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Outdoor lighting isn’t just for the holidays. You can illuminate your outdoor living areas anytime of year. Stringed bulbs are becoming a “hot” outdoor trend this year. These outdoor clear, vintage lights have big rounded bulbs that can really create a festive flair in a backyard. They’re reminiscent of the lights used at an outdoor street fair.

Homeowners are draping them across the top of their pergola, or along their back deck. Some owners may stretch them above and across their yard to create a canopy of lights.

Watch out that they don’t become an eyesore during the daytime. The glow at night are when these lights shine. Tuck them into the top of a pergola. Or, for a photo op, drape them temporarily across a courtyard. Take a picture of it at dusk for a listing photo that shows off the entertainment space of a backyard.

Or, string the lights to illuminate the backyard during a twilight open house. Check out how these designers used them.

Photo by – Discover patio design inspiration

Photo by The Cousins – Look for deck design inspiration

Photo by kbcdevelopments – Search patio pictures

Photo by PaveStone Brick Paving Inc. – Discover patio design ideas

Source: NAR – Styled, Staged & Sold

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Why are home prices still rising? It is a simple answer. There are more purchasers in the market right now than there are available homes for them to buy. This is an example of the theory of “supply and demand” which is defined as:

“the amount of a commodity, product, or service available and the desire of buyers for it, considered as factors regulating its price.”

When demand exceeds supply, prices go up. This is currently happening in the residential real estate market.

Here are the numbers for supply and demand as compared to last year for the last three months (March numbers are not yet available):

In each of the last three months, demand (buyer traffic) has increased as compared to last year while supply (number of available listings) has decreased. If this situation persists, home values will continue to increase.

Bottom Line

The reason home prices are still rising is because there are many purchasers looking to buy, but very few homeowners ready to sell. This imbalance is the reason prices will remain on the uptick.

Source: Keeping Current Matters

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The students of Zionsville Community High School (ZCHS) will be introduced to a modified schedule going into the 2018-19 school year. The planning of the modified academic schedule has been a “purpose-driven process” that has resulted in the discussion, development and impending rollout of a schedule aimed to best meet the needs of the students.

We discussed, at length, the details of what the schedule will look like this fall with ZCHS Principal Tim East. East shared a “behind-the-scenes” perspective of the planning as well as the goals of the modified schedule and how it ties back into the Strong in Every Way initiative led by Zionsville Community Schools’ Superintendent Dr. Scott Robison.

There are a number of traditional and modified block schedules around the nation. While ZCHS’ modified schedule will not operate as a traditional block schedule like some neighboring schools run on, it will have some block components during the week. For example, Carmel High School runs on a traditional 4×4 block schedule – four periods on one day and four periods the next, alternating on “Blue” and “Gold” days. Instead, ZCHS will schedule its “Green” and “Silver” days to run on a traditional seven-period schedule on Mondays, Tuesdays and Fridays while Wednesdays (Green Day) and Thursdays (Silver Day) will operate in four-period blocks.

“We are very excited about the work our team has been doing to consider how we can structure our school day to best meet our students’ academic and social-emotional needs,” East said. “After hundreds of man-hours of consideration, the schedule that is under development is a purposeful blend of 50, 57 and 94-minute periods that builds on the solid foundation of academic success our students have traditionally experienced and capitalizes on a reduced number of passing periods two days per week to capture time to more purposefully focus on the socio-emotional growth opportunities our students need.”

Why a modified academic schedule?

“As the Strong in Every Way campaign continues to move forward throughout the district, we as administrators, teachers and counselors began asking ourselves what we could do to address what we have heard from our students, parents and focus groups,” East said. “A reoccurring statement that we hear is that a seven-period day feels like a treadmill to some of our students. There are pros and cons to a 50-minute class period, and it allows for only so much depth of relationship that can be built between the students and the teachers. We have also collaborated with our department chairs for their input and will have met with the chairs 66 times by the start of the new school year.”

East explained that ZCHS researched how other local area schools that are on a block or modified schedule have developed their schedules and the implementation of the Student Resource Time (SRT) period.

“We looked at Carmel High School, Homestead High School, Avon and HSE, looking for a model that would work for our school and create some time in the day for what we are calling our Mentor Access Period (MAP). What we decided would be best for our school is to have seven-period days on Mondays, Tuesdays and Fridays. On Wednesdays and Thursdays, we will insert eight periods by using blocks, and that eighth period would create time for a 57-minute MAP every week. We will have Professional Learning Curriculum (PLC) every Wednesday, so it creates a more consistent schedule.”

East explained that from a student’s perspective, the modified schedule doesn’t change the rate at which they earn credits towards Indiana’s Core 40 for graduation nor does it affect technical or academic honors diplomas. Those components will remain consistent for the students.

“That was important to us, and we wanted to make sure that we protected the instructional minutes,” East emphasized. “We’ve been a highly successful high school, and we know that a lot of the academic achievement of our students is related to being with the teachers for the minutes that they currently have. As we compared the different models, using our current number of minutes as the anchor was something we looked at very carefully.”

