Home with Teresa

THE DUNCAN ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS

2^ND ANNUAL GOLF TOURNAMENT

ELKS COUNTRY CLUB

DUNCAN, OK.

FRIDAY, JUNE 22, 2007

4 PERSON SCRAMBLE

$65.00 PER PERSON ENTRY FEE

ENTRY FEE INCLUDES: GOLF CART, GREEN FEE & LUNCH

TEAMS & FEES MUST BE SUBMITTED BY 6/15/2007

22 TEAM LIMIT

1^ST PLACE TEAM - $400.00 ($100.00 per person)

2^nd PLACE TEAM - $300.00 ($75.00 per person)

3^d PLACE TEAM - $200.00 ($50.00 per person)

Last Place – FREE Pro Lesson for Each Player

(provided by Elk Country Club)

PROCEEDS WILL BENEFIT:

Duncan Association of REALTORS – Community Action Fund

2006 Areas of Donations

-Habitat for Humanity, Rescue Mission, Duncan Sr. Citizens Ctr.

- DHS / Citizens for the Children

- Stephens and Jefferson County Fire Departments ($19,000)

- Joe Wood Scholarship, Duncan Art Guild

- Duncan Regional Hospital Cancer Foundation, Marlow Samaritans

- Duncan Community Residence, Douglas Eastside Sr. Citizen Ctr

- Stephens County Christmas Dinner, AMBUCS, Toy Shop & etc.

If you want to play, or be a sponsor, give me a call!

Teresa Young

Kay's Real Estate

580.467.7355

3 Homemade Natural Cleaning Products   

Who says you need fancy or expensive cleaning products to get your home looking great? There are many earth-friendly ways to get the job done and make your spring cleaning enjoyable, too.

Vinegar

Vinegar naturally cleans like an all-purpose cleaner. Mix a solution of 1 part water to 1 part vinegar in a new store bought spray bottle and you have a solution that will clean most areas of your home. Vinegar is a great natural cleaning product as well as a disinfectant and deodorizer. Always test on an inconspicuous area. It is safe to use on most surfaces and has the added bonus of being incredibly cheap. Improperly diluted vinegar is acidic and can eat away at tile grout. Never use vinegar on marble surfaces. Don't worry about your home smelling like vinegar. The smell disappears when it dries. Here are some uses for vinegar in the rooms of your house. Use it in the…

1. Bathroom - Clean the bathtub, toilet, sink, and countertops. Use pure vinegar in the toilet bowl to get rid of rings. Flush the toilet to allow the water level to go down. Pour the undiluted vinegar around the inside of the rim. Scrub down the bowl. Mop the flour in the bathroom with a vinegar/water solution. The substance will also eat away the soap scum and hard water stains on your fixtures and tile. Make sure it is safe to use with your tile.
2. Kitchen- Clean the stovetop, appliances, countertops, and floor.
3. Laundry Room- Use vinegar as a natural fabric softener. This can be especially helpful for families who have sensitive skin. Add ½ cup of vinegar to the rinse cycle in place of store bought fabric softener. Vinegar has the added benefit of breaking down laundry detergent more effectively. (A plus when you have a family member whose skin detects every trace of detergent.)

Lemon Juice

Lemon juice is another natural substance that can be used to clean your home. Lemon juice can be used to dissolve soap scum and hard water deposits. Lemon is a great substance to clean and shine brass and copper. Lemon juice can be mixed with vinegar and or baking soda to make cleaning pastes. Cut a lemon in half and sprinkle baking soda on the cut section. Use the lemon to scrub dishes, surfaces, and stains. Mix 1 cup olive oil with ½ cup lemon juice and you have a furniture polish for your hardwood furniture.

My favorite use for the fruit is to put a whole lemon peel through the garbage disposal. It freshens the drain and the kitchen. Orange or lime peels can be used with the same results.

Baking Soda

Baking soda can be used to scrub surfaces in much the same way as commercial abrasive cleansers. Baking soda is great as a deodorizer. Place a box in the refrigerator and freezer to absorb odors. Put it anywhere you need deodorizing action. Try these three kitchen ingredients as natural cleaning products in your home.

All Purpose Cleaner
2 T white vinegar
1-quart water
Use like any commercial cleaner. Add borax when scrubbing power is needed.

Floors

Linoleum Cleaner
1 cup white vinegar in 2 gallons of water
Add sour milk or skim milk to rinse water and shine floor. Polish with club soda

Tough floor stains
Apply undiluted white vinegar directly on stain

Carpet Cleaner
Mix 1/8 cup salt with 1/4 cup vinegar. Rub on rug with a sponge. Let dry. Vacuum thoroughly.

