This week my guest was Candita Clayton the most organized person I know. Candita’s company, Your Life Organized, can be an incredible help when you are selling your home. An organized home can reduce stress, minimize cleaning time, and help make everyday a little smoother.
 Selling your home doesn’t have to overwhelm you and  can actually be a great time to get rid of all those things  you no longer need. Candita  can offer a trained eye and a fresh perspective as well as an understanding as why change is good.
If you Google Candita, you will find her on her website, her blog, HGTV.com, and countless newspaper and magazine articals, and has just published a  fabulous new book, “Clean Your Home Healthy: Green Cleaning Made Easy“,  . This beautiful full-color book shows you how  easy it is to transition  into  non-toxic cleaning, one room at a time. As Candita said, “ The eco-organized home can give you peace of mind on two levels; first, that you have created the most healthful enviornment for your family, and second that your surroundings are peaceful and pleasing to you.”

 Candita recommends these five alternative cleaning products:

• Use hydrogen peroxide diluted with water to replace chlorine bleach, or use hydrogen peroxide straight for tough mold and mildew. ( try it on a test area first, as it can discolor like bleach)
• Replace spray cleaners with white vinegar diluted with water in a spray bottle to clean nearly any surface.
• Use a paste of lemon and baking soda instead of abrasive cleansers.
• Replace oven cleaners with a citrus-based cleaner or degreaser, or use baking soda, hot water and steel wool to clean ovens.
• Use castile soap diluted with water instead of petroleum-based cleaners.

This Week’s Real Estate Insight:

 American consumers want green products and services. In addition to being healthier to live in, homes that feature green elements will become increasingly more attractive and help to distinguish their position in the market.

Twenty years ago,  there was only This Old House to guide the do-it-yourselfer. Today HGTV, The Home and Garden Television network, is viewed by over 90 million households. Energetic  hosts like Krista Watterworth  have created wonderful  programs that entertain as well as inform.

 The explosive growth  of Home Depot and Lowes, one of HGTV’s largest adverisers, is a natural symbiotic progression as well. Studies show that recent home buyers spend  over $3,000 on home related purchases within the first year in a new home, bolstering the market value of homes, and creating higher and higher standards for levels of finish in houses on the market.

It is easy to get caught up in this whole phenomena, and contractors are famous for the “While we are at its” that can add thousands of dollars to a rehab. So this week we had Krista back with some great low to no cost ideas and some great tips to keep your rehab project in line. As Krista said, Renovations can be expensive but it can be worth the return on your investment, even in shaky economic times.
Here are  some of Krista’s ideas:

• Avoid Headaches-Don’t move plumbing just replace fixtures with the neutral version  white is always the least expensive because its mass produced.
• Adding a master suite is a great place to make a lasting impression on buyers (beware: can cost between $70-$100K). Other options: put a doorway between the master bedroom & hall bath or install a sink & free standing shower in the master closet.
• Try a facelift-New paint, a bath fitter system (goes right over old tub/shower alcove), and peel n’ stick vinyl floor tiles.
• Mid-range restoration-The national average for a 2007 mid-range bath renovation is $12-$15,000. You can earn back about 80% of that investment, sometimes depending on where you live. Quick fixes: replace lighting fixtures, paint cabinet doors & add new hardware, reglaze worn tub and tiles, and stylish faucets.
• Splurge!-A major redo with designer tub, new flooring, frameless glass shower doors, granite countertops, basin vessel sinks and multiple shower heads can cost as much as $35-$50,000 (National Association of Home Builders).

Krista can be seen on two upcoming HGTV specials; “You Should Live Here”, debuting in April and ” 25 Biggest Decorating Mistakes” in May, she will be back in 2009 with a new show, ” Splurge and Save.”

This Week’s Real Estate Insight:

Thanks in part to shows on HGTV, buyers in almost all price ranges expect to wowed by  propsective homes on the market. For sellers, rehabbing dated kitchens and baths can really set your home apart from the rest.