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Better Judgements eZine
Terria Judge, Realtor
CRS, ABR, GRI, Broker Associate

Better Judgements is a newsletter on home matters, from
Terria Judge, your Garden City, KS real estate agent!

Contact Terria Judge at 620-271-2129!

Terria Judge
Coldwell Banker, The Real Estate Shoppe, Inc.
John P. Judge, Broker
1135 College Dr. Suite E
Garden City, KS 67846

1-877-275-7497 x 223
620-275-7421 x 223
http://terriajudge.com
http://gardencityksrealestate.com
http://gardencityrentals.com

Terria@TerriaJudge.com

Subscription Management at end of newsletter.

Thanks for your subscription to Better Judgements, the
newsletter from your Garden City Kansas Realtor, Terria Judge.

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In this Issue
=============

1. Article: Get Rid Of Air Pollution In Your Home With House
Plants
2. Features at TerriaJudge.com
3. Featured & New Listings
4. Article: Preparing Your House To Sell – Understanding The
"Buyer's
Fantasy"
5. Article: Fall Planting

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Get Rid Of Air Pollution In Your Home With House Plants
By Michele Lum

Do you know that formaldehyde, a colorless, pungent-smelling
gas can cause severe health effects to us? Sources of
formaldehyde are:-

- environmental tobacco smoke and combustion sources (burning
wood, kerosene and automobiles)
- preservatives in some paints, cosmetics and coating
- finish used to coat paper products
- pressed wood products and furniture made with these pressed
wood products
- certain insulation materials such as urea-formaldehyde foam
insulation (UFFI) and fiberglass insulation
- durable press drapes, other textiles, and glues.

Wow! Looking at the list, there must be plenty of formaldehyde
in our home! The scary part is formaldehyde can cause watery
eyes, burning sensations in the eyes and throat, nausea, and
difficulty in breathing when exposed at elevated levels. It has
also been shown to cause cancer in animals and may cause cancer
in humans. Health effects include eye, nose, and throat
irritation; wheezing and coughing; fatigue; skin rash; severe
allergic reactions. High concentrations may trigger attacks in
people with asthma.

Since research shows that people spend approximately 90% of
their time indoors, be sure to keep our home well ventilated
all the time. Besides that, try placing the following plants in
your home:-

- Chrysanthemum
- Dracaena
- !vy
- Boston fern (Nephrolepsis Exaltata)
- Areca Palm (Chrysalidocarpus Lutescens)
- Spider Plant (Chlorophytum Comosum)
- English Ivy (Hedera Helix)

Apparently, NASA in 1973 has made an experiment to find a
solution to maintain air quality inside confined spaces and the
results show that the above plants are able to remove pollutants
from the air. Since different plants absorb different
pollutants, it will be a good idea to mix a minimum of two
plants per 100 square feet of floor space. Of course, there are
no harms in having more (not in bedroom though, you will need
the oxygen at night!) as long as you know where to place them.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Michele Lum (michele@ideastoenhancehome.com) is the founder and
CEO of Ideas To Enhance Home, a site full of tips and ideas on
how to enhance your home for better life in health, business,
romance, children and security just by placing interesting home
decors and setting up simple systems.

Sign up for a FREE subscription of tips and ideas on how to
enhance your home by visiting www.IdeasToEnhanceHome.com

Source: http://www.isnare.com

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New Features at TerriaJudge.com
====================================

MORTGAGE CALCULATOR: http://terriajudge.com/calculator.html
OPEN HOUSES: http://terriajudge.com/calendar.html

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FEATURED & NEW LISTINGS
========================

*new* http://terriajudge.com/featuredlistings.html


Just visit Terria at http://terriajudge.com/marketevaluation.html to fill out an interest
form if you'd like to list your home!



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Preparing Your House To Sell – Understanding The "Buyer's
Fantasy"
By Reba Collins

When selling your home, there's so much to do and getting the
highest selling price possible is probably the most important
thing to be considered. Yes, there are a lot of things to think
about but the bottom line is getting the most you can possibly
get. Sometimes, your situation will dictate whether or not you
can fully utilize the suggestions we're going to cover in this
article but understanding the what's going on in the buyer's
mind will help you to get focused on what needs to be done
first and what can wait until later.

The first thing you need to understand is the psychology of
your potential buyers. These people, in their minds, are trying
to size-up your house and how it will fit into their lives. They
are trying to figure out if they will be happy having your house
as their home.

