Will your home be ready when the market is?

It's widely known that we're still in a buyer's market. Just as many experts predicted the housing market correction over the last 2 years, there is a growing consensus that in 6-9 months we could see a significant flattening or even modest upturn in market price and sales volume as inventories are beginning to dwindle.

If you've been thinking about upgrading, downsizing, relocating, etc., your home over the next year or so, there is a golden opportunity right now to prepare.

Examine your home, or better yet ask a real estate agent to assist (at no cost of course); discover what really needs to be done to make your home stand out when the time comes to put it on the market. Just as importantly, learn what not-to-do as well. Some improvements will add little or nothing to the market value of your home, or make it more appealing to the emerging boomer buyer market as buyer trends are constantly changing.

Have you been putting off painting, landscaping, kitchen and/or bathroom upgrades, roof, driveway sealing, drywall repairs, flooring etc? All these projects take time, and if the current market has taught us anything, it's that homes must be move-in ready, and up to date in order to sell in a timely fashion. So, don't wait til 3 weeks prior to listing your property before taking care of these important issues both inside and out.

Remember, "The home that has great curb appeal and is up to date in both kitchen & bathroom fixtures and appliances always selles the fastest", assuming its priced according to the market of course.

Silver lining to mult-iunit foreclosures

How can Foreclosures Help the Homeless?
Due to an abundance of foreclosed homes and vacant buildings, social service agencies are now able to afford to buy these buildings and are using them to house the homeless. In turn, this has even caused the homeless population to shrink, according to recent studies.

In Denver, for instance, the homeless population has declined 36 percent because nonprofits have added 1,242 low-income units, many in buildings with facilities for treating addiction and healthcare.

“These are opportunities we haven’t seen in decades,” says Philip Mangano, executive director of the interagency council on homelessness.

Source: Newsweek, Matthew Philips

New interest in basements

As more people are staying put in their homes, rather than selling and moving to a bigger place, the basement is becoming a more important living area. A recent survey says more people are remodeling this part of the home to make the most of every square inch of living space.

ServiceMagic.com, a company that connects home owners with pre-screened contractors, commissioned the survey. Results revealed that nationwide basement remodels rose 10 percent in the first six month of 2008 compared with the same period last year.The most popular uses for the space are spa-like bathroom retreats, children’s playrooms, workout areas, billiard rooms, and home offices.

With an average cost of $40 to $60 per square foot - or a base price of about $35,000 - basement remodels are far more economical than an addition, says Laura Sanchez, director of internal operations at McStain Neighborhoods, a home builder in Colorado.

Source: The Denver Post, Sheba R. Wheeler (07/17/2008)

Why "Energy Star Rated" for your home?

Exerted from the US Gov't Energy Star web site:

A typical household spends about $1,900 a year on energy bills and contributes twice the amount of greenhouse gases to the environment as an average car. ENERGY STAR, the government-backed symbol for energy efficiency, can guide you in making your home more energy efficient, reducing high energy bills, improving comfort, and protecting the environment—whether you do it yourself or hire a qualified professional.

Improving energy efficiency with ENERGY STAR is also an important first step in the growing trend of “green remodeling.” That’s because the energy we use in our homes often comes from the burning of fossil fuels at power plants, which contributes to smog, acid rain, and global warming. So, the less energy we use in our homes, the less air pollution we generate.

What's involved becoming more Energy Star Rated?

• Heat and Cool Efficiently- when replacing look for Energy Star rated systems.
• Choose Energy Star appliances when initially purchasing or replacing.
• Check Seal Air and Ductwork leaks.
• Add more insulation in Attics (easiest and most cost effective to lower energy use).
• Select high efficiency Hot Water Heater when replacing.
• Select high efficiency windows/doors when replacing.
• Replace lighting with florescent models.
• Install a programmable thermostat.

Go to http://www.energystar.gov/index.cfm?fuseaction=home_energy_advisor.showGetInput for a free energy audit.

Why should "Going Green" matter to Home Sellers?

