Getting Ready to Move? Have a Garage Sale! June 8, 2008

I found this helpful information on my cousin’s real estate website : http://agent.interorealestate.com/splash.aspx?ID=3254

We find that many families use a change of residence as an opportunity to dispose of many outgrown and no-longer-wanted items. It beats taking the items with you and can even put several hundred dollars in your pocket toward buying furnishings for your new home. As Realtors®, we are expected to be wise in all matters relating to a change of residence. Even though garage sales are far from our primary field of expertise, allow us to pass on the best advice we have picked up over the years. Planning Allow plenty of time – three to four weeks – to prepare. Choose a date that will not conflict with holidays or other events that might lure prospective customers away. More people are likely to show up on weekends than weekdays. Your sale is likely to attract more customers if you join together with neighbors in a larger effort with more merchandise – some homeowner groups sponsor neighborhood sales that are proving popular. What to Sell Practical household goods, bicycles, children’s toys and clothes, sports equipment and garden tools are popular. Adult clothing has less appeal – price accordingly. All items should be clean, polished and in good repair. Display Merchandise your items attractively in neat, clean surroundings. Paper tablecloths offer a pretty setting for glass and ornamental items. Cluster things in categories. Place more desirable items toward the back so browsers can notice other merchandise on their way to the most popular items. Have a 25-cent miscellaneous table for young shoppers. Clothes should be sized accurately and hung on a temporary rack. Logistics Locate your appliance table near an outlet so customers may try before they buy. Set aside adequate parking and a place to load large items. Have plenty of bags and boxes on hand for packing and newspapers for wrapping glass items. Ideally, a place for trying on clothing should be provided. Promotion Place a classified ad in the local papers – include three or four of the more tantalizing items for sale, directions and other pertinent details (you may or may not want to include your phone number). Take advantage of free publicity provided by bulletin boards in grocery stores and other public places. Provide directional signs to your property using an indelible pen. If your house is listed for sale, have your Realtor® hold an open house on the same day, thus increasing traffic for both the house and the sale. Pricing Visit other sales to get an idea on how to price things. Remember that garage sale shoppers are looking for deals, so be prepared to bargain and lower your prices. Really valuable items such as antiques should not be sold at a garage sale; they are not likely to bring the desired price from bargain hunters. Nothing is too worthless to be valuable to someone, so have a giveaway box for old magazines and other assorted odds and ends. Staging Post a notice that all sales are final and payment must be in cash. Keep ample change in a cash box in a protected spot. Keep a record of sales, especially when there are several sellers. One recording method that is simple and efficient is to use small adhesive stickers to price items, then transfer the sticker to the name of the seller when the item is sold.

Top 10 DIY oops! June 5, 2008

Top 10 DIY mistakes by home ‘handymen’

By Pat Curry • Bankrate.com

 

The first thing any savvy do-it-yourselfer should take into account when considering a new project is that it will probably take twice as much time and three times as much money as you thought.

Or maybe it’s three times as long and twice as much money.

Either way, there’s a good reason why it’s true: DIYers make mistakes.

Lots of them.

But you can learn a lot from mistakes. For example, whatever it was that my husband did to make all the outlets in the kitchen blow at the same time — don’t do that again. The bad news is that mistakes always wind up making your home-improvement project more expensive and more time-consuming than you want it to be.

With that as a given, we asked home-improvement experts around the country for the most common mistakes they see.

1. Not taking out the required permits. Considered a bother at best by many DIYers, permits actually serve a greater purpose than just raising money for the government. “People in permitting offices aren’t evil,” says Lou Manfredini, the official Ace Hardware “Helpful Hardware Man.”

“They’re there to make sure the job is done right and you don’t hurt yourself.” Plus, for some jobs, such as putting in a wood stove, you need proof of the permit or your insurance carrier won’t cover it. Not sure if your job requires a permit? The rule of thumb is that you need one for anything larger than painting and wallpapering. It doesn’t hurt to call the building department and ask.

2. Starting a job without the necessary tools and supplies. Nothing slows down a job more than not having all the materials you need. Manfredini says the reason the pros can do what they do is that they buy quality tools. “There’s always a bargain bin,” he says. “It’s not a wise investment. You lose time and money.”

3. Inadequate preparation of the job site. If you do a small addition, suppliers will be delivering materials. You don’t want them out of order or exposed to the weather while you are working, says Ed Del Grande, host of the DIY Network’s “Warehouse Warrior” show.  Beware: They could be stolen if they’re not properly stored. (If you have a septic tank, make sure you know where it is. If a supplier delivering materials in a heavy truck drives over it, you could be looking at a cracked tank. Yuck.)

4. Skimping on materials. Barbara Kavovit, owner of Barbara K Enterprises in New York, says she often sees DIYers use 1/4-inch drywall for building walls instead of the minimum 5/8-inch or 3/4-inch if you want a good sound barrier. The same rule applies to plywood for subfloors. Go with 3/4-inch. It creates a much stronger floor, especially if you’re installing wood floors over them.

5. Using the wrong paint. One of the biggest DIY projects around, painting can make a place look great. Manfredini says flat paint should only be used for ceilings because it’s usually not as washable as paints with an eggshell or satin finish.  On outdoor decks, “sun and rain tear the heck out of the wood,” he says. Clear sealers don’t block the UV rays, and they peel. Use a linseed-oil-based stain — it drives the pigment into the wood and preserves it.

6. Improper preparation of walls for painting. A good, quality paint job is 90-percent preparation, Manfredini says. Clean the walls, sand them and patch any holes before you paint. A coat of primer or stain blocker is advisable if you’re trying to cover over oil-based paint, stains or peeling paint, or if you’re painting a lighter color over a darker color.

7. Unsafe job conditions. Nothing diminishes your return on investment like a trip to the emergency room. Wear safety goggles when using power tools or working with drywall or wood; wear hard hats when you’re working under other people on scaffolding; and open some windows when you’re painting or staining, or stripping old finishes off of floors or walls, Del Grande says. And don’t wear loose-hanging clothing, especially when using power tools. Wear gloves when carrying wood, metal and rock, or when hammering, and wear a nail or tool pouch to prevent damage to your floors and more importantly, the feet of people and pets.

8. Inaccuracy. Successful DIYers live by this rule: Measure twice, cut once. It’s so important for things like building walls, hanging drywall or cutting baseboards, countertops or pipe. If you’re going to err, err on the side of too long. You can always make something shorter; you can’t make it longer. Spackle can cover only up to a 1/8-inch seam.

9. Working beyond your limits. Everybody has them. Del Grande won’t work on a roof; yours might be plumbing or electrical work. Don’t stand on the top steps of ladders, and don’t try to work beyond your reach. Ladder accidents send more than 164,000 people to the emergency room every year, according to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission.

10. Failure to get a clue. You don’t want to start to learn how to do a project on your own house. If you have a friend who is a contractor or an experienced DIYer, offer your assistance on one of his projects so you can learn. No one will turn away free labor. If you need to remove a supporting wall, have an engineer look at it to see what kind of beam you need to replace it. “If you have a saw in your hand and have a question about what you’re doing,” Del Grande says, “stop. Follow that little voice in your head.”