8 Tips for Finding Your New Home

Posted on March 11, 2016 by Erin Johnston

By: G. M. Filisko

A solid game plan can help you narrow your homebuying search to find the best home for you.

House hunting is just like any other shopping expedition. If you identify exactly what you want and do some research, you’ll zoom in on the home you want at the best price. These eight tips will guide you through a smart homebuying process.

1.  Know thyself.

Understand the type of home that suits your personality. Do you prefer a new or existing home? A ranch or a multistory home? If you’re leaning toward a fixer-upper, are you truly handy, or will you need to budget for contractors?

2.  Research before you look.

List the features you most want in a home and identify which are necessities and which are extras. Identify three to four neighborhoods you’d like to live in based on commute time, schools, recreation, crime, and price. Then hop onto realtor.com to get a feel for the homes available in your price range in your favorite neighborhoods. Use the results to prioritize your wants and needs so you can add in and weed out properties from the inventory you’d like to view.

3.  Get your finances in order.

Generally, lenders say you can afford a home priced two to three times your gross income. Create a budget so you know how much you’re comfortable spending each month on housing. Don’t wait until you’ve found a home and made an offer to investigate financing.

Gather your financial records and meet with a lender to get a prequalification letter spelling out how much you’re eligible to borrow. The lender won’t necessarily consider the extra fees you’ll pay when you purchase or your plans to begin a family or purchase a new car, so shop in a price range you’re comfortable with. Also, presenting an offer contingent on financing will make your bid less attractive to sellers.

4.  Set a moving timeline.

Do you have blemishes on your credit that will take time to clear up? If you already own, have you sold your current home? If not, you’ll need to factor in the time needed to sell. If you rent, when is your lease up? Do you expect interest rates to jump anytime soon? All these factors will affect your buying, closing, and moving timelines.

5.  Think long term.

Your future plans may dictate the type of home you’ll buy. Are you looking for a starter house with plans to move up in a few years, or do you hope to stay in the home for five to 10 years? With a starter, you may need to adjust your expectations. If you plan to nest, be sure your priority list helps you identify a home you’ll still love years from now.

6.  Work with a REALTOR®.

Ask people you trust for referrals to a real estate professional they trust. Interview agents to determine which have expertise in the neighborhoods and type of homes you’re interested in. Because homebuying triggers many emotions, consider whether an agent’s style meshes with your personality.

Also ask if the agent specializes in buyer representation. Unlike listing agents, whose first duty is to the seller, buyers’ reps work only for you even though they’re typically paid by the seller. Finally, check whether agents are REALTORS®, which means they’re members of the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS®. NAR has been a champion of homeownership rights for more than a century.

7.  Be realistic.

It’s OK to be picky about the home and neighborhood you want, but don’t be close-minded, unrealistic, or blinded by minor imperfections. If you insist on living in a cul-de-sac, you may miss out on great homes on streets that are just as quiet and secluded.

On the flip side, don’t be so swayed by a “wow” feature that you forget about other issues — like noise levels — that can have a big impact on your quality of life. Use your priority list to evaluate each property, remembering there’s no such thing as the perfect home.

8.  Limit the opinions you solicit.

It’s natural to seek reassurance when making a big financial decision. But you know that saying about too many cooks in the kitchen. If you need a second opinion, select one or two people. But remain true to your list of wants and needs so the final decision is based on criteria you’ve identified as important.

More from HouseLogic

  • HOAs: What You Need to Know About Rules
  • A Financial Plan for Your Home
  • When It Pays to Do It Yourself


G.M. Filisko is an attorney and award-winning writer who has found happiness in a brownstone in a historic Chicago neighborhood. A frequent contributor to many national publications including Bankrate.com, REALTOR® Magazine, and the American Bar Association Journal, she specializes in real estate, business, personal finance, and legal topics.

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5 Inspection Problems Sellers Can Avoid

Posted on March 9, 2016 by Erin Johnston

 

Daily Real Estate News | Wednesday, March 09, 2016

The home inspection is perhaps the rockiest phase of a home purchase because the issues that arise could scare buyers off. But there are typical problems that sellers can be proactive about repairing in order to save the deal. Realtor.com® recently highlighted five of these problems and what sellers can do about them:

1. Dank basement: Seepage into the basement could lead to flooding. Small cracks or a foundation wall could cause groundwater to enter in. A basement waterproofing contractor can provide a quote on how to quickly repair any minor problems.

