Staging. Stagers. Stage. To stage. ? Nashville Real Estate ...

Guest blog by Emily Frey and Audrey Hinson, our Home Staging NABors.

Staging has become a term you hear more and more (thanks in large part to HGTV). But what exactly is staging?

Example: Have you ever been in someone?s home and all you could see was the ?stuff?? Your eye doesn?t know what to take in first ? the million appliances, dishes, and bottles on the kitchen countertop or the overabundance of antiques, blankets, pillows and photographs occupying every spare inch of the living room. When you walk into a space crammed with trinkets and collectibles, it?s very difficult for buyers to really see the space (or the potential of the space). Usually, you just walk right back out again.

This is where Home Staging comes in.

However, most people associate staging with decorating, but it?s really quite the opposite.

Home Staging is professionally preparing homes for sale so that they appeal to the most amount of buyers and generate the highest price in the least amount of time on the market. What does this really mean? That we detail, de-clutter, de-personalize, and prepare a seller?s home to give it a ?model home? appearance so that the potential buyer can see themselves living in the space.

Home Staging is NOT:
? Decorating
? Fluffing (no jokes, please)
? Interior design
? Redesign

If you are thinking about selling your home?try to start thinking of it as a marketable product. Buyers need to see and understand the purpose of each room (not how much you enjoyed Suzy?s wedding or who your favorite sports team is).

So, here is our staging tip for the month (yes, you can thank us later):

Clear all unnecessary objects from furniture throughout the house. Keep any decorative objects on the furniture restricted to groups of 1, 3, or 5 items (pets don?t count as items, FYI).

Generally, a sparsely decorated home helps the buyer mentally ?move in? with their own belongings. You want your space to ?breathe? and show its maximum potential.

Sound easy? It is. Get to de-cluttering!

For more tips or if you are seeking a professional home stager, contact Emily or Audrey at info@youvebeenstagedTN.com, or visit their website.

Tagged as: audrey hinson, emily frey, HGTV, home staging, nashville home stagers, you've been staged

Source: http://nashvilleandbeyond.com/2012/02/07/staging-stagers-stage-to-stage/

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The Fringe Festival Embodies the Essence of Performing Arts ...

The annual festival sees hundreds of seasoned performers and aspiring artists take to the streets and set up their stalls at numerous venue to show the people of Edinburgh what they can do?be it comedy, singing, body-popping, break-dancing or fire-eating?

You may be asking yourself what distinguishes the Fringe Festival (sometimes referred to as the Festival Fringe or simply ?The Fringe?) from the Edinburgh International Festival?

Well it really all comes down to invitations and gate-crashing, to put it simply. When the Edinburgh Festival was set up in 1947, only those artists who had received official invitations to perform at the Festival were ?allowed? to attend. This is still the case today.

As a kind of peaceful protest, seven theatre companies simply turned up in Edinburgh to perform for the crowds, determined to share their artistic abilities and message with the people of Edinburgh.

It is this approach which makes the Fringe Festival so unique and popular. The passion displayed by both the performing artists and the huge crowds embodies the essence of performing arts as a means of expression.

As one might expect, there was a subtle rivalry between the Edinburgh Festival and the Fringe Festival in the first few decades as there was a feeling among the Edinburgh Festival organisers that this Fringe Festival ?side show? undermined the official festival despite attracting huge numbers of people to the city and positive publicity.

In 1959, the Festival Fringe Society was founded with the aim of providing an element of organisation to the expanding festival. Official guides to the Fringe were produced for the first time to help visitors make the most of their time at the festival.

By the early 80s, the Fringe Festival had grown in popularity to such an extent that around 500 theatre companies were attending every year, making it officially the largest arts festival in the world; a quite incredible achievement!

The popularity of the Fringe Festival has seen the number of shows go over the 2000 mark in recent years with the most popular genres being comedy, theatre, music and dance.

The Fringe?s defining concept of art without restrictions is never more present than in the delightful street performances around town. If you are not keen to purchase tickets for a show at one of the Fringe Festivals 260+ venues, you can simply take in an often extravagant street performance on the Royal Mile and around the Old Town.

