When a price point for real estate is fairly low, choices in what to purchase may become fairly limited.  For the last two days, I’ve been touring homes with buyers who are relocating from out-of-state and we are very careful to keep a low price point in mind so that monthly payments will remain low.

This has resulted in two distinct kinds of houses:  the handyman special or mobile homes.

The plus of the handyman special is they have been site-built so living in tornado alley, they should be a little safer.  In addition, they’ll likely be sturdier in the long-term when faced with weathering the elements.  The downside?  Oh my… the bad smells, the foundation issues, close neighbors, overgrown yards (one where we actually saw a mouse run from one side of the yard, across the driveway, and into the tall grass on the other side of the yard), the holes in the wall, the additions clearly built without permits and codes inspectors, the missing appliances, adn the list goes on.

The plus of mobile homes?  They have in general been in excellent condition.  They typically come with several acres of land.  And they’re usually thousands of dollars less than the site-built homes.  The downside is even with a permanent foundation, a strong wind could tear them apart.  Insurance will be higher - especially because the acreage is located outside of city limits, therefore farther from fire stations.

What would you pick?  Me?  I’d be all about the mobile homes with lots of land and trees for added privacy.

My Mom proudly announced to me about 10 years ago that her house was officially paid in full.  She sent extra money to the bank whenever she could - practically every month - all the while also scrimping so she could build a savings account for emergencies. She would grow her own vegetables and together she and Dad would can and freeze corn, tomatoes, green beans, and whatever else the garden produced that year.

Ironically even when she was paying off the mortgage, she never looked at the house as an investment.  It was 1) a home, but also 2) a debt burden that had to be rid of. I think she had the right idea,

Financial experts and authors, such as Jane Bryant Quinn advise homeowners to stop considering their home as an investment vehicle and instead see it as a place to live. This is especially true if you are buying a starter home or just starting out with a mortgage, where you’re payments in the first few years are almost all interest anyhow.

A home is not an investment.  It’s a comfort.  It’s safety.  It’s security.

Paying it one way or another (whether pay down or pay off) should be a priority. Like it was 50 years, 30 years, 10 years ago for the generations that preceded us.

Ron at PopFi found a story about the sad state of Philadelphia’s Lynnewood Hall.  Once a beautiful, majestic mansion, today it has fallen into a state of disrepair.

Originally it was a 70,000 square-foot, 110-room mansion sitting on 480 acres (220 of which were working farmland to feed the family).  Sold by the Widener family in 1956, Lynnewood Hall is now a shell of its former self, picked clean by various purchasing religious groups to raise funds.  What was once the lap of luxury is now as empty and sad as Detroit.

I like Ron’s plan of restoring beautiful old mansions once winning a “super-epic” lottery.  I can paint, Ron.  And I like it.

I saw a home on my local MLS a few moments ago that for some reason made me want to check to tax records and look at the history of the home.

The 1600 square foot home sold in 2004 for $151,990.

Fannie Mae bought it back this year for $130,000.

It’s now on the market for $104,900.

The 33 percent price drop is pretty indicative of the current values of homes in one neighborhood in my city.  And it’s a really pretty house, to boot. Ouch.

I love this house and if I could, I’d buy it in a heartbeat.  Just a little TLC is needed (aka roof)!

This house, located at 1720 Anza between 8th and 9th Avenues, reminds me of the one in the animated film “UP”, trying to stand tall amongst its towering neighbors. I’m told someone lives there which is hard to imagine considering the massive hole in the roof…

Sold for $330,000.

H/T Brittney.

Famed singer Jim Morrison once lived at 8021 Rothdell Trail in Los Angeles. Today the Laurel Canyon home could be yours for about $1.2 million.   It’s a beauty, for sure!

Kellers Williams agents Chris and Sandy Carlson are the listing agents. If you’d like more information, they can be reached at (323) 496-6655 or 323-496-6655.

I have the very excellent privilege of spending a week in Savannah, Georgia for a baton twirling event in which my daughter is competing.  We came a couple of days early to have a little vacation getaway and today we drove to Tybee Island.

Tybee Island is absolutely lovely.  Although the day was hot (92-degree high), the beach was cooler because of the ocean wind.  Things are a bit more expensive here - well… for tourists.  We saw lots of t-shirts for $24.00.  My favorite was one of an eye, a heart, a tie, and an bee.  I *heart* Tybee.

