Blog - Sandra Meranda

June 18, 2013 by changescapeweb Leave a Comment

Builder Confidence Hits 7-Year High, New Home Sales Rising

02E89993-300x200 Good news locally and nationally. Builder confidence hits 7-Year high and new home sales are also rising. In articles from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and RISMedia published this week, most U.S. homebuilders are optimistic about home sales, a sign that construction could help drive stronger economic growth in coming months.

Builders are seeing better market conditions. It is expected that there will be more than 1 millions new homes built this year, a forecasted 29 percent increase in total housing starts.

There is a low inventory of existing homes, so it’s a great time to list your house on the market. But it is also driving buyers to buy new homes.

It is never too early to start your home search or get your home ready for the market. This past year was the busiest year we had in home sales in 5 years. This year could be even better! There are large numbers of homes at below-market prices & the Interest rates are hovering around 3.5% !! Contact me for details today!

June 5, 2013 by changescapeweb Leave a Comment

6 Tips for Spring Cleaning

My friends at Rubbish Works provide some more great tips on Spring Cleaning!

It’s that time of year again….time to spring clean! The early warm weather in St. Louis has posed a difficult decision: take advantage of the weather and outdoor activities or clean the house? If you’re like me, outdoor activities generally trump any cleaning projects; however, I know the cleaning has to be done sometime, right? Here are a few quick tips I use to help the cleaning process go faster to enjoy more time outside.

1.) Focus on eliminating stuff before organization. Don’t even think about how you wish to organize newly clean space. Focus on what you want to get rid of (donating or throwing away). Once you’ve purged the items in the area you are cleaning out, and then come up with an organizing plan of the items you have left.

2.) Start with the garage if it is not already cleared. We’ve worked with a number of professional organizers who utilize cleared space in the garage for staging. The idea is to remove items from inside the home and then create zones in the garage for donate and trash piles. Getting the donate or trash items out of the house will help you resist the urge to include them in the organizing process. Items you are keeping still remain inside the home to be organized after getting rid of items you no longer want.

3.) If you touch it, take action. If you pick up an item, decide what you would like to do with it then. Are you keeping it? Donating it? Trashing it? Don’t put it in pile to decide later.

4.) 6 month rule. If you haven’t use it in 6 months (excluding holiday and seasonal items), it is probably time to remove it from your home.

5.) 5 second decision. I spoke with a woman a few months ago. Her general rule of thumb when clearing space in her home: Within 5 seconds of looking at or touching an item, I should be able to decide why I have it and if I use it. If it takes longer than 5 seconds to decide, it’s time to get rid of it.

6.) Once you finish determining which items you would like to keep, it is time to organize it all for easy, convenient access! Not good at organizing? Look into hiring a professional organizer. Professional organizers offer a wide variety of services from literature, classes as well as onsite organizing.

Time to tackle those spring cleaning projects, and then reward yourself with time out in the nice weather!

Originally published March 19th 2012

P.S. Spring is here! It is never too early to start your home search or get your home ready for the market. This past year was the busiest year we had in home sales in 5 years. This year could be even better! There are large numbers of homes at below-market prices & the Interest rates are hovering around 3.5% !! Contact me for details today!

May 28, 2013 by changescapeweb Leave a Comment

Spring Cleaning – Where To Start

My friends at Rubbish Works provide some great tips on where to get started for Spring Cleaning!

Spring cleaning is in full swing. For some, it only takes a few hours to wash away the dirt, clutter and grime from the winter. For others, like myself, it can be a real chore that takes an entire weekend, sometimes a week. Occasionally, I get delayed starting spring cleaning because I simply just do not know where to start.

This weekend, Parade Magazine, which comes in the Sunday Post Dispatch, featured an article about decluttering the home. Within the article, they described 10 things that you can get rid of in your home today. This seems like the perfect place to start for spring cleaning! Here is a summary and a few of our own ideas on where to start:

From Parade Magazine:

1.) Computer Print Outs: Save a digital copy of what you need or bookmark an article/blog

2.) Paper Copies of Bills: Refer to internet or bank for proof of payment if you need it

3.) Old Technology: VHS tapes, cassette tapes, etc. This technology is outdated and obsolete. VCR’s and cassette players are no longer manufactured.

4.) Work Out Equipment: Use it or lose it.

5.) Worn-out Linens: Rule of thumbà # of people in house x 2=how many of each linen item (towels, sheets, etc.) you should have (I didn’t know this! I’ll be going through our linen closet soon.)

6.) Old Hair Accessories: Keep what you use daily or weekly. Toss the rest.

7.) Old Cell Phones: When you get a new phone, donate the old one to be refurbished to someone who can use it

8.) Coat Hangers: Excess hangers only tempt you to buy more

9.) Reminders of Past Hobbies: Interests change. Get rid of the old, to make room for the new.

10.) Single Use Kitchen Gadgets: Get multipurpose items to declutter the kitchen

Other places to start:

1.) Expired Food: Check the pantry and freezer for expired food

2.) Food Storage Containers: Recycle those that are missing a lid or lids that are missing containers

3.) Clothes that do not fit: Rule of thumb à keep one size lower and one size higher than you wear

Purging a few items today will make of spring cleaning a breeze!

