Eco-friendly gardening involves implementing strategies that address everything from building the soil to choosing appropriate plant species to using less water. In addition to soil, plants, and reducing the use of irrigation, eco-friendly gardening also means managing stormwater.

What is Stormwater?

Stormwater is essentially water that falls during a rain or snowstorm. You may be wondering what precipitation has to do with making your garden eco-friendly and how you can possibly be responsible for an act of nature. However, the current problems of stormwater runoff are entirely human-created, and the way you design your garden can influence what happens to rain that falls on your property.

Before humans, rain fell on forested land or prairies, and any rain that was not taken up by plants infiltrated into the soil and replenished groundwater and aquifers. These days, more and more of our planet is covered with impervious surfaces like roads, driveways and sidewalks, and stormwater often gets directed to a pipe as soon as possible. From there, it is sent to a storm or combined storm/sewer pipe that directs water to a river, pond or coastal area.

Why Should I Manage Stormwater On-site?

It’s important to manage stormwater on-site whenever possible because stormwater runoff has detrimental effects. When it rains, water cannot infiltrate areas that are covered with buildings, concrete, asphalt, and other impervious surfaces, and streets and roads quickly become urban rivers. As the water rushes along toward a drain or catch basin it picks up plant debris, motor oil, chemicals, and other pollutants. All of these items have to eventually go somewhere, and typically they are discharged via storm sewer systems into water bodies that we might use for recreation. That’s kind of gross when you think about it.

Also, when stormwater is directed into pipes it doesn’t slowly make its way to streams, rivers, and lakes through groundwater. As a result, water levels are reduced and the water temperature rises, threatening fish and other species that depend on a particular climate to survive. When a rain event happens, water suddenly rushes into the system, causing a flash flood effect, increasing sediment in water bodies, and flushing debris and excess nutrients into the water.

If possible, capture water, store it, and redistribute it to be used again. For example, direct the downspout from your rain gutters to a rain barrel, and use the captured water to irrigate your landscape.

What Can I Do to Manage Stormwater Runoff?

If you want to have an eco-friendly garden, you must find ways to reduce stormwater runoff and the pollution it causes.

1. Reduce Impervious Surfaces

First, reduce the amount of impervious surfaces in your garden. Impervious surfaces are areas like concrete, asphalt, and stone pavers where water cannot penetrate the surface. Primary paths and high traffic areas should be paved for convenience and accessibility, but secondary and tertiary paths on your property can be mulched paths. Pervious concrete and asphalt have come on the market, offering an alternative to impervious surfaces. There are several permeable paver options available for use in residential driveways and pathways.

2. Reduce the Use of Chemicals

Reduce the use of chemicals such as herbicides and pesticides. Gardeners often mistakenly think that if a little bit of an insecticide will do the trick, then more will really kill those bugs! Use chemicals sparingly. This is a topic for an article on its own, but as they relate to stormwater, the chemicals you spray on your lawn and garden have to go somewhere. Most often, they end up being washed away with the rain. Chemicals end up in groundwater, rivers, streams, and lakes. This goes for things like motor oil, paint, and other household chemicals as well. Don’t dump these down the drain.

3. Install Some Rain Barrels

Rain barrels can be connected to your downspouts, and the rain collected can be used to water the garden later. To prevent mosquitos from occupying your rain barrel, purchase one of the large, enclosed, mosquito-proof rain barrels currently on the market.

4. Create a Rain Garden

Rain gardens are grassy or vegetated swales where water is allowed to collect during a rain storm and then slowly infiltrate into the ground. You can simply plant a swale with lawn grasses, but they are much more interesting when planted with native and water-loving shrubs and perennials.

5. Plant a Vegetated Filter Strip

Vegetated filter strips are narrow planted areas that lie adjacent to roads, streets, and driveways. Their purpose is to filter pollutants like motor oil out of the water before it makes its way into streams, rivers, and lakes.

As you can see, managing stormwater on your property is very important to the local ecosystem. If you want to grow an eco-friendly garden, think about ways to reduce stormwater pollution and stormwater runoff.

When you’re trying to sell a house, there are few things more discouraging than seeing it sit in on the market, unable to attract any interest or offers – it’s like waiting by the phone for someone who never calls.

If your house has not sold in its first appearance on the market, it is understandable to have negative thoughts about the prospects of selling your home. But, it’s important not to let your disappointment take over. Though it is commonly thought that having the right house in the right market conditions will guarantee you a sale, there are a whole range of factors that influence the success or failure of an attempted sale.

If you’ve had a failed listing, evaluating your original selling method and establishing a new approach can completely turn your prospects around. Consider the following four strategies:

Getting Your Property up to Scratch

If you’ve thought seriously about selling your home, chances are you have made the effort to get your house looking presentable. But remember, for most people, buying a house is something controlled by both emotion and logic. Potential buyers are looking for their “dream home,” and you want your home to inspire the feeling that this is it for them. Of course, you can’t appeal to everyone, but you can maximize the possibility that someone will fall in love with your home. This requires cultivating a welcoming ambience and showing that your home has been lived in and loved by its current owners.

