Featured – Page 8 – Dirt2Doorbell

Top 10 Reasons Antares Homes Salespeople Are the Best!

Contender for Salesperson of the Year: Monique Tinsley!

1) We are present at our sales offices during operating hours:

We have heard from our customers that Builder A is never open, or Builder B never has a salesperson at the office even though it is open. We are in the business of selling homes and that can’t be done without a salesperson to meet with you!

2) We are excited to see you when you walk in our door:

All of our salespeople will give you a hearty welcome when you come to our offices. We know that there are many other builders to choose from and we are glad to have the opportunity to serve you!

3) We want to know what your needs are:

Don’t be taken off guard when you are in one of our sales offices and our salespeople are asking you endless amounts of questions! It is important for us to make sure we match you to the right home or floor plan. We are focused on building neighborhoods that are occupied by happy Home Owners just like you!

4) We know a lot about financing:

In the current financial landscape, lending regulations change very often. We do our best to prepare for upcoming changes and understand what all the options are. Each Home Owner has a unique set of circumstances and we need to be able to problem solve on the fly.

5) We can help you with your credit:

As lending regulations change, so do credit requirements. We have experienced several increases to the bottom line credit score requirements and have figured out several ways we can help our customers to increase their scores without enrolling in pricey credit repair programs.

6) We are knowledgeable about construction:

We have the luxury of working with Certified Graduate Builders who teach us about why we build homes the way we do. If we don’t know an answer off the top of our heads, an expert is a phone call away!

7) We are dedicated to customer service:

We want to make sure you have the best home buying experience possible and that starts with good follow up. We make sure to keep in touch with you even before you buy a home with us.

8) We are honest:

We offer the best value at the best price. No bait and switch here!

9) We are constantly striving to improve:

Our sales people attend weekly training. We rely on each other for feedback and help. We have a spirit of service to each other as co-workers that benefits our customers.

10) We have fun!

If you only knew…

Holiday Decorations

Better Homes and Gardens December Sunshine — Better Homes and Gardens "December Sunshine"

Over the long weekend a lot of families were in their yards placing their decorations and Holiday lights. It seems like every year the scenes in the yard and the decorations in the front windows get more and more elaborate. I am not talented at decorating anything including my living room and I rarely decorate for the Holidays because it can be so overwhelming for me. So since my stepdaughter really wants to decorate this year I have been debating whether or not to put up a tree. So, I thought what if I did smaller arrangements through out the house instead of a big tree? Here are some easy ideas for Holiday decorating that I found:

Simple Ways to Decorate for Christmas from Better Homes and Gardens. Some of theses ideas look really simple and very pretty. I am going to try a few and then post them later.

Holiday Decorating made Easy by Good Housekeeping. I love the snowflake garland! It reminds me of making snowflakes in Elementary school.

101 Easy Ideas from All Things Christmas. I love #43!

If you are really crafty and ambitious, (unlike me), here is a great video on how to decorate a tree with spectacular ribbons. It looks so beautiful, but not something I am going to attempt!

Thank goodness for DoItYourself.com! One of their first pieces of advice is to bring out all of the red and green items you already have in your home and group them together. I really feel like a “duh!” head when I read advice like that, but if they didn’t print it, I would never have thought of it!

MMMmmmmm Clove oranges!

How to decorate on a budget! I love this one because I really don’t want to spend a lot of money to decorate my home for only six weeks out of fifty-two weeks! The use what you have section is my favorite.

How could I have forgotten about Popcorn Garlands?

Maybe I will have a tree this year, but it may be a smaller one. I saw lots of pretty arrangements calling for a smaller tree doing research for this post. I found that there are many more decorating ideas for those people who are a little craftier and have a better decorating sense than I am in possession of. I don’t know about you, but in my opinion, making a wreath is not for beginners. Please make use of the comments section and send me any ideas or experiences you have had with making simple and easy Holiday decorations!

Working off that Thanksgiving Stupor!

Do you usually have a HUGE Feast at Thanksgiving followed by watching football and a long nap and more turkey and another nap? Want to mix it up a bit? Here are some new things to try at Thanksgiving.

Union Gospel Mission There are many ways to give to the Union Gospel Mission of Tarrant County and one of them is your time! Sign up to become a Volunteer.

Walk or bike or rollerblade that Turkey off at the Trinity Trail! Here’s a handy map of the trail and the best part is it is open all day and it’s FREE!

Meals on Wheels Although they don’t make deliveries on Thanksgiving Day or the day after, you could volunteer to deliver meals that weekend! They also have a lot of other volunteer opportunities as well.

Turkey Trot The Fort Worth Turkey Trot supports the Scholarship/youth program of the Westside YMCA. Races start as early as 7:15 am on Thanksgiving Day and you can have your Turkey and pie guilt-free after working soooo hard in the morning!

