Staging Your Home For Sale

 

 

What is staging?

• Staging is all about preparing your home for sale in such a way that it generates more interest, sells more quickly and at a higher price.
• It has to be staged in such a way that the buyer can see himself or herself living in the home.  Too many personal items around will keep them from accomplishing that.

Decluttering:

• Decluttering adds the illusion of space to your home without adding on.  Just by clearing out daily clutter, such as papers, magazines, books that you haven’t read in a while, momentos and gifts (this is where those emotional attachments enter into the picture.)
• Old clothes:  They say if you haven’t worn it in a year, give it away.
• Redundant furniture:  Extra furniture adds busy-ness to your room, giving it a cluttered, heavy look and making the room look smaller.
• Plants and floral arrangements:  The only kind of plant you want in your home is a healthy, full, bushy plant.  The warning to buyers is; “if the sellers can’t take care of a plant, they probably have not taken care of their home”.
• Medicines & personal care items:  Please put these items out of site.  I remember a big scare a year or so ago where people would go into an open house and pretend to use the restroom.  They were in there to check out the medications and if it was something they could use, they would steal it.
• Hobbies and crafts supplies:  You don’t have to stop doing your hobbies and crafts, but everything should be neatly packed away.  Sometimes the craft area is in a “junk room” which gets very messy and cluttered looking.  The “junk room” needs tidying up too, just until you sell your home.
• Pets:  We all love and spoil our pets and their toys, dishes and food, but their belongings are part of the clutter problem.  Some buyers have allergies or just a distaste for animals in the home, the presence of pets could turn could turn them “off” your home completely.
• Kitchen:  Clean off all kitchen counters.  The maximum number of appliances or decorating elements on a counter is three, preferably fewer.  Remove all the pictures, coupons, reminders and all those things we keep on your refrigerator.
• Your garage, basement and attic:  Please include these spaces in your cleaning and decluttering.  The condition of your garage suggests to buyers how clean and organized your home is.
• Cleaning supplies:  Try to keep any cleaning supplies out of sight.  Buyers don’t want to be reminded that there is housework that will need to be done.  They are looking for their “dream home”.

Don’t try to do this all at once.  Take one room at a time …little by little.  Set daily goals for yourself…don’t overdo.

If you can afford to hire someone to help you clean, declutter and organize, hire someone.  There are people out there that do this sort of thing for a living and they are really good at it.  It’s well worth the money.

Decluttering makes your home feel more spacious and more appealing to buyers by allowing them to see more of the floor, walls and windows.

Clean! Clean! Clean from top to bottom, from ceilings to floors…clean everything.  Repair and paint walls a neutral color, we call it “realtor beige”.

Have the furnace and AC checked and cleaned.  Check the roof, plumbing and electrical.  The buyer will probably order an inspection before they purchase, but it’s better to take care of any surprises before there is a buyer so as to not throw up any red flags.

Curb appeal:  The front of your home should be clean, entry door should be replaced if it is in really bad shape, just remember the “10 second rule”, first impressions can either welcome the buyers to come in or put them off.  Keep the lawn mowed, flowers and shrubs maintained and manicured, and the driveway clean.

Lighting is very important.  Make sure that your lamps are positioned so they are not all on the same side of the room.  The lighting should be equally balanced throughout the room.

Change burned out bulbs, replace lamp shades that are yellowed or cracked.  Make sure they are dust free.  Take down heavy curtains, move anything that may be blocking the natural light from coming in.

Bedrooms:

• Master bedroom:  Make the bed the focal point and make it feel like a beautiful sanctuary that anyone will feel comfortable and relaxed in.
• Other bedrooms:  Try not to use gender specific decorating.  Try to keep them neutral but not boring.
• No wall paper anywhere!!!!  Take down all wall paper.  Everyone’s taste is different and when a buyer walks in and sees wall paper, all they can think about is how much work it will involve to take it down and they may decide not to buy your property for that very reason.
• Bathrooms:  Put away personal items, empty the trash can, put the toilet seat down, purchase a new shower curtain.  Pay special attention to the grout and caulking and the exhaust fan.

Buyers will also look through dresser drawers and closets.  Clean your closets, getting rid of things you don’t wear or use.

