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1. Paint, panel or paper
Keep in mind, light colors make rooms look larger, dark colors smaller (cozier). If you like soft colors (pale pinks, greens, blues, yellows), they’re ideal for enlarging small rooms. Perk them up with accents in deeper tones or with interesting textures (such as sponging some walls or adding sisal).

If you like a touch of the dramatic, paint a door in primary colors or add a “fool the eye” scene (such as a landscape that seems to be seen through glass). Don’t be afraid to put reds and pinks together, or blues and greens. For real drama, add white trim to deep colors. Remember, if you’re thinking of selling your home soon–neutral tones are “safer.” Splash color around using upholstery, throw pillows, artwork and other furnishings.

2. Give small rooms extra dimension
Put in floor-to-ceiling mirrors. Place one at right angles to a corner window to bring in the outdoors. Mirrors at different angles create a patchwork of repeated patterns that can be interesting, light reflecting and fun.

3. Light up the house
Consider creative lighting, including:

• Spotlights to point up art work
• Track lights to illuminate bookshelves
• Indirect lights or decorative wall sconces wherever shadows are too deep
• Under-counter lights in kitchens and workshops
• Using incandescent or halogen lighting, which is warmer than fluorescent

4. Transform your floors
Look under foot to refinish, recarpet or retile. Wood floors can be bleached, pickled, stained, painted almost any color or made unique by installing ceramic tiles in the kitchen, or a block of patterned wood (inside a wood border) in the center of a dining room or bedroom.

5. Open spaces and clear surfaces
Go with the trend of fewer furnishings and belongings in view. For things you want handy but not displayed, create storage places:

• A window seat
• Narrow shelves inside closet and cabinet doors
• A tip-down triangular tray (for brushes, sponges, etc.) built into the cabinet at the front of the kitchen sink
• A wall system with cubes of different sizes, some with shelves, some with drawers
• A “Murphy” bed that folds into the wall

6. Large family kitchens
Top-grade is the trend in appliances, including microwave ovens, disposals and compactors, work islands that sport stainless steel double sinks or a down-vented stove, plus side bookshelves or lift-up table top. The dining end of the kitchen might be equipped with comfortable chairs, a desk, or book shelves. A fireplace turns the kitchen into a homey family room where everyone lingers.

7. Luxurious bathrooms
Make your privacy a pleasure. You might install light dimmers and thermostatically controlled mixer taps, extra mirrors, a solarium window, or create a sunken bath set in a raised floor that houses the plumbing.

8. Year-round comfort
Utility bills can be lower when windows are installed with low-emissity glass (gas filling between panes) that can be twice as efficient as double-glazed windows. They reflect heat, keeping your home cooler in summer and warmer in winter. An invisible coating also blocks ultraviolet light and protects furnishings.

9. Makeover the garage
The car park may not be the most beautiful part of your home, but it may be the most useful space you have–if it’s soundly built, clean, well organized and uncluttered. A garage can double as a workshop, garden house or playground. An automatic door opener is the warmest welcome in wet or cold weather.

10. Consider safety and convenience
Whatever alarm system you add to your basic smoke detector contributes to your peace and security. Electronic “smart” devices can be installed to turn lights, appliances and heating/air conditioning off and on at pre-set times, to warn of intrusion or announce a visitor, to remind you (in a synthesized voice) when you’re due at an appointment or when you’re using too much electricity.

Home improvement possibilities are endless. But if your home can’t accommodate your dreams–with neither love nor money–remember there are homes in the area that will. When you’re ready to explore the possibilities, we’re here to help make your dreams come true.

To search all Wilmington NC real estate, please visit www.cbbaker.com

Figure Eight Island, NC

Figure Eight Island, NC is located just north of Wrightsville Beach, NC . It is a private island, only accessible by a swing-bridge with a gatehouse and is bordered by the Intracoastal Waterway and the Atlantic Ocean. The island consists of 1300 acres and approximately 441 homes. Before the turn of the century,  Figure Eight  was only home to horses roaming on the dunes. Figure Eight Island today is a beautiful coastal community offering the ultimate in privacy and security and just minutes from the conveniences of Wilmington and Wrightsville Beach, NC. Figure Eight remains untouched by commercial developments like hotels and shopping centers, although there are many conveniently located nearby. Read the rest of this entry

Foreclosures are a way to get quick equity in a home.  The process takes longer than a traditional sale but if you are willing to wait to purchase, it can be done.

