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Nisha Muire

Marketing Magic

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Selling a home in Toronto has its challenges given the hot market and the slew of gorgeous properties for sale. Using a good realtor and staging your home properly are two very important elements to having your place sell quickly and for the price you want. The third part is having the proper marketing. Yes – marketing.

It is no longer feasible to simply put a “for sale” sign in front of your house and to take out a small add in a newspaper in order for your place to sell. With greater numbers of people turning to the internet and social networks for their news and real estate listings, there are a number of approaches needed to ensure a successful sale.
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The Power of Pictures

The first thing to do is to get a real estate photographer to take pictures of your property highlighting all of the best angles and vantage points. A good photographer will know exactly how to photograph your home to make it look its best. It is not just a matter of taking your own photos, real estate photographers have tricks that help them enhance a property without much effort. Real estate photographers are not easily found, but Imaginahome Inc. is fortunate to have some of the best on their team.
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Network, Network, Network

With your professional pictures in hand, it is now time to hit the networks – the social networks. Post the pictures of your place on Facebook, on twitter, on Instagram and encourage your friends to share to get the most reach. If you aren’t on any of these networks or if you have a very small and private group of friends, then make sure that your realtor has a big network that they can reach through social media. Do not underestimate the influence and power that social media has in the real estate market!
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MLS

The MLS or Multiple Listings Service is an absolute must for anyone looking to sell their home. It is the database where all houses being sold are listed. Available across Canada, except in Quebec, it is the definitive site used by sellers and buyers to showcase their properties. Be sure that your real estate agent has your house up on the MLS the minute the marketing materials are ready.
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Brochures, postcards and more

Regardless of your property’s value, it is always a good idea to have professional brochures of your home printed up and ready to hand out when you are having an open house. A well put together brochure will enhance your property’s value and will keep it top-of-mind longer after potential buyers have visited. If your agent doesn’t work with such marketing materials, insist that they do for your place. Imaginahome Inc. has an array of marketing material packages that can be tailored for your property. Let your realtor know that this is available if they aren’t aware.

Keep in mind that any kind of sales will require a certain investment. However, that invest will most certainly pay-off in the end when your property is the hottest one on the block and you get exactly what you wanted – and maybe even more.

Staging

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Staging your Toronto home for sale is one of the best investments you can make as a home seller. Staging might seem like a luxury, but, in fact, a well staged home is one that buyers will automatically gravitate towards. The reason for this is simple: home stagers know how to set-up a space so that it is sells.

You might think that your decorating skills are top-notch – and they might be, but you’ve decorated your home to live in it. A home stager will set it up to sell; there is a big difference between these two concepts. Consider it this way – you would never go for a job interview in your casual, everyday clothes – you would put on your best suit before heading out the door; the same philosophy applies to home staging.

Here are a few of the benefits of staging your home:

– It will sell a lot faster!
– It will bring in the highest possible price, because:
   * It gives the appearance of being well-maintained
   * It makes potential buyers see themselves in the space
– Staged homes make a great first impression
– Staged homes will stay with a buyer long after they have left
– Staged homes look great online (and most buyers will look at a property online before making an appointment to see it)
– Agents tend to show staged homes more frequently because they know that they show well

Yes, you will have to hire a professional home stager, but it will be money well spent. Your agent can definitely suggest home stagers that they work with or you can look up home staging services in your neighbourhood. Whatever route you take, be sure that it includes a professional home stager if you are looking to sell your home.

Selling Your Home

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Selling your Toronto home might now be something that you are thinking about. With the winter snows settling in for the season, many homeowners are gearing up to put their homes on the market with the first melt to meet the demands of eager buyers. In order to make the most of your sale, there are certain things to keep in mind and to consider.
 

Finding the right agent

Never underestimate the skills of a good agent at helping you sell your Toronto home for the best price in the quickest time. The right agent will be someone who knows your area well and know exactly what buyers are looking for and how to position your property to get the maximum asking price for it. Finding a good agent can be as simple as asking for referrals from friends and family to looking at track records of the agents you see advertising around your neighbourhood. Remember that an agent should work for you and not the buyer – and sometimes that line is not very clear.
 

Getting your property ready

Although you might be forgiven for thinking that selling your home is as simple as just putting a for sale sign out front, the truth is slightly more involved. In order to get the most of your sale, your home needs to stand out and to be appealing. In other words, you’ll need to give the rooms a new coat of paint if they are looking drab, you will have to fix any holes or cracks, seal the windows, re-caulk the bathroom, cleaning everything from top-to-bottom – even if it means hiring a cleaning agency to help you get it spotless and generally getting the structure looking well-maintained.
 

