[Guest Post] Quick and Easy DIY Projects To Spruce Up an Apartment Before Listing

[Guest Post] Quick and Easy DIY Projects To Spruce Up an Apartment Before Listing

When listing an apartment, it is important to spruce it up for potential renters or buyers. When your apartment is fixed up, it will be more appealing and quickly find new tenants. But how do you prepare for the listing, especially if you are low on funds? The simple solution is to focus on quick and easy DIY projects. By taking a little time to complete a project yourself, you can spend less and present your apartment in the best light possible!

Remove Personal Items

Let’s start with photography. Before taking photos of your unit for listing purposes, it is recommended that you remove all personal elements. Items such as family photos can be distracting to potential tenants or buyers. When you remove these photos, any walk-thru or virtual tour viewer will see the important aspects of your apartment, without being distracted by anything else.

Replace family photos with a few, cheap photographs of landscapes or items that are neutral but add to the décor. You can walk around your neighborhood and take photos, printing them from your home printer in black and white to add as décor. You could also purchase some stock frame inserts for this purpose online.

Art Hanging/Framing

Just like photography, artwork adds to the appeal of a space. Consider ordering affordable Metal prints to add to the empty walls of the apartment. This type of artwork looks great in a living room or bedroom. Instead of a traditional photograph, a metal print allows you to use a photo you have and create an aluminum sheet piece. The photo is then finished with clear or white gloss, creating a lovely look and feel.

Use the same idea as with photography and take a landscape photo or pictures of buildings in your neighborhood and create custom, yet inexpensive artwork you can add to the home.

Add Unique Lighting

Another great option is to add unique lighting. When touring your apartment, interested individuals will notice a unique light fixture. Take time to add stunning pieces to the living room or dining room area that can show off space. Look for discounted deals at big box stores to save on the piece. For installation, try the DIY approach or have a handy friend help with putting the light fixture in place.

Painting

If you have lived in your apartment for a long time or have rented it to tenants, chances are, you have not painted the space in a while. Over time, paint on the walls can chip and dull, creating a less than appealing look. Take time to paint the rooms of your apartment to create a fresh space.

When painting, choose neutral tones. Don’t go for bold or bright colors. When you choose odd color choices, you are closing off the apartment to particular buyers or tenants. Placing images of your apartment online is a major way to drive traffic to space. If your paint colors aren’t appealing, potential tenants will not give your property a second glance. Choose neutrals like whites, grays or blue colors for mass appeal.

Refurbishing Furniture

Another great way to prepare your space is to refurbish old furniture. Do you have any furniture pieces you will be getting rid of when you move? Or perhaps you found a cool piece on the side of the road or at a garage sale and have been planning a refresh? Whatever the case may be, use an old piece of furniture and create something interesting as staging furniture.

Examples could be old crates turned into a coffee table or an old door turned into a coffee table. The options are really endless as long as you use your imagination!

These are just a few ways to update your apartment before listing it. Be sure to think about how your space looks with fresh eyes to see how you can make changes to find a quick buyer or tenant!

About the Author:

Corey Tyner is the owner of Arizona land buyers, Phoenix fast sell home buyers, and Austin Home Buyers. He is one of the top real estate investors in Arizona with over a decade of experience. His work has been featured on Bigger Pockets, Real Estate Agent Magazine, and several other real estate investor publications.

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[Guest Post] Is a Prospective VR Business Model Just a Dream?

[Guest Post] Is a Prospective VR Business Model Just a Dream?

Nowadays computer games have become a usual part of our life. Keyboards, mouses, gamepads, joysticks – all these devices are so familiar to us, so we had no such interest in games as it was at the beginning of our introduction to video games. We don’t feel being a part of events happening on our screens and smartphones while we’re holding them. So how can we return to the previous experience? The answer is virtual reality.

The first virtual reality system appeared in 1962, however, it has begun acquiring the greatest popularity only now. And now it is time when it is not just moving forward – it’s jumping up! So let's see what this sphere is all about, and why now is the best time to think of your virtual reality business model.

Virtual reality is multifaceted, you can use it in medicine, construction, make 360 tours for real estate and sell apartments as our partner's virtual tours easy, develop games, do training in virtual reality, but we want to talk about our sphere.

Entertainment is a large sphere for sharing your ideas meanwhile receiving money. Grand View Research forecasts, the worldwide VR gaming market, is thought to reach about 46 billion dollars by 2025 comprising the largest geographic markets now located in the United States and China.

Here you may discover the most noticeable VR companies:

-Sandbox (UFL, Amber Sky 2088, Star Trek: Discovery, Deadwood Mansion, Curse of Davy Jones),

-Zero Latency (Sol Raiders, Zombie Survival, Singularity, Engineerium, Zombie Outbreak, Outbreak Origins),

Avatarico (Cosmos, Mind Horror, Dracula, Alice in Wonderland: Crazy Clockwork)

Also, there are Virtual Room, Golem VR, and many others. Their profit today is calculated in millions of dollars and their VR experiences are already distributed far abroad. However, they also started with some minimal investment. In that case, the most important is not the amount of money, but the ability to choose the profitable investment.

In the diagram below you can see how a young VR industry is developing:

If you are a young businessman and you want to make the right choice in the field of activity and earn money, Avatarico has got some tricks and tips for you.

One of the most promising VR areas is VRcade. That may seem difficult, but like any new venture, it becomes more understandable when you break it down into several key steps.

