Want to sell your house? Before putting it on the market, you’ll probably want it to look as good as possible. So, you’ll do a few things like paint the gutters, fix that leaky faucet, and finally throw away all those piles of papers you’re never going to look at. But that’s the old-fashioned way. Today, the business of getting a house to look as good as possible before you sell it is much more sophisticated. In fact, there are professionals you can hire to do this for you called “home stagers.”

They’ll toss your old furniture in storage and rent you better looking stuff. They’ll place beautiful plants all over the house and they’ll hang impressive paintings on the walls.

When I first learned about this, it seemed a bit excessive, but I figured “business is business.” That was until I heard about the latest thing that home stagers will do to make your house seem more appealing — they’ll hire actors to be a fake happy family in your home. Since I live in the city built on fantasy, I assumed that this “home staging” was just an L.A. thing. But it’s happening all over the country. I can’t speak for the rest of the world, but if it’s going on in Tupelo, Miss., can Paris be far behind? (more…)

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With the number of U.S. homes on the market swelling and sales falling, how could it be that median prices are increasing? “Deal sweeteners” offered by anxious home sellers and builders are the reason, according to an article published by the New York Times. To avoid cutting asking prices, homeowners and developers are throwing in perks for buyers — like new cars, and free upgrades on landscaping and kitchen countertops, the paper says.

Vacation mecca Hilton Head has seen average sales prices for single-family home decrease 1.9% for the first seven months of this year from the same period last year, says an article published by The Island Packet. But while area housing is generally cooling, there are strong pockets in the local market, the article says. Sales are the swiftest for residences priced under $400,000 and for luxury houses at the high end of the spectrum, the paper says. Sales are especially strong in the town of Blufton, located on the mainland and just across the bridge from Hilton Head Island, the article says. On the island, buyers have plenty of homes to choose from, giving them “choices in any neighborhood,” The Island Packet says. Whether the market improves or continues to slow may depend on the upcoming hurricane season, with a “quiet” season helping local sellers, the paper says. (more…)

search for : homeowners, landscaping, kitchen countertops

Up in the mountains, a ridge or two behind the Fort Indiantown Gap Military Reservation, there is section of the Appalachian Trail located between Route 325 and Route 443 that seems to be a little more remote than other sections of the Appalachian Trail in Pennsylvania. Perhaps it seems to be deeper in the wilderness because of the mountains it traverses. From the road crossing on Route 325, the trail immediately crosses Clark’s Creek and climbs up Stony Mountain, crosses Sharp Mountain, passes through Rausch Gap and climbs Second Mountain before dropping down into Swatara Gap at Route 443.

When a hiker follows the Appalachian Trail as it heads north from Route 325, the trail climbs over 1,000 feet in the first three miles to the top of Stony Mountain. At the highest point, the white-blazed Appalachian Trail intersects the northern terminus of the yellow-blazed Horseshoe Trail. My friends and I paused at the plaque on a rock monument that stated the Horseshoe Trail begins in Valley Forge 121 trail miles away. We hiked on. In three miles we came to the location where the 1800s coal mining village of Yellow Springs once stood on Sharp Mountain. Iron compounds in the creek give the spring its name and color. Five miles past the village site we reached the Rausch Gap Shelter, built in 1972 by the Blue Mountain Eagle Climbing Club. Thru-hikers use this three-sided shelter for the night on their long journey to Georgia or Maine. Directly in front of the shelter, a pipe carries water from a nearby spring. (more…)

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Pre-construction investing is like MySpace.com, gold-capped teeth and Brangelina. They’re all just so last year. After all, it was only last summer when buyers were practically breaking down builders’ doors trying to write contracts whenever a “for sale” sign appeared on an empty lot. With price-appreciation rates running at double-digits in many parts of the country, investors knew that in nine months or a year, when the project was finished, they could flip the unit to a new buyer at a sweet profit.

