If you’d like to increase the production of your herb plants, just give them a little pinch!

Pinching the upper portions of your herbs, especially just above new leaf buds, will promote accelerated growth.  This is particularly effective for basil!  

Herbs, like all plants, have a natural instinct to stay alive and multiply, so when they are pinched, they send a signal to the dormant leaf buds to grow.

It’s strange how this works, but it’s actually true for most plants.

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Originally posted at: Lafayette Real Estate News

 

For a white linen, candlelit dinner featuring superb Cajun entrees with heavy Italian influences, look no further than iMonelli.  Since 1987, the locally owned restaurant has been known for its award winning cuisine and relaxed, fine dining atmosphere.  

Chef-owner Brian Blanchard has unquestionable talent, as is obvious after tasting one of his decadent creations. Blanchard and his team have concocted over 24 different sauces to ensure that each dish is truly unique.  Using fresh, homemade bread and pasta, the iMonelli chefs take pride in serving only the highest quality food to their customers.

The menu is heavily seafood-based but also includes veal, beef, lamb, and fowl dishes.  I personally can vouch for their classic fettuccine Alfredo, a spectacular dish.  Various scrumptious desserts are prepared daily.

In addition to the regular menu, iMonelli proudly offers its customers nearly 20 off-menu items.  Most of these are regular off-menu specials which, although they are offered most of the year, don’t make it onto the menu due to limited availability.

“It’s endless.  We’ve gotten to the point that we’ll name things after customers just so I can remember what it was exactly,” Blanchard says.

Some of the regularly ordered off-menu items include:

• gluten-free, nonfat sea bass served with organically grown vegetables
• fried soft shell crabs with lump crab meat and seasonal vegetables in a lemon-butter sauce
• appetizer of shrimp and scallop over grits

But one dish in particular stands out: the veal occhiata.  This entree features tender veal over homemade angel hair pasta and covered with burned anchovy sauce.

25 years ago, Blanchard created the dish and received a gold medal for it.  Ever since, customers have ordered it regularly, although it’s never been on iMonelli’s menu.

And Blanchard is the only iMonelli chef who’s allowed to prepare the dish, due to its high difficulty.  For the veal occhiata, “there’s a fine line between superb and horrible,” says Blanchard.

iMonelli is unmatched in quality of food and service.  With its award winning dishes and charming atmosphere, it’s definitely your best choice for a romantic dinner for two.

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Originally posted at: Lafayette Real Estate News

 

 

Make your weekend spectacular and Win 2 ULL tickets, 2 50 yard line LSU tickets, Dinner for 2 at Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse, or $100 CASH!!!

 

 

Stop by 309 Bridgeport Lane Carencro, LA for Open House Saturday, Sept. 19 from 12 PM-2 PM to check out this beautifully redone home for a chance to WIN!!!!

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PROPERTY DETAILS

Technology is evolving as we speak, and it is imperative that real estate professionals always use the latest technology, both to impress clients and to make their work easier!  Whether you’re a tech guru or just beginning to catch up, you should know that there are some things tech savvy agents just don’t do. Let’s begin the countdown:

 

9. Don’t ask someone to fax you.

This is self-explanatory and rhetorical.  If you’re still using fax as your main source of communication, you’re waaaay behind.  Email is a much faster and simpler method of sending and receiving information.  Take advantage of it!

 

8. Don’t have a ridiculous ringtone.

Sure, it can be fun to get creative with your ringtone and text tones, but some may not be appropriate for a professional setting.  Not to mention, it can get old really fast if your phone is constantly going off.  Stick to a pre-made or subtle ringtone.

 

7. Don’t forget how to put your phone on silent.

This is even more important than number 8, particularly when meeting clients.  They deserve your full attention and shouldn’t have to hear your phone every time you receive an incoming call or text.  Those notifications won’t go away, so just wait to check your phone after your meeting.

 

6. Don’t text a ton of photos without asking.

You should never assume that your recipient has an unlimited texting or data plan.  Before bombarding them with incoming photos, tell them how many you plan to send and ask if they would prefer to have them emailed.

 

4. Don’t be a social media spammer.

Not only is this annoying, posting too often is one of the main reasons business pages lose followers.  Not every listing needs to be posted.  Post no more than twice a day on all platforms, and make sure that the post has substance; don’t just post for the sake of posting.

 

1. Don’t have a website that doesn’t work on mobile.

There’s tons of potential business that you’re losing out on if your website isn’t mobile friendly.  An clean, readable, and informational website that is compatible both on desktop and mobile devices is invaluable!  This should be your number one priority if it isn’t already done.

