Do empty rooms look larger than furnished rooms?

Actually staging an empty condo or home can be very costly. During the economic crisis of the past several years, I discovered a cost-effective solution to marketing vacant properties – Virtual Staging. You may have seen our earlier blog post on Virtual Staging when we listed the Village of Cinderberry. Since most buyers begin their search on the Internet, I thought it would be helpful to show some of the rooms furnished without costing our Sellers thousands of dollars in furniture and décor.

So we decided to see how it would work for our newest community listing – Fallbrooke.

Can you look at an empty room and envision how it will look furnished?

First we had professional photographs taken and then we went online and selected furniture and room décor and Voila! Do you think Virtual Staging is effective?

		Before Staging Fallbrooke VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

		After Staging Fallbrooke VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

For Immediate Release — May 4, 2013

Cat & Mouse Press is a small publishing company based in Lewes, DE. They have announced a new contest inviting writers to submit short pieces of fiction or nonfiction that are “entertaining, interesting, humorous, or just plain fun, according to Nancy Sakaduski. The theme is “The Beach House” and each story must incorporate that theme and also have a strong connection to Rehoboth Beach (Writers do not have to live in Rehoboth however).
One of the most popular activities for residents and visitors is reading on the beach, and this contest seeks to collect the kinds of short, engaging stories that help readers relax, escape, and enjoy their time at Rehoboth Beach. First prize is $500 thanks to the sponsor Browseabout Books in Rehoboth Beach. For more information, contact Nancy Sakaduski

or visit Rehoboth Beach Reads for contest details.

Nage Spring Food & Wine Festival Brings Together Local Celebrity Chefs!

Mark Harrison, General Manager of Nage Bistro & Wine Bar, is proud to present the 5th Annual Spring Food & Wine Festival on Sunday, April 28th at Nage Bistro & Wine Bar from 4 -7 p.m. This charity event will support the Children’s Beach House of Lewes. With wine tastings, food pairings, live music and a local celebrity chef “chowda competition” there is something for everybody.
The Festival will feature over 50 wines from around the world. “I have assembled representatives from multiple different wineries in one place for one evening of food, drink, and fun,” says Mark Harrison Nage General Manager. “Come in and try some terrific wines and, of course, amazing Nage food.” Nage executive chef Ted Deptula will pair these wines with an array of seasonal and freshly prepared foods. “I look forward to this event year after year,” says Deptula. “It truly is a great party, aside from getting to prepare delicious foods, I get to taste wines that may not be readily available in our area.”So Grab your significant other, your best friend or the whole gang and have the most spectacular Sunday a culinary and food enthusiast can imagine. (more…)

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 16, 2013

First quarter real estate data shows more double-digit gains in Sussex County.

The Sussex County Association of Realtors (SCAOR) released first quarter sales numbers last week that show a continuously strengthening real estate market in Delaware’s southernmost county.

Single-family home sales for the months of January, February and March rose an astounding 63 percent over the same quarter a year ago, with the average three-bedroom home in the county selling for a median price of $227,434. This is the third consecutive year that Sussex County has seen the number of sales trending upward.

Read the full article

Several years ago, I wrote an article entitled Understanding Base Model Pricing. This morning I referred to it once again in a meeting with a new Buyer Client. The questions about new home pricing always comes up when talking about new construction and this article was my attempt to explain how new home pricing works.

You see the ad and it says “Starting in the high $200s”. Then you discover that the Base Model Price is $299,999 and that does not include the elegant features and gourmet kitchen you just saw at the Model Home. You might ask “Why don’t they build a Base Model home” so I can see what I could buy for $299,999. When I have asked Builders that question they always reply “Because there would be no WOW factor”. Remember, the purpose of a model home is to show you all the possibilities and to get you excited about what you can do with your new home.

There are times when a Builder will have a standard model or spec home available for sale but in my experience it is rare. You just need to understand what you are seeing and look beyond the fancy décor to ask yourself “What is it you want in your new home?”. Do you like the neighborhood? How about the location? We have been through this so many times with different clients that we can help you every step of the way.

