Rock Those Resale Clothes – You Are Helping The Earth!
Oh how we love clothes shopping for a good deal and being eco-friendly at the same time. Being good to the environment doesn’t mean that you have to do without comfort, style or nice clothes. Resale boutiques have become vogue in the last few years. You can easily be thrifty because let’s face it; in these hard economic times, many of us are looking for ways to cut costs and spend less without sacrificing style or quality.. Thanks to vintage & resale stores, it means being kinder to the earth while you shop. Less consumer waste that ends up in landfills. Men, women and kids can shop for stylish resale clothes at a fraction of the cost of “off the rack” retail.Being environmentally savvy or “green” involves renewal, regeneration and giving back. When you purchase something that already exists, you’re saving natural resources and all of the energy used to harvest and make them. Now doesn’t that feel good? Here’s ideas that are eco-chic and high on style: Reused Clothing- If you’re looking for upscale clothes, shoes or handbags- there are plenty of designer resale boutiques all over the nation.All reused clothing is green, since – by being salvaged – it doesn’t find itself piling up in a landfill for all of eternity. It may take a little time and patience to hunt for individual items, but when you uncover those truly one-of-a-kind pieces that rival many of today’s mass produced fashions, second-hand shopping is worth the work. So go ahead and shop with wild abandon in your local thrift or vintage clothing stores. You can also make money by selling your gently used clothes back to many of these places. Ask if they do consignment or sell them to the store if they are in good condition. A win-win.Thrift, Consignment & Vintage Shopping Tips:Every fashionista knows that clothing made in the mid 1960s was usually top quality, which is why much of it is still in excellent condition at the local thrift or vintage shop. What’s the difference between Thrift Stores versus Consignment Shops versus Vintage Boutiques?Consignment stores are where the original owner retains some of the revenue from the sale- they often have equal quality to vintage boutiques, however thrift stores (with their hodgepodge collection of donated clothes)are where you must truly become a fashion sleuth.Vintage shops will more consistently yield the best selection and the highest quality but prices will be higher than consignment shops or thrift stores. You are paying for a knowledgeable staff and a selection that is usually grouped by decade.Until the 1960′s most clothing was made to measure by major fashion houses, local seamstresses and even department stores, so definitely do not overlook unfamiliar labels. With clothing made prior to the sixties, higher quality is a given, especially if the label is woven and has been completely sewn down. Thrift stores and resale stores are basically shops that sell resused items, in this case clothing, shoes and accessories.I was recently asked about organic clothing. Buying organic clothes means you are wearing cloth that is not made with pesticide-laden fabric. For example, organic cotton is grown without the use of synthetic pesticides with attention to the eco system and biodiversity. I think it’s a very promising sign that some of the largest retailers have gotten involved with organic cotton. Walmart is one of the biggest buyers of organic cotton and they keep the cost down for those of us who aren’t looking to spend a week’s salary on one organic outfit! Organic clothing isn’t just limited to cotton. You can find wool, silk, hemp and jute to name a few. It’s good to keep this option in the back of your mind the next time you shop.One of my favorite places to shop resale is Plato’s Closet. Their resale fashions are current. From brands like American Eagle to Hollister to Aeropostale, Gap and Juicy Couture to name a few. Look for men and women’s clothes, shoes, hats, accessories, handbags and more. Many of these resale stores are chains and have locations all over the USA. Plato’s Closet is a great place to start.I also found resale clothes for babies to tweens at Once Upon A Child. They carry all name brands and current styles. They also carry toys, shoes, baby gear like high chairs, bikes, car seats, toy boxes, books and more.Check out Etsy online. It is your online source for hand made, repurposed and sometimes vintage accessories and clothing with amazing prices for the eco-friendly fashionista. It’s “green style”. Fashion consciousness blossoms. Feel free to share with us your favorite local resale places or eco-friendly clothing finds. Recycling Vintage Fashions = “preloved.” So rock those resale clothes, you’re helping the earth.
Becoming a Commercial Real Estate Broker
The Commercial Real Estate Industry touches virtually every aspect of business in the United States and most of the free world. Very few companies can grow without acquiring more land or additional office space, patients can’t use the services of a hospital unless it’s constructed and consumers can’t shop at a Walmart without the development of Real Property.Commercial Real Estate encompasses all aspects of sales, leasing, management, investment in or improvement of retail property, investment property, farmland, businesses, industries, medical facilities and dozens of other types of property. Our job in the industry is to assist in the lease, management or sales of property, and to advise our clients of their best courses of action when deciding how to invest in or improve real property or a commercial asset.You will work directly with industry leaders, community leaders, government officials, lawyers, zoning officers, accountants, mortgage companies, banks, title companies, appraisers, utility companies and everyone in between to put together sales or develop property to its full potential for a client. While you can’t make decisions for our clients, you can assist them in making better informed decisions, and you can help our clients to understand what the highest and best use may be for a particular property, or what type of investment vehicle might be best for your client.You will work with property owners who may want to sell a property, lease a property, have a property managed or determine what use might be better for the property than the current use. You will work with users of properties to find the best location for their business or investment, to determine if it’s better for the user to lease a property or purchase and to understand the tax implications of their decisions. Additionally, You will work with investors to determine which real estate venture might be their best investment to meet their particular goals and needs.Commercial real estate agents and brokers work with individuals, investors, organizations and corporations to develop property to its highest potential. Their careers include many specializations. Some commercial associates specialize in particular types of property, such as office property, develop-able farmland or even amusement parks. Other commercial associates specialize in particular forms of consulting work for Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs), insurance companies or utility companies. Still others work in specialized areas such as resort management or assist government agencies with the redevelopment of industrial sites or reclamation of land.Commercial Real Estate is an exciting and rewarding field of study and can lead to dozens of different career opportunities. Whether someone is starting their first small business, developing a parcel of land, or considering an investment in real estate rather than an investment in a mutual fund or money market, the understanding of commercial real estate is fundamental to their decisions.To begin your career in this sector of the industry you’ll need to understand exactly what you’re selling, how it is priced, how it is financed and what legal documents must be used to convey the sale or lease. In other words, what are the responsibilities of a commercial real estate broker. Let’s take a look at the key elements necessary to be successful in commercial real estate.You will need to examine the diverse forms that commercial property takes and the important terms used by those in the field to explain and understand a type of property. Next you will need to explore the different methods of determining value in the eyes of property users, investors, real estate professionals and appraisers. You will also need to learn how commercial real estate can be financed and how it may be leased. There is also a need to perform an examination of the legal documents including listing contracts, sales agreements and lease contracts.Your responsibilities as a commercial real estate professional include:For Sellers or Property Owners:
Hold or Sell Analysis – Analyze the market to determine what course of action is best for a property owner. Is it better to hold onto the property longer, or would an owner be better suited selling the commercial property? This analysis may include projections of cash flows, and determination of internal rate of return.
