The social media revolution is a phenomenon that has gone viral! The old ways of marketing your home is NOT effective anymore! If your Realtor is using newspapers, printed flyers outside in flyer boxes, or uses those hideous free real estate magazines to market your home, your pouring your money down the drain. Print media is ineffective and out dated.

Watch this incredible video to see what I’m talking about. Then contact me about a marketing plan for the new generation of media that will find buyers for your home!

A beautifully-landscaped property can work wonders when it comes to selling your home. The Free Landscaping Ideas Blog offers these suggestions on how to save money without sacrificing quality or beauty.

• Make a plan that includes a schedule of tasks and rough sketches of your design to help you determine what items you need. For assistance, consult with an expert at a local gardening store or home improvement retailer

• Plan the project in phases and purchase products as money is available. The phased-in plan also helps you avoid the interest and fees associated with home-improvement loans or credit card purchases.

• Don’t sacrifice quality. Ask the staff at local specialty shops for recommendations about the best products available. If you are inexperienced with landscaping, consider spending a little extra for professional assistance.

• Carefully inspect plants for diseases and insect problems, especially if you didn’t purchase them from a nursery. Diseases and pests can spread to other plants. Also ask the gardening retailer if they offer warranties on their plants.

• If you plan ahead, you can take advantage of off-season prices. For example, buy lumber in the winter when it is cheaper and store it until you are ready to use it. Shop for trees, shrubs, perennials, mulch and soil late in the season when prices go down.

• Purchase products online or from catalogs, or join a gardening club, which may offer discount prices as well as helpful advice.

• Your municipality may have mulch and compost available. Also, try asking people in charge of construction or demolition sites if they have used stones or bricks they might give away.

• Ask neighbors if they’ll share some of the costs. By pooling all your resources, you may get some good deals on items bought in bulk, and you can split the cost of renting machinery for landscaping work.

Image: aspencreek.com

I signed up for Rocky Mountain Power’s Blue Sky program a few years ago. Each year they send me these updates about my participation in the program. This year I received the following:

We are pleased to present your personalized 2008 Blue Sky support details to show you the difference you’ve made:

• Your current purchase of 2 blocks per month
• Your total 2008 Blue Sky purchase of 2,400 Kilowatt-hours helped avoid the release of 2,908 pounds of carbon dioxide emissions into the air,
• Providing environmental benefits equivalent to not driving 2,949 miles.

I think the 2 blocks of wind power cost about $3.90 per month extra. Not releasing 2,900 pounds of carbon dioxide into the air is worth far more than this! To join this great program, go to the Blue Sky Program website and sign up.

Hot off the press!! I am offering free Windermere Real Estate grocery tote bags to my clients. Just e-mail me, or comment on my post. The limit is 500 bags; 3 per person (some wiggle room at my discretion). Don’t wait, hurry while they last!

Email Marvin

I guess I should put some legal mumbo jumbo in this, but I won’t. 

I came across this new gift wrapping idea from Lucky Crow, totally green wrapping paper. It is made up of fabric. The other good thing about it is that there are no scissors or tape needed. They are stylish, reusable and totally cool. I’m sure you can wash them too. So, for all the gifts you are getting ready to send me… save some paper and the landfill, and use these great things.

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NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — With winter fast approaching, and the cost of natural gas and oil still far above historic norms, here are six basic steps that could save you big on heating bills.
Most are cheap and easy, although a couple require a significant financial outlay and professional installation. Either way, the tips below, outlined by the Alliance to Save Energy, will help go easier on the environment, strengthen the nation’s energy security and save you money.

Clean your furnace filter - This could be as easy as cleaning the lint from your dryer, says ASE spokeswoman Ronnie Kweller. Or it could entail running to the store for a $10 replacement, she says. Although hard to quantify, Kweller says your furnace will struggle less, and hence will be more efficient, if it doesn’t have to push hot air through a clogged filter.
Also, she recommends getting the furnace tuned up at least once a year by a professional to further boost efficiency.

Get a programmable thermostat - For about $100, you can tell one of these devices to automatically turn down the heat or air conditioning when no one is home, like during the workday, which can shrink your heating bill by about 10 percent. And unlike just turning down the heat when you leave and turning it back up when you get home, the programmable thermostat can do it a bit before you arrive. “The beauty of it is you come home to a comfortable house,” says Kweller.

Take advantage of the sun – This doesn’t even require any extra spending. Just remember to open up the curtains on south-facing windows during the day, close all the curtains at night, and let the sun help naturally heat your home.

Turn down the hot water – Kweller says most hot water heaters come with a default water temperature setting of 140 degrees Fahrenheit. “That’s hotter than you need for showering and dish washing, and can risk scalding,” she says, recommending 120 as safer and more efficient choice. If you’re in the market for a new water heater, Kweller recommends a tankless variety that heats water up only when needed, using 30 percent less energy.
Also, she says using cold water to wash your clothes can save up to $68 dollars a year on water heating bills.

Insulate and seal – Adding an extra layer of insulation to your roof or walls, and using caulking, foam or weather stripping to seal cracks around windows, light fixtures or electrical outlets can not only save you on energy, it can get you a tax break as well. Kweller says up to 10 percent of the costs for insulation, up to a maximum of $500 a year, can be written off on your taxes until the end of 2007. For more information on insulating and tax breaks, go to http://www.simplyinsulate.com/. For locating areas that need sealing, it’s helpful to go around windows and fixtures with a lit candle and watch for the flickering flame.

Upgrade your windows – Kweller recommends ones that carry the government-endorsed Energy Star rating label, both for efficiency and to take advantage of the tax credit, which can be used not just for insulation but a variety of efficiency-enhancing products. She says the Energy Star windows, which will be either double or triple paned, start at around $300 each.
“It’s a big investment, and we don’t think people should do it just for the tax credit or energy savings,” she says. “But if you need new windows anyway, definitely go for Energy Star.”
She estimates consumers can save $110 to $540 annually on heating costs. For more information on the variety of tax credits available for all energy efficient products, go to http://www.ase.org/content/article/detail/2654.

From CNN’s Money