Oh, how the world has changed. Year over year in July, new-home sales were down 21.6%, housing starts decreased 13.3% and permits were down 20.8%. Inventories of unsold new homes are now at a 6.5 month supply — an 11-year high. The picture isn’t any prettier in South Carolina. Along the coast, which includes Myrtle Beach, July sales of new and existing homes were off 42.7% from the same period last year, according to the South Carolina Association of Realtors. And what about prices? The National Association of Home Builders says that nationwide, the median price of new homes was $230,000 in July, virtually unchanged from a year ago but down 9.4% from the April peak of $253,800. The median sales price of new and existing coastal South Carolina properties was up 17.1% over last year, but Vienna, Va., economist Tom Lawler calls that a “wacky number” because high-end home sales have not fallen as fast as lower-end sales, skewing the median price higher. (more…)

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The people who settled the Appalachians were generally of three ethnic origins: Scots-Irish, English, and German .Primarily farmers and skilled craftsmen, they were used to hard work and not intimidated by the intense labor that was mountain life. Many Ulster-Scots left the British Isles and came to America in the early 18th century. They came to Maryland and Pennsylvania but found the lands along the Delaware and the Chesapeake taken by earlier settlers from England; therefore, they moved west following the Great Appalachian Valley, moving southward into the piedmont and mountains of Virginia, North Carolina, and Tennessee.

Many English immigrants migrated from the Tidewater regions of Virginia and North Carolina and were the sons and grandsons of original settlers; or were late comers who found most of the best land taken and prices for existing homesteads ever increasing. Some were also of dissenting faiths, such as Baptists, Presbyterians, and Quakers, and were leaving eastern Virginia and North Carolina in order to escape discrimination, persecution, and taxes levied to support the Anglican Church. As had the Scots, these English settlers brought with them an intense devotion to the legitimate principles of liberty, law, and justice. In their heritage was the story of a long struggle for individual rights against centuries of oppressors. (more…)

search for : Appalachians, Virginia, North Carolina, and Tennessee, Baptists, Presbyterians, and Quakers, Anglican Church

This is not a typical travel piece, but rather a peek into a personal vacation journey that includes tips you will not find in the Chamber of Commerce brochures. Recently I spent six days motoring around Sapphire Mountain, Highlands and Asheville, North Carolina, with some friends. Let’s start with Highlands and Main Street where bookstores, clothing, shoes, antiques, hardware, restaurants, art galleries and more are spaced so closely that one foot can be in front of the bookstore and another in front of a clothing store. It’s crowded, but you just have to hold your ice cream cone close to your chest.

The Ann Jacob Gallery on Main St. was a delightful area filled with wonderful and absorbing art in all genres from artists all over the United States. There was a surprise, the work of Pensacola artist, Elie Barnes, was clearly visible. Elie works in acrylic on canvas with lots of color. She calls it contemporary American. Her work can also be seen closer to home: Destin and Grayton Beach. Her father lives in a cabin nearby in Cashiers and her mother, Diana Barnes, is a wellknown painter living in Pensacola, too. Elie was just finishing up a series of paintings to take to Highlands that represented a trip she took to Egypt. (more…)

search for : Sapphire Mountain, Highlands, Asheville, North Carolina

Licensed real estate professionals bring state-mandated training and knowledge to the table for buyers and sellers. In fact, agents have to get as much, or more, training than what it would take for some college degrees before being given permission by the state to represent buyers and sellers in the transaction. By the time a transaction is over, it is chock full of legally-binding documents controlling the transaction, pulling two parties together to exchange hundreds of thousands of dollars to complete a transaction that they may be involved in only a couple of times in their life.

Nearly half of the buyers are purchasing for the first time, according to the National Association of Realtors. They only think agents are there to usher them into houses and that’s it. And that’s because hundreds of thousands of agents make that tooth extraction look so easy. Why should you have a real estate agent on your investing/buying/selling team when it comes to building wealth? There’s talk on Capitol Hill of how the real estate industry has a “strangle hold” on the business. It makes me want to, not so much defend, as much as bring to the forefront what licensed professionals actually bring to the table for consumers. (more…)

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The national median mortgage payment is $1,687 a month — nearly double the median rent payment of $868 a month. Yet people are often told that buying property is one of the strongest investments they can make. What is the best option? “Good Morning America’s” real estate contributor Barbara Corcoran says it depends on your needs. She’s the founder of The Corcoran Group, a major New York real estate agency, and she’s outlined some of the pros and cons that come along with both renting and buying. She’s also outlined other things you should know about foreclosures and mortgage rates.