Though this might sound unrealistic and hard to put into practice, there are positive actions you can take to make it happen:

• Search your house and take care of all general repairs. Remember, people will be looking at your house with fresh, critical eyes.
• Tidy all clutter. People need to feel that they could live in the house, and clutter can make them feel as though they are intruding in your house.
• Keep everything clean, spotless and smelling fresh. This includes removing stains that you might have grown accustomed to. You may have forgotten about the wine stain on the carpet, but new visitors are going to spot it right away.
• Make your house bright, warm and welcoming. Open blinds, turn on lights and set out fresh flowers. Put in brighter light bulbs.
• Don’t ignore the outside of your house. This is the first thing people will see when arriving, and first impressions count. Keep the garden tidy and optimize your home’s curb appeal.
• Take care of any major decorating projects and renovations (within reason). Consider giving the walls and ceilings a new paint job. Although this might be expensive, it can save you money in the long run. A run-down wall might be an easy fix, but it can have a large impact on the overall impression of your home.

To maximize your results, a real estate agent can conduct an obligation-free examination of your house. An independent set of eyes is sure to spot things you might have missed.

Determining the Right Price

In a way, determining the market value of your home can be more difficult than solving a complex algebraic equation; when valuing your house there is no “right” answer. Or rather, the only right answer is what the market is willing to pay!

People too often take a hard mathematical approach, adding the price they originally paid for the home to any improvements made to arrive at a ballpark figure. This can bring you to a price that is either too high or too low. Either of these results can be damaging; if your house is too cheap, you lose money on the sale, and if it is too expensive, you pay a high opportunity cost, stuck in a limbo where you are neither committed to your current house nor a new one. Luckily, there are things you can do to increase the chances of making a sale.

The three main factors that dictate the appropriate price for your home are:

1. Competition within the market (how many similar houses are competing to be sold).
2. The condition of the market (whether it advantages buyers or sellers).
3. The condition of your home.

The third of these factors is completely within your control. Although you cannot dictate the first and second factors, you can get properly informed. Your agent should be able to provide you with an up-to-date market analysis, detailing the level of market competition, which houses have sold and for how much, and the length of time houses have been on the market. This will help you determine an appropriate asking price, and give you an idea of how long your house may be on the market.

Proper Marketing and Communication

Choosing the right real estate agent can have a drastic impact on the sale of your house. Like people who have the best lawyers in court, those with the best agents usually get the best results.

To choose who will represent you and your home, conduct interviews with a variety of real estate agents, and ask them to outline the marketing strategies they will use to get the best result for you. Any information you can get is important, from the amount of money they spend on advertising to the types of media and marketing strategies they use.

A savvy real estate agent should be able to articulate the most direct marketing route to the greatest selection of potential buyers. Remember, with the increased efficacy of the Internet, agents who consider both traditional methods and cutting-edge marketing techniques are likely to get you the best result.

Working as a Team

While it’s important that your agent is capable and experienced, that will count for nothing if both parties fail to maintain the lines of communication. You need to be able to explain your needs and goals to your agent, and your agent should work to implement them. He or she should provide you with consistent feedback on the progress of your listing. With this information you can determine how to tailor your approach.

If you have tried unsuccessfully to sell your house, it’s worth considering your relationship with your real estate agent – whether they included you in each part of the process and acted on your concerns.

The Time Will Come

No house sale can be guaranteed within a certain time frame, but by following the steps outlined above, you give yourself the best possible chance to sell your house quickly.

While these strategies are more involved, they are well worth the time and effort. Selling a house can be a long and sometimes exhausting process, but it should not be like running a marathon; remember, there is always a finish line in sight.

This guest post was written by Jerry Charlton, an experienced Re/Max Realtor® and real estate blogger from Calgary, Alberta, Canada.

For folks not raised on a farm, life on one typically starts as a dream. The whole notion of escaping city life for the wide-open spaces and self-sufficiency of farm life is intriguing to many.

If farm livin’ is the life for you, it’s time to get better acquainted with the process of purchasing one.

Types of Farms for Sale

Two basic types of farms exist in the United States: family farms and corporate farms.

Corporate farms deal with large-scale food production while family farms are independently owned and operated and typically much smaller operations.

The type of product they produce further categorizes farms:

• Dairy farms produce milk.
• Truck farms produce vegetables.
• Orchards are farms that grow nuts and fruits.
• Vineyards grow grapes for wine.
• Tree farms grow trees for the lumber industry, nurseries and other uses.
• Organic farms grow fruit and vegetables without the use of synthetic fertilizers and pesticides and instead rely on techniques such as using green manure and crop rotation.

Obviously, then, what you want to produce will weigh heavily on your choice of where to farm and what type of land you require.

Find a Quality Farm or Rural Land Real Estate Agent

Buying agricultural land is a specialized type of real estate transaction and requires a special type of real estate agent. Especially if you’re a novice farmer, you’ll require an agent who can walk you through every aspect of purchasing the property. Vegas Grand Realty and Property Management’s Chris Miller, a 35-year veteran of agricultural real estate, suggests that you look for an agent with a high level of farm knowledge and experience – “one that has the ability to deal with soil quality and water availability and logistical issues such as how local farmers ship product.”

If you don’t know where to start the search for this specialized real estate agent, Miller also suggests you speak to local people involved in the farm industry and ask for referrals to several agents who deal with farm properties.

Purchasing agricultural real estate is far more complicated than purchasing a residence, so don’t cut corners when it comes to choosing your real estate agent.