Many of the street performers use their time with the crowds to show off their skills in the hope that many of the onlookers will come to their official shows at the venues around town. Many other performers are simply there because performance art runs in their blood and they love to entertain people!

The fact that most shows and the artists who perform in them barely break even is testament to the participants? commitment to performing arts and entertainment. From their perspective, the Fringe Festival is often seen as a testing ground, a way to make contacts or a way of gaining experience for the future.

The Fringe Festival is a wonderful opportunity to experience how vibrant, exciting and downright quirky Edinburgh can be!

Source: http://betancourt-37.info/archives/891/the-fringe-festival-embodies-the-essence-of-performing-arts-5/

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Deeper Iran sanctions; US targets its central bank (AP)

WASHINGTON ? Targeting Iran's economy, the U.S. ordered tough new penalties Monday to further pinch the country's financial system and encourage Israel to give sanctions more time before any military action against Iran's nuclear program.

The new, stricter sanctions, authorized in legislation that President Barack Obama signed in December, will be enforced under an order he signed only now. They give U.S. banks new powers to freeze assets linked to the Iranian government and close loopholes that officials say Iran has used to move money despite earlier restrictions imposed by the U.S. and Europe.

The action against the Central Bank of Iran is more significant for its timing than its immediate effect. It comes as the United States and its allies are arguing that tough sanctions can still persuade Iran to back off what the West contends is a drive to build a nuclear bomb.

The U.S. and Europe want to deprive Iran of the oil income it needs to run its government and pay for the nuclear program. But many experts believe Iran will be able to find other buyers outside Europe.

The European Union announced last month it would ban the import of Iranian crude oil starting in July. The U.S. doesn't buy Iranian oil, but last month it placed sanctions on Iran's banks to make it harder for the nation to sell crude. The U.S., however, has delayed implementing those sanctions for at least six months because it is worried about sending oil prices higher at a time when the world economy is struggling. Iran exports about 3 percent of the world's oil

The faster and more painfully sanctions can be seen to work, the better the case to shelve any plan by Israel to bomb Iran, a pre-emptory move that could ignite a new Mideast war. Taking this initial step against the Central Bank, the first time the U.S. has directly gone after that major institution, is one way the Obama administration can show momentum now.

Israel, meanwhile, has been increasingly open about its worry that Iran could be on the brink of a bomb by this summer and that this spring offers the last window to destroy bomb-related facilities. Many Israeli officials believe that sanctions only give time for Iran to move its nuclear program underground, out of reach of Israeli military strikes.

White House spokesman Jay Carney denied that Monday's unexpected announcement of new banking sanctions was a sign of heightened worry about an Israeli attack.

"There has been a steady increase in our sanctions activity and this is part of that escalation," he said.

Carney said U.S. sanctions on Iran are already squeezing Iran's economy and have exacerbated tensions within the Iranian leadership.

"There is no question that the impact of the isolation on Iran and the economic sanctions on Iran have caused added turmoil within Iran," he said.

Iran is the world's third-largest exporter of crude oil, giving its leaders financial resources and leverage to withstand outside pressure. Last year, Iran generated $100 billion in revenue from oil, up from $20 billion a decade ago, according to IHS CERA, an energy consulting firm.

If Iranian oil is prevented from getting to market, other suppliers could make up the difference. The U.S. has been pressuring other Middle East and African nations to step up production for sale to Europe. Saudi Arabia has said it could increase production to make up for any lost Iranian crude.

Iran's disputed nuclear program became a global concern more than five years ago, when the extent of the country's research and uranium enrichment began to be known. Since then a web of international economic and other sanctions have failed to stop Iran's progress toward a point when it could build one or more nuclear devices.

U.S. intelligence agencies say Iran is indeed close to that ability but has not yet decided to go ahead. Iran says its nuclear program is peaceful and denounces sanctions as aggression.

The new U.S. penalties were unexpected now. The sanctions were included as an amendment in the wide-ranging defense bill the president signed in late December, though when and how they were to be levied on Iran was unclear.

The White House had previously said it would take months to evaluate the likely effect on the fragile global economy before taking the next large steps, including new penalties on the Central Bank.

Now, U.S. institutions are required to seize Iranian state assets they come across, rather than rejecting the transaction involved.