Mortgage payments exploded during the real estate boom, but rents haven’t kept pace, often running half as much as what homeowners pay. Home prices recently rose to skyscraping heights in cities like New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles and Washington. Rents have not gone up as much. For a family making the U.S. median income of $46,913, owning the median-price home of $224,739 would eat up 51 percent of its income. Renting would require just 25 percent. By renting, you gain the flexibility of a lease and freedom from home repairs. You can also invest more money in stocks, bonds, and other assets that could appreciate faster than real estate over the next couple of years. (more…)

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Don’t buy if you can’t stay put. If you can’t commit to remaining in one place for at least a few years, then owning is probably not for you, at least not yet. With the transaction costs of buying and selling a home, you may end up losing money if you sell any sooner. Start by shoring up your credit. Since you most likely will need to get a mortgage to buy a house, you must make sure your credit history is as clean as possible. A few months before you start house hunting, get copies of your credit report. Make sure the facts are correct, and fix any problems you discover.

When picking a mortgage, you usually have the option of paying additional points — a portion of the interest that you pay at closing — in exchange for a lower interest rate. If you stay in the house for a long time — say five to seven years or more — it’s usually a better deal to take the points. The lower interest rate will save you more in the long run. Getting your mortgage pre-approved will you save yourself the grief of looking at houses you can’t afford and put you in a better position to make a serious offer when you do find the right house. Not to be confused with pre-qualification, which is based on a cursory review of your finances, pre-approval from a lender is based on your actual income, debt and credit history. (more…)

search for : buying and selling a home, mortgage, your mortgage pre-approved

The Commercial Leading Indicator for Brokerage Activity,* a leading indicator for the commercial real estate market, shows an improvement in commercial sectors will continue into 2007, according to the National Association of Realtors®. During the second quarter, the Commercial Leading Indicator for Brokerage Activity was at an index of 119.4, up 0.4 percent from a reading of 118.9 in the first quarter. The index is 2.5 percent above the second quarter of 2005 when it stood at 116.5. The second quarter index was the fifth straight quarter of growth.

The indicator suggests a 2.5 percent increase in leasing and sales activity for commercial real estate practitioners in the fourth quarter in comparison with the same period in 2005. he 13 series in the index include industrial production, the REIT (real estate investment trust) price index, NCREIF (National Council of Real Estate Investment Fiduciaries) total return, personal income minus transfer payments, jobs in financial activities, jobs in professional business service, jobs in temporary help, jobs in retail trade, jobs in wholesale trade, initial claims for unemployment insurance, manufacturers’ durable goods shipment, wholesale merchant sales, and retail sales and food service. (more…)

search for : commercial real estate, temporary help, retail trade, wholesale trade, unemployment insurance, manufacturers’ durable goods, wholesale merchant sales, retail sales and food service

The Commercial Leading Indicator for Brokerage Activity,* a leading indicator for the commercial real estate market, shows an improvement in commercial sectors will continue into 2007, according to the National Association of Realtors®. During the second quarter, the Commercial Leading Indicator for Brokerage Activity was at an index of 119.4, up 0.4 percent from a reading of 118.9 in the first quarter. The index is 2.5 percent above the second quarter of 2005 when it stood at 116.5. The second quarter index was the fifth straight quarter of growth.

The indicator suggests a 2.5 percent increase in leasing and sales activity for commercial real estate practitioners in the fourth quarter in comparison with the same period in 2005. he 13 series in the index include industrial production, the REIT (real estate investment trust) price index, NCREIF (National Council of Real Estate Investment Fiduciaries) total return, personal income minus transfer payments, jobs in financial activities, jobs in professional business service, jobs in temporary help, jobs in retail trade, jobs in wholesale trade, initial claims for unemployment insurance, manufacturers’ durable goods shipment, wholesale merchant sales, and retail sales and food service. (more…)

search for : commercial real estate, temporary help, retail trade, wholesale trade, unemployment insurance, manufacturers’ durable goods, wholesale merchant sales, retail sales and food service

Last year, I wrote an article advising borrowers on how to determine whether refinancing an adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) into a fixed-rate mortgage (FRM) was advantageous. On recently rereading that article, I winced with the realization that I had made the problem more complicated than it had to be. Since the question continues to confront many borrowers, this article attempts to make amends.