Glass Cleaner
1/4 cup vinegar
1-quart warm water
Put vinegar and water in spray bottle. Spray windows, rub with clean rag and dry with newspapers

Toilet Bowl
1 cup borax
1/4 cup vinegar
Pour ingredients into bowl and let rest for a few hours, then scrub with toilet brush. Flush

Ceramic Tile
Mix 1/4 cup baking soda, 1/2 cup white vinegar, and wash tile with mop or sponge. Buff with a clean damp cloth.

Use baking soda as an oven cleaner, microwave cleaner and garbage disposal deodorizer. It can also be used to brighten extra dirty clothes, deodorize shoes and to remove perspiration stains.

Here's How:

"The key to understanding how to get your house sold quickly and for top dollar is to first understand that buyers buy emotionally not intellectually," says Michael Corbett author of Ready, Set, Sold!

He should know. Corbett bought his first investment home at the age of 19 after his acting career in daytime soaps provided him with a little extra cash.

"I had a $10,000 check from my first soap opera when I was on Ryan's Hope and I thought what better a place to invest it than in buying a house. So I bought it and I fixed it up and then I put it back on the market and I made a lot of money," says Corbett.

That experience encouraged him to found Highland Properties -- a company that has bought, restored, and sold dozens of homes and apartment buildings. Corbett juggled his soap opera acting jobs on soaps such as Ryan's Hope, Search for Tomorrow, and The Young and the Restless all while growing his real estate career. Today, he is the Real Estate and Lifestyle expert for NBC's number-one TV news magazine show, Extra. He also hosts and produces Extra's hour-long weekend TV show, Mansions & Millionaires.

Corbett says what makes buyers commit to the purchase of a home is the connection and positive experience they have with it. If sellers comprehend that it takes more than a financial analysis to lead to a sale, they can begin to focus on creating a lifestyle that entices buyers.

"When buyers come into the home, they are looking for their place to live, not necessarily as an investment, but it's the house they want to live in," says Corbett.

How you create that compelling positive experience that connects buyers to homes is explained step by step in Corbett's latest book. He shared some of the key concepts: depersonalize and declutter your home, make repairs prior to listing your home, and know what not to base your price on.

Depersonalize and declutter: while a lot has been written about getting rid of clutter and personal stuff that's visible in your home, such as family photos, trinkets on shelves or excessive appliances on counter tops, before you show it, Corbett uncovers a few areas that are often overlooked in the decluttering process.

"Open a closet door; if it's just packed to the rafters and things are falling out onto the floor, your emotional experience is going to be 'oh man! There's no room. These closets are small.' That's the emotional reaction you want to negate. You want to have someone open up a closet and go 'oh, wow! There's lots of space in here,'" says Corbett.

Identifying problems and fixing the repairs prior to listing your home is not only a critical tip for increasing the price of your home but it also will save you time in the negotiating process later on.

"The dripping faucets, the broken tiles, the ripped-up carpet, the stains on the ceiling -- any of those things, you want to get rid of now, because generally if there's a problem -- the broken screen door, windows that don't close, cracked glasses -- anything that's a repair your buyer is going to be asking for that to be done or a credit back or they're going to negotiate that in the price later. So really any repairs you're going to be paying for down the line," warns Corbett.

And here's the even bigger issue that causes many homes to appear worth less in buyers' minds. When buyers spot a problem, even a small one, in a home they immediately begin to think that could be indicative of a larger more-expensive-to-fix problem. So, a light that doesn't work may really only be that the bulb is burned out, but a buyer may extrapolate and think that the entire electrical wiring is not sound.

"You always want to negate all the little problems because you don't want buyers to assume there are bigger problems," explains Corbett.

Perhaps one of the most important decisions is the price you will list your home on the market. Corbett cautions sellers to be careful how they determine their listing price.

"Never price your house based on how much money you're going to need. Never price your house based on the amount of money you want to have left over after you pay off your mortgage. Never price your house based on what the house next door sold for more than three or four months ago," says Corbett.

Corbett says you have to base your price on solid recent comps as market conditions change very quickly.

"A lot of home sellers make this huge mistake, they price their house based on the price of a house that is currently on the market without looking at how long it's been on the market." He adds, "You can learn as much about the price of your house by the things that haven't sold as you can from the things that have sold."

One of the best things sellers can do is view other homes that are for sale to compare them to their own. They should also be sure to go through their homes as if they were the buyers. Attempt to see all the things that buyers will notice when they are walking through the house -- the good and the bad -- then try to make the experience at their home positive by creating a connection to buyers through an enticing lifestyle that only their home can offer.

Written by Phoebe Chongchua

Wonder what you home is worth? Call me for a free market analysis. Teresa Young, 580-467-7355