Posts Tagged ‘advice for homebuyers’

Online Home Decorating Resources

Online interior design services are transforming the way we access interior design help. It’s the magic combination of professional design guidance, affordable prices, plus an easy and quick process that is attractive to people everywhere. Whether you’re deciding what color to paint your living room, envisioning a different furniture layout need design assistance with a room or an entire home, these online resources can get you started.

VoiceofColor.com

Anyone who has ever considered repainting his or her home knows how overwhelming a trip to the hardware store’s paint section can be. Pittsburgh Paints offers a fun way to find the best hues for you: at The Voice of Color, you can play their 13-question ColorSense Game to find out what your signature color style is. With questions about words that inspire you, your preferred scents and favorite vacation spot, the site will come up with a personalized set of colors. They’ll then offer you palettes within your range of hues so you know which shades match, making it simple to coordinate every room of your house.

Homestyler.com

Whether you want to design your dream house or experiment with redecorating the home you already have, Homestyler can help you visualize your plans. The site lets you drag and drop furniture and brand-name products (there are over 15,000 items to play around with) into your virtual home to check them out before you commit to buying. You can build the online version of your house to match the specifications of the one you own, play around with new layouts and furniture, and view the whole thing in 3D for an even more realistic picture. Get design tips from their instructional online videos as well as find inspiration from the site’s gallery of user-generated designs.

mydeco.com

Ask any interior decorator how she gets inspired and she’ll show you a mood board. Often featuring compilations of fabric swatches, furniture photos and torn-out pages of decorating magazines, mood boards are a great jumping-off point for any home decor project. However, not everyone has the time to cull all those bits and pieces. At mydeco, you can build your own mood board in just a few clicks. Search the site’s listings, which contain thousands of pieces of furniture, works of art, maps, fabric, tiles and more, then drag them onto your virtual board. You can search by color or store to find exactly what you’re looking for, or just browse your options to see what inspires. And if you fall in love with your creation, you can click on each item to purchase it.

Internet-based businesses are helping homeowners get professional design expertise and merchandise more affordably and faster than ever. The latest iteration to shake up the process is online companies that employ staff designers or freelancers with the goal of simplifying the designer-homeowner partnership and allowing the act of home furnishing to became transparent, faster, and more affordable.

Interactions with the designer can happen via email, phone, instant message, Skype, and sometimes in-person meetings. Before the homeowner signs off on a project, they are provided a floor plan or 3D rendering, which shows how to arrange the furnishings once they arrive. Since the first companies emerged in 2012, many have grown and added locations.

Here are a few online interior design firms gaining prominence.

Decorilla: This company now uses 10,000 designers across every state and reaches internationally as well. Decorilla also has an in-house staff who handle other parts of the job, such as coordinating delivery, dealing with returned goods, and managing construction. This company starts clients out with a questionnaire, but they can also search its website to pick a designer whose portfolio they like. The company offers three packages, from basic bronze for $499 for one room to gold for several rooms for $1,699, while offering clients access to highly experienced designers. Rather than providing one plan or rendering, four options are offered to clients with realistic renderings from two different designers. Each client also gets company discounts on more than 250 well-known brands such as Wayfair, Crate and Barrel, and Jonathan Adler. Many projects incorporate one-of-a-kind goods.. For those who need less help, the company offers service starting at $75 an hour.

Decorist: Based in San Francisco, with a roster of approximately 400 interior designers, the firm handles design projects online only. After filling out a questionnaire, clients pick from three packages: the Classic Design Service for $299 per room with the industry’s most ambitious up-and-coming designers; the Elite Design Service for $599 per room with a locally established designer with regional press; or the Celebrity Design Service for $1,299 per room with a nationally recognized “A-list” interior designer. What a home owner gets: two “mood boards,” the chance to chat via instant message with the designer, a final room design board and floor plan, and a detailed shopping list. Decorist’s free concierge purchasing team members handle shopping and delivery.

Homepolish: Based in New York, this firm works with freelance designers, architects, and general contractors who use the partnership to increase their exposure to new clientele and gain access to its proprietary technology and tools to run their businesses more efficiently. the company started in 2012, it has grown to a network of 1,000 professionals nationally who take on not just residential but also commercial and hospitality projects. The company also has an in-house staff of 70. Designers visit clients’ spaces but can also work by video if they live far away. Prices begin at $140 an hour with a minimum of 10 hours required; hourly rates go up to more than $300 an hour. The company touts its extensive list of trade and retail vendors, and other services such as construction management. Homepolish team members make money by time spent rather than from commissions on client purchases.

Modsy: They offer service online nationwide through video and telephone calls with four design packages available: basic for $69 per room with purchases delivered in eight to 10 days; classic for $89 per room and delivery in six to eight days; premium for $199 per room and delivery of goods in four to seven days; and multiroom at $399 for up to three rooms and delivery in four to seven days. For an extra $15, home owners can have any item they already own digitally inserted into their plan to see how it will look; a substitute but similar item can be inserted for free. Plans or renderings highlight purchases with a white dot, which, when clicked, details the product information. Designers try to give clients choices in each layout, such as a sectional or sofa or different paint palettes.

