NEW YORK–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Griffon Corporation (NYSE:GFF) today announced that it will present at
the CJS Securities 14^th Annual “New Ideas for the New Year”
Investor Conference in New York, NY on Wednesday, January 15^th.
A copy of Griffon’s latest investor presentation, which will be used at
the conference, will be available at the time of the conference in the
investor relations section of Griffon’s website (www.griffoncorp.com).

About Griffon Corporation

Griffon Corporation (the “Company” or “Griffon”) is a diversified
management and holding company that conducts business through
wholly-owned subsidiaries. Griffon oversees the operations of its
subsidiaries, allocates resources among them and manages their capital
structures. Griffon provides direction and assistance to its
subsidiaries in connection with acquisition and growth opportunities as
well as in connection with divestitures. Griffon also seeks out,
evaluates and, when appropriate, will acquire additional businesses that
offer potentially attractive returns on capital to further diversify
itself.

Griffon currently conducts its operations through Ames True Temper
(“ATT”), Clopay Building Products (“CBP”), Telephonics Corporation
(“Telephonics”) and Clopay Plastic Products Company (“Plastics”). ATT
and CBP comprise the Home Building Products operating segment.

• Home Building Products is a leading manufacturer and marketer of
  residential, commercial and industrial garage doors to professional
  installing dealers and major home center retail chains, as well as a
  global provider of non-powered landscaping products that make work
  easier for homeowners and professionals.
• Telephonics designs, develops and manufactures high-technology,
  integrated information, communication and sensor system solutions for
  use in military and commercial markets worldwide.
• Plastics is an international leader in the development and production
  of embossed, laminated and printed specialty plastic films used in a
  variety of hygienic, health-care and industrial applications.

For more information on Griffon and its operating subsidiaries, please
see the Company’s website at www.griffoncorp.com.

This week in River Falls:

09 January 2014

 
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Russell Bomar (right), 412th Communications Squadron, Print Services technician and Andrew King (center), 412th CS Print Services lead, start the printer “right sizing” initiative by collecting 412th Test Wing Commander Brig. Gen. Michael Brewer’s office printer. The Project84 idea was implemented on Edwards as a way to save costs on printer ink, toner, paper and maintenance. Excess printers will be collected from buildings and there will be an increase in sharing printers. (U.S. Air Force photo by Rebecca Amber)

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Russell Bomar (right), 412th Communications Squadron, Print Services technician leads Andrew King (center), 412th CS Print Services lead, and Andrew Gumm to the elevators with the printers collected at the 412thTest Wing Headquarters Bldg. (U.S. Air Force photo by Rebecca Amber)

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Andrew Gumm, 412th Communication Squadron, is working with his team to “right size” the printer fleet on base. Their Project84 submission is currently being implemented on Edwards AFB as a cost saving measure approved by the 412th Test Wing commander. (U.S. Air Force photo by Rebecca Amber)

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(Left to right) Gary Glazner, 412th Range Systems Time Space Position Information technical expert; Cheryl Middleton, 412th Test Wing Public Affairs systems analyst; and Larry Booth 412th Operations Support Squadron, Mission Scheduling Support specialist. (U.S. Air Force graphic by Rebecca Amber)

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Project84 continues into New Year

Posted 1/8/2014   Updated 1/8/2014
Email story  
Print story

by Rebecca Amber
Staff writer

1/8/2014 – EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. — Towards the end of 2013, Brig. Gen. Michael Brewer, 412th Test Wing commander, announced his cost-savings initiative for Edwards AFB – Project84. According to Brewer, if everyone on base saved $84 each month, it would ultimately save an excess of $11 million annually.
 
The problem was finding out where the $84 would come from each month and that is where Project84 came in. Every person who works, lives or visits Edwards was invited to submit their ideas for cutting costs around base.
 
“Under the current economic climate, if we continue to do what we’ve done last year, we’re going to run out of money this year, so it’s incumbent upon us to figure out how we do our operations differently, how we get these ideas and execute these ideas so we can control our cost,” said Brewer. “We’ve already received lots of good ideas. We’re looking at things on energy savings from lighting to how we operate our computers during the evenings, changes to our flight operations and training, but we have to keep these ideas coming in. Our goal is for us all to be $1,000 less costly on average this year, or about $84 per month, hence the term ‘Project84.'”