A lot of people who look at your home will not like it. It's
usually the "un-changeable" things they don't care for, like
the floor-plan, the location, what school you're zoned to,
whether there's a pool or not, if you have big trees or not,
and so on, you get the picture. These are the things that can't
be changed and these people just don't like them. Don't worry,
everyone's different and you can't change these things either.

There will, however, be plenty of people who love your
"un-changeables". For these people it will be the "changeable"
things that convince them to actually make an offer or just
keep looking. So, what are the things that will convince these
potential buyers to fall in love with your house?

First, put yourself in one of these buyer's shoes, this
shouldn't be hard because you were there once, when you bought
YOUR house. This person is in a state of mind that can be
compared to a fantasy, we'll call it "buyer's fantasy". They
come through your house trying to "see" what it would be like
living there. In their mind's eye, they "see" themselves always
wearing a smile and laughing with their friends and family. They
"see" themselves entertaining, relaxing, doing the things they
love and loving the place they're doing it.

Unapparent to them, all the things they "see" themselves doing
leaves little time for cleaning, organizing, or home
maintenance and repair. The last thing you want to do is take
them out of their "buyer's fantasy" by reminding them of the
responsibilities that come with owning a house, especially THIS
house. You want them to live in their "fantasy" the entire
length of their visit, you even want them to remember the
"fantasy" in such a way that they want to return and soon.

So, what to do you need to do set the "buyer's fantasy" in
motion? Here's a short list.

First Impressions

Curb Appeal – The front outside of your house is the first
thing the prospective buyer sees. It's the beginning of his
"buyer fantasy". He sees his friends and family admiring him
when they arrive at his front door. It had better be good, this
will reflect on him.

Your house must, with an emphasis on must, look good from the
moment he drives up with his realtor, in other words, from the
car. First impressions are very important and the front of your
home is the first thing the potential buyer sees. So, at
minimum, make sure

· the landscaping is maintained at all times
· the lawn is mowed and edged
· the grass is green
· the hedges are neatly trimmed
· the landscaping or flower beds are weed-free and mulched
· seasonal color? – all the better

Obvious repairs need to be made.
· make sure gutters are attached
· shutters are attached
· the doorbell works
· screens have no tears
· replace rotten wood
· paint is in good shape, if not, paint or at least touch-up

If you normally park more than two cars in the driveway or on
the street in front, see if you can find another place to park
until the house is sold. Maybe a neighbor will help you out, or
park one car in the garage.

What you want to do is feed the "buyer's fantasy" that the lawn
is always green, cut, and beautiful. You don't want to remind
him that he will have to do it. You want him to think there's
plenty of room for his cars even if he decides he needs another
one. You certainly don't want him to think about any minor
repairs that will need to be done, so just do them yourself.

The Insides

First Things First – When a potential buyer steps into the
house, it needs to smell clean. You don't need or want to burn
incense or candles, spray air fresheners, or have a Glade
Plug-In going. It just needs to smell clean. You should try to
eliminate cooking odors as quickly as possible after a meal is
cooked and there should be no pet odors or cigarette smoke
odors. Pet and smoking odors are one of the first things that
will turn a potential buyer away. Even if they smoke and own
pets themselves, they don't want to buy another person's odors.

Kitchen & Bathrooms – Once inside, the two rooms that go
through the most scrutiny are the bathrooms and the kitchen.
These rooms MUST be immaculately clean. They also must look
like they have lots of room. To accomplish this:

· clean thoroughly, especially the floors, toilets, sinks and
tubs
· be sure there is no mold or mildew to be found
· check the grout in the tubs and sinks, it needs to be white –
bleach it or re-grout if it's necessary
· clear your counter-tops as much as possible – in the bath,
leave out only one decorative item, in the kitchen leave out
only the necessary appliances, as few as possible
· clear everything off the front and top of the fridge
· put all cleansers and cleaning items out of sight
· pack for moving some of the stuff in the cabinets, you only
want them to be about 60%-70% full
· put all personal items away, there should be no clutter, no
bills or mail laying out, no personal items pinned to a
bulletin board or attached to the fridge with a magnet

Remember, you want to continue the fantasy. The potential buyer
should be able to imagine that when they move in, there will be
plenty of space to grow. You don't want to remind him that
he'll have to do any cleaning, seeing cleaning products is a
reminder. The personal items? Do your best, it's hard for the
"buyer's fantasy" to be fulfilled when your photos and personal
items are everywhere, you want him to imagine "his" personal
items in those spaces, having yours there makes it harder for
his imagination.

