Our winterizing your home checklist will help you keep your house cozy and safe from winter’s frigid assault. Insulate Windows Winter drafts can drive up your energy bill — and detract from the cozy vibe you want inside your home when it’s cold outside — if your windows have any air leaks. But by reducing drafts you can lower your home’s energy costs by up to 20% per year, according to the U.S. Energy Department, while also making your living space more comfortable. Here are five simple solutions (all under $8!) that will allow you to insulate your windows quickly:
Read all of 5 Crucial Cold Weather Tips for Preparing Your House for Winter
All of this time at home working, schooling or just stressing has led to nearly 7 in 10 consumers (69 percent) saying they “just want to curl up in a cozy bed/blanket right now,” according to the September Coronavirus Response Survey. For 86 percent of consumers, quality sheets and bedding aid in better sleep, according to the 2020 Home Textiles survey. And 73 percent say 100 percent cotton is important in home textiles, as they see the role fiber plays in softness, quality, function and comfort. Further, 78 percent of consumers are willing to pay more for quality.
Read all of The Urgency in Selling Home Comfort for Holiday 2020
Smart strategies to avoid overspending or buying the wrong house in a competitive market
Read all of As the real-estate market heats up, here’s how first-time buyers can keep their cool
Winter is traditionally real estate's slow season. Between the cold weather and the holidays, the housing market typically plunges into a hibernation of sorts, with both buyers and sellers shelving any major real estate moves until spring. So if you've assumed you should put your home-selling plans on hold until spring, read on for a surprising reality check on all the reasons this winter could be a great time to put your house on the market.
Read all of Why This Winter's 'Slow' Home-Selling Season May Be Hotter Than Ever.
There’s everyday clean, guest clean, and then there’s COVID-19 clean.
Let’s get down to the nitty gritty, literally, and focus on how to disinfect your home. To combat this virus, you’ll want your big guns: bleach, rubbing alcohol, and hot water.
https://www.houselogic.com/improve/how-to-disinfect-your-home/HOMEBUYING SEASON APPEARS TO BE STARTING SOONER EACH YEAR
Is January the new April?
That’s what those who keep a sharp eye on real estate trends will be looking to see at the end of the first month of the roaring 20’s.
That’s because a year-over-year comparison saw a sharp uptick in January home shopping in 2019 when compared to 2018. Was it an outlier, a one-off, something that is indicative of nothing?
The Everything Guide
to Selling Your First Home
Selling, a famous salesman once said, is essentially a transfer of feelings.
You love and cherish your home. You want the next owner to fall in love with it, too — through photos, through words, and through the experience of walking through your front door. But, perhaps most, you want to get the price you want.
This isn’t a small task. Selling a home requires work. It requires time. The journey isn’t always easy. There will be frustrations. But when you seal the deal and move on to your next chapter — wow, what a blissful, boss feeling.
Below, we preview and link to each step in your journey. We’ll discuss how to know what you want (and what your partner wants, if you’re selling together). How to understand the market, and ways to make a plan. And most importantly? How to create relationships with experts and trust them to help you get the job done.
https://www.houselogic.com/sell/how-to-sell-step-by-step/first-time-home-seller/?site_ref=spotlight
How to Declutter Your
Home in 2020
Part of being successful at decluttering is being organized. Follow the steps below to keep yourself organized and focused while you’re on your mission to get rid of clutter – and keep it that way – in the new year.
Did you know…❓ Because it gives you greater control of your life, more energy, and less stress, decluttering is one of the most popular New Year resolutions people tend to make!
https://goloadup.com/new-year-resolutions-decluttering/
8 Home Design Trends That We're Looking Forward to in
2020
Home remodeling site Houzz, a database where millions of professionals and homeowners go to share decorating ideas, recently pulled together a list of eight home design trends poised to make it big in 2020—and there are more than a few ideas we'd like to steal. Read on for a glimpse into your decorating future.