We will provide you with free daily updates on Foreclosures and Short Sales in the Wilmington area.  Save money and enjoy quick equity when you purchase a foreclosed  or a short -sale home.  You provide the price and what you are looking for, and we will put you on our automatic  listing alert service directly from our MLS system, so that only the homes that match your criteria will be emailed to you.  At your convenience look through the listings  and if one catches your eye, call us and we will make arrangements with the bank to get more information about the home. It’s just that simple.  Email us at bakerwayneassociates@ec.rr.com for more information and to sign in.

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Moving from one place to another can be a challenge. Read through our Relocation Kit for pointers on how to make a smooth transition and minimize stress as you do. Just click on the tabs below.You may also want to check out our other kits, identified below. Contact us to request assistance.   Planning Costs & Expenses Selling & Buying Moving Kids & Pets

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Waterfront Wilmington NC

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The Cape Fear Region’s many miles of coastline, rivers and sounds offer a wide variety of fishing, watersports and boating activities. And, to maximize the regions waterfront enjoyment, there are many neighborhoods offering waterfront homes in Wilmington, NC with canals, boatslips, and or boatramps. We offer the latest, detailed information on all Wilmington NC waterfront homes and communities offered for sale in Wilmington, NC. So just sit back, relax and click any of these Wilmington waterfront communities to search for your waterfront dream home now.

Waterfront Real Estate in Wilmington NC

Please feel free to contact us with any questions or requests about waterfront homes for sale or waterfront real estate in Wilmington, NC, or any location in the Cape Fear Region. We have lived here all our lives and can help match a neighborhood with a home and schools. We  know where the best shopping is and all the main attractions. If you are looking for a second home or investment property in Wilmington, NC, there are still real deals in the great coastal area, but you will need a real estate expert to help you. We are experienced real estate professional’s who has decades of home buying and selling experience in waterfront properties in Wilmington, NC area.

Marinas and Yacht Clubs

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Wilmington NC offers an assortment of Marinas and Yacht Clubs for your boating enjoyment. They are located from Carolina Beach north to Scotts Hill. You can get the details about specifics on each one right here.

For true local and knowledgable service in waterfront homes in Wilmington, NC please contact us today at 1-800-497-7325 Ex. 3607 or email at bakerwayneassociates@ec.rr.com

Wilmington, NC Waterfront Neighborhoods

Nobody wants to carry two mortgages on two homes at the same time. Sometimes, however, an overlap between buying a new home and selling the old one occurs. A bridge loan (also, “gap” or “swing” loan) can defeat the blockade, take the pressure off the monthly budget and provide down payment money that will make everything move along more smoothly.

• Know what to expect.

A bridge loan is a short-term loan for which the equity in your old home (and sometimes in your new one) serves as collateral. Various lenders charge different interest rates – often 1 or 2 percentage points above the current prime rate, or a bit higher than the current regular mortgage rate. Depending on lender’s requirements (appraisal, title search, etc.), closing costs can be anywhere from 0.5% to 1.5% of the loan amount.

• Pay off when you sell.

You may pay the loan off when you sell your home, or in monthly or quarterly installments. If your home does not sell within the specified term (often 6 months or a year), the loan is usually renewable.

Bridge loans are only one of the many tricks in our bag to help you smooth your move. If you’re planning to move soon, contact us by e-mail or phone. We’ll be happy to help. For more information and advice, please visit www.cbbaker.com.  Whether you are selling or buying, the information is there for you to use.

Remember the last time you visited a new home development? How did you feel touring the model? Usually, pleasant memories come to mind about how well the home looked. That’s because it was “showcased” properly.

You can do the same thing when you prepare your own home for sale.

Home showcasing is not about remodeling, fixing up or making your home look sterile. Instead, it focuses on amazingly simple steps to make your home show like a model without spending a lot of money. The secret is setting the stage, which helps potential buyers imagine themselves and their families at home in your “home for sale.”

Strip Down And Build Up

The first step is to clear the set. Take out extraneous furniture, decorations, pictures, etc. Take each room down to its most basic form, opening up the living space as much as possible. Then build it back up to the way you want it to look, as simply as possible, and without clutter.

Make the strip-down process simpler by stowing packed boxes in a staging area like the garage, or by renting a storage space to hold extra furnishings while your home is on the market. In essence, pack up early.

Props

When building the set, try to make each room tell a story. Help potential buyers see themselves in each room. A clever arrangement of props will make it easy for buyers to imagine writing a letter at the desk in the kitchen, clicking on the television and enjoying a bowl of popcorn, turning on the stove and preparing a holiday repast.

Themes for a room can help you narrow down how to display it. You can, of course, stage the room as you use it now, or choose a particular motif, i.e. Southwestern, country style, international. Or you could pick an activity to illustrate on your stage, i.e., relaxed office or library, gourmet cooking, resort or vacation living. What would you like to do in that room? Place the props needed for those activities throughout the room.

