John Beckett's Real Estate Blog

Every guy needs a getaway, a place where he can go to hang out, by himself or with his buddies. Batman had his secret cave, Superman his remote Fortress of Solitude. Well, you’re not going to tunnel underground or fly off to the Arctic for your special sanctuary. But you can create the perfect hideaway within your own home. All it takes is a spare bedroom, a corner of the basement or even an attic to carve out a manly escape — especially if your idea of escaping is locking yourself in a room to listen to Miles Davis albums at floor-shaking levels, shouting encouragement to your alma mater’s football team or tinkering in the privacy of your workshop.

3. The wired workshop

The guy: Just because you’re not in the office doesn’t mean you’re not keeping busy. Weekends find you ensconced in a corner of the basement or in the garage, tackling projects from building flower boxes for the bay window to sharpening the lawn-mower blades in anticipation of spring.

The getaway: Since you get restless just watching other people fix stuff, the flat-panel TV is within sight of your workbench, so you can TiVo “This Old House” and cue up the segment you need. A stainless-steel fridge lets you slake hunger and thirst without tracking sawdust and motor oil into the house. Music is a must, so why not a boom box that charges your batteries? And you’re going to need your laptop to download projects from online, but a wimpy one won’t do the trick. This is a hard-working hangout. Things could get rough in here.

Setting it up right
Where square footage is at a premium, “you need to decide if you want to maximize work space or storage space,” says Jaime Twitchell, owner of Custom Garage Systems Inc. of Bozeman, Mont. “You can run out of one or the other in a hurry.” An organized system keeps clutter in check: sports equipment and kids’ stuff in one area, yard tools in another, power tools in the workshop. “Use modular cabinet systems so you’re not stuck with one configuration as you accumulate tools and toys,” Twitchell says. Other important considerations are lighting — Twitchell recommends swapping out hot-burning incandescents for cooler, energy-efficient compact fluorescents — and ease of cleanup. An air compressor hooked to piping around the perimeter of the room comes in handy for blowing away debris (as well as pumping up bike and car tires).

Read entire story at: http://realestate.msn.com/listarticle.aspx?cp-documentid=24360350



Every guy needs a getaway, a place where he can go to hang out, by himself or with his buddies. Batman had his secret cave, Superman his remote Fortress of Solitude. Well, you’re not going to tunnel underground or fly off to the Arctic for your special sanctuary. But you can create the perfect hideaway within your own home. All it takes is a spare bedroom, a corner of the basement or even an attic to carve out a manly escape — especially if your idea of escaping is locking yourself in a room to listen to Miles Davis albums at floor-shaking levels, shouting encouragement to your alma mater’s football team or tinkering in the privacy of your workshop.

The guy: Your tastes run more to single-malt scotch than malt liquor, and you want a sophisticated space to indulge your passions: vintage jazz, fine cigars and the occasional game of Texas hold ‘em with the guys. You’re one of the few people you know who still keep a collection of LPs and a turntable to play them on, the centerpiece of an audio system that gets pride of place in this mellow den.

The getaway: Think Edwardian library, updated for the 21st century with built-in storage for stereo equipment, sound-absorbing floor and walls, and a wireless tabletop remote control to operate everything from the music to the lighting to the thermostat.

Setting it up right
Whether it’s in a downstairs den, a converted bedroom or the attic, the key to a good listening room is containing the sound. After all, you can’t crank up the volume if the kids are next door trying to sleep. The best method, says Utz Baldwin, president of Houston-based electronics installer AD Systems, is to build a room within a room, creating an air buffer zone to deaden sound. But if you’re not inclined to construct a high-tech listening chamber, you can install sound-baffling materials on the floor, walls and ceiling. And don’t forget to audition your speakers. “Listen to your ears, not to a salesperson,” Baldwin says. Try to position your sitting area so it creates an equilateral triangle with the speakers, and place the speakers at least a foot or two away from the side and back walls for best sound quality.

Read at: http://realestate.msn.com/listarticle.aspx?cp-documentid=24360350

This weeks post is going to be in three parts. Today is on the “Sports den”. The next two will be on “The get away”  and last but not least will be “The Wired Shop.

Every guy needs a getaway, a place where he can go to hang out, by himself or with his buddies. Batman had his secret cave, Superman his remote Fortress of Solitude. Well, you’re not going to tunnel underground or fly off to the Arctic for your special sanctuary. But you can create the perfect hideaway within your own home. All it takes is a spare bedroom, a corner of the basement or even an attic to carve out a manly escape — especially if your idea of escaping is locking yourself in a room to listen to Miles Davis albums at floor-shaking levels, shouting encouragement to your alma mater’s football team or tinkering in the privacy of your workshop.

1. The sports den

The guy: You haven’t quite outgrown your love for hoops or video games, and Sundays are holy to you because of pro football. Whether it’s March Madness or the latest action-movie DVD, everyone wants to watch it on your big screen.