Choose a VRcade location

Find a place in your city with a lot of people. Choose a space for rent with enough space to set a VR club there and the possibility of its future expansion. It can be a shopping center or a game park with a sufficient flow of visitors. Pricing policy should suit you, and comply with preliminary calculations of the economic part. Your club should have a unique design related to VR or gaming topics. In this matter, you can creatively approach the design or hire designers. Brand promotion and recognition is one of the important tasks of the future VR club.

The club should have a bar and a place where visitors can watch your game sitting in comfortable sofas.

Equipment selection is a key aspect of any VR business. Yours must be among the best products in the VR market: Oculus Rift S and HTC Vive Cosmos. They have the best picture and interaction speed. This equipment will meet modern game requirements for a couple of years.

Before opening, you need to analyze the location of the club. You must clearly understand who can become a visitor to the club, their age, gender, and paying capacity. This research will greatly facilitate your choice. And again, you can do the market analysis by yourself, or hire an agency. You can also consult some shopping center owners. Pay attention to visits by months and a season because seasonality is crucial in every business.

Choose a VR content

The next stage is the selection of content. After receiving the data, you can clearly understand who your potential buyer is and what content you should order. Usually, they are divided 70/30 in favor of an individual game in VR glasses. But those 30 percent you should consider as a location-based entertainment for group visits. LB VR is the most cost-effective use of a headset and territory in a high-margin club. The club can be divided into zones and made for both individual user and group visits.

According to the Space Efficiencies` indicator, the experience of work with 6 players is the most profitable for a room with VR content. Other companies offer a solution for only 4 players, which leads to less efficient use of premises and earnings.

Avatarico recommends using this scheme of interaction with the audience. We have released a series of games and continue developing various solutions to entertainment for 6 players. Our performance is backed up by statistics and the introduction of our products in various clubs around the world. You can try other products, but the reviews of visitors and club owners give you a reason to think about choosing the content.

About the Author:

Anton Zaitsev, Avatarico CEO, AR / VR developer. His company was the first to develop a VR escape game for location-based entertainment. He has been dealing with VR technology for more than 6 years. He likes to share his experience in that sphere providing some useful tips for VR business success. He is always ready to help with any questions related to VR technology. You can contact him at [email protected].

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[Guest Post] Tips on Making Your Hospitality Listing Standout Online

[Guest Post] Tips on Making Your Hospitality Listing Standout Online

If you are planning to rent out your vacation home in a popular area you will need to do whatever you can to make your listings stand out from the other vacation rentals that people can choose from. If you are smart about your listing you can keep your vacation home rented throughout the tourist season and bring in the extra income that you want. Here are some expert real estate agent and designer tips you can use to make your online vacation listing pop.

1. Hire The Right Stager

Staging your vacation home for listing is very important because guests will be making the decision to book your home based on what they see in the listing. Hire someone local to the area who has experience in playing up the best features of a vacation home. The furniture used should be comfortable and inviting and should show off the best features of the home. If your home is beachfront or waterfront the furniture should be arranged in ways that show off the natural views outside and make the best use of the proximity to the beach.

2. Interior Design Trends to Make a Statement

If your vacation home looks outdated or dingy people will surf right by it. People who are going on vacation want to stay in a place that is luxe, trendy, and looks updated and cared for. New paint in colors that complement the location is a must. For example, in a beach house use hues that will mimic the natural colors outside like blues and pale greens. In a vacation home in a remote woodsy location use deep greens, browns and natural colors. Update the home to include on trend design elements like an open kitchen with durable and attractive countertops, modern light fixtures, and gorgeous flooring like distressed hardwood floors.

You should also pay a lot of attention to the small details of the rooms. The curtains, pillows, blankets, and bedding will all make an impression on potential renters. The home should look contemporary and on trend but also relaxing and comfortable. Those little details like pops of color in throw pillows, accent walls using wood or natural materials, and painted trim and molding make a big visual impact.

3. Make Sure the Pictures Show Off Your Home

It’s easy to take high quality pictures with any smartphone these days, but when you are listing your vacation home on a rental site you should really hire a professional photographer. Choose a local photographer who knows when the local light is best and how to capture the water, the fields, or whatever natural landscape is around the home. Professional photos of the interior of the home will show off your home to the best advantage. Having pictures that truly show of the house, location, and all the features of your listing will help your vacation home standout online.

4. Help Guests Even Before They Rent Your Home

Providing your guests with extra information is a great way to attract renters. On your listing mention things like the best family activities in the area or the best places to eat. If your rental home has a kitchen make sure that you let your guests know where the local supermarkets are if they want to buy groceries instead of eating out. Suggest local farmer’s markets and specialty gourmet stores. Make sure that the kitchen has a full set of cookware, plates, and dishes and show photos of them in the listing so guests know they can cook their own meals in the home.

5. Consider Posting a Virtual Tour

A virtual tour is something that guests will really appreciate. Utilize a 360 camera and a virtual tour software to create a simple virtual tour that will really show off your home. This will help give vacation goers a realistic view of the home before they get in the door. Adding a virtual tour to your rental listing will help you book more guests.

About the Author:

Corey Tyner is the owner of Phoenix Fast Sell and Austin Fast Sell Home Buyers. He is one of the top real estate investors in Arizona with over a decade of experience. His work has been featured on Bigger Pockets, Real Estate Agent Magazine, and several other real estate investor publications.

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