Tarrant Area Food Bank This organization is a hub of energy! There are so many ways to volunteer here. Take a look and see if one of their activities will work for your family.

Parade of Lights The day after Thanksgiving Sundance Square hosts the annual Parade of Lights. There will be activities beginning at 2pm. There is a Parade followed by pictures with Santa and the lighting of the Christmas tree, and ending with a free viewing of Fred Claus in the Chisholm Trail Parking lot! Be sure to bring your own seats. Here is a detailed schedule since there is too much to post here!

Presbyterian Night Shelter This great program needs your time! Here is a list of their Volunteer Opportunities.

If you are planning any volunteer options, make sure to contact the organization of your choice well before Thanksgiving week. Many of them have Volunteer Orientations that must be completed before you can give your time. Gobble Gobble!

Pie Contest Update

I am soooo glad I wasn’t a judge at this contest! I sampled a few of the pies and then I began to feel sick from eating so many sweets. The pies were wonderful! Marcy and I made the only Pumpkin Pies and since Marcy and I were hosting the bake off, we weren’t eligible to win, so the winners were both in the Other Pie category.

Does no one like Pumpkin Pie the way I do? I guess not!

It was a pretty heated contest. The clear first place winner was the Key Lime Pie and the second place tie was between the Lemon Pie and the Chocolate Pie. Thankfully my Pop was there to break the tie with his vote for the Chocolate Pie. Thanks everyone who entered and also to the judges! I don’t know how they ate so much pie!

OWNING INSTEAD OF RENTING

My last reflection was about this being the best time to purchase a new home. When you combine that and Rent VS Owning, it even gets better. Look at this site and it is all you need to make the best case that owning a new home is much better than renting.

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/business/buy-rent-calculator.html

I have been saying owning is better than renting my entire working career, but now the New York Times has provided one of the best examples I have ever seen. It is eye opening to see how much savings you can keep if you own instead of rent. My favorite saying is “Renting is helping pay for someone else to Own what you are renting!” Your apartment will never be paid off. Why not take advantage of that today and start accumulating some savings and equity assets?

There are many other Rent VS Own calculators on the internet and they all show the same results. It has never been better to own than rent today. At Antares Homes we have the best Sales Consultants in the market that can help you make the right choice for a new home and provide a lender that can help you obtain the financing needed to start saving instead of renting.

QR Codes are Cool!

I was introduced to QR codes a couple of days ago and ever since then, my mind has been reeling! What exactly is a QR code you ask? Well, it’s a barcode that is paired with an application for your smartphone. You down load the app, I have been using ScanLife, and then when you see one of the codes that look like the one above, you start the app and point your phone’s camera at it and it scans it. The code contains a link that the application recognizes and it loads a website on your phone’s browser. Why is this a big deal? Well, for people looking for new homes, it makes getting the details of a home you are sitting outside of a lot easier! Imagine, driving through a neighborhood and stopping in front of a home you think looks nice on the outside and wondering if it has the four bedrooms you need. All you do is scan the code on the sign and bam! Now you know that this home has the fourth bedroom PLUS the game room you were hoping for at the price you want. For us as a builder it makes it easier for our customers to find information about a neighborhood even if the Model Home has closed for the day.

These codes may revitalize print advertising in a huge way. A couple of weeks ago we included a QR Code in our ad in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. The link associated with the code will load Antares Home Page. Since a lot of businesses are focusing a lot of their advertising dollars on driving traffic to their websites, this will be an excellent tool used in a print campaign. And we may see an uptick in print advertising across the board for companies using these codes. Currently Tag Heuer is running a very large QR campaign and it seems like a lot of other businesses are finding different uses for them as well. Starbucks is testing the codes for use in their pay by iPhone application!

We are using the codes in our inventory flyers and I am working on putting them on our available signs. I keep coming up with places to put the codes and I am ordering a t-shirt that says:

Have you read my Blog?

Staining Your Fence

It is soooo exciting to get your new house keys and begin moving all of your things into your brand new home! Decorating and housewarming parties are all you can think of.

But wait! Don’t forget about your fence. Unless you chose to upgrade to a stained fence at the Selection Studio you will need to stain your fence right away according to Cecil Smith, one of our Certified Graduate Builders. He advises that you buy a high quality stain that will seal and protect for at least five years. Behr has one that will last for ten years! There seem to be many opinions on the internet as to when and how to stain a fence, but Cecil’s advice is the sooner the better! Get to it!

What do you do if you have lived in your home for awhile and haven’t stained it? Well, it’s not that hard. Take a survey of your fence and make any repairs that are needed such as replacing damaged boards. Then use a mold and mildew stain remover and powerwash your fence. Then use a wood prep after it dries. Depending on the condition of your fence, you might just need a good powerwash and then a wood prep. It is crucial to remove the mold, mildew or fungus before staining your fence. Let the wood dry and stain on!

