The most popular home remodel projects, according to the National Association of Home Builders, are bathrooms and kitchens.  It’s no surprise that these 2 rooms rank high on the list, think about how much time is spent here! Bathroom remodels have taken the lead in popularity and can recoup about 68% of the cost when reselling. However kitchen remodels are a better investment in that you can recoup up to 75% of the cost of a minor remodel and 71% of the cost of a major remodel. For the full list of Remodel Magazine’s cost v. value chart for remodel projects in the Southeast, click here.

So what is a minor remodel? This is referring to painting the walls and trim, updating the cabinet facing and hardware, replacing the faucet, getting an energy efficient oven, replacing laminate countertops, and replacing the flooring. I know what you’re thinking, that sounds like a pretty major remodel! A major remodel swaps out all of the appliances, adds an island and does all the minor remodel things too.

Going green is very important to a lot of people, not just because it helps the environment but also because it’s beneficial to their wallets! Appliances that save energy are a great addition to your home for both of those reasons; the savings alone will pay for the upgrade.

If you’re remodeling on a budget, paint can go a long way! The entire look and feel of a room can change based on the color. This season’s colors range from neutral grays like ash and slate, to blue-greens like aqua and teal, to oranges like sherbet and burnt orange. If you’re painting to update your house for your resale it’s best to stick with the neutrals and add an accent wall that matches the room’s aesthetic.

Another trending style is dark wood for floors and cabinets. The dark wood really makes your paint and accent colors pop while adding a bold look. Bold is big this year. Bold colors, furniture, and artwork are more prevalent. Creating an interesting and eye popping focal point is a great way to bring a room together.

If you’re looking for more home decorating tips and inspiration, follow us on Pinterest, by clicking here!

Real estate doesn't have to sound like a foreign language!

1)      Quitclaim Deed: Like we said before, there are tons of different types of deeds, leases and agreements. This one in particular isn’t brought up all the time, so people often don’t know what it means.

What it means:  Essentially, when an owner of real property transfers their interest to someone else, that’s called a quitclaim deed. There’s no title covenant, which means there’s no warranty on the property and that even the original owner had a clean title to begin with, so these aren’t usually used in standard seller-to-buyer deals.

Where you’d see it: You’d see this more often when passing property between family members or from private property into a business entity. You can also see this done when a couple divorces and either the husband or wife relinquishes all ownership to the marital house to the other spouse.

2)       Sublet: This is actually more of a rental term, but with the amount of renting going on in the market, it’s rather handy to know what it means.

What it means: To sublet a property means that someone who is leasing a property decides to then lease the property again.

Where you’d see it: This is often the case if a management company is renting an apartment complex and then leases individual units to residents. Another way you often see this is when college students study abroad or leave for the summer and sublet their apartment when they’re gone.

3)      Amortization:  Sometimes in real estate, we have fancy sounding terms that are just there to cover the basics of common sense. This is one of those terms.

What it means: When you take out a mortgage and you make regular payments on it, you’re paying to make the original principal amount decrease and to cover the interest you’ve accrued. Amortization is the process in which that original principal goes down.

Where you’d see it: Oftentimes, you can see amortization tables that will demonstrate to you how your principal amount decreases over time.

Real estate can seem daunting, but with a little insider intel, you’ll be speaking like the pros in no time! We’ll do another word decoding in a couple weeks- any terms you’d like covered? If so, let us know, and we’ll explain them next time!

We at Emmer love to give back in thanks, and one way to do this is to recycle. While there’s a huge effort here in our lovely city to follow the green road, you’d be surprised how many people throw away things that could easily be reused or chuck un-recyclable things in the green bins. So, while you can find tons of sources on things you can recycle, we’re going to fill you in on some things you cannot.

1)      Pizza Boxes: This may not be the biggest surprise for you, as it’s been going around for a while that the drippy cardboard can’t really be used again, but it’s the why that really matters here. Once recyclable products have been saturated with food stuffs, they become virtually useless and destined for the trash bin. This also includes products like juice boxes and aluminum foil, which is a big bummer.

2)      Wet Paper Products: The minute you accidentally spill your soda on the newspaper, it’s time to hit the trash. Once the fibers have changed from the absorption of the liquid, you’ve lost all recyclability. This list also includes paper towels and tissues- so no trying to recycle during cold and flu season!

3)      Bottle Caps: Yes, your water bottles can be recycled. However, only if you take off the lid of that bottle. That plastic has been used in a way where it’s now unusable and keeping it on the bottle adds more effort to the ones recycling. An exception? Dasani- they’ve made their entire bottles recyclable.

