This is no hype but a proven technique in real estate business. Home sellers who have used the professional help of Home Staging stand testimony to this fact.
Think of it this way – people need a home for living – nevertheless there is a downturn economy, foreclosure fiasco, and recession in the financial markets etc.
They are buying a home, which is most appealing to them in all aspects.
The need for selling a home by the owner – however hard the decision making might be – arises for many reasons. Relocation to another town for employment or business reasons; intention to buy a new home for the use of the family; requirement of finance to meet impending commitments such as mortgage, children’s higher education, marriage in the family and so on.
Similarly the same reasons work in the reverse direction for buying a new home – either for your own living or as an investment to derive permanent rental income – for the property buyers.
Whatever the reason is, a home appearing on the market for sale becomes a “commodity” in a true marketing sense. The deep passion, love or attachment an owner has towards the premise as one’s “home” – a place where the joys and sorrows of life and ups and downs occurred during the period of living there – all of them vanish, once the property is put on the market for sale. It is going to be a different owner, different family and with different tastes from then on.
But only one thing remains – the purpose for which the said “commodity” is put on sale – namely converting the premises into money. It follows that the home owner is desperate for the property to be sold at the right price and the selling process ends, as quickly as possible.
Over decades, home selling in the US housing market was compared to a cake-walk. Particularly during the real estate boom years of 2000 to 2006 it was still easier, when home owners dictated terms to buyers and even selected one from among many competitors. But not anymore – since the housing bubble has made the real estate business topsy-turvy, where hundreds of thousands of homes are lying unsold, in all parts of the country.
This is the dire situation prevailing now, even in remote and smaller towns of the US. For example in the Commonwealth of Virginia, which does not come into the Top 10 States of worst-hit real estate locations for foreclosure epidemic, there is a small port town – Portsmouth – one of the Independent Cities constituting the Hamptons Roads metropolitan area.
This city is maintaining more or less the same population from 2000 to the latest 2008 Census, numbering 100,577 people. The historic active US Naval facility, known as Norfolk Naval Shipyard is located in Portsmouth, where US Navy’s ships of all types are built, remodeled and repaired.
The cityscape of Portsmouth contains many historic architecture buildings, hotels and neighborhoods, where people are living peacefully. The real estate business, as elsewhere, was trotting on even keel at Portsmouth as well. But as of now, there is a recorded inventory of 1,166 homes waiting for buyers, along with 203 foreclosure properties.
In such a stagnated situation, it becomes even more imperative that you make your home “commodity” stand upfront in the listings of properties for sale. How can this be accomplished? Well – an accredited Home Staging professional in the area can do the trick like magic.
With an abundance of experience and expertise gained through repeated Home Staging exercises, an accredited Home Staging professional can help you achieve your objective of neatly presenting your home, as the most attractive one in the neighborhood.
They approach your home with a critical eye, stepping into the shoes of a prospective buyer, right from the very outside appearance of your home to find out “flaws”. For example, the trees and hedges in the front garden may have overgrown, giving a gloomy look of the frontage. The first thing a Home Staging professional will do is to clear this and make similar tactful arrangements to give your home a pep and pleasant “curb appeal”.
In fact this is only for a starter and a seasoned Home Staging pro will not leave any place of your home unprepared – simply put, they will walk through your home like a buyer would – from the front door to the backyard and make every room welcoming and leading to the next. Having handled an array of home buyers, they know the psychology of the buyer like the palm of their hands.
You can very well discuss the Home Staging plan of your home in the presence of your selling agent, with the Home Staging professional, to keep it most suitable to your budget coastwise. Once the appropriate Home Staging is done, you can list your home for sale and find without fail that your home sells for Top Dollars and in Quick Time for sure.
You can go to www.xanadustaging.com and get a FREE REPORT with lot of Home Staging Tips.
Saturday, May 15, 2010
Why Stage Your Home?
A diamond is a diamond always. But a well-cut diamond with deft hands glitters wonderfully and invites all when put in the show case of a jeweler. This theory squarely applies in the case of marketing your house for sale, in today’s competitive market. You go to a jeweler’s shop where an uncut big diamond stone, with more weight and value and a fine-cut one, but smaller in size are exhibited side-by-side. It goes without saying which one you will pick readily and why.
The US housing market is choking with piled up inventory of unsold properties. There are many reasons like the down-turned economy, tightening up of home loan procedures, foreclosure devastation rendering many “as is” properties on distress sale, for a fraction of their value; investors hesitating on seeing the home prices nose-diving and so on.
Still homes are being sold, since the housing demand is perennial for people who need a home in which to live, arising out of varied reasons – a marriage; child birth; expansion of members in the family; inconveniences in their present residences; relocation by shifting of business or employment etc.
The only thing is, they have now become selective in buying, since the market offers them plenty to choose from, unlike never before. Statistics reveal that currently a home buyer flipping the pages of a Multiple Listing Service (MLS) is bombarded with many houses having identical features, facilities and square footage they want.
See this example. Chesapeake is an independent city in the South Hamptons Road portion of the Hamptons Road region - consisting of seven cities - including the renowned Virginia Beach. Chesapeake is the second largest city by land area in the Commonwealth of Virginia.
Its estimated population in 2006 was 220,560 – an increase by 10.7% from 2000 Census. Chesapeake is an ideal city with few urban areas and vast square miles of protected farm land, wherein home buyers evince interest for properties, so to live in a peaceful and serene atmosphere, without foregoing the facilities of urban life. By way of its location on the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway, it has miles of water-front industrial, commercial and residential properties.
For decades, home selling in Chesapeake was an easy thing, like elsewhere in such lovely neighborhoods in US. The sluggishness in the US housing market, due to reasons cited earlier has caught up with Chesapeake as well. The result is there are 2,439 residential properties lying unsold, along with 247 properties advertised for “distress sale” as on date. During the last one year, the problem has become more acute, as recorded by real estate sites overall in the country.
In this situation, if you are a home seller proposing to list your home in the MLS listings for sale, what will you do? No question – your home has all the required comforts and amenities and you want to get the reasonable price for it, so to meet your financial commitments.
The prudent thing in the present circumstances to do is to “stage” your home properly, so that it looks upbeat with attractive “curb appeal”; clean up the mess and clutter inside the rooms; fix up small repairs; paint places wherever needed with pleasing neutral colors; and in short make your home a perfect match for the buyer’s needs. But all these staging techniques need a Home Staging professional – experienced with hundreds of homes staged before, so as to work in unison with your budget and proposals. They know very well the buyer’s psychology to prepare your home, by maximizing its appeal and minimizing its shortcomings.
This way you make your home stand out above the crowd of homes listed for sale - those in your neighborhood or street. Then you list your property for sale and surely you will see the best results. After all any home buyer is looking for the most beautiful and bright home in your neighborhood and would be too willing to pay the right price.
You can get fantastic ideas on Home Staging and a Free Book with lot of practical and useful tips at www.xanadustaging.com
Ramaswamy Sundaram is certified Expert Author at this site. He can write on any subject, having turned out more than 1500 write ups on varied subjects and topics given by service buyer. In coordination with an expert Home Staging professional in Virginia Beach, US, he is writing many articles here on this subject. For any of your writing requirements, he can be contacted at sulosundar03@gmail.com
The US housing market is choking with piled up inventory of unsold properties. There are many reasons like the down-turned economy, tightening up of home loan procedures, foreclosure devastation rendering many “as is” properties on distress sale, for a fraction of their value; investors hesitating on seeing the home prices nose-diving and so on.
