Disclaimer: What you’re about read is true. Only the inanes have changed to protect other stagers from pointing and laughing at my clients. When I’m called in to stage a house, the Realtor and I will chat about anything I should know before I go in so I won’t be shocked…like the homeowner usually answers the door naked. I’m telling you right here and now that unless it’s Robert Downey Jr. answering the door, the Eeeeeuuuwww Factor will be set to Code Orange. So my Realtor lets me know that her seller’s house is decorated in a style that can only be described as “Late Green Acres-Early Hee Haw”. In other words….“country”. Additionally, Mrs. Home Seller is really into pigs. So I go to meet with them and Mr. Home Seller answers the door with clothes on and I walk in. From my vantage point, I see pigs (note that’s pigs…plural); we’re talking pig pictures, 25 or so stuffed pigs in various parts of the house, pig wall hangers for oven mitts…that themselves look like pigs, pig wall stencils, blankets, fireplace screen, lamps shades, etc. Oh, just kill me now. The sellers seemed like very nice people that understood the need for their house to be staged and were prepared to follow my every instruction. I wrote up my VERY specific list of things they needed to remove from the house and as always, I went over my list with them and explained the reasoning behind asking them to remove things like certain pieces of furniture, heavy drapery and…all things porcine because the pigs may be the only thing that buyers will remember about the house. Studies have shown that buyers can get distracted by looking at personal photos, extensive collections, a motorcycle in the living room, etc. and will…
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Whenever the moving process begins, inevitably there are items you don’t really want to move with you but are in good condition and could be valuable to someone else. You can try to organize a yard sale to help reduce the belongings but many times only the ultimately organized can make time for sorting, pricing, and answering ads on Craigs List during their own moving process. It is not uncommon to find yourself a week before the open house or a week before the moving van comes with a multitude of items that you wish could simply, “find another home for”. A home for items that could be appreciated and not simply wasted by being dumped into the over crowded landfill. A home for items with useful life that could help someone else start or re-start their lives. With that in mind, I wanted to provide a list of resources of where you can consider donating items. This also takes time but will provide you with a good feeling when it is all done. This list is not complete and I hope that readers will comment below on other places they have used in the San Jose, Santa Clara County area for donations. Special thanks to Cyndie and Mario Le Chuga for sharing their homework and their friendship with me. Organization Items they take? Address/Phone Web Site Good Will Accepts your new or gently used items — like clothing, appliances and furniture. 1080 North Seventh Street, San Jose, CA 95112 (408) 869-9198 http://www.goodwillsv.org/ Salvation Army clothing, appliances and furniture 359 North 4th Street, San Jose, CA 95112-5254 (408) 283-3864 http://bit.ly/cGbRv3 Sacred Heart food, blankets, clothing, baby diapers (sizes 4, 5, 6) 1381 South First St. San Jose, CA 95110 Todd Madigan – (408) 278-2180 toddm@sacredheartcs.org http://www.shcstheheart.org/ Second Harvest Meals in…
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Lead poisoning is a serious issue. According to researchers, “Lead poisoning can lead to learning disabilities, behavioral problems and, at high levels, seizures, comas and death”. Children under the age of six are at a higher risk due to their natural tendency to place things in their mouths. This new regulation requires professional renovators and home owners alike be educated on the proper method for disturbing areas that may be contaminated with lead. This is normally related to homes built prior to 1978 when lead was used in plumbing materials and paint. Due to the durability of lead paint, there may deep layers on window sills, trim, and door casements. If these areas are going to be sanded, prepped with a pressure washer, or removed, adequate precautions must be taken. This includes but is not limited to proper dust control, particle containment and proper disposal of all materials. If you are planning on painting or renovating your home and it was built prior to 1978, your contractor should be trained in lead removal and have one certified worker on the job to supervise the process. The training for contractors is anywhere from $75-$250 and the estimated cost for the process requirements per job range from 5-10% additional for each job. Your contractor should provide you with a pamphlet informing you of the health issues related to lead. This new regulation, going into effect April 22nd, 2010, has many in an uproar. Including my father who has been a painter for nearly 60 years and describes the hand mixing of lead and linseed oil with his bare hands to create the right color. My father is 84 and shows no signs of lead poisoning. He believes this issue will place additional cost on the contractor because of training and the…
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This is one of those questions like the chicken and egg type debates. It depends. It depends on where you live, what type of pool it is, the condition, and a couple of more small details. Understanding more details about pools will help evaluate what value it brings to your home. Whether you are looking at purchasing or selling a home with a pool, it is good to ponder this question and see best how to manage the answer. Where you live makes a big difference in the value added of a pool to a home. Obviously, the longer “swimming” season you have, the more value a pool can have. A pool as a part of a home in Florida is much more valuable than a home with a pool in Minnesota. Some areas like Arizona seem to almost require a home to have a pool. The climate can also affect the cost of a pool. The warmer the climate the less energy used to heat the pool. Also sunnier climates can utilize solar panels to heat the pool. The type of pool construction affects the longevity and upkeep costs related to the pool as well. Vinyl covered pools typically last about 10 years. A gunite pool can last 20 years if well maintained. Concrete pools can take a great deal of upkeep in areas with seismic activity as cracks must be kept up with on a continuous business. Fiberglass pools can also be a good choice for longevity but may not be available in a custom shape. Hence the reason why many home owners choose gunite so that a pool can be made to fit the landscaping shape of the yard. The condition of the pool and the pool pump should be evaluated any time a buyer is looking…
