2011-What happened and where did it go?

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It’s that time of the year where we begin to plan for next year and I find myself wondering where did 2011 go and wow what a year!!! So many people I know are ready for 2012 to get here for personal reasons, professional reasons, and whatever reasons. I say it is definitely time for out with the old and in with the new!!!!!

Here are some new words to add to your vocabulary for 2012.

Purge- You can purge your life at home and at work. At home-clean out the closets, organize the junk drawer, go through the toy box and get rid of the toys your children have out grown, sort through the Tupperware, if it doesn’t have a lid put it in the garage, if it doesn’t have a bottom put it in the trash! Clean out the kitchen cabinets and pantry. Are your kids in high school but you still have sippy cups? When was the last time you used that fry daddy? Get rid of them!!! You can do all this at work too. Go through your computer. Get rid of old files that you don’t need, programs you no longer use and empty the trash (in your computer!!). Delete the cookies that have attached themselves to your computer and are filling your space with junk! Go through your filing cabinet. Do you really need a paper copy of EVERYTHING these days? Has your company changed hands and you still have the original manuals? They are only going to collect dust not value. Let them go!

Recharge-Start walking. Don’t look at it as loosing weight but as a stress reliever. Grab your ipod and put on some music that let’s you escape. You can listen to a book as long as it doesn’t relate to work!!! Now start walking. Don’t plan your route. Don’t look at your watch. Just walk.

Breathe-What a simple word. With all the craziness of this year, I think we all forgot to breathe. Take a minute, go someplace where you can be alone (bathroom, closet, crawl under your desk) and just breathe…….

Plan-the holidays are coming up. Make your home a festive place where everyone wants to be including you! Do you have the talent but need new ideas? Grab the latest Martha Stewart or Country Home magazine! Watch HGTV! Lots of ideas are out there. Not creative but want the look? Call me!!! I can decorate your home with style!!!

Smile- It’s going to be a great new year and we are all going to have lots to celebrate! And if we don’t, we will just drive everyone crazy with our smiles and our unbelievable, positive attitudes and energy!!!!

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NEW YEAR, NEW YOU?!

New year, new you or better yet new house? What about the one you have? It is too small? Too big? Floor plan doesn’t work for you? Or just not the dream home you were hoping for? Ok, so let’s shape up! Make some changes!! We’ve all read Martha, we know how to de-clutter we just know how to procrastinate better. So get the totes ready for the things you want to keep but you don’t use everyday. Get the garbage bags ready for, well the garbage and yes you will find plenty. And grab some cardboard boxes for the goodwill items. Start with the closet, spare room or corner of the basement you never go into because it just makes you exhausted thinking about it. Get started and be serious! Don’t reminisce over every little thing you find. Keep it, give it or trash it and move on. If you haven’t warn it in over a year you aren’t going to ever wear it. If you haven’t used it in 2 years your not going to or they have come out with a better model anyway. MOVE ON!! Once you conquer your first clutter area, you will be excited how easy the next will be.

So you have made numerous trips to the goodwill. The garbage man moans when he comes by your home and your kids are afraid to set anything down for fear you will give it away or store it away. Now what? What does this have to do with a new or better house? Now that you can see all the space you have uncovered. And the clutter doesn’t distract you, re-evaluate your home. Is it still to small? To big? Does the floor plan still not work? How is the furniture placed? When was the last time you moved the couch or the bed? (to clean doesn’t count) Sometimes just moving a piece of furniture can make such a big difference.

What about painting? Have you freshened up the paint color lately? Are you afraid of color? Even if you are, white or beige still looks clean and fresh when it’s newly applied. Stay neutral if that’s where you are comfortable but look at the new colors of neutral and see if there is something there a little warmer you can live with. If you’re not afraid of color go for it! There is a whole new color wheel out there just waiting for you to explore!!!! Find a pillow or towel or piece of jewelry and go match it!!! Take a chance! If you mess it up-that’s why they invented Kiltz 2.!!!