Land Considerations

To grow crops successfully requires, at its most basic, sunlight, soil and water. Unless you have the funds to deforest a piece of wooded property, its lack of sunlight makes it unsuited to farming, unless you plan on starting a ginseng farm.

The next consideration is the soil. The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Cooperative Soil Survey website provides soil data, including maps and other information for more than 95 percent of U.S. counties. The easy-to-use site provides vital soil information including type, class, drainage and even yield information for certain crops and livestock.

If your dream is to farm organically, invest in professional soil testing to look for heavy metals and other items that may prevent you from engaging in organic production.

Plants don’t grow without water, so your next step is to investigate the property’s water sources and rights. Pumping water for irrigation may be one of your highest expenses, according to Miller, so being aware of the property’s water sources, the acre-feet per year requirements of your crops, and other water issues is imperative to making an educated offer on the property.

In fact, one of the most common problems in the farm transaction occurs “when a buyer does not understand the complexity of water law,” according to Oregon State University small farm extension agent Melissa Matthewson. A savvy real estate specialist, with local experience, knows what to ask and will be your best ally during the process.

Finally, consider the land’s topography. Unless you’ll be engaging in dry-land farming, you’ll need relatively flat land for your crops.

Infrastructure

Chris Miller says that any appurtenance to the land, such as fences, corrals, barns and other outbuildings are typically included in the appraisal of the property and in the purchase. Sometimes, though not used in the appraisal, equipment and machinery are included as well.

Financing Your Farm

The Federal Agricultural Mortgage Corporation (Farmer Mac) is the largest source of secondary agricultural loans. While not a direct lender, Farmer Mac also purchases the guaranteed portion of USDA loans.

To qualify for a Farmer Mac I Farm and Ranch Program loan, the land must be used as security, the loan can’t exceed the program’s maximum loan amount, the property must meet certain appraisal criteria and the borrower must be creditworthy. You’ll find the requirements on Farmer Mac’s website.

Another source of good information is the United States Department of Agriculture’s Farm Service Agency website. Here you’ll find information on various loan programs and plenty of educational resources.

Whether you hope to buy a farm to supply your local farmer’s market with produce every weekend, or you’re dreaming of becoming the next Old McDonald, go into the process armed with as much knowledge as possible and you can’t go wrong.

If there’s one thing I learned from being a military officer for over 20 years, it’s this: Double-check everything. There is an old military adage that “soldiers do well only those things that the commander checks.”

To which I will add a new maxim, apparently from Benjamin Franklin: “It is true that experience is the best teacher, but a fool will learn from no other.”

So let’s learn from the experiences of Mr. Justin Pierce, who has generously shared the difficult lessons of his first real estate flip with us via the Washington Post.

Frustrated by the lack of cash-flow positive properties in his market at the time (the early days of the real estate boom), and by the challenges of dealing with tenants, Pierce found himself attracted to the flipping strategy. Looking to find a market still unravaged by the expanding bubbles on the coasts, he went to Utah – a market where his $50,000 seed money could go a lot farther than it could where he lived, in the greater D.C. area.

He got the main idea right: He was looking to buy a home for 50 or 60 percent off market value. He wasn’t able to get quite that much in his first deal, but still thought he could make $5,000 if he caught all the breaks.

He didn’t.

“Right away, I had made a couple major miscalculations. First, it’s extremely rare that everything goes right. Second, my geographic location demanded that I completely abdicate project oversight to other people. I thought my contractor would be honest with me because of our relationship and further motivated by the hopes of additional future work. I also figured that the real estate agent, whom I trusted, would provide additional oversight. This theory failed on every level.”

This is precisely why the Flippin’ Insider has, from the very beginning, advocated that you do business in your home neighborhood, or near where you work. Do business where you are part of the community, and where you can drop by unannounced at the work site on a regular basis. You don’t have to be a jerk. Just showing up and getting regular updates keeps contractors on their toes and holds them accountable for performance.

Look, the grass is always going to be greener in another neighborhood. There is always going to be somewhere else where you can buy property at a slightly deeper discount, or that has slightly more favorable demographics, or better scenery, or a better economy. None of that matters, because none of it is likely to trump the home court advantage you have by dealing in your own neighborhood.

Advantages of Doing Business in Your Home Neighborhood

 1. You know the buyers, and are more likely to get inside information on someone who needs to sell cheaply and quickly. The motivated sellers are almost always going to go to the hometown guy before you.

2. You can see the contractors work firsthand.

3. You can make both scheduled and unannounced inspections on contractors’ work.

4. All the players – real estate agents, contractors, lenders and everyone else – know you’re in the market to stay. When you need a concession to make a deal go through, they’ll be with you, because they know you will be around for a while and make it up to them.

5. You also have other eyes and ears: your friends and neighbors. Don’t underestimate the value of this intelligence network of people who live in your neighborhood. They will give you deal flow – if you treat them right. They will also give you a quiet heads up if the contractors are goofing off, drinking beer at 2:00 in the afternoon and then going back up ladders. (My dad ran a roofing company for years. Believe me, stuff happens!)

6. You can also demonstrate caring leadership in person. Run by the work site with some cold drinks for the workers. In the old days, a 12-pack of cold beer quietly slipped to the foreman to take care of his boys at the end of a hot, hot day bought quite a bit of goodwill – and a clean jobsite when it was done. (Today’s atmosphere is more litigious, so take that into account. Gatorades, energy drinks and cold sodas are always welcome.)

