prepareyourhomeforsale.biz Blog

Sell Your House

The spring market is right around the corner. The national sales are down. The foreclosure rates are at a all time high. These are grabbing the front pages of media giants across the country. I have wrote a few articles last year to help people with preparing their houses for sale. I will try to continue the help this year for as long as I can. My articles are showing up on many searches on the big searche engines, I just don’t know how many people I am reaching and helping with this time and effort. I will not refer to my company in this article as to show I am about helping people and not just myself as is very self evident in most things you see on the net now,days. I do try to do a blend of talking about my company and background in a effort to show people that I have basis from where I derive my articles information.

This year is going to be a tough year for selling houses. You need to have your best product ready to sell, in this case your best product is your house. The new wave of buyers are not getting the loans thrown at them any more and the banking industry is shaking in its boots every time they give out a home loan. The new buyers want the money well spent. You need to be ready. The house must have all repairs and concerns addressed long before it hits the market. The buyers over a year ago were walking away from large cash amounts for repairs, because they were looking for a move in condition house, with nothing to do except move in and sit down.

The sales market bubble inflated what people thought their houses were worth and that they could throw a sign out and have 1-3 people fighting over their house. The sales agents out there now days are still trying to tell people that these days are long gone and their houses are not worth as much anymore. No one wants to hear this in any shape or form. This starts to hit home for people when their does not sell and stays on the market for months and months. The home owners that don’t want to believe this fire or wait for their contract to expire with that agent and then hire another company. They find a new agent who is just excited to be talking with them and then the process starts all over again. Sometimes the best agent is the one who is telling you not what you want to hear and gives you the best information to make the best decision on selling your house.

The sales agents out there are dropping like flies as the old market induced many into the house sales games in hopes of finding their new job and money all in the same sweep. Many agents long gone and older ones still shaking their heads are now trying to re-educate their clients. This is no easy job, even for the seasoned professional. I have worked closely with a sale agent veteran of over 12 years in the business and this person is adjusting to making the new market work for his clients. People need to listen to a realistic agent. The agent that tells you what you want to hear is not the one that is going to get your house sold in this new market. The warm fuzzy agent will end up telling you just to hold on and resign as the market is going to change. The market is changing and the home owner is the one that needs to change and again listen to the hard truths in a tough market.

I have many articles which have more detailed information you will need to help prepare your house for the market. They are all free and you can view them and use them over and over again to help you sell your house. I will keep writing, in hopes that I can help one person in their efforts to sell their hous. When I find a good publisher to work with I will attempt to pull all this infromation into a self help book to help people sell their houses and what needs to be done start to finish.

Ice Damming II

The Midwest is being hit with a winter rain/ice/snow storm as I write this article.  The problem is not just the ice on the roads, but the ice and snow on the roofs.  When you take a look around the greater Milwaukee area you still see a number of homes with large amounts of ice damming.  This leads to home damage from the exterior to the interior of the houses.  The ice forces water into walls and then gets the interior walls wet causing damage to drywall.   The drywall can become so damaged that it will need to be removed and new sections put in.  The damage drywall that does not get replaced can lead to mold growth in home besides being a hazard by not being a stable interior wall sheathing anymore, the water deteriorates the compound and becomes unstable,  ceiling pieces can possibly fall.  Watch out for ceilings that have water dripping from it.  There could be water build up and this can force the ceiling to fall causing great amounts of damage and possible harm to the occupants of the home.

There is a way that you can help to protect you and your family.  When you see a ceiling that appears to have water and is dropping or bulging,  you need to relieve the water pressure.  The pressure can be lessened by taking a screw driver or pen and making drain holes.  We have advised clients that don’t wish to fix there ice damming damage to beware of falling drywall and water build up in their ceilings until they fix their ice damming problems.  Many don’t wish to fix the drywall damage as they fear it may just occur again.  This makes sense that you don’t want to fix something only to have it damaged again. You must get to the root of the problem.  That is what is causing your ice damming problems to begin with. 