Still homes are being sold, since the housing demand is perennial for people who need a home in which to live, arising out of varied reasons – a marriage; child birth; expansion of members in the family; inconveniences in their present residences; relocation by shifting of business or employment etc.
The only thing is, they have now become selective in buying, since the market offers them plenty to choose from, unlike never before. Statistics reveal that currently a home buyer flipping the pages of a Multiple Listing Service (MLS) is bombarded with many houses having identical features, facilities and square footage they want.
See this example. Chesapeake is an independent city in the South Hamptons Road portion of the Hamptons Road region - consisting of seven cities - including the renowned Virginia Beach. Chesapeake is the second largest city by land area in the Commonwealth of Virginia.
Its estimated population in 2006 was 220,560 – an increase by 10.7% from 2000 Census. Chesapeake is an ideal city with few urban areas and vast square miles of protected farm land, wherein home buyers evince interest for properties, so to live in a peaceful and serene atmosphere, without foregoing the facilities of urban life. By way of its location on the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway, it has miles of water-front industrial, commercial and residential properties.
For decades, home selling in Chesapeake was an easy thing, like elsewhere in such lovely neighborhoods in US. The sluggishness in the US housing market, due to reasons cited earlier has caught up with Chesapeake as well. The result is there are 2,439 residential properties lying unsold, along with 247 properties advertised for “distress sale” as on date. During the last one year, the problem has become more acute, as recorded by real estate sites overall in the country.
In this situation, if you are a home seller proposing to list your home in the MLS listings for sale, what will you do? No question – your home has all the required comforts and amenities and you want to get the reasonable price for it, so to meet your financial commitments.
The prudent thing in the present circumstances to do is to “stage” your home properly, so that it looks upbeat with attractive “curb appeal”; clean up the mess and clutter inside the rooms; fix up small repairs; paint places wherever needed with pleasing neutral colors; and in short make your home a perfect match for the buyer’s needs. But all these staging techniques need a Home Staging professional – experienced with hundreds of homes staged before, so as to work in unison with your budget and proposals. They know very well the buyer’s psychology to prepare your home, by maximizing its appeal and minimizing its shortcomings.
This way you make your home stand out above the crowd of homes listed for sale - those in your neighborhood or street. Then you list your property for sale and surely you will see the best results. After all any home buyer is looking for the most beautiful and bright home in your neighborhood and would be too willing to pay the right price.
You can get fantastic ideas on Home Staging and a Free Book with lot of practical and useful tips at www.xanadustaging.com
Ramaswamy Sundaram is certified Expert Author at this site. He can write on any subject, having turned out more than 1500 write ups on varied subjects and topics given by service buyer. In coordination with an expert Home Staging professional in Virginia Beach, US, he is writing many articles here on this subject. For any of your writing requirements, he can be contacted at sulosundar03@gmail.com
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Diverse culture of India – an overview by a native Indian
Foreigners, particularly Westerners know little about India, its people, the customs and culture of this vast country – second only to China by way of population figure, but bigger in land area. Even those who have studied about India may not know the in-depth details of the diverse cultures prevailing among Indian people, living in the northern and southern States – bifurcated by languages in 1956.
This being a very wide subject for stuffing inside this limited space, an attempt is being made here to bring forth at least the differences in cultures of people of North India and South India, but it should be remembered that as an Indian, all the people of India, irrespective of regional and territorial barriers, have several aspects in common.
The virtues one can find among all Indians are – Faith in God – whether it is one of the many Hindu Gods, Allah or Jesus; respect to elders of the family; traditional values of life preserved for generations and preached to children when they are kids; shunning evil deeds and beholding good deeds fearing justice by destiny; forbearance of life’s challenges with courage and simplicity.
True – India is plagued by poverty, illiteracy and superstitions leading to castism etc., but the binding factor from Kashmir in the North end to Kanyakumari in the South end is unity in diversity, when the nation faces any peril like war or foreign invasion. And this has been proved beyond doubt many times before.
On the cultural aspect, broadly the country can be divided into North India – those States falling north of Vindhya Hills running in the centre horizontally and those falling south of it. Excepting States of Andhra Pradesh; Karnataka; Tamilnadu and Kerala, all other States are considered North India.
Language is the predominant divider here. All North Indian States generally speak Hindi, the National Language, and its derivatives like Bhojpuri, Urdu, Gujarathi, Marathi, Bengali, Oriya and the like. Again, the basis for Hindi is the ancient language (but now extinct) Sanskrit.
South Indian States speak the derivatives of the ancient language Tamil (which is the official language of Tamilnadu) such as Telugu (Andhra Pradesh), Kannada (Karnataka), and Malayalam (Kerala).
But in all the States of India, English is used as the common language and is also recognized as the official language of India. Thanks to 300 years of British Rule, Indian Schools, Colleges and Universities are teaching for generations, impeccable British English. Indians speak and write good and chaste English as taught by text books – not the slang used by native British people by repeated usage in conversations. So any foreigner with English knowledge can comfortably tour all over India.
Ancient India, prior to Independence from British Rule, was largely scattered as separate Kingdoms and Indian history shows many rulers including great Muslim Emperors like Baber. The whole country had its capital – mostly Delhi – in North India for these native as well as alien rulers. Inevitably the cultures of North India were greatly impacted by Muslim rulers and Emperors.
But South India was comparatively peaceful during invasions, blood-shed wars and turmoil, even at the time of separation of Pakistan from India. This explains the flourishing of fine arts in whole of South India, especially Tamilnadu, with peace and harmony prevailing for centuries.
Even today each Indian State is identified in this background for diverse cultures. Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan and Maharashtra for their bravery. West Bengal for its literary works, emotional poets like Rabindranath Tagore, simple lifestyles following communism. Orissa for its sculptures and mountain tribal lives. Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Bihar for density in population, poverty, illiteracy and ignorance.
Food habits differ only in two ways – whole of North Indian people eating wheat and its products as main course and South Indians would not miss rice and its derivatives for anything. As for vegetarianism, the South Indians are up-front although non-veg items are taken, but not as popular as North Indian varieties.
The entire of South India consists of most Hindu temples in the country, including the monumental Tanjore Bragadeeswar Temple located in Tamilnadu, largest in size of Temple Towers.
For South Indian culture alone one can write volumes.
This being a very wide subject for stuffing inside this limited space, an attempt is being made here to bring forth at least the differences in cultures of people of North India and South India, but it should be remembered that as an Indian, all the people of India, irrespective of regional and territorial barriers, have several aspects in common.
The virtues one can find among all Indians are – Faith in God – whether it is one of the many Hindu Gods, Allah or Jesus; respect to elders of the family; traditional values of life preserved for generations and preached to children when they are kids; shunning evil deeds and beholding good deeds fearing justice by destiny; forbearance of life’s challenges with courage and simplicity.
True – India is plagued by poverty, illiteracy and superstitions leading to castism etc., but the binding factor from Kashmir in the North end to Kanyakumari in the South end is unity in diversity, when the nation faces any peril like war or foreign invasion. And this has been proved beyond doubt many times before.
On the cultural aspect, broadly the country can be divided into North India – those States falling north of Vindhya Hills running in the centre horizontally and those falling south of it. Excepting States of Andhra Pradesh; Karnataka; Tamilnadu and Kerala, all other States are considered North India.