7. You can get to know your contractors and their key workers. If you’re a serious flipper, you’re going to be working with good contractors a lot.

8. You can go to their weddings and funerals! That means a lot. Especially funerals. If you come from a white-collar background, you may have no idea how much it means in the blue-collar community until you start doing it. When Rudy Giuliani was mayor of New York City, he made it a point never to miss a police officer’s or fireman’s funeral. That took a lot of time out of his schedule – he attended over 200 funerals after 9/11 alone. But it was incredibly important. Weddings, discretionary. Funerals, mandatory, said, Giuliani, who devoted a whole chapter to the principle in his book, “Leadership.“ “You have to be there when things go wrong,” he told college students in a speech at Georgia Southern University.

Remember, you can delegate authority. You can hire a project manager or a property manager to oversee things without you. But you cannot delegate responsibility, and there is no substitute for skin in the game.

By staying close to home, you can keep middlemen out of the process. You can take care of things personally that you’d have to pay someone else to do. That’s a big deal when your expected profit is only $5,000.

And if you’re on the site, visible to the contractors and the workers – making responsible, timely and sound decisions; looking out for the members on your team; and exercising leadership – do you think the out-of-town guy from Washington, D.C. is going to make much of a dent in your practice?

I don’t think so either.

The World According to Hunt:

“If a home is the most prized possession in an American’s portfolio, should we not take care of it a little differently than we currently are, allowing any Tom, Dick and Harry to get their license, facilitate the deal and call themselves an expert because they had extra ink to print a business card?” says Joshua Hunt, owner/broker of Trelora in the Denver, Colo. market.

This Colorado native and self-professed agent of change knew from an early age that he would, one day, be wildly successful.

Si, Se Puede

Hunt grew up in a single-parent household with a mother and a grandfather who believed that everything he said he would do would happen.

“Their answer was always ‘yes you can,’” he recalls. “In fact, on my ninth birthday I said I was going to be rich and they both said, ‘Yes you can.’

My mother said for years, ‘When you are rich will you take care of me?’ And so at nine, 10 12, 15 years old I had the message of ‘when you’re rich you’ll take care of me.’ That was instilled in my heart, and so it became a belief system in our household,” Hunt concludes.

A Rich Man in the Making

Hunt started early with his first business venture. “As a child I had an odd-job business, and I used to go door-to-door doing odd jobs,” he says. The budding entrepreneur graduated from that to a paper route, and by age 15 he was working in the restaurant business. He discovered that it wasn’t necessarily the restaurant business that he was attracted to, but working with people.

By the time he was 19 years old he was married. “Actually,” he recalls, “when I got into real estate I had eloped with this girl; I was a high school dropout, I had no plans for college, and I just told her parents, ‘Don’t worry, I’m going to be rich.’” Hey, it worked before, right?

It was his in-law’s idea for him to go into real estate. He started at Century 21, where he received his education and got his license.

“I was only with Century 21 for about 90 to 120 days, and I switched over to Re/Max very quickly,” he says. “I was Rookie of the Year for Re/Max.”

The Road to Burnout

After leaving Re/Max in 2007 and subsequent years in real estate sales with Keller Williams, Hunt was spent. “I was just really burned out,” he recalls. “The challenge, the rush and the excitement of the adventure was gone for me. I walked into my managing broker’s office at Keller Williams and I said ‘I’m done.’”

His broker wasn’t buying it, though and suggested he coach other agents.

“So, I started coaching,” Hunt says. “I took 50 agents and we increased our productivity by staggering amounts. The success in that was very exciting for me – engaging with people one-on-one. Influencing, motivating and inspiring them was a big rush,” Hunt said.

Hunt became a team leader for Keller Williams, took on the Aurora office and ended up recruiting over 130 agents in his first 17 months. He became the top recruiter in Colorado and landed in the top 10 in the country. He did the same thing in Charleston, S.C. and became the number one recruiter in the country for nine months. “I knocked it out of the park,” he said, chuckling.

While he was energized and enjoyed what he was doing with Keller Williams, Hunt was also noticing things about the business of real estate that troubled him.

“In that process of being a team leader and a recruiter there were several things that happened,” he said. “One was that I recognized that our industry is in trouble, because the barrier to become a real estate agent is very low. It was interesting to see the facilitation of transactions happen so blindly and uneducated by these people, hoping they did things right. They were being paid so much money while really not knowing enough to be able to justify those fees,” he said.

Hunt came to the realization that real estate, in his opinion, “was really damaged and broken.”

Shaking Things Up

In March of 2011 Hunt parted ways with Keller Williams in Charleston and returned to Denver. For the next seven months he investigated and researched not only real estate, but business models in general.

“I investigated the Starbucks business model, the sporting industry coaching and training model,” he recalls. “I looked at the pharmaceutical sales industry, and I began to look at thriving environments and investigated what causes them to succeed,” he concludes.

What he came away with is a new system of “doing” real estate. “When you look at heart surgery, there are 16 people in the room performing heart surgery. When you look at your Chipotle burrito, it takes nine people to make it. Yet we think that one Realtor® is going to facilitate the entire transaction and do so successfully and safely and make sure the client is served at a high level,” Hunt said with amazement.

