The Gulf Coast community has been hit with a triple whammy these last few years.  First Hurricane Katrina knocked the legs out from under real estate sales as the focus shifted to recovery rather than new sales.  Then the economy slowed whatever recovery was underway.  Finally the oil spill in the Gulf has struck what must feel like a final blow to home sellers and the rest of the real estate industry because of job loss and the loss of interest in tourism.

According to Canada’s newspaper The Globe and Mail, foreclosures were low and the real estate recovery was well underway because of tight regulations already in place for Louisiana and Mississippi.  The oil spill put a stop to that,

The phone call was short and to the point: A buyer who had agreed to spend $500,000 (U.S.) on a beachfront home with a stunning view of the Gulf of Mexico was backing out. The cancelled sale was a blow to real estate agent Linda Henderson, but it wasn’t a surprise. Globs of thick, pungent oil are washing up on the shores of Alabama’s Dauphin Island, and the smell on some days is enough to drive the island’s predominantly senior population back into their homes.

With years - maybe decades - of cleanup in front of them, the hope is shifting to BP and that they’ll pay for the property damage that occurs.

Photo from Clean MPG forum.

The value of a swimming pool is priceless during the hot summer months when the kids are home from school bored, after you’ve mowed the lawn and are covered with sweat, or when the family comes for a two-week vacation visit.

The value of a swimming pool - as told by pool salesmen - is about $15,000 to $50,000.

The value of a swimming pool when you’re spending hours cleaning it, spending dollars on the chemicals, or spending money on liability insurance is a whole different story.  The value of a swimming pool when you’re selling your home is also another story.

Kitchen and bathroom makeovers add the most to the resale value of a home.  A swimming pool is may be nice to lounge around in the summer, but for resale it’s a perk that just doesn’t always add up.  I’ve looked at homes with buyers who sometimes love them, sometimes hate them.  One buyer mentally calculated the cost of filling in the pool before deciding to NOT buy the house.  Another fell for the salt-water pool immediately and made an offer on the house.

Depending on your location, adding a swimming pool could be one of the worst investments a homeowner can make.  Massachusetts agent Bill Gassett says,

Swimming pools often times can actually end up being a detriment when selling a home. There are many buyers that flat out will not buy a home that has one no matter how beautiful it is.  Are there times where a buyer is specifically looking for a pool? Sure…if you are lucky you may find a buyer that will pay a little more for a home with a pool. Just don’t expect that it will be anywhere close to the money you have sunk into the ground.

If you have a pool, enjoy it now.  You may not so much when it comes time to sell!

Photo by my Mom. The kid on the right? The cute one? That’s me. 

In the stifling heat of the summer, buyers are still searching for their perfect home.  Some may be devastatingly hot as soon as you open the door - particularly vacant homes or bank-owned properties.  And getting in and out of cars parked in the sun could also cause rapid changes in body temperature, so plan ahead to stay cool!

If you’re showing properties or simply touring them with your agent, pack refreshing snacks for the road.

• Fill your iced cooler with bottled water or juice.
• Get some fresh fruit to include in the cooler - apples, pears, oranges.
• Have some mints or candy handy should someone’s sugar drop because it’s too hot to eat and maintain a good blood sugar level.
• Bring an extra pair of non-prescription sunglasses to help protect your eyes.
• Park in the shade whenever possible.
• If possible, remember to crack your car windows to help vent out the ~~hot~~.

Try to stay cool this weekend as you go from house to house!

Just like you should interview real estate agents before choosing one to list your house, you should also get second opinions on other services related to your house.

Let me take you back a few years.  There was an inspector in our area who was an alarmist.  Anytime even a minor problem was found (replacing light fixtures, installing a GFCI outlet, etc.), he would cry that the sky was falling and would convince buyers that the problems were so serious that they would all die if they bought the house.  Many agents lost many contracts because of this inspector and we eventually took his name off our referral list.

In cases like that, it is always good to get a second opinion.  Get a structural engineer in to look at the problem.  Hire a roofer to make the repair.

Yesterday I got a call from my buyer whose water heater had shut off.  It was covered under the home warranty, so the warranty company sent a plumber.  When he arrived, he said my buyer was lucky she wasn’t dead from carbon monoxide poisoning, it wasn’t covered under the warranty because it was an installation issue, and she would have to pay him $1200 to repair it.

The family before her had lived with the water heater for three years with no problems.  Her home inspector is really good and he saw no problems.  It doesn’t add up to what the Chicken Little Plumber described, so before anything else, I suggested she get a second opinion from another qualified, trained plumber.

She does not plan to let him know what the original plumber from the warranty company said when he arrives later today until after she hears his input.  I’ll be anxious to hear the verdict.

Photo by Ben Lucier via Flickr Creative Commons.