Currently, over a two-week cycle, ZCHS students meet for 493 minutes, and with the modified schedule, they will meet for 488 minutes. That is 30 seconds less per period, per day. On the days that the students have four periods, they will gain 21 minutes (of instructional time that is spent) in passing periods on seven-period days.

“The minutes that collect up from that give us the opportunity to have that 57-minute MAP every week. Another benefit of this schedule is the collaboration time for our teachers as well as a more consistent schedule for our students. It [MAP] will allow our students to have that feeling of success, access and help to lower their stress. It’s not just the school day that creates stress. We know our students are heavily involved in other positive activities beyond the school day, and that’s healthy for them, but we have strong academic demands on their behalf. And if we can create a little more time to address their concerns, we think that’s important.”

By collaborating and putting all the school’s resources together in a purposeful schedule, the schedule allows students to have access to teachers and other caring adults who are there at ZCHS to engage and help the students prepare for adulthood.

“We know from all kinds of different sources that when we feel safe and connected, our emotional state, our social interactions and our academics are all going to better for it,” East concluded. “That’s our goal. We are fortunate that we are in a place that we are doing this in a proactive manner. I don’t think we’re going to solve all of society’s ills, social pressures and other pressures that affect our students, but I do think that we can continue to assist with that as a focus by adding this additional protective layer.”

Source: Zionsville Monthly

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Here are five reasons listing your home for sale this spring makes sense.

1. Demand Is Strong

The latest Buyer Traffic Report from the National Association of Realtors (NAR) shows that buyer demand remains very strong throughout the vast majority of the country. These buyers are ready, willing and able to purchase…and are in the market right now! More often than not, multiple buyers are competing with each other to buy a home.

Take advantage of the buyer activity currently in the market.

2. There Is Less Competition Now

Housing inventory has declined year over year for the last 32 months and is still under the 6-month supply needed for a normal housing market. This means that, in the majority of the country, there are not enoughhomes for sale to satisfy the number of buyers in the market. This is good news for homeowners who have gained equity as their home values have increased. However, additional inventory could be coming to the market soon.

Historically, the average number of years a homeowner stayed in their home was six but has hovered between nine and ten years since 2011. There is a pent-up desire for many homeowners to move as they were unable to sell over the last few years because of a negative equity situation. As home values continue to appreciate, more and more homeowners will be given the freedom to move.

The choices buyers have will continue to increase. Don’t wait until this other inventory comes to market before you decide to sell.

3. The Process Will Be Quicker

Today’s competitive environment has forced buyers to do all they can to stand out from the crowd, including getting pre-approved for their mortgage financing. This makes the entire selling process much faster and much simpler as buyers know exactly what they can afford before home shopping. According to Ellie Mae’s latest Origination Insights Report, the average time it took to close a loan was 45 days.

4. There Will Never Be a Better Time to Move Up

If your next move will be into a premium or luxury home, now is the time to move up! The inventory of homes for sale at these higher price ranges has forced these markets into a buyer’s market. This means that if you are planning on selling a starter or trade-up home, your home will sell quickly, AND you’ll be able to find a premium home to call your own!

Prices are projected to appreciate by 4.8% over the next year according to CoreLogic. If you are moving to a higher-priced home, it will wind up costing you more in raw dollars (both in down payment and mortgage payment) if you wait.

5. It’s Time to Move on With Your Life

Look at the reason you decided to sell in the first place and determine whether it is worth waiting. Is money more important than being with family? Is money more important than your health? Is money more important than having the freedom to go on with your life the way you think you should?

Only you know the answers to the questions above. You have the power to take control of the situation by putting your home on the market. Perhaps the time has come for you and your family to move on and start living the life you desire.

That is what is truly important.

Source: Keeping Current Matters

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Many people believe that selling their house during “the spring buyers’ market” is the best thing to do. Their reasoning is that there will be more buyers than there are during the winter months and, therefore, their house will sell quicker and for a higher price.

Historically, this made sense. However, today’s real estate market is not following the rules of the past.

The National Association of Realtors (NAR) measures buyer “foot traffic” each month. It receives data on the number of properties shown to a prospective purchaser by a Realtor® (based on the number of lockboxes used). The data reveals the number of buyers out actively looking for a home, not just window shopping on the internet. NAR explains:

“Foot traffic has a strong correlation with future contracts and home sales, so it can be viewed as a peek ahead at sales trends two to three months into the future.”

According to the latest Foot Traffic Report, buyer traffic is greater now than it was during this year’s spring market and there are more buyers out now than at any other time in the last five years (March of 2012).

The chart below shows that buyer activity over the last three months (blue bars) was greater than it was during this past spring market (green bars).

Bottom Line

If you are waiting for next spring to list your home because you think that’s when the buyers will be out in force, perhaps you should reconsider. Buyers are out right now!

Source: Keeping Current Matters

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