The value of Iranian assets affected by the new order was not clear. Iran does almost no direct business with the United States after three decades of enmity, but its money moves through the world financial system and its oil is sold in dollars.

In a letter to Congress, Obama said more sanctions were warranted, "particularly in light of the deceptive practices of the Central Bank of Iran and other Iranian banks."

He cited the hiding of transactions of people or institutions and other loopholes.

In an interview Sunday with NBC, Obama said the U.S. has "a very good estimate" of when Iran could complete a nuclear weapon, and he spoke favorably of the effect of sanctions and diplomacy to resolve the impasse.

Obama addressed the concern about Israel but suggested there is still time.

"I don't think Israel has made a decision on what they need to do," Obama said.

He did not answer a question about whether Israel has promised to notify the United States before any pre-emptory strike.

Republican presidential candidates have accused Obama of being too timid in his dealings with Iran, and while U.S. officials reject that characterization they acknowledge they are stepping cautiously because of fear of upsetting the global economy.

___

Associated Press writer Julie Pace contributed to this report.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/us/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120206/ap_on_go_pr_wh/us_us_iran

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Discipline your way to make money online with your business internet

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Source: http://chrissullivanonline.com/blog/discipline-your-way-to-make-money-online-with-your-business-internet-money-online-opportunity/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=discipline-your-way-to-make-money-online-with-your-business-internet-money-online-opportunity

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Romney latest pol to join wait-let-me-explain club (The Arizona Republic)

Share With Friends: | | Politics - Top Stories News, RSS and RSS Feed via Feedzilla.

Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/196198229?client_source=feed&format=rss

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Online Best Daily Deals in USA ? ?Find and hold it before they are ...

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Source: http://www.my-article-city.com/online-best-daily-deals-in-usa-%E2%80%93-%E2%80%9Cfind-and-hold-it-before-they-are-close-%E2%80%9D/shopping-and-product-reviews/consumer-electronics/02/2012/

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Should you invest in a no-growth economy?

We?ve just had one of our best months in stock market history. Many investors are convinced that it is the beginning of something big. But is the economy really recovering enough for investing to make sense?

Baltimore?best bet for investors?

Skip to next paragraph Bill Bonner

Bill has written two New York Times best-selling books, Financial Reckoning Day and Empire of Debt. With political journalist Lila Rajiva, he wrote his third New York Times best-selling book, Mobs, Messiahs and Markets, which offers concrete advice on how to avoid the public spectacle of modern finance. Since 1999, Bill has been a daily contributor and the driving force behind The Daily Reckoning (dailyreckoning.com).

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We drove back into town on Sunday night. People moped around in front of bars. Groups walked uptown from the stadium, their shoulders down, the chins dragging. The city was dark?and unhappy.

There was no joy in Baltimore on Sunday night. Baltimore is a sports town. The Ravens ? the only team we know named after a poem ? had lost. They would not be going to the Super Bowl.

Baltimore is a funny place. We were happy to leave it for 15 years when we lived in Europe. And we are happy to be back. Living in Europe was hard. Here it is easy. Living in Europe was chic and fashionable. Here, moving to a trailer park would be moving up in the world. Living in Europe was expensive. Baltimore, meanwhile, is one of the cheapest cities in the world.

But we?ll come back to Baltimore in a minute?

What?s in the news today? The Dow rose 83 points yesterday. The 30-year, ?long? bond yield dropped below 3%. The price of gold rose to $1,749.

Bond yields signal a recession. Stocks hint at a recovery? Gold? The correction in the gold market didn?t go nearly as far as we expected. And now it?s over. What to make of it? Do people expect inflation? Why are they buying gold?

We know why the Syrians are buying gold. There?s a war on. Gold has always been the thing to own in a war zone. But here, people think the economy is recovering.

The public and the investoriat seem to think all is well. We?ve just had one of our best months in stock market history. Many investors are convinced that it is the beginning of something big.

Our old friend Mark Hulbert, for example, tells us that some of the oldest and wisest of the newsletter gurus are now bullish on stocks.

We don?t have any opinion about stocks. We just don?t like them. And we figure that if they were as valuable as people think, the owners wouldn?t be in such a hurry to unload them. At least, not to us. Instead, they?d hold on.