There are many good tips in the first ice damming article on how to get rid of your ice damming problems.  So, please feel free to take a look at that article.  There will be some things you can do yourself or maybe you might want to give Badges Properties a call to help you with any home problems you might have.  Badges Properties can help you out if you live in or around the greater Milwaukee area, they are also home to Badges Properties “Fix It Brothers”, they are here to help you with your problems,  they are not your normal handyman company.  They have a blend of education and state certifications to help their customers.  They advise people and consult people,  they do not sell people on what they don’t need, like many so called handyman/home improvement companies that have a “hammer and a rusted up pickup truck”.   The old saying, you get what you pay for, really applies when hiring a handyman/home improvement contractor.            

We also offer many consumer protection tips on how to find a good handyman/home improvement contractor in your area.  So, feel free to look around and visit some of the articles we have to help you, the best part they are all free.

Remember, Always Safety First.

Find A Handyman III

So, you need a handyman?  What do you do?  Where do you go to find a handyman, now if you were in the Milwaukee area I could possible help you directly?  If you have seen any of my articles I do try to help the home owner find a handyman in their area, not just a handyman in the Milwaukee area, by showing people what to look for in a good handyman company.  The hardest part is where do you go to look for a handyman?  I would have to say local newspapers is one of the largest  spots that people go too when looking for a home improvement or handyman service.  The handyman and home improvement professional have become the same now days depending on what size company or expertise the company you are dealing with has.  There is a company in the greater Milwaukee area in Wisconsin we will use as a example of a very well rounded and highly trained handyman and home improvement company.

Going with the above example Badges Properties can be found in the local newspaper under handyman, you don’t have to look under just home improvements any more to find people for all kinds of work.  Just make sure the company you hire is well rounded, if you find a specialty company you will for ever be trying to find someone for each type of work.  For example you call a company who does nothing but  gutters, because your down spout became detached and needs to be reconnected.  They come out and fix the down spout and now you remember you want a leaky pipe in the kitchen fixed also.  While you called a specialized gutter company, they are not going to come in a fix your leaky sink pipe, so again you have to find another person to fix that.  Now, lets look at a company like Badges Properties,  they could reattach the down spout and fix the leaky pipe and your done!  This is a really big tip when looking for home repairs, don’t specialize unless you have to.  Find a well balanced company that does everything you need them to do.  This sounds so simple, but people get caught up in this all the time, spending alot of time and money, when they don’t need to.  Just look into the company you want to use.

Badge Properties is home to the “Fix It Brothers” they have a shared background in general repair, full home remodeling and finished basements, home inspection, home rehab, engineering, marketing, hydroseeding”high end new lawn installations at seed/straw prices”, in short this company has the credentials and tools to do it all for you.  I know this is a unusual  situation that one company would be so well educated and suited for practically anything to do with a home.  There are companies out there like Badges Properties in your area, you just have to find them.  Badges Properties “Fix It Brothers” are the kind of people you want to have around for all of your homes needs.  The nice part about the “Fix It Brothers” is they are not trying to sell you anything, they only want to help you fix your homes problems.  Anther tip, don’t let a company tell you what you need unless you are asking for their advice.         

Another area the “Fix It Brothers” shine in is “Pre-Sale Rehab of houses.  The tough home market has made sellers to be ready when their houses hit the market.  The buyers want a house in perfect shape, even over a year ago, buyers were walking away from sellers even offering cash to fix what they wanted!  The new buyers of today are just moving on to the next house and don’t want to fix up the homes they buy, they just want to move in and thats it.  Badges Properties actually started off providing this service and now has expanded into a full service home repair company.  Here again is the same tip as above, find a good home repair service company that can full fill all of your homes needs, not just one and so forth.

Well, theres your helpful tips for finding a handyman, this is part of a on going series of articles which can be found at our tip blogs and you will want to visit www.houseitemsshop.biz for all of your homes product needs.  Please feel free to search for many more self help article in our archives.

Fed Rates And Foreclosure Market

The foreclosure market on houses is at a all time high.  The fed is lowering interest rates in hopes that this will help to get more money back in play.  The banks are holding so many properties that they don’t know what to do with all of them.  The above is some information when used all at once can help people to sell or buy in the right situation.  Many people got into loans that they just were never going to be able to handle, hence the highest foreclosures on properties people have seen.  The investor could make money when connecting the dots or the right properties and people for your money.