The project has already brought in many good ideas, but the initiative isn’t over. Members of the Edwards community are encouraged to continue sending in their thoughts.

“We have the opportunity now to save money, to do things better, smarter and more [efficiently],” said Rodney Cruse, 412th TW Plans and Programs and Project84 lead. “General Brewer has started this initiative because he wants to hear from all of us no matter where you work. If you have an idea to save money while maintaining safety and lawfulness, General Brewer wants to know about it and you can do that through Project84.”

To submit your ideas to Project84, e-mail them to project84@us.af.mil or call (661) 275-8484. A Project84 tab can also be located on the bottom of the left-hand column on the Edwards home page, www.edwards.af.mil, and information has been added to the Edwards AFB site on the AF Portal.

Here are a few highlighted Project84 ideas:

Andrew Gumm

Andrew Gumm, 412th Communications Squadron, computer maintenance chief, is seeing his Project84 idea, “right sizing” printers, implemented.

The original idea came from a Digital Printing and Imaging Program over five years ago and was intended as an Air Force-wide initiative to lean out the printer stock and reduce costs associated with printing. However, the plan was never successfully executed.

Gumm took over as computer maintenance chief two years ago and noticed right away the enormous fleet of outdated printers and their associated expenses.

“Many of them have vulnerabilities that can’t be fixed,” said Gumm.

He started working on a plan to reduce the printer fleet by half, but had to prove that the plan was appropriate. Early in 2013, Gumm and his team started a pilot program within their organization to demonstrate the potential for cutting costs.

The experiment took place in four buildings that started with 42 printers and are now using only 11 without impacting their ability to print. What they found was a 45% overall reduction in printing and 58% in color prints, conservatively. Gumm stated that there are currently 1,300 network connected printers on base and approximately $400,000 worth of toner stocked up.
 
But, it’s not just toner and paper that makes printing so expensive, it’s maintenance.

“At the end of the day, what we’re trying to do is reduce what it costs to print a sheet of paper,” said Gumm. “Something that is supposed to cost a penny a piece is costing 15 cents a piece and color print jobs as much as 50 cents a sheet. It all depends on the organization, the machine, the usage, the age of the printer and the amount of maintenance. It’s a complex problem and it’s hard to quantify a single printer.”

Gumm estimates that the project will take 12 – 20 months to fully integrate. During that time, his team will perform an analysis to determine a proper balance between each organizations number of print jobs generated and geography of their building.

The printers that are no longer available will go through the DRMO process if they have vulnerabilities that can’t be fixed. Those that are still useable will be “mothballed” until another printer needs to be replaced.

Gumm sees “culture” as the projects largest hurdle. He has received some concerns about printing securely for those with sensitive information. He stated that multifunction printers are often CAC-equipped. Print jobs can be sent to the printer encrypted and will wait for the user to insert a CAC card before printing, a feature that has been available for the last four years.

“Project84 came up and suddenly the pathway [for ‘right sizing’] was paved with gold,” said Gumm.

Larry Booth

Larry Booth is a Mission Scheduling Support specialist with several cost-savings ideas.

“Gen. Brewer asked us for ways to save money, so my initial thought was, maybe we can fly each mission five minutes less. As far as I can tell, five minutes of each mission can mean a thousand pounds of fuel and that would add up significantly, to millions of dollars of savings,” said Booth.

His next idea was about bringing home aircraft that had been “stuck out” at Vance and Tinker Air Force Bases. According to Booth, pilots are sent on commercial flights to retrieve the aircraft. That means the Air Force has to pay for airline tickets, food and lodging. Booth suggested that pilot crews ride in Air Force tankers and then fly the aircraft back the same day.
“It would save a lot of money and we could accomplish getting all the airplanes back in one day,” said Booth.

