Giving Back with the Hancock family

As a Realtor in the Denver area, it is important to me to give back to my community.  Since 2013, I have made a commitment to donate 5% of my commissions on each successfully closed transaction.  My clients choose the charity that is meaningful to them and I make the donation in their name.  Since 2013, we have donated over $35,000 to over 60 different charities.

Today, I had the honor of donating $250 to Grace Church in Arvada, on behalf of the Hancock family.  Since January, my clients and I have given $6,500 back to our community.  Together, my clients and I are making a difference through my Giving Back Campaign.

grace church arvada

 

Ultimate Lounging For All Patios

Many of us aren’t able to change the sizes and layouts of our patios or decks. We’re left to choose furniture and its arrangement, decide what to plant, and select other outdoor elements to make the space our own. Make tiny terraces feel larger and expansive decks more inviting with these tricks for styling your outdoor lounge.

Small Bistro Approximate size: 48 square feet (4.5 square meters) or smaller
Great for: Hanging out on your own or with one or two other peopleIf you’re starting with a deck, patio or balcony with a small footprint, most design challenges center on how to maximize the space. Steal a design trick from this contemporary terrace in London and stick to a light and bright color palette to visually open the space and make it feel larger than it actually is.

This cozy balcony in Stockholm makes an argument for getting the largest outdoor lounge your small patio will support. The homeowners squeezed a sectional sofa into their postage stamp-size terrace, creating enough seating to host a small group. Piles of pillows, a soft throw, a bistro table for drinks and a chevron outdoor rug make the space even more inviting.
Hanging chairs can be a great option if you have an awning or covered porch. They make a bold design statement and keep the floor clear. A single cloud-gray egg-shaped chair hung in the corner of a covered porch looks almost irresistible, encouraging one to curl up with a good book.

There are a few ways to approach a small, narrow space such as a skinny rooftop terrace or a side yard patio. This rooftop deck in New York uses wall-mounted planters to save floor space and adds lounge chair seating that is long but narrow. A hammock with a floor stand may not be practical to walk around, but it sure looks like a dreamy destination for an afternoon nap.Another strategy for narrow spaces is to use furniture, screens or medium-size plants to divide the space. For example, placing a bench seat running across the shorter side of a patio can help the space feel wider and less like a corridor.

Medium-Size Outdoor Living Room Approximate size: 120 square feet (11 square meters)
Great for: Kicking back with a small groupCombinations of furniture, such as a built-in bench paired with outdoor chairs or a sofa, often work well to allow flexibility, expand seating and open up more room for planting on medium-size patios or decks.

The designer of this southwest London backyard built bench seating into the planter to save space and create a cozy nook for a couple of people. A folding table and a pair of bright Acapulco chairs can be moved in to allow seating for additional guests.

This medium-size roof deck in London’s Kensington neighborhood also uses a combination of seating options to comfortably accommodate up to seven people. The designer included four cushy ottomans instead of a second outdoor sofa. This keeps the seating arrangement flexible and views of the garden and rooftops uninterrupted. The low-lying ottomans also open up space for a row of boxwoods potted in tall planters, a pleasing design feature of the terrace.

Decks that are 12 by 12 feet, plus or minus a foot or so, can be ideal for hosting a small group in a space that feels intimate rather than too spread out. If your existing hardscape feels larger than what you can use for a lounge, consider quartering off a section of it as a small group seating area.For example, this San Francisco backyard uses an L-shaped bench seat to define a lounge area around an outdoor table. The space feels cozy and inviting for four or five people to share a conversation.

Larger Entertaining SpotApproximate size: 168 square feet (15.6 square meters) or larger
Great for: Hosting a backyard party for six or moreOne of the challenges of choosing the furniture layout and planting design for a large patio is making an expansive space feel more human-scale. For example, arranging large-scale outdoor seating in U-shaped or semicircular layouts, around a coffee table or fire pit, can make the space feel like a cozy, more inviting gathering place.

This expansive rooftop terrace in London, also shown in the previous photo, uses a U-shaped arrangement of sectional outdoor sofas to form an inviting lounge for a large group. The surrounding planters — filled with trimmed boxwood, pale pink and white geraniums, fragrant confederate jasmine and a small tree — encircle the seating area, enhancing the pleasant feeling of enclosure.
This garden in Sheffield, England, achieves a similarly intimate feeling in a large space with two semicircular sectional sofas arranged to face each other across a small table. This is a great spot to entertain guests on warm summer evenings.

Lowering the ceiling of an outdoor room can make an open area feel less exposed. In this backyard in Marin County in Northern California, a movable shade sail set on wires provides cover from the sun and makes the space feel more intimate.Other ways to lower the ceiling of your outdoor room: Build a pergola, plant trees to provide a leafy canopy or hang crisscrossing string lights overhead.

Real Estate Is Still The Best Long Term Investment

According to Bankrate’s latest Financial Security Index Poll, Americans who have money to set aside for the next 10 years would rather invest in real estate than any other type of investment.

Bankrate asked Americans to answer the following question:

“What is the best way to invest money you wouldn’t need for 10 years or more?”

Real Estate came in as the top choice with 28% of all respondents (3% higher than last year), while cash investments – such as savings accounts and CD’s – came in second with 23% (the same as last year). The chart below shows the full results:

The article points out several reasons for these results:

“After bottoming out at the end of 2011 following the worst housing collapse in generations, home prices have gone gangbusters recently, climbing back above their record pre-crisis levels. Prices jumped 6.6 percent during the 12 months that ended in May, according to CoreLogic.

Toss in persistently low interest rates, tax goodies that come with owning a mortgage, and the psychological payoff from planting your roots, and maybe it’s no wonder real estate remains popular.”

The article also revealed that:

“Bankrate’s Financial Security Index — based on survey questions about how people feel about their debt, savings, net worth, job security and overall financial situation — has hit its third-highest level since the poll’s inception in December 2010.”

Bottom Line

We have often written about the financial and non-financial reasons homeownership makes sense. It is nice to see that Americans still believe in homeownership as the best investment.