Staging

Next, it is advisable to stage the home so that potential buyers are able to see themselves living there. Remove family portraits from the walls, declutter space so that only minimal furnishings are left and make sure that it looks inviting. If need be hire a professional home stager to help you get the most of what you have.
 

Pricing

Every homeowners expects to get the most from the sale of their home, however, it’s never a good idea to price yourself out of the market. Find out what similar homes in your neighbourhood have sold for and then price somewhere in that range allowing room for negotiating.
 

Declaration

Be sure to disclose any potential problems with the property upfront so that you are not held liable for them after the sale. There is always the chance that a hidden defect will present itself afterwards, but protect yourself as much as possible if you know about something in advance. A good agent will help you navigate such waters.
 

Marketing

Insist that the agent you hire asks for professionally produced marketing materials to help promote the sale of your Toronto property. In a competitive market, professionally marketed properties will always have the edge over the competition.

Happy New Year!

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The holiday season signals that another year has flown by – and by any account it’s been another successful one over at Imaginahome and we are tremendously grateful to all those who have contributed to our success and growth in 2015. We want to take this opportunity to wish you and yours a wonderful holiday filled with the best life has to offer and we look forward to starting 2016 with fresh enthusiasm, renewed vigor and a more focused direction.
 
The New Year is a time for resolutions and the best resolutions always involve proper home maintenance – just kidding! (sort of)
 
While resolutions don’t usually include proper home maintenance, maybe they should?
 

Even small little things can make a big difference in the long run and even little actions such as:

The yearly caulking/resealing of windows and doors
Checking your roof for leaks
Resealing an asphalt driveway
Resanding an interlocking brick driveway
Keeping drains flowing with monthly maintenance
 
… Can all make life a lot smoother by catching and/or stopping issues as they arise. Many actions are very simple and can easily be done, so taking the few minutes to take care of them will pay off in the end.
 
Make yourself a list of all the little home maintenance items that need doing around your home and break them down into bite-sized and easily accomplished tasks that you can do over several weekends.
 
Sticking to your home maintenance resolutions will become second-nature after a while and you’ll wonder why you avoided them in the past!
 

Have a wonderful New Year everyone!

Your Holiday Home

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The Toronto holiday home is a warm and welcoming place for everyone to enter. Creating a holiday home doesn’t necessarily involve strings of lights and inflatable snowmen – although they do help!

There are several ways to make your home more festive for the holidays without much effort. Cleaning up the front is one of the easiest. Shovel the snow or rake the yard. Tidy up the plants, dust off the front door and sweeping the driveway all go a long way toward the appearance of your home. Next, throw on a festive wreath and add a pot or two of seasonal flowers next to the door and your home will automatically exude a festive vibe.

If you want to put a bit more effort into your trappings, then adding lights to the exterior of your home is always a jolly way to spruce things up. However, if you aren’t handy with lights, you can always invest in one or two light displays that come in different shapes – reindeer, snowmen, candy canes. These handy light displays are placed on your lawn and simply plugged in – no wires or strings to untangle and at the end of the season you just unplug them and put them away!

Adding pots of dried winter flower arrangements is another quick and inexpensive way of cheering up your home for the holidays.

Another quick and inexpensive fix is to buy strings of imitation fir garlands from the dollar store to place on your exterior fixtures – around your door, windows, lamp posts, etc… These terrific garlands are versatile and easy to work with and can be reused every year.

Another great way to making your home looking inviting for the holidays is to highlight any large trees or shrubs on your land either with spotlights or strings of lights. Even just such a simple addition to your home’s exterior will make a huge difference to its curb appeal during this merry time.

Regardless of what you choose to do to your home for the holidays, we hope that it is filled with love, laughter and happiness during this season and beyond!

Walk-in Closets

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Walk-in closets are a feature that has grown in popularity and size in the last couple of decades. Whereas the single closet gave way to the double closet, today’s standard in luxury is definitely the walk-in. With consumer culture taking off at lightning speed, the necessity of a walk-in closet was soon apparent and builders rushed to fill the void. Today, walk-in closets are the standard in any luxury home and expected in nearly every other property. However, having the space for a walk-in closet doesn’t mean that it is complete – the finishing and features given to the interior of the space are what truly set apart the different closets available.