Booth shared that he believes solving the budget crisis is a team effort. He wrote in his suggestions to Brig. Gen. Michael Brewer, 412th Test Wing Commander, that he would voluntarily give up one hour per week if it would help.

“I told them I would even come mow the grass myself,” said Booth. “General Brewer thought that was pretty funny. But, we all need to be conscious of our day-to-day practices. We need to be conscious of the bottom line that is spent to accomplish the mission. We know that the budget has been impacted severely, so we want to do our part so that funds can be used elsewhere.”

Booth encouraged others to start submitting their own ideas as well.

“I think anytime you solicit the opinions of the entire base you’re going to have someone come up with a golden idea. I believe Project84 will be very successful. We can cut a few dollars here and a few dollars there, eventually it will add up.”

Cheryl Middleton

Cheryl Middleton, 412th Test Wing Public Affairs systems analyst, also had several ideas for Project84, but perhaps the biggest was to re-landscape the business areas on base. The suggested landscaping was xeriscaping, a desert landscape that uses primarily rocks and desert plants instead of grass and lush, green trees.

The idea is to save money by eliminating the need for watering the lawn or paying a contractor to mow it. She first learned about xeriscaping from Environmental Management, who had already switched to xeriscaping.

“They had signs that explain what it is and why they did it. I thought it was very clever of them to think of it and to do it,” said Middleton. “We’re in a desert, let’s save water.”

Although xeriscaping would cost now, it would save money in the long-run, much like Middleton’s second idea, solar-powering the dorm areas. At the “very least” Middleton would like to see solar-heated water in the dorms.

Middleton also recommended converting any cars or “put-puts” on base to electric and making charging stations available.

“I like the idea of Project84 very, very much and I sincerely hope people take advantage of it,” said Middleton. “If you’re not happy with something, if you have a good idea, use that program to fix what you’re not happy about. I ultimately feel we’re all here to make things better.”

Energy and water were not Middleton’s only concerns. She recommended making the Joshua Tree Dining Facility open to everyone using a tiered system. The idea would be to have Airmen and younger NCO’s pay lower prices and others would pay according to their means. She also recommended tiered attendance to ensure that Airmen would not have their meal times interfered with.

“It’s a very nice facility, I don’t understand why we don’t do this,” said Middleton. “At the very least, it should be open for retirees.”

She would also like to see the Edwards community grow a garden, to be used for flowers and vegetables. The idea, she believes, is good for the schools too. Students would learn to garden and the produce could be used in the cafeteria.

Gary Glazner

Gary Glazner, 412th Range Systems Time Space Position Information technical expert, encouraged volunteerism to give a temporary fix to the budget crisis.

His idea, a policy of volunteer furloughs, would provide a short-term solution to the budget problems on base. He said it would act like a “Band-Aid” to buy additional time to implement other policies.

“We have a volunteer army, if we need more people than volunteer we can draft, but we don’t draft until we have to. As long as we have enough volunteers we don’t have to draft. I was thinking kind of the same thing relative to furloughs. We have enough people, I suspect, that are able and willing and others that aren’t,” said Glazner.

He added that he would like to see people who are living on the edge avoid furloughs or at least reduce them. The idea of permissive leave without pay has been on Glazner’s mind for “quite some time now.” He petitioned for the same policy in his own company prior to submitting it to Project84.

Glazner envisions volunteers being the high-wage earners on base, which means that the amount of money saved per furlough would be higher. The people who make less however, would not be forced to give up the time.

“It’s volunteerism and I recognize there could be problems with that and that it probably would not be a good long-term solution. But, it could buy us time to implement other possible solutions and measures that could be permanent, but can’t be implemented rapidly, so it could give us a little bit of a buffer.”

He added that leave without pay has generally been seen as a punishment and permissive leave without pay is frowned upon. Glazner, however, believes that it would not have to be negative if done on a volunteer basis.

According to Glazner, the idea has potential to be successful for two years, but no more than five because the program would start to experience donor fatigue.
 
“I don’t know all of the ripple effects, there might not be any. I just don’t know,” said Glazner.