There will be the correct time to buy the right property.  You can say, well that is very profound, I know.  What I am trying to say is the banks are into banking not selling houses or sitting on properties.  The banks used the high home sales market to sell their foreclosures on the regular market and still come out smelling like a rose.  Those days are gone and now they are begging agents to sell their properties because they have more coming back to them then they can sell.  These houses are not usually in the best shape for starters to hit the market.  So, theres strike one!  The agent is now trying to move a product or house in this case that is like trying to sell a carton of rotten eggs, that right its going to smell.   The banks need to start looking at what we will call a total home staging company, like Badge Properties who are a business in the Greater Milwaukee area of Wisconsin, that look at the total house and what needs to be done to sell it.  The same goes for any home owner who is serious about preparing their home for sale.

There are fewer buyers, strike 2! the houses need to be ready, even when your not talking about foreclosures.  Badges properties has different divisions that allow it to take a house from start to finish for their customers.  You see the typical house staging companies are designers and agents charging for consulting and then leave the rest up to their customers, the home owners in this case.  This still leaves the home owners to find the right people to make all the repairs or updates to make the house ready to hit the market, Strike 3!  Badges Properties has developed a full service consult and repair program that looks at the property and takes it from start to finish based on the the customers needs.  They don’t just do the consult for just under $200 and walk away leaving the customer with only a consult report,  they have the staff and crew to take the property to finished product.  Many don’t have the means or desire to do this, which makes Badges Properties of Wisconsin really stand out among the rest.

You see, having a consult and getting a report is really only the beginning to preparing a house for sale.  You as the home owner may still want to do some of the work and thats fine, but you need a professional company to organize the rehab and have the professionals on staff  to make it happen, they do this as it is their expertise.  The home owners are not house rehab professionals or home staging professionals they are home owners with other jobs.  You don’t go to your auto mechanic and ask them to do your taxes right?  Same applies here, you or the home owner is trying to sell the home, you really may not have the knowledge in engineering, repair, fixing and staging a home for sale.  There are companies like Badges Properties in the greater Milwaukee who can take a house from consult to sale, it will be very hard to find a company like this one, but they are out there if you look.  Badges Properties is a expanding company which is branching out via the Internet to help others with their home projects and sales.    This year is going to be a big year for housing and foreclosure market, people are going to need help with their properties.

Badges Properties for example has divisions which handles and have credentials in engineering, marketing, repairing and rehab of properties.  They round this out with a hydroseeding division which installs new lawns and erosion barriers for home owners and home builders.  The then complete the circle on the home division with a certification in home inspection to give more peace of mind to their customers.  So, you can see now, why there are not many companies that compare to the services of Badge Properties.   They even have a full time handyman division, so again they have the whole home covered from the roof to the basement, not forgetting the yard either.  

The houses once they are ready to hit the market will out shine the many others that are out there.  The investor that is ready to find great deals on foreclosures and dropping costs on homes will be able to buy these extreme deals and make a considerable amount on these properties.   The houses  out there will need a little help and then they will be ready.  Many houses will out sell the others as long as they are prepared to hit the market, the home owners can spend  smaller amounts to save or gain much more.  The interest rates going lower will spur new interest again in homes which will have new lower prices on them.  The well qualified buyers will be positioned to buy these houses.  There may not be the large amounts of buyers out there like years back, but they will be there and looking for the perfectly prepared house.

The 08 market will present a whole new year for the home owner who is prepared to sell.  Badges Properties is already gearing up for the spring market. Need help with your home give Badges Properties a call 414-469-7102.  They are helping people each and everyday.                

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What Does A Hydroseeding A Lawn Cost?

There never seems to be a end to the benefits of a hydroseeded new lawn. The hydroseeding professional contractors like Badges Properties LLC can save people money right from the start. Many companies offer hydroseeding as a small selected service of their landscaping company. What people need to find is a company like Badges Properties LLC who have a division of the company that is dedicated to hydroseeding new lawns and erosion barriers for land developers. Badges Properties LLC concentrates on the hydroseeding needs of each client, be it a new home owner or a home builder/land developer.