Property Management – Assist the owner by leasing and / or managing the day to day situations that arise in any real estate investment. Management may include suggestions of how to create more value in the property. 3 story multi-tenant Office Building with central common atrium.
Property Leasing – Finding tenants for a property owner’s commercial real estate. This may include advice on creating a niche for the property, or ways to attract more solid long term tenants.
Property Sale or Marketing – Determining the best course of action in order to maximize the sales price on a property and find the best possible buyer.
For Buyers, Tenants or Investors:
Investment Analysis – Provide an investor or buyer with comparisons of various properties or types of property and their cash flows or investment returns in order to determine what situation may be best for the investor or buyer.
Site Selection – Assist the investor or buyer with locating a site that meets the client’s needs. Assist with demographic data to support the client’s business or investment goals. An agent may also be required to assist with determining the site’s suitability based on zoning regulations, environmental conditions and financing considerations.
Cash Flow Analysis / Return on Investment – What kind of return can an investor expect on a particular real estate investment? Agents provide projections of potential future income and analysis of potential return on the property.
For both Sellers / Owners and Buyers / Investors:
Property or Business Valuations – Any property owner wants to know what their property is worth to a buyer and what the highest sales price or lease price is possible in the current market. Buyers or Investors want to know what a fair price may be for the same property or business, and will want to know what the best investment may be at this point in time.
Feasibility Studies – Conduct a market study with the help of Real Estate Appraisers and engineers to determine the highest and best use of a property, or forecast a project’s likelihood of success.
Exchange Opportunities – Tax-deferral benefits may make it worthwhile to exchange the property, or use a 1031 deferred exchange.
Commercial Real Estate Professionals can be rewarded for their quality work and adherence to ethical standards. Learning the fundamental methods and tools used are critical to the success of both the professional and their clients.
Web Traffic a La Carte
If you aren’t producing and distributing your own branded re-print articles right now, what are you waiting for? Articles meet a number of important business objectives, and they do it for free. The concept of using articles is similar to that of creating a free product, the main difference being that you’re not giving away a pre-built product. Rather, you’re creating a free information source through an article on a particular subject that should directly relate to the content found on your site.The really great thing about using articles is that you can generate and submit as many of them as you want to on as many different article directories as you can find that offer free submission. To find them, just type ‘Article Directory’ into your favorite search-engine.A well-written article earns you major credibility and enhances your expertise in the eyes of potential customers and they give you a chance to really show off the fact that you know your subject.Articles are also superb traffic building tools. Each article that you write and distribute, while granting others the right to re-print it, has a viral effect on your traffic. Your reach is expanded into areas of the web you may never have discovered on your own.You see, once an article is written and submitted to an article directory, it’s out there FOREVER! Even if you decide to remove it from the article-sites, other people would have found it and used it on their own site (with YOUR links in it) and you cannot remove the article from other people’s websites.Articles have a cumulative effect on your link popularity, and on the number of keywords that pull up your site in the search engine listings.If you don’t feel that you can write, or if you’re simply too busy to write, you can hire a ghostwriter to produce your content on the cheap. There are plenty of freelancers to be found at places like Elance.com. However, I really do recommend you TRY writing. You may be very pleasantly surprised at how much you know AND you might actually enjoy writing, especially if it’s about a subject you’re interested in.The theory is very simple: the more articles you submit to different article directory databases, the more chances you have of getting higher rates of traffic into your web site.One last thing to really be sure your articles get placed inside the directories you submit them to is to write up your own original articles. Not only that, you could also post them directly onto your own web site, and offer your site visitors the opportunity to reprint them for free on their own web sites.There is one thing you must include with every article you release, and that is a link (at least one) BACK to your own website. This is your payoff for writing and submitting the article in the first place. Take a quick peek at any of the articles at EzineArticles.com and you’ll see each author’s byline at the bottom of the page.You’ll sometimes hear people refer to the byline as a “resource box”. They’re both the same thing, but I think the phrase “resource box” describes the content more accurately.Your resource box contains a very brief summary of your business history and areas of expertise, along with RELATED resources like a free giveaway you’re offering (ebook, email course etc.) and this resource box is your ADVERTISING area. You grant other web publishers the right to reprint and distribute your article at will on the condition that your resource box remains intact and unchanged.You should write your “Resource Box” up as if you were writing it about someone else and not yourself.The only limitation to using articles as promotional tools is how many topics you can dream up. If you’re reasonably prolific, you can write an articles about almost any subject in your area of interest or expertise. You can use articles to sell your own product, for building your credibility, or even for promoting an affiliate product.Writing articles is easily one of the very best ways to market your website.