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Whether or not you have ever sold a home, there exist challenges to selling a home never seen before. It takes a “cool hand” to make the deal work. Maybe I should say, it takes a lot of cool hands to make it work. There are lot of different ways to sell a house but the reality is that each house, each situation, each agent, each seller, each buyer, each month, and each lender make for a unique set of circumstances that can affect the home sale. I decided to put together some quick tips on today’s market for sellers. I do mean these tips to be exact for today not next week, next month or next year – but today. Some may be true later, but the point is that things change. 1.) Never believe that your next door neighbor knows more about your home’s value than your REALTOR®. This is absolutely the first mistake in pricing your home for sale. Your neighbor has a biased opinion. They want you to increase the value of their home. If you don’t sell the home, it has no affect on them. It does affect you. You did not sell your home. 2.) Whatever appraisal value you received in the past does not matter now. Many sellers commonly had their home appraised during a re-finance or home equity line application and believe that value should be their current value. Those appraisals were a part of the super-hype-lending-frenzy period and do not reflect the value of the home today. The appraisal guidelines have become much more conservative. The credit for granite counter tops has dropped to insignificant and comparable properties are scrutinized over and over again through the appraisal quality control system now in place. 3.) It is great that you upgraded your…
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Ever walk into somebody’s house and immediately wish that one of those oxygen masks would fall from the ceiling like they have in airplanes so you wouldn’t have to inhale the wall of odors that smacked you in the proboscis? (For those unfamiliar with W.C. Fields, that means “nose”) Now image that you’re looking to buy a house and the same things happens when you step foot in that really cool looking house with the awesome curb appeal. Now let’s take it one step further…. your home is for sale and the oxygen mask scenario is being played out in a prospective buyer’s brain. Can you say “turned off”? I knew that you could…. Every house has a smell of some kind, some less than others .. unless you live in a hermetically sealed home which means I’m busy the night of your dinner party. Just because you can’t smell it isn’t a guarantee that your home doesn’t smell like your grandmother’s attic. Barb Schwarz, the originator of the concept of home staging says “ If you can smell it, you won’t sell it”. Total corniness aside, she’s absolutely correct. As a stager, I’ve literally walked in a home (as opposed to hovering on a cloud of rarified air which is my usual mode of travel) and expected to see a wet dog smoking a cigar while standing at the stove and stirring what can only be described as a pot of stale cabbage being boiled in fetid water. I’m pretty sure I faked my own death on that job. Animal odors, litter box odors, somebody keeps missing the toilet odors, last night’s dinner or even worse, last week’s dinner odor, cigarette or cigar odors , etc. will turn off even the most hardy of buyers so…pay attention here because…
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In the past two weeks San Jose, California has been experiencing almost continuous rain. I have been out almost everyday previewing or showing homes. It would be nice to stay in the office and hang out on Twitter but the reality is, these are some of the best days to learn about houses and neighborhoods. Why? Drainage issues are the number one reason for foundation issues on a home. Foundation issues are one of the most expensive repairs a seller or buyer can face when selling or buying a home. Most of us do not go under our houses and crawl around the crawl space to keep track of our foundation. I certainly am not interested in that job. However, keeping an eye on your crawlspace, especially on a rainy day, can prevent repairs down the road. Making sure that the crawlspace is “dry as a bone” is one of the most comforting feelings one can have after a little El Niño month. The first step to protecting your foundation is making sure gutters are clean, water is flowing, and more specifically water is flowing away from your home and foundation. Water standing around the foundation of your home will certainly penetrate and eventually deteriorate the soil enough to cause settling and/or concrete deterioration. Proper drainage can be as simple as installing downspout directional tubes and as complicated as installing a french drain. If you are going to install a french drain, be very sure you know what you are doing. It is not as simple as digging a trench. The proper slope is absolutely critical to a proper french drain. I have seen several homes where a owner was taken by surprise to realize the french drain that they had built actually placed more water at the foundation. If…
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In my daily travels, the most common problem I see in homes for sale is water damage. One of the first things I do as an agent previewing a home is look underneath every sink for drippy pipes and water connections. Even the smallest drip can cause incredible damage over time. The water slowly penetrates the cabinets, the walls, and the flooring. Wet wood attracts insects, in particular termites, and suddenly that small drip can potentially cost lots of money to repair. The one place that can be hard to check continuously for a water leak is behind the refrigerator. If you have an ice maker you have a water supply line. This water supply line can develop a leak and slowly drip water behind your refrigerator for a very long time before you recognize that your floor is bubbling up and the damage has been done. However, there is a simple, inexpensive device that can take all the worry away. This simple device is called an auto shut off connector. They can be found at any hardware store and cost less than $40. This device is placed at the connection and senses any change in pressure from a drip to a burst and then shuts off the water. This is such a simple way to protect your home that I have considered giving them as house warming gifts. However, you must install them for them to work. Take a look at the video and you can see clearly how the Watts Floodsafe Auto-shutoff Connector works. Tags: Buyers’ Tips, Sellers’ Tips, home maintenance, home repair, water damage