4)      Plastic Bags: This one even threw us for a loop! Believe it or not, those plastic bags you get from the grocery store, the clothing store, and pretty much every other store ARE NOT recyclable, primarily because they take too much time to sort and can be dangerous to rummage through. Instead, you can often take them to “bag depositories” or back to the store you got them from!

We got a lot of our information from this great article on EcoSalon, which can fill you in on some other surprising things you can’t recycle. While this is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to recycling your stuff, don’t be afraid to ask questions. If you’re interested in learning more about the process, check out all the details our fair city has to tell at the City of Gainesville’s Recycling Page or, if you’re an out-of-towner, find out more about your own cities options through Earth911.com. Either way, happy green-ifying!

This year's Air Potato Roundup poster courtesy of Merald Clark!

That’s right! It’s time again for the Annual Air Potato Roundup! 

While this might sound silly to some, this event that takes place at the end of January is a huge deal. With live music, food, and raffles, people of all walks of life come out to help Mother Nature by picking up the air tubers and discarding them, preventing them from spreading elsewhere. While registration for this year’s event is over (the event is always a huge success!), we thought it might be a good idea to take a look at the air potato, as well as a couple other invasive plants, so that we know exactly what in our area is there, that shouldn’t be!

Air Potato- Dioscorea bulbifera

The air potato is a vine that multiplies through the falling and distribution of aerial tubers (thus, the name “air potato”). While this is part of the yam family, it is poisonous and should not be eaten. The plan can grow extremely fast, which often pushes out native plants and takes over full patches of land. Land that has been disrupted, such as from fires or construction, is often the most susceptible to being hit by the plant.

Water Hyacinth- Eichhornia crassipes
This water based plant came from Brazil, and was said to be brought to the U.S. during an exposition in 1884 in New Orleans. Since its introduction, it has covered over 100,000 acres of waterways in Florida, and is extremely damaging to native habitats. It covers waterways like a mat, clogs the waterways, makes it very difficult to do anything in the water (in terms of activities like sports), and forces out other life by limiting the amount of oxygen in the water.

Brazilian Pepper-tree- Schinus terebinthifolius
The pepper tree is an incredibly aggressive and widespread plant in Florida. It originally was brought over as an ornamental plant (it’s often used in Christmas decorations because of the red and green colorations), but has since infested over 700,000 acres of Florida lands. Its dense canopy shades out all other plants and strongly limits their reproductive and growth abilities.

If you want to find out more about how to get rid of these plants, what plants to use instead, or even how you can help with the Air Potato Roundup in your own yard, visit the Florida Invasive Plant Education Initiative in Parks and see how you can stop these plants from pestering our native breeds! 

Sometimes all you really need to do is talk! Before you make any big decisions, try to get another opinion!

Now, these sites give great information (we mean it, you should check out both their articles!), but we felt there’s an even easier route to go when it comes to bettering yourself and your home for 2012. How do we mean? We need to get talking!

For Sellers: Talk to your Neighbors.

-Believe it or not, an extra pair of eyes can really make a difference. If selling your home wasn’t a dream come true last year, maybe there are things going under the radar that an unbiased opinion could point out. Is it your home staging, your curb appeal or even your price? Have an honest (but loyal) friend to point out what you can’t see can be a great way to set yourself in the right direction for the New Year. Why a neighbor? They understand the value of your home- they’re more than likely living in a model very similar to your own!

For Buyers: Talk to a Professional.

-Whether that’s a realtor, a developer or even an insurance broker, go to someone who deals with this stuff every day. Though the internet makes us think we’re invincible with endless amounts of knowledge, not everything we read is reputable. If you have a question, go ask- you’ll often get a much straighter answer than if you compared many websites saying differing things!

For The Unsure: Talk to your Family.

Considering selling? Not sure if you’re ready to move? Believe it or not, everyone in the house can really give a good opinion. If you feel your home is too small, you may not be the only one- but then again you could be.  Are you sick of the location? Are you worried about the market value of your home? Don’t let the market’s up-and-downs affect your love of your home. Oftentimes, a simple remodeling can make a big difference, and can really save you money and struggle in the long run. Either way, this sort of a decision shouldn’t be the burden on any one person!

What are your real estate resolutions? Let us know in the comments below!

It is a very festive time of year, a very spiritual time of year, and we all know and respect each other’s life paths. However, this doesn’t mean that your home needs to look like this home:

Well, there's no question as to what they believe in...

No matter what you believe in, if you alienate your buyer, they won’t be able to see themselves in your home comfortably. Leave the showing of devotion to another year, and this year, go more toward the ambiguous wreaths and candles.

