Tuesday, June 18, 2019

Real Estate Pros Say These Design Trends Don’t Work

Real estate professionals know how to look at houses from a buyer’s perspective and can spot decor trends that are likely to turn their clients off. “I am selling space, and I need to be sure that the spaces are not distracting and that the buyer does not have to work too hard to take in the overall size, proportion, and scale of a room,” Robin Kencel of Compass told Apartment Therapy.
Some of today’s most popular design trends could prove to be less than ideal for your buyers. Real estate pros tell Apartment Therapy which interior design trends they believe won’t impress potential buyers—and may even make them want to pass on a home, including:
Colorful kitchens. The trend toward bold colors in the kitchen, rather than just white or neutral colors, is catching on. But real estate pros don’t believe that most buyers will warm up to this hot trend. Bright kitchen cabinets and appliances—in hues of reds, greens, or blues—can be polarizing, they say. “When that owner goes to sell his/her [home] years down the road, the next owner will likely reject that customization and will have to rip out and install a new kitchen, even if the cabinets and appliances are in great condition,” June Gottlieb, an agent with Warburg Realty, told Apartment Therapy. Gottlieb believes neutral appliances and cabinetry still are the true favorite of home buyers.
Taxidermy. The art of stuffing and mounting animals on the wall may offend some buyers. “While it might be natural for a decorator to include taxidermy into the room decor, I always recommend removing any once-living animals from a room before the house gets listed,” Kencel says. “I have seen buyers physically recoil and refuse to enter a room that has taxidermy in it.” The same thing applies to fur accessories and animal skin rugs; some buyers may be sensitive to their use as well.
Bold contrasts. The black-and-white trend in home decor is catching on, but real estate pros told Apartment Therapy they don’t believe it works when showing off a home for sale. “While some might like this bold look, it is really not for everyone,” says Kathryn Landow of Warburg Realty. Black-and-white marbled entries, accessories, and color blocking in cabinetry can prove to be a little much. Any use of the black-and-white trend is best kept to decorative accents, real estate pros say. Those are much cheaper to swap out than tile or marble flooring or kitchen cabinetry.

SOURCE: DAILY REAL ESTATE NEWS
Any questions or comments, feel free to contact James Y. Kuang at (626) 371-5662 or by email:  james@standardprosperity.com    
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Tuesday, June 4, 2019

Uber Drivers Being Used as Scouts for Home Flippers

Real estate firms are hiring ride-sharing drivers from Uber and Lyft to serve as their personal searchers for their next big house flip project. The drivers are being hired to keep a watchful eye along their routes for that next diamond in the rough that can be transformed and flipped for a profit at resale.
For example, one firm called CORI hires drivers to identify homes on their routes that the real estate firm can buy to flip. Drivers are trained to spot strong house-flipping candidates, looking for issues such as warning notices on the doors, overgrown yards, abandoned cars in the backyard, and piled-up mail.
“It’s a great way to be able to reach areas that I can’t drive around town all day,” Scott Sekulow, who runs a HomeVestors franchise in Atlanta, told The Wall Street Journal. “You don’t need a lot to know the house needs repairs.”
Drivers earn a fee for their help, either a sales commission or a fee for each productive lead they submit. The compensation method varies by firm. Some drivers get paid for pictures they submit of possible property candidates.
“You kind of have to make it worth their while because it can be a long time between when that deal comes in and when you actually close,” Krystal Polite, co-founder of Polite Properties in Adamance County, N.C., told WSJ. Polite Properties hires drivers to find potential flip houses in 20 states.
Eric Richner, the co-founder of CORI, also told WSJ he has about 100 drivers working for him, but he hopes to have 1,000 by the end of the year. Investors hope the added help in scouts will cut down on time wasted in search for their next flip.
House flipping has become big business among real estate firms; 40% of flips are now made by companies rather than individuals, according to CoreLogic, a real estate data firm.

SOURCE: DAILY REAL ESTATE NEWS
Any questions or comments, feel free to contact James Y. Kuang at (626) 371-5662 or by email:  james@standardprosperity.com    
www.easyhomeresource.com
www.facebook.com/JamesYKuang