Here’s a link to the article in case you missed it in the paper. https://www.parade.com/news/2012/04/22-is-your-stuff-weighing-you-down.html

Originally published on Thursday April 26th 2012

May 7, 2013 by changescapeweb Leave a Comment

Teachers Matter – National Teacher Week

Did you know that this week is National Teacher week?

by Lory Fabian iStock_000017956327XSmall-300x199

Teachers in St. Charles, St. Louis and in communities across the nation will be in the spotlight on National Teacher Day, as students, parents, school administrators and the general public learns how teachers are making great strides to improve our Public Schools for every student.

Few other professionals touch as many people as teachers do.

National Teacher Day is a good time to show appreciation on the contributions educators make to our community every day. Teachers are role models. Teachers spend more time with our kids than most parents do. As a community, we need to be more grateful and show more appreciation. Ask your teachers how YOU can help.

Sending a card or gift of appreciation is an opportunity for all of us to reach out. A heartfelt, handwritten thank you note goes a long way to sharing the love. Is your child’s teacher doing an A++ job? Send appreciation cards to teachers who have inspired you’re children. Send a Starbucks, a Target or a Home Depot Gift Card. It’s the perfect way to let them know they are appreciated.

Make it even more meaningful by including something specific the teacher has said or done that has made a difference to your child, like offering extra guidance in math, helping your child make friends on the playground, or teaching a science or art module that sparked your child’s interest and passion.

Another simple and more meaningful idea is to have your child design their own card & write a note or poem about why he or she appreciates their teacher. You’re child can design a special card or decorate his or her poem with pictures that show what their teacher has taught them.

If you want to send the SUPER HERO teacher in your life a real card, in a real envelope from you or your child or both at NO COST, please visit: www.sendoutcards.com/loryfabian.

TEACHERS MATTER!…PLEASE MAKE TIME TO THANK THE TEACHERS IN YOUR SCHOOL THIS WEEK.

April 18, 2013 by changescapeweb Leave a Comment

Tips to Maintain a Healthy and Safe Home

Maintaining a healthy and safe home should be everyone’s goal. Just as the proper function of a home involves the interaction of numerous systems, there are many factors that must be addressed to ensure your home provides as healthy and safe an environment as possible. Here are just a few items of the many items to consider.

Order a radon testing kit for your home. January was National Safety Radon Month but it is certainly never too late to test your home for radon. Even if you tested your home several years ago or a recent test of a neighbor’s home did not indicate a concern, it does not mean that present conditions in your own home are the same. House renovations, energy retrofits, and weatherization projects can all contribute to changes in radon levels. The only way to find out if radon levels are elevated beyond the recommended action point is to test for it. Experts estimate that radon causes more than 20,000 deaths from lung cancer each year. Contact your local HouseMaster office to arrange a radon measurement test.
Make your home smoke and particulate free. Never let anyone smoke in or near your home – especially if someone in your family is pregnant, has asthma or other respiratory issues. But it is not just cigarette smoke that can create a health hazard. Poorly vented fireplaces, excessive candle burning, the overuse of aerosols and products advertised to “clean” the air all add potentially harmful particulates. If you are not concerned about your own health, realize that parents control 90% of their children’s exposure to secondhand smoke and other airborne hazards.
Check for fall hazards. Do a 3-minute “clean sweep” of your house, particularly the stairs and hallways – and especially if children or older friends or relatives spend time in your home. Regularly pick up clothes, shoes, bags, and any other clutter and clear it out of the way so it won’t cause falls. Make sure guard rails and hand rails are present and securely attached. Accidents on stairs are a leading cause of a significant number of accidents in homes. Falls, particularly on stairs, are the leading cause of injury-related deaths for adults over age 65.
Test your smoke alarms. If they aren’t working and you are unable to replace the battery or otherwise get them working properly again, don’t delay. Call a friend, relative, professional electrician or your local fire department and ask for help right away. Don’t let one night go by without protection. Having working smoke alarms in your home cuts your risk of dying in a fire in half.
Program your phone for poison control. It is estimated that everyday more than 300 children under age 20 are treated in emergency departments for poisonings from product found in the home. In the event of suspected poisoning emergency medical assistance should be called for immediately. However, contacting a poison control center may help provide helpful information related to the particular incident (or piece of mind) while waiting for help to arrive. In the U.S. nationwide assistance is available at 1-800-222-1222. In Canada, there are Provincial Poison Control Centers that can be contacted for local information.

Also visit the websites of the U.S. Healthy Home Program and Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation for more tips on maintaining a healthy and safe home, including topics like lead-based paints, mold, radon gas, asbestos containing materials, carbon monoxide, household pests, senior safety and childproofing.

Note: These tips are only general guidelines. Since each situation is different, contact a professional if you have questions about a specific issue. More home safety and maintenance information is available online at www.housemaster.com.

P.S. Spring is just around the corner! It is never too early to start your home search or get your home ready for the Spring market. This past year was the busiest year we had in home sales in 5 years. This year could be even better! There are large numbers of homes at below-market prices & the Interest rates are hovering around 3.5%! Contact me for details today!

Did you know that this week is National Teacher week?

Contact Sandra

Follow Sandra