Consumers are being forced to make changes in their lives and they are expecting the real estate industry to help them. They’re hearing ‘global warming,’ ‘glacier melting,’ ‘polar bear habitats,’ and they already know about rising gas prices and rising utility bills.

When they’re looking for housing, they are looking at many new factors. If there are two houses listed for about the same price, and one has a monthly utility bill of $280 and the other is $140, the consumer is going to want to know that difference and what’s accounting for that difference.

For years HUD, the Department of Energy, Bank of America, and Wachovia have had Energy Efficient Mortgages available, but most people don't know they’re out there; even mortgage brokers who have no idea that they’re available.

Also, in preparing a home for sale these days we need to consider a host of new issues:

• If you need to paint that room, but be sure to use a paint that is low in toxins.
• If the carpet needs to be replaced, be sure its low in toxins.”
• If the Central Air/Heating or appliances need replaced make sure to use models that are Energy Star rated (especially hot water heaters & dishwashers).
• If replacing plumbing fixture use low water usage units.
• Are the windows and doors "low energy" units?
• How do utility bills compare with similar homes?
• Are window treatments consistent with saving energy?
• Is there a programmable thermostat?

These are the kinds of features and items that will make a difference to buyers in the future. Whenever possible all repairs and/or renovations should include some or all the above considerations and documentation verifying same should be kept.

What's all this "Green" hype about

We all see it on the news, read about it in the newspaper, see it on the Internet. Is "Going Green" the next big boom, Trend, or Fad, in the Building and Home Renovation industries?

Having been an avid recycler for a long time, I find this new interest in the environment refreshing. In an effort to help others be more aware about the next biggest change in our lives (my opinion), I will post several short articles intended to shed some light on the subject, and why it is so timely with today's $4/gallon gas prices and energy related products going sky high. Virtually, no one in our country is untouched by these events.


What is "Green" Let's start by defining what Green is: According to Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia,

"Green" building is the practice of increasing the efficiency with which buildings use resources such as energy, water, and materials; while reducing building impacts on human health and the environment, through better siting, design, construction, operation, maintenance, and removal — the complete building life cycle.

A similar concept is natural building, which is usually on a smaller scale and tends to focus on the use of natural materials that are available locally. Other commonly used terms include sustainable design and green architecture. The related concepts of sustainable development and sustainability are integral to green building.

Effective green building can lead to 1) reduced operating costs by increasing productivity and using less energy and water, 2) improved public and occupant health due to improved indoor air quality, and 3) reduced environmental impacts by, for example, lessening storm water runoff and the heat island effect. Practitioners of green building often seek to achieve not only ecological but aesthetic harmony between a structure and its surrounding natural and built environment, although the appearance and style of sustainable buildings is not necessarily distinguishable from their less sustainable counterparts.

Future posts will briefly describe how it will affect trends in real estate, and how we can all do more for our environment, and save $$$$ in utility bills at the same time.

Latest Boomer Home buying trends

Baby Boomers already account for a large portion of home buyers today. It should come as no surprise, then, that Boomers may soon dominate trends in features and fixtures for new homes and even renovations.

A recent article in the Wall Street Journal explains, designers and architects are catering toward this fast-growing segment of the population. The influx of aging home buyers exhibit needs for wider halls and doorways for walkers and wheelchairs, and master suites and laundries on the ground floor so residents can avoid stairs (most builders offer 1st floor master models).

Now, the technology behind home appliances and fixtures is making all kinds of appliances and home electronics more senior-friendly. Some of the innovations appliance re-design include:

• Stoves that monitor pots to prevent boiling over.
• Adjustable typeface on appliance control panels.
• Faucets that turn on and off with just a touch any where on the spout.
• Dishwashers designed to be mounted at a more comfortable height.
• Refrigerators with storage designed to reduce bending over (readily available now).
• Adjustable volume/pitch of oven alarms.
• There's even a toilet on the market with an electric-blue night light built in and a motorized heated seat cover that rises with the touch of a button.

These trends will certainly continue to evolve, as buyer average age advances and Boomer life style preferences emerge.