The choice of the right hydroseeding professional contractor can be a difficult one for people. Many companies out there are feeling the pinch of the falling housing market. Many will do and say anything as long as they get the home owner or builder to sign a contract with them. There is really no cost savings or benefits to anyone who uses this kind of contractor, the thing it does is hurt the industry of professionals who try very hard to provide a honest and legal service for people. The average person will get 1-3 quotes on the services they need when it comes to spending more then a $1000. They will encounter people with just sales people selling them services to the company owners wearing many different hats for their company, I was in sales and always hated the high pressure sales tactics. So, with that said, sales people don’t get paid or keep their jobs very long if they don’t sell, if you know what I mean.

I try to let people know the benefits and cost savings of installing a new lawn via hydroseeding vs the old and straw/seed process. First off there is no comparision between the two. It is like comparing apples to oranges, the hydroseeding process is a far higher quality product and service. This the first pit fall that home owners and builders most be careful not to fall in. Many people with less Morales and ethics would lead people to believe that the product is the same when it is not.

Lets take a look at this, straw-straw grows weeds, do we want weeds or grass? Grass, right. Seed- has the seed been prepared for planting and what quality level is it. Straw/seed process just blows straw and seed across your top soil. Pretty simple low tech process.

Now, let’s look at the high tech hydroseeding process. A premium blended seed soaked in a water based solution, prior to being placed on your top soil. The water soluble starter fertilizer, mulch, tacktifier(bonding agent)and a high tech water retention compound all mixed together and blended by jets to provide a consistent evenly mixed slurry. The green slurry mixture is then applied via a hose with a control valve for a consistent and even spread mixture over the prepared top soil. The blend is highly cost effective by creating a even mixture, not over or under applying the product therefore saving money right from the start. I know this is what Badges Properties does, as for the rest we can only hope others have pride in their product and services also.

The hydroseeded lawn will give a sod quality lawn with in 4 weeks with the proper care. That is correct, 4 weeks to a sod quality lawn. The best part, again is the cost savings of hydroseeding will easily be seen when compared to sod, as a hydroseeded lawn costs a fraction of a sod installation. Many landscapers enjoy installing sod as it is high labor and very high profit for them. You do get a instant lawn, but sod also must be highly cared for or it will take, meaning it will die.

Try finding a contractor to explain all of this to you, some will take the time, most just want the sale. I prefer to educate my clients, not just sell them. I can only try to help people and their homes by taking the time to write educational articles. I never know who will get the benefits of my advice, as the Internet is so large. Some could say I am only promoting Badge Properties, if this was all I was doing I would only provide this information to people in my area. I also would not invite people to please e-mail me with there questions, obviously if Badges Properties is located in Wisconsin, the greater Milwaukee area and I help a person with a hydroseeding question that lives in Colorado, there is no sale or direct benefit to me. I just have the satisfaction that I was able to help someone make a educated decision.

I am a writer and enjoy writing. I have many articles on many topics, many cover the same subject, as I never know who has been able to see my other articles on that same topic. For those of you out there who are still thinking to your self, he never gave the cost per square foot? The cost to hydroseed a lawn can run 8-18 cents a square foot. Don’t get confused as some contractors like to put it into square yards. Again, I may not be able to have Badges Properties help you out directly, but I do try to answers any questions people have.

Good luck in finding a hydroseeding professional in your area.

How To Find A Handyman II

The question of, how do I find a handyman? is crossing more and more peoples minds now days, if you were in the Milwaukee area and trying to find a handyman, I could possibly help you direct.  There are less and less handyman out there, to find a handyman actually takes some effort.  I should say less and less trustworthy and good handyman companies out there.  People say it is just plain hard to find one.  You can try one of those advertised screening places, but you still don’t know if you are going to find a handyman or not, still not knowing what you are going to have on your door step.  Those types of ads,”we find you 4 quality contractors all free to you”, types is what I am talking about here.

Those places make their money off the contractors paying for the screening service to list them and use them to give them leads.  They just group all the contractors in one spot, so as long as the contractor pays for his or her leads the screening company keeps them on their list of qualified contractors.  These places came about as it became harder to find someone to do your home repairs for you.

There is a great company called Badges Properties in the greater Milwaukee area in Wisconsin, which is a company that helps people with all of their homes needs.  When it comes to fixing, remodeling, repairing or updating, Badges Properties has you covered.  They have other divisions of the company that provide new lawn installation or erosion barriers via a newer high tech system of hydroseeding, gives a sod like lawn in 4 weeks from seed.  They also offer services on consulting to the finished product for staging your house for sale.  They don’t just provide you with a consult report and refer you to others to do the work, they handle it all.  There are not to many companies out there like Badges Properties who handle all your projects from the roof to the basement.  They were even wrote about in the local Milwaukee newspaper for handling all sized projects for people.  They have been helping people for awhile now with all their homes needs.