When I read earlier today about an agent who was showing real estate on Sunday in the unprecedented heat we’re experiencing in the Southeast, I began sweating just reading his words.  He said, “I don’t know which is worse the outside temp or the temp in a house with no electricity……”   I felt his pain.

When a buyer is interested in purchasing a new home, they want to feel comfortable inside.  They don’t like to see bugs, they don’t like to smell animal odors, and they want to be able to visualize themselves living there.  If they can’t do that, they won’t buy.  For a buyer to take the time to visualize where the couch will go or what color they might paint the upstairs bonus room, they’ll need to hang around long enough for the mental process to begin.  In the heat, if the air conditioner is turned off - or if the temperature is over 78* - they may not stay long enough to bother.

I’ve walked into hot houses with buyers and the first thing we do is turn around and leave.  When the house is too warm, it’s just uncomfortable AND it leaves the mental picture that perhaps the heat/AC unit is not working.

If you’re selling your house (even if it’s vacant), try to make the temperature comfortable for those who are considering making a purchase!

*78 degrees is just a random number. 72 would be better, but over 78 (to me) is just miserable!

I remember three times in my life where my heart literally yearned for something.  One was before I met my husband - I so wanted to meet someone to spend the rest of my life with.  The second was before I had children - it actually hurt to see other pregnant people when I so badly wanted a child of my own.  The third was when we would drive through neighborhoods and see people in their own yards, their own homes and knowing that we had to go back to our apartment to deal with noisy neighbors, hauling laundry to the laundromat, and not being able to own cats or dogs.

With years of saving and a bit of bad luck (a job loss with quick re-employment meant severance pay was available to use for down payment ), we finally realized the dream of home ownership.  We’ve owned two houses in our almost 25 years of marriage.  At this point, I’m thinking that renting sounds pretty sweet when you can walk away from the responsibilities of mowing, painting, insurance, and maintenance issues!

Steve at bripblap has a somwhat similar conclusion,

I know the common perception is that if you own instead of renting there will come a blissful moment when you burn the mortgage documents and skip off into sunset worry-free. In my mind, two things will be happening in 30 years when my mortgage is paid off that will throw a big monkey wrench in those plans.

Steve is talking about property taxes and shoddy construction - two potential long-term hazards of home ownership. It’s the maintenance issues that are killing us!  Painting the soffits and wood rot on our porch columns are the big boo-boo’s of our house right now.  And once repaired, the same problems will be back in 10 years.

I’m thinking owning real estate should be like having kids - it’s meant for the younger generation!

I would never in a gazillion years advertise a home as a cockroach hotel.  But it worked for one agent and kudos I say to the flipper who had the courage to do this!

I did show a house once that was CRAWLING with these nasty nasty things.  It’s the only time I ever screamed while working with a client.  I laid my business card on the counter next to another agent’s card.  My card accidentally nudged the other card and about a thousand baby cockroaches came streaming out from under the other card.  Horrible!

Listing by Susan M. James of Viva Properties. Contact (615) 371-9007.

When the desire to achieve the American dream of home ownership is so strong and overpowering and just within your reach, it’s so very easy to make mistakes.  You get excited over a house that’s just a little over your budget, you don’t have all the inspections done that should be done, or you buy a fixer-upper without a clue about where to start.

The Wisdom Journal outlines 10 Mistakes by First Time Home Buyers.  The one that hits close to home for me was refinancing during the credit craze. I didn’t do this, though:

I fell for the refinancing craze … again. This time I didn’t re-finance, but I probably obliterated my credit in a furious attempt to get an even better interest rate just 18 months later. I thought I would “pull out more equity” and get a better payment. I theorized that I could “lock in” my profits from the appreciation of the home’s value.

There are plenty of other mistakes people make when buying (or after they’ve purchased) real estate.  Two words:  Caveat Emptor.

I have shown numerous homes where the seller promises a carpet allowance at the closing.  When they do this, they acknowledge even before a buyer walks in the door that the flooring is bad and that’s not a good first impression to make!

When the carpet is frayed at the thresholds, if it has stains, if it’s worn out, if it’s an ugly color… go ahead and replace it if you can rather than promising an allowance.  Buyers fear the carpet allowance won’t be enough to replace the entire flooring (including costs of moving furniture, disposing of the old carpet pad and rug, the nail strips, etc.) so they are less likely to consider viewing the home much less making an offer!

There are carpet stores that offer six months same as cash for sellers who don’t have the money to pay up front.  There are builder-grade carpets that won’t cost as much as what the rest of us prefer, but they wouldn’t necessarily be the buyer’s choice of carpet.  And that’s the exact rationale so many sellers use, “The buyers should be able to pick their own carpet.”

While that’s true, you have to get them in the house to begin with and that’s very difficult if there are pet stains present, spilled koolaid from the kiddos, or - again - frayed edges.

Don’t wait.  Replace the flooring if you can BEFORE the home goes on the market.  It will be a huge help in reducing the number of days the home sits on the real estate market.