Ok, so now that you can see the floor and there aren’t any cobwebs in the corners anymore, is this house still your home? Is it still too small? Too big? Then it’s time to start looking for another home. The great part about doing it now? You have already de-cluttered, and updated! You have gotten rid of all the obstacles that will keep you from calling your favorite realtor and getting your home on the market and making that next big move! See how easy that was?

If you follow my blog, you know I love to decorate, restore and re-purpose things. I have made this part of my real estate business. I will help you with the tough decisions from pricing your home all the way to whether or not to keep the plastic place mats you got from Aunt Sally in California for your wedding 20 years ago. If you follow me on facebook, you know what I can do with updating your home, your furniture and more!

A client once said to me, “if moving a damn chair will make that big of a difference then move the chair.” It not only made a difference in marketing the home, but for her spirits as well. She calls me almost daily to tell me how much she loves what I’ve done to her home and the compliments she gets. Change is good and it happens with or without you. If you change with it you have more control over it and enjoy it a whole lot more! Happy 2011!

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ARE YOU READY FOR CHRISTMAS?

granddads table

gingerbread

cabinet rebuild

Christmas? Can you believe it’s only 6 weeks away? With the warm weather I’ve already seen Christmas lights up and ON! Really? Now I’m all for taking advantage of the warm weather and getting the outside lights on the house. But turning them on? It’s bad enough when the stores have Christmas out in July and on clearance in October but turning on the lights when it’s not even thanksgiving??? As you have probably gathered by now, I love to do things myself-paint, decorate- those kind of things. So here I am trying to finish all the projects I have going so I will have my house back in order by New Years eve. This is probably why I find it so odd that so many have their Christmas lights on. Up I can deal with.

So here is what I’m up to. About two years ago I bought an armoire cabinet at a garage sale for $20. It had a slight lean to it but I felt it had great bones. My husband was furious! He even wanted me to take it back!!! I knew he would come around and all that was needed was labor and that we couldn’t buy one for the price. So 2 years later he has finally given in if only for the space back in his garage, and helped me get the cabinet into shape. It had to be completely disassembled and all the joints re-glued as well as a small piece here and there added back in. So it is finally ready for me to paint!!! I have the inside done and am ready for a run to the hardware store to purchase my paint needs.

Another project I took on this fall and have finished was restoring an old table my husbands grandparents started housekeeping with. If you know anything about antiques it’s one of those tables with the metal tops and has a drawer in the front. We had it on the patio this summer so the sun baked the paint so it peel off very easily. It was fun to see how many different times and colors it had been painted over the years!

My mother in law was tickled to hear that it has been restored.

I am also a little bit of an architectural junky. By that I mean I love old houses and transom windows, gingerbread on the porches, 6 panel doors and so on. This fall I had the opportunity to get some pretty neat pieces and can’t wait to use them! I have an outhouse door, gingerbread from an old front porch, an old twist doorbell and some barn wood. I love re-purposing these things as much as finding them!!! The gingerbread pieces will make great wall art. The outhouse door will make a great garden gate door and the barn wood is headed to the kitchen for a counter-top makeover. Yes, another project I hope to have done by Christmas!!! Stay tuned for instructions on how to on this one! Especially if you have builder grade cabinets and are looking for an upgrade without the expense!!!!

One more I’ll tell you about before I bore you to tears. Some friends of mine are doing some remodeling and took down the brass chandelier the builder installed when they bought their home. I plan to paint it antique white, string it with crystals, put on some cute lamp shades and a cord cover and up it goes in my little girls room. $200 chandelier for less than $30!!! Sweet!!!

So many easy to a little more involved projects that can make such a big difference to my home and yours! Sometimes just changing a picture or wall color change the look of an entire room. Ready for something new but on a limited budget? Step back and give your favorite room a look. Sometimes the smallest changes make the biggest differences!!!

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When life doesn’t make sense, excuse my mess!

