Kent Station Shopping Event/Benefit for Children's Therapy Center

Staging Realtor Can Help Your Home!

Kent, Washington -- Lighten Up the Room with this Interior Redesign and Staging Company

Making Your New Kent House a Home

Kent, Washington: Kent Station's Chair and Trellis holds Treasures Inside!

The Kent, Washington Property Ladder

"House Rules" and Loan Modifications

HGTV Myths and the Realities of Staging Your Home

If you haven't watched HGTV's many programs regarding real estate home staging you should.  These programs include: Get It Sold, The Unsellables, The Stagers, Designed to Sell and many more.  Visit the HGTV website for additional information.  All of these programs will help you prepare your home for the real estate marketplace.  All of the professions on these programs have tips to share with you about preparing your home.

There are however some myths that have been perpetuated with these television programs.  We have to remember that the producers of these shows sometimes feel the need to exaggerate certain aspects of their shows and they often ignore critical costs of Home Staging. 

Here are some HGTV myths regarding Real Estate Home Staging:

1) You can purchase a house full of new furnishings for relatively little money. 

2) A finish carpenter can come into your home to build an entire entertainment unit for only the cost of   the materials.  The carpenter's time has no value and they will do it at no cost.

3) Renting furniture is inexpensive.   

4) Renovating a kitchen or bathroom is inexpensive because the contractor and laborers are free.  You    only have to pay for the materials. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

5) Real Estate Home Staging Professionals will work for free.  

6) Professional Home Stagers are mean and they will denigrate you and your home in the initial walk- through.    

7) Professional Home Stagers want you to buy all new items before they will stage your home because they cannot work with what you own. 

8) Professional Home Staging always costs at least $2000. 

Here are some of the realities involved with Real Estate Home Staging:

1) Professional Home Stagers ARE bargain hunters.  They can tell you where to show to find the bargains and many will shop for you...but not for free.

2) Professional Home Stagers can refer you to carpenters and other trades people that can help you accomplish any phase of the home staging process.  The trade's people establish their own price to accomplish a job.

3) Furniture rental company's fees can be expensive.  A few companies that specialize in Home Staging have established fees that are more reasonable.  Be aware that there may be a 3 month minimum rental contract.  Many Home Stagers carry their own inventory of artwork and accessories and sometimes even furniture to help offset these costs. 

 4) Updated kitchens and baths are very important to the home selling process however the costs for renovating these rooms can be substantial.  Do-it-yourself sellers have an advantage but they must be careful to spend their dollars wisely.  Professional home stagers can help sellers understand where best to spend their renovation dollars before the process begins.

 

 5) Professional Home Stagers do not work for free. They do not have television sponsors and producers to pick up the cost for their services.  As business owners there's substantial overhead and costs to cover.  Professional Home Stagers have a business license, insurance, association memberships, storage rentals and much more.   Professional Home Staging fees vary according to location.  When hiring a professional home stager ask them to show you their portfolio of locally staged homes and also ask for local references.  

6) A Professional Home Stager should be truthful and honest about what needs to be done to a house to prepare it for the resale or new sale market.  Professionals know that selling a home can be a difficult and emotional experience and they know how to be gentle with their recommendations. The goal is to help the owners SELL, not to demean them about their home or living conditions.  

7) Most Professional Home Stagers work with occupied homes.  They understand that they must work with the furnishings, artwork and accessories that are already in the home.  Often they will ask the seller's permission to move furnishings, put some in storage and hunt through the home for items to help with the staging process.  If the budget allows they will suggest ways to get the most bang-for-your-buck when making purchases of artwork, accessories furnishings and updating projects. 

 8) The cost for Home Staging varies greatly depending upon the home location, the size of the home and the needs of the project.  DO NOT assume what it might cost.  Call a Real Estate Home Staging Professional. 

Dream Interior Redesign and Staging services the foothill and mountain communities out of Fresno and Madera, California.  Call TODAY to discover how Professional Home Staging can help you sell your house.  559-877-2442

Kent, WA Recession gardens - Could they be growing in your neighborhood !

Recession Gardens are back in style again and are becoming popular through out the country. In the last few months I have seen more than one article referencing the phenomenon and its revival throughout our country.  They require hard work and the effort of the community but the pay off is well worth it. Locals are joining together to "clear" vacant lots in their community of trash and debris and then planting vegetable gardens for each one of the members/families that helped to clear the lots.

By pooling their resources of time , manual labor and money the benefits for the many outweigh the benefit to any one member. We all know that seeds , some fresh dirt and fertilizer is not expensive , but what do you do with 142 green bean plants. Why you share them of course ! Recently there was an article on how 19 families joined forces and cleaned up an eyesore in their community in an effort to afford fresher greener produce than their current budgets allow for.

