Seattle Real Estate Fixer

This was our second to the last project in 2005. We removed the stucco, gutted it inside and out, added the roof truss package, and resheathed it with HardiPlank.

My buddy Marlow did a great interview about light, day light, in a listing of hers. http://360digest.com/2010/04/26/light-a-commodity/#comments

It started me thinking about how when we buy properties in Seattle we look for South Western exposure. We want to have as much daylight as we can. As I recall we only have about 52 days of cloudless skies here in Seattle.

While I was thinking about this it so happened we cleaned a couple of condominium units, in different buildings, in different parts of the city. Both units had full sun light, sat high up above the street, and were both unobstructed in the views they had. Both were South West exposure.

In another post, or series, I’ll write about what makes some condo units a good value, but for right now I just wanted to make the point about the light.

It’s kind of common for artists to want Northern light because it’s more consistent during the day, and casts softer shadows. You still need to be higher up, like on a hill, for it to be effective.  You also need space from the next structure. You need the light to be a strong presence in your home for it to add value. Some architects have built careers on how they use light in a project.

For Seattle we need all the light we can get. It’s a dark place here, with some darker winters.

This is the last week end of shopping for the Federal Tax Credit. What that means is that the Real Estate markets, nationally, will begin to stabilize.

We are already seeing lending contract. Lenders who create Salable Notes to the secondary market are very picky about who they make loans to. Properties need to be in good condition, and borrowers need to have good credit. Every thing about the loan is looked at by the Under Writer with a very critical eye. The people buying Notes to use as Securities are also opening files, leaving nothing to chance.

Government intervention in the Real Estate market is getting to be more unpopular so I don’t expect there to be an extension of the tax credit or any other inducement to buy Real Estate coming from the Federal Government. The burden of home ownership will have to be a choice the buyer makes with a full understanding that there will be little appreciation in values.

What we will be talking about at greater length is the buyer’s ability to pay down the principle balance of the loan. On our other blog at www.BuyingSeattleRealEstate.com we talk about ways to buy your home.

 Our goal is to give the consumer a complete resource from Purchase to the Sale of a property. This is the first real installment of the Buying Seattle blog and I hope you will forgive me, this one time, of using shameless Google Ranking to get this article seen.

One of the signs that the Real Estate market is getting better is that a house on Queen Anne was purchased and completely gutted down to the studs inside, and out. That means that the price that was paid made it worth while to gut it. That’s just a side issue.

The real purpose of the post is the 41/2 inch slope from the front to the back on the east side of the structure. The contractor was adding top plates, then planing them down. he pointed out he has to do the same with the floor, and I asked why not just jack up the corner of the house. The contractor said is was a matter of money, but what I know is that it’s the fireplace they are trying to preserve. That’s what usually sinks the foundation.

What we found is that it is cheaper and easier to pay the house jacker to raise the fireplace than work around it. The contractor said it would cost $5K which seems about right.

Even if they do all the leveling the fireplace will still be off kilter, so if that’s the case I still think raising the corner from below is better. The real issue, I’m sure, is the vintage tile work on the face of the fireplace.

My immediate thought is to cut the flooring and siding away from the concrete and chimney to raise the structure. After that I would see if raising the corner of foundation with fireplace and chimney attached is worth it. It just makes sense to me that shimming sub floor to match ceiling supports is time consuming. It just never seems to work out.

2029 NE 97th is an interesting example of why it helps to go look at houses. From the outside you think this is run of the mill. Once you get past the entry you know some one was really paying attention to detail. The pictures, even online, are decieving. Even with a video it would be hard to capture the effect of the home. It’s what every one talks about wanting, done extremely well.

Actually this post is about how, in my opinion, buyers need guidance of an experienced agent. Let’s leave the discussion about commissions for another time and just concentrate on what I saw, as opposed to what a typical buyer would never know.

First was the structure. It was all reworked, reinforced, and over done. Next was the use of the basement space for storage. Effectively you can put four cars, two tandem, and two side by side with room for a shop. The house has a heat pump to compliment the electric heat. The kitchen, living, and dining room flow together then spill out the back southern exposure patio with hot tub. OK, that went a little over the top, but the idea is the same, the house has been well cared for.

Now I have driven by the house, and never stopped. Jeanne has had it open every week end that it’s been listed, so today, Saturday, while her signs were out I thought I’d just have a look. It just went to prove again that you never know by looking at the front of the house how it will be.

Some times when I read new paint, carpet, or hardwoods, I get suspicious. In this home all of the updating was just how the home was cared for over the years. The owner collects classic cars and has a talent for paying attention to details. The reason jeanne has had it open so much is because, like with me today, there is no best way to describe the condition. It has to be seen. It’s an experience of it’s own.

When you hire an agent you are paying some one to know the difference between cared for, and prepared for sale. As much as I try to write it’s still best to rely on years, decades, of home shopping experience.

Why Buyer Agency is Still Relevant

In Today’s techno-savvy home search environment, many buyers don’t see the need for a buyer’s agent.  Many of them see the selling commission on a property as money they will ‘save’ if they go directly to the listing agent, or use a discount Broker. As a buyer’s agent celebrating my 25th year in real estate, I see my job as more crucial than ever.  The reasons are many:

1)      A savvy buyer’s agent is more of an advisor. My goal is to find a home for my clients that will satisfy not only their current needs, but to be forward thinking to their future requirements so that they can stay 5-10 years minimum.  By doing so, they save the expense of moving, and hopefully recoup their original investment, and most importantly, ultimately enjoy their home. 