The getaway: Your basement home theater has to be big enough to accommodate a crowd, but you don’t want to sacrifice anything in the way of sound or video quality. That means a high-definition digital projector, a 75-inch (or larger) screen and at least 5.1-channel surround-sound speakers. For comfort, you need ample plush seating, and for convenience, a built-in bar complete with taps for your favorite suds.

Setting it up right
Today’s high-quality projectors have excellent “off-angle” viewing, which means you don’t need to sit directly in front of the screen to get a sharp image. Marc Leidig, owner of Ambiance Systems in Clifton Park, N.Y., suggests mounting the projector against the back wall or in the wall cavity to avoid the distraction of a machine hanging overhead. An acoustically transparent screen, with thousands of tiny holes that allow sound to pass through, lets you install the center channel speaker of your surround system behind it, further reducing visual clutter. Leidig recommends a fixed screen rather than a retractable one. “It saves money that you can spend on other features in the room, and it performs better because it can’t move around and affect video quality.”

Article From: http://realestate.msn.com/listarticle.aspx?cp-documentid=24360350

Signs are emerging that the job market is picking up, but landing a new position can still be a challenge. The last thing you want to do is sabotage your employment search, and, since your résumé is typically the first impression that hiring managers have of you, it’s also the first place where you can potentially ruin your chances. According to a survey conducted by Robert Half International, executives spend more than six minutes, on average, screening each résumé they receive, which means every word counts in this critical document. Of course, no job seeker is going to shoot himself or herself in the foot on purpose. But you might be harming yourself without realizing it. Here are five common mistakes that put you at risk of losing the job opportunity:

1. You don’t proofread
Three out of four executives interviewed said just one or two typos in a résumé would remove applicants from consideration for a job. Since your word processing program has a spell-check function, you may think there’s no need to review your résumé for typos and grammatical errors. Unfortunately, spell-checkers don’t catch words that may be spelled correctly but used incorrectly: For example, if your most recent position was as a corporate blogger, your software may not raise the red flag if you mistakenly list yourself as a “logger.” In addition to reading through the résumé yourself, you should also have someone else review it to catch any errors that you may have overlooked.

2. You ignore potential red flags
When reviewing your résumé, imagine that it belongs to someone else. After reading through it, would you have questions about the information provided or be concerned by a lack of details? If you have these thoughts, rest assured potential employers will, too. For instance, one of the biggest red flags is a gap in employment that goes unexplained. Rather than make a hiring manager wonder why you were away from the workplace for an extended period of time, use your cover letter to address why you weren’t working and how you continued to advance your career through volunteer opportunities, professional development courses or other means.

3. You exaggerate your qualifications
Some people will do whatever they can to stand out, which includes fudging the details about a job title, the amount of time spent with an employer or a professional accomplishment. If you think that a hiring manager won’t try to confirm your qualifications, think again. If you are caught making up information, you not only will lose out on the opportunity at that company but also may permanently harm your reputation. Even a small fib can prove harmful. For instance, if you’re working toward a degree that you plan to complete by the summer, don’t say you already have the credential.

4. You don’t explain yourself
The best résumés use specific language so hiring managers can clearly understand your qualifications and accomplishments. If you say you are “knowledgeable” about HTML, an employer will not know if you use it every day to code Web pages or if you simply know that the acronym stands for Hyper Text Markup Language. Instead of using a vague term, you should explain how you’ve used your knowledge of HTML for certain projects or to aid your employer, how long you’ve been using it and if you possess any relevant certifications. Along the same lines, be specific when listing periods of employment, including the month and year for start and end dates instead of just the year.

5. You’re too wordy
Sometimes it’s difficult to determine what information belongs in your résumé and what can be safely left out. After all, the temptation is to describe any qualification that might remotely tip the scales in your favor. But you might not want to list every accomplishment, skill or project you’ve worked on. Hiring managers appreciate brevity, so cull the information you include, focusing on the aspects of your work history that are most relevant to the job for which you’re applying. If you’ve had a long career, for instance, you may include fewer details about jobs you held early on that don’t relate to your current career path. Omit hobbies, personal facts and other fluff, too.

Read at: http://msn.careerbuilder.com/Article/MSN-2184-Cover-Letters-Resumes-5-Ways-You-Could-Be-Ruining-Your-R%C3%A9sum%C3%A9-Without-Realizing-It/?cbsid=61418593e72b487c8e31b8137e7f4da6-327931131-RL-4&sc_extcmp=JS_2184_advice&cbRecursionCnt=2&SiteId=cbmsn42184&ArticleID=2184&gt1=23000

Some great quotes from Morgan Freeman:

• As you grow in this business, you learn how to do more with less.

• Give me something interesting to play and I’m happy.

• I can only be so long without work before I start getting antsy.

• I find it difficult to watch myself… I find it boring.

• I’m not intimidated by lead roles. I’m better in them. I don’t feel pressure. I feel released at times like that. That’s what I’m born to do.