Monday, November 12, 2012

The Benefits Of Choosing A Copper Lantern

Burrell's Field main entrance lantern close-up

If you are looking to add lanterns to your home decor, it may be worth seeking out copper lanterns. You can install them in nearly any space and in any style, and you can get that rustic feeling you are looking for. You can find electric or solar powered lanterns, for walkways or sidewalk lighting. These light your path for walking and can provide a deterrent for potential burglars. Copper lanterns provide you with the flexibility to add more as your home improvement projects progress. As a main light for your outdoor area, they can serve as a post lantern. You can use hooks to add an additional flare by hanging plants or wreaths during the holidays.

Copper lanterns make great accent lighting and they are inexpensive. If you're going for a softer, romantic look, using candles in copper lanterns can give you the feel you're looking for, or you could install low voltage lighting and get a similar look. Landscape lighting's main role is to keep you safe, and this is to reduce any accidents from happening. You may want to install solar landscape lighting, if you do not want to figure out all the wiring. They will come on automatically as it get dark, and turn off as the daylight appears.

Copper outdoor lighting provides a bright beginning for your outdoor activities. They provide adequate outdoor lighting to help you avoid accidents and you can find a style to match your home's outside decor. If you spend a lot of time outdoors, they provide extra comfort and piece of mind.

Thursday, November 8, 2012

Relocating if you're in the Military

A moving truck operated by Piedmont Moving Sys...
There are a number of things to keep in mind when planning a military relocation. First, you, your spouse, and live-in family members are essentially entitled to per diem reimbursement after you have officially made your move. Altogether there are ten different types of entitlements, advancements or allowances to assist in supporting your family during this hectic time period when it is so critical to live within your means. The maximum amount of time for claiming Temporary Living Expenses (TLE) is 10 days for relocation within the borders of the United States and 5 days if you plan to move to foreign lands. If you are unsure about what exactly is deemed living outside of the U.S. Territory, Alaska, Hawaii, Japan, Puerto Rico, Germany, Guam, and the Virgin Islands are a few that apply. It is also good to construct a detailed budget before moving to ensure that you do not exceed any costs. Finally, consult your family center relocation adviser immediately after learning of your military relocation. They will help you take care of things like PCA's lead testing and other property risks to make things easier on yourself and your loved ones.

Finding a Relocation Manager

The role of your family center relocation manager in is to help make your move less taxing by providing you with forms to fill out for all benefits you are entitled to. It is most important to converse with the guidance representative early while you possess a feasible copy of the records for your trip. You must also remember to inform your relocation manager of any damages claims right away.

Important Files

Make it a priority to maintain possession of you and your family’s vital documents including birth certificates, insurance policies, medical records, and so on. It might be a good idea to duplicate many of these documentations in case of any misplacing. After all, you never know what information that you will be asked to submit during a military relocation.

Do Your Homework

There is no better way to start relocating than by doing a little research. There are a number of online websites that will provide you with thorough information about the place you are planning to relocate. It is mostly beneficial to obtain excess knowledge about the area surrounding your prospective military base so that you can develop backup plans that will be comparatively centered around your location.

Take it Easy

Do not let the hard work of your military relocation intervene in your plans to enjoy relaxing quality time by yourself or with your family. Everyone needs to unwind in order to be rejuvenated when duty calls.
There are plenty of tips to rely on when you are involved in a military relocation. Although it is difficult to know what to expect from this life-altering experience, you can still stay prepared for almost anything.

Thursday, October 25, 2012

How Real Estate is Looking for the Future

OpenStreetMap Logo

In the markets where the real estate boom has been strongest, such as real estate in California, Texas homes, and Oregon real estate, we wouldn't bet on the stratospheric prices remaining near their current levels. The statistics cited by the writer point out that there has been a sharp increase in foreclosure rates as well as an even larger decrease in home sales in recent months.

No matter what professionals say, prices cannot stand that kind of dual pressure for long and are bound to head south. The bigger the pressure applied, the sharper the price drop will be. It's just unrealistic to believe that double-digit increases in foreclosures combined with double-digit decreases in sales aren't going to have a significant impact on prices. Common sense means much more than predictions from people who get paid to be overly optimistic.

Keep in mind that real estate professionals have a vested interest in telling you that everything is going to be fine: they want the commission from selling you a house or selling yours.

In most areas there may be a gradual decline or small increases, but if your local market has been seeing huge equity gains recently then homes in your area may be due for some price shock therapy.

