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Bright Ideas for Better Home Lighting

Whether your selling you're home or not, here are a few ideas to create better ambiance and brighten up your home. If it is on the market, you definitely want to make sure your home is well lit inside and out when showing it to prospective buyers. Check that all bulbs are working and replaced with the appropriate wattage for the room. For smaller rooms, place lamps in the corners of the rooms to help open up the space and make it appear larger. Lights pointed towards the ceiling are known as "up-lights" and help illuminate architectural features like crown molding or arched windows and doors. Also, don't forget to clean chandeliers and light fixtures - taking care to remove all bugs, dirt and fingerprints! Yuck! It's best to use halogen lighting in kitchen and dining areas. The natural white light makes food look more appealing and appetizing. Consider florescent bulbs for hard to reach fixtures. They are more energy efficient and last much longer than incandescent bulbs. Installing dimmer switches for your overhead lighting will give you enormous flexibility to alter the mood and appearance of a room. And don't forget the driveway and outdoor door lights either! Illuminating outdoor paths and porches is not only great for safety, but makes these areas very attractive. Use solar powered lights to save energy and eliminate the need for complicated wiring.

In addition, CFC light bulbs are a great choice because they are known to significantly reduce energy costs. So if you're in the market for them and live in Vermont's Chittenden County, you can purchase them at our local co-op grocery store, City Market. Last I knew they were priced at $0.99 each! For more energy saving tips, you can visit Burlington Electric's website.

The Election and Lunch

The election is finally over! As we all know Obama prevailed. I try not to sway too far one way or another when it comes to politics nor do not discriminate against supporters of any party - I'm happy to represent, list property for or show houses to Democrats, Republicans, Independents - whomever! Hopefully under the leadership of Obama, our national economy will now start to turn back around - especially the housing market. The Vermont real estate market hasn't been hit like the rest of the U.S., but it certainly has slowed down and prices have dropped. The mortgage rates? Well they change daily! Last I knew they were holding strong around 6%. I will know more later when I have lunch with our favorite mortgage broker, Nick Parent from Spruce Mortgage. Nick is taking the Reilly Team to Leunig's Bistro on Church Street in downtown Burlington today. The highlight of our day - free lunch! We just love it when mortgage brokers take us Realtors out to lunch! Thanks in advance Nick! Thanks in advance to Obama as well!

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