Language is the predominant divider here. All North Indian States generally speak Hindi, the National Language, and its derivatives like Bhojpuri, Urdu, Gujarathi, Marathi, Bengali, Oriya and the like. Again, the basis for Hindi is the ancient language (but now extinct) Sanskrit.
South Indian States speak the derivatives of the ancient language Tamil (which is the official language of Tamilnadu) such as Telugu (Andhra Pradesh), Kannada (Karnataka), and Malayalam (Kerala).
But in all the States of India, English is used as the common language and is also recognized as the official language of India. Thanks to 300 years of British Rule, Indian Schools, Colleges and Universities are teaching for generations, impeccable British English. Indians speak and write good and chaste English as taught by text books – not the slang used by native British people by repeated usage in conversations. So any foreigner with English knowledge can comfortably tour all over India.
Ancient India, prior to Independence from British Rule, was largely scattered as separate Kingdoms and Indian history shows many rulers including great Muslim Emperors like Baber. The whole country had its capital – mostly Delhi – in North India for these native as well as alien rulers. Inevitably the cultures of North India were greatly impacted by Muslim rulers and Emperors.
But South India was comparatively peaceful during invasions, blood-shed wars and turmoil, even at the time of separation of Pakistan from India. This explains the flourishing of fine arts in whole of South India, especially Tamilnadu, with peace and harmony prevailing for centuries.
Even today each Indian State is identified in this background for diverse cultures. Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan and Maharashtra for their bravery. West Bengal for its literary works, emotional poets like Rabindranath Tagore, simple lifestyles following communism. Orissa for its sculptures and mountain tribal lives. Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Bihar for density in population, poverty, illiteracy and ignorance.
Food habits differ only in two ways – whole of North Indian people eating wheat and its products as main course and South Indians would not miss rice and its derivatives for anything. As for vegetarianism, the South Indians are up-front although non-veg items are taken, but not as popular as North Indian varieties.
The entire of South India consists of most Hindu temples in the country, including the monumental Tanjore Bragadeeswar Temple located in Tamilnadu, largest in size of Temple Towers.
For South Indian culture alone one can write volumes.
Home Staging – the new strategy spreading fast among Home Sellers
It is common knowledge that the US Real Estate market is struggling with the foreclosure crisis, whereby hundreds of thousands of residential as well as commercial properties are lying unsold. Even locations where homes were selling like hot cakes during the boom years are hard hit by huge inventories of homes, waiting for buyers.
According to latest reports, more and more “Hotspots” are newly emerging, apart from the long list of cities and metros from California; Florida; Nevada; Michigan; and Arizona, carrying enormous homes on their “For Sale” lists.
According to the reports for February, one such “Hotspot” is Virginia Beach, an Independent City and one of the seven cities of Hampton Roads, and the largest city of Virginia State. It is the easternmost of the Hampton Roads, known as “America’s First Region” consisting of other Independent cities of – Chesapeake; Hampton; New Port News; Norfolk; Portsmouth; and Suffolk along with smaller cities, counties and towns.
Virginia Beach is recorded in the Guinness Book of Records for having the longest pleasure beach in the world.
Virginia Beach has excellent neighborhoods and communities such as Acredale, Chesapeake Beach, Brigadoon, Great Neck, Kings Grant, Alanton, Green Run, Buckner Farms, Bayside, Blackwater, Brighton on the Bay, College Park, Glenwood, Croaton Beach, Church Point, Greenwich, the North End, Kempsville, Landstown, London Bridge, Lynnhaven, Little Neck, Middle Plantation, Munden, Oceana, Ocean Lakes, Ocean Park, Pembroke Shores, Hilltop, Pine Meadows, Princes Anne, Pungo, Indian River Plantation, Salem, Salem, Sand Bridge, Seatack, Shadowlawn, Thaila, Thaila Shores, Thoroughgood, Witchduck Point and the Oceanfront.
Housing demands in these first-class locations were far exceeding the supply and home sellers got what they wanted by way of asking their price just like that. But not anymore – since there are 4,470 homes waiting for sale as of this date, together with 480 foreclosed homes listed for distress sale.
So it becomes immensely necessary for any home seller, who wants their home sold fast amidst the above crowd and fetches the asking price set for it. It follows without saying that unless they make their home stand out of the crowd and attract prospective buyers flipping through the long list of homes available for sale, there is no way.
It is here many home sellers use the new strategy of Home Staging. They contact a seasoned Home Staging professional for help. The Accredited Home Staging professional visits the concerned property, views the present status of the home and suggests appropriate Home Staging techniques needed to be undertaken.
Thus the Home Staging professional in consultation with the home owner and selling agent carries out proper “Home Staging” of the property, in the least expensive way possible. After that, the property gets a totally new look – “curb appeal” is what they call it – whereby the existing disadvantages are minimized and the advantages that the home has are maximized.
Now the home is ready for listing in the market for sale. Any buyer seeing the photos or videos of the property in the Multiple Listings cannot stop whistling ….”Oh! What a Beautiful Home this is!”...and immediately gets attracted to call their buying agent to make an appointment to view the property in person.
If you want to know more about Home Staging and its advantages, please click www.xanadustaging.com
According to latest reports, more and more “Hotspots” are newly emerging, apart from the long list of cities and metros from California; Florida; Nevada; Michigan; and Arizona, carrying enormous homes on their “For Sale” lists.
According to the reports for February, one such “Hotspot” is Virginia Beach, an Independent City and one of the seven cities of Hampton Roads, and the largest city of Virginia State. It is the easternmost of the Hampton Roads, known as “America’s First Region” consisting of other Independent cities of – Chesapeake; Hampton; New Port News; Norfolk; Portsmouth; and Suffolk along with smaller cities, counties and towns.
Virginia Beach is recorded in the Guinness Book of Records for having the longest pleasure beach in the world.
Virginia Beach has excellent neighborhoods and communities such as Acredale, Chesapeake Beach, Brigadoon, Great Neck, Kings Grant, Alanton, Green Run, Buckner Farms, Bayside, Blackwater, Brighton on the Bay, College Park, Glenwood, Croaton Beach, Church Point, Greenwich, the North End, Kempsville, Landstown, London Bridge, Lynnhaven, Little Neck, Middle Plantation, Munden, Oceana, Ocean Lakes, Ocean Park, Pembroke Shores, Hilltop, Pine Meadows, Princes Anne, Pungo, Indian River Plantation, Salem, Salem, Sand Bridge, Seatack, Shadowlawn, Thaila, Thaila Shores, Thoroughgood, Witchduck Point and the Oceanfront.
Housing demands in these first-class locations were far exceeding the supply and home sellers got what they wanted by way of asking their price just like that. But not anymore – since there are 4,470 homes waiting for sale as of this date, together with 480 foreclosed homes listed for distress sale.
So it becomes immensely necessary for any home seller, who wants their home sold fast amidst the above crowd and fetches the asking price set for it. It follows without saying that unless they make their home stand out of the crowd and attract prospective buyers flipping through the long list of homes available for sale, there is no way.
It is here many home sellers use the new strategy of Home Staging. They contact a seasoned Home Staging professional for help. The Accredited Home Staging professional visits the concerned property, views the present status of the home and suggests appropriate Home Staging techniques needed to be undertaken.
