Interested in buying a building plot in Spain? Look no further than plots and land for sale in Javea. This enormously exquisite area in Costa Blanca has some of the most sought after land for sale in Javea at the foot of Mount Montgo and the immediate hills.

You’ll be in amazement by the attractive scenery of this miniature coastal town nestled between San Antonio and La Nao, with stretches of smooth white sandy beaches in the well-known Arenal region. The sparkling waves of the Mediterranean Sea lap the seashore of this scenic and picturesque town. Opportunely located in trouble-free access of 2 international airports, Alicante and Valencia, Javea is well-known for its placid winters and amazing views.

The attractiveness of this pleasing customary Spanish locality has consequently meant a high demand for building plots for sale in Javea. The valley of Javea affords stunning views of the nearby hills of this port town. The hilltops lets you to gaze at the wide span of the Mediterranean Sea, which brought Romans, Arabs and Jews to Spanish territory. The sunny summers and warm winters are idyllic for people or investors looking for a second home or investment property in Javea. continue reading…

Recently I have been speaking in the warmer areas of the country, twice this past month in Florida, February, I am in Hawaii, March, Houston, Atlanta and The Bahamas…you get the idea. What is so interesting is that it forces me to understand everyone’s definition of “cold.” It does not really seem to matter where you live, once we hit November and the temperature dips, it is still cold to the person that lives there. The advantage of the warmer climates in the colder times of the year is, of course, more options for curb appeal. Curb Appeal still seems to be the greatest mystery of all. I am amazed at how people continue to ignore the second most important component in staging and selling. But, if Curb Appeal is the second most important component in staging and selling, what is the first? Marketing. This month though, with that big “marketing” teaser out there, I want to talk about pure, solid, much needed, curb appeal.

Here are the TOP 15 most powerful steps in creating great curb appeal:

1. Cut the grass

2. Plant grass seed if needed and keep it watered

3. Trim along the sidewalk and driveway

4. Trim and form hedges and shrubs

5. Paint or replace your mailbox continue reading…

In the past month, I have been traveling extensively and it seems to me as though that is not going to stop any time in the near future. The reason, very simply, is the lousy state of real estate. What is interesting is that my Simple Appeal method is quickly gaining nationwide recognition, because, at the risk of sound arrogant, it works. The truth is that effective staging works and should be used every time. In a sellers market, it will serve to transact the property at a much higher price than other comparable properties. In a buyers market, it serves to transact the property faster. After all, time is money and there is no greater example of this than when you are still paying for a mortgage that you thought would have been gone months before.

As my system, services and speaking become more and more in demand; it tells me that people become more and more aware of what it takes to still run successful real estate businesses no matter the market condition. How many times have you looked back in life over something that seemed very tragic and ultimately you were grateful for the lesson (sometimes this takes awhile…I know!)? That is what is happening right now. We are being taught many lessons, and if we pay attention, we will continue to thrive today, but even better, we will explode our businesses on the next market transition.

Most of you know that I am a very active real estate investor. As a matter of fact, that is how got my start as a Professional Home Stager. Okay, I digress… As we watched our market comes to a screeching slow down (in other words, the real estate brakes were slammed on)—I had to focus on reworking my staging system and then repositioning it as well. It is what forced me to come up with the “5 Steps to Selling Real Estate in 30 Days or Less.” As a result of that, I recently sold nearly $80,000 in 75 minutes to investors that knew that my system would help them to transact their properties faster—and they are right. The difference between my system and that of everyone else in the staging and design industry is that I know real estate and I know what it takes to sell a property. I did not get in this just to make a property pretty, I did this to sell. continue reading…

Well, this is the perfect time of year for investors. As the temperatures go down, so do prices. For all of us it is great…oh, except that nothing is selling right now! Okay, so if you buy, you must know how to transact—and in order to transact, you have to get people into your property. So, when it is 10 degrees outside and there are 20 inches of snow…what do you do to still get traffic in the door? You are going to want to keep this list in a safe place because you will refer to it year after year.

1. Make everything about your Cold Weather open house seem Warm, Cozy and Inviting

2. Send out invitations for a “Fireside” open house—and if you don’t have one—go buy an electric one, plug it in and stage it perfectly! You are going to want to have loads of fluffy soft pillows, lots of rolled cozy blankets, even a big furry rug. You can set some snow boots with gloves and mittens (and a pair of huge or really tiny socks—for fun) next to the fireplace as though they are drying out. Have a great magazine rack or book selection so the overall theme would be that they can curl up by the fire and stay warm. I also, conveniently place my paperwork nearby with pens shaped like logs and little packs of cocoa fixed to the paperwork. continue reading…

This month in the Staging Report I want to talk about something so exciting, you will hardly be able to sit and read this at the same time. No, you will jump for joy, scream at the top of your lungs and no doubt, run naked thru the tulips. What could possibly be so exciting? Rugs. I know what you are all thinking, that I definitely need to get out more, and yes, I do realize that, but please, hear me out on this one.