2.  DON’T… Go Overboard:

Okay, we won’t deny it; these huge holiday light shows can seriously put you in the festive mood. Like this one, for instance:

It’s magical, it’s musical, it’s… a little over-powering. When someone’s coming to tour your home, they aren’t looking for free entertainment- they’re looking for their own potential home. Don’t blind them with too many lights, keep it simple: holiday scents, perhaps a little non-specific holiday music and even a natural-looking garland on the mantle.

1. WHAT EVER YOU DO, DON’T… 

Put this thing up. Anywhere in your house. We’re serious.

We hope you have a fantastic holiday and that your selling goes smoothly. Perhaps, even, in the spirit of the season, you’ll want to give us the gift of being a new Emmer homeowner?

Just a thought!

What holiday faux-pas do you think the standard home-seller should avoid this season? Let us know in the comments below! 

We hope you're having a happy holiday season and that you enjoy the post we've got for you below!

‘Tis the season for giving! And we decided we certainly wanted to give to you, so we pulled out a very special trump card and are featuring an excellent article written by Erik Braunitzer of Douglas Elliman Real Estate Company, Agents for New York City Rentals. We hope you enjoy the piece, and thank you, Erik, for your great contribution!

Making Your Home Beautiful for the Holidays

If you’ve become bored with the same old routine of dragging out old decorations every winter and putting them up in the same manner that you’ve done for years, it’s time to come up with a new plan. Holiday decor shouldn’t be dull and monotonous!  Liven up your home this holiday season by creating beautiful and tasteful designs that reflect you and your family.

1) Take stock of what you already have. Bring out the old decorations and evaluate their true worth and appeal. If you have an ornament that is a family heirloom, for instance, hold onto it. Do the same for decorations that have sentimental value, such as the centerpiece that your little one made years ago. If you have decorations that don’t really thrill you and have no special meaning, weed them out of your collection and donate them to your local thrift store.

A great example of using interesting and off-season colors to make a statement during the holidays!

2) Consider a holiday color scheme. Of course, the traditional Christmas colors may be red and green, but that doesn’t mean that you have to use them. Think about which colors really please you and which tones complement the existing color scheme of your home. Decide on one or two related shades and mix these colors with a neutral cream or a shiny metallic tone. If your den primarily consists of neutral shades of tan and white, pull together decorations that feature a darker and a lighter shade of deep burgundy or wine, then add gold accent pieces, such as bows or garland, to give the theme a pop of pizzazz.

3) Small details make a big difference. These details don’t have to break the bank either. For instance, walk around outside and gather some pine cones, holly branches or other plants that remind you of the Christmas season. Mix your collection in a large glass bowl and use it as a centerpiece. Replace your existing Christmas lights with ones that twinkle or blink on and off. Some home stores even offer money off of your lights purchase if you bring in your old lights. Add a few jewel toned throw pillows to your furniture that reflect the colors of your Christmas decor. Light some inexpensive scented candles and play some Christmas tunes to add to the festive atmosphere of your home.

4) Explore the unexpected.  For example, rather than lugging one huge Christmas tree into your home, place three to five small, live trees at various locations in your house and spread the old decorations among them. Make it an event for family and friends!  If you have a family gathering , divide the group into smaller teams of two to four people and give each team a small tree and a bag full of decorations. You could even let your guests get creative with art supplies! You’ll end up with unique, customized decorations that remind you of a specific, festive event.
Avoid the stress of trying to make your home look like some cookie-cutter version of a Christmas postcard this holiday season. Instead, use fresh ways of decorating your surroundings with your old favorites and new artistic vision!

The last step? Enjoy the holidays in a home that truly feels like your own.

-Erik Braunitzer of Douglas Elliman Real Estate Company, Agents for New York City Rentals.

What are your holiday traditions? We've got plenty, most involving the two big "F" 's: Family and Food!

As we all slowly recover from too many leftovers and the Black Friday brawls, it’s a good time to remember that the giving season is upon us and our holiday festivities are just beginning. With that in mind, we wanted to bring up one of our favorite parts of this holiday season, which happen to be traditions.

We were just reading on the South Florida Law Blog about Roy Oppenheim’s regular Thanksgiving “Turkey Stand Off” (a great article, if you haven’t read it!), as well as a list of some of the most unusual holiday traditions, and it got us wondering: What really makes something a tradition? Is it the recurring nature or the value that the participants put into the event? Can you call something a tradition if it’s only happened a couple times? Why do we often feel that traditions “make or break” a holiday, when the holiday’s themselves are traditions?

Help us make a difference this year! It can be a new tradition!

