Archive for the 'Tips & Tools' Category
Aren’t You Glad You’re Reading This Online?
February 23rd, 2009 Categories: Tips & Tools
Printed newspapers have been a seemingly untouchable institution for more than a century…but for how much longer? Silicon Alley Insider did the math and figures that the cost of printing and delivering the New York Times for one year costs more than giving every subscriber a free Amazon Kindle.
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Tax Time Tip – Track Your Charitable Donations Online!
February 20th, 2009 Categories: Tips & Tools
It’s too late for 2008, but this is a great time to check out ItsDeductibleOnline.com — a totally free service from TurboTax that allows you to input and save almost any kind of charitable donation you’ve made, and gives you realistic values for non-cash items. It’s a great way to keep tabs on all those donations you make throughout the year…plus, if you do your taxes with TurboTax, you can easily import all the data you’ve entered when you do your returns.
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Bad Economy = Good Design?
January 26th, 2009 Categories: Tips & Tools
A New York Times piece draws comparisons between some of this century’s lowest economic points, and the stunningly good design work that came out of them. Michael Cannell postulates that depressions and recessions result in creative problem-solving and striking new ideas in the home and interior design world, as evidenced by some of the most iconic works by Wright, Eames, and more.
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What’s Your Sign?
January 20th, 2009 Categories: Tips & Tools
How do your lifestyle preferences relate to your favorite type of architecture?
Coldwell Banker has put together a fun little quiz that asks a series of questions about how you live — activities, dining, shopping and more — and translates the results into the style of home that best fits your personality. See if they got it right!
Wanna know our sign? Give us a call 310-825-7515
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The Ugliest House in America
October 20th, 2008 Categories: Tips & Tools
Think your house needs remodeling? Vote for the “Ugliest House in America”
We all have improvements we’d like to make to our homes — replace the countertops, refinish the floors, put in new landscaping — but few of our lists include “remove twenty-years’ worth of piled-up junk” or “repair the roof so that it actually covers the entire building.” HomeVestors, a company that specializes in buying and selling “problem homes” and properties with serious structural issues, is currently running its second annual “Ugliest Home in America” contest.
The finalists are eight homes from around the country that go far beyond just “ugly” — these properties are in need of a little more than cosmetic improvements. They boast such delightful features as collapsing floors, gaping holes, and decades of detritus. The property located in Atlanta, Georgia, for example, displays the following notable features:
Though not on the county’s register of Historic Places or listed as a local Natural Wonder, this house boasts two incredible features: The first is the MASSIVE sinkhole (5-6 feet in depth) right in the living room where the floor joists collapsed. We called it “A Natu ral Sunken Living Room” and thought it brought a lot of charm and depth to the living space. The second feature was the “Natural Skylight” in Bedroom #2 where the roof rotted away, thus enabling the room to bask in natural sunlight and accumulate dead leaves on the floor. It really brings the “outside into the house.”
Go to http://www.homevestors.com/ugliest_house/ to pick your…uhh…favorite. Afterwards, you can even enter a sweepstakes to win $10,000 — perhaps you could use your winnings to spiff up your own home! We just hope that doesn’t involve pulling a tree down through the living room wall and boarding up the windows…
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Not just service, this is magic!
October 15th, 2008 Categories: Tips & Tools
Need a project done at home and don’t know who to call? Try ServiceMagic.com! This incredibly useful site lets you put in your contact info, your location, and details about your desired project — anything from minor jobs like installing a light fixture or fixing a sidewalk, to major undertakings like building a brick fence, re-working a fireplace, installing new flooring, adding onto your home and more. After you submit your project info, ServiceMagic will have three local service providers — licensed, experienced, and highly-regarded — contact you with bids or estimates for your project. One of our staff tried out the service herself for a very small project one evening, and was contacted by two top local vendors the next day (one of whom, Boston Brick & Stone, is a company we frequently hire or refer clients to). The site also includes an enormous library of articles, tips and hints on thousands of home projects.
This is a great service for those who don’t have their own extensive list of builders, electricians, handyman services, and so forth. If you’ve got a project in mind for your own house, give it a try! And feel free to call us at the office if you get bids from companies you’re not familiar with — after 20 years in the local real estate industry, there’s a very good chance that we’ve worked with them before – 310-285-7515.
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Los Angeles Magazine Tell All…
October 3rd, 2008 Categories: Real Estate Tools, Tips & Tools
The good folks at Los Angeles Magazine break out their Rolodex to help you keep your house in order. From green exterminators to home theater installers, find it all here!
If you need any help finding your dream house (or considering the market…investment property!), give me at call at 310- 285-7515 or email me.
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20 Ways to Expand Your Purchasing Power!
April 16th, 2008 Categories: Buying a Home, Tips & Tools
- Pay off your debts.
- Consolidate your debts into a lower-interest rate loan.
- Use an adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM).
Use a portfolio lender.- Buy with someone else.
- Ask someone to give you money for a down payment (requires a gift letter).
- Ask the seller to pay some of your non-recurring closing costs.
- Ask the seller to carry a second mortgage.
- Ask the seller, or lender, to buy down the interest rate on your mortgage.
- Ask your employer to lend you money, pay some of your closing costs, or buy down an interest rate for you.
- Buy when interest rates are low.
- Buy a property that generates rental income.
- Take advantage of a first-time buyer loan program, if you qualify.
- Take advantage of government-assisted financing programs, if you qualify.
- Close late in the month to reduce the interest owed to the lender at closing.
- Reduce the cash you need for closing costs with a zero-point loan.
- Borrow against a 401(k) retirement plan or insurance policy.
- Borrow against or liquidate securities.
- Use a mortgage with a forty-year due date (but watch out for prepayment penalties).
- Take a penalty-free IRA withdrawal.
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Marketing Your House On-Line
April 8th, 2008 Categories: Tips & Tools, Video Posts
There are various ways to market your house on-line. The following video gives a few sites you’ll want to consider when listing your house for sale.
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I want to sell my house…how?
March 15th, 2008 Categories: Tips & Tools
Of course you love your house, it’s perfect, it’s your blood-sweat-and tears….but, keep these objective tips in mind when setting out to sell your “baby”.
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