My husband and i have been looking into homes. We found two home we really like but they are out of our price range the other homes in our price range dont have the nessicary shop that we want. One home is listed at 325,000 and it is 4 bed 2 bath on six acres with a 1,976 sqft This home boasts 6 acres of serene beauty with views of the Ruby Mtns. The 6 acres is fully fenced with three-rail white vinyl with no climb wire. Automatic Custom Front Gate with remotes. desert Landscaped front yard. It has a wonderful lawn with sprinklers, and all the trees are on a drip system. It has a deck with a built in hot tub and a large patio as well. as you can see, there is a extra large dbl garage plus a 40 x 60 shop with 14 ft doors. There are 2 pellet stoves, 1 in the home an 1in the garage. There is a stereo system in the garage and backyard. Huge office and work out room. Some closets are custom designed. the home also has electric heat, can be converted to propane. Central air. Air compressor in garage is built in and stays, air hose & cabinets also stay. Entertainment center… Show more in the lining room with plasma TV, surround sound/DVD player stays. Trampoline and swings stay. The refrigerator, microwave, stove, dishwasher and a large upright freezer stay. " thats there blurb on the website.
Its been on the market five months and still no price drops or anything. Home similar to this one have sold for around 180- 220. A brand new home with no fence and no landscape but is brand new and 3200 sqft including an unfinished basement is listed for 254,000 on 5 acres. I asked my relator to look at the house and she acted like she didnt want to show me a house out of my price range, i want to make an offer on the house but dont know what is too low, how do i find what the house bought for years ago. it was built in 1997. I want to make an offer of 230,000. Is that considered too low 100,000 off their asking price. I tried to talk to my relator and she just tells me " she cant tell us that information, or she doesnt know, or their relator wont give that information out" its a small town and we dont want to get another relator since we would see her in time to come. do you think 230 is a fair offer if we present it with similar homes in the area selling for less?
We want to offer 230,000 and they can take the entertainment center and swing set….but appliances stay
We want to offer 230,000 and they can take the entertainment center and swing set….but appliances stay

Your Realtor needs to be working for you, not the seller. Ask her if she would sign a "buyer’s agent" agreement. Of course, if the house is her listing, she can’t. (By law the agent represents the seller unless otherwise agreed upon by the purchaser and the agent.)

In any case, make the offer. There is no other way to know the answer than to ask the question. The sellers might have a fall down in the floor fit. Or they might accept your offer. The most likely scenario is that they’ll counter-offer with something in between.

Give it a try! You’ve done your homework and you can lay it all out for the agent.

The key to having good taste is not necessarily that you prefer brick over metal, or metal over plastic, but rather that whatever you use – you use only that. Mismatched items do your landscape no favors.

A few years ago, my dad got tired of the mis-matched rocks and broken bricks that my mom used to line the flower beds around our house. So he and I went to a local home improvement store and bought about a dozen scalloped brick edgers for her to use instead. We brought them home, and then went off again on another errand.

When we returned, my mom had already put the brick edgers in place the way she wanted them. Because there weren’t enough of the edgers to stretch to all the flowerbeds, she’d interspersed the edgers with those same old broken bricks and rocks. So it rather spoiled the effect. My dad just threw up his hands and gave up. There’s no doubt about it, when it comes to designing landscaping my mother does not have any taste. But if you ask her about it she’ll say that she likes the way everything looks.

There’s not much point to that story, except to say that either you have good taste or you don’t, and if you don’t have good taste hopefully you’re self-aware enough to know it, and hire someone else to do your designing!

What makes good taste? Well, it’s not necessarily a liking for wood over metal, or metal over plastic. All that is a matter of personal taste and is not necessarily bad or good. But if you’re going to have a series of bookcases in your home, for example, they should be all the same design – all wood, all metal, all plastic – so that they match and don’t detract from the eye. That’s the key to good taste.

If you do have an eye for design, then you’ll probably find that your landscaping can be set off quite elegantly with the addition of brick patio stones, paving stones and landscape edgers. As with any other landscaping accessory, these bricks come in a vast variety of colors and designs, so that you’re sure to find something you like. Only please, buy enough so that you can use them on every project, and if you run out – go back to the store and get more! Don’t ruin the effect by adding broken brick and rocks…it just doesn’t work.

Use brick to line your flower beds, build up retaining walls, or make pathways.

