Tag Archives: #homeconcierge

What’s Trending in Real Estate Today?

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Q: What is a Real Estate Concierge?

A: When I think of a concierge I imagine being taken care of, someone you can go to for help when things are unfamiliar or feeling overwhelmed. I coined the name “Home Concierge” for my Real Estate Concierge service package to evoke that feeling of someone being there to give you support, as well as to showcase the versatility and unique services I provide to real estate professionals.

Q: Who can benefit most from using a Real Estate Concierge?

A: Any realtor or real estate broker who is looking to grow their business, someone who may be strong in all other aspects of their business but doesn’t have an eye for reading a home for a particular market, someone who has a good client base but not enough hours in the day to get things done, or a realtor just starting out that needs a little help in marketing their services.

Q: How is it cost-effective?

A: I think if you look at the overall cost of hiring a full-time assistant, and all the costs associated with one versus contracting me on an as-needed basis you can see the cost-effectiveness pretty easily. I think flexibility is important, and I offer my services by project, monthly retainer, or hourly. There are no commitments and no hidden costs.

Here is how I can help . . . 

  • Confirm that all documentation has the appropriate signature and dates
  • Work closely with the selling agent to retrieve any and all documents needed to close the files
  • Responsible for verifying all properties have been entered into the agent’s system
  • Cleaning & Organization of home, prep/set-up estate sale
  • Errands & Tasks – dry cleaners, shopping, etc.
  • Open homes for Showings, Photography, Open house
  • Pre-Showing set-up: arrange the home for an Open House or Showing to bring out the best features of the home
  • Plan and coordinate open houses, broker tours/launch parties, and other events
  • Home Staging & Redesign service of the space(s)
  • Regularly update and maintain communication with clients, agents, title companies, lenders, etc.
  • Keep track of critical dates and send weekly reminders to the agents as related to real estate project/account
  • Interact with clients and staff in a professional, responsible, reliable, and friendly manner, at all times

navy accent interiors**Additional service – Real Estate Concierge Service**

Pre-staging a home prior to listing – CC Home Concierge Company works with your client to eliminate clutter and improve the appeal of the home to potential buyers.

Residential organizing before or after a move. Prior to a move, CCHC works with your clients to declutter. This improves the look of the home and saves your clients from paying to move things they don’t need.

A move-in is also a good time to get organized. CCHC helps clients unpack, get organized and back to normal quickly. A CCHC gift certificate makes a nice closing gift. 

Move coordination and project management. We work with busy families and professionals to coordinate and manage the details of their move. We can apply our organizational system for project planning and execution, a high level of customer support and network with local service providers to help clients enjoy a low-stress, on-time move.

Service for special needs. All transitions come with a level of stress. Some can be more stressful than others if they are forced upon you because of an unexpected change of events, death in family or health changes that require moving and downsizing or the closing of estates.

Cheryl has been a Professional Organizer for 25 years and has worked with clients in a variety of situations to create a respectful and thoughtful approach to solving problems, decluttering, down-sizing or estate-closing.

Peace Harmony & Happy Home Making!

XO Cheryl

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How to use Pinterest

Trust Me When I Say – Nobody Wants Your Sh$t (stuff!) Downsize Your Clutter Now

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home downsize 2

“In today’s world of tiny houses, capsule wardrobes and consultant Marie Kondo, a lot of people have felt the urge to purge”. More and more of us are deciding to get rid of extra space, and extra stuff, and moving into something cozier and best efficient for our lives.

While several factors are important to us in choosing a home in our later years, which include items like having sidewalks, a nearby grocery store, and relatively short commutes to work, size is also a consideration. I don’t about you, but I don’t want to be taking care of a 2,000 square foot home in my wiser years  – when I’ll most likely have trouble keeping an eye on my shoes!

When you’re newlyweds, eager to start a family, and want extra space for friends and relatives to stay while visiting, a big home fit the bill. But, now your children have their own homes (I hope!) and this big house is now too costly for your life. If you’re an Empty-Nester, now is the time to downsize into a small place.

