To be really effective, you need to look at both the outside and the inside of your home. Here are 3 tips to get you started with the inside of your home:

1. De-clutter. This is one of the most important things you can do. It might be easier to think of de-cluttering like this – you’re moving anyway, so why not start packing now? Pack up everything you don’t need and store the boxes out of sight in the garage (or consider temporarily renting a small storage locker).

Local Self-Storage Options:

• Urban Self Storage – (425) 223-3872 (Mention Jordan Nilsen referred you and get 50%-off your first month)
• Public Storage – (800) 883-8369

2. Organize your closets – put similar colors together, pants together, skirts together, shirts together etc. Why? Because it will make the closets look bigger. (Really.) An organized closet appears bigger, and you want your closets to look as spacious as possible.

Bellevue Closet Solutions:

• Container Store – (425) 453-7120
• California Closets – (800) 814-1729

3. Make your home look like a model. You want to de-personalize as much as possible so potential buyers can imagine themselves and their own belongings occupying the space in your house. That means minimizing – putting away everything you don’t need or use. Clear off kitchen counters as much as possible – stash all those appliances you don’t use, and put miscellaneous small clutter in a few attractive baskets or boxes

And the biggest tip of all? Imagine yourself as a potential buyer looking at your property for the very first time. What impressions are you getting? Would YOU buy your house? What would you like to see changed before you put an offer on your house?

And don’t worry about spending several thousand dollars to get your house ready to sell – you’ll get it all back when your house sells. Proper staging helps you sell your house in a shorter time and at the price you want.

Here’s a link to the Accredited Staging Professionals website: http://www.stagedhomes.com/

Below is a list of things to look for when viewing potential investment properties.

• Price - As many in the industry know, you make your money on the “buy”. Before looking at a property, make sure the price is well below  market value. Make sure the price is lower than that of comparable homes and make certain it can be fixed, held, and any fees & commission can be paid and still make a profit.

• Foundation - Foundation issues are uncommon in Bellevue, but it should be one of  the first things you look at. If there is foundation damage you need to see how much this is going to cost to have fixed.Foundation damage can drain a budget so until you are comfortable with you skills at judging the amount of foundation damage call a pro for a quote and then factor that in your budget. When looking on the outside and inside of the house you are looking for cracks above windows, along brick mortar, over doors, and in corners, and many times you can feel the foundation sinking in certain areas of the house. Be sure to walk to the corners on the rooms and you will be able to tell if the piers have sank

TIP: It’s a good idea to have relationships with foundation specialists that are willing to come to potential investments and offer free quotes.

• Roof - Next, check the roof by counting the layers of shingles. Normally if there is over 2 layers of shingles you are going to need to replace the roof. Also, as you are walking through the inside of the house look up at the ceiling and look for water spots. This is also a huge indicator that you are going to need to replace a roof. Your foundation and roof are normally your 2 biggest expenses.

TIP: Use websites like Angie’s List or Superpages to find reviews on local service providers and contractors. An experienced Realtor is also a good source of information; many real estate offices keep a list of recommended companies.

• Walls - Look for holes or damaged sheet rock that is going to need to be replaced. Drywall is cheap and not a big deal, but does cause a lot of buyers to run away from the property. I love houses with holes kicked in all the walls. Holes = Money

TIP: The most important tip – whenever possible, hire a licensed home inspector to do a thorough inspection of the property. And always “buyer beware”.

• Electrical - Look at condition of breaker box. If you are going to add something like a A/C unit you might have to upgrade the electrical, so you need to keep that in mind. Next if the power is on to the house you can check the lights and buy a cheap power test that you can plug in a wall to tell you if it has power, and you can get an idea if the house has electrical issues.

• A/C and Heat – Check to see the age and condition of the air conditioning unit in the potential flip so that you can see if you might have to replace them and leave room in the budget if you think you might have to replace the unit.

• Cabinets & Counter Tops - Look to see if you can use the old ones or if you are going to have to replace them all.

• Plumbing - Make sure the toilets will flush and water will run. The water heater is normally off (in foreclosures) so you can’t test it, but you can look to see how old it is, and that will give you a ideal if you are going to have to replace it. See how many faucets, toilets, shower heads, and other plumbing fixtures you might need and factor them in the budget. I normally replace almost all the plumbing fixtures to give the house the new look.

• Flooring - See how much of the flooring needs fixing or replacing. If possible, always refinish hardwood floors, and put down ceramic tile. If there is no hard wood,  estimate the cost for carpet.

• Paint - Don’t forget to price painting the interior and exterior.

• Appliances - Replace all appliances to create a crisp look and “new” feel in remodels.