“Project84 is a good idea because often your good ideas are going to come from the people with their boots on the ground,” said Glazner. “I’m really hopeful that something really good will come out of it. Perhaps some of the ideas that management hadn’t thought of can be implemented.”

Community Center Site Development Plans presented on January 11

Dale Porter, Chair

Nederland Community Center Site Plan Committee

On Saturday afternoon January 11, 4:30-7 p.m., consultants to the Community Center Site Plan Committee will present three concept plans for developing the CC site over the next 20-30 years.  The public is invited to view the plans and give feedback. Food will be provided so that people can stay until the Back Door Theater movie starts. All comments and questions will be recorded and used to help select a final concept plan.
A CONCEPT PLAN shows generally how the facility and the site might be developed, in phases, over the next 20-30 years, without any specific design details.  It includes planning for energy savings and financial estimates.
The three concept plans to be presented January 11 have different features, but all of them include replacement of the West Wing with a building situated near the highway; redesign or relocation of the access driveway, possibly by way of Forest Road; and re-engineering the whole hillside behind and beside the main buildings to control storm-water runoff and prevent flooding.
The Committee and the consultants have NOT tried to anticipate specific uses for the building space, since tenants and uses have changed and will change frequently over the years. We have, however, considered moving Town Hall functions to a new building on site.
The Site Plan development committee was appointed by the Board of Trustees in February 2013. It includes: Dale Porter (chair), Roger Cornell, Jen Davis, trustee Ledge Long, Marylou Harrison, Linda Glasser, and Town Administrator Alisha Reis.
The committee reviewed all previous site plans, west wing ideas, Envision 20/20, Master Trails Plan, the new town comprehensive plan, and the developing town Infrastructure Master Plan. The Board of Trustees hired Workshop8, JVC engineering, and Norris Design to consult with the committee.
A first set of concept plans underwent a thorough discussion.  After the public presentation on January 11, a final plan will be drawn up, with development phases and financial estimates.  This plan will be submitted to the BOT at its February 4 meeting.
Our consultants will provide cost estimates for each phase of development, but of course those estimates may change depending on future rates of inflation.  So we don’t know yet how much this will cost.  It will be paid for over 20-30 years in stages.
Currently the CC operates with a .75 % (3/4 of one percent) sales tax that voters approved in 1997 and 2002. It lasts until 2023.  That money covers normal operations; it does not include any money for drainage and flood control, parking, new buildings, renovation or landscaping.
For each phase of the Site Plan, the Town and the NCC Foundation will be seeking funds from state agencies and Colorado foundations that have helped us in the past. The Town may also seek a renewal and/or increase of the sales tax before 2023.
Current versions of the three concept plans to be presented January 11 are located with this notice on the Community Center website, www.nederlandcommunitycenter.org.  Look to the links on the left side and click on “Site Plan.”  Comments on the plans may be emailed to NCCF@nederlandcommunitycenter.org

 

ST. PETERSBURG — For months, people who live, work and play along the southern half of 34th Street worked together on a master plan to boost economic development in the area.

They’d been told their work would be taken to city leaders for final approval in December. But that hasn’t happened yet, and residents recently learned it won’t be presented now until springtime.

They are dismayed, along with the City Council member who represents the area, renamed the Skyway Marina District.

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“We’re just getting started,” a frustrated Steve Kornell told the Tampa Bay Times this week. “If you have all these people and get everyone excited then tell them nothing’s going to happen for a while … that’s a good way to kill the enthusiasm.”

Kornell, normally one of the more diplomatic voices on the council, plans to bring the issue up at today’s council meeting. He has asked city staff to present the same report it made for residents in October. The meeting drew more than 200 residents.

“I’m tired of having to drive north to spend my money,” said Jodi Davis, who is on the steering committee that developed the plan. “We are taxpayers, too. I think it’s important to consider there are areas of the city that are not getting their economic needs met.”

The new plan for the district, a 1.5-mile stretch of 34th Street between 30th and 54th avenues S and surrounding neighborhoods, envisions multistory development, more restaurants, improved transportation and upgrades to infrastructure like sidewalks and landscaping.