1. Anything but white kitchens
2. The return of the formal dining room
3. A bathroom with somewhere to sit
4. Tiled bathtub aprons
5. Fully wrapped powder rooms
6. Double vanities
7. Statement making laundry rooms
8. Wood range hoods
https://www.southernliving.com/home/decor/home-decor-trends-2020
The Biggest Changes Coming in 2020 Real Estate—and What Buyers and Sellers Need to Do
Ten years ago, many homeowners were desperately hoping to hang on to their homes. Others were doing everything they could just to scare up potential buyers. Meanwhile, said buyers were struggling to get financing from newly skittish lenders. Ah, memories. What a difference a decade makes!
Thank you to the Patriotic Americans who gave us the precious gift of their time Saturday 12/14/2019 to place wreaths on the graves of our hero’s at Arlington National Cemetery. We were truly inspired!
38,000 people participated to lay 254,000 wreaths
4 things I learned from reading ‘Your
Money or Your Life’ that everyone can do
This book isn’t about making us feel bad for all the ways we’re financially sabotaging our lives; it’s about getting us to daydream about the bigger picture in a world with few “job charmings.” By forcing us to question whether everything is worth it — our jobs, what we buy and how we spend our time — the authors are trying to help us live with enough to maximize our happiness.
……….” They even put a twist in the way they define frugality. “Waste lies not in the number of possessions but in the failure to enjoy them,” they write. “Your success at being frugal is measured not by your penny-pinching but by your degree of enjoyment of the material world.” Which, yeah, sounds lovely.”
https://www.bankrate.com/personal-finance/lessons-learned-your-money-or-your-life-book/
My Open
Houses
For the homes/neighborhoods/ price points scheduled each week.
We have 9
new Realtors for the start of 2020. Stop
by and meet them…
Jemimah Chuks Laverne Eberhart
Johnetta Worthy Matt McKenzie
Kimberly Page SerMae Scindian
Latoya Wright Ryan Hunsucker
Joanne Wingrove
These 10 Renovation Trends Will Be
Popular in 2020
When you own a home, it never seems to be quite finished. In the quest to make it as comfortable, functional, and up to date as possible, there's always something to be repaired, replaced, or improved. If you're busy dreaming up new projects for the new year,……………. 2020 Home Renovation Trends
- Surfaces will stay in Spotlight
- Home Wellness is on the rise
- Saving Money is the Focus
- Paint make everything Prettier
The First 15 Things You
Need to Do to Declutter Your Entire Life
It’s no secret that a home in disarray creates a less-than-ideal living environment.
The task of decluttering your closets (and therefore minimizing your wardrobe) can feel overwhelming, but taking time to create a peaceful, enjoyable living space improves more than just your aesthetic—it could also improve your overall sense of well-being. Not only is clutter linked to overall life dissatisfaction, but a disorganized household can also induce a cortisol response, negatively impacting mental and physical health.
But where’s the best place to start? Have no fear: We’re here with a comprehensive, step-by-step guide to decluttering your life and improving your sense of well-being—one section at a time.
https://www.apartmenttherapy.com/declutter-your-life-268462
The Psychology Of New
Year’s Resolutions
Research has shown that about half of all adults make New Year’s resolutions. However, fewer than 10% manage to keep them for more than a few months.
As a professor of behavioral addiction, I know how easy people can fall into bad habits and why on trying to give up those habits it is easy to relapse. Resolutions usually come in the form of lifestyle changes and changing behavior that has become routine and habitual (even if they are not problematic) can be hard to do.
For some people, it takes something radical for them to change their ways. It took a medical diagnosis to make me give up alcohol and caffeine and it took pregnancy for my partner to give up smoking.
To change your day-to-day behavior, you also have to change your thinking. But there are tried and tested ways that can help people stick to their resolutions
1. Be realistic.
2. Do one thing at a time.
3. Be SMART
4. Tell someone your resolution
5. Change your behavior with others.
6. Don’t Limit Yourself
https://www.iflscience.com/brain/psychology-new-year-s-resolutions/