Ever have one of those days when no matter what you do everything just seems to be falling apart? My blog seems to be no different! So before I rattle on about life and how my glass seems to be half empty kind of thing, I want to apologize if you are having trouble navigating around my site. My company has made several changes in the last several months and there have been a few technical difficulties. Since I’m one of these who marches to my own beat, I ended up on the back burner so to speak and have to wait a little longer for some glitches to get fixed. No sweat. Frustrating but as long as we do what we say we are going to do right?

So the market is down from last year but up from last year? That makes sense and sounds very promising right? Bottom line. If you want to buy a house and can AFFORD to buy a house, this is a great time!!! Have you looked at the interest rates??? Wow!!!! 4.25%!!!!! And builders are doing even better than that. Call me! I’ll hook you up!

Sellers feel like it’s slow because depending on your price range showings can be few and far between. You may also may not be “making” any money off of your sale. BUT you have to remember, when you buy you will be more than making up what you are “losing” in the sale. So sitting and waiting when your price is too high isn’t worth it in the long run if selling and moving is really what you want to do. You went to all that trouble to put your home on the market and keep it clean so SELL it!!!!

Ok, so let’s all think calming happy thoughts…the news is full of teen suicide’s and crazy babysitters hurting babies because they peed in their pants but let’s turn that off. Smile. Relax. Slowly count to 10….

So we are all in a better place and can realize that our little problems may be just that in the grand scheme of things. Someone else may be going through something way bigger than you. So pardon the technical difficulties you may be facing on my site and let go of what ever has you thinking today is a horrible day. I can promise you someone else is having a worse day and would trade you in a heart beat.

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Stick with what you know (part 2)

another view plus the bookshelf I added to her dresser

: Stripes change the look

My little girls room is done, for now. I still want to make curtains but that will take some time and I wanted to finish my blog to you. She is tickled pink and calls me an artist. Well I don’t know about that but what I do know is while taping off all those stripes and going out after more tape and more tape I thought a lot about my real estate blog and career and what her room had to do with it. Sticking with what I know is my love for decorating and I love making my little girl smile. But there is nothing more satisfying then helping someone hunt for that perfect new home or stage their home and then finally get to the closing table. I could sit here all day and tell you about interest rates at an all time low and quote statistics until you fall asleep. But if you wanted all that you wouldn’t be reading my blog! I love what I do and I love the opportunities it gives me to meet new people and be introduced to new things. I also like getting a paycheck every once and a while! So when you read my blogs, don’t forget that my fun tips and cool ideas are there for you to read and enjoy but the reason I put them out there is to gain your business and your trust. I have a beautiful family I want to provide for just like you do!

So let me tell you how I painted the walls! The bottom 4 ft was done by mixing 3 colors together then patting them with a “wholly” pad. Pink, burgundy and cream were the colors used. To do the stripes I taped off 8inches for the yellow then divided the green stripes in half with another piece of tape. That way all I had to do was paint once then pull off the tape. My white stripe was already there!

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Stick with what you know

I’ve been putting off my blog for a few weeks now for several reasons. I just couldn’t decide which way to go on what to write. Finally it dawned on me-stick with what you know/write what you like. I started thinking I needed to tell you all about the real estate market and why you should or shouldn’t be buying a home or selling a home. Or hitting you with all the new interest rate information. But then it finally hit me, that isn’t why you read my blog! Yes I’m a Realtor who can help you with all your real estate needs but I also give you great tips on improving your home or garden or just something fun to do!

So let’s talk about something fun! Over the summer I have tackled many projects. Mostly for friends but this has stirred something in my daughter. She has begun to feel slighted. Of course with only being 5 she wants me to redo her room just like the one I just helped with down the street or the 10 year olds we did in the spring, so I find myself telling her we need to focus on your room being who YOU are. She loves pink! She is very much a girly girl but put her in her frilly dresses and she goes out and gets on her brothers motorcycle helmet and riding gloves and takes off in her pink mustang! So my challenge is mixing girly girl with the tomboy who is also in there. Shouldn’t be too hard since her mom is the same way! This story though, you will have to check back for the ending…I haven’t finished her room yet but have some great ideas!!!!