Thus the Home Staging professional in consultation with the home owner and selling agent carries out proper “Home Staging” of the property, in the least expensive way possible. After that, the property gets a totally new look – “curb appeal” is what they call it – whereby the existing disadvantages are minimized and the advantages that the home has are maximized.
Now the home is ready for listing in the market for sale. Any buyer seeing the photos or videos of the property in the Multiple Listings cannot stop whistling ….”Oh! What a Beautiful Home this is!”...and immediately gets attracted to call their buying agent to make an appointment to view the property in person.
If you want to know more about Home Staging and its advantages, please click www.xanadustaging.com
What A Home Staging Professional Can Do For You?
In a nutshell - you can give your home the magic touch, attracting buyers to pay the asking price. A Home Staging professional does not have a “magic wand” in their hands. Instead they have the experience and expertise to know the psychology of buyers; what they are looking for in a home to entice them and how to “stage” your home – with its advantages magnified and disadvantages minimized – to sell it quickly in today’s sluggish and competitive housing market.
Let us see how Home Staging works. The myths about home selling first.
Myth #1 = You love your home and do not want it to be compared with others. Wrong – the prospective buyers might have seen many homes and invariably compare your home with others in your neighborhood or elsewhere.
Myth #2 = You value your house to be most comfortable and so the buyer will think that way too and buy it “as it is”.
Wrong – You are seeing it from your angle. You do not know the needs of the buyer. They will find many flaws in your house right from the main door to backyard –any excuse to give up the idea of buying it.
Myth #3 = You estimate your house as a property you have hard-earned. It is a place of solace or paradise for you.
Wrong – From the buyer’ view point your house is a commodity that has come to the market for sale. They need not have any attachment or obsession at all like you and would not hesitate to analyze its merits and demerits thread-bare.
Myth #4 = You are going to sell the house – then why should you bother about making improvements.
Wrong – Your property is to be marketed amidst competition. Therefore it is imperative that you “package” the commodity well so to make it stand out from the others on the market.
Myth #5 – Home Staging is expensive and what is the use in spending?
Wrong – Home Staging is a service undertaken in the most inexpensive way; after due consultation with you and your selling agent; to suit your budget and make the most with least expense. You are not going to redesign your home completely. The cost involved is negligible, compared to value enhancement and profit you are going to derive in getting the asking price.
Remember – by inviting an Accredited Home Staging professional to view your home and carry out what is necessary for “staging” it before listing for sale, you make your property stand out from the crowd. Your property is sure to capture the attention of the buyer and lure them to buy it at once – unmindful of the price.
Want proof? Just for example see below what an Accredited Home Staging professional has to say about making “First Impression” of your home by the prospective buyer:
You never know how the curb appeal or lack thereof will affect different people.
Here are some definite no-no’s:
• The lawn is not mowed and trimmed and there are bare spots
• The shrubbery and trees are not neatly pruned
• There are children’s toys all over the yard
• The car in the drive is in various stages of being worked on
• The gutters are full
• The exterior is showing signs of needing new paint or cleaning
• There are cobwebs at the front entrance
• The walkways are stained or not clean
• The garage door is up
• The yard is strewn with garden tools, lawnmower etc
• There are no colorful flowers adorning the beds
• The flower beds are not weeded and mulched
• The windows are not clean
• The For Sale sign is old and dirty
• The roof is stained
• The fencing and house needs to be power washed
• The deck is not neat
• The front door is damaged or needs painting
• The door bell is broken
• The screen doors are damaged
• The house numbers are missing
• The gutters and downspouts are damaged
• The siding is damaged from a weed whacker
• The font lights are burned out
Take care of all these items before you list your home For Sale and buyers will want to see what’s inside. A house with curb appeal welcomes the buyer and incites interest.
Interested in getting more Home Staging information? Click to www.xanadustaging.com
Let us see how Home Staging works. The myths about home selling first.
Myth #1 = You love your home and do not want it to be compared with others. Wrong – the prospective buyers might have seen many homes and invariably compare your home with others in your neighborhood or elsewhere.
Myth #2 = You value your house to be most comfortable and so the buyer will think that way too and buy it “as it is”.
Wrong – You are seeing it from your angle. You do not know the needs of the buyer. They will find many flaws in your house right from the main door to backyard –any excuse to give up the idea of buying it.
Myth #3 = You estimate your house as a property you have hard-earned. It is a place of solace or paradise for you.
Wrong – From the buyer’ view point your house is a commodity that has come to the market for sale. They need not have any attachment or obsession at all like you and would not hesitate to analyze its merits and demerits thread-bare.
Myth #4 = You are going to sell the house – then why should you bother about making improvements.
Wrong – Your property is to be marketed amidst competition. Therefore it is imperative that you “package” the commodity well so to make it stand out from the others on the market.
Myth #5 – Home Staging is expensive and what is the use in spending?
Wrong – Home Staging is a service undertaken in the most inexpensive way; after due consultation with you and your selling agent; to suit your budget and make the most with least expense. You are not going to redesign your home completely. The cost involved is negligible, compared to value enhancement and profit you are going to derive in getting the asking price.
Remember – by inviting an Accredited Home Staging professional to view your home and carry out what is necessary for “staging” it before listing for sale, you make your property stand out from the crowd. Your property is sure to capture the attention of the buyer and lure them to buy it at once – unmindful of the price.
Want proof? Just for example see below what an Accredited Home Staging professional has to say about making “First Impression” of your home by the prospective buyer:
You never know how the curb appeal or lack thereof will affect different people.
Here are some definite no-no’s:
• The lawn is not mowed and trimmed and there are bare spots
• The shrubbery and trees are not neatly pruned
• There are children’s toys all over the yard
• The car in the drive is in various stages of being worked on
• The gutters are full
• The exterior is showing signs of needing new paint or cleaning
• There are cobwebs at the front entrance
• The walkways are stained or not clean
• The garage door is up
• The yard is strewn with garden tools, lawnmower etc
• There are no colorful flowers adorning the beds
• The flower beds are not weeded and mulched
• The windows are not clean
• The For Sale sign is old and dirty
• The roof is stained
• The fencing and house needs to be power washed
• The deck is not neat
• The front door is damaged or needs painting
• The door bell is broken
• The screen doors are damaged
• The house numbers are missing
• The gutters and downspouts are damaged
• The siding is damaged from a weed whacker
• The font lights are burned out
Take care of all these items before you list your home For Sale and buyers will want to see what’s inside. A house with curb appeal welcomes the buyer and incites interest.
Interested in getting more Home Staging information? Click to www.xanadustaging.com
To Get What You Want in Home Selling – Home Staging is the Key
It is not everyday home owners indulge in selling their homes. It is once-in-a-lifetime activity for many. By selling a home - the property built with brick and mortar or wood and iron construction – is converted into money. Why at all is a home sold? There are many reasons for this – including but not limited to – the following:
• Purchasing a new home
• Relocating to some other place for whatever reason
• Personal reasons like meeting financial commitments and in need of cash
and so on.
What a home seller wants?
Without exception, all home sellers want their property to be sold for the right price they are setting (asking price) and quickly without delay. They want the right purchaser to buy the home and make payment without any hassles.
Towards this objective, they resort to the help of a real estate agent and list their property for sale in the housing market of their area.
How is the present day US Housing Market?
