| Are you a first time buyer who wants to buy a | | | | the windows and paint them to match the |
| castle, but can only afford a drawbridge? | | | | shutters. Grow plants in the window box that |
| When your real estate agent takes you to see | | | | will still bloom in winter, like silver ferns |
| tiny houses that you can only just afford, | | | | or yellow-leafed evergreen and make sure you |
| do you say that it's too much like the one | | | | have an ivy trailing down from each box. |
| that your great-grandpa lived in? | | | | |
| | | | When you have finished painting it all up and |
| Then, do you go all glassy-eyed and point to | | | | are ready to sell it, plant pansies in the |
| the two-story custom built home with the | | | | boxes. A little old baby boomer couple will |
| double garage across the road and look | | | | fall in love with it and they only wanted two |
| wistfully at the hot tub? | | | | bedrooms anyway! (Baby boomers reach 65 and |
| | | | start to retire in 2011.) |
| Yes, well......Remember when you passed your | | | | |
| driving test and you saved up to buy your | | | | If you want to make even more profit and you |
| first car? You wanted a candy-apple red | | | | are handy with an electric saw, you could |
| Corvette that was a standard with black | | | | build a garage or order a modular kit and |
| leather seats. However, you settled for a | | | | make one. There are many inexpensive ways to |
| beaten up old Volkswagen that needed a paint | | | | add profit to a home. Some of them include |
| job AND it was an automatic. Are you still | | | | painting it inside and out, adding a |
| driving that car now? No. | | | | greenhouse, building a deck, and making an |
| | | | outdoor eating area. |
| Get the picture? | | | | |
| | | | You can give the kitchen a lift by replacing |
| A small home gets you a piece of realty in | | | | cabinet doors for as little as $20 each. If |
| the coveted property market of which you are | | | | you paint your home, keep it all white, |
| currently NOT a member. The little house will | | | | cream, or very pale, to give it a spacious |
| escalate at the same rate (more or less) as | | | | look. |
| the gorgeous house. This means the gorgeous | | | | |
| house that you are aiming for will never | | | | House prices are at their cheapest for years, |
| escalate further out of your reach because | | | | and mortgage interest rates are very low. Get |
| you have an escalating house yourself. | | | | pre-approved for fixed rate financing so |
| | | | that your monthly payments won't go up. |
| If the house is really small, just play up to | | | | Choose a house now and you will have it |
| its cuteness. You can hang fairy-tale | | | | renovated in time for the next boom! |
| shutters on the front windows, and buy some | | | | |
| wavy edged wooden trim for the eaves of the | | | | Then you can buy the Corvette. |
| roof. | | | | |
| | | | Maryland's first "EcoBroker" designated |
| Buy cobblestones and wind a little path up to | | | | Realtor, Branden Schroeder. |
| the front door; attach window boxes under | | | | |