The photos I have attached however, are of the projects I did this summer that I mentioned in the beginning. The dresser started out pink, the letters started out pink and the walls started out lavender. “Morgan” saw the bedding and when it came in Mom said Ok now what do we do with the rest of the room? The dresser I hand painted. The walls were painted by her daddy and then we used ribbon to define the border and wallpaper cutouts are the dragonflies. The letters were spray painted brown and hung from drawer pulls by ribbon that matched the border ribbon. The headboard proved to be the biggest challenge. I got the idea from a catalog and thought I can do that! Sewing it together was I little awkward but I also have an old machine that doesn’t like to think outside of the box too much. The monogram was the kicker though. I thought for sure somewhere I had seen iron on applique of embroidery lettering. I searched everywhere and could find nothing over 2 inches. 4-6inches is what was needed to pull this off. Finally I called a place here in Noblesville called Abbott’s custom Embroidery. We talked for awhile and she even helped me look on line for someone who might do lettering that big for what I need. If I couldn’t find it however, she said she was willing to try. Several days later I was at her door. How cool was it to watch her machine do it’s thing and put on this letter to finish my project! Once the machine was set it only took maybe 10 minutes to do and I couldn’t believe the price!!!!! That M is 6 inches. Email me and let me know what you think I paid!!!

The striped dresser was purchaced for $10 and was a plain jane maple finish. When my friend brought it by she suggested I just paint it brown. Hmm…that’s no fun. So I stripped it down and stained it in two different colors. It looks really cool in the boys blue room!

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STAGING WORKS!!!!!

: Living room before staging

: Living room after

: Dining room before

: dining room after

: kitchen eat in area before

: kitchen eat in area after

: kitchen before 2

: KITCHEN AFTER

: master bedroom before

: MASTER BEDROOM AFTER

: master bath before

: Master bath after

: 2nd bedroom after

You’ve all seen the shows and a good realtor will tell you, you have to stage your home. But what does that really mean?

Ok, so what does that really mean? Declutter, depersonalize, neutralize, minimalize? Now what? Move a chair or two? Well

have I got a story for you!!! I got a listing a year a go. Yes a year a go. Beautiful home! The kitchen is the size of a two car

garage!!! Well kept, loaded with features. The homeowner was willing to put away the family pictures and had 2 or 3 even yard

sales and made trips to good will. She boxed up so many things her three car garage could only hold 1 car-no kidding. I

came and took pictures and we got them on the internet. Long story short, in a years time we maybe had 5 showings. We

did get an offer but it was a first right offer meaning they have to sell theirs before they can buy this one but still not much

activity. We did everything. Price reductions, open houses, advertising and on every corner of the internet I could get it.

Finally after the year she says you have to do something and I don’t care what just do it. We agreed to stage it and to do it

my way. It was such a change in her home, when she came home from work she walked around for 30 minutes before calling me

then called and said she was in the wrong house. She couldn’t believe the change!!! Within 10 days of staging it we had

over 6 showings and 2 offers!!!! Pictures sell homes!!!! See the before and after

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Short sales and Banks and sheriff sales oh my!!!