 

 

Having listed these major DON’TS, there is a possibility that you have an extenuating circumstance and one of these rules won’t apply to you.  If you DO one of these DON’TS and are still effective in the realm of tech, let me know how you do it!

 

If you’d like to contribute to the list, feel free to add your tech DON’TS in the comments!

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Originally posted at: Lafayette Real Estate News

 

Trying to decide whether to buy a fixer-upper house? Follow these seven steps, and you’ll know how much you can afford, how much to offer, and whether a fixer-upper house is right for you.

1.  Decide what you can do yourself.

TV remodeling shows make home improvement work look like a snap. In the real world, attempting a difficult remodeling job that you don’t know how to do will take longer than you think and can lead to less-than-professional results that won’t increase the value of your fixer-upper house.

• Do you really have the skills to do it? Some tasks, like stripping wallpaper and painting, are relatively easy. Others, like electrical work, can be dangerous when done by amateurs.

• Do you really have the time and desire to do it? Can you take time off work to renovate your fixer-upper house? If not, will you be stressed out by living in a work zone for months while you complete projects on the weekends?

2.  Price the cost of repairs and remodeling before you make an offer.

• Get your contractor into the house to do a walk-through, so he can give you a written cost estimate on the tasks he’s going to do.

• If you’re doing the work yourself, price the supplies.

• Either way, tack on 10% to 20% to cover unforeseen problems that often arise with a fixer-upper house.

3.  Check permit costs.

• Ask local officials if the work you’re going to do requires a permit and how much that permit costs. Doing work without a permit may save money, but it’ll cause problems when you resell your home.

• Decide if you want to get the permits yourself or have the contractor arrange for them. Getting permits can be time-consuming and frustrating. Inspectors may force you to do additional work, or change the way you want to do a project, before they give you the permit.

• Factor the time and aggravation of permits into your plans.

4.  Double check pricing on structural work.

If your fixer-upper home needs major structural work, hire a structural engineer for $500 to $700 to inspect the home before you put in an offer so you can be confident you’ve uncovered and conservatively budgeted for the full extent of the problems.

Get written estimates for repairs before you commit to buying a home with structural issues.

Don’t purchase a home that needs major structural work unless:

• You’re getting it at a steep discount

• You’re sure you’ve uncovered the extent of the problem

• You know the problem can be fixed

• You have a binding written estimate for the repairs

5.  Check the cost of financing.

Be sure you have enough money for a down payment, closing costs, and repairs without draining your savings.

If you’re planning to fund the repairs with a home equity or home improvement loan:

• Get yourself pre-approved for both loans before you make an offer.

• Make the deal contingent on getting both the purchase money loan and the renovation money loan, so you’re not forced to close the sale when you have no loan to fix the house.

• Consider the Federal Housing Administration’s Section 203(k) program, which is designed to help home owners who are purchasing or refinancing a home that needs rehabilitation. The program wraps the purchase/refinance and rehabilitation costs into a single mortgage. To qualify for the loan, the total value of the property must fall within the FHA mortgage limit for your area, as with other FHA loans. A streamlined 203(k) program provides an additional amount for rehabilitation, up to $35,000, on top of an existing mortgage. It’s a simpler process than obtaining the standard 203(k).

6.  Calculate your fair purchase offer.

Take the fair market value of the property (what it would be worth if it were in good condition and remodeled to current tastes) and subtract the upgrade and repair costs.

For example: Your target fixer-upper house has a 1960s kitchen, metallic wallpaper, shag carpet, and high levels of radon in the basement.

Your comparison house, in the same subdivision, sold last month for $200,000. That house had a newer kitchen, no wallpaper, was recently recarpeted, and has a radon mitigation system in its basement.

The cost to remodel the kitchen, remove the wallpaper, carpet the house, and put in a radon mitigation system is $40,000. Your bid for the house should be $160,000.

Ask your real estate agent if it’s a good idea to share your cost estimates with the sellers, to prove your offer is fair.

7.  Include inspection contingencies in your offer.

Don’t rely on your friends or your contractor to eyeball your fixer-upper house. Hire pros to do common inspections like:

• Home inspection. This is key in a fixer-upper assessment. The home inspector will uncover hidden issues in need of replacement or repair. You may know you want to replace those 1970s kitchen cabinets, but the home inspector has a meter that will detect the water leak behind them.

• Radon, mold, lead-based paint

• Septic and well

• Pest

Most home inspection contingencies let you go back to the sellers and ask them to do the repairs, or give you cash at closing to pay for the repairs. The seller can also opt to simply back out of the deal, as can you, if the inspection turns up something you don’t want to deal with.

If that happens, this isn’t the right fixer-upper house for you. Go back to the top of this list and start again.

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Originally posted at: REALTOR® Content Resource

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