Add a patio
If you’d like to add a brick patio to your backyard, it’s quite easy to do, but you do have to give it some thought. Take some time to ensure that the ground where you want to place the patio is level – otherwise some of the bricks might settle and others will rise and give the patio an unfinished look. Also if live in an area with frequent frost or snow, where the ground has a tendency to heave up, you’ll have to take that into consideration. Consult with your local home improvement store professional to learn the best ways of building your patio. As for the design of the bricks, you can get plain brick and place them in rows, or alternate them vertically and horizontally, or do a sort of basket weave. The design is pretty much up to you. However, check your local building or neighborhood codes to make sure they don’t have any say over whether or not you can add a simple patio.

As with any landscaping feature, design what you want on paper first, before you go out and purchase the material. Then, go out and buy your material, pick up a couple of pairs of sturdy gloves to protect your hands, and get to work!

Mr.Andrew Caxton
http://www.articlesbase.com/home-improvement-articles/decorative-brick-complements-any-landscape-127399.html

So far I heard of westech and UEI.
Does anyone have any experience with these schools, or any other suggest .
For design and drafting or architect. Designing landscapes, backyards exteriors , interiors.
How long would those classes take. How much do they cost.

Thanks again

That depends on if you want a public college or private. There is Cal State at Pomona which has Landscape Architecture and related programs. There is Parsons School of Design in Los Angeles. I dont know the ones you mentioned. There are community colleges with 2-year degrees in every city in California, so it depends where you want to live.

Swimming pools complete and enhance a great landscape design

Within a landscape design plan, the biggest, and often the most impressive, hardscape is a luxury swimming pool. Equal parts lifestyle, enjoyment and elegance, a luxury swimming pool is the choice of a homeowner whose goal is to maximize leisure time and to create a backyard retreat or family center. Luxury swimming pools are technically and artistically sophisticated, conceptually exciting and one of a kind-thus helping to further distinguish the overall property from all others.

Why Have a Luxury Swimming Pool?

A luxury swimming pool is a necessity for any upscale home. It finishes off the design of the house because it is a natural extension of your indoor living space. When it comes time to sell your home, it is an expected amenity. Additionally, luxury swimming pools and high end landscaping are great for entertaining, formal or informal, adults or children. They provide healthful exercise; swimming has long been recognized as one of the kinder activities on joints and ligaments. In Houston, they provide a natural place to cool off during our long summer season. In other words-good for your home, good for you and good for fun.

You May Ask Yourself

Following are some of the issues involved in designing a luxury swimming pool-in consideration of both present and future value:

? How do you and your family plan to use the pool? For instance, daily use or mainly for entertaining? Are you planning to swim laps or will it be a play pool for children? Remember when answering these questions that it is OK to have a pool just for the visual pleasure.

? What is the pool’s connection to the rest of space? You will want to work with a landscape architect or landscape designer to ensure that all areas, such as a outdoor kitchen or outdoor water fountain, integrate seamlessly with the pool. You want it to respond to the existing context.

? What add-ons do you want? These options include a spa, sun shelf (a specially built feature for sunning), and underwater benches. Other elements: waterfalls, negative edges, slides, diving boards.

? Overall depth. This factor is primarily determined by how you plan to use the pool.

? Do you want it heated?

? Salt systems. There are pros and cons to this popular choice. Jeff Halper with Exterior Worlds says, “The main thing to remember is that you need to be aware of your surrounding material choices if you use a salt system. Salt has a corrosive effect and soft decking material can deteriorate due to it.”

? Landscape lighting options. Luxury swimming pools innately welcome dramatic outdoor lighting.

? Maintenance. Swimming pools need regular maintenance. Your landscape architect or landscape designer will be able to refer you to a quality pool service company.

? Most importantly: safety. All choices about a pool should factor in safety. One way to do it so is through the use of fences. Halper points out that they can be used in a non-intrusive way. “We like to hide fences and gates by weaving them among shrubbery. This method makes the pool area safe, up to code and aesthetically pleasing,” he says.

Finish It Off

Designed by an architect who manages the construction and oversees all the details and nuances, luxury swimming pools come in all sizes-a cocktail pool, a lagoon pool or a water work of art. You can use varied geometries, materials and plantings to create the most sophisticated environment for your luxury swimming pool.

Quality swimming pool finishes include:

? Plaster: This category includes marcite, which is Georgia or Canadian marble that has been crushed to a fine powder. It hardens like concrete which seals the interior of the pool. Upgrades include popular brand names like Diamond Brite? and 3M? Colorquartz?, which are quartz finishes in a wide range of colors and textures. A different upgrade is exposed aggregate, a tumbled rock that is slightly larger than quartz. Pebble Tec® and River Rock are well-known brands.