Most borrowers know the ARM rate they are currently paying and when the rate will adjust, but few know the fully indexed rate. This is the most current value of the interest-rate index used by the ARM, plus the margin. The index used and the margin are both shown in the note, while the current value of the index is easily available online. Go to mortgage-x.com it has them all. The importance of the FIR is that it is the best available predictor of how your ARM rate will change. At the next adjustment date, the new ARM rate will reset to equal the index value at that time, plus the margin. [Note: usually there is a limit on the size of a rate change -- this "rate adjustment cap" can also be found in the note -- but in today's market the limit is seldom relevant]. If the index stays unchanged between now and then, the ARM rate at the next adjustment will be today’s FIR. (more…)

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Real estate investors are more likely to hit a few singles and doubles than home runs. Even so, the profit potential can be significant, especially on lower-priced houses. Foreclosures can often be picked up at 20 percent or 30 percent below fair market value while houses in this lower range can net the investor $10,000 to $20,000. Most investors are satisfied with a 15 percent to 20 percent net profit, but it is not unheard of for someone to double their money under the right circumstances.

“Once I write a contract on a house, if the title goes through cleanly, in four or five days we can have title work done and the house paid for,” Dan Reedy, who owns Missouri Real Estate Exchange said. “I have actually bought a house on a Monday and paid for it on a Friday. The average is about 10 business days.” In the current market, lower-priced houses appear to be in greater demand. “The $100,000-and-under houses are what are moving now,” Dan Reedy said. “Six months or a year ago, the average market time was probably 60 days. Right now, it’s 90 to 110 days. It has jumped up by 20 to 30 days just in the last quarter.” Olson sees the same trend. “I’m now gearing more toward the lower end because of the way the market is going,” he said. “There are so many higher-end homes out there that they have flooded the market. The lower end is where the first-time homebuyers are.” (more…)

search for : Real estate investors, Foreclosures, lower-priced house, first-time homebuyer

Using small gadgets called Powerline adapters, you can route your Internet connection around your house over your regular electrical power lines, the ones already in your walls. It really works, it’s fast and it doesn’t disrupt your electrical system. Even better, it requires zero technical skill. You just plug one of the adapters into a standard electrical outlet near the place where your Internet connection enters your home.

I’ve been testing one of Netgear’s newest models, the XE104, which costs $100 per adapter, and I can heartily recommend it. It couldn’t be simpler or more effective. In my tests, the XE104 gave me wicked-fast connections. I tried plugging Windows and Macintosh laptops directly into the adapters in rooms where my wireless signal was weakest. I also tried plugging a Wi-Fi wireless access point into an XE104 adapter and picking up the connection wirelessly on the laptops. (An access point is a wireless gadget that takes a wired Internet connection and propagates it through the air.) (more…)

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For generations, sheriffs’ sales have been a tool of developers and others to gain control of coastal property, primarily from blacks, where ownership is not clear. The price paid for heirs’ property is often a pittance of its fair market value. A new state law is designed to change that. It grants families a right of first refusal to buy land if another family member who alone can force a sale wants out. It also guarantees families a window of time to do so. There is much at stake.

This year, S.C. lawmakers modeled changes on legislation in North Carolina that has been on the books for several years. Nearly 14 million acres of heirs’ property has been lost nationwide since the end of the Civil War, according to published reports. About 1.3 million acres of such land, bought by former slaves, remains in the hands of their families. Ex-slaves bought property as a way to establish and anchor their freedom during Reconstruction, the center said, a feat in the 1870s, given the numerous obstacles blacks faced. (more…)

search for : North Carolina, Civil War, slaves, Reconstruction

No matter where you live, whether it’s in an urban area, a residential area or an agricultural area, you can appreciate the value of a tree. Trees do so much for us. Obviously, they provide us with often much needed shade. But in addition to shade, they also help reduce soil erosion and prevent flooding. A mature tree can consume a substantial amount of water every day, thereby reducing flooding. Sometimes, property owners must take legal action in order to protect their trees. This kind of legal action is more common than you might think.

A common problem that I wish to focus on in this column concerns utility easements on property. The easement may be for a common electric line, a telephone company line, or even a natural gas line. Many homeowners have property subject to these easements. The easement allows the utility to run its line or pipe on, under or over a piece of property. In turn, the property owner, or its predecessor, is usually paid a small amount of money. In the case of a subdivision, often the developer receives the payment. The subsequent purchasers often receive no money, but must be forever burdened by the easement. Utilities could never exist without these easements because their network of pipes and wires needs to reach out into the community and this can only be done through easements. (more…)

search for : soil erosion, legal action, utility easements, natural gas

Investors who want to cash in their chips on real estate bought as an investment — but defer the tax bill, in some cases forever — can do so by trading into another piece of property. This strategy isn’t new, but it’s enjoying a resurgence in popularity now because many investors believe that real-estate values have peaked in some markets. They want to lock in their gains and shift into other holdings without a big payment to Uncle Sam. The stratagem is called a 1031 exchange, but it doesn’t actually require you to swap property with another real-estate investor. You sell one property and buy another, carefully abiding by certain restrictions and time limits.