“Down” is the right word to describe the condition of all US housing markets. For quite some years now, there is a flood of foreclosure properties made available for home buyers. The result is - it has become a strenuous task to sell off a home in the open market. Unsold properties are piling up in the inventory and for months they are unable to see a qualified buyer.
Overall, hundreds of thousands of homes are lying unsold for months in the sluggish US housing markets now. Obviously the strategies for home selling should also change. For example Norfolk is one of the cities consisted in the 9 cities of Hamptons Road Metropolitan Area in Virginia State. This Independent but small city of 234,220 population (steadily maintained more or less from the year 2000) has 86,210 households.
As on date Norfolk has in its record 2,143 residential properties listed for sale, apart from 801 foreclosed properties under “distress sale”.
How you can act smart in the present situation?
Home owners wishing to sell their properties come from different walks of life, apart from business – salaried employee; self-employed professional, teacher, nurse, artist or anything you can think of. Justifiably these people cannot be expected to be wizards in real estate business and know the “tricks of the trade”. All they want is to sell their property listed in the housing market, as quickly as possible and at the price they have set and count the currency.
Go to the Norfolk example again. The property you want to get listed – either through MLS or FSBO – should get the attention of the buyer flipping through the photos and virtual tour videos of 2,143 properties available for sale at Norfolk housing market. How to do this?
This is where Home Staging comes into the picture and helps you achieve the desired result.
Create “Love at first sight” situation for your property.
When a prospective buyer sees a property, the first and foremost thing attracts them is the “curb appeal” – meaning how a property looks at the first glance. An Accredited Home Stage professional can make this happen. By magnifying the advantages of your home and reducing the disadvantages to the best extent possible, your property can make the buyer exclaim “Wow….this is what I have been looking for”. From the outside appearance to the interior decoration and arrangement, a professional Home Staging service can work like magic.
Is Home Staging a costly affair?
Not necessarily – an Accredited Home Staging professional works in consultation with you, to suit your budget and enhances the return on investment manifold.
For all your queries in respect of your individual Home Staging requirements, there is an expert – seasoned realtor-turned Accredit Home Staging professional - waiting to provide answers at http://xanadustaging.com/. You can get in touch obligation-free.
• Purchasing a new home
• Relocating to some other place for whatever reason
• Personal reasons like meeting financial commitments and in need of cash
and so on.
What a home seller wants?
Without exception, all home sellers want their property to be sold for the right price they are setting (asking price) and quickly without delay. They want the right purchaser to buy the home and make payment without any hassles.
Towards this objective, they resort to the help of a real estate agent and list their property for sale in the housing market of their area.
How is the present day US Housing Market?
“Down” is the right word to describe the condition of all US housing markets. For quite some years now, there is a flood of foreclosure properties made available for home buyers. The result is - it has become a strenuous task to sell off a home in the open market. Unsold properties are piling up in the inventory and for months they are unable to see a qualified buyer.
Overall, hundreds of thousands of homes are lying unsold for months in the sluggish US housing markets now. Obviously the strategies for home selling should also change. For example Norfolk is one of the cities consisted in the 9 cities of Hamptons Road Metropolitan Area in Virginia State. This Independent but small city of 234,220 population (steadily maintained more or less from the year 2000) has 86,210 households.
As on date Norfolk has in its record 2,143 residential properties listed for sale, apart from 801 foreclosed properties under “distress sale”.
How you can act smart in the present situation?
Home owners wishing to sell their properties come from different walks of life, apart from business – salaried employee; self-employed professional, teacher, nurse, artist or anything you can think of. Justifiably these people cannot be expected to be wizards in real estate business and know the “tricks of the trade”. All they want is to sell their property listed in the housing market, as quickly as possible and at the price they have set and count the currency.
Go to the Norfolk example again. The property you want to get listed – either through MLS or FSBO – should get the attention of the buyer flipping through the photos and virtual tour videos of 2,143 properties available for sale at Norfolk housing market. How to do this?
This is where Home Staging comes into the picture and helps you achieve the desired result.
Create “Love at first sight” situation for your property.
When a prospective buyer sees a property, the first and foremost thing attracts them is the “curb appeal” – meaning how a property looks at the first glance. An Accredited Home Stage professional can make this happen. By magnifying the advantages of your home and reducing the disadvantages to the best extent possible, your property can make the buyer exclaim “Wow….this is what I have been looking for”. From the outside appearance to the interior decoration and arrangement, a professional Home Staging service can work like magic.
Is Home Staging a costly affair?
Not necessarily – an Accredited Home Staging professional works in consultation with you, to suit your budget and enhances the return on investment manifold.
For all your queries in respect of your individual Home Staging requirements, there is an expert – seasoned realtor-turned Accredit Home Staging professional - waiting to provide answers at http://xanadustaging.com/. You can get in touch obligation-free.
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
What is Home Staging and How You Can Be Benefited?
Precisely it is a proven system to prepare your home for sale in such a way it looks most appealing to the prospective buyer. In this process, an Accredited Home Staging professional will magnify the advantages your home already has and would reduce the negatives to the best extent possible.
Why do Home Staging?
A good question. Well - let's face it - the US housing market is not what it was for decades. Gone are those days when home sellers were having the final say. Selling a home was easy just by listing it and setting the asking price. Virtually the home seller selected the buyer, among the many contenders for pricey locations, and put forth conditions of sale.
Now thanks to the tidal wave of foreclosure properties flooding the real estate market, it has become a buyers' market, where as many as 11 housing properties are made available with same qualifications, while searching online for a home. So home sellers have to change their strategies accordingly to impress upon the buyers.
Know the competition existing:
For example in Virginia Beach, VA, according to latest reports there are 4,300 properties listed for sale in MLS along with 1,287 properties listed for distressed sale under foreclosure. The inventory of unsold properties is mounting and your property will be lying one among them - if you do not use your prudence to make it heads above the other attractive properties, to pull the attention of the searcher like a piece of iron to magnet, to your property.
Home Staging will make the difference?
In a competitive market - consumer goods or real estate - the packaging does the trick. In a supermarket you have gone for shopping - which attracts your attention first - the beautifully displayed items or the sack-packs lying on the floor? Likewise your house put in the market for sale is a commodity that should attract those entering the store - the online list of properties for sale.
What is needed for Home Staging?
Nothing more than the realistic approach to the situation. Yes - your house is comfortable for you and you love it for the reason that you hard-earned it, but the buyer can't necessarily see this. You think your house needs no Home Staging and why should you spend extra money when you are selling. If this is your line of thinking - sorry - you are missing a lot.
Forget for a while you are the owner of the house and step into the shoes of the buyer you want to buy your home. From the front door to the backyard - if you view with a critical eye, you are sure to find many "ifs" and "buts" to deter the buyer from appreciating the house.
This is exactly where an Accredited Home Staging professional can do magic. They know - by experience and expertise gained through staging a number of houses, how to make your home look pleasing to the buyers on all aspects. And ultimately you are going to reap the harvest of profits - many times more than the cost of Home Staging - in making your home sell in faster and at the price you ask for.
Home Staging is many faceted subject - go to www.xanadustaging.com - you will learn a lot and get more tips absolutely free.
Why do Home Staging?
A good question. Well - let's face it - the US housing market is not what it was for decades. Gone are those days when home sellers were having the final say. Selling a home was easy just by listing it and setting the asking price. Virtually the home seller selected the buyer, among the many contenders for pricey locations, and put forth conditions of sale.
