In today’s environmentally conscious times, it seems we’re surrounded by the need to shop, act and live “green.” Some of our choices are easy and small, while others can be big and costly. But one thing is for sure – each choice can make a significant difference. 

 

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Food experts know that the right wine or spirit can enhance the enjoyment of any dish. The perfect marriage of the right wine and a flavorful meal creates a combination that celebrates and enhances the experience of both. 

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The house is finally done after a whole lot of “blood, sweat and tears”, and now it’s time to get your wholesale flip “retail buyer ready”. Real estate investors all have the same question at this point; how can I make my house stand out from the other homes for sale in the neighborhood? The answer is quite simple. Your home has to make a better first impression than your competition. Your potential buyer has to want to come inside from the moment they drive up to the house. So how do you do that?

Learn to think like a buyer!

Curb Appeal Is Everything!

Pay special attention to the landscaping and keep the grass cut and trimmed while your house is for sale. If you are selling during the summer months, extra watering may be needed to keep the lawn in tip top shape.

    Give your yard a manicured look. It will really pay off to spend a few dollars to have the plants neatly trimmed, the planting beds weeded, and fresh mulch put down. A great touch is to put brightly colored flowers near the front of the house. You might even want to add a couple of pots of flowers at or near the front door well give it an extra touch. Be sure to pick plants that don’t need daily watering.

All your windows should be sparkling clean on the exterior as well as the interior.

Take a good look at your front door. Does it need a fresh coat of paint or maybe just a good cleaning?

Spend a few dollars and replace your old mailbox, then add some attractive house numbers. These simple things will give your house a polished look.

Make sure your deck or patio in the back yard is neat and inviting. You want your buyers to be able to imagine entertaining or just relaxing in this space at the end of the day. A power washer can be rented for about $40-$50 dollars if heavy duty cleaning is needed. Go ahead and power-wash any siding on your house at the same time.

Store all garden equipment and trash containers out of sight.

Look at the interior of the house through “buyer’s eyes”

Have a professional do a thorough house cleaning when the house is finished, paying special attention to the kitchen and the bathrooms. Remember these are the rooms that sell houses!

Make sure all floors have been cleaned and are in good condition. This also applies to any carpet that hasn’t been replaced.

Give the house the “sniff test”. Does it smell good?

Buyers don’t want to have to paint before moving in, so be sure the house is painted in neutral colors. Painting the trim a crisp white makes the home look modern and inviting.

Home staging always pays big dividends! Consider doing some simple home staging so that prospective buyers can imagine what the home will look like with furniture in it.

Does the basement have a “musty” smell? Figure out what the problem is and correct it.

Does everything in the house function properly? Make sure all the light bulbs are working, and all of the cabinet handles and doorknobs are securely attached. Walk through the house and give it the same scrutiny that a buyer will, double checking the smallest details in the home.

Be sure to change your filters. If the furnace or AC filter hasn’t been replaced during the rehab, clean or replace it.

Author: Sharon Vornholt

Sharon’s Website: http://LouisvilleGalsRealEstateBlog.com

For a basic green living project with benefits to your wallet and the environment, consider revamping the kitchen pantry. The cupboard is the starting point for most kitchen activity and is more than just a storage space. Develop good buying habits and build a strong foundation and you can avoid the waste of food and money. Here’s how to tackle the task at once or little by little.

Assess

When you are not in a rush to whip up a family meal or put away loads of groceries, take some time to really look at the items in your pantry. What is in front? What is hidden in the back? What’s used most frequently? What is expired?

Be more aware of your consumption habits, suggests Cory Schreiber, a chef instructor at The International Culinary School at The Art Institute of Portland. This awareness is a simple step to greener living. Avoid impulse purchases by being more mindful of the emotions that can be involved in food shopping, he adds. Not only do you avoid waste this way, but conscious consumption is more cost effective too.

Utilize

Another cost-effective method that Joshua Joe, storeroom manager at The International Culinary School at The Art Institute of California – Los Angeles, a campus of Argosy University, recommends is a common inventory and accounting process used by schools, hotels and other food service providers. Practicing a first-in, first-out method of consuming your pantry goods is a true way to save money and prevent food waste, says Joe, who purchases the school’s food supplies. With approximately 500 culinary arts students regularly coming through the school’s dry storage area, Joe encourages the students to use the earliest bought, or oldest, goods first. The tendency is to go for the freshest or A+ product when the A grade item will do, he says. You don’t want to let perfectly usable goods go to waste.

Stock up

Once you have a handle on what you are buying and how you are consuming it, it is time to stock up.

Schreiber proposes buying high-quality essentials and purchasing goods in bulk. Buy the highest quality staples you can afford, recommends Schreiber. For example, six pounds of a good butter can last you a solid five months. Other items where quality counts and the products can endure include oils, vinegars, salts, dried herbs and spices.When possible, buy dry goods in bulk too, he adds. Grains, rice, legumes and pastas are all good products to shop for in a food store’s bulk department.

To store the loose pasta or grains, look for containers with a lower environmental footprint. Using glass, metal and ceramics is the easiest solution, says Chris Stanley, an Industrial Design instructor at The Art Institute of Seattle. Stanley, who has taught courses on the history of industrial design and in materials and manufacturing, adds, choose something classic in design so you won’t be tempted to throw it out in two years. Or, you can re-use glass jars and that fruit cake tin your aunt sends you each year.