Kornell said people don’t realize how diverse the area already is. It’s home to a marina, waterfront homes, the state’s oldest community theater and commercial corridors. But many businesses have left.

Residents there say they are tired of the negative stereotypes and lack of attention.

Broadwater Civic Association President Tom Ando said he remembers a time when the area was thriving. The decline was slow, and progress was stagnate after the Great Recession.

“I feel like there’s a lot of resources have been devoted to downtown and Midtown and certain areas,” Davis said. “We’ve waited in line.”

Davis said she got a message in December from city staffer Gary Jones, who has worked with the neighborhoods on the plan, saying it was going to be delayed.

Jones said the goal now is to present the plan to the development review commission in spring for a recommendation and then take it City Council.

“In this case we were ambitious with our deadlines,” Jones said Wednesday. “Typically a plan can take a year.”

Davis said she is trying to remain optimistic, but she and other neighborhood leaders don’t want the momentum to slow.

They feel good about today’s presentation though.

“Once the rest of the council sees the plan and what ideas we have, I’m expecting their minds to open up to it,” Ando said. “Hopefully they’ll be impressed with it as much as I was.”

Kameel Stanley can be reached at kstanley@tampabay.com, (727) 893-8643 or @cornandpotatoes on Twitter.

The art deco Latchis Hotel invites out-of-towners to spend the night at a special Inspirations rate. For an additional fee, a package is available with two movie tickets and dinner at a local hot spot. For information and hotel reservations, call 802-254-6300.

Originally published in The Commons issue #236 (Wednesday, January 8, 2014). This story appeared on page B3.

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BRATTLEBORO—On Saturday, Jan. 25, four gardening experts, each with international experience, will present their thoughts, pictures, and videos at Garden Inspirations, an all-day workshop at the Latchis Theatre in downtown Brattleboro.

Only 100 tickets will be sold, with proceeds supporting the ongoing restoration of the main hall of the Latchis Theatre. Though it may be snowing and 17 degrees outside, in the Ballroom Theatre upstairs at the Latchis, all will be warmth, color, and inspiration for spring.

The lecturers include Julie Moir Messervy, a nationally known garden writer, designer, and lecturer from Saxtons River; Dan Snow, dry stone waller from Dummerston, known across America for his skills and artistry; Helen O’Donnell from Putney, and Gordon Hayward, also a nationally known garden designer, writer, and lecturer from Westminster West. Hayward is also vice president of the Latchis Arts Board.

Messervy will begin the day at 9 a.m. with her PowerPoint presentation, “Landscaping Ideas that Work.” Her images will come largely from her own work across the country. Her goal is to illustrate design principles in her gardens that audience members can apply to their own gardens.

In the afternoon, Messervy will screen her video: “Inspired by Bach: The Music Garden with Yo Yo Ma and Julie Messervy,” the story of the garden she designed with Yo Yo Ma based on the structure and rhythm of a Bach fugue.

Snow will offer a PowerPoint presentation of his work with stone. Examples range from the practicality of stone retaining walls to the fantastical. Snow will also screen his video “Stone Rising: The Work of Dan Snow” in the afternoon.

O’Donnell, an artist as well as a garden designer, and who maintains gardens professionally, will show slides and speak on her two monthlong stints as volunteer gardener at Great Dixter (www.greatdixter.co.uk), the garden of the late Christopher Lloyd in southeastern England.

She will present her inside view of Great Dixter as she worked under head gardener Fergus Garrett during March 2012 and July 2013.

Hayward will present his PowerPoint presentation “Fine Painting as Inspiration for Garden Design.” He first gave this lecture at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston in 1994 and has refined the lecture since at museums and garden clubs across the country.

This is a lecture about elements of composition — defining depth, itinerary of the eye, color, line and rhythm — as shared by the painter and the garden designer.

The workshop ends at 4:30 p.m. Throughout the day, Messervy, Snow, and Hayward will sell and sign their books: more than 12 titles. Lunch is included in the ticket price.

Tickets for a full day of Garden Inspirations are $125, and may be purchased at the Latchis Hotel, 50 Main St.; by calling Gail Nunziata at Latchis Arts, 802-254-1109, Ext. 3; or by visiting www.brattleborotix.com.

