Should a REALTOR® Understand Flooring Basics?

Flooring is expensive, and if it has to be replaced who can your customer go to? If they ask you what do, what will you tell them? How will you know the latest products and what’s the best for your potential buyer’s situation? Knowing more about flooring can be the difference between making and losing a sale. Would it help your client by sharing your flooring knowledge? The realtors that attended our last flooring training said they were sure it would!

Greater Capital Association of Realtors is excited to offer a 2^nd Flooring Certification course on November 7 and 8, at the Hyatt Place in Malta, New York.  Exit 12 off the Adirondack Northway. Lisbeth Calandrino, Industry Flooring Expert, from Fabulous Floors Magazine will be our featured speaker.  Our last class had rave reviews; we ran out of seating and had to turn people away. Don’t let this happen to you!

 This day and an half course is sponsored exclusively by Mohawk Industries, Inc.  Richard Owen, Sr. Director or Market Development and Training, Residential Flooring at Mohawk Industries will be joining the class as a guest speaker. Mohawk is the world’s largest flooring company, delivering style and performance for residential and commercial spaces around the globe.

“As your customers’ needs have changed, so has Mohawk, offering the finest in on trend and fashionable collections of flooring products to meet all the demands of today’s home buyers. From luxuriously soft carpeting to the best in wood visuals across all hard surface collection, you can truly FLOOR THE IMAGINATION with Mohawk!” – Richard Owen

 

INVITE YOUR CUSTOMERS AND BUILDERS! Do you want a client to attend, what about one of your customer builders, architect or interior designer?  Non-members are welcomed at all GCAR classes and this useful and interesting flooring course will benefit you and your connections.

Today’s home buyer expects more, and that includes their expectations of their REALTOR®.  You don’t want to lose a sale because they thought the flooring was a problem and you didn’t know what to do! Learn about the latest styles, color trends, which products are the best for your customers.  You will find this exciting and a major tool for your realtor kit.

Listen to what REALTORS® said in the April course:

• “Who knew there was so much to learn about flooring?! It was great information and Lisbeth was a dynamic instructor!” – Tracey LaFleur, Howard Hanna
• “Liz is an encyclopedia of information, I recommend this course to any REALTOR looking to enhance their knowledge or flooring materials, it’s a fun and worthwhile class!” –Susan Sommers, Better Homes & Garden Tech Valley
  
• “The information presented has changed my views on many types of flooring and the knowledge will allow me to better serve my clients.” –David Fyfe, Bird Realty
  
• “Lisbeth has an engaging personality and a wealth of knowledge related to flooring. Her course, Fabulous Floors Certified, was valuable and informative professionally and personally!” – Melanie Jakway, CM Fox Real Estate
• Fabulous Floors was a great course~ I will be able to make better decision on choosing floor coverings for my rehab projects!” – Lorraine Gage, United Business Services

Register now at GCAR.com:  $75 for members, $100 for non-members. Benefits to attending the course:

• Receive 9 CE credits for the course
• Receive an extra 7 hours of CE with a requirements course day that covers: Fair Housing, Ethics and 1 hour of Agency that expires at the end of 2020
• Be listed in the International Magazine: Fabulous Floors with your contact information to reach new clients
• Submit your REALTOR® stories to Fabulous Floors Magazine and have your own byline
• Discounts on products from local Retailers

Register early so you don’t get left out. We have moved from GCAR offices because of limited seating—after 38 we had to turn people away. Again our seating is limited to the first 60! Register now by clicking here.

STAY AFTER CLASS FOR FUN AND NETWORKING! Join us after class, November 7^th for a meet and greet with local flooring retailers, consumers and builders.

For more information on the class, call Lisbeth Calandrino @518-495-5380, or write, Lcalandrino@nycap.rr.com.

Advertisement

Mullican’s Castillian Collection Used In HGTV Urban Oasis

Miami Designer Lindsay Pumpa’s creative use of Mullican’s Oak Driftwood from the Castillian Collection

I just returned from Miami, Florida where I had an exciting preview of HGTV Urban Oasis; a luxurious two-bedroom condominium located in the Paramount Bay building.

Paramount Bay is a 47 story residence in Miami, Florida with amazing views of Miami Beach, Biscayne Bay and the Port of Miami. This is HGTV’s third annual Urban Oasis Giveaway and beginning August 1st; fans can visit hgtv.com/urbanoasis and check out the condominium and the view from the terrace.

The real fun takes place between August, 23 at 9:00 a.m. through October 15, at 5:00 p.m., when consumers can enter for a chance to win the HGTV giveaway.

HGTV is considered America’s leading home and lifestyle brand, with a cable network, and the nation’s leading online home-and garden destination. The brand also includes the HGTV HOME consumer products’ line, which showcases exclusive collections of paint, flooring, and soft goods and other home-oriented products line, as well as HGTV Magazine, a new home and lifestyle publication published in partnership with Hearst Magazines.

Sponsors for the HGTV Urban Oasis Giveway includes: iRobot Corporation, Cabinets To Go, the Sherwin-Williams Company, Kohler and Mullican Flooring.

This is the second time that Mullican Flooring has been chosen to provide hardwood flooring for the HGTV Urban Oasis Giveway. Mullican was a sponsor for the 2010 Giveway.

Being a flooring person, I’m always looking down, so the first thing I noticed was the floor. The product is Oak Driftwood from Mullican’s Castillian Collection and was used throughout the 1700-foot residence. The Castillian Collection is an engineered wood flooring product. Usually engineered woods, are more dimensionally stable than solids and are used in areas where the moisture level is high. It makes sense that the product would be used for an installation close to the water.

The coloration is what I would call a “washed gray, ” or a weathered look. I took photos of the floor and followed it thought the residence.

Usually flooring is used as the backdrop for a room (so as not to interfere with the furnishings) or as the focal point. In this case, it was actually both! Not only did it provide the backdrop for the gorgeous white leather furniture, pastel area rug, and ivory accessories, but once you looked down; it became the focal point. Immediately, you became focused on the grain of the wood. The grey/white washed coloring, and graining adds to the elegance of the interior.

The bedroom was my next step. I was told to look for an unusual wood application. Much to my surprise and delight, it was being used as a backdrop (similar to a headboard)behind the bed in the master bedroom and on the ceiling!

I asked Tressa Samdal Marketing Manager for Mullican, about the unusual application of their product.

“We’ve always considered our products to be on the forefront of design and selection, said Tressa, the blue gray of the floor is beautiful in contrast with the modern white and metallic pieces in the space. Since grey floors are all the rage this year, Oak Driftwood fits perfectly. It just takes a creative designer like Lindsey Pumpa from Miami to try something different. Once it’s been done, it gives others ideas and sets new design precedents. Hopefully, others will start experimenting. Following this year grey trends, Mullican will be introducing some solid gray selections, Muirfield Oak Granite and Maple Graphite.”

Please take a close look at the photo above and the interesting use of the flooring above the bed. It certainly makes the room. Ask your flooring professional how you might get creative with your flooring.

Click on this link for a video interview with Lindsay Pumpa and her design ideas for Urban Oasis.