There are many articles out there on finding the right handyman, you just need to stick to the basics.  Find people that have been in your area for awhile.  Not just years in the handyman improvement business, just been in your area.  Someone that is born and raised in your area is proud to be there and is part of your community.  You don’t always find this when your dealing with large national franchised chains, yes they are also trying to franchise handyman services now.  Solid work and ethics makes for a good handyman company, not a national chain with lots of advertising.   The next part is looking into a handyman company that you want to use.  Ask for other people that they have worked for, more than one.  See what organizations they are affiliated with.   Make sure they are insured or ask if they hold any certifications or license.  What is there back ground?

These are just a few suggestions to help you find a good handyman company in your area, again if your lucky enough to live in or around the greater Milwaukee area, try using Badges Properties for your homes needs.  Maybe you just have a question on a home related matter, give them a call 414-469-7102, they are very friendly and really want to help people.

Time To Shop

Just taking a short look at online retail shops. Came across a site that looks into electronic items and more. The warm feeling the site gives it a small home town look and feel, but offers a large selection to fill all of your needs. The site www.miserymonkey.com has a small site charm with a big store selection that has been lost in a sea of big box online shops.

The site is well laid out and makes it easy for you to find your needed items. You never have to search to long and you find the exact item you are looking for. Don’t keep getting lost in those large hard to find sites.

You really must go to www.miserlymonkey.com and find what you need in a secure and easy to use shopping site.

Have fun and happy shopping

Tub Inserts

The whole tub insert scene seems to be more popular now days. I have seen more TV ads for the tub inserts. There is a company thats giving franchise rights all across the country. So they must be doing a advertising push. The push the whole tub remodel in one day as a big selling feature. Is this the best thing for your house or not? The popularity really seems to be there for the tub inserts, one could be the money and two is the time. Let’s take a look at the money aspect first. They make it seem like replacing the tub and surround is remodeling the bathroom as a whole. Your not remodeling your whole bathroom by putting in a tub insert, your just doing a fraction of a bathroom remodel. Now, the complete bathroom remodel can start at $5,000 and go up with the norm being $10K. So, with that in mind this cheap tub insert looks very appealing to people.

When you look at the bathroom broke down into parts, it still is going to cost some money to do it right. Let’s look at the parts. Vanity sink, vanity, faucet, plumbing feeds and waste. Low end cost $500-$1,000 for these items. Vanity mirror and lighting $100-$500 as average. New floor ceramic tile $500 on low side. Paint room $250. New toilet $100-$500. New towel bar and add ons $100-$500. New tub standard $500-$1,000. Tub surround $200-$1000 depending on design and material. Let’s just round it off and call it $5000 so this is where you are at.

Now, I know this is a great price, but we did about 3 baths this year for our customers around $5,000 so I know it’s possible. No, these are not marble tub surrounds and floors but is a typical bath remodel at mid level. Again I know this is a great price as people cannot believe how reasonable are prices are. So, with that in mind what is a national tub insert charging to put in a plastic or fiberglass tub insert?.

Now, my part of the country costs a little more to remodel. My company is just alot less expensive than most contractors in my area. The whole tub insert really is not that much cheaper when you look at doing the remodel the way you should do it. When you redo a classic car you don’t just paint the hood and trunk and then call it done. Same thing you don’t just redo your tub and say your bathroom is remodeled. This is just a selling tactic for tub insert sales.

When it comes down to it are you really going to save money when you end up remodeling the whole room. There are good contractors out there who will remodel your whole bath room, just be careful. Read my articles “save money on your house”. These deal with finding good people to do your remodeling.

I am still just not sold on tub inserts. They can look nice, but what are you covering up? Just make sure if you go with a tub insert that your walls in the tub area are sound and mold or moisture free or you will just be covering up a very bad problem which could endanger your health and the health of your family.