Remember, buyers want to see ample storage space…..CREATE THE ILLUSION OF SPACE!

 

Perks of reaching 50 or being over 60 and heading toward 70!

1. Kidnappers are not very interested in you.
2. In a hostage situation you are likely to be released first.
3. No one expects you to run…anywhere
4. People call at 9 pm and ask “did I wake you?”
5. People no longer view you as a hypochondriac.
6. There is nothing left to learn the hard way.
7. Things you buy now won’t wear out.
8. You can eat supper at 4 pm.
9. You can live without sex but not your glasses.
10. You get into heated arguments about pension plans.
11. You no longer think of speed limits as a challenge.
12. You quit trying to hold your stomach in no matter who walks into the rooms.
13. You sing along with elevator music.
14. Your eyes won’t get much worse.
15. Your investment in health insurance is finally beginning to pay off.
16. Your joints are more accurate meterorologists than the national weather service.
17. Your secrets are safe with your fiends because they can’t remember them either.
18. Your supply of brain cells is finally down to manageable size.
19. Most importantly, never, ever, under any circumstances, take a sleeping pill and a laxative on the same night.

The winter years, beautifully stated…Author Unknown

You know…time has a way of moving quickly and catching you unaware of the passing years.

It seems just yesterday that I was young, just married and embarking on my new life with my mate.  And yet in a way, it seems like eons ago, and I wonder where all the years went.

I know that I lived them all… And I have glimpses of how it was back then and of all my hopes and dreams.  But, here it is…the winter of my life and it catches me by surprise.  How did I get here so fast?  Where did the years go and where did my youth go?

I remember well… seeing older people through the years and thinking that those older people were years away from me and that winter was so far off that I could not fathom it or imagine fully what it would be like.

But, here it is…my friends are retired and getting gray, they move slower and I see an older person now.  Some are in better and some worse shape than me, but, I see the great change.  Not like the ones that I remember who were young and vibrant…but, like me, their age is beginning to show and we are now those older folks that we used to see and never thought we’d be. 

Each day now, I find that just getting a shower is a real target for the day!  And taking a nap is not a treat anymore…it’s mandatory!  Cause if I don’t on my own free will, I just fall asleep where I sit!

And so… now I enter into this new season of my life–unprepared for all the aches and pains and the loss of strength and ability to go and do things that I wish I had done but never did!!  But, at least I know, that though the winter has come, and I’m not sure how long it will last…this I know, that when it’s over…it’s over.

Yes, I have regrets.  There are things I wish I hadn’t done, things I should have done, but indeed, there are many things I’m happy to have done.  It’s all in a lifetime.

So, if you’re not in your winter yet, let me remind you that it will be here faster than you think.   So, whatever you would like to accomplish in your life please do it quickly!  Don’t put things off too long!  Life goes by quickly,  so, do what you can today, as you can never be sure whether this is your winter or not!

You have no promise that you will see all the seasons of your life…so live for today and say all the things that you want your loved ones to remember and hope that they appreciate and love you for all the things that you have done for them in all the years past!!

“Life is God’s gift to you,the way you live it is your gift to Him”

Beyond Rubies Women’s Conference

I am looking forward to and planning for the Beyond Rubies Women’s Conference coming up on March 15th and 16th, 2012 in the Cedar Hall at Kirkwood Community College in Cedar Rapids.

Beyond Rubies is a conference for women of all generations and backgrounds to learn practical ideas on how to succeed.  This year’s conference will feature four general session keynote speakers and your choice of more than 100 workshops and seminars providing helpful information on issues affecting all women in the workplace, at home and in the community.

I will be offering a workshop on “Planning Ahead for Life Transitions” which will include learning about the SRES designation and understanding the unique needs of people ages 60 and over, what level of care is needed; active lifestyle, independent living, assisted living or a continuous care facility.  Learn how to adapt a home for the aging using a universal design.  Also included is staging a home for sale, avoiding scams, financial options/reverse mortgages, the cost of buying and selling/capital gains, and a question and answer period.

If you know of anyone that would benefit from my workshop and will be in the area at that time,  please encourage them to attend.

