filed under: Home Listings, Item of Value, Oregon Real Estate, Sherwood Oregon Real Estate posted on February 16th, 2010
(photos Courtesy of The McCabe Real Estate Group)
A good photograph of a home for sale is worth a thousand well-chosen words of ad copy. Why? Think of the revealing Malcolm Gladwell book, Blink. Our decisions, he points out persuasively, are based at least as much on momentary impressions as on carefully reasoned solutions. Perhaps even more than we are thinking beings, we are feeling beings, and if a photograph makes us feel something, we will remember it. Indeed, we will do what we can to learn more about the home in the photo.About 90% of those considering buying a home start with the Internet today, looking at the photographs of homes for sale. Especially if the homes in question are very expensive, the photographs should be taken by a professional photographer. In most cases, though, home sellers won’t be anxious to pay $1,000 a day for a professional, and the task of taking good photographs very often falls to you, the real estate professional.Keep this in mind but don’t let it intimidate you: your photographs may be the single most important element in the marketing program for a home. Think, for example, of how important a first impression is in a job interview, of how much a genuine smile means when you meet someone, of how much the first few words and melodic notes of a song mean. Most of us assume we know how to take a good snapshot, and here are a few basic ideas that might help improve your photos.
As with so many elements in effective marketing, taking photographs involves techniques that run counter to our assumptions about what grabs the eye and sells the house. Mistakes are easily made. The full photo of the front of the house’s façade, for example, is all too often taken closely with a wide-angle lens in such a way that the home seems to bulge, with all its lines distorted by the lens. Either take the photo from a greater distance or choose another lens. Further, outdoor shots are too often taken mid-day when there are no shadows that clarify the home’s lines. Seek a time of the day when the colors of the home and the landscaping are in dramatic contrast with one another, and shadows create clear demarcation between portions of the façade, and the roof reaches for the sky. You seek color and drama here, and it isn’t to be found at the time most people assume you should be taking the photo. The same is true for the back of the house. Here, though, angles can be found that highlight the beautiful features of the back yard like a garden or pool, adding depth and character. Any stand-out features of the yard should be given their own spotlight, though it is often important to give them context. A rose trellis, for example, should be photographed in such a way that the viewer knows where it stands in relation to the house. Now, having taken striking outdoor photos, you move into the interior, making sure each area of the home you photograph is bathed in warm light.
If the sellers are employing a home stager, it is good to work with her or him. The stager will set up the experience that he or she wants the potential homebuyer to have in each room, as the room tells its own story. Most stagers are equally adept at suggesting camera angles and making sure the colors and details are striking and evocative of athoroughly enjoyable experience of the home.We’ve long been told that it’s good to fill a home with appealing smells when potential homebuyers first visit it. We can’t fill the photos with scents of baking muffins, but we can carefully arrange a kitchen so that it appears that sweet-smelling baking is underway. Similarly, we can pour a bubble bath in the master bathroom, and place glasses of champagne on the edge of the tub. We can make a child’s room look as if it is ready and eager for fun. And we can stress the warmth of the seating area and lighting in a den/reading room.To achieve these effects requires a good deal of work. Small, colorful items, usually in groups of three or five, should be carefully placed to accent and offset the warm colors of the room. Clutter should be avoided. A sense of spaciousness should be conveyed.And all of that work should be made into an event. This is one of the first things a real estate professional does to market a home. It can help enhance your relationship with your home sellers and build your reputation in the marketplace for effective, professional work.
Article compliments of: Julie Earnest, Mortgage Loan Officer, Bank of America
Retail Mortgage Sales Office: (503) 973-6701
Contact Todd and Leslie McCabe
McCabe Real Estate Group
503.880.9866
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filed under: Item of Value posted on November 24th, 2009
On Thanksgiving morning, The McCabe Real Estate Group, proud Platinum sponsors, will be at station 19 cheering on runners and walkers during Sherwood’s Give N’ Gobble Event (an event to stop hunger locally). Then it’s time for Turkey and time to for us to be with our families.
Click Here
for the link to the Black Friday ads. Have fun shopping and for all your real estate shopping needs in the Portland, Oregon Tri-County areas, please contact:
The McCabe Real Estate Group at 503.880.9865
Now I am off to Fred Meyers for some half price socks!
Contact Todd and Leslie McCabe
McCabe Real Estate Group
503.880.9866
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filed under: Item of Value posted on October 26th, 2009
Don’t forget to turn your clock back this Sunday. And please, don’t forget that there is no better TIME then now to buy a home. Never hesitate to call your leaders in real estate, and local area volunteers, The McCabe Real Estate Group for all your real estate needs in and around Sherwood, Oregon. 503.880.9865 or email us at todd@toddmccabe.com. Thank You!
Contact Todd and Leslie McCabe
McCabe Real Estate Group
503.880.9866
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filed under: Giveaway Contest, Item of Value, Oregon Real Estate, Sherwood Oregon Real Estate posted on October 13th, 2009
(my apologies to our followers for reposting this, one link was not working) 
Thank you to the 25 plus people who showed up at our two open houses this past Sunday in Woodhaven in Sherwood Oregon. We gave a way a ton of these 20% coupons to the families who stopped by and can’t wait to share with our readers our next big Pottery Barn Giveaway:
$60 worth of Fall decorative items from Pottery Barn!
