Richard Goates ECO Broker Redding Ca Real Estate

Amory Lovins lives high up in the Rocky Mountains where it sometimes gets -40 below ZERO but his home is toasty warm in winter and cool in the summer! What he had designed could be argued to be one of the 'Greenest" homes in the USA. He harvest bananas from within his sunlight atrium and has all the comforts of a regular home with a "Zero" utility bill...Check it out here.

Regards,

Rick Goates

ECO Broker

Redding Ca

96001

530-248-5627

Spring is upon us and it's time to hit that lawn with fertilizer BEFORE it gets too warm! This is the time of year to use a good week and feed on your lawn.Follow with a good watering and don't use TOO much fertilizer or it may burn your lawn if it doesn't get enough water!

Use a good lawnmower to cut your grass and make sure that the blades are SHARP. You know if they are not sharp because you can see some white at the blade ends if they are not sharp...it is tearing the grass blade and hence the white frayed end instead of a nice clean cut.

Water ONLY in the early morning. If you live in the HOT country you can do a second watering in the early afternoon but NEVER water at night. Watering at night can lead to fungus in the lawn.Fungus can trick you to think that the lawn looks like it needs more water (because it turns color) and what you most people do? Yes that's right they water MORE when they should water less and at the right times.

If you mulch your grass...which you should instead of bag,make sure that you go over the lawn plenty of times to cut the grass clippings as small as possible.Mulching give the grass free green fertilizer to grow with.

Don't water too much as this only wastes water.

There are many alternative to chemical fertilizer out there if you want to go "Green" and help your grass and the environment.

Here are some links to fertilizers that are better for the environment.

http://www.extremelygreen.com/fertilizerguide.cfm

http://www.cleanairgardening.com/fertilizer.html

http://www.planetnatural.com/site/xdpy/sg/Organic%20Fertilizers

Happy gardening and green grass growing!

Regards,

Rick Goates

ECO Broker

Spring is upon us now with the inventory of active available homes increasing weekly.There appears to be more buyers in the market place with some investors jumping in again on the "Deals". A recent example of a great deal was a little duplex that came out at $183k and change with a $1500 month income...It is expected to sell for over full price with 2 offers in and possibly more coming!

When the deals start happening every week I think we will see MORE investors coming back into the market place. The bottom may be a little ways out but one thing is for sure...when a deal come along there is plenty of activity!!

To the deals then....

Regards,

Rick Goates

ECO Broker

Redding Ca

96001

530-248-5627

http://www.inforedding.com

With Earth Day here now we all hear a blurb about it in the local newspaper or on TV etc but what do most people do the other 364 days out of the year? It's what you do when no one is looking that counts they say.

Green building is projected to become HUGE into the future.McGraw-Hill Construction Analytics, the value of green building construction starts will grow from $12 billion in 2008 to $60 billion in 2010.Wow that's quite an increase.

Green will be mainstream someday. It is heading the right way that is for sure but we still have a way to go to educate the normal consumer on the street.

The days of being green meaning living in a Dome home are over...now it's NO or low VOC paints with bamboo counters and floors,recycled denim in the walls for insulation,new lighting,solar and a whole lot more!

In celebration of earth day here are some links for you if you are going to be repainting your home soon or in the new future.

1. http://www.treehugger.com/files/2005/10/affordable_low.php

2. http://www.eartheasy.com/live_nontoxic_paints.htm

Regards,

Rick Goates

It's a buyers market...that there is really no arguing about.But what if you are a seller right now? What should you do to promote your property and how should you price your home? These are important questions.Questions that could end up costing you thousands upon thousands of dollars...Do I have your attention yet?

The typical home seller wants top dollar for their home...after all it is Their home...right? The typical seller wants top dollar even though Their home needs a little work...they rationalize this as the buyers can paint it what ever color they want or they can get their own carpet or do their own landscaping!

What some sellers don't realize right now is that the market is still going DOWN and not up...That's down for all the FSBO's out there...Yes the word starts with a D.

Properly pricing one's home whether with an agent or as a FSBO is Critical in this market....Critical...With a "C".

Let's take a look at one example and I won't use any names.Mr and Mrs Smith had me over to talk about pricing their home for sale. I mentioned the above and they weren't too interested they had come to price point that THEY had in mind with some RESEARCH and really didn't want to hear any other numbers.I mentioned again that the market was going DOWN to which I heard about all the features of their home and how it was better than all the rest out there for sale...after all it was THEIR home.My suggestions was to price ahead of the market...as things are going down you want to be the home that sells FIRST...while the others in the area,sit...and sit they will if they are OVER priced! They didn't really like this idea because they felt it would be giving THEIR incredible property away...and they didn't even want to think about that. In fact I got another 2 minute speech on the new roof and they new air conditioning unit etc...AT this point I really didn't even want to tell them that those things BUYERS expect to be in good condition!

I suggested a price of $499k...They insisted on $525k.....I marketed the home and yes we had to reduce the price numerous times and it expired....Another agent was hired because "They" could do the job I was told...They ended up taking $459k.....

What's the moral of this true but sad story? PRICE RIGHT FROM THE START AND YOU WON'T HAVE THE STRESS AND END UP TAKING A LOT LESS IN THE FUTURE!!

Realtor's are professionals that know the market...In fact most of us study the market on a daily basis...It's our career so we should!

Take the advise of your Realtor!! They want to SELL your home...even though at the time it may seem like they want you to give your home away...There is a reason they come up with the price they do...that's to SELL it...in this market I can't imagine anyone not wanting to use a Realtor...and end up taking less in the end...

Here is a link to what is going on across the country in cased you missed the above information...

IF YOU WANT TO SPEED READ HERE IS THE TIP.....PRICE IT TO SELL,,,,PRICE IT TO SELL,,,AND YES PRICE IT TO SELL!

Regards,

Rick Goates

ECO Broker

Redding Ca 96001

530-248-5627