I Shall Eat Dessert Every Single Day

I don’t know who wrote this, but thought it was appropriate since I am now enjoying my golden years.  I agree with every word that is written and hope that we can all be a bit more patient and appreciate our aging friends and loved ones?

“As I’ve aged I’ve become kinder to myself and less critical of myself.  I’ve become my own friend.

I have seen too many dear friends and loved ones leave this world too soon; before they understood the great freedom that comes with aging.

Whose business is it if I choose to read or play on the computer until 4:00AM or sleep until noon?  I will dance with myself to those wonderful tunes of the 60′s and 70′s and if I, at the same time, wish to weep over a lost love, I will.  I will walk the beach in a swim suit that is stretched over a bulging body and will dive into the waves with abandon, if I choose to, despite the pitying glances from the jet set.

They, too, will get old.

I know I am sometimes forgetful, but there again, some of life is just as well forgotten.  And I eventually remember the important things.

Sure, over the years, my heart has been broken.  How can your heart not break when you lose a loved one, a dear friend, or when a child suffers, or even when a pet passes?  But broken hearts are what give us strength, understanding and compassion.  A heart never broken is pristine and sterile and will never know the joy of being imperfect.

I am so blessed to have lived long enough to have my hair start turning gray and to have my youthful laughs be forever etched into deep grooves on my face.

So many have never laughed and so many have died before their hair could turn gray.

As you get older it is easier to be positive.  You care less about what other people think.  I don’t question myself anymore.  I’ve even earned the right to be wrong.

So, to answer the question of getting old, I like being old.  It has set me free.  I like the person I have become.  I am not going to live forever, but while I am still here, I will not waste time lamenting over what could have been or worrying about what will be.  And I shall eat dessert every single day, if I so choose.”

Why Use an SRES: A Certified Senior Real Estate Specialist

As we age, we demand specialists in our health needs, so why not in our housing and equity needs as well? 

Over the age of 50 and considering selling the family home?

You need a realtor with senior experience, knowledge and marketing savvy.  As an SRES, my goals are to:

• Build trust and rapport.
• Learn of anyone who will be involved in the decision-making.
• Define their parameters.
• Help them form realistic expectations.
• Learn their needs and goals, life stage, health and activity stage, and motives for buying and selling.
• Find out how this purchase/sale fits into long-term plans.
• Plan a strategy for finding the right property of plan a strategy for selling their property.

Those qualities, along with special knowledge of managing the sale of a home for those over the age of 50, are what SRES designees can bring to your next real estate transactions.  SRES designees are certified senior specialists and knowledgeable of the financial and emotional challenges senior clients face when they sell a long-held family home.

SRES designees not only can create a customized approach to marketing and selling your property, but we also can work with you to explore your housing options to ensure that your next home best serves your current and future needs.

We that hold the SRES designation have special knowledge about everything from reverse mortgages and the importance of universal design to the uses of pensions, 401K accounts, and facets of the real estate transactions.

We’ll also help you steer clear of loan schemes and scams that victimize aged 50+.

And when you need help from other professionals, we will tap our resource base and put you in touch with familiar and qualified home inspectors, movers, attorneys, CPA’s, clutter and staging experts as well as community resources and services that are sensitive to the 50+ issues and priorities.

An SRES designees has all the resources and knowledge to simplify the transaction and eliminate the anxiety of selling the home, downsizing or right-sizing and moving on to the next chapter.

So, if you’re thinking of buying, selling, renting or relocating or know of someone who needs assistance, please contact me.  My team of experts and I will provide you with professional advice, council and direct attention to your specific needs.

What’s Your Dream?

SRES

Everybody has a dream.  I have always wanted to own a horse ranch…I’ve watched Secretariat at least 50 times…no exaggeration!

Do we think that just because we haven’t accomplished our goals and dreams by the time we are 60 years old that it’s over and that we should just give up because time is running out?

Diana Nyad doesn’t feel that way.  She wants to swim from Key West, Florida, to Cuba…a trip that will take 60 hours in the open ocean.  Along the way,  ”The New York Times”  reported, she will “most likely hallucinate  and endure the stings of countless jellyfish,” and “sea salt will swell her tongue to cartoonish proportions and rub her skin raw.”