We have 4 people already in the drawing just by stopping by our 2 Open Houses and completing an entry form.
(photos courtesy of PB and are not the items being given away)
For our blog followers, to enter to win the $60 Pottery Barn goodies compliments of The McCabe Real Estate Group, here’s what you need to do:
1. If you are already on our feed or a follower, simply leave a comment about this blog post. (one entry into the drawing)
2. If you write a blog, link us to your blog about the giveaway and let us know you did this.(another entry)
3. Post a comment on the blog Obsessed Home. The link I have added from this awesome blog site is also giving you a chance to win a gallon of Benjamin Moore paint, her blog giveaway. So you could potentially win another giveaway, and this gives you another entry into my drawing as well! (just let me know you posted a comment, when and where on her site = another entry for our Pottery Barn Giveaway)
Note: Deadline to post for this giveaway is 11 pm, Sunday, October 18th, Pacific Standard Time.
If you also want a 20% Pottery Barn Coupon for the Washington Square Pottery Barn store (coupon is valid this Thursday October 15th through Sunday October 18th), just send an email to leslie@toddmccabe.com and I will send it to my Washington Square Pottery Barn contact who will add you to the Washignton Square VIP list. Please make sure to put on the subject line, “20% PB Coupon”. Thank you.
The McCabe Real Estate Group’s Pottery Barn Fall Decorative Item giveaway will be drawn on Monday, October 19th. The winner must reside in one of the Portland/Tri-County areas and or Yamhill Counties and must be able to pick up the items at the Sherwood John L. Scott Real Estate Office. Winner will also allow us to post their first name, last initial and possibly a photo of them with their prize.
Have fun and thanks for participating!!!
Your real estate choice for all your Sherwood Oregon real estate and the entire Portland Tri-County areas, please contact, Todd & Leslie (and Jason and Rick) from The McCabe Real Estate Group, one of the area’s most recognized realtor teams.
Contact Todd and Leslie McCabe
McCabe Real Estate Group
503.880.9866
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filed under: Home Listings, Item of Value, Open Houses, Oregon Real Estate, Sherwood Oregon Real Estate posted on October 9th, 2009
Want to receive a 20% instore discount that you can use from October 15th through October 18th at the Washington Square Pottery Barn store? Simply come to Sherwood, Oregon this Sunday, October 11th and stop by our open houses between 1 and 4 pm! Stop by both homes, get two 20% coupons! Homes are located in the beautiful community of Woodhaven.
Presented By The McCabe Real Estate Group. 503.880.9865, or todd@toddmccabe.com
Contact Todd and Leslie McCabe
McCabe Real Estate Group
503.880.9866
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filed under: Featured Businesses, Item of Value, Real People Real Stories, Real Stories posted on July 31st, 2009
July Featured Business: Kazuri Images
Featured in Photo: Photographer, Darci VandenHoek
When people ask me how I got started in photography, I have to first smile to myself. I then settle back and prepare for a lot more questions when I respond that I technically acquired my photography skills shooting crime scenes. For the last 11 years I’ve been employed as a CSI and photography goes with the job. Tongue in cheek, I briefly contemplated the motto “I shoot people” when I began my photography business, but felt it lacked a certain professionalism that I wanted to portray, particularly when I’m trying to keep my day job on the down‐low.
I try and move beyond the CSI questions quickly by letting people know my real interest in photography developed when my kids were small and I wanted more out of their photos than a toothy headshot on a blue background. I knew I could do better myself, so I did! Things snowballed from there and in June of 2008, I opened my studio in Old Town. Because of my day job, and Oregon’s rain, you’ll find me in the studio in the evenings or on weekends by appointment.
(print this coupon for $50 off your first session. Thank Darci!)
It has been my focus since the beginning to capture real moments in life, nothing canned or forced. That might mean photos of a crying child or a flustered bride rather than rows of posed smiles, but the result is beautiful… kazuri images. “Kazuri” is the Swahili word for good or beautiful, reflecting two years that my husband and I spent in Kenya, E. Africa. It is my desire to do more with my photography than capture life events, weddings or portraits.
To that end, I offer discounts to law enforcement (so call me biased) and military families. As well, I volunteer my time with Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep, an international organization that provides free bereavement photography services to families of infants who never leave the hospital. (
http://www.nilmdts.com/) I’ve found that sharing my talents this way has brought a different artistic perspective to my photography work, perhaps created a unique desire to show more emotion in and through all my work.
When I put people in front of my camera, I tend to “see” more of who they truly are than a casual conversation might reveal. I look forward to meeting you all through my lens!
To see my work, please go to
www.kazuriimages.com.
‐ Darci VandenHoek Darci is also a volunteer for the American Cancer Society’s Relay For Life event of Sherwood, Oregon. She is the Logistics Co-Chair.
“We would recommend Darci to anyone. We have seen her pictures and they are simply breathtaking.”
Leslie & Todd McCabe, The McCabe Real Estate Group
Contact Todd and Leslie McCabe
McCabe Real Estate Group
503.880.9866
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(photos Courtesy of The McCabe Real Estate Group)