My favorite site was the lighthouse.  My favorite drink was at the pavilion.  My favorite photo was this.

Now I have seen houses on stilts before… particularly in the beach areas of our nation.  But never a mobile home.  When the FHA inspector comes around to approve this loan, you can be sure he or she will be able to quickly verify how my “pins” there are.

The least expensive single-family home currently for sale on Tybee Island is listed at $197,000.  The next closest one $249,000 for a three bedroom, two and a half bath, 1400 square foot house overlook a marsh.  It could use a little updating, but all appliances are included: refrigerator, washer, dryer, stove, dishwasher.

If you have a load of money, homes on average go for between $500,000 and $700,000.  You definitely pay for the location!

Happy surfing!

The National Open House weekend sponsored by the National Association of Realtors is this Saturday and Sunday, April 10-11, 2010.  There are so many agents participating that even in my own office, we are having trouble finding an agent to cover floor time (where an agent takes calls and walk-ins) during our office hours.

In my own MLS area, over 1000 open houses are scheduled this weekend.  My county alone will have 141 open houses, including my own planned for a condominium I have listed.

If you’re on the fence about buying a home before the federal tax credit expires, this is the weekend you’ll want to get out, drive around, and see what’s out there!

Some agents will have the blue Realtor balloons floating… look for them!

In honor of Mardi Gras, I thought I’d point you to some drama happening in New Orleans right now with it’s infamous NOLA Tree House for artists.

First, it really is an amazing splash of lights and color.  I find it very visually appealing, but also emotionally awesome since I was a child of the 1960’s and 70’s… you know hippies, groovy, cool, artists.  However the surrounding community and the city don’t share the same views because of noise, sanitary, and safety issues.  As a result the city is evicting the residents and ordering the tree house to be disassembled.  From the Best of New Orleans Blog, here are links that tell the story,

Legalize the Tree House! The city sends a cease and desist order.

On the one hand, here you had this magical tree house and a great group of residents that were putting on just killer parties and we thought that treehouse organizers’ efforts deserved coverage and some exposure. On the other hand, how was the City of New Orleans going to react when they saw a tree house on the cover of Gambit with a story about all the crazy parties?

Not Cool: The Art House is Being Shut Down Completely, Residents to be Made Homeless. The marching orders came.

The residents have been giving until 4 p.m. CST to evacuate the home and have been told by the NOPD that if they don’t vacate, they will be considered squatters (an arrestable offense). The Louisiana SPCA is also there because of the dogs owned by some of the residents.

NOLA Treehouse: TREME Civic Association’s Side of the Story. (Key in complaining about the ruckus).

The first rather conspicuous violation of the HDLC rules was the address on the building that was totally not in keeping with the scale or design of the building.The neighborhood organization was not happy with this but felt in time they would be cited by the HDLC and be required to change it. And then the complaints started to come in concerning music being played until all hours on the weekends. Additionally there were complaints about trash on the street and in the neutral ground.

(Lesson learned: Don’t mess with the neighborhood association!)

NOLA Art House: The Fire Department’s Side. (This is the serious stuff.)

On the January 25, 2010, the NOFD inspected the property at 1614 Esplanade and found numerous fire code violations that would put the occupants in harms way in terms of bodily injury and property damage. The life safety and code violations are based on the change of use or occupancy, primary means of escape, electrical code infractions, and the lack of detection, alarms or communication systems to name a few. A copy of the statement explaining these violations was issued to the project property manager on January 25th. An inspection was conducted today and none of the violations were corrected.

That’s all there is, but I suspect it’ll be hard to keep a good artist down.  I think it would be amazing to see another similar structure sometime, but with proper zoning and safety features in place.  Good luck to the artists!

And let the good times roll, New Orleans!

Photo 1 by Justin Gordon from Facebook.
Photo 2 by NOLA ART House from Facebook.

We spent a good part of yesterday evening rearranging the living room furniture so we’d have room for the Christmas tree.  We did something we’ve never done before - put the couch in front of the window.  It was the only way since I picked up a recliner for my mother-in-law this year to help her back pain.

We have decided to save on our electric bill this year and not put up outside lights.  It makes me sad, but sometimes sacrifices must be made.  I’m not going so far as to not use tree lights, but if I decided against them this would be a great alternative!

HT: Brittney from San Francisco (and she found it via Flickr).