Where to Retire Magazine got it right in the latest issue. The article on “New Models for Retirement Living: Sharing a Home With Friends or Family” called us Generation B! I rather like that and from now on I will identify as Gen B. It rolls off the tongue better than Baby Boomers every did. The title connotes Active and Youthful, anything but an Aging Boomer ready to retire.

What I see is Gen B moving on to a new Phase of life and beginning to do what they always wanted to do. Sometimes it is a new career field and other times it might be a volunteer position where they contribute much needed experience and leadership to charitable organizations. I have clients who became artists, musicians, philanthropists and REALTORS!

My photographer is a Gen B past client. One of my newest Agents was also a client who had a successful career of thirty years managing facilities and real estate for Washington based defense contractors. My Gen B husband and business partner had previous careers in Child Mental Health and Food Service. I spent years in the Travel Industry and then the Computer Industry before I became a REALTOR and subsequently opened my own brokerage. Gen B is very much alive and the driving force to small business in Coastal Delaware and throughout the United States.

Back to the article in Where to Retire Magazine – multi-generational housing is something I think we will see much more of over the next few years. The Boomer Sandwich demands flexible housing options to allow growth in co-housing for friends, family and siblings. This article offers great advice and recommends putting everything in writing.

Do you see sharing a home with friends or family in your future?

Active Adults Realty is proud to support the National Open House Weekend. For the third year now, REALTORS all over the Country have collaborated on this one weekend by holding Open Houses.

This year Active Adults Realty is hosting an Open House all weekend at the Village of Cinderberry. On Saturday, from 10 am to 4 pm and on Sunday, from 12 noon to 4 pm, the model at 25 Frankenberry Drive, Village of Cinderberry, Georgetown, DE 19947, will be open with information on both to-be-built homes and resales now available within the community.

According to NAR’s 2012 Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers, 45 percent of all buyers used open houses as a source in their home search process. This figure suggests the value of open houses even in the Internet era. In fact, 46 percent of the buyers who went to open houses found out about them through internet searches.

For more information, visit our web site for the Village of Cinderberry or Click Here.

Back in January of 2012, I posted an article about how to effectively use the Search function on this web site. How to use Coastal Delaware property search covered the Simple search as well as more advanced search tools. Since then, we have added even more options to help you find the exact home in the right location easily. Here are some of the new search tools:

Search Golf Course Communities - we have some wonderful golf course communities and they are highlighted here.

Search by MLS# - did someone give you an MLS number? Or, maybe you saw a house in an ad that you want to research.

Search within a Community - we used Independence as an example but you can search within each of our highlighted communities.

There is also a new search capability on each Area Page. Look at the page for Lewes, Delaware, for example and see how you can now search within different price ranges.

We are always looking for ways to improve our web site and make it easier for you to use. Any suggestions, please send them to Kathy.

Reviews, Referrals and Recommendation = Reputation in the Social Media world and in Real Estate. This kept running through my mind this morning. We have now been in real estate long enough that each week might bring a referral or a recommendation from a past client or a local business. That just makes my day because it affirms that when you do a job you enjoy it works for our clients as well.

It is sometimes difficult to ask for referrals. I prefer to think that if I have done a good job it will happen naturally. In the online world of social media, reviews, referrals and recommendations have become increasingly important and determine how you will be found. I am learning that reviews on Yelp or Google Places can be very helpful to search engine rankings. Testimonials on our own web site also help people feel comfortable about contacting us.

As a small independent real estate brokerage in an online world, we cannot afford to buy our way to the top of Google search. We try to create an online presence by providing good information to help people discover Coastal Delaware and learn a little about why it is such a great place to live.

The fastest growing group of Facebook users is 55+. That has been true for several years but I am now seeing it in the Facebook Likes of our page www.Facebook.com/ActiveAdultsDelaware. I no longer feel like I’m talking to a void. So if you’re out there on Facebook, visit our page and please Like us. If you read one of our posts please Like, Comment or Share. It’s the way Social Media works best and I would really enjoy your participation on Facebook or Google Plus.