confused

4 months working on a short sale. 4 months! Only to get a week a way and have it go to sheriff sale. Sit back. You are going to love this story!!! A listing of mine was headed to foreclosure and the bank, a very large bank, agreed with the seller to do a short sale. In February we received an offer for the home. The buyer had some credit issues but worked very hard with his agent to get them resolved and to be able to get the home. Around the end of May he ran into some issues again and switched lenders. He now is borrowing from the same bank that has the loan currently. The second week in June we have almost everything done. The sellers bank has asked for a pre-approval letter so the buyer provides one. Less than 2 weeks later, all we have left to do on the sellers side is receive the payoff letter and we can close. The buyers side only needed a certified mold remediator and then they would be ready. On a Thursday, after just being told this was all we need only 5 hours before, I get a call from a realtor. He wants to know why a home I have pending in the system is going up for sheriff sale at noon? It’s 11 o’clock!!! I quickly start making phone calls to find out and to see if I can get it stopped. At 11:45 I get told it’s too late, the bank got tired of waiting. On them selves!!!!!! I tried calling the mortgage broker. I called his cell phone over and over. I would hang up each time I got his voicemail and call right back. 5 or 6 times- no answer. 12:30 I get an email from him asking if the rumor was true, did all his hard work really just go down the drain? Yes I told him. Your bank just let your deal go down the drain because they got tired of waiting. So he emails me back how it sucks that he got thrown under the bus by his own company but on the bright side, the new owner of the home called the buyers agent and said they would let the buyer buy the home after the alloted waiting period. Wow I said. How great it is that the bank screwed the buyer out of the $8000 tax credit, sold the $98,000 mortgage for $28,000 when they could have had $60,000 if they had only waited one more week. How great it was that the mortgage broker was still going to get to write the loan (in 91 more days), the buyers agent was still going to get her commission and the buyer was going to get the home he had been trying so had for. And how great for the guy who just bought the house that appraises for over $105,000 for $28,000 that in 91 days he gets a $32,000 profit!!!! YEA!! What a bright side!!!! Oh in case you’re wondering how much I got paid for all my work on this- zero!!!!

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Hamilton County homes, dreams, life/home ready to sell

Here are 10 steps for getting your home ready to sell. I got these from RISMedia but they are the rules I use when helping a client get their homes ready.

1. Visit model homes and examine shelter magazines for inexpensive decorating ideas. Always keep in mind you are not decorating for yourself but for the general public.

2. Start with the outside. Give the house a fresh coat of paint, add shiny hardware to the front door and plant a few flowers to send a subliminal message the house is loved and well cared for.

3. Declutter every room to make it look larger. Get rid of family pictures, trophies and knickknacks. Closets and drawers shou downsizing, garage, kitchen, market conditions, more room, new house, noblesville, staging, westfieldld be no more than 30% full.

4. Invest in eco-friendly but bright lights. Open the drapes or remove them completely. “Light, bright rooms give the impression this is a happy place-and everyone wants to move into a happy place.”

5. Feature only a few pieces of furniture with mainstream appeal. Pull pieces away from walls to make rooms look bigger.

6. Make sure a room’s primary use is obvious. A bedroom should look like a bedroom, not an office, hobby center or gym.

7. Bedrooms and kitchens are difficult to stage because they are in daily use, but make the effort. Clear everything off the counters and night stands, roll up the rugs and hide the laundry hamper. Buff the cabinets with car wax and clean under the sinks. Invest in pristine white bed linens and towels.

8. Minimize the “pet effect.” Remove food bowls and litter boxes to the utility room. Deodorize thoroughly.

9. Organize the utility room and garage. Hang up the bicycles, roll up the hose. Renting a storage locker is worth the cost if it helps you sell faster and for a higher price.

10. Once your house is staged, invite your friends or Realtor over and walk them through to get an objective opinion.

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My Blog

Thanks to all who are sneaking a peak at my website and blog. It is a very slooow process because I am learning as I go and have great help.This is one of those things that is a labor of love. I have drank a lot of cokes trying to get this going and I am soo close!!!! So hang in there with me. Keep checking back. And I hope you will eventually subscribe to my blog!
~Donna

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Donna Zenthoefer's Real Estate Blog

Why Read this~

2011-What happened and where did it go?

NEW YEAR, NEW YOU?!

ARE YOU READY FOR CHRISTMAS?

When life doesn’t make sense, excuse my mess!

Stick with what you know (part 2)

Stick with what you know

STAGING WORKS!!!!!

Short sales and Banks and sheriff sales oh my!!!

Hamilton County homes, dreams, life/home ready to sell

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