Now thanks to the tidal wave of foreclosure properties flooding the real estate market, it has become a buyers' market, where as many as 11 housing properties are made available with same qualifications, while searching online for a home. So home sellers have to change their strategies accordingly to impress upon the buyers.
Know the competition existing:
For example in Virginia Beach, VA, according to latest reports there are 4,300 properties listed for sale in MLS along with 1,287 properties listed for distressed sale under foreclosure. The inventory of unsold properties is mounting and your property will be lying one among them - if you do not use your prudence to make it heads above the other attractive properties, to pull the attention of the searcher like a piece of iron to magnet, to your property.
Home Staging will make the difference?
In a competitive market - consumer goods or real estate - the packaging does the trick. In a supermarket you have gone for shopping - which attracts your attention first - the beautifully displayed items or the sack-packs lying on the floor? Likewise your house put in the market for sale is a commodity that should attract those entering the store - the online list of properties for sale.
What is needed for Home Staging?
Nothing more than the realistic approach to the situation. Yes - your house is comfortable for you and you love it for the reason that you hard-earned it, but the buyer can't necessarily see this. You think your house needs no Home Staging and why should you spend extra money when you are selling. If this is your line of thinking - sorry - you are missing a lot.
Forget for a while you are the owner of the house and step into the shoes of the buyer you want to buy your home. From the front door to the backyard - if you view with a critical eye, you are sure to find many "ifs" and "buts" to deter the buyer from appreciating the house.
This is exactly where an Accredited Home Staging professional can do magic. They know - by experience and expertise gained through staging a number of houses, how to make your home look pleasing to the buyers on all aspects. And ultimately you are going to reap the harvest of profits - many times more than the cost of Home Staging - in making your home sell in faster and at the price you ask for.
Home Staging is many faceted subject - go to www.xanadustaging.com - you will learn a lot and get more tips absolutely free.
Friday, March 26, 2010
Have Free Darshan of Lord Balaji of India
You know Lord Balaji is the richest Temple and Deity in India!
Any Indian wherever he is will immediately recognize him.
Devotees from all over India and abroad throng His Temple
Just to have a glimpse of Him….
They don’t mind the hassles, inconveniences and discomforts in waiting to have Balaji Dharshan! You know why? They have unassailable faith in Him..and faith can move mountains. Psychologically also when millions of people send in their waves of mind in a particular place, the shrine gets power … a power that heals, fulfills wishes and gives immense mental peace and harmony.
Instead of undergoing all the above hassles in visiting His Temple, you can have Balaji Darshan – a rare dharshan, for which many are ready to spend thousands of rupees, totally FREE.
Believe in HIM and HE will take care of all your Wishes. Today is Saturday, considered auspicious to have Balaji Dharshan…… Enjoy!
Saturday, March 20, 2010
Are you really interested in losing weight?
Obesity is a universal problem. Being overweight is the concern of many and so if you feel you are bulky than others, don’t worry – you are not alone and have company. Overweight is certainly manageable and controllable – if only you understand the real facts about obesity and are determined to bring it to normalcy.
There are hundreds of thousands of articles on “weight loss” if you search online. All of them are unanimous in proclaiming that there are ways to combat this problem, depending on individual lifestyles. There are no “one size fits to all” methods to bring down overweight of a person.
Broadly it can be said that a person gets overweight by –
Food intake habits – the calories taken in through the food items not spent properly and excess fat and glucose gets deposited inside the body cells
Lack of physical activity – eating, sleeping and eating again
Inherited from parents.
Let’s see in detail.
Food intake habits:
This changes from country to country and from person to person. While the Europeans eat bread and meat dishes, the Asians mostly eat rice and vegetables. It is said that obesity remains a main matter of concern in European countries, particularly among the younger generations. Reason being - the present day world is hectic compared to olden days, in running after money frantically.
The fast food culture is spreading like epidemic. Youngsters have no time to sit at the dining table and eat what their mothers carefully prepare for them. (It's a different matter that many mothers work and do not have time to create nutritious meals for their family) Instead they snatch some snacks in fast-food outlets and down them with aerated drinks like coke. Very easily these junk food items damage the digestive organs, which convert the food you intake into energy, and spoil the natural routine functions inside.
Secondly, there is no alternative than pure and simple water, to help your body organs to digest your food well. Aerated drinks are deadly in this regard – the chemicals and gas contained therein are enough to spoil your digestion.
Thirdly, your body needs a balanced meal every time. Therefore eat Carbohydrates, fat, fiber, minerals and vitamins mixed in correct proportions. This is elementary science.
Vegetables have plenty of these essential ingredients. So if you are conscious about you’re keeping good health and correct weight, take a note of all the above points. Concentrate on your food habits and ensure you eat good and balanced food each time. See your plate is filled with bread, meat, vegetables and monounsaturated fat items every time and in the right proportions. Be conscious about your weight whenever you sit for eating. Take plenty of plain water between meals. This is the first step you should take in losing extra weight and keep fit.
Lack of Physical activity:
As we did see already – the food intake is converted into energy inside your body cells. This energy should be spent every day in your physical activities – walking, running, riding, swimming, and physical exercises. If not, there is stagnation of glucose in your blood and body cells, which gets deposited as unwanted fat in bringing lot of disorders and diseases like – blood sugar; blood pressure; high cholesterol and overweight.
Be aware – but don’t be scared – overweight is the reason for inviting more troubles like heart attack, coronary blocks, kidney overwork; and simply taxing every functional organs inside your body unduly.
So the next step in controlling your body weight is ensuring appropriate spending of energy in the right way. If you are already getting the proper exercise there is no need for this advice. Instead, if you have no physical activities in your work – for example sitting in an office and whiling away your time without moving, then you should seriously consider doing physical exercises in the morning each day. It is not hard as you may think – some simple exercise of moving your head, limbs and walking for just half-an-hour will do.
Inheritance from your parents:
You can’t expect to be a slim person, if your father or mother was obese. All you can do is adopt precautionary measures explained above and be vigilant about your weight. It is quite normal that you are somewhat bulky like your parents – so far as you are aware of the causes being overweight.
Do you need “dieting”?
Experts are of the opinion this is a myth, believed by people widely. You should understand that putting overweight does not occur overnight. It is a slow process, taking at least months, if not years. So the reduction in weight can also occur over a period gradually.
There are no short cuts or crash courses for making you slim. The ads saying so are keen on your money – if you undertake these courses – well – only your wallet will become “slim” and not your body.
Finally – Remember – controlling your body weight is completely in your hands. Your body is unique, which only you are aware of. There can be no generalization, since your obesity depends on many factors illustrated above. If you are really interested in losing weight – believe it – you can definitely do so, by following the tips most suitable to you as an individual. All the Best!
There are hundreds of thousands of articles on “weight loss” if you search online. All of them are unanimous in proclaiming that there are ways to combat this problem, depending on individual lifestyles. There are no “one size fits to all” methods to bring down overweight of a person.
Broadly it can be said that a person gets overweight by –
Food intake habits – the calories taken in through the food items not spent properly and excess fat and glucose gets deposited inside the body cells
Lack of physical activity – eating, sleeping and eating again
Inherited from parents.
Let’s see in detail.