“It’s the best-kept tax secret,” says Stephen A. Wayner, first vice president at Bayview Financial Exchange Services LLC, a unit of Bayview Financial, a Miami real-estate investment, development and mortgage-finance company. “There are so many people that should be doing it. They just don’t know about it.” The tax savings can be substantial — and by deferring the tax bill, investors have more capital to reinvest into the next property. Take, for instance, an individual who purchased a rental duplex 10 years ago for $150,000 that’s now worth $500,000. If he simply sold the property, he would owe $52,500 in capital-gains taxes. (This doesn’t include any state taxes that might be imposed, nor does it include any depreciation recapture tax which could be owed if the owner took deductions for depreciation.) (more…)

search for : real estate, 1031 exchange, tax savings, rental duplex, depreciation recapture tax

When people think about relocating to a cheaper place after they retire, they often look to states that don’t have an income tax. But these days, they should also be looking at a state’s estate-tax law before making plans to move. Because of a federal law that has been phasing in over the past few years, the states’ share of federal estate-tax revenue has fallen to zero, from 16% in 2001, says Charles Fox IV in Charlottesville, Va., an estate-tax expert and a partner with the law firm McGuireWoods LLP. Budget-challenged states are feeling the pinch. And a number of states have responded with some form of estate or inheritance levies of their own.

Some states, including California, Florida, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri and Nevada, don’t charge residents an estate tax, so people in those states face only the federal estate tax. But in the states that do have a tax, it’s now surprisingly easy to wind up ensnared. Although the federal law currently exempts the first $2 million of an estate, the threshold in some states is much lower. Add up your home’s value, a retirement account or two and some other dribs and drabs, and your estate may well top your state’s threshold. In New Jersey and Rhode Island, for instance, estates valued at more than $675,000 are potentially subject to some form of state inheritance or estate tax. (more…)

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With a quick trip on Main Street in downtown Sylva, North Carolina, it’s easy enough to see the small town as a quaint collection of professional offices, locally owned restaurants, galleries, clothing and specialty shops. Each business is located in a historically significant building, many of the old brick storefronts still bearing the name of their original owner somewhere up high in the masonry. Dotted with trees and park benches and old style lampposts, Main Street lures tourists for some lunch and an afternoon of shopping. Gaggles of families come from Georgia, South Carolina, and Florida, indicated by the license plates lined up along the street’s two-hour parking.

Visits are too short for visitors to be able to notice the town’s quiet, steady rhythm, the daily cycle of downtown merchants and residents going about their ways — Jay Coward, an attorney, heading out for lunch; Stacy Knotts, town alderwoman, walking alongside her daughter as she pedals a tricycle down the sidewalk; Didier Cuzange on his way to teach yoga classes in his studio above Lulu’s. This activity earns the town the description of being “vibrant” — a key word in downtown revitalization lingo. But “vibrancy” is a rather esoteric, hard-to-define concept that towns nationwide are struggling to achieve. “I think vibrancy is much like beauty; it’s in the eye of the beholder,” said Rodney Swink, director of North Carolina Main Street program in Department of Commerce’s Office of Urban Development. (more…)

search for : Sylva, North Carolina, Georgia, South Carolina, Florida

There are lots of options for creating the perfect storage shed to store and organize anything from riding lawnmowers to outdoor tools and supplies. Possibilities range from small, prefabricated sheds that are virtually preassembled, to larger, site-built sheds that can be custom designed to any size, shape and architectural look. The first step is to decide what it is you want to store. Will you need drive-in access for a riding mower or yard tractor? Will you want an area for hanging shovels, rakes and other items? How about shelving and storage of things like gasoline that require ventilation? Will electricity — lights and outlets — be important? What about future needs?

Next to consider is what your lot will accommodate as well as what is allowed in your neighborhood. Smaller sheds, up to about 10 feet x 12 feet in size, typically do not require a building permit for construction, and therefore are also not subject to setback requirements for placement on the lot. However, there may be homeowner’s association rules, local ordinances or other restrictions that govern where you place the shed, so be sure and check with your local building department and homeowner’s association for all rules and requirements that affect your proposed shed installation. (more…)

search for : storage shed, lawnmower, riding mower

Convinced home prices will fall? So are a lot of other Americans. Some – known as bubble sitters – are acting on their conviction. They’re cashing out by selling their homes and renting, figuring they’ll return to the market after prices have fallen. Bubble sitters also include those people who have never owned a home and are waiting to take the plunge, along with folks who are relocating and holding on to their cash until the market in their new hometown softens.

