New to homeownership? Maybe you just need some advice to make sure your home offers you long-lasting enjoyment? Moved recently and need some suggestions? Whatever the reason, if you're a homeowner, here are some valuable tips to keep your home the oasis you've always wanted.

Whether you are preparing your home for an open house, staging for the masses, or just want to personalize a new property, making your home feel cozy and warm is something all of us want. If you’re looking to maximize your home’s coziness, start with these five tips.

#1. ADD TEXTURE.

Different textures create a sense of warmth and home meanness. This might mean different throw pillows, cushions, blankets, and textures on the textiles of your home. Have several plush throw pillows stacked up with different textures and designs. Use a soft and fluffy throw blanket over the nearest chair or couch. Cover surfaces with luxurious fabrics and if your home has hardwood floors, consider a thick plush rug.

What Significant Changes are Homeowners Making to Their Yards? - Thomas Ray, Pacific Palisades Realtor®

Homeowners are making significant changes to their front yards, creating landscapes that are distinctly different from neighboring properties, according a Landscaping Trends Survey.  #ThomasRayAgent #SantaMonicaListings The survey of 1,000 U.S. homeowners who are in the midst of, are planning, or who recently completed an outdoor project, found only six percent of front yards are nearly identical to those in the neighborhood after outdoor projects, compared with over a third before the update (36 percent). Two in five make a statement with a new front yard that is very or extremely different from others in the neighborhood post-update (41 percent). While most outdoor projects take place in the back of the home (69 percent), nearly half involve street-facing spaces (44 percent).

We all want a happy home and sometimes that happiness comes in the details. If you're trying to up the atmosphere in your home, there are a few things you can do to create a welcoming space, a calming environment, and a place you really want to spend time in. Here are 20 design tips to make your home your happy place.

#1. Use candles.

Candles are such a simple thing and with places like Marshalls, Ross, and T.J. Maxx, you can stock up on the best smelling candles for a pretty decent price. They can add soft lighting, and a great scent wafting through your house.

#2. Use essential oils.

While the center for most candles is probably nonessential, essential oils can give you that boost or cheery feeling simply by using the right oils. Bergamot, lemon, orange, and lavender can all not only smell amazing but change the mood in the room. These have unique effects on our olfactory systems and can, stay down or make us more energized.

Rats and rodents are one big pain in the neck and once you have them, it can be difficult to get rid of them. Many things draw the rats and rodents to your house or barn including food left out, chickens, or just a soft, cozy place for them to call home.

Most of the Arizona area have Norway rats, also referred to as a brown rat, house rat, wharf rat, water rat, sewer rat, and gray wrapped. It’s large and robust and his belly is mostly gray weighing about 12 to 16 ounces. Most of its fur is coarse and reddish to grayish brown. His ears are small and it lives in colonies underground burrowing along your foundation walls and nesting inside the lower floors.

Even though this works for businesses and commercial, many renters may find value in this as well. Market conditions for commercial real estate are currently in a state of flux.  While no one knows how severely Covid 19 will affect the market, two things are certain:  rental rates will probably decrease, and vacancies will increase.  Some tenants will undoubtedly downsize, move to less expensive space or permanently close their doors.  All of this market uncertainty will cause landlords to work harder to retain creditworthy tenants.  All of these circumstances make it an excellent time for any tenant considering either a renewal or a renegotiation of an existing lease.

Whether you are preparing your home for a sale or just want to spruce up your curb appeal to be the talk of the neighborhood, you probably don’t want to do it on a lavish budget. If you’re like me, anytime I’m making home improvements I want to try and save a buck or two. So it’s important that when you are updating your landscaping you weigh the costs, materials, and labor. Here are four ways to save money on landscaping.

You might not be doing everything on your own but take a look at some of the things you can be doing such as yard cleanup, mowing, and getting rid of the underbrush, sticks, and leaves. These are things that just about anyone can do as long as physical limitations don’t stand in their way. You’ll always want to clean the space before decorating it or installing new landscape features. Clear out the underbrush, trim away trees from the siding of the house, trim bushes and shrubs, and make the space clear and clean.

Are you thinking about selling your home? If you are, you likely want to maximize the profit you’ll make. Many people invest in some home upgrades before they sell, but not all of these upgrades actually have a good return on investment. If you’ve looked at some of the homes for sale in Loganville, GA, you’ve probably seen a number of upgrades highlighted. Which of these upgrades are actually going to increase the value or make selling a home easier, and which won’t? Here are some of the best home upgrades you can make.

The kitchen is the gathering place; it's the meeting room for everyone in the family to come together and head out for the day, so, naturally, the kitchen needs to be one of the premier places to stage and present when selling your home. If you focus on no other rooms in the house, and I sincerely hope you don't just do this, but, if you only work on one room, make it the kitchen. The kitchen can literally sell the house if staged properly.

Plus, you don't have to be a perfect housekeeper to stage a kitchen perfectly. There are some excellent tips and tricks that you can do to your kitchen to make it sparkle.

Here are some great tips to keep in mind when staging your kitchen if you plan on selling your home.

The shutdown… The stay-at-home order… The pandemic has definitely changed the way we do normal life including buying real estate and what people are looking for in a house. Many folks have realized that they can work from home indefinitely and have either revamped or reconfigured their home to accommodate an in-home office or started looking for homes that offer what they need with this change of occupational direction.

More homebuyers are looking for amenities at home and close proximity to their most basic needs. With that in mind, here are 6 features homebuyers now want in a property after the virus outbreak.

Light is one of the most important aspects of the home. Having the right lighting can set the perfect mood or make the task at hand easy. On the other hand, that dark corner in the kitchen where it’s hard to work or a light that’s too bright in the bedroom can take away from the joy of living in your home.

Here are some tips to help you plan the best lighting in your home:

1. Make Your Budget

Planning out your budget likely seems obvious but home projects quickly add up often costing more than expected. This will help you avoid setbacks due to unexpected expenses. Think through the amount of lighting you need and decide what are areas you want to invest in more and the areas where you can minimize cost.

Getting ready to sell your home is a big decision, and while it is easy to roll up your sleeves and hammer down a FOR SALE sign in front of the house, it is a little more than that.

Yes, it involves taking pictures, editing them, ensuring the lawn looks clean! No, it is still more than this too. Before putting your home up for sale, there are a lot of things you should do, some of which you know, others you don’t care about but will do anyway.

While the aim is to boost the market value and get a marvelous offer, as you move to your new home - you are moving to a new place, right!

As we were saying, while getting a good offer on the house is essential, you need to add some bells and whistles to boost sales and enjoy the proceeds.