ABoR’s heats up with annual TREPAC Chili Cook-off in February The time has come to pull out your famous chili recipe, heat
are a limited number of spots available. Don’t miss out on your chance
place on Wednesday, Feb. 17 from
the flavors of all of the delicious entries by purchasing an individual
up your pots and pans, and start cooking. Registration is now
open for the annual TREPAC Chili Cook-off, which will take
to participate in the competition by registering your team today.
Not up to cooking? Not a problem. Allow your taste buds to savor
5:30 to 8:00 p.m. in the ABoR
ticket for $25. Tickets are available in advance or at the door. To pur-
Entries will be judged in both vegetar-
Sponsorships are also available for the event and provide a
Auditorium. All chili must arrive at
the competition ready to serve.
ian and meat categories by cook-off judges. Additionally, a
grand champion will be selected by “people’s choice.”
Team registration is only $99 and includes two event tickets and a
display table. The deadline to register is February 10. However, there
chase your ticket online, visit www.abor.com/events/chili.cfm or to purchase by phone, call 454-7636, ext. 1501.
great opportunity for businesses to shine the spotlight on themselves. Fore more information regarding the event, registration,
tickets and sponsorships, contact Christina Ortiz at govern-
ment@abor.com or by phone at 454-7636, ext. 1501.
Upcoming Events: JANUARY 21 WCAoR First Quarterly Luncheon Georgetown Community Ctr. - 11:30 a.m. 445 E. Morrow in San Gabriel Park
FEBRUARY 3 AMBA Monthly Meeting Austin Country Club - 11:30 a.m.
FEBRUARY 10 Mortgage IQ EXPO 2010 The Commons Conference Center - 8:30 a.m. FEBRUARY 17 CRS Meeting Westwood Country Club - 11:30 a.m. FEBRUARY 17 ABoR’s TREPAC Chili Cook-off ABoR Auditorium - 5:30 to 8:30 p.m.
MARCH 11 8th Annual HBA Crawfish Boil Early bird discount tickets to be sold through Jan. 31 Teravista - 6 to 10 p.m.
—Associates In— PROGRESS
JANUARY 2010 • VOL. 14 • ISSUE 9
Enjoyable. Entertaining. It’s all About You.
Attract More Buyers by Taking Eye-pleasing Listing Photos By Shannon Petrie Reprinted from FrontDoor.com Home sellers used to count on curb appeal to make a
good first impression on potential buyers. Now, with 80
percent of homebuyers starting their house hunt online, a home's "pix appeal," or how good it looks in photos
posted on the Internet, is taking over as the top way to impress buyers off the bat.
In a survey by the National Association of
REALTORS, homebuyers rated photos as the feature they use most when searching for a home on the web.
Online listings with bad pictures—or worse, no pic-
tures at all—can cause buyers to overlook your home from the get-go.
So how do you make a good impression with your
real estate photos? If you're selling through an agent, find out if they will be photographing your home. Some
agents, especially those representing pricier properties, opt to hire professional photographers to get the best
shots possible, while others choose to take photos them-
selves. Look at the agency's Web site for an idea of the quality of photos you can expect from them.
P.O. Box 81366 Austin, Texas 78708-1366
Before You Photograph
Invest in a decent camera. A cell-phone camera won't
cut it if you want quality shots, but top-of-the-line equipment isn't a necessity either. Any point-and-shoot
digital
camera
and compositions. The best way to show off a room is to
shoot from a corner or doorway to include as much of
the room as possible. This provides context and makes
the room look more spacious than a tight shot does. When photographing the home's
with five megapixels or more will
exterior, stand at an angle to the home rather
digital SLR offers more settings and
photographing objects that
produce good photos. If you're
willing to fork over more cash, a
allows you to use a variety of lens-
than straight-on, allowing buyers to see the
home's depth. As much as possible, avoid
obscure your home, like poles and wires.
es. A tripod is also a good invest-
Don't make the home
ment for taking sharp photos.
look like something it's
Stage the home. You want to show off the space,
not. While you want to
not what's in it. Make sure the home is clean, and clear from distracting items like
toys, refrigerator magnets and the like before taking photos. If this
leaves the home looking a little
dull, accents like a vase of fresh flowers can spice it up.
make your house look as
good as possible, don't
mislead buyers. For instance, a photo taken with a wide-angle lens can make a room
look deceptively large. Buyers will be disap-
pointed and irritated when
they view the home and
While You Photograph
see that the seemingly
Use as much natural lighting as possible. Open
huge bedrooms are actual-
the curtains and turn on all the lights to make a
ly quite small.
room look bright and
Presorted Standard U.S. Postage PAID Austin, Texas Paid Permit #715
era's built-in flash as lit-
tle as possible; it creates
unattractive shadows and
reflects off mirrors and win-
dows. You should also avoid taking photos on rainy days
or at night, as this will pro-
Digital cameras give you
the freedom to take as
many photos as you want, so experiment with lots of
angles and camera settings. Review the photos later and choose the ones that best represent the listing. After You Photograph
Touch up the photos. After you've chosen your best
duce gloomy photos. For
photos, you'll probably find that they need a bit of
sun doesn't cast dark shad-
Free online photo editing tools like Picnik and Snipshot
exterior shots, take pictures on an overcast day so the ows on the home.
Don’t forget: You can visit us online 24/7 at www.realtylineonline.com
Take lots of photos.
open. Rely on the cam-
Choose the best angles
tweaking. Maybe the living room looks too dark, or the
home's exterior is framed by distracting telephone wires.
are easy to use and allow you to crop your pictures, adjust brightness and contrast, and correct colors. [RL]