2014 Cutting Edge Home Decor Trends

Your Charleston home is your castle and its decor is a unique artistic expression of your tastes and aesthetic. In order to keep your home decor looking fresh and up to date rather than stale, it’s important to pay attention to the trends as they shift and change. This is especially important if you are selling your home, because outdated décor can make a negative first impression on the buyer.

If you are planning to redecorate this year, what are the hottest trends when it comes to home décor in 2014? 

A Breath Of Fresh Air

Benjamin Moore Paints has announced their 2014 Color of the Year, which is a powdery sky blue hue called “Breath of Fresh Air”. It’s a gentle pastel colour that works well with neutrals such as brown, grey and white and can also complement other blue and green hues in the same colour family. It looks sweet and modern and it is vibrant enough to make an impact while being pale enough not to draw too much attention to itself. Why not consider incorporating this light blue, or other shades like it, into your décor?

Pattern Trends For 2014

Last year, the trend of the moment was colour blocking. However, these days the hottest thing at the moment is patterns that have a white background and a historic themed repeating print. For example, this might include wallpaper, drapes or fabrics with a floral print or a vintage design on white. Another popular trend is geometric shapes, especially triangles and chevrons. These are often seen in bright and vibrant colours, sometimes also with a white background. 

A Touch Of Handmade Elegance

Another interesting home décor trend of the moment is incorporating hand-made items into the room. This could include a hand-knit throw that is draped over a sofa, or an embroidered cushion. If you are crafty, you could make these items yourself. Otherwise, you could purchase these one of a kind pieces from your local artisans or only at shops such as Etsy.com.

 

These are just a few hot 2014 home décor trends to get you started on your decorating project. Be creative and have fun while decorating your Charleston home, so that you can create a unique and original place where you will feel happy and inspired. 

Interested in selling your Charleston area home? Visit: www.jeffcookrealestate.com

Interested in buying a Charleston area home? Visit: www.discovercharlestonareahomes.com

-Jeff Cook

Jeff Cook Real Estate

Charleston, SC

A Deft Hand Needed for Charleston Luxury Home Marketing

If you own a luxury home in Charleston, SC, this will be good to know: according to researchers at DataQuick, the number of homes sold at more than $1 million rose nationally by 37% in the first half of 2013. Last Friday, the Wall St. Journal headed its Mansion section with “the recovery in high-end real estate,” and Bloomberg reports that luxury home prices in the biggest four cities that had fallen nearly 46% during the downturn have now more than doubled.

If the formerly-missing luxury home buyers have been buoyed by record-breaking Wall St. returns, it’s not surprising that they’re now ready to come out of hiding. For some owners of luxury homes in Charleston, SC, that’s what they’ve been waiting for.

Of course, marketing a luxury home in our neck of the woods takes a deft hand. Selling any product in the luxury category requires some familiar skills: since the price tags are top-tier, the buyers require service and goods to match. The ‘customer’ is a successful person; someone whose time is important; who is likely well-schooled in discerning quality that goes beneath the surface and who won’t hesitate when it comes to making important decisions. 

To appeal to discriminating prospects, you need first class marketing. Briefly, here are some of the technical points I advise my clients to keep in mind when I list their luxury homes:

We will be targeting a very narrow segment of the population. Our advertisements need to be placed on websites and in luxury publications that those buyers frequent. It’s important to realize that placement in elite publications will enhance a property’s perceived value by association.

When people purchase a luxury property in Charleston, SC, they aren’t just buying a house, they are reinforcing a preferred way of life. That means the community should be a prime selling point. You have insider knowledge of your community—knowledge that I as your agent can use in marketing. When potential buyers have a sense of being in the know, it allows them to more confidently picture life in their new community.

Successful people usually regard themselves as standouts because, well…they are! It’s hard to find the luxury home buyer who wouldn’t choose a distinctive property over one that, even though luxurious, isn’t special in some way. That’s why we carefully identify the points that make a luxury home in Charleston, SC unique—then tell that story!

If you are preparing to sell your Charleston area luxury property, it’s also important to team with a Realtor^® with the contacts and networks that keyed to that segment. For a completely confidential property evaluation, contact me today to see what your luxury home might be worth in today’s market!

Interested in selling your Charleston area home? Visit: www.jeffcookrealestate.com

Interested in buying a Charleston area home? Visit: www.discovercharlestonareahomes.com

-Jeff Cook

Jeff Cook Real Estate

Charleston, SC

Presto Chango! Rooming Expense to Real Estate Investment

It could be considered a magic trick that will have the audience gasping in disbelief: turning one of your child’s college expenses into (drumroll, please)…a profit!

Setting the stage for this trick will take some doing. Consider the magician to be the parent of a Charleston high school age child. This should be someone who subscribes to the overall philosophy of regarding every potential catastrophe as nothing more than a well-disguised opportunity.

When this magician reads that college tuition and fees are now $22,000-$30,000 per year, and that the average cost of room and board in 2013-2014 will range from $9,500 at a 4-year public college to $10,830 at a private school, he doesn’t quake in terror. Instead, he thinks, “opportunity!”

After all, this is someone who sees a lemon and thinks “lemonade,” so when he considers sending a son or daughter off to college, he thinks, “what a terrific real estate investment opportunity!”

Believe it or not, that’s what some parent-magicians have done—although, for sure, it’s a strategy that takes the right props: a combination of institution, neighborhood, child and available capital—plus the willingness to do the homework every good real estate investment takes. With all of them in place, it’s more than possible to actually incubate a long-term gain from an ever-more-expensive college foray.

Buying an investment property that will house your child plus a select crew of roommates can do more than ensure that they have a safe and comfortable place to concentrate on their studies. The calculation is almost as straightforward as any other rental opportunity: for kids who will live away from home, over a four year period, average accommodations will run between $36,000-$42,000. Aside from the offspring’s undying gratitude, that normally comes as a straight loss. If an off-campus residence is acquired as a real estate investment, that same outlay could (presto! chango!) turn into a substantial deposit on a rental property that the family owns.

You don’t have to be Harry Houdini to investigate the benefits any Charleston real estate investment can bring—nor one that could magically appear if your high schooler is accepted to an out-of-town college.

The possibility of a real estate investment should always be a card up your sleeve when you think about building your retirement portfolio.  

Interested in selling your Charleston area home? Visit: www.jeffcookrealestate.com

Interested in buying a Charleston area home? Visit: www.discovercharlestonareahomes.com

-Jeff Cook

Jeff Cook Real Estate

Charleston, SC