MANY BABY BOOMERS ARE willing to downsize their home in order to lower their retirement costs. Moving to a less expensive house can simplify your life, to get your expenses under control and help you live out your life in financial security along with Peace of Mind!

Here’s 7 Tips To Downsize & Declutter Your Home

  1. Get motivated. Sometimes you need a reason to downsize. Maybe your son or daughter is moving back home (for a short period of time) and you have to make room, or you’re putting the house on the market in order to move down south. Having a deadline is a powerful motivator to set things in motion. If you don’t have an official move date, then set your own deadline, such as a birthday, anniversary, or the end of the year.
  2. Stop trying to impress everyone. Many people think they have to have the best of everything. But by this point in our lives we should be beyond such trivial comparisons. It’s not what you have in your life that’s important, it’s who and what you have in your life that brings you joy!. The books that sit on your shelves don’t matter as much as the books you’ve actually read. If you really want to impress your friends, display love and interest in what matters to them – instead of showcasing a garage full of junk.
  3. Make a plan. Start making lists and schedules. Come up with a priority-order of things to get done, then delegate who is responsible for what tasks. Who will clean out the garage by what date? Choose the charities that will accept your donations – my favorite is to hold a tag sale to make some extra moola! Determine a strategy for disposing of your household’s old textbooks, magazines, sports equipment, and decide who is going to negotiate with them about what they’re going to take and what they’re going to allow you to dispose of.
  4. Save only what “brings you joy”. Take a positive plan-of-attack. Don’t look at it like you’re getting rid of everything that has no home. Instead, think in terms of saving what’s important and what you will actually use in your new life. If an item doesn’t bring you joy, then let it go to someone else that can appreciate it to its fullest. Your goal is a smaller but more valuable collection of belongings.
  5. Get more decisive. Make decisions about each item. Sometimes decluttering goes in stages. As you proceed through the process, recognize how much energy organizing and disposing of all your stuff takes out of you. You will begin to realize that what seemed like “I can’t live without this” two months ago now just seems like extra stuff. You’ll become more practical, develop a determination to keep your clutter under control. Then, you’ll start moving through your piles more quickly.
  6. Rent a storage unit . . . Not Long Term! Make no mistake, downsizing is a lot of work, and emotional issues may hold you up. If you just can’t find a way to scale down to the level you need, then rent a storage unit and put the overflow in there. Set a deadline for paying the fee; 3 months? A year? Go back and take another look before the deadline. You’ll have fresh eyes and clearer mind to make decisions to complete the job at that point.
  7. Enjoy the new You! The earlier you downsize the better, physically, socially and financially. It’s about giving up something today for something you truly want or need. The payoff is often a fresh start, lower living expenses, less house-related work, a different lifestyle with less stress and more freedom to travel or whatever is most important to you.

Going through a lifetime of possessions may require professional assistance. Not everyone is comfortable, for example, helping people go through family heirlooms. Figure out which pieces family members might want and which to sell, donate or keep. Consider archiving your children’s drawings and photographs digitally. Some opt for an estate sale, garage sale or yard sale, depending on what they have. Whatever you may need help with a Professional Organizer is skilled and educated to help with your declutter & downsize project.

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Are you looking for assistance with downsizing your home? Comment me @ cchomeconcierge@gmail.com. We can talk about what the next step will be for you.

You can find me here – CC Home Concierge Co. ~ formerly Envision – Designs

Like me here – CC Home Concierge Co. Facebook Page

20% off First Concierge Service Booked – Offer good until 3/31/2019

 

What Can A Business Concierge Do For You?

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Small Business Concierge Services

CC Home Concierge Company  provides services that take care of the tedious and time consuming portion of your evenings and weekends. CCHC is prepared to help you with everything from the every day to the extraordinary.

PROVIDING TRULY PERSONALIZED SERVICE TO MAKE YOUR LIFE EASIER.