Living Areas / Bedrooms

The rest of the house needs to follow the same rules as above.
· everything needs to be clean
· keep floors mopped and vacuumed
· make all beds every morning
· keep clutter out of sight
· if you have a room that's an odd color, paint it an off-white
color. Light colors make rooms look bigger and off-white will go
with every decorating scheme – the "buyer's fantasy" doesn't
include any time for re-painting
· if you have repairs to make, get them done
· if carpets need to be cleaned, clean them

Making your space appear bigger is your goal, again, you want
the "buyer fantasy" to continue. You want your house to appear
so roomy that the buyer won't be able to fill the space.
Eliminating some of your furniture may help a room look bigger
and packing away some of the stuff in your closets will help
sell your house as one that has "lots of storage space". Your
goal should be for your closets to only be 50%-60% full.

Packing Tip

Here's a tip to help you get your cabinets and closets down to
50% full – go ahead and start packing for your eventual move.
Yeah, why not? Your goal is to sell your house, right? So
you'll be moving, right? Then go ahead and get some of it done
and here's a helpful tip to get you started and make unpacking
in your new home easier as well.

Most people have stuff they

A. use every day
B. use sometimes
C. rarely use

Start by packing your "C" items in nice stackable boxes that
aren't too large so they're easy to handle. Mark the side of
the each box with where the stuff came from, i.e., the closet,
which room it came from, i.e., Brittany's Room, and put a BIG
letter "C" on the side. Maybe even use some bright paper, like
yellow or orange and tape it to the side with the letter
written really big with a Magic Marker. Stack these boxes in
the garage, people don't much care how crowded the garage is,
they just figure you've started packing. The "buyer's fantasy"
doesn't put those items back into the house.

If that doesn't get your closets and cabinets down to where you
want them, then start packing your "B" items. If you use bright
colored paper to mark your "Cs" and "Bs", use one color for all
your "Cs" and a different color for all your "Bs".

When it's time for you to move, you will then have to pack all
your "A" items. Again, use yet a different color of paper. Now,
when you get to your new home, you won't have to unpack
everything at once and you'll know which boxes you'll need
immediately.

Hopefully your situation will allow you to use some of these
strategies to help you get the most money from your home. But
don't let all this stuff stop you from getting your house on
the market, don't use all the things that need to be done as an
excuse to not get going. Do what you can, get the house listed,
start showing it and keep plugging away.

Good luck with the process!

About the Author: Reba Collins is a homeowner and work at home
mom. Follow her journey to sell her home of 18 years at her
blog ~ http://www.PuttingUpTheForSaleSign.com. Find out how
she copes with all it takes to sell her home and whether or not
she follows her own good advise. Also find links, reviews for
products, services, contractors and more!

Source: http://www.isnare.com


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Fall Planting
By Steve Boulden

While it may not seem so, Fall planting of trees, shrubs,
Perennials, bulbs, and cool weather grasses like Fescue is a
great idea.

Roots of newly planted specimens can continue to grow and
become established in temperatures as low as 40 degrees. And
since the roots don't have to supply the rest of the plant with
energy to grow, more energy is focused on root production. Come
Springtime, because of an established root system, plants shoot
out of the ground with plenty of energy for top growth.

Soil Temperature

Planting in the fall, soil temperatures are still warm from a
long Summer. The warmer soil temperature encourages root
growth.

In the Spring, the soil is still cool from the Winter and roots
are very slow to become established. Even if you grow plants
from seed indoors and transplant outside when the temperature
warms, sprouts still don't have the head start of Fall planted
plants

When Exactly Is Fall?

The Fall season officially begins with the equinox in late
September. However, Fall weather varies considerably from one
part of the country to the next. Basically, the best period for
fall planting is around six weeks before the first hard frost.
You can get an idea of the average first frost date near your
area from here: http://www.almanac.com/garden/frostus.php .
Just keep in mind that the roots need to be established before
Winter sets in.

Autumn Bloomers

Fall isn't just a time to put the garden to sleep and start
getting ready for Spring. The growing season isn't quite over
yet. You can add color and new life to the garden by replacing
dying Summer Annuals and Perennials with Autumn blooming plants
like Chrysanthemums, Pansies and Ornamental Cabbage and Kale,
Marigolds, and others.

It's also the time to plant spring flowering bulbs and divide
Perennials.

About the Author: Steve Boulden is the creator of The Landscape
Design Site. For more free information on landscaping and
plants, visit his site at:
http://www.the-landscape-design-site.com/plantselection.html

Source: http://www.isnare.com



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This newsletter is compiled and published by Mitone Griffith, http://BIGad.org