But the awesome part of this whole story is that Diana is 61 years old and tried this trip before and failed at the age of 28.  Back in 1978, due to stormy weather, she had to give up the dream after 50 miles.  She also used a shark cage for protection.  Thirty-three years later, she’s losing the cage, she also told  “The Times”,  “Physically, I am much stronger than I was before.  I feel strong, powerful, and endurance wise,  I’m fit”.                      

Diana Nyad

Add to these issues mental challenges, swimming for long periods of time, totally alone in the sea, can get depressing, boring, painful and exhausting.  Nyad’s response?  She sings a song with a beat that matches her stroke.  Her favorite song is “Ticket to Ride”.

What makes this woman so determined and driven.  I ask myself, “Why am I not like this?”  “Is this determination in her genes?”

There is a very logical reason for Diana’s belief in her dream.  She took on this daring swim because she was upset about turning 60…and she needed to turn those feeling around.

“This is what I need to remedy my malaise,”  Nyad says.  “There is no thinking about regrets or what will I do with the rest of my life.  I’m immersed in the everyday, full tilt.”  “It’s so energizing.”

Just a quick reminder to ourselves brought to you by Oprah’s blog.  “Real triumph doesn’t come from victory or defeat.  It comes from what you do after you’ve experienced both.”

What’s your dream…do you have a dream?  Go for it!!

The U of I Lifetime Enrichment Adult Program

SRES

Earlier this month I had the privilege of meeting Virginia Jorstad.  Virginia is part of the Center on Aging at the University of Iowa and the Lifetime Enrichment Adult Program or LEAP.

The University of Iowa Lifetime Enrichment Adult Program, formerly known as OLLI at Iowa, is a program of the UI Center on Aging.  UI LEAP is dedicated to building and maintaining a broad community of adult learners age 50+ by providing a wide range of active, life-enriching learning opportunities for Iowans.

UI LEAP strives to develop educational programming for members to explore contemporary issues, discover new interests, find pathways to civic engagement, and enjoy intellectual stimulation and personal growth.  UI LEAP offers programs in a variety of traditional and non-traditional formats that are responsive to members’ varying interests and abilities.  There are no educations or experience requirements, no tests or grades.  it’s simply your love of learning.

Membership with UI LEAP is $15 annually and provides many benefits to the member.  Members are able to register for classes at a lower class fee than nonmembers, and receive access to Interests Groups and free members-only classes, as well as invitations to special events and other fun opportunities.

This program has been thriving for 5 years and as their membership grows, so do the program opportunities.  The 2011 course guide includes 24 course and trip opportunities, the largest summer course guide yet.

If you would like to join others who share your enthusiasm for learning, learn and make new friends, be part of a peer learning community and follow your learning passions, please contact: 

• UI Leap
• UI Center on Aging
• 2159 Westlawn
• Iowa City, IA 52242
• Phone:  319-384-4221
• Email:  coa-osher@uiowa.edu

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Retirement?….Maybe when you’re 80!

SRES

Posted by Kerry Hannon…Personal Finance with Forbes

Plan to work into your 80′s is the message of a new study, Retirement Income Adequacy,  The Impact of Deferring Retirement Age released by the nonpartisan Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI).

“Our research finds that many people may have to delay retirement far beyond age 65 to increase the probability that they have enough money to cover their retirement expenses at a comfortable level,” said Jack VanDerhei, EBRI’s research director and co-author of the report.

The study finds that if Baby Boomers and GenXers delay their retirement past the age of 65, many of them still would not have adequate income to cover their basic retirement expenses and uninsured health care costs.

The research also shows that even if a worker delays his or her retirement age into their 80′s, there is still a chance the household will run short of money in retirement.

The chance of having enough money improves significantly as individuals reach their late 70′s and early 80′s.

Backing up this demand for more money to live in retirement is research from the quarterly Principal Group’s Financial Well-Being Index.  The index, which surveys both American workers at growing businesses with 10 to 1,000 workers and retired Americans, found that nearly half of the 523 retirees surveyed said that retirement was more expensive than they had anticipated.

The research also shows that the reason that retirees are not reaching their financial goals is that a third are not saving enough and more than a quarter did not start saving early enough in their careers which are among the top hindrances to their personal financial success.