Rugs are probably the single best staging item you can get. That is why I generally will pay more for a better one, so I can use it time and time again. Why are rugs so great?

Well, you can use them to add color to any room. If possible, I even drape them from a wall or over one wall into the next room. They also carry, color throughout a house. Your rugs don’t all have to match, but if you can match a color or two in each rug from one room to the next, now they have the appearance of all going together. The best general color choices are to start with a neutral pallet and then have color or pattern added from there. Try to look at rugs with either a neutral border or a neutral center, and then you will always have the option to coordinate with the opposite pattern. One thing that I find continually is that people want to add heavy design in small houses. Although you can and should have design on your rugs, unless the house is huge, it should be kept to a minimal. If you can see a rug from a rug, in other words, the rooms are open to one another; you must make sure the rugs coordinate. This not only makes it more aesthetically appealing but when you go to use those rugs again, they already match, so you are one step ahead of the game. continue reading…

It seems as though it does not matter where I am, people are saying the same thing. “How do I sell my houses?’ I was just in St. Louis last week and as I was giving a one day seminar, the biggest concern was the increasing days on market, currently up to 180!

Nearly every investor in the room was sitting on properties and you could almost feel the pain in the room.

Last week I had an investor from New England call about 2 investment properties in Florida and he was upside down by $40,000-$60,000 on both!

My heart bleeds for these people. Not just the investors, but everyone that bought too late and is trying or needing to sell too early. Real estate is not for the faint of heart and you should definitely make sure that you can lose before you begin. continue reading…

Have you ever seen a MR. Clean commercial? Isn’t he clean? Don’t you wish he would just come over and take care of all of your properties for you? Some big shaven headed one earring wearing really clean guy all in white—you got to love it. There has to be a song in there somewhere.

My topic today though, is cleanliness—you know who it is next to!

Sellers, Agents and Investors will do one of two things.

1. Not realize their property is dirty because they have been living in it for so long that they just don’t see it.

OR

2. They will have it cleaned once in the very beginning, but not ever again. continue reading…

Furniture seems to be the bane of existence for many people trying to unload their houses. How much do I need? Do I need it at all? If so, where do I get it? Do I have to buy it? The questions go on and on. It never fails on each and every Wednesday morning tele-coaching call to my VIP students, someone asks me about furniture.

So today, I want to address the infatuation, or lack thereof with furniture in regards to staging.

I rarely use furniture in staging, not because I don’t like it, but I think more often than not, it is unnecessary. The reason that most staging companies use a lot of furniture is because they don’t understand who their customer is and the difference between selling vs. decorating. Yes, I realize that comment may make some of you angry, but my job is to help you sell your properties and continually learn more about the real estate industry on the whole, so there you go. I can tell you that most stagings we do as well as nearly all of our Property Designers yield fantastic results with very little furniture. continue reading…

I am sitting at my computer right now in a hotel room staring out at one of the biggest shopping mall parking lots I have ever seen with “Macy’s” in lights. Sounds a bit like the Vegas version of Macy’s, I know. But, what Vegas doesn’t have, is the ocean and palm trees on the other side of the parking lot in plain view of my hotel room balcony. Because of this, I am willing to overlook the mall parking lot.

You guessed it; I am in Hawaii, having just spoken at the 1st annual Hawaii Real Estate Convention. Before I came here, I did some research on the market since I never like to show up unprepared and every single market has its own special needs and trends. I feel as though it is also my job, to show up informed and am surprised when others don’t.

When I looked at the market here, I found that the main island (most of the statistics are on Maui and Oahu) was down in sales from last month to this month by 30.6% and down 10.2% for the year. They still experienced mild appreciation of 1-2%, but that is mild compared to the 85% appreciation they have had over the last 5 years. Yep, you read that right, 85% appreciation!!! continue reading…

Last month I gave you multiple tips on getting your own properties spotless clean as well as those of your clients. We get used to living in our own filth or we just don’t look at it as a priority. Regardless of which it is for you or your clients, everyone will notice a dirty house as much as they notice a clean house, no matter their personal standards.

So, this month, as promised, I will finish up the “clean tips.” Obviously, I could go on and on in regards to cleaning tips, I am after all, my father’s daughter. The man that ran service stations his whole life that were cleaner than palaces where your baby could crawl on the floor of the garage! But, in the interest of being able to discuss other helpful tips next month, let’s wrap up the cleaning tips this month.

I want to discuss floors in this issue. So let’s start with the look, feel, condition and cleanliness of your carpet. continue reading…