Food intake habits:
This changes from country to country and from person to person. While the Europeans eat bread and meat dishes, the Asians mostly eat rice and vegetables. It is said that obesity remains a main matter of concern in European countries, particularly among the younger generations. Reason being - the present day world is hectic compared to olden days, in running after money frantically.
The fast food culture is spreading like epidemic. Youngsters have no time to sit at the dining table and eat what their mothers carefully prepare for them. (It's a different matter that many mothers work and do not have time to create nutritious meals for their family) Instead they snatch some snacks in fast-food outlets and down them with aerated drinks like coke. Very easily these junk food items damage the digestive organs, which convert the food you intake into energy, and spoil the natural routine functions inside.
Secondly, there is no alternative than pure and simple water, to help your body organs to digest your food well. Aerated drinks are deadly in this regard – the chemicals and gas contained therein are enough to spoil your digestion.
Thirdly, your body needs a balanced meal every time. Therefore eat Carbohydrates, fat, fiber, minerals and vitamins mixed in correct proportions. This is elementary science.
Vegetables have plenty of these essential ingredients. So if you are conscious about you’re keeping good health and correct weight, take a note of all the above points. Concentrate on your food habits and ensure you eat good and balanced food each time. See your plate is filled with bread, meat, vegetables and monounsaturated fat items every time and in the right proportions. Be conscious about your weight whenever you sit for eating. Take plenty of plain water between meals. This is the first step you should take in losing extra weight and keep fit.
Lack of Physical activity:
As we did see already – the food intake is converted into energy inside your body cells. This energy should be spent every day in your physical activities – walking, running, riding, swimming, and physical exercises. If not, there is stagnation of glucose in your blood and body cells, which gets deposited as unwanted fat in bringing lot of disorders and diseases like – blood sugar; blood pressure; high cholesterol and overweight.
Be aware – but don’t be scared – overweight is the reason for inviting more troubles like heart attack, coronary blocks, kidney overwork; and simply taxing every functional organs inside your body unduly.
So the next step in controlling your body weight is ensuring appropriate spending of energy in the right way. If you are already getting the proper exercise there is no need for this advice. Instead, if you have no physical activities in your work – for example sitting in an office and whiling away your time without moving, then you should seriously consider doing physical exercises in the morning each day. It is not hard as you may think – some simple exercise of moving your head, limbs and walking for just half-an-hour will do.
Inheritance from your parents:
You can’t expect to be a slim person, if your father or mother was obese. All you can do is adopt precautionary measures explained above and be vigilant about your weight. It is quite normal that you are somewhat bulky like your parents – so far as you are aware of the causes being overweight.
Do you need “dieting”?
Experts are of the opinion this is a myth, believed by people widely. You should understand that putting overweight does not occur overnight. It is a slow process, taking at least months, if not years. So the reduction in weight can also occur over a period gradually.
There are no short cuts or crash courses for making you slim. The ads saying so are keen on your money – if you undertake these courses – well – only your wallet will become “slim” and not your body.
Finally – Remember – controlling your body weight is completely in your hands. Your body is unique, which only you are aware of. There can be no generalization, since your obesity depends on many factors illustrated above. If you are really interested in losing weight – believe it – you can definitely do so, by following the tips most suitable to you as an individual. All the Best!
How to write a College Admission Essay?
You can write a College Admission Essay easily – If only You Understand the Objective Fully.
Are you facing the College Admission Process? Advance Congrats for your success. You will certainly come out successful by learning the intricacies involved – including writing a College Admission Essay – in getting you admitted in a good College or University of your choice.
First of all think about it – why a College Admission Essay is insisted upon? Well – it is the way the Admission Committee – more specifically the Admission Officer – would come to know about your vision, capabilities, line of thinking, mental attitude and comprehensively your inner-self as a person. They are anxious to select a bright student, rather than a clumsy one.
Things are not as what they were in every field – including college admission. There is stiff competition and hundreds of applicants are in the fray for a single seat. More so in the case of Colleges and Universities of fame. Obviously, the admission authorities are compelled to be choosy, to select the best among the bests.
So if you wish to stand a good chance in their selection process, the only opportunity you have is to impress upon them - your individuality, uniqueness and your standing above the rest, through the College Admission Essay. This is a tool completely under your control, since other aspects like your previous records, grades, past achievements, extra-curricular activities etc. can only support your claim for admission.
Simply put, your College Admission Essay will speak for you. Hence you have to make best use of this opportunity in your own interest. Your Essay will be not more than 500 words at best and can be perused within 2 to 3 minutes, to decide upon your admission or rejection.
This follows – you should attach utmost importance to your College Admission Essay. Remember – the reader of your Essay has the experience and expertise, having scrutinized hundreds of similar Essays earlier. The moment they see it – they will come to know the in and out of you. Therefore a well written College Admission Essay with care and caution will make you in good stead.
But that does not mean they are expecting you to be a Milton or Mark Twine, to write a great Essay. All that is wanted is a simple, honest, truthful and flawless narration of anything – an idea; a thesis; an event or your personal experience in your past life. You need not take great problems to analyze, like down-turn Global economy; Global warming; Presidential election etc. Instead you can write about what you feel on human sufferings; friendship; love; or even your pet dog.
The reader should get absorbed from the beginning to the end of your College Admission Essay – the theme; the flow; simple and clear use of words; clarity on what you wish to tell the reader in an authoritative style. You should take care to edit your Essay – expert writers recommend at least 6 times –before submitting it finally.
That’s all – you are done – you have made a very impressive and purposeful College Admission Essay.
Are you facing the College Admission Process? Advance Congrats for your success. You will certainly come out successful by learning the intricacies involved – including writing a College Admission Essay – in getting you admitted in a good College or University of your choice.
First of all think about it – why a College Admission Essay is insisted upon? Well – it is the way the Admission Committee – more specifically the Admission Officer – would come to know about your vision, capabilities, line of thinking, mental attitude and comprehensively your inner-self as a person. They are anxious to select a bright student, rather than a clumsy one.
Things are not as what they were in every field – including college admission. There is stiff competition and hundreds of applicants are in the fray for a single seat. More so in the case of Colleges and Universities of fame. Obviously, the admission authorities are compelled to be choosy, to select the best among the bests.
So if you wish to stand a good chance in their selection process, the only opportunity you have is to impress upon them - your individuality, uniqueness and your standing above the rest, through the College Admission Essay. This is a tool completely under your control, since other aspects like your previous records, grades, past achievements, extra-curricular activities etc. can only support your claim for admission.
Simply put, your College Admission Essay will speak for you. Hence you have to make best use of this opportunity in your own interest. Your Essay will be not more than 500 words at best and can be perused within 2 to 3 minutes, to decide upon your admission or rejection.
This follows – you should attach utmost importance to your College Admission Essay. Remember – the reader of your Essay has the experience and expertise, having scrutinized hundreds of similar Essays earlier. The moment they see it – they will come to know the in and out of you. Therefore a well written College Admission Essay with care and caution will make you in good stead.
But that does not mean they are expecting you to be a Milton or Mark Twine, to write a great Essay. All that is wanted is a simple, honest, truthful and flawless narration of anything – an idea; a thesis; an event or your personal experience in your past life. You need not take great problems to analyze, like down-turn Global economy; Global warming; Presidential election etc. Instead you can write about what you feel on human sufferings; friendship; love; or even your pet dog.