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Former resident leaves legacy of lush landscape

By Cathy Tallyn Staff writer

Rossmoor had a friend in Lillian Barrett.

The longtime resident left provisions that some of the trust she established be used to beautify her old neighborhood on Golden Rain Road at Entry 14 and other spots in Rossmoor.

Barrett lived in Rossmoor for more than 20 years before her death.

She wanted to help beautify Rossmoor, said Sue DiMaggio Adams, president of First Mutual. First Mutual is the primary beneficiary of Barrett’s largesse.

The Lillian Barrett Trust is administered by Barrett’s nephew, Alvin Barrett.

The first project was specified by his aunt, he said. It was to be a garden of daffodils in her entry because she loved daffodils.

A memorial garden with thousands of daffodils and other landscaping was planted toward the rear of the entry. And, each spring, 5,000 daffodil bulbs are planted in various spots on Golden Rain Road.

Other projects have included creating a viewpoint on Golden Rain Road at Entry 7. Passersby can stop and see a view of the East Bay and Mt. Diablo. A picnic table and benches add a welcoming touch. Some shrubs and trees were also added.

There were also landscaping projects at the corner of Golden Rain Road and Pine Knoll Drive as well as the corner of Golden Rain Road and Lower Golden Rain Road.

“I’ve been pleased with the results,” Barrett said. “Part of the credit belongs to Rich Perona. He comes up with the ideas.”

Perona is Rossmoor’s landscape manager, who suggests landscape projects for First Mutual. Barrett and Perona confer on the ideas.

This year’s landscape project will be on the left side of the entrance to Golden Rain Road at Entry 26. Part of the existing landscaping at the entrance and slope will be removed. A small wall will be installed along with new shrubs and bark.

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Print version.

As the city moves forward with a project to clean up the upper of the two Laurel Lakes, Laurel officials are asking residents for landscaping suggestions.

Officials from the Prince George’s County’s Department of Environmental Resources told the community in November that designs for a dredging project to excavate sediment from the upper lake were nearly complete. County officials expect to have fully completed designs and all the necessary permits in place by March, so that dredging can begin in mid-July.

According to city officials, landscaping around the upper lake is intentionally not part of the dredging project, so that local residents can have the opportunity to share their own ideas and preferences.

Suggestions can be emailed to parks@laurel.md.us. Officials said all submitted suggestions will be reviewed to “develop the best landscaping plan possible,” according to a press release.

With the dredging project, the county hopes to remove 15,000 cubic yards of sediment from the upper lake, located near Oxford Street. The project will cost about $1.5 million.

ayeager@baltsun.com

 

Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg

A year ago, we saw far fewer “For Sale” signs. And this year, there are even fewer.

The surprising thing about the real estate market is its resiliency. It never fails to surprise how decisively a market turns. When it’s time, it’s time. And it’s clear to us that 2014 is looking very good for real estate.

There are a few troubled spots on the horizon: Mortgage interest rates are at least one percentage point higher than they were a year ago. And home prices are higher. That means homes are less affordable than they were, particularly since incomes haven’t risen, in real terms, in years.

That’s good news, and not so good news for sellers. It’s great that home prices are rising. In part, homes that were in foreclosure or listed as short sales, have closed and now prices are rising again. But rising interest rates (depending on how high they go) mean fewer buyers can afford to pay those higher prices.

At the end of 2011, mortgage interest rates reached 3.7 percent, before falling back. In 2012, mortgage interest rates were about 3.3 percent on a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage. We ended the year with mortgage interest rates around 3.5 percent for a 30-year fixed rate loan. In 2013, we ended at 4.3 percent for a 30-year fixed rate mortgage. (If you’re wondering, we think these rates are still great from a historical perspective.)

The Federal Reserve has indicated it will now pull back its monthly spend of $85 billion in mortgage-backed securities and Treasury securities, which it did to keep interest rates at historic lows through 2015, or when the employment rate falls to 6.5 percent. The economy is improving. Third quarter 2013 GDP numbers were revised upward to 4.1 percent. The economy hasn’t grown that fast in years.