Local Appliance Stores
Albert Lee Appliance – Opens in Bellevue Today
Crossroads Appliance – Also have clearance warehouse
Arnold’s Appliance
Home Depot
Sears
Lowes

If you are relocating to an area of the country that is totally new for you, someplace where you are unfamiliar with neighborhoods, schools, job centers, transportation, etc., then the apartment locator may be your best choice. These folks respond to your query by making telephone contact with you. You will describe your circumstances, needs, budget and other preferences. The apartment locator is usually extremely knowledgeable about the area and the local rental market. They will be quite helpful in finding you rental accommodations that suit your particular needs. In most cases, this will be a totally free service. The apartment locator is normally paid a commission or “finder’s fee” from the landlord or rental agent. With regard to your privacy, however, keep in mind that you are required to share your telephone number with the apartment locator and be open to the idea of personal contact. You need to decide if, or how much, that is acceptable to your sense of privacy.

Popular Apartment Search Sites

• Apartments.com – largest apartment database
  Apartments.com iPhone App
• Craigslist – good option if you are looking for a room, sublet, or temporary housing
• Move.com – clean user interface & easy to use
• ApartmentGuide.com – nice interface, robust search options
• ApartmentFinder.com – in Beta but serving Bellevue, WA
• ApartmentRatings.com – require registration to view apartment listings
• Rent.com – require an email to view apartment listings

Unlike apartment locators, apartment database sites offer a broad selection of on-line apartment listings. They give you intricate descriptions of apartment complexes including, but not limited to, maps, amenities, rent ranges, contact information, etc. Pictures of the apartment units, inside and out, are usually included. An excellent amount of data helps you decide if any particular rental unit meets your needs and satisfaction. When you are moving to an apartment that is located within your present living area or when you are relocating to an area that you are totally familiar with, an apartment database site might be the one for you. Most require a simple registration process which usually asks for name and email address. You need not submit your telephone number and you will not be contacted personally by anyone. Like the apartment locator, most apartment database sites are free to you. Sometimes you are even offered a bonus of $100.00 or more if you list their site as your referring source when you sign your apartment lease.

So, which is better for you, the apartment locator site or the apartment database site? The answer to that question is answered by your own unique needs, desires, situation and limits of personal privacy.

Good luck on your apartment search and good luck in your new apartment.

This post will examine the importance of combining email marketing with other types of marketing to create a successful, multi-tiered marketing strategy, and will also offer some advice on managing more than one marketing strategy at once.

As the old saying goes, “Two heads are better than one,” and this is certainly true when it comes to marketing. You may enjoy a great deal of success with email marketing but this does not mean you should not try other types of online marketing such as websites, commenting on real estate blogs (like this one ), placing banner ads, orchestrating an affiliate marketing campaign and generating inbound links to your website.

Popular Email Marketing Companies

• Mail Chimp – Completely FREE up to 500 Contacts
• Constant Contact
• iContact

While it is possible that not all of these strategies will be effective for your business, you are likely to find at least one other option which complements your email marketing and helps you to achieve your business related goals.

Alternately you may even wish to combine your email marketing campaign with more traditional marketing strategies such as radio ads, television ads and the print media. Just because these types of advertising do not take place online, does not mean they will not be able to help you generate more business. In fact advertising both online and offline can allow you to reach a larger target audience. This is because you will likely reach Internet users around the world but can also reach potential customers who do not utilize the Internet for shopping for homes or locating real estate agents.

Popular marketing strategies to combine with email marketing include banner ads and commenting on blogs. These are all online activities and each one individually is fairly simple. However, in combination these simple activities can create a powerful statement. You may send out emails offering useful information about your real estate services, purchase banner ad space on websites which may be of interest to your potential clients and participate on real estate related websites where you can earn the respect and pique the interest of potential clients.

Popular Local Real Estate Blogs for Commenting

• Eastside Bubble
• DowntownBellevue.com
• Eastside Real Estate Buzz

Even if your potential clients are not currently looking to buy or sell a home, seeing your business name so often can have a branding effect. Branding is essentially a process in which consumers see a company name so often that they are more likely to select a product from this company when they are in need of an item the company offers.

If you are planning to combine multiple forms of advertising, you should be aware that this can make it difficult for you to evaluate the effectiveness of each marketing strategy. This is especially true of the marketing strategies are implemented concurrently. When you are only using one type of marketing strategy, you can generally attribute increases in sales or website traffic to changes in the marketing strategy.

However, when more than one type of marketing strategy is in effect, determining which strategy is producing the desired effect can be quite difficult. This situation can be handled by not making changes to more than one marketing strategy at a time. This will help to pinpoint which changes produce an increase in sales or website traffic. It can also help you to determine when changes to your marketing strategy have a detrimental effect on your sales and website traffic. However, if you are having difficulty determining which marketing strategy is most effective you can consider asking clients to answer survey questions and provide information such as how they learned about you and your real estate business.

The most important component of our Real Estate Tech Blog is YOU. Use the comments section at the end of each post to voice your thoughts, ask questions, or challenge my assertions. Ideally, each blog post is an in-depth continuation of a visitor comment or user submitted question. If you would like to email me directly I can be reached at jordan@retechy.com.