The Koehler Bortnick Team Magazine - October 2010 issue

Open publication - Free publishing - More homes for sale

Add a little Oomph to Your Outdoor Space

Curb Appeal and Outdoor Staging Tips

Adding some furniture to your outdoor space gives your home some extra oomph

1. Curb appeal is vital to attracting buyers! Stop traffic using color: first, with two tones of paint add a faux finish to any corner keystones. Next, bring out the color of walkway pavers using a stone sealer. Plant flower in bloom and you'll always have buyers swarming like bees to your front door.
2. A nice outdoor deck can be a huge selling feature! Give your outdoor space new life, first sand the wood. Then cover with a light-colored stain instead of paint to give it a rustic, grainy look. Furnish it for entertaining and watch as your open house turns into a party!

For more tips and tricks on staging your home or getting it ready for sale go to

KBsells.com

Reeceandnichols.com
HGTV.com

Bring Your Home Office from Cluttered to Functional with a few easy steps

Bonus Room and Office Staging Tips

Like most people, you probably have an extra room with a hodgepodge of uses, clear out the clutter and stage it for ONE purpose, like a home office!

1. Stage rooms with one purpose so buyers will know what it is. Clear away all clutter and excess furniture. Paint the walls a neutral tone and furnish the room with a desk to stage as a home office. Or try staging with a comfortable arm chair, a small table, and a lamp to transform a loft or stairwell nook into a cozy reading spot.
2. Don't forget your storage space! Resist the urge to shove clutter into closets- buyers will be opening all your closet doors during showings. Clear out all unnecessary clustter, and organize your shelves to show off how much storage you really have!

Finally.... don't miss out on our fantastic tips to maximize your outdoor space!

Tips to Making Your Bedrooms More Inviting...

Bedroom Staging Tips:

Luxurious fabrics and warm colors will make your bedroom feel inviting for potential buyers.

1. Remove distracting, unnecessary furniture from the bedroom. Bedrooms should send a signal of relaxation and comfort, if you have multiple purposes in one room, people will think there aren't enough rooms in the house for you and there won't be for them. When in doubt, take it out!
2. Headboards draw attention to the bed and make the room feel fancy! When buyers enter into a master bedroom, they are expecting to see luxury, comfort, and elegance. Make sure your master suite exudes all three!
3. Coordinate your bedding and window treatments to add instant style and class!

Don't miss out on our Bonus Room and Office Staging Tricks...

Bring Your Bathroom from Dingy to Dazzling in a Flash

To continue with June's "Staging to Sell" topic we will focus on Bathroom staging tips! Bringing your bathroom from dingy to dazzling in a flash!

Bathrooms

1. Grimy bathroom walls = a major red flag for buyers! Get rid of surface mold by mixing a spray bottle with one part water and one part bleach. Then spray it on the wall and watch as the mold disappears! Then give your bathroom a fresh coat of paint and watch your bathroom go from red-flag to red-hot!
2. Avoid dated tile by painting. Bathrooms sell houses, but dated tile in a bathroom does not! A low-cost alternative to replacing tile is to use paint. First coast the tiles with a high-adhesion primer, next brush on a special ceramic expoxy covering. For a fraction of the cost of new tile you will have an up-to-date bathroom that brings in big bucks.
3. Pedestal sinks are a huge hit with buyers! This fashionable sink type shows off square footage in small bathrooms beautifully and gives your bathroom a dramatic appeal that will bring in the big bucks!

Next up... Bedroom Staging making your bedrooms feel inviting for potential buyers.

Staging for Your Kitchen

Kitchen Staging Tips

New kitchen appliances - especially stainless steel ones - are always a major selling point!

1. You don't have to replace your dated kitchen cabinets stain them! Dated kitchen cabinets are a big turnoff to potential buyers! Just apply the stain in even strokes, going with the grain, then add some stylish hardware and your kitchen will have an up-to-date look that buyers will love, for less than $200!!
2. Stainless-steel appliances are definitely "in" with buyers.
3. Save some money on granite counter tops! Granite is a huge selling feature in home, but it can get a little pricey. Here are a few ways to save on this investment: first do the demo yourself. Also, ask the vendor for remnants from previous projects. Remember any money you spend will definitely be returned in the value these beautiful counters add to your kitchen.

Stay tuned for Bathroom staging tips...

June's Home Selling Strategy- Increase Your Home's Value with Some Simple Staging

Staging your home is proven to increase your sale price up to seven percent, so it is definitly worth your time to evaluate your home room-by-room! Here are some quick tips to help play up your home's assests and downplay it's faults.