With the true concept of a personal concierge, CCHC Small Business Services work with each individual to develop a plan-of-action that enables a client to feel as if they have accomplished the tasks themselves.

It’s a cost effective solution of outsourcing your business tasks, Business concierges are playing an important role in today’s business by performing many of the same services as an office-based employee, but without the associated costs of payroll taxes, health insurance, workers comp, training, office space, etc.

WE TAKE CARE OF THE THINGS YOU DON’T WANT TO DO, SO YOU CAN REGAIN CONTROL OF YOUR TIME.    

Business sometimes need extra support with the need of hiring additional employees – CCHC Small Business Concierge is your answer!

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Are you looking for a balance of home and work life? comment me @ cchomeconcierge@gmail.com. We can talk about what the next step will be for you.

 

  Like me here – CC Home Concierge Co. Facebook Page  

20% off First Concierge Service Booked – Offer good until 3/31/2019

 

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butterfly transformation

1960s It Was All About Sit-Ins, Taking-a-Seat on various issues of the times . . .

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My brother and I had our seats sitting in front of the TV to watch cartoons every weekend, until we hear the bellowing of her voice from the kitchen “turn off that TV and get your asses outside”. Oh how I miss those days – MADE to go outside – TURN OFF the TV – SPEND time together.

Crazy concept . . . right?

Kidding aside we need this kind of weekends again, our children need this kind of weekends – FUN – NO STRESS – JUST BEING A KID.

 . . . Let’s bring back the fun!!

Peace & Harmony ~ Cheryl

Are you ready to create transformation and clarity in your life? Comment to me @ cchomeconcierge@gmail.com I’ll send you information how to take the next step.

Did Someone Say Yard Sale?

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Clear out our Clutter! yard sale blog image

Having a Yard or Tag Sale

I know with this freakin’ snow that we’ve been getting, it’s hard to think about yard sales. Do you call them yard sales or tag sales? However you say it – it’s a sale!

I have my fingers crossed that our little town of Lisbon gets to have a “Town Wide Yard Sale” a great way to rid your home of clutter and make a few bucks at the same time, the best part will be getting to know people in the community.

The winter months is the perfect time to tackle a large organizing project, and garage sales are one of my favorite ways to DISCARD in the Spring and Summer time; they are an awesome excuse to enjoy to weather, get to know your community all the while making money!

Start with decluttering your home – Go room-by-room or (Zone -by-Zone) and create an inventory of  items that are in good condition and should not be recycled/tossed. Think of a need – treat – experience that this money will go towards to help serve as inspiration to make the experience even more rewarding

Once you’ve decided what’s going in the Yard Sale, you can dive in using my tips (and supply list!) to make your yard sale smooth and a success!

Prep:

  1. Clean items up, so that they look well taken care of
  2. Sort and plan how you will group/display the next day
  3. Go through clothing pockets, handbags, etc. to make sure there are no credit card receipts or personal information you are selling off with the items
  4. Price items:
    • Nearly new condition = 2/3 of original price
    • Average condition = 1/3 of original price.
    • For small items, don’t price individually, make poster board signs like “Every item on table = $1” or “Books = .25/each, 5 for $1.”
    • Clothes, books, and outdated trendy items don’t sell!
  5. Place price tags visible on all items (For large furniture items, place large tag/card describing item, its’ condition and possibly a picture of it from a catalog with the original price circled if it’s a popular item.)
  6. Mark sets: “4 Glasses in a set,” so just one or two is not sold.
  7. Put up signs the night before with arrows pointing to the sale. Avoid stapling to trees or utility poles. Check out My Pinterest Page for Yard Sale Tips and Designs.
  8. Consider if you want to use any digital payment services, like Venmo or PayPal, to increase the likelihood of purchases. There are of course benefits to being cash-only, but you may want to consider this if you have any very large ticket items and are in a location inconvenient to a bank/ATM. Great idea! set-up your account and test it prior to the sale day.