He likens this new system of real estate to a baseball team. In a traditional real estate practice the agent is like a pitcher who also has to play first, second, third, shortstop, outfield, left field, centerfield and catcher. Yes, that pitcher works hard, Hunt claims, but he’s not working smart.

Trelora is Born

Trelora’s business plan is based, first, on the team concept. “We want you to just be a pitcher, so you can throw 90 to 110 balls a game, and we want you to be the best pitcher there ever was,” Hunt explains.

“We’re going to train you, coach you, mentor you and put you in systems and environments daily that perfect that art.”

Our pitcher is our pricing specialist,” he adds. “If all he does every day is five to seven appraisals or listing appointments, won’t he get really good at knowing how to price a home, and isn’t he truly an expert in that field?”

He pays the team a salary – none of the members are independent contractors – and certain employees receive transactional bonuses. The entire team, however, functions under a team’s profit bonus.

“We take the store’s profits and kick back 20 percent to all of the players on the field,” Hunt explains. “So now my field manager cares how successful my pricing specialist is, because every dollar counts,” he continues.

But here’s what’s even better: They not only care how much money the company makes, they care how much it spends. They’re motivated to take care of signs, lockboxes and company equipment because every time something needs to be replaced, the cost cuts into their bonuses. At 19 months of age, Trelora brings in enough revenue to provide a quarter of a million dollars in bonuses, split among 17 employees.

The salary isn’t anything to sneeze at either. “Our employees make three times what the average agent makes, according to NAR, and they work 20 percent fewer hours than the national average for agents,” Hunt said.

It takes seven people to work one of Trelora’s listings. The team members include a pricing specialist, a lead listing agent, a front-end transaction coordinator, a back-end transaction coordinator, a runner and admins. They also have a full-time photographer and a field manager to back them up.

The Rest of the Plan

Trelora is a full-service flat-fee agency with a team behind it. They charge the homeowner a flat $1,700 fee and offer a flat $3,000 to the buyer’s agent. That’s a total of $4,700 in real estate fees to the consumer, regardless of the sales price of the home.

On the buyer’s side, they take only $3,000 in fees and request that the money the homeowner would’ve paid for a standard commission is used to reduce the price of the home for their buyer.

Hunt stands fully behind his opinion that “if the service we provide is equal on a million dollar home and a hundred thousand dollar home, our fees should be equal. For Pete’s sake, my dentist doesn’t ask me how much I make before he quotes a root canal,” he explains. “The price of a root canal for a rich man and a poor man is the same because he provides a service, and real estate is truly a service-based industry,” Hunt concludes.

Marketing

Up until May first of this year, Trelora did nothing but telemarketing and word of mouth to build the business. They just started an aggressive marketing campaign. “We’re on Pandora, we’re in 5280 magazine, we’re in Out Front magazine, and we’ve done a pretty big pay-per-click campaign on Google and on Facebook,” he explains.

How is pay-per-click working? “Wow! It’s impressive. Most of our actual business – 70 percent of it – is coming from pay-per-click on Facebook, and I probably only paid $60 in marketing for it.” Hunt went on to say that most Facebook-derived clients set appointments with Trelora’s team within 48 hours of contacting them.

But Pandora is the one he’s most impressed with. “It’s been insane for us. I can’t necessarily say we’ve gotten tons of listings from it, but almost every one of our clients, past and current, have said they heard about us on Pandora.” Hunt laser-focused his ads on the Internet radio service, choosing three markets and demographics between 30 and 60 years old.

Does This Guy Ever Relax?

Hunt loves to run and participates in half-marathons and marathons. He is also a member of the Denver Gay Men’s Chorus. Most of his spare time, however, is spent with his kids. “I’ve got six kids – that right there is a full-time job,” he said.

The Takeaway

Hunt’s personal motto, which has become the company’s guiding principle is to “leave people better than you found them.” He feels that Trelora accomplishes this by focusing on the real estate client.

“So, here’s my message, my heart, my desire: It’s about the consumer,” he said. “It’s about protecting them and their home equity. It’s about giving them a result that they deserve at a fee that is justifiably monitored and corrected in each market. It is not about our brand, it’s not about our agents – it’s about our customer.”

Although the recent housing bubble and subsequent burst may have jaded some, the vast majority of homeowners and investors (and the real estate agents who sold them those houses) believe that house values appreciate over the long haul. What you’re about to discover may surprise you. And it may also influence your thoughts about homeownership and investing in single-family homes. Brace yourself. It’s about to get a little bumpy …

The Cold Hard Truth About Real Estate Values

Yale economist Robert Shiller, arguably the foremost expert on the study of home values, made some very interesting discoveries after carefully analyzing home prices over the course of the past century. He found that over the long term, home values remained relatively the same when adjusted for inflation. From 1900 to 2000, the national average of the real rate of appreciation on home values was only 0.2%. (Queue the organ … dun, dun, dunnn).

But wait, wouldn’t the price of a house you want to buy today cost more 10 years from now? Probably. But in most cases, the price increase you’d be seeing would largely be the result of inflation, not a real appreciation of the value of the home.

Inflation is the devaluation of your money as time goes on. A dollar today will buy far more than a dollar 10 years from now because of inflation. For example, if a house has a sale price of $200,000 today, in 10 years, it may have a price tag of $250,000, but the $50,000 increase is simply a devaluation of the dollar. What costs you $200,000 today, in this example, would cost you $250,000 after 10 years.