The reader should get absorbed from the beginning to the end of your College Admission Essay – the theme; the flow; simple and clear use of words; clarity on what you wish to tell the reader in an authoritative style. You should take care to edit your Essay – expert writers recommend at least 6 times –before submitting it finally.
That’s all – you are done – you have made a very impressive and purposeful College Admission Essay.
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Free learning e-Course : Want to become a Writer?(Part 9)
Chapter I : Basics
Writers are not born (continued)
Any one can become a Writer, if only they cultivate the skill of writing – that is expressing the thoughts into words. This becomes possible by clubbing your observation with imagination. Let us see an example. You witness a road accident. You observe every detail about the accident keenly and store in your mind.
Now supposing you are to write a news story, to be published on a news paper (whether online or offline) about the accident above, your observation helps in providing the exact details to the reader. News reporting is one among the varieties of writing skills (we are going to see later in this e-course). You could have seen the news about the same accident gets published in different news papers in different ways. All of them can never change the abstract details of the accident that has already happened.
How come then different versions are being published? Think about it. You will understand that it is the imagination of the particular reporter, who contributed that news story, makes all the difference. So you can see very well, if observation is clubbed with imagination, the same news can be projected in multi-various ways to the outside world.
The same example equally applies in other branches of writing skills as well. A story writer uses imagination to describe vividly all the details of real-life accident in a fiction; a drama writer uses the details for dialogue; and an article writer can make use of it whenever and wherever wanted. The opportunities are endless.
So now you are able to understand that if you have the writer’s mental attitude, you start to observe everything around you. Daily occurrences, habits of people, mentality of persons you come across, books you read, chat with friends – every other thing you name.
The transformation in you takes place slowly, gradually but definitely, when you observe with a keen attention and switch on your imagination. Talking of observation it leads inevitably to paying “attention”. Unfortunately this is what is lacking in a huge number of persons among us.
A friend will be talking to you something important, but your mind will be somewhere else. You fail to pay attention to what the friend is telling and thus lose observation power. You will be reading a book, which tells you the ways and means of improving yourself. If your mind is wavering – only eyes will be reading the lines printed and you will lose very useful information by not paying “attention”
More about paying attention later.
Writers are not born (continued)
Any one can become a Writer, if only they cultivate the skill of writing – that is expressing the thoughts into words. This becomes possible by clubbing your observation with imagination. Let us see an example. You witness a road accident. You observe every detail about the accident keenly and store in your mind.
Now supposing you are to write a news story, to be published on a news paper (whether online or offline) about the accident above, your observation helps in providing the exact details to the reader. News reporting is one among the varieties of writing skills (we are going to see later in this e-course). You could have seen the news about the same accident gets published in different news papers in different ways. All of them can never change the abstract details of the accident that has already happened.
How come then different versions are being published? Think about it. You will understand that it is the imagination of the particular reporter, who contributed that news story, makes all the difference. So you can see very well, if observation is clubbed with imagination, the same news can be projected in multi-various ways to the outside world.
The same example equally applies in other branches of writing skills as well. A story writer uses imagination to describe vividly all the details of real-life accident in a fiction; a drama writer uses the details for dialogue; and an article writer can make use of it whenever and wherever wanted. The opportunities are endless.
So now you are able to understand that if you have the writer’s mental attitude, you start to observe everything around you. Daily occurrences, habits of people, mentality of persons you come across, books you read, chat with friends – every other thing you name.
The transformation in you takes place slowly, gradually but definitely, when you observe with a keen attention and switch on your imagination. Talking of observation it leads inevitably to paying “attention”. Unfortunately this is what is lacking in a huge number of persons among us.
A friend will be talking to you something important, but your mind will be somewhere else. You fail to pay attention to what the friend is telling and thus lose observation power. You will be reading a book, which tells you the ways and means of improving yourself. If your mind is wavering – only eyes will be reading the lines printed and you will lose very useful information by not paying “attention”
More about paying attention later.
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
Free learning e-Course : Want to become a Writer?(Part 8)
Chapter I : Basics
Writers are not born (continued)
You are going to become a Writer – one who is able to convey his or her thoughts to the outside world. This may be anything – a news report; an article; an essay; a story; novel or drama etc. And you are going to write so enchantingly, to make the reader absorbed into what you write. (Remember “Harry Potter” and how crazy the readers are to read more and more).
How this is possible? Well – you write about things you have observed in real life with little bit of your imagination. Things you observed (and not just seen) in a different way. J.K. Rowling pours words of her thoughts about a fantasy, centering on Harry, many of us wish to happen. The fact is the basis of that fantasy is her observation of many events in real life.
Your writing is going to reflect your observation power. In a road accident you witnessed, you observe many things. When you are required to narrate the accident, this observation of yours helps in giving even minute details. The reader is very much satisfied, if you write a news report, by getting all the details in a well-written report.
The same observation power is useful, if you are writing a story, where an accident scene comes. With your power of observation, you spin the words of that scene in the story, which is gripping and real, to get the reader glued to your story.
So make this point clear. People see occurrences every day. Only a writer “observes” all aspects of the occurrence and stores it inside the mind. This helps enormously in the writing skill, to express the thoughts into words and make the reader spell-bound.
Anybody wants to become a writer should practice this mental habit of “observation”. This is easy, now that you have understood the difference from mere “seeing” anything and “observing” the related aspects keenly. Your vision becomes broad and you stand out from the crowd. Simply from today start observing everything around you. You are sure to “see” a “sea” of difference. Positive.
We have been discussing how to become a writer. If you want to become a writer, first you should cultivate the mental abilities of a writer. Learning these mental abilities will promote you from just an ordinary person to become a Writer.
Number one is OBSERVATION. We will see what the others are…….(To be continued)
Writers are not born (continued)
You are going to become a Writer – one who is able to convey his or her thoughts to the outside world. This may be anything – a news report; an article; an essay; a story; novel or drama etc. And you are going to write so enchantingly, to make the reader absorbed into what you write. (Remember “Harry Potter” and how crazy the readers are to read more and more).
How this is possible? Well – you write about things you have observed in real life with little bit of your imagination. Things you observed (and not just seen) in a different way. J.K. Rowling pours words of her thoughts about a fantasy, centering on Harry, many of us wish to happen. The fact is the basis of that fantasy is her observation of many events in real life.
Your writing is going to reflect your observation power. In a road accident you witnessed, you observe many things. When you are required to narrate the accident, this observation of yours helps in giving even minute details. The reader is very much satisfied, if you write a news report, by getting all the details in a well-written report.
The same observation power is useful, if you are writing a story, where an accident scene comes. With your power of observation, you spin the words of that scene in the story, which is gripping and real, to get the reader glued to your story.
So make this point clear. People see occurrences every day. Only a writer “observes” all aspects of the occurrence and stores it inside the mind. This helps enormously in the writing skill, to express the thoughts into words and make the reader spell-bound.
Anybody wants to become a writer should practice this mental habit of “observation”. This is easy, now that you have understood the difference from mere “seeing” anything and “observing” the related aspects keenly. Your vision becomes broad and you stand out from the crowd. Simply from today start observing everything around you. You are sure to “see” a “sea” of difference. Positive.
We have been discussing how to become a writer. If you want to become a writer, first you should cultivate the mental abilities of a writer. Learning these mental abilities will promote you from just an ordinary person to become a Writer.
Number one is OBSERVATION. We will see what the others are…….(To be continued)
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