Lighting

Lots of lights open up a room and gives it a larger appearance. If you’ve been using 50 watt bulbs, move up to 100 watts. If a large living room has only one lamp, move in another. Open curtains. Add mirrors. When it’s being shown, the home should be bright. Brightness gives a showy feel. And your home is now center stage!

Do Your Homework

Ask what buyers are looking for in your community. What are they saying about the homes they don’t buy? And what is it about the homes that are selling that makes them so popular? By determining your ideal target buyer, you will better understand how to merchandise your home. Our experience in your specific neighborhood can help you answer all these questions and more.

Aroma Therapy

Almost as important as how a home looks is how it smells. Ask a close friend to walk through your home — objectively — and take a whiff here and there. Are there any offensive odors? Is it too perfumy? Too drab? Stale? Musty? Are there pet odors (which should be fixed — not covered up!)? What can you do to impress potential buyers with aroma therapy?

When it comes time to sell your home, you’ll want to work with a real estate professional who knows all aspects of the selling process — including showcasing. Call us today to talk about how we can help you display your home to sell for the best possible price!  Look for ideas on www.cbbaker.com.

FORECLOSURE: What Every Buyer Must Know In today’s market, you’ll hear lots of terms used to describe “bargain” properties – distressed, short sale, pre-foreclosure, auction, REO, bank owned, foreclosure, foreclosed, and more. Confused? That’s understandable. Some of these terms are interchangeable, some are not, and some cover a whole range of bargain property types.

To understand the terms, it’s important to understand the three stages of foreclosure:

1. Pre-foreclosure stage. This stage begins when the homeowner falls behind on home-loan payments (or sometimes other terms of the loan). Lenders may wait for a second, third or even fourth missed payment before sending the homeowner a Notice of Default — which becomes public record. The homeowner then has a given period of time to respond to the notice and/or come up with the outstanding payments and fees — sometimes by selling the home in a pre-foreclosure sale, also known as a distress sale. (If a judicial procedure is required, it occurs after the notice of default is given.)One type of pre-foreclosure or distress sale is a short sale — when proceeds from the sale of a home are less than the amount of mortgage still owed to the homeowner’s lender. A lender-approved short sale (or short payoff) occurs when the homeowner’s lender agrees to accept the proceeds of the home sale as satisfaction of the mortgage owed, even though proceeds are less than the outstanding debt.
2. Foreclosure stage. At this stage, the former homeowner may or may not have been evicted — depending on state law — when the lender puts the home up for public auction (after a judgment of foreclosure in those states requiring judicial procedure).If the home sells at the foreclosure auction, (sometimes called a sheriff’s sale, trustee’s sale or step sale) money from the sale is used to pay off the costs of the foreclosure, taxes and other prior liens, service charges and advances, interest and principal on the mortgage, late charges or fees, and liens recorded after the first mortgage. Any amount left over is paid to the borrower (former homeowner). When proceeds from the sale are less than the various amounts owed, the lender may be able to hold the borrower responsible for the difference (deficiency judgment).
3. Post-foreclosure stage. When a property that does not sell at auction — either because no one bid on it or because bids did not meet the lender’s or agency’s minimum price — the property becomes real estate owned (REO) by the lender or government agency that guaranteed the loan (such as FHA/HUD, VA, etc.). You’ll also hear the term bank-ownedapplied to these properties, whether they are owned by an actual bank or some other type of lender. (Be aware: The term REO also applies to properties purchased by companies from employees who didn’t sell their home on the market before relocating, which is to say that not all REOs are foreclosed properties.)Once the lender or agency has repossessed a property following a failed auction attempt, the home is put back on the market. Most REO properties are listed for sale through real estate brokers and placed on the Multiple Listing Service.

At this stage, the foreclosure process is complete, and the property may be accurately described as a foreclosed property, while in the first two stages the home is in foreclosure and should be referred to as a foreclosure property. (You’ll find, however, that real estate writers and others sometimes misuse this terminology; be sure to ask if you are unsure what stage of foreclosure a particular property is in.)

If you are thinking about buying a foreclosure, make sure that you go to the Register of Deeds and search the property for liens.  These are not posted online.  If there are liens on the property, you will be buying them as well.  To search foreclosures in the Wilmington NC area please visit http://www.cbbaker.com/idx/residential/search . To get guidance if you are close to being in a short sale situation, please visit http://www.cbbaker.com/foreclosureNew.php

We have a Certified Distressed Property Expert on our team. Call us and we would be glad to help.