2. Faulty wiring: Home inspector Reggie Marston told realtor.com® that he will often find “ungrounded fixtures, spliced wires not terminated in a proper electric box, receptacles wired backward, and improper breakers in the electric service panel.” An electrician can help sort out and resolve any potential electrical issues.

3. Leaky roofs: A leaky roof can eventually cause mold to form. Even small leaks can become more troublesome if they’re not repaired.

4. Amateur workmanship: DIY jobs by the home owner can cause lots of problems, too. “With plumbing, the owners will install the toilet but don’t tighten it securely to the floor,” says Marston. “I’ll find a toilet’s so loose that I counsel my client it should have a seat belt installed so nobody falls off!” For home owners who have tackled DIY projects, they may want to hire a professional to double-check their work prior to putting the home on the market.

5. Poor maintenance: Home owners who didn’t do proper upkeep of the home may find that several issues surface during a home inspection. “All components in a residence require some type of maintenance,” Marston told realtor.com®. “Water heaters as well as heating and air-conditioning systems should be serviced yearly. Caulk tubs and showers to prevent water leakage. Frequently remove and clean stove exhaust fan filters.”

Source: “How to Conquer the Huge Problems Found During Home Inspections,” realtor.com® (March 8, 2016)

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Signs of a Bad Moving Company

Posted on March 7, 2016 by Erin Johnston

Daily Real Estate News | Monday, March 07, 2016

About 16.5 million households – or 38.7 million Americans – move annually. But Americans need to carefully screen those who help them move to make sure all goes smoothly in relocating their belongings.

U.S. News & World Report recently highlighted these three warning signs when choosing a moving company:

The price is significantly lower than competitors.

Don’t just go with the cheapest quote. You may want a deal, but carefully consider what’s behind that lower-priced quote from a moving company — that could be 20 to 30 percent lower than any other companies’ offers. “While finding an affordable mover doesn’t mean you’re about to get scammed, if you feel like you’ve landed an unbelievable deal, it probably is unbelievable,” U.S. News & World Report notes. The quote may be lower, but some consumers later complain that prices mysteriously triple on moving day, items are stolen or missing, or they find lots of damage.

The required deposit is high.

Movers may ask for a deposit fee, but that fee shouldn’t be above 10 percent of the job cost, says T.J. Peterson, social media coordinator for Oz Moving and Storage, based in New York. Oz Moving and Storage, as comparison, charges a flat $50 deposit. “It’s not unreasonable for a mover to ask for a deposit of $100 or $200 to cover their costs if you change your mind, but if a mover wants more upfront – like 25 percent of the cost of the move – don’t pay it,” warns Nancy Conner in her book, Buying a Home: The Missing Manual.

There’s very little information about the company.

Finding a moving company in the Yellow Pages may give you some assurance that it must be legitimate since it’s advertising there, but don’t assume by just an ad. To check if the company is reputable, ask for itsDepartment of Transportation numbers. “If a company cannot prove [it is] registered with the state and United States Department of Transportation, that’s a warning sign,” Peterson told U.S. News & World Report. Also, consumers should be leery of any company that doesn’t have any Better Business Bureau profile or no reviews.

“A few hiccups for any reputable company is not a warning sign,” Peterson says. “It is an inevitable side effect of being in business.” But nothing about the company should be more of a warning sign.

Source: “3 Signs of a Bad Moving Company,” U.S. News & World Report (Feb. 26, 2016)

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Mortgage Rates Reverse Course, Inch Higher

Posted on March 4, 2016 by Erin Johnston

Daily Real Estate News | Friday, March 04, 2016

For the first time in two months, mortgage rates edged higher this week.

“Treasury yields approached their highest level in a month, boosting the 30-year mortgage 2 basis points this week to 3.64 percent,” says Sean Becketti, Freddie Mac’s chief economist. “Despite this welcome breather, Fed officials have been highlighting the downside risks to the economic outlook, and the market expects the Fed to refrain from any further short-term rate increases for now.”