Costly out-of-pocket healthcare costs are the biggest expense for retirement living.  A typical 65-year-old married couple without chronic conditions will need $197,000 to pay for out-of-pocket medical costs throughout retirement, according to calculations by the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College.  That figure includes insurance premiums, services not covered by Medicare and home health care expenses, but it excludes nursing home care.  Retirees also have a 5% chance that health care costs that are not covered by insurance will exceed $311,000, according to “the study”, which was underwritten by Prudential.

Other researches have come up with equally large numbers.  Fidelty Investments estimates that a couple, both age 65 in 2011, will need approximately $230,000 to cover medical expenses throughout retirement not including nursing home care.

If you can keep working and keep putting money into a 401(K) plan or other defined contribution plan, you’re much better off.  “What really makes a positive difference, we found, is if people who continue to work after 65 also continue to contribute to a defined contribution retirement plan, according to EBRI’s VanDerhie.

According to the report, a major factor that makes a difference in a person’s ability to meet their basic expenses and uninsured health care costs in retirement, is whether they are still participating in a defined contribution retirement plan (such as a 401(K) after the age of 65.

10 Tips for Dispensing Of Too Much “Stuff”

Auctions

SRES

The baby boomers, long known as the collectors of “stuff” are now learning how to get rid of excess “stuff” and downsize into smaller living quarters.  Children are helping their aging parents downsize with as little emotional strain as possible.

Here are ten tips to help you decide what to keep, sell, donate, or gift and when to call in professional help.

1.  Accept that downsizing is tough.

Dispensing of 50 or more years of collected “stuff” is not an easy undertaking.  There is emotional and physical strain on everyone  involved, especially the aging parent that is having to let go of keepsakes and memories.  It is  very personal.

2.  Find trusted experts.

Do-it-yourselfers who try to have garage sales and tag sales run the risk of under pricing items.  Hire a professional that knows what things are worth or knows where to find the information.

3.  Call in an appraiser.

If you have questions about the contents that you are dispensing of, call an expert.  They will come to your home and tell you quickly if you have a  house full of genuine antiques or a house full of garage sale items.  It might cost you a little up front, but it will save you money and peace of mind in the end.

4.  Be wary of family knowledge.

Just because grandma believed something was valuable doesn’t mean it is.  On the other hand, family members may have something that they use daily and don’t recognize that it is valuable.  Have it appraised.

5.  Don’t throw out items prematurely.

If you are not absolutely sure that the items have no value, have them appraised.  You might be throwing money away.

6.  Call an auction house.

Auction houses will also send out specialists to review your household contents and suggest items you might consign.

7.  Donate and deduct.

Either donate to Goodwill or Salvation Army and take the deduction or donate to a local charity that can use the item.

8.  Pass down heirlooms before you die.

You can give away up to $13,000 a year to as many individuals as you’d like without eating into your lifetime exemption from federal gift tax.  The $13,000 includes cash, stocks, or things:  your jewelry, furniture, rare comic books, etc. 

You can give away a lot of stuff, keep it in the family, and there are no tax costs.  says Carol Harrington, an estate lawyer with McDermott, Will & Emery in Chicago.  Once you go over the $13,000 per person, Harrington notes, things get more complicated.  You must file a federal gift tax return.

9.  Watch out for capital gains.

Most personal items bought at retail depreciate enormously.  The upside to depreciation:  if you don’t have a gain, you don’t owe capital gains tax.

10.  Remember the estate tax return.

Under current law, on Schedule F of the Form 706 estate tax return, your executor has to list the value of your household goods (this includes jewelry, furs, silverware, books, statuary, vases, oriental rugs, and coin or stamp collections).  Any item valued in excess of $3,000 or any collection valued in excess of $10,000 must be appraised and listed separately.  That’s another reason for getting rid of stuff before you die–provided, that is, it hasn’t appreciated.

Think there won’t be a need to file an estate tax return because your estate is less than the $5 million federal estate tax exemption?  If you’re a surviving spouse counting on a provision known as “portability” where you can carry over part of your late spouse’s unused estate tax exemption, you need to file a return.  Plus, the values for personal items reported on the estate tax return are typically used by beneficiaries to establish their cost basis.