Briargreen (Ottawa, ON)
By Valerie Zinger, Home Organizer
(House Proud Ottawa-Ontario-Canada)
Last week I was planning an Open House on one of my listings.  During the week, a house across the street had come on the market and the agent scheduled an Open House for the same day and same time as mine was scheduled.   Wow, I thought, this is terrific as we will have increased traffic.   Sure enough, it was a very busy afternoon.  I never got around to visiting the other house but the people who came to my Open House commented and compared both homes.  A lightbulb came on that day. If you are planning an Open House, check top see if other homes in the area are for sale.  Call the listing agents and determine if they would like to plan a joint Open House tour.  It may be two houses.  It may be 5 or more but the greater the number, the more people who will attend.  Picture your sign ...
Comments 101
By Valerie Zinger, Home Organizer
(House Proud Ottawa-Ontario-Canada)
If you have a counter in the bathroom or kitchen that has a lot of little containers, collect them and put them on a tray.  Your eye sees many little things such as tissues, cotton ball container and a soap pump as three things BUT if they are on a tray, they look like one item and less cluttered to the eye. The photo was taken in my kitchen.  I put the paper towel holder, the kleenex container (see the black item on the left), salt and pepper grinders, the dogs' treat bowl and one or two little bags of treats all in that little tray.  It has freed up counter space and looks organized.  In addition to this tray, I also have three on the kitchen table - one for the condiments and serviettes and one for my husband and me (we put all those little things in them that just seem to float aro...
Comments 27
By Valerie Zinger, Home Organizer
(House Proud Ottawa-Ontario-Canada)
I wanted to make something fun for my Open House last Sunday.   I normally have a small bowl of lifesaver mints (individually wrapped) and some packets of Red Zinger tea.  Just a bit boring.  I found a cute recipe for cookie hamburgers.  Basically, a box of Nilla cookies, a can of icing, red and green food colouring, big shreds of coconut and some little chocolate chocolate-chip cookies.   What took me the most time - finding the right little 'hamburger" cookies.  Hand to the good book (Paula Deen's cookbook where the basic ingredient of EVERY recipe is butter or cream or both), I have never bought a can of icing in my life.  Can't say I would do it again but this was for fun and for others so....  This photo is close to how my hamburgers looked - I omitted the sesame seeds and didn't m...
Comments 97
By Valerie Zinger, Home Organizer
(House Proud Ottawa-Ontario-Canada)
Open House protocol came into question yesterday.  A few visitors asked me if they should ring the bell and wait for the agent or just walk into the house.  I said - Please ring the bell to let me know that there is someone there and then walk in -  if the door is unlocked.  The door would only be locked if there were too many people in the house and I needed to crowd control.  I said that if I was tied up (hopefully just figuratively) with other visitors in another part of the home, I would like to know that someone else is coming in the house AND I would not expect them to wait for several minutes at the door until I could free myself from the other people.  Another question was - shoes or bare feet?  Well, it was hot yesterday but, when asked, I said that the homeowner would prefer t...
Comments 61
By Valerie Zinger, Home Organizer
(House Proud Ottawa-Ontario-Canada)
The listing went up on Wednesday and there have been several inquiries and visits from Buyers.   The Sellers have chosen a project every year to upgrade their home.   The long list of improvements and updates provide Buyers with assurance that this home has been maintained.  The expensive things such as the roof, conversion to gas and new windows since 2005 have all been done.   On Sunday there will be an Open House from 2:00 - 4:00.  Hope to see you there. 
Comments 4
By Valerie Zinger, Home Organizer
(House Proud Ottawa-Ontario-Canada)
Today I am reminded of the saying "Never Say Never".  I was commenting on a post about moving and said that I had promised my husband that, if we bought our current house, we would never have to move again.  Well, I am not moving now but I spend a lot of time looking at houses and I always look for the next house.  The reality of life is that we can seldom say 'Never" and know that we can stick to it. In French there is an expression that means "Never say never".  Translated (poorly by me) the expression is:  Never say "Fountain, I will never drink from your water." Il ne faut jamais dire "Fontaine, je ne boirai pas de ton eau!" We can all think of times when we did something we said we would never do - zipline, take on family as clients, sell in the country, work on a team, drive a SUV...
Comments 20
By Valerie Zinger, Home Organizer
(House Proud Ottawa-Ontario-Canada)
The three factors for home selling are price, condition and location.  When considering location, most people think of city versus rural, urban versus suburban, neighbourhoods, streets, etc.   Now, think for a minute that there are homes around golf courses, parks and cemeteries.  All of these are nice green spaces, normally quiet and gives those backing onto them lots of privacy.  However, cemeteries are not considered by many as good neighbhourhood features.  Some cultures will not live anywhere near a cemetery - from 1,000 feet to 5 miles away.   Feng Shui practitioners think that there is negative energy emanating from those buried.  For others, a cemetery is just plain creepy, eerie and disturbing.  Dead people, wilting flowers, visitors on key days such as Mother's Day, Easter an...
Comments 25
Ottawa, ON Real Estate Professionals