These days, with so many houses on the market, to get your house sold, there are two things you MUST do:  1) price it right, after carefully analyzing comparable houses for sale; and 2) make sure it shows better than the other houses in its price range. What that means is that it should look cleaner, lighter, brighter, more spacious, more up to date and in better condition than its competition. If you don’t think you can outshine the other homes in your price range, you should probably think about lowering your price.

The tough part is figuring out which of all the possible improvements you can do will be the mot cost-effective. Where should you spend your time and money to get the most bang for the buck? There’s a fair chance, if you bought your home in the last 3-5 years, that its current market value is less than what you paid. So the last thing you want to do is make expensive renovations that won’t pay out. Putting in a new kitchen or bath usually falls into this category. But there are lots of small changes and improvements you can make that will add up to big buyer appeal. Here are my top ten:

1. The exterior is the first thing a prospective buyer will see, so make sure it looks great. Remember, if buyers are turned off by the outside of your house, chances are they’ll never bother to look at the inside. So make sure the yard is cleaned up, all tools and toys are put away, leaves are raked, beds are freshly mulched and bushes pruned. Add seasonal plantings to pots by the front door for added color and charm.
2. Make your entry way sparkle. It sets the tone for the rest of the buyer’s tour. Give your front door and surrounding trim a fresh coat of paint. Polish or replace the doorknocker and door handle. Remove cobwebs and dead insects from corners and light fixtures.
3. Replace dated house numbers, porch light fixtures, mailbox and doorbell, selecting a style that is consistent with the style of the house.
4. If your kitchen looks worn or outdated, don’t put big money into replacing or refacing cabinets. Often just a coat of paint in a light, neutral color, plus new cabinet hardware and drawer pulls, can make a kitchen look like new for less than $200.
5. Paint the interior walls. Nothing will give you more bang for your decorating buck than a fresh coat of paint. Keep it neutral but don’t go with plain white, which can be stark and institutional-looking. Instead choose a warm beige or taupe. Benjamin Moore has some great options in its Historical Colors collection. I’ve had success with Powell Buff (HC-35), Philadelphia Cream (HC-30) and Putnam Ivory (HC-39).  Another trick with paint is to keep all connecting rooms in the same color family, as this helps the interior spaces flow better and seem more spacious.
6. Replace outdated light fixtures, especially in bathrooms and kitchen. Ditch those “Hollywood” style lights and old fluorescent fixtures. Look at the Pottery Barn catalog for inspiration, but buy the fixtures at a home center. You can get simple and classic styles very inexpensively.
7. If you have hardwood floors underneath carpet, you should remove the carpet and refinish the wood floors if they need it. Often though, the floors have been protected by the carpet and won’t need refinishing. Where there is no hardwood underneath, replace the carpet if it is dark or dated looking. Have it professionally cleaned if it’s neutral but just dirty.
8. Hire a handyman to come in for a couple hours and take care of all those small repairs you have been meaning to get to (leaky faucets, creaky doors, etc). The inspector will point these out even if the buyer doesn’t notice, so you will end up fixing it anyway. You don’t want to give the buyer the impression that the place hasn’t been maintained or that there may be other bigger problems awaiting them.
9. Have the windows professionally cleaned, inside and out. You will be amazed how much lighter and brighter your rooms look.
10. De-clutter and rearrange. Most of us have too much stuff and all that stuff makes a house feel small and cramped. You can make your rooms (and closets) appear larger just by emptying them of 50% of their contents. Pack away collections, papers and memorabilia and donate clothes and other items you no longer use. Then edit your furniture and make sure there is nothing blocking the traffic flow between and through rooms.

If you do a combination of these things you can make your home more appealing to buyers and improve you chances of a quick sale. You can read more about the return on investment of various home improvement projects here.

Anne West
Redesign Doctor
www.NorthShoreViews.com

As you may have heard, the American Dialect Society recently announced their 2009 Word of the Year, as well as their Word of the Decade.  Not surprisingly, “Tweet” was selected as Word of the Year.  Even less surprising was the Word of the Decade.  Beating out such nominees as “9/11”, “green”, “the war on terror”, and “blog”, the word for the first decade of the new millennium was “Google”. 

Both winners serve as inarguable proof that we are truly living in a digital era.  Maybe you don’t have to tweet, but if you aren’t focusing on Search Engine Optimization (SEO) to improve your website’s search visibility, you may be damaging the growth of your business.

High search rankings aren’t easy to achieve, and the challenge is increasing as more and more businesses engage in SEO.  Adding to that challenge is the continual evolution of the SEO landscape.  If you are actively optimizing your website for search (or not), what are some of the important changes you can expect to see in SEO for 2010?

