About Me

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Doreen Drew is a preeminent negotiator dominating by far her industry and field of expertise. As the sole principal at Coldwell Banker Daisy Mountain Real Estate, a firm that caters to the haves and wants of an international upscale clientele in the greater Phoenix, Carefree & Scottsdale areas and in particular the award winning planned community of Anthem located in North Phoenix. Ms. Drew is recognized by the real estate community, as one of its most successful and outstanding professionals.

Thursday, May 27, 2010

Smart Energy Cost Cutters for Your Home

Energy efficiency is the talk of the town. It is all in the news and you have probably talked about it with your neighbors. The most important reason is to save money. Making your home energy efficient means optimizing room temperatures. A few simple home improvement projects should do the trick.

Check Your Insulation
Insulation works by keeping heat out during the summer and keeping it in during the winter. A good and sufficient insulation is the key to maintaining proper room temperature. Air ways and vents need to be checked for leaks and obstructions.

Install Blinds or Curtains
This is a inexpensive solution to reducing sunlight that enters the room. Blinds or curtains on windows keeps the sun out but can also be retracted making it very useful. Window tinting is also a viable option for those who want decorative pieces in their home.

Check Your Appliances
Recent advancements in technology have significantly improved virtually every home appliance’s energy consumption. You want to consider buying newer models to reduce your energy bill. When replacing your appliances, look for its Energy Star rating in its energy consumption information.

Also, make sure to turn off and unplug appliances that are not in use. This is a very simple thing you can do to minimize your energy consumption.

Monitor Energy Consumption
Energy monitors are available in the market. These units allow you to determine an appliance’s exact energy consumption. Some monitors are also programmable and automatically changes the temperature when applicable.

Seal Your Leaks
Good home insulation is practically useless if you have leaks. These can undermine the insulation seal of you home. It is like letting money fly out of your window. Be sure to seal every leak in your home for maximum efficiency. Check old doors and windows for cracks and consider replacing them altogether when heavily warped.

Perform Regular House Inspections
Just like you, your house also needs to undergo regular inspection. A few small cracks in your home are enough to undermine your insulation and in turn your energy efficiency. If you do not know how to do this, you can always hire a professional to do the work.

Hire a Professional
Check your local phonebook for experts that perform energy audits for your home. They are equipped with thermal cameras for identifying leaks in your home. This is particularly useful for knowing when and where to add insulation.

Increasing your home’s energy efficiency is a long-term investment you will never regret. Apart from lowering energy costs, it also helps your home become a more comfortable living space for your family.

The tips mentioned above are just some of the things you can do to achieve energy efficiency at home. These are fairly inexpensive home improvement projects that will pay for themselves in the long run.

Monday, May 03, 2010

Unexpected Home Showing Visit? Patch Things Up In Only 2 Minutes!

It is bound to happen sooner or later. Even if you normally follow a very neat and organized lifestyle, there are those short moments when your house is simply a mess and an eyesore.

And when it is within that messy-house hour that the phone rings and the guy on the other line delivers the bad news saying, ‘we will be there in two minutes’, time just seems to stop and you just know you are in for a major social humiliation.

Well, humiliation may be too much of a word but it can definitely end that way. So to avoid this from happening, there are sure ball ways to get your home fixed in only two minutes time. Now give yourself and your guests that much deserved reception even when time seemed to have gone against you. Here is how.


Step One: Just Calm Down!

Seriously, panicking will bring you nowhere but only deliver you to a fast-forwarded ruin. So what you should do in emergency times like this one is to take a deep gasp, and then calm down. You can keep in control better when you are not going haywire.

Step Two: Quick Browse And Delegate

Now that you are calm, take a quick look at the house. React by instinct and ask yourself what needs to be fixed and how. And then immediately designate each person within the house to a different task. Be in control, and be authoritative. You will want an air of command here.

Step 3: Make Quick Fixes

Alright, admit it, you do not have much time. So what you really need to do is patch things up. You will hide defects rather than really fix them. Here are some tips on how to make quick and emergency patches.

1. Pile laundry in a basket and cover up the mess with a towel or a piece of cloth. You only need to keep the top part proper to hide the ugliness beneath.

2. Do not bother with the thorough cleaning of dirty surfaces like the table mess after dinner. Just wipe the dirt away with a piece of cloth and spray a freshener or a perfume to hide the smell. You can also use lemon extract.

3. If something is dirty, then just remove it. For example, if you failed to replace your dirty curtains with a clean one, then replacing it now could waste precious time. So just remove them, open the windows and let in some light.

4. As for dirty dishes, just do a quick rinsing of the solid dirt, dry them quickly with a towel, and hide them ‘neatly’ in a cabinet somewhere. But if you have enough people, proper washing should be a good idea.

5. Do on-the-spot cleaning. Instead of sweeping and mopping the entire floor area and other dirty places, just handpick dirt and do spot cleaning. So if there is a dark spot on the floor, only mop that area and look for other spots.

And there you go! You should have a properly patched up place by now. But of course, this is only temporary. Make sure keep things straight as soon as your guests leave. And try not to make a habit of doing this when it is not needed.