Should this curriculumn  be required learning for our children in school ?Does this inspire you to contact your local gardening club ? Have you ever wondered about the local co-op and how it can benefit you and your family ? I think these are questions many Americans should be asking themselves considering the current economy.

I walked through a Big Box store the other day and one whole aisle was dedicated to canning supplies. Cases of jars in all sizes and shapes , boxes of lids and rubber seals to match. In the book and media department they had displays set up promoting healthy living , How-to books on canning any many other back to basics ideas. My office is in no way located in the country so this is not a natural idea for our community but it does seem to be catching on. So for those of you that live in a farming community and  can't figure out what the fuss is all about , remember this is all NEW to the urban environment.

For all of our high tech living and network socializing it just goes to show you that getting outside and playing in the dirt with the other children is still just as fun today's as it was all those years ago.It creates a belly to belly bond that creates memories and friends for a lifetime. I am sure that all of the people that worked together to create these "Recession Gardens" are happier and healthier in more ways than they realize and it sure beat surfing the internet on where to buy produce and have it delivered to their home.                                                                         

Recession Gardens are back in style again and are becoming popular through out the country. In the last few months I have seen more than one article referencing the phenomenon and its revival throughout our country.  They require hard work and the effort of the community but the pay off is well worth it. Locals are joining together to "clear" vacant lots in their community of trash and debris and then planting vegetable gardens for each one of the members/families that helped to clear the lots.

By pooling their resources of time , manual labor and money the benefits for the many outweigh the benefit to any one member. We all know that seeds , some fresh dirt and fertilizer is not expensive , but what do you do with 142 green bean plants. Why you share them of course ! Recently there was an article on how 19 families joined forces and cleaned up an eyesore in their community in an effort to afford fresher greener produce than their current budgets allow for.

Should this curriculumn  be required learning for our children in school ?Does this inspire you to contact your local gardening club ? Have you ever wondered about the local co-op and how it can benefit you and your family ? I think these are questions many Americans should be asking themselves considering the current economy.

I walked through a Big Box store the other day and one whole aisle was dedicated to canning supplies. Cases of jars in all sizes and shapes , boxes of lids and rubber seals to match. In the book and media department they had displays set up promoting healthy living , How-to books on canning any many other back to basics ideas. My office is in no way located in the country so this is not a natural idea for our community but it does seem to be catching on. So for those of you that live in a farming community and  can't figure out what the fuss is all about , remember this is all NEW to the urban environment.

For all of our high tech living and network socializing it just goes to show you that getting outside and playing in the dirt with the other children is still just as fun today's as it was all those years ago.It creates a belly to belly bond that creates memories and friends for a lifetime. I am sure that all of the people that worked together to create these "Recession Gardens" are happier and healthier in more ways than they realize and it sure beat surfing the internet on where to buy produce and have it delivered to their home.                                                                         

What I Don't Know Can Hurt You

You know the old saying; what you don't know can't hurt you. That logic is completely ludicrous. History is full of unknowns that have sickened or killed countless people because of ignorance. The use of lead and asbestos in buildings is a good example. Using these materials was done out of a lack of knowledge for the eventual consequences. Nothing bad occurred to anyone right away, it often took many years for an illness to manifest itself in an individual.

Let me take this in a slightly different direction. As a home inspector one of the most common added structures I see to a home is a deck. They are by far one of the most incorrectly built structures I find. Why? Because I believe most everyone assumes it is an easy structure to build. That includes professionals as well as homeowners.

I recently found a deck, actually two decks, and an addition with several serious structural flaws. In the picture at right is a deck attached to an elevated addition or more accurately an enclosed deck.

The yellow arrow is showing where a joist hanger would be expected to be installed. Not one was found along the entire length of this ledger. The joists instead were toe nailed to the board. This method does not prevent lateral withdrawal and is not a strong attachment.

The pink arrows indicate missing brackets for the support pier. Piers must be attached to the structure in such a way as to prevent lateral and vertical movement. The pier next to this one was beginning to defect at the base toward the addition.

The ledger board for the deck was attached to the addition structure with nails only. Ledgers should be attached to a structure using large bolts. Nails will rust and eventually fail.

There were several other issues found with these two structures, but for the sake of brevity I will save those for another blog.

Whether these errors were made out of ignorance, cheapness, laziness or a combination of all three is impossible to say. In fact some of these "errors" may have been acceptable building practices at the time of construction. There are many variables as to why to be entertained.

The bottom line is these two structures are unsafely built and some are beginning to fail. They require repair now, not later.

As simple as decks seem, there is much more to building a safe and lasting structure than there appears on the surface. A resource for good deck building practices and information can be found on the Simpson Strong Tie web site.

So you see what I don't know can very certainly hurt you.

James Quarello
JRV Home Inspection Services, LLC

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Learn more about our Infrared Thermal Imaging & Diagnostics services.

Learn more about our energy audits, the Home Energy Tune uP®.