? The color of the plaster: Manufacturers now offer an array of colors for pool finishes with such lyrical names as Calm Sea, Emerald Black, Cayman Green and Arctic White. Another good choice is a more neutral palette that provides a timelessness and avoids a dated look when fashion changes.

? Decking, the area that immediately surrounds the pool: Decking expands the indoors to the outdoors. Popular choices are slate, travertine, sandstone, brick, etc… Care should be taken to create a non-slippery surface in the immediate wet area. Also you will want to consider how your choice for coping matches, contrasts and enhances the exterior of your home.

Two For One

Luxury swimming pools are an excellent place to work in an outdoor water fountain. For one thing, the maintenance of an additional body of water is completely eliminated by having both elements connected. Some of the necessary equipment to have a stand-alone fountain, such as the chlorinator, auto-fills for water, lights and filters, are redundant and therefore not needed. Finally, in general, swimming pools tend to be a reasonably large body of water which is an asset to outdoor water fountains because it mitigates the problem that stand-alone water fountains tend to have with water loss due to evaporation and splashing.

Jeff Halper
http://www.articlesbase.com/gardening-articles/houston-swimming-pool-builders-and-landscape-pool-designer-for-residential-homes-in-houston-texas-693604.html

This isn’t a real house…
I am an majoring in architecture and I am currently working on a beach house project, in which I have to build a scale model….

My site is in San Diego, California…

I plan on designing a house with a large backyard garden with palm trees and other trees and plants.

My question is, what kind of trees and plants can I use in southern California, specifically plants that will be able to handle well in a beach environment?

Keep in mind that it is a beach house, with direct access to the beach…

I want to us a variety of bushes and trees that are big enough to create some privacy around the house since my site has a 6′ public access walk right next to it……

I want plants that range from 1′ tall to 8′ tall……. I plan on using miniature palms trees scattered around the house as well…

I specifically want to use mainly nice looking colorful bushes, and trees, and some nice exotic plants….

Nothing to rare, keep in mind that I need to find miniature models of these plants for my concept model.

The main reason why I ask for your help is because I am trying to order miniature fake plastic scaled trees and plants for my concept model.

I need specific species of plants, bushes, and trees in order to know what type of mini tree to order online….

I not looking for flowers and stuff like that, I prefer plants, bushes, and trees…. My house will be a light colored modern looking house, most likely white with irregular shapes, and high glass panel windows to take advantage of the Pacific Ocean view….

Im just adding that so you can visualize what Im trying to do,

Thank you so much for your help in advance…

I plan on transferring to a highly ranked architecture school, and I want this model to impress when I make a portfolio out of it.

One of the most versatile plants you could use in landscaping around a beach home is the Silver Buttonwood Tree (which can also be shaped into a hedge, if you plant a row of them, or into a pretty bush, placed in random areas for color and form). It is drought tolerant, loves sunshine, and weathers the salty and often breezy conditions of a beach environment.

Plus, it has very pretty leaves which have a distinctive texture and coloring that make it quite a standout in the landscape. This decorative tree is commonly used in both residential and commercial landscaping in Hawaii, because it is so easy to maintain. If you know of the the Yahoo Plantswap Group, you may be able to get cuttings of this tree to grow for yourself from members who often will share what they are growing for trade, swap or, often, just the cost of shipping. I’ve seen this plant offered in the group, and if you want to check out the Yahoo Plantswap Group for yourself, here is the link:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/PlantSwap/

Here are links ( below, which will give you more info about this tree, as well as pics to view of it as both a bush and/or a tree).

Another beach plant that is grown easily from cuttings is the Scaveola Frutens, aka Naupaka (in Hawaii). This plant always has green leaves, and often has pretty white flowers, is drought tolerant and weathers beachy conditions well, including salt spray and drought. Plus, it can survive in partial shade quite nicely, although it prefers sunshine. Here is a link for more info about this plant:

http://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:H2v3DODOtaQJ:hort.ufl.edu/shrubs/SCAFRUA.PDF+Scaevola+frutescens+in+california&hl=en&gl=us&pid=bl&srcid=ADGEESiNIdvroPgE-zccNWW3c0B9HU0zDLd4JhALW1rZ1G8aFIbF_f-dzS2rVSHkr8_Rf7Ggnt4ssMDcnjX2m6AHMzWLPGIxkifMssMEOoeK4UG5kYtOmMkKEG3LV8sEYG7BJ747P6Ut&sig=AHIEtbRyOhQESwcRsLj1q0jYCjzzuxj_5Q

Good luck on your project! It sounds like fun, and what a great way to utilize your creativity!