Not only is buying in bulk less expensive, but less packaging means less energy used to create the materials and less garbage to throw away – all of which are more friendly to the environment.

Courtesy of BPT

Green consumers are no longer a niche group; today, they’re everyday individuals who are willing to go the extra mile to save the planet – provided they receive a bit of return on their investment.

Information gathered from the Home Improvement Research Institute and analyzed by Jack Suvak, Moen Incorporated’s senior director, research and insights, shows that today’s consumers want green products that are convenient, cost-effective and don’t sacrifice performance.

The recent recession hasn’t stalled the green movement; rather it has morphed it into a new environmental pragmatism that embraces restraint, simplicity and cost-savings. This new sustainable ideal isn’t hard to adopt; in fact, the resources are affordable and almost endless. From water- and energy-saving products to local steals and deals, going green has become easier and more cost-effective than ever before.  

Reduce, reuse, freecycle
How can we put less strain on our natural resources? When you purchase a new item, from furniture to clothing, some types of resources are used to make it. By choosing second-hand items – from that vintage designer dress to the charming antique armoire – you are keeping existing natural resources safely in the ground and products that still may have a long life ahead out of landfills. Celebrities and style icons, from French designer Christian Louboutin to popular television actress Courteney Cox have proudly displayed unique vintage pieces in their homes during recent photo spreads, removing the stigma that’s sometimes associated with second-hand.    

Besides for-profit furniture and clothing shops, non-profit organizations such as the American Cancer Society and The Salvation Army also run stores that sell donated products to benefit a worthwhile cause. Sites like TheThriftShopper.com are a great way to search second-hand shops by name and location.  

No time to go shopping? Bring great finds directly to your computer screen. Start by visiting craigslist.org, which features free online classified ads for sale items, or Freecycle.org, a nonprofit movement of individuals working to reduce waste by giving away unwanted items. Many local communities also publicize on-site or online sales for those looking to give away or sell gently used goods.   

Resource reduction
When modern convenience is a must-have, it’s okay to buy new – especially if it helps to conserve resources. Perhaps you have taken small steps toward having a more sustainable home by doing things like remembering to turn off the lights when you leave a room, setting the sleep timer on the TV or limiting time spent in the shower, but there are products that can accomplish these tasks for you, making it that much easier to do your part for the environment.  

One easy and inexpensive way to promote conservation is by upgrading bath products to water-saving models. Many water-conserving bath products are available for the same price – and with the same functionality – as full-flow models. Moen offers water-saving shower heads in both standard and handheld options, including its new single-function, Eco-Performance hand shower, which provides a clean, transitional design and choice of an adjustable wall bracket or 24-inch slide bar, for optimal flexibility. Best of all, its flow rate is up to 30 percent less than the industry standard for shower heads – without a noticeable difference in experience.  

If you won’t go to a water-saving shower head because you don’t think you can forego your luxurious rain shower experience, think again. Moen also offers Eco-Performance rain showers, like its eight-inch Flat Rain shower, which provides full-body coverage with invigorating water sprays – at a flow rate of 20 percent less than the industry standard for shower heads.
    
In addition to showerheads, faucets provide another great way to save water and money. Select manufacturers – like Moen – have converted all residential lavatory faucets to water-saving models, so you can use less water while brushing your teeth or washing your face. To calculate your approximate water savings by using these types of sustainable products, check out the water savings calculator on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)’s WaterSense program website: http://www.epa.gov/watersense.    

Modern appliances are another way to achieve significant energy savings. Today, everything from refrigerators to heating systems are made to be so energy efficient that you’ll often recoup the expense of purchasing the appliance in saved energy costs within a matter of a few years. The U.S. EPA’s ENERGY STAR program provides a useful Save Energy @ Home Tool that tells you, room by room, how much energy you waste per year by using old, inefficient products in the home.  

Multi-tasking magic
Beyond new and used products, look for items that take the place of two or more products in the home, utilizing less resources to make and saving money through fewer appliance purchases.  The Vitamix 5200 is the ultimate multi-tasker, doing the work of not only a blender, but also completing tasks like cooking soup, kneading dough, grinding grains and even making ice cream for dessert. Similarly, two-in-one toaster and convection oven appliances eliminate the need to purchase both of these items separately, and conserve resources, by using less power than a full-size oven to heat small meals or snacks.  

Speaking of multi-taskers, there are likely some items in your cupboard that can stand in for cleaning products, making these the ultimate two-in-one solution. Baking soda is an excellent cleanser, deodorizer and water softener; cornstarch can be used for everything from window washing to carpet cleaning; and lemon is an effective natural anti-bacterial agent.  

Having a green home doesn’t need to involve spending more money – it’s about simple solutions and behavioral shifts that will produce a long-term return on investment for you and the environment.

IMAGE CAPTIONS:
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Caption 1: The Flat Rainshower from Moen provides the ultimate at-home spa experience – while offering a 20 percent savings over a standard showerhead.

Caption 2: The clean, transitional design of Moen’s WaterSense-labeled single-function hand shower appeals to a wide variety of decorating styles.

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In a buyer-friendly market, home shoppers can be pretty particular in their search for a dream home. Increasingly, buyers are seeking flawless, move-in ready homes, and while traditional home inspections are a must-have, something equally important lurking beneath homes often goes overlooked.

Courtesy of BPT