Materials
Standard walk-in closets will come with the regular steel bar found in closets. It is up to the homeowner to customize the space to their specifications. The kind of material chosen for this will certainly depend on your budget and what you consider necessity. The most basic material is metal. You can get inexpensive closet kits from any big box home hardware store that you can put together yourself to create different shelving levels and bars. A level up from metal is press wood shelving. Again, kits of presswood closet shelving can be found in most big box stores and can be customized to meet your needs. The deluxe version is to have custom shelving built out of real wood. However, this will naturally involve a professional and a much bigger budget.

Lighting
One of the key elements to any space is the lighting chosen – the same holds true for closets. A big window will need to have a good lighting system so that you can see every nook and cranny of your space without effort. Some closets even have movement activated lighting that turns on automatically when the closet door is opened and switched off when the door closes.

Features
Closets can have shelves for sweaters, cubbies for shoes, drawers for jeans and unmentionables and bars for hanging clothing. Depending on size, they can also have descending bars mounted right on the ceiling for those seasonal items that you only access once-in-a-while. They can have mirrors, centre islands fitted with additional drawer/storage space and they can have seating. The sky is the limit when it comes to closet customization.

Regardless of the size of your walk-in, making it your own is really the only way to get the most out of all the space you have!

The Master Retreat

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The master bedroom in Toronto is the one place in new homes that has grown more than any other. In the past master bedrooms were slightly larger than the children’s bedrooms and had a slightly larger closet as well. Over time this principal bedroom in a house has steadily increased in size while the closet went from a single to a double and then to a walk-in, and now, to actual dressing rooms adjoining the master. The same transformation holds true for the ensuite. The master ensuite began life as a powder room and progressed in scope and function to deluxe, spa-like spaces fitted with everything needed to fully and entirely unwind and pamper yourself.

Master bedrooms today are more like entire suites. The most ambitious in design often take up an entire level or wing of a floor and they include sitting rooms, a sleeping chamber, dressing rooms with walk-in closets and ensuites. At the very minimum, master bedrooms will include a walk-in closet and an ensuite.

The phenomenon of a master suite is relatively new starting to appear in the mid-nineties and growing through the end of the century into what we find in today’s most luxurious homes. In fact, a large majority of homebuyers will cite a master suite as a necessity when looking for a new home. The only people with whom master suites are still relatively not so important are middle-class families with more than two children – in their case, they prefer having an extra bedroom over the master suite.

If your home currently doesn’t have a master with a walk-in closet or ensuite and you are looking to upgrade to one, the scope of the project will depend on the space on your floor. If you have three extra bedrooms, then you can feasibly turn one of those bedrooms into an ensuite with a walk-in. However, this should only be done if the market in your neighbourhood will return your investment when you sell. Naturally, this will not be a consideration if you plan on living in your home long-term.

If you don’t have extra space that you can use, then consider building an extension or building out over an attached garage. Obviously such ambitious projects will come with certain costs that might be more than you anticipate.

However, as we move into a new way of thinking about home and larger numbers of people are moving towards smaller, more sustainable dwellings, the phenomenon of the grand master suite might be on its way out. Only time will tell.

Fun Kids Room Ideas

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When it comes to decorating – no design project can beat the thrill of decorating a kid’s bedroom. Given their vivid imaginations and exuberant sense of fun, the sky really is the limit when it comes to designing and appointing these spaces. Naturally bright colours and light will play integral roles in any design for a child’s room, but the size of the room and your budget will also be important factors in its decor.

Ideas for small spaces
If you have a small bedroom, then consider a loft bed; they offer a practical solution that features the excitement of sleeping high-up while maximizing your floor space. It is the ideal solution for slightly older kids who might need a desk for homework or a couch for lounging with friends.

The same idea holds true with bunk beds – they are the best solution to comfortably accommodating two kids in the same room.

Reading/lounging Corner
A great idea that kids will love is creating a reading/lounging nook in their rooms. Setting up some bookshelves and placing a little seat nearby will encourage youngsters to read or play quietly in their “own” little den.

Fantasy Painting
If you have the talent (or the money to hire a painter), a simple way to make your child’s room more fun is to give it a custom paint job – trees, birds, clouds, the sea, space… whatever interests your child will make their room pop and lend itself well to imaginations that need only the slightest nudge to soar…

Cubbies and Crannies
Kids need lots of storage – but they also love places to hide and to pretend – why not give them both? Creating cubbies that are strong enough and large enough to hold a child’s weight will serve dual purposes – as storage and a great hiding place!

Crannies can be created under a raised bed, around a desk corner – and they can be as simple as stringing up a colourful throw and adding a string of Christmas lights to the mix.