Morning of Sale:

  1. Display your items for marketing: Put the most appealing and interesting items near the street, to entice drivers to stop and shop.
  2. Display your items for ease: Arrange books, records, DVD’s, etc. with titles visible.
  3. Keep most valuable items near you.
  4. Cover up what you don’t want sold, either with a sheet or a tarp, or rope it off.
  5. Make sure your doors and windows are locked; don’t allow people into the house to use the bathroom or try on clothes.
  6. Place the payment tables near the entrance, to prevent stealing.

During Sale:

  1. Play music to create a joyful atmosphere; if you don’t know what to play, look at pandora or spotify’s popular playlists. Offer finger food and cold drinks if you want to create even more good vibes!
  2. Handle cash efficiently: If someone hands you a large bill, leave it out on table while you are making change — prevents confusion over how large a bill they gave you.
  3. If you are accepting digital payments, ensure that the payment goes through before completing the sale. Do not take checks, unless willing to risk it bouncing.
  4. Negotiate strategically: Pre-plan how low you will go, especially for big ticket items. But don’t go down too early in the day on these big ticket items, have the person come back later to see if it hasn’t sold yet. When unsure of a negotiation, ask yourself: “Do I want to put bring it back in the house?”
  5. Replenish and consolidate display tables throughout the day so you don’t appear down to the leftovers.

After Sale:

  1. Box up leftovers right away and donate to a charity, so that the items don’t go back to creating clutter in your home.
  2. Take down signs.

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Supply List:

  • Boxes and grocery bags to pack up sold items. Packing paper for fragile items
  • 2 fanny packs for the money handlers
  • 2 small notepads and pens (if buyers request receipts or information about the sold article)
  • An extension cord to test any electric equipment that is being sold
  • Mirrors, if selling clothes or jewelry – set them up on furniture you’re trying to sell.
  • Sandwich bags if she is selling any jewelry, for bagging
  • STARTING MONEY: $50 in singles ($25 in change if there are items < $1)
  • Pricing labels and tie-on tags for items that the pricing labels won’t adhere to
  • Sharpies for labeling
  • Fat Markers for street signs
  • Poster board and yard sticks for signs around the neighborhood.
  • Tables and tablecloths for display

Peace & Harmony ~ Cheryl

Are you ready to create transformation and clarity in your life? Comment me @ cchomeconcierge@gmail.com I’ll send you information how to take the first step.

 

 

Make Your Bedroom Good Enough For A Pro

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Luxury Beds

Make Your Bed Like a Pro

How to Make Your Bed Beautiful

Who hasn’t admired those perfect cozy beds shown on the full-page spreads of interior design magazines or on the popular interior decorating websites? accessorized to perfection, not a bit of clutter in sight, the room in question is a bedroom – sporting a bed that looks like it comes straight out of a professional designer’s dream. Made neatly enough to win a drill sergeant’s approval (or a Navy Mom like I had), topped with perfectly positioned shams and throw pillows, and finished with a contrasting throw blanket folded just-so at the foot of the bed – these beds look too good to mess up or having your furry kids join you when it’s time to go to sleep!

While your own bedroom might never see the centerfold of a design magazine, there is no reason your bed can’t look just like a PRO – as good as the ones featured on those shiny-glossy magazine pages. But, just maybe pulling the sheets and blankets up somewhat neatly is about as far as you can take it. Making a  bed each day does you good said so well by Naval Admiral William McRaven “If you make your bed every morning you will have accomplished the first task of the day. It will give you a small sense of pride and it will encourage you to do another task and another and another. By the end of the day, that one task completed will have turned into many tasks completed. Making your bed will also reinforce the fact that little things in life matter.”

Bed Skirt: Yes or No?

Not every bed needs a bed skirt, but if yours is a mattress on top of a foundation with an exposed metal frame, then skirt the bed to conceal the unattractive frame and casters. Plus, when you hide the area underneath your bed, it becomes a great place for storage of out-of-season clothing, sporting goods, or other bulky items.