2)      To see the perspective beyond staging, cheap cosmetic fixes, and owner’s belongings.  Buyers often tell me their requirements for a home, but then fall in love with an impractical house, and it’s my job to remind them of the end goal. 

3)      I see myself as a ‘devil’s advocate.’ I see the condition of many houses, too; it’s my job to be proactive and warn about possible pitfalls in the condition of homes i.e. siding, electrical panels, wiring, plumbing, recommending oil tank searches and sewer scopes, and or locations.

4)      I have studied non-verbal communication and have negotiated offers for 25 years; I pay for my fee, and then some, in most negotiations, and just finding homes that are a good value or that are prime candidates for hard negotiating!

5)      The Internet is not a replacement for 25 years of full time real estate experience and knowledge.  Seeing a home online, and being fully informed are two different things.  I have seen literally thousands of homes in the Seattle area, and sold some of them multiple times.  My insights are invaluable.

6)      My business is based mostly on referrals from prior customers, and finding someone a home that they connect with, in a good location, condition, and price keeps the referrals coming!

Saving a 3% commission but not being properly represented can cost a buyer more in the long run on home repairs, buying overpriced homes, or failing to see other pitfalls.  A qualified, experienced buyer’s agent is worth their fee!

Ann Babb-Nordling has been a Buyer’s Agent for Chuck Cady and Associates for 25 years. In my research she has stood out as the definitive resource for Buyers. She can be reached at:

Ann Babb-Nordling      206.528.4436

ann@annbabb.com

http://www.chuckcady.com/

It’s time to get started on the project season, and one of the things we have done is jack houses up to put in a basement, or new foundation. My buddy Tim Flint has dug out basements on a small scale, maybe getting six inches or a foot of height, but nothing like what I saw today.

Swope Excavation knocked out a 7 foot section of foundation and took in a compact bull dozer. He went down the foot of floor space, and dug out a partial crawl space. The thing is he left the foundation in place and sistered an a one foot stub foundation half way up. In the center he poured four foot round pads to handle the supports, and in the crawl space there is a new foundation about two feet in from the outer perimeter.

The picture is kind of hard to explain. It should be a set of pictures which we will do in the future. Video is what we should do.

The point is that in the past ten years these kind of projects were less desirable while people moved around rather than remodel. Now you’re kind of stuck and the project will probably need to be paid for in cash. Less home improvement loans mean lower construction pricing. Cash works best.

For all this project is having done, the price is just a little less than $40K. If there were a complete new foundation the price would have been a little more than $50K. One of the things about this is that a lot of the work is casual labor kind of stuff, but Swope does it all.

This is one of the best jobs I’ve ever seen. The value in living space, of course, doubles the house. The stability, the longevity, and earthquake resistance will add many years to this classic Craftsman in a great location.

This is going to be a quick post concerning hard money lenders. This is a complicated part of Real Estate investing that is high risk on both sides. Hard money is when all other alternative lending has been exhausted. There is a real possibility that the borrower will lose the property, and a real probability the lender will get the property.

Interest rates, and the fees to borrow are high. 4% loan fees, and interest at 4% to 6% above the going rates are normal. This is for projects that need to get done to make a property bank financial. Never go into a hard money loan without an exit strategy. Never think of the loan as more than keeping it for 6 months. This is a get in, and get out, kind of deal.

OK, with those cautions in place I’m going to say that in these next few years hard money will become more of a game changer for a lot of people. A good example is selling a home where you have to repair a defect. In the past few years you could use a credit card to get a house in marketable condition. With credit tight you may have to risk your equity.

Hard money requires a 30% equity. If you borrow on a home worth $100K the end result of the value, after the loan, has to be $70K. In some cases as high as 50%. After 50% equity you can usually get a more main stream lender.

The link below has some good information. It is a site set up to get you to buy stuff, so just read the text. We will talk more about hard money as the business grows. It has been the bad step child of the lending industry for the past ten years, but as I said, in the future we will be finding more people investing with hard money loans.

This is a link to a site I think has some good information. My word of caution is to avoid clicking the advertising links.

http://hardmoneylendersonline.com/

Jeff Amsberry was a school teacher who painted houses in the summer months. He came up with a system of exterior painting that made the preparation work about having clean surfaces. It was an idea beyond pressure washing. As a teacher would Jeff had actually read the labels on the paint cans he bought that say to have a clean, dry, surface before you paint.

This expanded the Amsberry Painting services into cleaning exteriors as well as painting. It is now about 25% of the company business, and can be done all year long. A thorough gentle cleaning can prolong the paint job you have on your home for many years. It also freshens the look of the home. Because this is best done in the winter months Jeff chose to stick with painting. It was a hard choice to make.

 After 30 years the quality of the work has improved dramatically. The system for delivering high quality work is much more defined. The common sense approach makes for a much better job. It’s well worth your time to take a bid from Amsberry Painting to compare to those companies that are advertised as higher end.

Amsberry Painting 425-754-1037