Page Speed

Google recently announced that they will begin using Page Load Speed as part of their ranking algorithm for organic (natural) search.  The size of the web is creating massive scalability issues, and slow sites take Google and other search engines longer to index.  Although fast-loading pages have always enjoyed advantages in search and usability, the importance of speed will become far more pronounced this year.  

Page Speed is influenced by a number of factors – the speed of your web server, the number of HTTP requests required to render the page, the file size of your images, the amount of code clutter, etc.  If you’d like to check the load speed of your pages, both Google and Yahoo offer free tools to do that.

Personalization

We are seeing increased growth in the personalization of search results.  In other words, the listings you pull up for a search query may be different from the listings I pull up with the exact same search query.  This is because your previous search history influences your next set of search results.  The implication here is that you need to have a larger footprint across the web.  In other words, optimize for variations on your keyword phrases and be found in multiple sources, including social media.

Localization

Localization is also growing in importance.  If you operate locally, you must optimize for the search results in your geographical area. Make sure you are listed in the local results in Google Maps (www.google.com/local/) and other search engines.

Of course, search engines change their ranking algorithms on an on-going basis, and many smaller changes are implemented regularly.  So, as always, don’t forget the basic tenets of optimizing your site for search:

1. Create ample, relevant content for your visitors
2. Update or add to your content regularly
3. Promote your site through high-quality, relevant inbound links from other sites

If you want to convert more prospects into leads and generate more business, the first step is to attract visitors to your website.  The rewards of SEO will more than justify the effort.

Tammy Hartweg
Spritz Web Solutions
www.spritzweb.com

There we are,  a New Year… and new resolutions?

For many of us they are the same every year: start to exercise and loose weight. Why do we have difficulty achieving these goals? In case of exercise, often we get to the gym or boot camp, purchase an expensive exercise tape or go to a personal trainer etc. We are so full of enthusiasm and energy to get the effects fast that sometimes it might result in a new injury or it could bringing on an old, unhealed injury. Then the pain starts, sometimes goes away, sometimes doesn’t. What to do?

Stop the activity – that’s often the first advice, but why? Why should you stop something that you really want to accomplish this year?

There seems to be a common misperception about pain responses to movement and activity. We hear statements like “no pain, no gain!” or “if it hurts, don’t do it!”  These statements are often conflicting and can be confusing as how to respond to pain. Let’s start with the basics!

Many tissues in the body contain pain receptors which warn us of possible damage. Pain receptors are effected by 2 types of stimuli;

- Sufficient concentrations of chemicals -  inflammatory cells causing a chemical pain can last up to  5-7 days after the injury. During that time more of the rest then exercise would be recommended.

- Mechanical forces – which stretch or deform the tissue.

Myth: If I still have pain after an injury I haven’t healed yet.

Fact: After 2-3 weeks pain is usually the result of stretching of contracted scar tissue which is a mechanical pain.

Musculo-skeletal problems causing mechanical pain all need to be treated by movement, some form of therapeutic exercise.  Just as medication is dependent on the type and severity of the disease, the TYPE of exercise depends on the type of musculo-skeletal problem.

Mechanical pain is strongly influenced by position and movement, tends to refer to areas distant from its source such as pain felt down the arm or down the leg. That could be a referred pain or  a radicular pain.

What is referred pain? Referred pain is felt in a location other than the origin of an injury. When someone has a neck injury, they can feel pain into the shoulder, shoulder blade, head, arm or hand. In case of a lower back, pain can be felt down the leg, into your toes.

Radicular pain – indicates that the spinal nerve has been injured. This is called cervical radiculopathy for cervical nerves and lumbar radiculopathy or sciatica for lumbar nerves.

Do you like to be in control of your own healthcare? Do you want to avoid surgery, painful procedures or expensive tests? Do you want to exercise safely to keep your body in a healthy condition?

Rules to continue activity in presence of pain:

There are several rules for pain that can help prevent injury or allow for healing of the painful condition:

1. Pain is a symptom and acts as a warning signal – don’t ignore the signals.  
2. Pain gradually lessens or does not worsen with activity.
3. The range of movement either improves or stays the same but does not GET LESS.
4. Pain stops soon after the exercise is finished!
5. If symptoms worsen during or remain worse after exercise or activity, you must see a

   healthcare provider to evaluate your condition.

In order to remain physically healthy and to heal correctly from an injury you might experience pain at times. If you follow the rules of pain then you can be confident you will not injure yourself.

To really make a better future, you need to keep moving — whether through walking, physical training or sports activities. Stick to your New Year”s Resolution, stay active and exercise safely.

If you have difficulty performing certain activities due to pain restrictions or if you are not sure what type of condition you are dealing with and want to know specifically what to do to get faster results consult physical therapist specializing in Mechanical Diagnosis and Therapy.

In the end, it’s like finding a good doctor, a good dentist, or a good mechanic – it’s not easy. Get a referral from a source you trust!