Remember safety first

SEO Hype And Money Making Blogs

The SEO and blogs world has become a haven for get rich scams. The old scam was buy my product and get rich. The scam is just shifted into buy my SEO blog secrets and get more traffic to your blogs and then makes millions. Let me tell you this is just a bunch of s–t is what it is. The first people into this game have got their millions already and your not getting it. These so called gurus and their secrets are just a lot of hot air. The person who runs this site said it best in one of his articles right here on bigblogmonkey. He said, if these SEO gurus had the secret to millions of dollars in blog traffic, why would they be selling it so cheap. You have seen the TV info/ads scams, buy now and instead of $300.00 you can have the whole package for $19.99. You see what I mean?

This is no difference. The thing is the money makers are not stopping there. There are many article writing sites who publish your article and pay you for. On the surface people think wow! I heard people who write for magazines and their articles get $1,000s for just one article. Not the case with these online publishing sites. You spend hours writing a quality content article and they give you pennies for it, yes, I said pennies. I have written for two of these types of places. They turn around and either sell your articles for 1000 x more then what you got paid for it or get their advertisers to pay good money to have their online ad placed next to your article.

There is a common theme going here. The rich guys that are running these SEO cons and writing sites are laughing all the way to the bank. See they pay one writer 15 cents for one article and then sell it for 5-10 dollars. This does not seem right. The thing that gets me is they think this just fine. The true kicker is when they call it a common good for all if everyone would just write more for the site. If I had the servers and the space, I would love to have a true publishing site, where writers would actually get paid for their articles, not ripped off.

The SEO guru game is still by far the best. People want to think that big search engines running pay per click ads is going to buy them the next million dollar home. You are not going to have a couple ads on your blog and then rush out and buy your import sports car from the profits. Now, if you had the 50-100 SEO programmers on your staff and ran over a 1000 blogs with high rates for advertising you might then be able to get that sports car. One blog with the best ratings may buy you a pack of gum off the profits of a month.

The Guru ad profits must be slowing now days as they need to sell their so called SEO secrets in ebooks for 50 bucks. Yes, I am going to tell the whole world how I made millions and now sell it to you for $50 bucks! Does this sound right? Are these guys gurus or just your high tech con men. They are just praying upon people and their desires to succeed. People want to believe so hard, that they will buy anything from anyone, who sounds like they know what they are talking about.

The days of the honest business person are gone. People believe the sales person who is the best looking and has the biggest and spends a ton on ads. This is who people are buying from these days. I can give people the best service and product at the best price and still not get the job because of the big scammer places. This is the same thing the SEO gurus use to scam millions. They never lose money. They tell people there are no ways to say they will make millions as they did. They can only give you the info. and the rest is up to you! Want to buy a bridge? It’s the same concept, you can pay for that bridge, but it’s still not yours! You have just been scammed.

The public TV ads about online scams are long over due. Do people really think the 3rd king of Arabobob wants to give them 10 million if they give him a 10k donation to his kingdom first? Now, I just made that up totally and this is the type of scams online that people are falling for everyday. I could offer to remodel a persons entire kitchen for $5,000 and they would tell me they have to think about it! But a unknown person wants a check for $10,000 online and they send the check. What is going on?

I offer articles on a variety of topics. I find myself in the public service area as of late. I just could not pass up the chance to write this. It is not my home improvement or how-to, I know. I also have been branching off into the “scammer” public safety type articles as I cannot sit by anymore and just keep letting people get scammed.

I try not use names of scams or scammers as they are also the first to sue you, to scam more money out of people. Remember, scammers don’t have to be small time little scammers. The best ones make themselves look honest and caring. These are the best ones. They drive fancy cars and even belong to the same health clubs as you.

I will look into maybe a new site dedicated to exposing scammers.

Cell Phones And Your House

Looking for discount cell phones? You came to the right place. Discount cell phones are a perfect product to buy online. They are pre-packaged and you can compare prices on discount cell phones from site to site extremely easily. Having an extra discount cell phone around is also a great thing. You don’t worry about loss or theft. It’s just no big deal. Several years ago, this was unthinkable because of the high prices of cell phones. Browse through our selection of discount cell phones on this page and by using the search function.http://Compare4.us/?Discount-Cell-Phones&cu=1035_7435983a54ad” title=”Discount cell phones, cell phones, discounts, cheap phones”>Discount Cell Phones