Bubble sitting has contributed to softening in housing markets, especially in new homes. Builders have reported slowing sales and they’re offering numerous incentives, rebates and discounts in order to move inventory. Just this week, builder Toll Brothers announced they expected sales to decline substantially for the year. (more…)

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“Is my 18-year-old, unrecorded deed any good?” That was the question asked in a letter I received recently. The reader said she was given the deed to some farmland years ago by a relative on the condition the deed be recorded only after the relative died. But before the relative died a few years later, the letter said, that relative sold the farm to a buyer who paid a down payment, and the relative carried back a 25-year mortgage for the buyer.

ALWAYS RECORD DEEDS TO ESTABLISH PRIORITY. In the event of conflicting claims to a property, the first grantee to record his/her deed usually wins the race to the courthouse. However, there are exceptions, such as when the recorded deed was a gift and the prior unrecorded deed was paid for with consideration and/or the grantee with an unrecorded deed occupied the property, thus giving constructive notice. As shown by that unrecorded, 18-year-old gift deed above, an unrecorded deed delivered conditionally such as “record this after I die” is usually invalid as a substitute for a written will or a revocable living trust. (more…)

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Last year’s Supreme Court ruling validating a Connecticut city’s authority to seize private property for economic development has sparked a backlash. In several states, conservative groups are pushing ballot initiatives to curb local governments’ abilities to exercise not only eminent domain, but also land use and environmental controls. When a divided court ruled in Kelo v. New London that private landowners had no constitutional grounds to resist eminent-domain property seizures, it effectively kicked regulation of government condemnation suits back to the states.

In the South, four states are entertaining ballot proposals that would tighten the eminent-domain process. A Florida initiative requires local governments to sell expropriated property back to the owners if the land isn’t used for the stated purpose, while ballot initiatives in Georgia and South Carolina would crimp government use of eminent domain. In populist-leaning Louisiana, a ballot proposal would prevent local or state government from condemning property and then transferring it to another individual or group, a measure that could affect how the state rebuilds after two devastating hurricanes last year. (more…)

search for : Supreme Court, economic development, Kelo v. New London, private landowners, eminent-domain property seizure

The entire southeastern United States could be under the Atlantic Ocean if global temperatures get any hotter. As the polar ice caps melt, the oceans will begin to rise, covering land masses that currently are crowded with people. “The Southeast is particularly vulnerable to the wrath of global warming,” says Stephen Smith, executive director of the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy. “Increased global temperatures could destroy many of our coastal communities through sea level rise and increases in hurricane strength and frequency.”

“Southern Alliance for Clean Energy has set the bar for the Southeast by not only educating the community about the effects of global warming and the impact of carbon emissions, but now, through this purchase, going a step further and offsetting all of their carbon dioxide emissions from business operations,” she says. Green Mountain Energy was founded in 1997 and is one of the country’s leading retail providers of cleaner electricity. It offers residential, business, institutional and governmental customers the choice of using electricity generated by wind, solar, water, geothermal, biomass or natural gas. Founded in Vermont, Green Mountain currently is headquartered in Austin, Texas. It began with the philosophy of “Use the power of consumer choice to change the way power is made.” The company built and operates 13 wind and solar plants of its own that are located in several states, and also buys electricity from other sources, including wind, water, solar, biomass, geothermal and natural gas. (more…)

search for : southeastern United States, Atlantic Ocean, Southern Alliance for Clean Energy, global temperature, Green Mountain Energy, wind, solar, water, geothermal, biomass or natural gas, solar plant

Although people still romanticize the concept of the fixer-upper, finding a diamond in the rough and restoring it to its former glory isn’t always a pleasant experience. “It’s not for everyone,” said Van Cura, of Don Van Cura Construction Company Inc. and a member of the National Association of the Remodeling Industry. “I’m not supposed to say that — I’m a remodeler.