Pumpkin Pie Bake-Off

Pie Ingredients — My not-so-secret ingredients!

I made my very first ever Pumpkin Pie last week. I was very surprised at how simple it was. I had a can of pumpkin puree from Aldi and there was a recipe on the can and I thought, well, I’ll try it. So I did and it was pretty easy! I had no idea that Pumpkin Pie has ground ginger in it! Once I made the filling I thought that it didn’t smell like Pumpkin Pies I’d eaten before so I threw in a little allspice at the end. After the first bite, I did regret the addition of the allspice, but I was inspired to see if I can improve on my next try.

Antares Homes is hosting a Pumpkin Pie Bake-Off at our Crescent Springs Ranch Model Home at 701 Jetton Court in Crowley, TX from 1-3pm on Saturday, November 20^th, 2010. Join us! Our prize for First Place will be a Thanksgiving themed gift basket! Don’t like Pumpkin Pie? Our Judges have agreed to taste pies in a separate category called “Other Pies” There will be a prize awarded in the “Other” category as well.

Here are a few recipes I found in my research for the perfect Pumpkin Pie!

Pumpkin Pie from scratch-Including crust!

Vegan Pumpkin Pie

Gluten Free Pumpkin Pie from scratch

Gluten Free, Dairy Free Pumpkin Pie Ice Cream????

Libby’s Famous Pumpkin Pie

Paula Deen’s Pumpkin Pie

Just for fun, The Pumpkin Pie Throwdown!

Rachael Ray’s Pumpkin Pie with Almond Spiced Whipped Cream-Yum-O!

Old Fashioned Pumpkin Pie

Autumn Pumpkin Pie

Weight Watcher’s Pumpkin Pie

I’ve died and gone to Heaven- Martha Stewart’s Triple Chocolate Pumpkin Pie!

I’m bringing Libby’s to the Bake-Off, how about you? Which one will you bring?

Seller Paid Closing Costs VS Rolling Closing Costs into the Loan

One of the biggest hurdles we have as salespeople are conversations about closing costs. Most of our competition offers the buyer a package which includes the Seller paying for all closing costs. I’ve even heard $8,000 in closing costs advertised by the competition. Well, where do closing costs come from?

Closing costs include a multitude of fees from Home Owner’s Association Fees to Title Company Fees and the cost of a Survey of your home and home site. This is the cost of buying a home. Most builders’ contracts have a list explaining which of the closing costs the Buyer pays and which are the responsibility of the Seller. What is confusing is that most other builders talk to Buyers about contributing to the Buyer’s closing costs.

At Antares Homes we begin with a Value Base Price (A) on our homes and then a buyer can add upgrades and options (B) to the price of the home at the Selection Studio. After this is completed we can often add the Buyer’s closing costs (C) to the final price. A+B+C=Your Mortgage!

What other builders are doing is A+B+C+D (padding for negotiating) = Starting Asking Price. How do you find the Bottom Line Price? And how do you know they won’t lower it even more for the next buyer after you??

We feel that our practice of rolling the closing costs into the loan at the end of the process is the fairest option. You are only paying for the closing costs generated by the sale of the home you are purchasing and not some round number with extra padding that another person has chosen for you.

Green Cleaning

As a company we have many conversations about Green Building. We are very concerned with being Green and have made many choices about the construction of our homes based on a Green focus. As the Green Marketplace is evolving there are lots of opinions about what makes something Green. For us, as a builder of new homes, it means reducing the amount of energy used to operate a home.

Another way that people want to be Green is to reduce the amount of harsh chemicals used in every day life. Often these chemicals end up in our rivers and lakes as well as in our groundwater. Rust cleaners and oven cleaners are particularly toxic. Some folks even argue that bleach is too toxic to use on a daily basis. I have been surfing the web trying to discover what folks are doing about this. What I’ve noticed is a big trend towards DIY household cleaners. I have uncovered a few Blogs and websites that I think you might like if you are also thinking of reducing the toxicity of your home!

Paige found some recipes on making household cleaners and tried some out. Here’s what she found that works and in some cases doesn’t work!

Sometimes you can use simple solutions of one or two commonly used products such as Baking Soda or Vinegar.

1001 Uses For Vinegar

The Vinegar Institute!!!! Wow!

The New Home Maker loves Baking Soda for cleaning.

Arm and Hammer also has a pretty exhaustive list of uses for Baking Soda.

Here are some recipes for non-toxic cleaners.

How to make a non-toxic cleaning kit.

Non-toxic Rust remover? Really!

If you try any of these Green alternatives, let me know how they worked for you. I am going to polish my silver jewelry with Baking Soda tonight!