Freddie Mac reports the following national mortgage rate averages for the week ending March 3:

  • 30-year fixed-rate mortgages: averaged 3.64 percent, with an average 0.5 point, rising from last week’s 3.62 percent average. Last year at this time, 30-year rates averaged 3.75 percent.
  • 15-year fixed-rate mortgages: averaged 2.94 percent, with an average 0.5 point, increasing from last week’s 2.93 percent average. A year ago, 15-year rates averaged 3.03 percent.
  • 5-year hybrid adjustable-rate mortgages: averaged 2.84 percent, with an average 0.5 point, increasing from last week’s 2.79 percent average. Last year at this time, 5-year ARMs averaged 2.96 percent.

Source: Freddie Mac

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Expect a Strong Spring Housing Market

Posted on February 29, 2016 by Erin Johnston

Daily Real Estate News | Monday, February 29, 2016

Recent housing and economic reports predict we’ll see solid spring home sales, according to Jonathan Smoke, realtor.com®’s chief economist. Here are some signs:

On jobs: “Job creation — arguably the most important factor in housing demand — is moving apace,” Smoke notes. In January, 151,000 jobs were created and unemployment is near 10-year lows. Smoke predicts that the latest employment growth should translate into a 3 percent boost to home sales this year.

On home sales: Existing-home sales from January 2015 to January 2016 have grown 11 percent. Sales are taking longer close, due to new mortgage rules that took effect last fall, but the pace of sales is growing. New-home sales have also grown solidly year-over-year, and the median price of new homes is declining as more builders offer more affordable homes than catering to just the luxury.

On home prices: Prices are moving up and most of that has been attributed to the limited number of homes for-sale. At the current pace, there is a four-month supply of homes on the market — much lower than the norms of six to seven months. “This is driving prices higher and encouraging consumers who hope to buy this year to get started as soon as possible,” Smoke notes.

On mortgage rates: Low mortgage rates are improving home buyer affordability, for now. The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged under 3.7 percent in the latest week, which offers buyers nearly 5 percent more buying power than they had at the end of 2015, Smoke notes.

But as Smoke notes: “not everything is rainbows and unicorns. The biggest negative trend impacting potential demand relates to the January and February declines in stock values, which have taken a toll on consumer confidence.” Also, the tight supply of homes for-sale could also limit sales in the spring season. That said, for buyers that are able, the low mortgage rates of the season may prove a strong motivator why buyers shouldn’t wait.

Source: “The Numbers Are In: Yup, 2016 Is Off to a Good Start in Home Sales,” realtor.com® (Feb. 26, 2016)

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8 Bad ‘Home Improvement’ Habits

Posted on February 26, 2016 by Erin Johnston

Daily Real Estate News | Friday, February 26, 2016

Home owners can overdo it when it comes to the upkeep of their home. This Old House recently spotlighted several ways that home owners’ enthusiasm for home ownership may actually harm the house.

1. Having light bulbs that are too bright. You want a well-lit home, but exceeding a lamp or light fixture’s recommended wattage can be dangerous, particularly with incandescents or halogen lights, says John Drengenberg, consumer safety director for Underwriters Laboratories. “Using a bulb with too-high wattage will cause the fixture and its wiring to overheat,” he notes, which could then allow the heat to travel to the wall or erode the insulation on the wires and lead to a house fire. Check the fixtures label to make sure you use the correct wattage.

2. Planting trees near driveways or walkways. A line of trees to the house may up its curb appeal but adding young trees near driveways or walkways could be putting your slab at risk. As these trees grow taller, their roots will go outward, potentially pushing up the paving and causing it to buckle or crack. This Old House recommends planting small trees that will remain under 20 feet at maturity and that are at least 10 feet from paved areas. For larger trees, leave at least a 20-foot radius.

3. Overscrubbing a sink. Don’t overdo it with abrasive cleaners; they can scratch the sink. “Cleaners with a grit or grain to them will wear away at the finish and dull it,” Kohler‘s Mike Marbuch told This Old House. “That will make the sink more prone to gunk sticking to it—actually making it look dirtier.” Try a liquid cleanser like vinegar or lemon juice on the sink and avoid scrubbing it every day.

4. Overdoing it with can lights. Excessive recessed lighting in a home can cause a lot of air leaks. Recessed lighting is known as causing heat-sucking air leaks, especially when the fixtures are unsealed in vaulted ceilings. Airtight recessed lighting fixtures are available that are rated for insulation contact (IC). Also, use as few recessed lights as you can, especially when it comes to adding them to cathedral ceilings or in rooms directly below unconditioned attics.