A house needing a little work may be a sensible option in areas where affordability is a challenge for home buyers, such as the San Francisco Bay area, where Paul Winans, of Winans Construction Inc. and chairman of the National Association of the Remodeling Industry, is based. In large cities such as Chicago and New York, some homeowners are choosing the cost of remodeling older homes over buying newer homes in suburbia, which come with a longer commute time to the city’s core, he said. Keeping costs down, however, requires a dose of patience in the homeowner’s tool belt. Instead of a quick succession of remodeling projects, those on tighter budgets often spread the work out over several years, Winans said. (more…)

search for : fixer-upper, home buyer, National Association of the Remodeling Industry, homeowner, remodeling project

It’s hard not to ignore the changing real estate market. Last summer, the boom in home sales was still in full swing and all of that talk about a “bubble” didn’t seem to trouble anyone. People, in fact, were still flocking to Florida, Las Vegas and other hot-spots to buy yet-to-be built condominiums in multistory high-rises and paying ridiculous sums for one- or two-bedroom units which they immediately tried to “flip” for a quick profit.

Much media attention has lately been devoted to the “bursting of the real estate bubble” and its potential negative economic impact. Home sales have slowed, values of properties have declined, and mortgage interest rates have risen-and all this, in turn, has led to confusion, fear and apprehension among many sellers and buyers. Consequently, is real estate still a good investment today? (more…)

search for : real estate market, Florida, Las Vegas, condominiums

My wife and I are thinking about listing our $425,000 home for sale with a real estate agency, which charges a $1,995 commission. They will list our home for 30 days. During the 30 days, we can sell the home ourselves or if they sell it, we owe only $1,995. If another broker sells the home during the 30 days, he would write in his sales commission on the offer, subject to our approval. During the 30 days, the listing agency will put a for-sale sign in our yard with an information box with flyers about our home.

According to statistics from the National Association of Realtors, at least half of all home sales involve a listing agent and a buyer’s agent. Most of those sales originate through the local MLS, the most powerful sales tool available to real estate agents. Especially in the current buyer’s market for homes, why cut yourself off from half the potential buyers? They won’t even know your home is for sale if it isn’t shown in the local MLS and on the nationwide www.Realtor.com Web site where many home buyers start their searches. (more…)

search for : real estate agency, for-sale, National Association of Realtors, listing agent, buyer’s agent

Freddie Mac today released the results of its Primary Mortgage Market Survey in which the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 6.63 percent, with an average 0.3 point, for the week ending August 2, 2006, down from last week’s average of 6.72 percent. Last year at this time, the 30-year FRM averaged 5.82 percent. The average for the 15-year FRM this week is 6.27 percent, with an average 0.3 point, down from last week’s average of 6.34 percent. A year ago, the 15-year FRM averaged 5.38 percent.

Five-year Treasury-indexed hybrid adjustable-rate mortgages (ARMs) averaged 6.27 percent this week, with an average 0.4 point, down from last week when it averaged 6.35 percent. A year ago, the five-year ARM averaged 5.30 percent. One-year Treasury-indexed ARMs averaged 5.69 percent this week, with an average 0.7 point, down from last week when it averaged 5.78 percent. At this time last year, the one-year ARM averaged 4.47 percent. (more…)

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Written exclusively for single women who think they want to buy a house or condominium, “The Single Woman’s Guide to Real Estate” by Donna Raskin and Susan Hawthorne explains virtually everything prospective home buyers need to know before deciding to proceed. Even men can learn the “insider tactics” of home buying from an experienced real estate brokerage owner and a professional writer.

This “how to” book emphasizes the special considerations single women encounter when deciding (or not) to buy their own home. Possible pitfalls, such as an inadequate cash down payment and not understanding the mortgage process, are tackled by the authors without hesitation. They even share the drawbacks of each type of mortgage and mortgage lender as well as how to overcome those problems. (more…)

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Much of the 1,000-acre Chimney Rock Park put up for sale for $55 million this week would be open to development, should negotiations with the state fail.Chimney Rock Co. President Todd Morse stressed Wednesday that he and his family — owners of the land for more than a century — want to preserve the park’s trails, the chimney and other sensitive natural areas.

The public roams through about 550 acres that includes the 315-foot-high chimney, a 404-foot-high waterfall and miles of hiking trails. But above the cliffs lie another 450 acres that the public never sees, including an old apple orchard and woods. “If you had a development up on top of the mountain that could be separate from the park but had some interaction with the park — if you could leave the park basically alone — that’s one thing that could be kind of wonderful,” Morse said. (more…)

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