Whimsy
Adding a touch of whimsy is always a good idea when decorating a child’s room. Whimsy can be as small as stencilling fairies, flowers, planets or other favorite elements around the room to as complicated as creating a tree in the corner with an actual swing hanging from a branch. The sky’s the limit when it comes to such creative touches.

Ultimately your child’s room should be a fun and imaginative place for your child to retreat to, but also an easy place to clean and maintain.

The perfect lounge

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When setting up a lounge in your Toronto home – whether a formal living room or a casual family room, the idea is to create a stylish space for relaxation where family and guests alike will feel welcome and at-ease. Regardless of the space you have to work with there are certain tips and tricks that will help you personalize your setting.

Colour
The right colour will influence the ambiance of your room and promote either a festive, refined, sophisticated or casual atmosphere. Your personal style and taste will dictate the color palate that you choose. When putting together your palate try to pull in everything that will be in your room including wall and window treatments, upholstery and any other textured element – and then match them to each other. Interior decorators work with a swatch board on which they attach all of their color and texture inspirations so that they can see whether what they envision works together in reality. Making your own swatch board is a great way to get professional results when planning everything yourself.

Texture
Colour is not the only important element in a room – texture is just as integral to a unified space. Whether you are looking at wall paper, rugs, upholstery, flooring or moldings – the proper texture will add weight, depth, character and style to your space. Be sure to match your texture to the overall vision for your lounge.

Furniture
Furniture is the backbone of your lounge – not just the actual pieces you choose, but also the placement of those pieces within your room. Depending on the size of your room, you might want to consider placing the furniture in the middle of the space leaving room behind for circulating. Ensuring that talking areas are not crossed is another element to keep in mind.

Bar
The addition of a wet bar in your lounge will definitely get the party going! However, wet bars are not as popular in formal living rooms or family room as they are in recreation areas or lower level lounges. However, that doesn’t mean that if you want a wet bar in your living or family room you can’t break the mold and go your own way. There are a number of ways to incorporate a wet bar into your lounge – from hidden compartments to the creation of an actual bar with stools and hanging glasses.

Lighting
As with everything else, lighting is a very important part of creating the perfect lounge. Indirect or mood lighting works best for entertaining although you will certainly want to have full overhead lights for those occasions when better lighting is needed. Two sets of lighting is therefore smart – overheads that are used only when needed, and mood lighting for every day.

The perfect lounge really will depend on what you consider important in such a space and what your comfort level dictates.

Creative Kitchens Updates

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The kitchen is one of the most used spaces in any home. Toronto kitchens run the gamut from extremely high-end, luxury models to tiny, well-designed spaces made to maximize effectiveness and practicality.

Remodeling your existing kitchen is one of the best ways to guarantee a return on your investment dollars. Whether you have an unlimited budget or you have to make every dollar count, you can turn your existing kitchen into an attractive, modern and stylish setting using a few old tricks.

Paint
Although it might seem too straight-forward to work, painting your kitchen can change its look entirely. If you already have good cabinets made from solid wood, then swapping them out for newer cabinets might not be the best solution. Instead stripping them of their old paint and giving them a new colour will definitely do the trick. Another good option that works wonders is resurfacing your old cabinets. A layer of new finish is added to the existing finish and details are incorporated such as moldings, capping and more to create a whole new look. Resurfacing is more costly than repainting but still more economical than changing your cabinets completely.

Counters
Even if you don’t do anything else, changing your existing counter will make your kitchen pop! Depending on your budget you can opt from the most popular materials of melamine, composite or pure stone counters. The choice you make will be largely dictated by your budget as well as your taste. Bear in mind that if you opt for a stone counter, then you must be prepared to maintain it every so often in order to keep it in top condition. You can also go with lesser used but just as attractive materials including concrete, wood and stainless steel.

Backsplash
Adding a backsplash is a good and inexpensive way of updating the look of your kitchen. If you already have a backsplash, you can either change it entirely or scrub it clean and repaint it – the finished effect is far better than what you would expect. Another option is covering it with some of the newly available stick-on tiles found in hardware stores – they are easy to use and will give your kitchen a fantastic new look.

Lights
Changing your light fixtures to something more modern will also be a good way to give your kitchen some pizzazz. Instead of sticking to the tried and true dome lights, try something suspended, track lighting or even pot lighting.

Fixtures
A very quick and easy fix to any kitchen makeover is changing the fixtures. Installing high-end fixtures can change the look of your cabinets within a half-hour.

If you have a larger budget, then hiring an architect to help you include an additional pantry, a centre island or even the redesign of the entire space is a good way to go as they can give you ideas that you might not have on your own.

Whatever you decide, just make sure that your kitchen suits your needs and your style.