What This Means to Homeowners

For many, it can be quite shocking to hear about Shiller’s findings. However, it may also provide a different perspective on the purpose of owning of a home. A house is a place to live, a place to call home and hopefully a safe haven to raise a family. It’s not an investment.

However, your home can be considered a forced long-term savings plan because each mortgage payment may include a portion of principal pay down, and the actual value of the home will usually keep pace with inflation. Ideally, at some point in the future, your mortgage gets paid off so that your total monthly payment is much lower than the cost to rent a similar house.

Being a homeowner has many benefits, but unfortunately, buying a home is not guaranteed to be a good investment.

What This Means to Investors

For those who purchase single-family homes for investment purposes, understanding the real rate of return of houses is extremely important. Too many speculators in the mid-2000s bought houses with the hope that their investments would go up in value. Some got lucky. Many didn’t. The fundamental flaw was in assuming that home values would appreciate over time. Instead, the wise way to view houses as investments is to look at how much tax-advantaged income can be generated from them right now. You want to ask yourself, how much money has this investment home put in my pocket, lately?

Single-family rental properties can be a great investment. First, your tenants pay your rent. If that rent is larger than your expenses (mortgage payments, taxes, insurance, maintenance), you get a positive monthly cash flow. Tenants thereby help you pay off your home loan. And second, thanks to depreciation, the money that you do bring in is very tax-advantaged, so you may pay very little in income taxes.

The best way for an investor to evaluate buying a single-family home for long-term investment purposes is to determine how much positive cash flow it will provide starting on day one (as opposed to how much it may appreciate sometime in the future).

Exceptions to the Rule

It is worthy of note that Shiller’s discoveries are based on national averages and as they say in real estate, it’s all about location, location, location. In some areas, home values have not kept pace with inflation. For example, in Baytown, Texas, your average three-bedroom, two-bathroom home ran about $80,000 in 1980. And that same home will cost you about the same today. Here we are 33 years later, and house prices in that area are the same as they were in 1980. So much for keeping up with inflation! There are other areas where home values have outpaced inflation and have appreciated. The challenge, of course, would be in determining which areas will beat the national average of 0.2 percent.

In general, making guesses, however educated they may be, on the likelihood of area home values appreciating could be an exercise in futility. Human beings historically have proven to be terrible prognosticators. Rather, the best plan may be to live where you want to live, and if you decide to become a homeowner, buy a home you can afford and that suits your housing needs. If you want to invest in single-family homes, make sure you buy properties that actually turn a profit from the moment you purchase them. And if you get lucky and your home is situated in a location that actually does experience some appreciation, consider it icing on the cake.

This guest post was written by Phil Pustejovsky, a real estate mentor, investor, Realtor®, author of the book “How to be a Real Estate Investor” and founder of FreedomMentor.com. He has been a part of more than 1,000 creative real estate transactions across North America, including wholesales, flips, short sales, foreclosures, rehabs, subject-tos, lease options and owner-financed properties. Phil is not only knowledgeable, but also quite passionate about teaching others creative real estate investing. Learn from Phil by watching his YouTube channel.

Urban design and industrial mod style are easy to achieve by keeping only a few basics in mind. Modern style offers a clean, neat layout with simple, streamlined furniture in an architecture style that was influenced by German Bauhaus School of Design and Scandinavian modern design.

Sleek smooth surfaces, bold geometric shapes and asymmetry are key characteristics of mod design.

Color

Stick with a simple, neutral palette that will allow the objects in your home design to take center stage. White walls are predominant in a modern home with all of the furnishings, accessories and fabrics also in neutral tone-on-tone color schemes.

Architecture

Modern design has always been about function over form. Absent are ornate details, extravagant rooms or intentional themes of symmetry. A focus on angular shapes using geometry is signature in modern design.

Light

Light streaming through soaring windows, glass ceilings or large open windows creates an artistic statement and immediately draws the eye to the interior architecture. Large undecorated windows open the interior to the exterior landscape. Often there is a natural connection between the exterior view and the interior design. Aside from open windows and abundant natural light, other common design themes include bare walls and large open floor plans, similar to loft or apartment layouts.

Furniture

When selecting pieces for a modern room, keep things sleek and simple. There is a wide range of urban or industrial mod furniture designs out there. Select your pieces like choosing a work of art. There are also many DIY furniture designs to choose from if you want to personalize your design.

Artwork

When choosing two dimensional art and accessories in a modern interior, it is important to select pieces that make a loud statement. Make it fun. Also search for three-dimensional art with striking shapes that can be highlighted with spotlights for a strong visual impact. Think of your walls as an open, clean gallery space, and take special care in selecting where your art will be displayed.

There’s an episode of the popular TV show “How I Met Your Mother” in which Marshall and Lily find their dream apartment in an unfamiliar NYC neighborhood. Without researching the community referred to as “Dowisetrepla,” they purchase the apartment. Later on, they make a ghastly discovery that their newly purchased dream home is “down wind of the sewer treatment plant.”

Funny as that may be, it does teach us a lesson about why you should take the time to research the neighborhood in which you plan to purchase a home.

So, what should you look into before you make an offer?