5. Spreading too much mulch outside. “Over-mulching will suffocate plants, confuse their root systems, and prevent water from percolating into the soil,” notes the article at This Old House. “If you’ve mulched so much that tree trunks and flowers’ and shrubs’ lower branches are covered by or dragging in it, you’ve gone overboard.” Have mulch no thicker than 3 inches.

6. Using glass cleaner on mirrors. Watch out for store-bought sprays that promise to make your glass sparkle. “A drop of liquid running around the mirror’s edge can cause the reflective backing to lift or craze,” This Old House notes. The black edge can occur from using ammonia- or vinegar-based cleaners. This Old House recommends using warm water and a soft, lint-free cloth to clean mirrors. Or if you do use the sprays, spray it onto a dry cloth first and not directly onto the glass.

7. Repainting too much. “Excessive paint is detrimental – especially on an older house, which may have layers of thicker oil-based paint, which becomes brittle with age,” notes This Old House. To avoid thick, cracked, or peeling paint, be sure to carefully power-wash prior to painting, sand areas that need it, and then use 100 percent acrylic-resin exterior paint.

8. Fertilizing too much. Fertilizing too often can spur more weeds to grow. Also, the Environmental Protection Agency warns over-fertilizing can cause “nutrient pollution,” which is when nitrogen and phosphorus runoff from lawn fertilizers and then leads to an overgrowth of algae that can even pollute local waterways. Some lawn experts recommend only fertilizing twice a year, late summer and fall only.

View all 19 tips at This Old House.

Source: “19 Ways You’re Killing Your Home With Kindness,” This Old House (February 2016)

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Design Mistakes to Avoid With New Homes

Posted on February 24, 2016 by Erin Johnston

Daily Real Estate News | Wednesday, February 24, 2016

When building new, home buyers may be overwhelmed at the abundant choices and then suddenly find themselves in a designer role for their new home. Denver interior designers Lita Dirks and Tony Crasi, Akron, Ohio–based custom builders, offer up some of the biggest mistakes new buyers make as they design their new home.

Granite: Granite countertops may not be the “wow” factor with all buyers as they once were, the article notes. After all, even some apartments now come with granite. To up the “wow” factor, Dirks and Crasi recommend more uniform surfaces like quartz or quartzite.

Over-the-top ceilings: Ceiling details can be a nice touch but can also quickly become “overkill” if there’s too much, the designers say.

Cramped laundry and mud rooms: These spaces are often found right off the garage and are becoming a priority for buyers. But they can be too small. The larger they are, the more comfortable they’ll seem, and buyers will appreciate the storage.

Oversized islands: The island doesn’t need to take up the entire kitchen, dwarfing all else. If it does, the kitchen may need its layout tweaked or have the extra square footage go to somewhere else in the house.

Pantry doors: The doors often look like any other standard door in the house. “Don’t let it look like a bathroom; let it be part of the kitchen,” Crasi suggests. Try coordinating them with the cabinetry and using a different door for the pantry from the rest of the home.

See the designers’ other thoughts on mistakes at BUILDER.

Source: “Avoid These Seven Design Don’ts,” BUILDER (Jan. 26, 2016)

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How to Spot a Home Improvement Scam

Posted on February 19, 2016 by Erin Johnston

Daily Real Estate News | Friday, February 19, 2016

Home owners looking to spruce up their homes need to make sure they don’t get duped by those who claim to be remodeling contractors.

How do you spot a scammer? Will Carpenter, assistant vice president of operations for Contractor Connection, recently offered the following tips in an article at RISMedia:

1. Pay up-front. Home owners should see red flags when a contractor requests that a home owner pay for a project in its entirety before even starting work. Down payments for materials and initial labor are standard practice. But then phased payments are often made as the work is completed.

2. Door-to-door solicitations. So-called contractors may knock on a home owner’s door and talk about work they noticed needs to be done around the house. “This is a very common ruse and one that is, unfortunately, often successful,” Carpenter notes. Home owners will want to make sure they vet the contractor and the offer carefully.