Get Padded . . .

A mattress topper adds a layer of extra comfort to your bed. It might not show, but you’ll feel the difference at night. To showcase your bed – put another thick comforter on top of the top sheet before you place the main bed cover on bed. It adds height and coziness (a trick nice hotels use).

Sheet It

Smooth, comfortable sheets can make the difference between a good night’s sleep and a night spent trying to get comfortable. Though some PROs might insist you need to iron your sheets before making a truly great-looking bed, that won’t be necessary if you remove them from the dryer as soon as they are dry or either fold them for storage – fold all linen in tri-fold lay onto of each other in order of  1. fitted sheet 2. top sheet 3. pillow cases 4. light extra blanket (if needed) and store into their sets – Twin, Full, Queen, and King, saves space and time not searching for all linen when changing beds.

This is the steps I use for making beds:

  1. Grab your folded set from closet – Start at one of the upper corners of your mattress, and pull the fitted sheet elastic down and over the mattress corner. Now smooth the sheet out, and repeat on the other upper mattress corner. Move to the foot of the bed, and finish pulling the fitted sheet into place, smoothing out all the edges and taking care to cover the entire mattress.
  2. Now it’s time for the flat sheet. Lay it over your mattress (if the sheet has a printed design on one side, then face the printed side down), and spread the sheet out, pulling the upper hem to the top edge of your mattress, and centering the sheet so it drapes evenly over both sides of the bed. Smooth away any creases.
  3. Tuck the bottom of the flat sheet under your mattress, and then move to the side. Grab the corner of the sheet that’s hanging out at the foot of the bed, and fold that corner up until it’s against the side of the mattress. Now tuck in the flat sheet, keeping the folded corner tightly in place to create a neat crease. Repeat on the other side. Do your best to achieve a neat fold at the mattress corners (also called hospital corners), but don’t agonize over it. Leave 12 to 18 inches of flat sheet untucked at the top of the bed.

Blanket Time

If you use a blanket for extra warmth choosing an electric blanket is one option, another is having an extra warm, thick and cozy bedspreads. Spread the sides of the blanket evenly over the mattress, letting the fall over the edges of the bed.

Place Your Pillows

Fluff your sleeping pillows, and prop them against the headboard with the open side of the pillowcases facing the nearest side of the bed. If you use European shams, these come next. Place your regular shams in front of the European shams, then finish off with no more than three throw pillows – generally, a couple of rectangular or square pillows and a rounded bolster look best. Remember that there is no law saying you have to use shams or throw pillows, but if you want your bed to be truly styled with that luxury feel, take the extra few seconds to put pillows in place.

Throw It

For a final perfect touch, fold a throw blanket, thin quilt, or extra blanket, and layer it across the foot of the bed. When staging a home I like to add a tray at the foot of the bed with a book, small dish for jewelry, and a nice journal with pen – simple but effective touch! 

Step Back and Enjoy!

Your bed is perfectly made, it only took a minute or two, and your whole bedroom looks great. Trust me you too can have a bed that looks good enough for a Pro.

Check out the self-making bed video – Would you use this?

 

Peace & Harmony ~ Cheryl

Are you ready to create transformation and clarity in your life? Comment to me @ cchomeconcierge@gmail.com I’ll send you information how to take the first step.

 

Worth It Wednesday!

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Concierge Services: Because trying to “do it all” is really hard…and stressful

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Afternoon Ya’ll

Happy Saturday ~ Are you like many people that is too busy to take care of all things that need to get done?

A Concierge can do those things for you to help you check items off your list.

I’m a personal and small business concierge that takes care of:

  • Home & Small Business Organizing

  • Home & Small Business Cleaning

  • Home & Small Office help with errands and tasks

  • Senior Services: Downsizing and all above services

  • And anything else you need done to make life easier for you!

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Enjoy your day!

Peace & Harmony ~ Cheryl

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