Living Rooms

Remember to look at your rooms through the buyers eyes, replace clutter and personal items with simple, neutral accessories to bring out the best in your living room!

1. Add interest to old hardwood flooring - replace any damaged boards by cutting them out and replacing with new. Then rent a sander from your local hardware store like Home Depot, and give the floor a good sanding. Then stain the floors with a rich color and watch your floor go from drab to fab in no time!
2. Built-ins- buyers love built-in bookshelves, however there is a fine line between filling them with clutter and staging to sell! To stage: arrange neutral items in clustes, make sure that no single accessory stand out too much so as to show off your attractive built-ins, not your personal belongings!

Next Room..... Kitchens....

Congratulations to The Koehler Bortnick Team

I want to take a few minutes to congratulate my team for a RECORD BREAKING April!

I absolutely have the best agents, the best staff, and the best partners anybody could ask for!

• For April of 2010 The Koehler Bortnick Team did an amazing $19.5 Million in volume, that is $1 Million more than we have ever done!!
• Compared to April of 2009 with $15.6 Million in volume, that is $3.9 Million less than 2010!
• So far for 2010 The Koehler Bortnick Team is at $53.9 Million in volume!! That is more year to date volume than the past 4 years!!

Down Market? Not for the Koehler Bortnick Team!

Thanks to my very hardworking team!! I know we have all been incredibly busy but look how all of our hardwork paid off!

*KK

Top 10 Ways to "Green" Your Home

In honor of Earth day I thought I would prepare a list of the top ten easiest ways to make your home more earth-friendly. Remember every little bit helps; recycling just one glass bottle saves enough electricity to light a 100-watt bulb for four hours! Now, on to the list:

1. Green up your appliances. Appliance use comprises about 18% of a typical home's total energy bill, with a refrigerator being one of the biggest energy hogs! If any of your appliances are more than 10 years old, you should replace them with energy-efficient models that bear the "Energy Star" logo. These appliances use 10-15% less energy and water than standard models.

2. Watch the temp. Almost half a home's energy consumption is due to heating and cooling.
*Turn down your thermostat in cold weather and keep it higher in warm weather.
*Clean your furnace's air filter monthly during heavy usage.
*Consider a new furnace
*Keep cool in warmer weather, shade your east and west windows and delay heat-generating activities such as dishwashing until evening.
*Use ceiling fans instead of air conditioners.

3.Save Water. Check out the website www.wateruseitwisely.com! This amazing website lists 100 simple ways to save water. For instance:
*Install a low-flow toilet which uses only 1.6 gallons per flush, compared to 3.5 gallons per flush for pre-1994 models.
*Put an aerator on all household faucets and cut your annual water consumption by 50%!

4.Clean Green. Stop buying household cleaners that are potentially toxic to both you and the environment.

5.Let there be "energy-efficient" light. Compact Fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs) use 66% less energy than standard bulbs and last up to 10 times longer. Replacing a 100-watt incandescent bulb with a 32-watt CFL can save $30 in energy costs over the life of the bulb.

6. Save a tree, use less paper. Buy "tree-free" 100% post-consumer recycled paper for everything from greeting cards to toilet paper!

7. Want hardwood floors? Opt for bamboo. Not only are bamboo floors "exotic" they are considered environmentally friendly due to its high yield and the relatively fast rate at which it replinishes itself.

8. Reduce plastics, reduce global warming. Every year Americans throw away some 100 billion polyethylene plastic bags - grocery, trash, and sandwhich bags - considered one of the main contributors to global warming. Reduce, re-use and recycle your plastics for one of the best ways to combat global warming.

9. Use healthier paint. Convential paints contain solvents, toxic metals, and volatile organic compounds that can cause smog, ozone pollution and indoor air quality problems with negative health effects, according to the EPA. Opt instead for zero- or low-VOC paint, made by most major paint manufacturers today.

10. Garden green. Use compost instead of synthetic fertilizers. Compost provides a full complement of soil organizims and the balance of nutrients needed to maintain the soil's well-being without the chemicals of synthetic fertilizers. Healthy soil also minimizes weeds and is key to producing healthy plants, which can in turn prevent many pest problems from developing!

Flurry of activity in the Real Estate Market

The extension of the first time home buyer tax credit, the creation of the tax credit for existing homeowners, low interest rates, and low home prices are all converging to make the real estate market ripe for buyers, but what will happen once the tax credits expire?

Check out
http://kansascity.bizjournals.com/kansascity/stories/2010/03/29/focus3.html
for more information on the blossoming Kansas City Real Estate Market and predictions on what is in store for the remainder of 2010!