3. Be wary of limited-time deals. Don’t let a contractor make you feel pressured to rush in order to receive a special discount. Reputable contractors offer savings but they won’t push a short deadline on you with pricing, Carpenter writes.

4. Unverified licensing. Be sure to verify credentials – licensing and available insurance coverage. Don’t just go on recommendations from friends and family. Look for examples of the quality of their prior work too.

Learn more at ContractorConnection.com.

Source: “Help Your Clients Recognize Home Improvement Scams,” RISMedia (Feb. 18, 2016)

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Design Trends That Make People say … ‘No!’

Posted on February 17, 2016 by Erin Johnston

Design Trends That Make People say … ‘No!’

Posted in Home Trends, Staging Tips, by on February 1, 2016

By Justin M. Riordan, Spade and Archer Design Agency

Design trends are just that: trendy. They change from day to day, year to year, and decade to decade. The ones that are popular now won’t be soon. The ones that were popular years ago aren’t now and the ones that were popular decades ago are already back again.

Interior design trends tend to follow fashion trends about three years later. As colors gain popularity in fashion, they follow shortly thereafter in interior design.  The trick is being able to see what are trends and what is classic.  The difference is that classic will never go out of style, whereas trends always eventually go out of style.

Here are some major trends from our recent past that are turning people away from houses:

 1.   Carpet in the master bathroom. The 1990’s brought us so many fine trends, carpet in bathrooms was one of them. The thought was that cold tile on your bare feet was unpleasant. You know what else is unpleasant? Mold in your carpet pad.

2.   Plantation shutters. They are expensive, I know. Every single one of my clients who has them tells me over and over how expensive they are. Plantation shutters were designed for plantations. Hot, muggy places. The shutters were designed to block light and still allow a breeze to come into the house. The issue today is that they still block light, over 50 percent of the light that would have come through a window is blocked by plantation shutters. The fact of the matter is that nobody wants to buy a dark house. If the shutters aren’t there, they won’t miss them.

3.   Curtains over closets. The odds of the next buyer having the same taste in curtains as you is slim. Curtains over closets scream “YOU HAVE WORK TO DO” to your potential buyers.  Do yourself and the buyer a favor, take the curtains down and put the doors back up.

4.   Family, Friendship, Love, Laugh, Dance…BARF! Word art inevitably tells a story of the seller’s life and is distracting to the buyer.  Nobody cares how deep your family roots run, or that this is Emma’s crib. Take it down.

5.  Accent walls. The term “accent walls” is a misnomer, they should instead be called focal walls as they tend to provide a focus point for the room. Unfortunately, as the focal point of a room, they tend to dictate how a room should be set up and what the color scheme should be for the room. If you have a purple accent wall and all of your buyer’s furniture is red, they are going to have to work to remove that paint or more than likely just buy some other house.

6.   “Faux” is french for fake. No matter what language you translate it to faux paint is fake and is as out of style as pleats on men’s dress pants. The overwhelming commonality of all of cultural trends is truth — people want real food made by real people in real time. The time of fake and fast is over. Faux painting will send your buyer away faster than you can say “marbleized”!

7.   Wallpaper. Wallpaper is hard to take down and, again, the chances of them having the same taste as you and having furniture that will go with it is slim.

8.   Curtains.  See item 7. Wallpaper and item 3. Curtains over closets.

9.   Platform beds and other Feng Shui items.  Feng Shui is the Chinese thought system of laws considered to govern spatial arrangement and orientation in relation to the flow of energy, and whose favorable or unfavorable effects are taken into account when siting and designing buildings. It most likely works great in China where most people are acutely aware of the thought system, but in Western culture it just looks like a giant platform bed with a mirror and a stick above it. Your buyer will most likely have no idea why you did it and it will distract from the room.

10. Collections. Using a collection to highlight built-in shelves works well, so long as the collection does not overshadow the shelves themselves. Completely overwhelming a house with a collection or series of collections will overshadow the house and positively or negatively take attention away from the house. Pre-pack these items to proudly display them in your next house.

11. Rounded outside gypsum board corners.  These became popular in the building boom of the 1990’s because they required less time and skill for laborers to mud and tape. This, of course, was a very cost effective way to build homes. However, we quickly realized that rounded corners left us no place to end wall finishes like paint and wallpaper.  Needless to say, the trend faded away and now we have tons of houses with rounded outside corners.

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