An interesting phenomenon is popping up across the country – homes being used as billboards.  For families facing foreclosure, the billboards could be what saves their houses, even though the neighbors may not exactly love the bright paint.  From MSNBC,

In return for allowing the front of their four-bedroom house to become a garish advertisement, the Hostetlers are getting their nearly $2,000 monthly mortgage paid by the marketing company behind the project, Brainiacs From Mars.

In a residential neighborhood without heavy traffic, cars passing by the house slowed and drivers gawked at the vivid colors and a giant Brainiacs From Mars billboard.

I would volunteer my own house but we’re too far out in the country!

With so many people living paycheck to paycheck, very few actually take the time to set achievable financial goals.  Someone who does is Tracey who writes Making Cents. In her fantastic blog, she displays what her goals are in the right column, but her writings reflect her little (and big) achievements. For example,

I put a few extra bobs through to my mortgage, but most of the rent money over the next 3 weeks-ish will have to go towards a lawn mower and wireless router (so we can both use the internet at the same time). After that, the Emergency Fund needs topping up, and that will likely take all my spare cash until January/February.

Bravo Tracey. Keep up the great job of being financially responsible for your future!

Photo by Joaquín Martínez.

Even in these years of a sagging economy and a pitiful mortgage atmosphere, staging a home remains an important part of selling a home.  From Offbeat Home, Ariel Meadow Stallings shows how important it is to stage with some great before and after photo shots,

Everyone says this, and it’s true. You have to basically move out of your home to stage it, or make your peace with living in a sparse, slightly twisted version of your home. You’re allowed bland art (not too much!) and one tchotchke per room.

Here was how our living room looked before I staged it:

Here’s what it looked like after I took all our stuff out of it:

Still funky and colorful, but way less cluttered. No My Little Ponies or sagging spider plants to distract potential buyers.

Fantastic article!

The challenge of living in a hallway could be greater than just how much living space is available, but what do you do with all the walk-through traffic?  This 78-square foot living space can’t even be called an “apartment.”

From the Gothamist,

“It’s simple, efficient, convertible, and zen enough to be comfortably habitable,” though there were some challenges. He says, “I think such small spaces really need custom responses so i put together my own furnishing. The most challenging part was trying to build the bed/couch inside the space… rotating full 4×8 sheets of ply and playing the sliding square game but with furniture and building materials.”

But where do you cook?  I guess in New York, you don’t really have to.