Find the Crime Rate

Everyone wants to feel safe in their own home. Before deciding on a community, take the time to research the crime rate in the area. Sites such as city-data.com or spotcrime.com will give you crime statistics broken down by the crimes committed, frequency and how your neighborhood compares to the nearest city, state and county. You can also contact the local police department to get a more specific report on the neighborhood where you plan to move.

Consider the Future

Buying a home is an exciting time. But, homebuyers can get overwhelmed with what’s going on “now” and forget to consider what’s going to happen “next.”

Before you settle on a community and house, be sure to think about what your life may be like in a year, five years, and 10 years. Do you plan on staying at your current job? Will you be getting a pet? Do you plan on having children (or more children)? Are your children going to be moving out of the house? All of these factors could dramatically change your decisions.

Aside from your own future, don’t forget to research the future of the area you’re considering. Ask local officials if any new development plans are in the works. Large developments – such as hospitals, colleges, or shopping malls – could change the atmosphere of your community and possibly attract a crowd that you were not prepared for.

How Long is the Commute to Work?

There are several factors to consider when estimating the commute time to and from your office. First and foremost is the distance – are there too many miles between your home and your office? The next thing to consider is the traffic. A 15-minute commute on a Saturday afternoon could take over an hour during rush hour.

Also, be sure to research any upcoming road projects. While road repairs are usually temporary nuisances, the meaning of “temporary” could be longer than you’d like.

What Amenities are Close By?

Whether it’s a day care center, a grocery store, a shopping mall or a really good pizza shop, we all want something to be close to our home. Before buying a home, make a list of places you frequent often and see how far they are from the home you’re considering. Seriously, there’s nothing worse than having an ice cream craving and then driving an hour just to get a cone.

Sights, Sounds and Smells

Don’t put yourself in an embarrassing, sitcom-worthy situation. Visit the neighborhood during the daytime and nighttime on both a weekday and a weekend. You may just find that the railroad track you thought was abandoned actually runs right after your kids’ bedtime.

Also, don’t be afraid to ask the neighbors! They likely know the area better than anyone and will provide you with information you won’t find on the Internet or by simply checking the place out.

Need more help? Ask your real estate agent for community recommendations based on your personal preferences. Also, check out AreaVibes.com, which will give you a “neighborhood livability” score and show you the nearby amenities, cost of living, crime rates, education, and even weather forecast.

This guest post was written by Kristie Vossler. She is the director of online communications and PR for Prudential Preferred Realty in Pittsburgh, Pa. In addition to digital and social media marketing, Kristie enjoys writing articles on homebuying, home selling and staging, real estate trends and home décor.

You wouldn’t think there would be any art, science or psychology to having a successful garage sale, but there is. It involves all three, believe it or not. If you are even pondering the idea of putting on a garage or yard sale, think first about the things that can easily make it unsuccessful.

1. Neighborhood

Rural roads, long driveways, busy highways, no parking, and gated communities do not encourage garage sale customers to find you easily or even want to bother. It’s too much work, and there is too much unknown. If you live in one of these areas, find a friend in a busy family neighborhood and offer to co-host the sale.

2. It’s Been a Bad Day

Choose your garage sale days, dates, and times carefully. Saturday and Sunday together used to be the best days for a sale, but not anymore. Sundays become one long, dragged-out day with little or no sales. You will need Sunday to recover from your hard work. Fridays are the new Saturday. Keep your sale to one day so that buyers will not have the option to “think about” a purchase and come back the next day. Stay away from spring and summer holidays (Easter, July Fourth, etc.) when potential customers will most likely be spending time with family. Don’t try to sell things like “dorm room“ furniture in the late spring when college students are headed home for the summer.

3. What Sign?

Garage sale signs with small print, faint lettering, a dull cardboard background, poor placement, or any one of these elements will have you losing more customers than you want to know about. If you skip using just large directional arrows on a bright background in favor of your handwritten tiny address, how do you expect a shopper to be led to your garage full of goodies? Notice the very unreadable sign in the picture that I took to demonstrate this very common mistake.

4. Garage Cave

Take your sale outside. Most shoppers don’t want to step into your dark garage and paw through your stuff. The driveway or sidewalk is much safer to them psychologically. Many people do drive-bys to see if you have something that catches their eye before they park the car and peruse your goods. If you place everything inside your garage, then those “cruisers” may miss something that they really need and you are anxious to sell.

5. Pricing and Bargaining

Sky-high prices equal low sales volume. Experienced garage sale shoppers know their prices, so don’t try to fool them. A good rule of thumb is to price your goods at about 20 percent of current retail, maybe a bit more or less depending on the quality and overall condition of the items. Books and clothes need to be priced much lower as the supply usually outpaces the demand. Just as there is a science to pricing, there is an art to bargaining with your customers. Don’t bargain at all within the first two hours, and when you are willing to start, “sell” the benefits of an item to encourage the customer to pay as much as you’d like to receive for it. Bargain away in the last two hours!

Bonus Mistakes to Avoid

No fixtures, no fun and no merchandising make for a poor garage sale scene. Get those treasures shined up, off the floor and displayed nicely with like groups of items on flat tables. Hang clothes, tablecloths, drapery, and bedding front and center, on a rolling garment rack or a tall stepladder instead of lumped in piles. Once you’ve got everything out and are actively selling items, start almost immediately to fill in the holes created by the things that have sold. As you are staying busy helping customers or creating new displays, greet newcomers and start a friendly chat or make a joke, even if they show little or no interest in buying. Talk is cheap, and it is a great way to deter a would-be shoplifter. Sometimes an innocent conversation can lead to the most unexpected yet profitable transactions.