Monday, August 13, 2012

Selling Your Home at the Right Time

National Association of Realtors streetscape
National Association of Realtors streetscape (Photo credit: dannyfowler)

If you've ever owned stocks, then you probably know the feeling of holding a stock too long and missing out on selling it at the highest possible price. It's not a good feeling, and it's definitely not a feeling you want to have when you're talking about your biggest investment you will probably ever make: your home.

Most people will only see news which shouts about record price gains across the country, but the most important question to answer is the age old question. What's going to happen next. The truth is that no one really knows for sure, but anyone can make an educated guess. Certain markets are far more different than others, and understanding your micro economy can give you an edge when deciding whether or not to put your home on the market, and at what price you should do that. We always pay quite close attention to our Syracuse New York market, and make many decisions based on what we find. Also, listen to what other legitimate resources have to say. The National Association of Realtors: the Pollyanna's of the housing industry, are a great source and are quite trustworthy.

We'll spare the repetitive advice: but if you're looking to sell in the near future, look at your micro market.

Many thanks to William M. Cross for providing this article. If you need to find Syracuse real estate, they're your best source in the area!

Friday, June 22, 2012

Best Way to get High Quality Inbound Links? High Quality Content

WASHINGTON, DC - MAY 24:  National Association...
WASHINGTON, DC - MAY 24: National Association of Realtors President Maurice Veissi testifies before the Senate Banking Housing and Urban Affiars Committe on Capitol Hill May 24, 2012 in Washington, DC. Veissi and other experts testified during a hearing about the proposed Responsible Homeowner Refinancing Act of 2012, whose sponsors say will 'help millions of responsible, struggling homeowners refinance at lower rates.' (Image credit: Getty Images via @daylife)

These are the currency Search Engine Optimizers deal in.  The trick, which is much more difficult than it may appear at first, is to get high quality inbound links to your site from sites that are known as authorities in your field.
If your web site is about Chicago real estate, you'd be very happy with inbound links from the Chicago Tribune's real estate guide.  Or maybe the local board of REALTORs has a web site or blog that references your site as a "best of breed" site.
Our strategy is to first build unique, forward thinking content. It is quite time intensive, and doesn't always work, but it pays huge dividends that lasts for years down the road. We spend most of our time doing that. Secondarily, we find opportunities to attract links and publicity from outside sources that we believe are of high quality.  This is the path to building a reputation as a leader in your field.
For instance, I've had one of my blog posts published as a standalone article in Chicago Agent Magazine. Recently, I was interviewed as an expert in the field of online marketing for REALTORs, and that interview will hopefully become part of a somewhat regular real estate marketing podcast.  But most recently, I was interviewed by REALTOR.org for my thoughts and abilities on driving repeat viewers to my web sites. And what may be the coup-de-gras in promotion or our business, is a  possible upcoming segment on HGTV's House Hunters.  Stay tuned for that!
Ideally, without our help, great content will continue to be well known in the real estate industry, and will continue to generate links years after being made. Usually those links don't go away either, and are a permanent method of driving relevant visitors to your website.
These are all excellent ways of driving traffic to your web sites, and reinforcing the idea that you are an expert in your field - online real estate marketing. But be careful - content creation ALWAYS comes before promotion and link building.

Monday, March 12, 2012

I post this largely for the sake of my own reference, but hopefully others will find it edifying. This is from Robert Rubin's memoir In An Uncertain World:
Even Sir Isaac Newton, the great English mathmetician and physicist of the seventeenth century, was a majori investor in the most extreme financial excess of his day, which became known as the South Sea Bubble. The South Sea Bubble grew out of a scheme to convert British government obligations into common stock in a company with a theoretical monopoly on British trade with South America. Practical obstacles abounded: the company's "officers" had never been to South America; they had scant ships or supplies; and there was no reason to believe the King of Spain would allow Britain to trade with his coloines. Thousands who invested were destroyed financially.

That episode typifies the psychology of market excess. You're sitting on the sidelines, telling the people around you all the reasons why you think the market may be overvalued. And they're all looking at you, saying, "There's a new reality, and you don't get it. You don't understand how much the world has changed -- which is why people like you always fall by the wayside."
Well put, I think. I used to tell friends that I thought their daytrading speculation in the 90's was silly and inadvised. They made lots of money at first; I don't know how it ended. I do know that they never thanked me for my advice. Next time, I'll keep my mouth shut.

Real estate has been very strong for a long time now, but occasionally there are still excesses. If you're thinking of investing in real estate, be mindful of this story; make sure it's a wise investment.

The DC real estate market, I believe, is due for a correction.

This article was posted by TRE and was originally featured here.

Tuesday, January 3, 2012

Real Estate News to start the New Year

I enjoy browsing across real estate news articles across the internet, and I noticed a few that I thought would be valuable for others to know about.