Renovating & adpating old spaces for new living expectations

Saturday, April 1, 10am - 4pm

St. Paul Episcopal Church,787 E. Broad St.

$50 per person, $75 per household

This daylong hands-on workshop teaches property owners how to restore and reuse old homes, from tackling do-it-yourself projects to finding a contractor. Learn about masonry repair; plaster restoration; wood restoration for windows, doors, and floors; roofing and drainage systems; and more.Registration includes lunch, a current directory of contractors who specialize in renovation and restoration work, and 6-month memberships to both Columbus Landmarks and Heritage Ohio.Space is limited. For more information or to register, contact Columbus Landmarks at 614.221.4508 or email lbidwa@columbuslandmarks.org.

While you're there, drink in this beautiful church that has an unsure future since its flock recently left.

Showings - Listen Up Sellers, Agents

As the market begins to heat up, I have been out with more buyers lately looking at more homes. Overall, I have been pretty impressed, not so much with the homes themselves, as the sellers who go to great pains to make their home presentable and sparkling for my buyers.

It is not easy to have your home for sale and to keep it in tip top shape so that when a showing comes around a quick once over will make it shine-- it is an arduous task. I especially feel for those selling their home who have children. Having a few myself, I can't imagine keeping your home in great shape for showings and dealing with any number of kids. And yet, families make it happen, homes get shown, offers get written and homes sell everyday of the week. The other night I was in a home about 8:15 and there was great smelling, great tasting fresh coffee for us, nice touch, it'd been a long day.

Not every house is staged perfectly and free of clutter and personal mementos, in fact I'd say relatively few have done as much to put their house on the market as their Realtor suggested and even fewer have had any professional staging advice. That's why we have HGTV, right?

That said, I feel for agents who have sellers who won't do even the simplest of tasks prior to a showing. Maybe their agent didn't properly educate them, maybe they just work too much or they're apathetic for one reason or another. It can't be overstated how important it is to have the lights on in your home ahead of time--basement, attic, closets, anywhere a buyer may look or you hope they look, turn on the light for God's sake. It's especially important for evening showings and let's face it, people work during the day so weeknights are very popular showing times. Even if the house if vacant, keep the front porch light on. Sure, I can open the lock box in the dark by rote but I don't want to. I think this weekend the time changes so it'll be less of a big deal but even for safety's sake, always have the porch light on.

A few suggestions to add some pizzaz to showings:

• Touches of Luxury- -Real Plants in beautiful pots, the best linens, white fluffy towels.
• Paint walls-trim-ceilings -- keep adjoining rooms in the same color palette to make the home appear larger and flow better. Don't be sloppy. I was in a home the other day that had been neutralized (though the front door was still lime green) but the god-awful previous color was everywhere around the woodwork in thin little trails where the tape wasn't perfect, yuck. Try to hire professionals.
• Replace mismatched or poor-fitting door handles and cabinet pulls.
• Bamboo is the new maple -- as far as light colored flooring is concerned. Forget parquet and stray from veneer when possible.
• Paint closets a neutral color and buy and install organizers -- Closets need to be lighted and buyers should be able to see the backs of closets and pantries.
• Clean, Organize and Paint basements, attics and garages -- When you're looking for your next home, you'll get it. Don't wait until then, it makes a big, big difference.
• Downsize furniture and family photos. Less is definitely more.
• How about new light switch covers, doormats, mailboxes, miniblinds, etc.

These are pretty easy to figure out ideas, no stunners are among them. But hey, it's free advice Sellers. Buyer or Sellers, Call or email me today!

*the march 2006 Realtor Magazine listed some of these ideas

Home Inspection - Electrical Box

When I was at a buyer's home inspection the other day, the Inspector pointed out that the circuit breaker attached to the air conditioning compressor was a 40 amp circuit. He said that while he was outside looking at the compressor he noticed it said the breaker shouldn't be more than 30 amps. While it may seem intuitive to think that a bigger breaker would be OK as it'd more than handle the AC compressor, he made the point that should something go wrong with a newer unit, the warranty may be voided because it was not properly wired. A good point to be sure.
Usually what you find are circuits that are too small or are double tapped which is not good. Double tapped means two wires are attached to one breaker and it should always be one wire to one breaker all the way down the box. You could take out a single breaker and replace it with a double breaker that fits the same space as a regular one but has two trip switches.
Remember, I am not an electrician so nothing here is gospel, ask a certified electrician about your box.
Looking to buy or sell a home in Columbus Ohio? Give me a call and we'll be sure to check the breaker box before you buy.

nbc4i.com - Traffic - List Of Red Light Camera Intersections

nbc4i.com - Traffic - List Of Red Light Camera Intersections

I was a little surprised to see how many of the traffic light cameras were being installed downtown. Watch out for the Eye in the sky, the Bear in the Air. . . .

Cleveland Avenue and Spring Street4th Street and 5th

Avenue3rd Street and Fulton StreetBroad Street and 3rd

StreetSummit Street and Chittenden Avenue4th Street and

Mt. Vernon AvenueBroad Street and Grant Avenue

Gettysburg Road and Henderson Road Fairwood Avenue and

Livingston AvenueCentral Avenue and Sullivant

AvenueBroad Street and Sylvan AvenueBroad Street and 4th

StreetHamilton Road and Interstate 70 westbound ramp

Wallpaper

It seems hard to believe to buyers, many of whom assume it was put up to hide a giant crack, but wallpaper was very popular not that long ago. Wallpaper can often dress up a room in ways that paint just cannot. The problem with wallpaper though, is that it is often SO personal in taste. One person's 'period appropriate' or 'visually interesting' wallpaper is another person's, "Oh, THAT has got to go!"
If you're a buyer, you tend to tune out some great things about the home because you're focused on the paper. If you're a seller, you may be missing out on those buyers. If you didn't want to take it down when you were getting the house ready for the market, why would a buyer want to take it down. Even if you think you've accounted for the wallpaper in the price of the house, buyers will account for it again in their offer for the house.
When viewing homes for sale in Columbus and surrounding areas, I see considerably more wallpaper than most people would think is out there. The best wallpaper goes unnoticed but that scenario is rare indeed.
What do you do if your a seller and you don't want to take down the paper and paint a room?

• Downplay the wallpaper by painting any contrasting walls or woodwork a neutral (not a dark) color.
• Take down artwork that adds to the busy feeling and replace it with simple mirrors.
• Decrease the amount of color in the room by boxing up knickknacks and covering overly bright carpet with beige or other neutral color area rug.
• Replace high-wattage light bulbs with low-watt ones, and open the blinds or shutters to let in natural light.
• Draw visitors’ eyes away from the wallpaper with bouquets of simple flowers.