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Before we can discuss the impact non-permitted work has on a home, it is important to talk about what a permit is and why it is required for work completed on a home. Permits are typically issued in accordance with a city or county ordinance. Therefore, not obtaining permits for required items is unlawful. Permits are the simplest way for a governing body to manage the construction practices of a community for the general welfare of the residents. From the ground up, local inspectors confirm that construction is being completed in a manner that meets building code standards. These standards were created to insure the building is structurally sound and safe. If you are using a contractor, they will be able to identify what work requires a permit. In Santa Clara County, any work totaling over $500 requires a licensed contractor. A non-licensed contractor may not know the building codes and may not be aware of permits required. A great site for finding information about a contractor is the Better Business Bureau. You can also try The Prime Buyer’s Report for reviews and ratings of local contractors. Directly from the Santa Clara County web site: When Is A Building Permit Required? A building permit must be obtained before you erect, construct, enlarge, alter, move, repair, improve, convert, or demolish any building or structure. This includes decks over 30 inches high, patio covers, sheds over 120 square feet, fences over 6 ft. high, and retaining walls more than 4 ft. in height, measured from the bottom of the footing to the top of the wall. Fees are calculated based on the size, type and valuation of construction. Typical codes that apply: Uniform Building Code, Uniform Mechanical Code, Uniform Plumbing Code, National Electrical Code, and State building codes. For single-family dwelling,…
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As buyers walk through a home it is not uncommon that they fall in love with a certain room or aspect of the home. Maybe it is the dining room and the beautiful chandelier. Maybe it is the basketball hoop in driveway. Maybe it is the six-burner professional grade gas stove in the kitchen. Whatever the item is, it is important for both seller and buyer to decide what is and what is not included in the sale of the home. The basic real estate rule is when something is “attached” to the home, it comes as a part of the purchase. This includes light fixtures, ceiling fans, window coverings and built in items. It makes sense that after purchasing a home you should not walk into a “stripped” home. However, it could be that the chandelier the buyer fell in love with is a family heirloom of the seller’s. Maybe it is an antique worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. This can cause challenges if not handled properly. The seller should be clear with the listing agent regarding any fixtures that are not intended to stay with the home. The listing agreement and the purchase contract includes specific line items for “items included” and “items excluded”. For an item like a family heirloom it might be best to replace the chandelier with a different light fixture prior to the home going on the market. At minimum the listing agent should state the intentions of the seller to not include the chandelier in the sale and a note placed in the home indicating the same intention. This can be more difficult as there must be an agreement between the buyer and seller on what will be an “adequate” replacement of “equal” value. The basketball hoop if attached to the roof…
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I have been thinking about this topic for the last two months. Trying to figure out how to get it encapsulated into the shortest blog post as I am constantly being told blog posts should not be too long. It seems impossible to crunch this topic into a quick read, but I am going to try. There are so many little potential answers to the question that I first want to start with the facts of the matter. The real estate market in the San Jose and greater South Bay area has drastically changed in the last six months. Where it is going exactly is hard to predict. Most everyone I come in contact with is discussing the bottom of the market or the anti-bottom of the market. There are facts influencing the change and a lot of speculation on what will happen next. One reality is that there are fewer homes for sale in San Jose. In the last six months, we have seen a drastic reduction in the number of homes for sale in San Jose in comparison to 2008. In comparison to July 2008, there are nearly half number of single family detached homes, condos, and townhomes for sale. With the supply of homes cut by 50% while demand from investors and first time buyers wanting to take advantage of $8000 tax credit and low interest rates (Today a 30 year fixed quoted at 5.14%.) stays high; the result is multiple offers and a bidding frenzy that I haven’t seen since 2002. Affordability is a point of discussion that feeds into demand. If you know the Bay Area of California, you know that this is the first time in a long time that housing is anywhere near affordable. Almost everyone predicts that it won’t stay affordable forever…
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If you are considering a loan modification, please take the time to research how they are properly done. There are many scams out there. In fact, the first stop for any home owner considering a loan modification should be the California Department of Real Estate web site where there is a list of loan modification companies ( some very familiar names) that have been given desist and refrain orders by the Department of Real Estate. Two great resources to check out before you begin the loan modification process. The first is “Top 10 Questions about Loan Modifications” . The second is a video from Hope Now that tells what to look for when beginning the loan modification process and also provides contacts for counseling. Tags: Market Information, Sellers’ Tips, california department of real estate, foreclosure prevention, loan modification, scams
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