What a little paint can do for a home

Maximum Value Budget Projects: Painting

By FrontDoor.com | Published: 11/08/2010

With the right color paint, a room can feel brighter, larger and cleaner.

Painting is a fundamental part of caring for your home. You can hide imperfections, show off architectural features and transform and preserve any space in the home. Remodeling, landscaping and other home projects can take a toll on your budget, but painting can transform any room with a few swipes of a brush. A room can feel brighter, larger and cleaner with the right color paint, and painting can immediately increase home value.
CURRENT TRENDS

• Ceiling paint. In older homes, the unfortunate and dated trend of popcorn ceilings can be a deterrent for potential buyers. Get rid of the textured treatment and go over the newly smooth ceiling with a color that complements the rest of your home. Usually a white or some sort of neutral shade will work best.
• Start with a smooth foundation. Painting a room will do you no good if you haven't primed the walls for painting. Patch holes and seal any cracks you come across to begin with a smooth foundation. According to appraisal expert, Leslie Sellers, president of the Appraisal Institute, getting the best result always comes from following one simple rule: "80 percent preparation and 20 percent paint."

BIGGEST MISTAKE
According to Sellers, if your home was built before 1978 and the paint has seen better days, you should consider getting rid of all old paint that most likely has traces of a lead base. "Talk to a professional about how to get rid of the lead-base paint safety, and start from scratch," says Sellers.
Secondly, once you have decided to paint, it's important to pair a room with the correct paint. It sounds simple, but without knowledge of what kind of paint to use, you could wind up doing more harm than good. Once you have decided where to paint, consult a professional at your local home improvement or paint store to find the best paint for that specific area. All those paint choices exist for a reason! Learning the fundamentals will help keep you from having to start from scratch. Once you learn the basics, terms like eggshell, latex, primer and textured won't seem so daunting.
EXPERT TIPS

• On a Budget: Make a big statement without taking up a significant amount of time and money by choosing two or three rooms in the home that get the most use or have the most work to be done. Paint those areas to brighten the space and renew their purpose. Dirty kitchen backsplashes or a bright-purple kid's room can be given new life with a neutral color that appeals to the masses.
• Mid-Range/High-End: Once you have a satisfactory referral, consult with a professional painting company or paint contractor that can come in and tackle designated -- or all -- areas of the home. Typically, with more than one set of hands to do the job and with years of experience under their belt, you can expect an efficient and high-quality job to be done. The time saved by allowing a professional to step in is often well worth the price.

High Gas Prices Trigger Changes in Buyer Behavior

The rise in gas prices is influencing buyer decisions as they shop for a new home, causing more buyers to make short commutes and home offices a top priority.

Seventy-five percent of the real estate professionals surveyed say the spike in gas prices is influencing their clients’ decisions on where to live. What’s more, if gas prices continue to increase, 93 percent predict that even more buyers will choose to live somewhere closer to their work.

Gas prices are topping $4 a gallon and higher, and are up about 30 percent over last year, which is starting to put a dent in many Americans’ pocketbook.

More real estate professionals also report that the rise in gas prices is prompting more buyers to look for homes that will allow them to work-from-home. Indeed, 77 percent of those surveyed say that more of their buyers are showing an interest in having a home office compared to five years ago.

Gas prices also seem to be spiking a renewed interest in urban living. More than half of real estate professionals surveyed say they are seeing more buyers wanting to target homes in urban areas compared to five years ago, citing shorter commute times, being able to walk to more places, and being near public transportation as the most likely reasons for the urban-area migration.

More buyers are also choosing homes closer to shops and services due to the increase in gas prices, according to the survey.

Buzy, Crazy and The TO Doer's --YAHOO Apps to Save time on the Run

Have you every wondered just how could you make your life more organized without all the sticky notes, yellow pads or scattered pieces of paper trying to keep your to-dos separated from your I wish I would have dones?

In todays life style we all over schedule ourselves with things we should do and things we would like to do. So here are a few apps that will help you get them DONE!!! And enjoy life along the way...

I just found this one and it is way cool organize all your reward cards in one location


Key Ring is the app that "brings 'em all together". Use it to scan &  store your existing loyalty cards, enroll in new loyalty programs, and  access exclusive coupons and discounts.




What is OPEN TABLE you ask yourself - Wow here your go...

OpenTable is a real-time restaurant reservation network that gives  diners, hotel concierges, and administrative professionals a live  Internet connection into the same computerized reservation books used by  thousands of the country's best restaurants



I dont leave in a crazy busy City but for those who do this would be great

Open Spot works by letting people who are leaving parking  spots share their spots with people who are searching for parking.


Start helping others find parking, and together we'll all  save time, save gas, and reduce pollution. Like to keep score? The more  open spots you mark, the more parking 'karma points' you'll get.



Find the best Bargins in town or hard to find stuff


Shopsavvy Find new ways to get the things you've scanned for even cheaper, learn about coupon codes, rebates, weekend sales and more. ShopSavvy 4 includes a rich set of tools to help you share the products  you scan and the prices you find on services such as Facebook, Twitter  and more.








Now that you have all these Apps running and you battery is dieing here is a quick way to kill them all with one click

Advance task Killer Just because Android apps have no "close" button doesn't mean they shut  down when you return to the home page or move on to another app. You  calendar, note pad, and programs in which you turn on event  notifications might periodically run in the background, depleting your  battery. Download and run Advanced Task Killer Free. You'll be amazed at  the apps that run on start-up without your knowledge.