Warmly,

Laura Leist, CPO
Organizing with Laura

Today going green is not just good for saving the environment – it’s good for your wallet too. You don’t have to eat granola or go live in a remote shack in the woods to be an energy-conscious consumer. By adopting simple practices and making smart changes to your home, you can save big in the long run. Whether you are looking to improve your house and environment, or just need to increase the value of your home for real estate season, making your house more eco-friendly is the smart thing to do.

Here are 10 easy ways you can make your home considerably more eco-friendly.

Green Your Appliances

One of the simplest ways to save energy in your home is through your appliances. Appliances typically account for about 18 percent of total household energy use. Replace older appliances (anything more than 10 years old) with energy efficient models.

Changing out appliances, particularly your fridge, for “Energy Star” products will save you 10 to 50 percent in your energy and water use compared to standard models.

Power Off and Unplug

We don’t usually give a second thought to products that are powered off. If they’re off, then they aren’t using energy, right?

Wrong. Known as energy vampires, appliances that are plugged into the wall, even when turned off, continue to drain power. This standby power costs the average U.S. household $100 per year. That’s good money wasted on powering.

Luckily, you don’t need garlic or stakes to remedy your energy vampire problem. In order to prevent this “vampiric” power drain, simply unplug your appliances when you aren’t using them. This includes your television, computer, laptop, chargers and kitchen appliances. You can also use a power strip to cut off all power in one easy place.

Seal Your House

Heating and cooling systems often use a great deal of energy, and you could be losing much of that costly air through leaks in your house. Air leaks occur when conditioned air in your home escapes through cracks and openings.

Sealing these areas will improve your home’s energy efficiency by keeping conditioned air in and outside air out. Simply caulking cracks and weather-stripping doors and windows will seal your home and prevent leakage.

Change Your Light Bulbs

Lights are part of our lives, but they don’t have to be major energy thieves. Replacing your light fixtures with compact fluorescent light (CFL) bulbs will use less energy and last up to 10 times longer! CFLs use 66 percent less energy and can save you hundreds of dollars in energy costs.

Go Off-Grid

For ambitious homeowners out there, going off the grid is a great alternative to standard home energy sources. Investing in solar panels for your house can cost a pretty penny upfront, but can lead to big dividends down the road.

Moreover, as the green movement has gained momentum, going green is becoming much more accessible for average homeowners. There are numerous tax credits and incentives offered by the government for those who wish to install solar panels. In addition to the money it will save you in energy costs, it will also send your home value through the roof.

Paint Smart

Traditional paints contain harmful chemicals and compounds that contribute to air pollution and indoor air quality issues. This is not only bad for the environment, but has significant health concerns for the homeowners.

When you go to paint your home, consider using paint that has no volatile organic compounds or is low-VOC. You can find this healthier option in most major paint stores.

Use Bamboo

Hardwood floors are beautiful and will do much to increase the value of your home. However, opting for bamboo floors rather than traditional hardwood materials is a not only a cheaper alternative, but a more eco-friendly one as well.

Bamboo grows much faster than regular hardwoods – just four to six years compared to 50 to100 years – and is considered by many to be more durable, dense, and often of a higher quality. So why not have the best, for less, while helping the environment? In the words of the venerable Michael Scott, that is a “Win-win-win.”

Flush Less

Toilets are the culprit of up to 30 percent of the average indoor water use in homes. Older and inefficient toilets are a main source of wasted water and can use up to 6 gallons per flush!

According to the EPA, investing in dual flush toilets or other water-saving toilets (such as those with the WaterSense label) will save 20 to 60 percent of a household’s water consumption.

Insulate Your Home

Similar to sealing your house, improving your insulation will save you big on heating and cooling costs in your home. Insulation serves to reduce heat flow throughout your house. Air travels from hot to cold. This means the warm air in your home will travel to unheated areas like the attic or garage.

Without proper insulation, which resists this flow (and essential loss of energy), you will be spending more to heat and cool your home throughout the winter and summer months.

Watch the Temperature

Ah, the thermostat. A useful yet oft-abused tool. Much of a home’s energy consumption is expended in heating and cooling. Particularly in climates with drastic seasonal changes, make an effort to be modest in your temperature settings.

For hot summer days, set the thermostat higher (around 78 degrees Fahrenheit), and keep windows and blinds shut to trap cool air and prevent sunlight from turning your house into a sweatbox.

During colder months, wear extra layers around the house and keep your thermostat below 68 degrees. For every degree below 68, you can save 3 to 5 percent on your heating bill.

By adopting some, if not all, of these tips, you will be well on your way to reducing your carbon footprint and increasing the size of your wallet. No matter what your motivation, everyone can benefit from a more eco-friendly lifestyle. So why not save some green while going green?

This guest post was written by Nina Hiatt, a home improvement expert that has worked with clients to find balance and beauty in their personal spaces through landscape and interior design. With the help of professionals from all across the country, from electricians in Salt Lake City to architects in Miami, she can fulfill all of your home improvement needs.