So, with low inventory, still low mortgage interest rates, and modestly rising prices, here’s what you need to do to get your home in selling shape for 2014: 

• Overcome any possible objections a buyer would have.

Buyers are always looking for a reason not to purchase your house. Your job as a seller is to eliminate any potential objections that would stand in the way for a buyer to make an offer.

If you really want to sell quickly, you’ll work hard to exceed the buyer’s expectation of your home as well. If your home is competitively priced, and your home’s condition exceeds a buyer’s expectations based on other homes in the neighborhood, you’ll get an offer — even if it isn’t the offer you want.

• Get your home into selling shape.

Cleaning your home is a must. After that, you should consider hiring a stager to give your home the television-worthy polish so many buyers expect today. (Yes, they want your home to look like something they’d see on HGTV.) Assess what other sort of work needs to be done, such as fixing things that don’t work, touching up paint, or cleaning or replacing your carpets.

Decide if you need to update your landscaping, and paint, clean or tuck point your home’s exterior. And if you’re selling in January, clear out the holiday decorations as quickly as possible.

• Invite at least three agents to create a comparative marketing analysis (CMA).

Often, sellers simply call the agent who sold them their home to list it. While you may wind up hiring that person, you’ll be doing yourself a favor if you invite a couple of other agents in from different firms. That’s because each will bring different ideas to the table about how much your house is worth and what kind of marketing plan will work. They’ll all have different experiences to draw on and have different buyers in mind who may want to make a quick offer.

• Understand what it will take to sell your home.

If you live in an area littered with foreclosures, you may have to meet that price point in order to sell. Is it worth it? Probably not, but you’ll have to really evaluate price and timing in order to get the most for your property. If homes have begun to appreciate, you might be pleasantly surprised. Again, a CMA will be incredibly helpful.

• Be realistic about the market.

Find out what types of properties are selling in your area and how many days they’re sitting on the market. Accept the reality of your local market and make sure you price your home realistically.

Don’t blame your broker if you don’t get three offers over your list price within 24 hours of putting your home on the market. Sellers who set sky-high (or even pretty high) prices could wait months or years for an offer (one of my neighbors has been trying to sell his overpriced home for years) and may wind up with the same price they would have had if they’d priced their home correctly the first time — or a lot less.

In this real estate market, one of the worst things you can do is overprice your home from the start. The more realistic you are, the better off you’ll be.

• Rent if you can’t sell and buy at the same time.

We don’t recommend putting in an offer on another property until you have some serious interest in your current property or unless you have enough cash to cover the expenses of both properties for six to 12 months.

It’s fine to start researching other neighborhoods, but if you’re not sure what you want to do, consider renting on a short-term or month-to-month lease. While a double move is a pain, and does have some added costs, it’s a lot cheaper than carrying two mortgages for two years.

• Read all documents thoroughly before you sign them.

Why would someone sign a legal document he or she hasn’t read? I’m not sure, but home sellers do it every day. If you’re going to sell (or buy) in the coming year, promise yourself that you’ll take the time to read and understand the listing contract, offer to purchase and loan documents for your next purchase.

(If you’re taking back a loan for the home buyer, have an attorney prepare the documents so you are sure to be protected.) Unless you’ve got cash to spare, a mistake in these documents and the warranties they contain could seriously affect your finances.

• Don’t be greedy.

One big mistake many sellers make is to get a little greedy, particularly if the first offer is above the minimum acceptable price you’ve set. Then the negotiation becomes a game of how much you can get.

Remember, a successful sale means everyone walks away feeling happy. If you get so greedy that the buyer walks away, you’ve let the deal get the best of you. Resolve to be reasonable and you’ll end up shaking hands with the buyer at the closing. You should also know that there aren’t unlimited buyers out there, and if you lose one it might take you quite some time to find another.

Ilyce R. Glink’s latest book is “Buy, Close, Move In!” If you have questions, you can call her radio show toll-free (800-972-8255) any Sunday, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. EST. Contact Ilyce through her Web site, www.thinkglink.com.