory keeps growing. If you wait for the inventory to shrink you probably won't get as good a price as you could have gotten.

3) Builders are offering big discounts: home builders are getting more aggressive with their offers. If you have to walk away without making a deal and see if they call you back with a better deal.

4) Mortgage rates are at historical lows: this week the average rate of a 30-yr mortgage is 5.07% according to Freddie Mac weekly mortgage survey.

5) You can get a federal tax credit: there is a tax credit for up to $8,000 for people who haven't owned a home in 3 years. Unlike the previous credit this one doesn't have to be paid back.

President Obama has come out with a new plan to help out in the mortgage crisis for homeowners. His Making Home Affordable Plan (www.makinghomeaffordable.gov) is a comprehensive Financial Stability Plan which aims to fix what is troubling the economy right now. The Home Affordable Refinance Program will offer help to those who own close to what their home is currently worth on their mortgage as long as it is guaranteed or owned by Freddie Mac or Fannie Mae to help refinance payments into a more manageable monthly payment. Some qualifications for the program include: owning a 1-4 unit home, being current on your mortgage (not being more than 30 days late on payment for the past 12 months), the amount you owe on your first mortgage is about the same or slightly less than the current value of the home, having income sufficent to support your new mortgage payment, and the refinance improves the long term stability or afforability of your loan. If you feel you qualify go to the website and take the "quiz" to make sure.

Did you know that if you plan to buy a home that is energy efficient or make your new home energy efficient you can get a higher mortgage, which is tax deductable. Most energy efficient mortgages (EEM) will let you qualify for a higher mortgage if you add the cost of upgrading the house. Some mortgages provide a discount if your home is energy efficient. The Federal Housing Administration, Fannie Mae and the US Department of Veteran Affairs all have some sort of benefit to having an energy efficient home. The EnergyPrograms Consortium was formed ten years ago to help federal and state agencies coordinate energy policies and programs. Today the Consortium's Energy Star Mortgage focuses on families buying new homes or refinancing previous homes to encourage them to look into energy efficient options. It's designed to help homeowners save a minimum of 20% on their energy costs. Several states have also funded green mortgage programs. For more information on energy efficient mortgages check out this article: http://realestate.msn.com/article.aspx?cp-documentid=19644866