Filed under: Blog, Exclusive Buyer Agent, First Time Homebuyers, Florida Real Estate, Home Buyer Advice, Home Buyers, Home decorating, Homebuyer Advice, Real Estate, Real Estate Investment, real estate news, Real estate trends, South Florida Real Estate by Kim Bregman
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What You Should Do After Closing

You searched for homes over the course of months or even years. You endured a series of offers and counter offers, property disclosures, inspections, loan applications, due diligence, and packing. Finally, after so much excitement, stress and anxiety, the house hunt has come to an end. But the story isn’t over yet. Here are some next steps to consider before you actually move in.

Make Copies of your Closing Documents.
The first stop you make after closing should be your local copy shop. While all the documents are still together and in order, make at least one copy of everything. Put one set in your folder for tax filing and one set in a file for house records.

Get a Safe Deposit Box and Put the Original Documents In It.
Keep your photocopies on hand at the house in case you need them in a pinch, but store the originals of your mortgage loan docs and your title certificate in a secure, off-site location. That means a safe deposit box at the bank, or on file with your attorney.

Got the keys? Great, now change the locks.

Assume that every one and his brother has a set of keys to your new home. The seller’s real estate agent likely gave copies to his or her assistant, a stager, handyman, or even another agent at some point during the marketing period. That does not even take into consideration the spare keys that the Seller’s gave the neighbors, their family, cleaning lady, and babysitter. That’s why the first person you should call after getting the keys is a locksmith. Spend the money to get all the locks changed or re-keyed right away. Don’t forget to reset any key code combinations that can be used to gain entry to the house as well including the garage door opener, garage keypads and alarm combinations should be changed.

Hire a cleaning crew.

There’s nothing worse than showing up with the movers, dozens of boxes and your personal belongings only to discover the seller hadn’t had the place cleaned as thoroughly as you would have liked.

Assume the worst and get a professional cleaning crew and painters in there the minute after the closing along with carpet cleaners. You want to start life in your new home with a clean slate. The movers might make a mess while moving in. But the bones of the place will be sparkling clean and you will have freshly painted closets and walls before the furniture and clothing gets in place.

Have a handyman, small contractor or designer on call.

Moving in can take days, if not weeks, and is made up of the kind of stuff you wouldn’t wish on your worst enemy. Things like aligning your framed artwork, centering the couch in the living room or getting the large rug set up in the master bedroom can drive you crazy. Nailed multiple holes in the wall in an attempt to get your family photos lined up on the staircase? Not all of us are cut out to do this kind of stuff. While it may seem like a luxury, investing a few hundred dollars in hiring someone to take orders, help with setting up and take over some of these mindless tasks will save time and potentially relieve you of a giant headache.

Play “what went off”:

Turn all of the lights on, plug radios, lamps, etc., into as many outlets as possible, then turn circuits off one at a time; make a list of which breaker controls what, and post it near or on the inside of the panel(s). Make sure you know where the main water shutoff is, and test it to see if it works. If you have a water filter, check it or replace it.

Check the furnace filters/replace if not new looking. Check gutters and leaders for blockage; clean if necessary. If you have a fireplace, have the flue inspected by a professional. Check/change batteries in smoke detectors.

If you control your own hot water, you’ll want to check the temperature pretty early on during your first day in the house. Developers of new homes have a bad habit of turning water heaters to “vacation” mode just before closing. This saves their utility bills but will result in a cold surprise when you go to take a shower. The temperature dial on your water heater should have a tick mark at the best setting. You don’t have to turn it all the way to the hottest point unless you need near-boiling water at all times.

Put your Name on the Mailbox & Buzzer. If you’re living in a multi-unit complex, like a condo building, you’ll want to get your name on the mailbox as quickly as possible, since the post office won’t deliver to nameless boxes. People are of mixed opinions on whether you should also label your intercom buzzer. It can compromise your privacy, but if you’re expecting a lot of guests or deliveries it will make things easier.

Cover the Windows.

The residents of your new neighborhood are about to watch you parade all your belongings into the house. Don’t let them figure out what you’ve done with them so easily. Make sure you’ve got something in the windows of each room – it can be towels, shower curtains, cardboard – doesn’t matter what for now. Just make sure your privacy is safeguarded so your windows don’t become a walking advertisement for burglars and peeping toms.

Photograph everything.
You’ll eventually want to take an inventory of everything you move into your house, but before you do so it’s a good idea to take pictures of your house in its native state. Once furniture is in place it will be difficult to remember where outlets are and what your home looked like when it was brand new. In the event of a catastrophic loss, you’ll need to refer back to those pictures in order to restore your home, so make sure you store them offsite, email them to yourself at a webmail address, or upload them to a cloud-based server.

Meet your new neighbors.

Getting to know your new neighbors and trading phone numbers can be very beneficial in case of emergencies. There is always value in having a good neighbor.

Make sure your first weeks and months of homeownership are safe and pleasant.

Plan first. Party later.

Filed under: Blog, Down Sizing, Exclusive Buyer Agent, First Time Homebuyers, Florida Real Estate, Home Buyer Advice, Home Buyers, Home Maintenance, Homebuyer Advice, House Closings, Real Estate, Real Estate Closings, Relocation, western north carolina real estate by Kim Bregman
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