The Top Five Tips for Green Architecture

March 4, 2010
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Going “green” is all the rage and it is no wonder. The benefits of being environmentally aware transcends to saving the planet in unexpected ways. By being “green” we often see instant benefits by the money we save. The use of “green architecture” when building and remodeling is no exception.

Find the top five tips for green architecture below:

1. Recycled materials

There are no limits to the recycled materials that can be used in green architecture designs. Domesticated wood can be used for flooring, trim and exposed wood ceilings. Recycled rubber tire chips can be used in landscaping. Even broken glass fragments are being used inside walls for insulation.

2. Solar panels…

Home Staging is Always a Must

March 3, 2010
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You may not have the funds to hire a professional stager, but every home seller can follow a few helpful staging tips to make sure their house looks like a buyer’s dream home.

As a seller, you must put on a positive first impression on your home. In order to do this, you repair, clean, and strategize marketing for your open houses, but home staging takes it one step further.

Here are some tips on how to stage your home the right way:

Declutter: Less is more. Grab a box, label it “living room” and go through and remove the unnecessary decor. Remove family pictures and trinkets. A buyer needs room to see their…

Moving Out? Here are Some Tips on How to Pack for a Move

March 2, 2010
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Are you planning to move out your present house? Take the burden out of packing through making it very manageable.

Start early in packing so that you are not rushed to get it done before the big moving day comes. Make sure that you have quality packing materials to work with. The boxes should be strong and durable. Use durable tape to reinforce the bottoms and to seal the tops when you are already done.

For items that can be broken you want to use lots of packing materials. You can use newspaper, bubble wrap, towels and other items to ensure nothing will be broken when unpack at your new destination. Clearly…

The Five Areas to Scrub to Make your Home Shine

March 2, 2010
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A potential buyer goes around the house and sees if there is something might hinder him to buy the house. A clean home shows better and there are five ways to make your home shine from roof to baseboards.

Hard to Reach Windows/Skylights. These are often unnoticed either because they are difficult to access to clean or because they are not right at eye level. Whichever the case, cleaning windows in high ceilings or skylights provides a brighter light to shine in your home.

Baseboards and Walls. Give your home a fresh coat of paint prior to putting it on the market. But maybe you can get away with a good wipe-down instead. Using…

Keep Your Bathroom Fresh While Staging your Home for Sale

February 26, 2010
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Realtors observe lots of bathrooms - of all shapes, sizes, and conditions. Some bathrooms have themes and some have style. Some need lots of work and some need a good cleaning.

Even though individual styles and looks vary greatly in bathrooms, everyone agrees on one thing: they need to smell clean and fresh. What’s the secret?

1. Start with a thoroughly clean bathroom. Clean smells clean. Now that you have it clean, keep it that way.

2. Try continuous products. Try some of those little toilet bleach tabs. Flush the toilet, pull top of the toilet back and drop the little tab just like it tells you on the package. Now carefully put…

Going Green is All Worth It

February 26, 2010
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There are two benefits offered when one upgrades his home to be a green one. First, it contributes to a healthier environment both now and in the future. Second is it can save homeowners big when it comes to energy costs.

How much impact does a green home have on the environment, you ask? The government reports that “Energy Star qualified homes built in 2009 are the equivalent of: Eliminating emissions from 51,645 vehicles; Savings 312,399,672 lbs of coals; Planting 85,372 acres of trees and saving in the environment 612,678,574 pounds of CO2.”

Many homeowners stay away from green construction and green upgrades because of the upfront cost. However, while some estimates…

The New Construction Techniques

February 24, 2010
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The advancement of the new construction techniques evolved together with the new materials, possible for its development if it is not associated with it. For instance, large glass panels could not have been used in the eighteenth century even if they had been available. No large-span lintel-support back then. Both new materials and new techniques are developed to be able for the architects to be free to design. Today’s structures are usually a combination of old and new skeleton-frame, curtain wall and cantilevered constructions are good examples of old post-and-lintel.

The skeleton frame is one of the first techniques developed. It employs modern materials. It is an open frame to which a…

Vacant Houses and Apartments Really Do Not Sell

February 22, 2010
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It has been a mistake of always thinking that a vacant house or apartment sell the fastest. Well, it does not most of the time.

According to the Real Estate Staging Association (RESA) in a 2008 survey, vacant homes that were for sale spent 131 days on the market compared with occupied homes which spent 106 days on the market.

The survey also revealed that vacant homes that were staged with furniture and decorative accessories spent 85% less time on the market than un-staged vacant homes.

Why must a vacant property be staged by a professional home stager?

There are many reasons and here are those:

-Only 10% of buyers can see beyond emptiness and…

Artists Found Creativity in Detroit’s Housing Crisis

February 19, 2010
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The Detroit artists are using the housing crisis and turn it into some interesting projects.

First, some Detroit artists took an abandoned house and made it into the Detroit Ice House. The home’s address, which was secret for awhile, was revealed to be 3920 McClellan St, Detroit, MI. They spent weeks spraying a house with water until it froze into an eerie house sculpture.

Now, a Web designer is selling “space” on a Detroit lot for $1 per square inch. Jerry Paffendorf claims to have nearly “600 “inchvestors” who have purchased 10,000 plots in the “Loveland” art-and-real-estate project on Detroit’s east side. According to Paffendorf’s Loveland site:

“Starting with the smallest unit of…