Furnished Apartment Listings and How to Make Yours Standout (as seen on Huffingtonpost.com)

Posted on May 5, 2012
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No one should underestimate the art of genuine estate videos and the filmmakers that generate them. Not just does it involve showing properties which can be for sale by owner, however it also showcases the skills with the filmmaker. That’s why I’d prefer to salute those unheralded filmmakers and their low-budget masterpieces- who master the art of real estate videos

Stars of Video: A West L.A. property. A closet! A shower! A shed inside the backyard. Will we uncover a body hidden in the shed inside the backyard?

I just saw the original Friday the 13th movie. The shaky, hand-held camera operate in this video is reminiscent of John Carpenter’s nightmarish scenes — which permit us to be inside the thoughts of the killer as he searches, room-from-room in these accommodations, for his next victim. The search becomes a lot more frantic as we move throughout the property. I almost anticipate a Psycho scene as we see a hand open the shower door. The dark, shadowy, cinematography lends itself to the horror genre. The melancholy piano music does wonders to set the tone. The video ends inside the shed within the backyard exactly where we practically expected to discover some thing unpleasant.

Let’s us know your thoughts on the cinematic top quality of the true estate video within the comments below!

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Why Choose Corporate Rentals Over Hotels?

Posted on January 4, 2012
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If your company has to send employees places on a regular basis, you will know how expensive it can be. If it really can’t be avoided, you want to save as much money as possible. You want to provide a safe place for your people to stay while not bankrupting yourself doing it. That’s where corporate rentals come in.

It isn’t often that you get more for less, but in this case you really do. For stays over a month, renting a furnished apartment offers some of the best value for money out there. Even hotels are waking up to the competition, which is why many are slashing their long-term rates. However, unless they begin to offer suites as part of the deal, they simply cannot compete.

Take the average furnished apartment. It will be somewhere between 1,000 and 2,000 square feet, fully furnished, in good condition, will have nice furniture, decent appliances and all the comforts of home. All for anything up to 20 percent less than a hotel room. Which would you rather stay in for a month? A single room in a hotel, or a furnished apartment?

Hotels do have a distinct advantage in being able to offer room service, laundry, turn-down and housekeeping. However, after a few days, how appetizing is the overpriced, often poor quality food?

A furnished apartment is more work. Your people will have to cook for themselves or eat out. They will have to make their own beds, wash their own clothes, but will have somewhere nice to do it. In terms of morale, it’s a no brainer.

Hotels are perfect for a few days. They offer a nice change and the opportunity to be waited on hand and foot for a while. This can free the mind to concentrate on the reason for being there, working for you. However, for longer stays, hotels begin to work against you. Who doesn’t want to be looked after for a while? It’s natural to want this for a time, but can soon become tiresome.

Being stuck in a room for a long period of time, having to mix with the same people in the bar, having nothing much to do and no space to do it can cause some people to go stir crazy. To get the most out of your people, you need to give them space to breathe. That’s exactly what a furnished apartment offers.

It could be something as simple as having a decent-sized wardrobe to hang clothes in, a desk to work, or as important as space to entertain. You will know far better than us what motivates your people and what it likely to being their morale down.

What we can tell you is that using a furnished apartment for longer-term stays is guaranteed to make someone feel better, increase morale and offer far better value for money than a comparable hotel room.

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Welcome

Posted on December 1, 2011
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Value in Homeownership

Is there value in owning a home? The recently released 2010 National Association of REALTORS® Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers brings us some promising results. Today homeowners are living in their homes longer, and after several years of price declines, are seeing rises in home equity gains.

It was only earlier this decade that so many buyers jumped on the investment bandwagon. They bought and sold within incredibly short time frames, and walked away with profits. But as the booms busted, many sellers found they had bought at the top of the market and as prices corrected, they lost more than just dollars. Foreclosure rates skyrocketed. Historically, however, homeownership is a long term investment, and one that brings many rewards.

“Sellers who purchased at the top of the market and had to sell in a short time frame were hurt by the price correction, but the vast majority who are able to stay for a normal period of home ownership generally built enough equity to make a trade-up purchase,” NAR 2010 President Vicki Cox Golder said. “Despite swings in the housing market in recent years, the fact is most long-term owners see healthy gains in the value of their property.”

Golder also says the pattern of home buyers taking a long-term view has solidified over the past few years. “This underscores two simple facts – home ownership encourages stability, and the longer you own, the better your investment.”

Current market and economic conditions have created a shift from the house flipping ways of the boom. “The primary exception is for experienced investors, many of whom pay cash and are making renovations or improvements after a careful study of properties, neighborhoods and market demand,” Golder explained. “The house flipping and quick gains which occurred during the boom period were abnormal, driven by risky, easy-money financing that should never have been allowed in the market.”

American are still buying, however. And surveys have found there are particular reasons behind these purchases. These include the desire to own a home, the desire for a larger home, a change in family situation and taking advantage of the home buyer tax credit, a job-related move, and then the current supply of affordable homes.

And once they buy, homeowners are staying put longer. A typical seller has been in their home for 8 years, but the survey reveals first-time buyers are planning to stay for 10 years, and repeat buyers for 15 years.

Even with several years of price declines, the typical seller who purchased a home eight years ago experienced a median equity gain of $33,000, a 24 percent increase, while sellers who were in their homes for 11 to 15 years saw a median gain of 40 percent. So, once again buying for the long-term is steering its way back into value.

Published: November 9, 2010

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