In honor of the spirit of giving, we started a tradition not too long ago to participate in the Children’s Home Society of Florida’s “Angel Tree” Holiday Drive. People bring new, unwrapped gifts, like toys, clothes, books, etc., for children who are in situations keeping them from having a plentiful holiday. According to their website, the CHS of Florida “…delivers a unique spectrum of social services designed to protect children at risk of abuse, neglect or abandonment; to strengthen and stabilize families; to help young people break the cycle of abuse and neglect; and to find safe, loving homes for children. Every year, CHS helps to improve the lives of about 100,000 children and family members.” Their tradition became our tradition when we realized we could help change the lives of some children in need during the holidays. EDC and Gibraltar Title are collecting at our headquarters, our Sorrento and Capri clubhouses and at our two apartment complexes in Gainesville, Stoneridge and Tivoli, until December 15^th. If you’re in the area and care to join us in helping make a difference, we’d love for you to stop by and be a part of our tradition.

So, tell us: How do you define tradition? Do you have any, or are you more the “live-by-the-seat-of-your-pants” type? But, if you’re always spontaneous, is that, in itself, a tradition (okay, we know, we’re pushing it!)? In any case, we can all agree that the holidays bring a certain feeling of good will and cheer to the air that definitely makes this time of year merry. Hope you’re having a great start to the season!

What constitutes a tradition? Tell us your holiday traditions in the comments below!

We hope you have a happy and safe Thanksgiving, everyone!

It’s almost here! It’s become nearly impossible to help but think of the turkey, stuffing, potatoes and pies that we’ll all gorge ourselves on next week. Not only have we neared the weekend, but we’ve neared family gatherings, holiday parades and football games. How do we pass the time as our idle hands urge to look up recipes for left-over casseroles?

Well, we here at Emmer do two things: tell why we’re thankful and give back where we can! Though we’ve all heard of the foreclosures down the street or read about horrible things like robo-signings and bailouts, it’s nice to know that small family business’s like ours still have things to be grateful for! For example, our hardworking and talented employees are always doing their best to make this company as well-oiled as a machine can be. We live in this great town of Gainesville, Florida, where there’s always something to do and the devoted residents make sure to take care of their own. And, of course, there’s the people we always appreciate, those great souls who buy a home and put their faith in us as builders. We love what we do, and that’s certainly something to be thankful for, but we couldn’t do it without great homeowners and buyers!

We'd love it if you could help us support this great local cause!

So, how do we express this blooming feeling of gratefulness? We give back! This month, we’re collecting food donations to help Bread of the Mighty Food Bank so that everyone can have the holiday feast we all dream about. We have boxes set up at our two property locations (in the club house at Sorrento and the sales office of Portofino), and we’ll be accepting donations through tomorrow from anyone who’s interested in helping out. Gibraltar Title Insurance Agency is even donating a whole meal for every closing this month! We give where we can because we feel that if we’re so lucky to be so thankful, others should have something to smile about, too.

So, readers, what are you thankful for? Your family, your home, your Thanksgiving meal? Take a minute to appreciate even the little things! That’s what Thanksgiving is all about, right?

Here's Winnie- who would have thought she was so mistreated before she arrived!

Sometimes, good things do come out of bad situations. For example, imagine a horse named Winnie has been found by police to be abused, malnourished or mistreated and has no safe home to go to. A terrible situation, to say the least, but now let’s imagine a caring couple who decide to make a special retirement home for horses just like Winnie. That’s exactly what happened in the case of the Retirement Home for Horses at Mill Creek Farm.

Founded in the early 1980’s by Peter and Mary Gregory in Alachua, this nonprofit sanctuary adopts abused, neglected and old horses who are no longer fit for work and allows them to live out the rest of their days in a safe and work-free environment. Funded completely through donations and volunteers, the owners both live and work at the Retirement Home, devoting themselves full time to the 130 horses who reside there. Spanning over 265 acres of green pastures, the property is protected by a perpetual conservation easement which keeps the land free from development and 100% available to the horses.

To think how some of these animals lived before this was there home is so sad! But what a great place for them to end up!

This great place doesn’t come cheaply, however. In order to maintain all the care and treatment, each horse costs approximately $2,000 every year, and the facility as a whole comes out to about $275,000. This is why they rely so heavily on the kindness of strangers (like us!), to make sure they can keep this amazing service always running.

If you’re interested in helping out, you can volunteer or donate, or even sponsor a horse for $40 a month, which gives you regular access to your new friend to visit and love. You can even just come and spend some TLC with the horses, as the farm is open every Saturday from 11-3pm, with only a few carrots as admission!

So, next time you’ve got a down Saturday (football season doesn’t last forever!), and you’re looking for something to do, why not take a trip over to the Retirement Home at Mill Creek Farm and help show these noble beasts some great appreciation!