But some people are always selling. Others always seem to be buying. Prices go up?and down?the world goes ?round and ?round?

?and who are we to argue with it?

The trouble is, the economy is not nearly as strong as most people think. There is no growth to speak of. And without growth, it doesn?t make sense to pay so much for stocks. Forbes:

The Q4 2011 GDP reading of +2.8% produced what may appear to be a respectable headline number, a full percentage point above Q3 GDP growth of 1.8%. On the surface, the Q4 report also compared favorably to an increase in real GDP of 1.7% for all of 2011. But 2.8%, even at first look, is still softer than the 3.0% gain in real GDP logged for 2010, repeating a pattern that we?ve seen over the past few years: GDP rises, only to drop off again.

Although it may be tempting to look at the economy as a glass that?s half full, I?m afraid it?s far emptier than it looks. Diving into the Q4 GDP report, we see that two-thirds of the amount of growth reported (1.9%) was due to private inventory build-up. (According to standard accounting practice, growth in inventory increases GDP, while sales of inventory reduces it.) Drilling further, the stat that is most meaningful is the real final sales of domestic product ? GDP minus the change in private inventories. This data point eked out only a 0.8% increase in Q4 2011, compared with an increase of 3.2% in Q3 2011. That is very telling.

Another weakness in consumer spending was reported by the Commerce Department: Personal income grew by 0.5% in December, up from a 0.1% rise in November. Spending was flat, however. The personal saving rate, meanwhile, was 4.0% in December, compared to 3.5% in November. Saving instead of spending may be good for consumers? personal balances sheets, but it doesn?t do much good for an economy that needs to gain traction. Additionally, sales increases still appear to be driven by increases in debt which is not sustainable.

Without growth, the average stock will go nowhere. How could it? There?s nowhere to go. No growth means that the economy is no larger at the end of the year than it was at the beginning. So, for any company to grow, it would have to take sales and profits from some other company. For one to grow another must shrink. Overall, there would be no growth, and no capital gains for investors.

Trouble is the dividend yield of the stock market is only around 2%. That?s not enough. Take inflation and taxes into account, says our Family Office strategist, Rob Marstrand, and you need more than an 8% return just to break even.

So, if you?re buying stocks in a no-growth market?with a 2% dividend yield?you?re losing 6% on your money.

Heck, you?re much better off buying gold?or property in Baltimore.

Gold has been up every year for the last 11. Even last year, when it supposedly suffered a big correction, it still ended the year up about $300 ? which is what you would have paid for a whole ounce of gold in 1999.

As for Baltimore real estate?

We?ve been looking at apartment buildings in B?more. This city is unusual, so you probably shouldn?t generalize. But we?re seeing buildings with ?cap rates? of 10% and more?and return on cash as high as 20%. Interest rates are so low you can finance much of the purchase price at low cost?and leverage your investment to get a higher return.

How does that work? Well, the building we just looked at had 5 units. The sales agent explained it to us.

?You get gross rents of about $100,000 and you can buy the building for $800,000. You put down $100,000 and borrow the other $700,000. Then, you pay off your mortgage, pay the upkeep, property taxes, utilities and so forth? You also have to pay management?leave an allowance for vacancies and major repairs?and you end up with about $20,000.

?That?s your return on cash. Not bad, huh??

Well, it?s about 10 times what you can expect from the stock market.

Trouble is?trouble. Being a landlord in an inner city is trouble. You get trouble from the tenants. Trouble from the city. Trouble from the pipes, the roof, the wires?lead?asbestos ? everything. Buy city apartment buildings and you are asking for trouble.

But if you can handle the trouble, hey?see you in Charm City.

Bill Bonner
?for The Daily Reckoning

The Christian Science Monitor has assembled a diverse group of the best economy-related bloggers out there. Our guest bloggers are not employed or directed by the Monitor and the views expressed are the bloggers' own, as is responsibility for the content of their blogs. To contact us about a blogger, click here. To add or view a comment on a guest blog, please go to the blogger's own site by clicking on dailyreckoning.com.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/Hu4DmYHHFdw/Should-you-invest-in-a-no-growth-economy

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