1. Pets. Dirty litter boxes and old accident stains are the obvious culprits here. Keep Kitty’s litter box scrupulously clean at all times, and consider having your carpet professionally cleaned by someone who is experienced with pet stains. Don’t forget that many people are allergic to cats, so make sure your furniture and carpet are vacuumed frequently. If possible, think about keeping your cat or other pets confined to a certain area of the house while your house is listed. If you’re thinking of getting a cat or other pet, wait until AFTER you’ve moved.

2. Cooking. We’ve all been told that we should eat more fish, but until your house sells, eat that fish at a restaurant. Strong odors from cooking fish hang around and permeate the house. Cabbage, onions and garlic are notorious offenders, too. Throwing a few lemon slices in some boiling water or running lemon peel through the garbage disposal can help clear the air. And remember to take out your kitchen garbage as often as possible.

3. Cigarettes. Smoking easily drops the value of a house by 30% or more. Smoke gets into the drywall, carpets, furniture, and drapes, and it is very difficult to remove. If you or a family member smokes, stop smoking inside the house as soon as you decide to sell. Paint the interior, and either shampoo the rugs or replace them. If weather permits, keep the windows open to help air out the house.

Follow the above steps, and your home will not only LOOK good, it will SMELL good. A fresh-smelling, odor-free house is much more appealing than a stinky one, and much more likely to sell at the price you want.

For example, a number of building developers benefit from the speed and ease in which steel buildings can be constructed and the overall lower cost. A great number of owners are remodeling their current properties or framing new structures with steel. These companies know that the entire costs of building with steel are only a fraction of the price of conventional structures. Several design alternatives are possible–even with the strictest of project budgets. These savings can then be passed on to the patron.

You will appreciate a cheaper cost of labor. Much depends on local labor costs, but the overwhelming majority of steel buildings can be set up rapidly with the economy of a single work crew. Very often, a small amount of professional aide is necessary.

As a matter of fact, when building smaller structures sometimes no professional help whatsoever is necessary.

Maintaining a steel building with a comfortable climate is possible thanks to the great improvements in insulation technology. Developers are generally selecting the steel building design thanks to the savings resulting from its ability to conserve energy. A completely insulated pre-fabricated steel building will out-perform traditional structures and warm in the winter and cool in the summer.

Advances in steel building technology have also resulted in such amenities as ridge vents, skylights, louvers, as well as more common features as wind resistance and enhanced steel roofing systems. Regardless of the climate, you can know confidently that your personnel are all safe inside a pre-fabricated steel building. Because of its snug connections and reinforced metal alloy, steel buildings can withstand the weight from heavy snow and the potential leakage from heavy rains.

Almost any combination of structural, roofing, and facade applications are possible due to the current innovations in steel building technology. The clear-span frame, another popular option, can reach up to 300 ft. in width, have unlimited length capabilities, and require no walls or columns to allow your store all of the space it requires in an unobstructed environment. A variety of steel roofing styles are available, such as parapets and mansards. You can also select standing seam applications; and not to mention, having your roof painted in just about any color you desire. Steel buildings are the attractive choice for today’s retail store owners and the smarter choice for tomorrow’s requirements.

If you set the correct price, you’ll notice a much faster sale. Setting the right listing price will also attract more potential buyers to your property as well. You’ll also notice an increase in response from realtors, and receive more calls about the property. The listing price is very important – and it can ultimately determine whether or not you sale your property.

A home can be overpriced due to several reasons. Overpricing is something you want to avoid, as buyers tend to steer clear of homes that have been overpriced. Normally, this happens when a buyer asks a lot more than the home is worth or valued at. Some buyers ask a lot more than the value of the home due to location. Although the location is very important, most potential buyers won’t give the home a second look if they think the price is too high – and more importantly out of their price range.

When you put your home up for sale, most activity will happen within the first couple of weeks. If you put the right price on your home, you’ll notice immediate interest. There are always buyers looking for homes in their price range, waiting for new homes to be listed or homes to be reduced in price. Buyers who are waiting to purchase may miss seeing your home completely if the price is too high.

To determine the listing price of your home, you should always have it appraised before you put it on the market. This way, you’ll know the full value of your home. You can sell it for market value or go a little under, although you should never attempt to go way over the value. In doing so, you’ll miss out on a lot of potential buyers. The home market is very competitive these days, which is why you want your home to draw as much interest as possible.

Keep in mind that realtors really have no control at all over the real estate market, only the plan behind marketing. Realtors don’t determine the asking price – the seller does. You can ask a realtor for advice, although you are the decider of your listing price. If you do things right and take each thing step by step, you’ll set the listing price in the right area and have no problems selling your property.

The first set of terms you will want to familiarize yourself with is with loans. There are several types of loans and arrangements of loans that are available. If you don’t get the right one, you can end up paying more than you want or need with a specific type of investment. You will want to know how the loans are divided, exactly what you will be paying on, and how this will affect your investment in the real estate.

After this, you will want to look into your own finances in order to see how they will balance with the loans. If you have other loans, such as car loans or student loans, it will be important to factor this into what you will be paying with your home loan. You will also want to check on things such as your credit report and your financial plan. Your history of finances and your present situation makes a large difference in what you are able to pay on a property.

If you aren’t finding something that fits exactly right, it will simply be a matter of changing the rules a little. Even though you will mostly be looking at the ways you will be spending money and how this will change your lifestyle, you can also look at ways to deduct the money back off of your investment. There are options for deductions off of taxes and investment deals if you need to pinch pennies for other types of needs.

More than being able to pay thousands of dollars every month is the need to make sure you are getting into the right deal. Understanding and evaluating your situation and seeing how it will fit into a loan plan will make a large difference in the type of investment you make. Before putting your money somewhere else, you should always make sure that it is a place worthwhile to you.

The information in this article is merely an opinion. It uses U.S. Census Bureau data on New Home Sales (not existing homes or non single family homes) to derive a proprietary thesis. No statement within this article should be viewed as a suggestion or statement to buy or sell real estate for investment purposes or any other purpose! The data was garnered from sources believed to be accurate but is not guaranteed.

Data from the U.S. Census Bureau may indicate that a bottom could occur in the real estate market as it relates to single family new homes as early as the first quarter of 2008. Though rather dismal data could be released in its first quarter report in April of 2008, the myriad of doomsayers that are bound to emerge may be the preamble to a stark recovery. By July of 2008 data may clearly show that the first quarter was indeed the bottom and that the real estate market is off to a healthy and speedy recovery after making its bottom!

And wouldn’t that be nice? Most real estate agents will tell you that the slump has gone on long enough!
Near the end of November the National Association of Realtor’s will release its third quarter report for 2007, which will show prices and sales in major metropolitan areas of new single family homes. The government, notoriously slow as always, will probably take a bit longer. But here is there data that they do have right now:

We can see from the data and the associated graph that sales are down considerably on a year over year basis. We should also note that the 2Q2007 figure of 243 is preliminary, which is why it is italicized. You can view the actual data here.

We utilized a proprietary Data Choices algorithm to analyze this data. We are ignoring existing home sales for this report. The first item we noted was that third quarter and fourth quarter data appears skewed – which led us to believe predictions in this short time frame would be difficult. Nevertheless we continued to extrapolate data and our initial results seems to indicate a bottom in February of 2008.

As with all predictions they are subject to being grossly wrong and are only opinions. Nevertheless, just as with our Strong Dollar Project, we will continue to monitor and update the situation. If we are right about the bottom we will certainly indicate that in future reports. And if we are wrong then the whole world will know!

As always we stand on integrity and hard work.
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