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Some Levity! The Road to Alcoholism
November 8, 2011 By Leave a Comment
I used to be like this… 
Then I met a girl… 
She was like this… 
Together, we were like this… 
I gave her gifts like this… 
When she accepted my proposal, I was like this… 
I used to talk to her all night like this… 
And at the office I used to do this… 
When my friends saw my girlfriend, they stared like this… 
And I used to react like this… 
But on Valentine’s Day,
she received a red rose from someone else like this…
And she was like this… 
And I was like this… 
Which later led to this... 
and this… 
I felt
like doing this… 
So I started doing this… 
NOW look at me…
DAMN
GIRLS! 
14 Post-Recession Real Estate Terms, Translated
November 8, 2011 By Leave a Comment
By now, you’ve probably heard the age-old rules of thumb about translating home listings from
real estate lingo to plain English: ‘cozy’ = tiny, ‘needs TLC’ = needs massive repairs, and ‘all original details’ could mean beautiful moldings or moldy linoleum, depending on the home.
Almost everything about the real estate market has changed over the last few years, though, so I thought it may be time to update the real estate lingo decoder that accounts for those changes in the market.(That’s a picture of Ralphie getting his decoder ring in the mail, by the by.)
To that end, here are 14 line items of real estate jargon, divided into 2 buckets and decoded for the post-recession house hunter.
Bucket #1: Transaction signals. Distressed properties – foreclosures and short sales – make up about a third of the homes currently on the market, and these transactions have their own unique flow, timelines and challenges compared with “regular” equity sales. So, it only makes sense that listing agents have developed a set of abbreviations to brief prospective buyers on what they can expect and should be prepared for if they make an effort to buy such a home, with just a glance at the listing:
1. REO: Real estate owned by the bank/mortgage servicer, this acronym refers to homes that were foreclosed and repossessed by the former owner’s bank. It also signals that buying this property will involve doing a deal with the bank; possibly dealing with a different escrow timeline, offer process or contract forms than a non-REO sale; and almost always taking the place in as-is condition, among other things. Oh, yeah – and it might also involve one more thing: a great deal.
2. S/S, Subject to bank approval: What once stood for stainless steel is now being used to describe a short sale – a property whose seller anticipates will net them less than they owe on the home. Short sales are often described as “subject to bank approval,” which simply points out the obvious truth about these transactions, that the seller has very little control over whether the bank will allow the transaction or what price and terms the bank will approve of, and that the transaction might very well take the better part of your natural life could take 6 months or longer to close. Talk to your agent for more details about short sales, and to determine how you can tell the success-prone short sales from those that are less likely to close.
3. Pre-approved short sale: Many knowledgeable agents say no short sale is truly “pre-approved” unless and until the bank looks at a specific buyer’s offer and the seller’s financials at the same time, but some listing agents designate a short sale as “pre-approved” when a previous short sale application was approved at a given price, but fell out of contract for some other reason.
4. Motivated seller: This is a perennial term in listing parlance, but against the backdrop of the current market, translates to something like, “Have mercy on me.” I kid – this phrase often signals a seller’s flexibility in pricing and/or urgency in timing.
5. Coveted: In a word, “expensive.” No, seriously, even on today’s market, many locales have a neighborhood (or a few) which have been relatively recession-proof, have been fairly immune to the foreclosure epidemic and have seen home values continue to rise. If you see the word ‘coveted’ in a listing, chances are you’re house hunting in that sort of neighborhood, or there’s something about the individual property the home’s seller is trying to position as unique and desirable, as compared to competing listings (i.e., the view, location of the lot, or floor plan).
6. BOM, often accompanied by “No fault of the house:” Homes go in and fall out of escrows on today’s market constantly, often due to things the seller has no control over. BOM indicates a home that was in contract to be sold, but is now “Back on the Market.” “No fault of the house” may describe a situation in which the buyer lost interest in the home after a long short sale process or failed to get final loan approval, as contrasted to a situation in which the home’s inspection turned up deal-killing problems or the property failed to appraise at the purchase price.
7. Not a short sale, not a foreclosure. Sellers on “regular” equity transactions are often more negotiable on items like price and repairs, and are certainly able to close the transaction (i.e., let the buyer move in) sooner than sellers of REOs and short sale properties. Some also pride themselves on having maintained their homes in better condition than the distressed homes on the market. For buyers that seek quick certainty and closure, non-distressed homes can be especially attractive.
Bucket #2: Show Me The Money. The government’s role in financing homes has grown exponentially over the housing recession, so the alphabet soup of government housing and home financing agencies, their guidelines and programs is now more important to understand than ever.
8. OO/NOO: Owner-Occupied and Non-Owner Occupied – You’ll see this on listings in two different ways. First, the vast majority of home loans must comply with government loan insurance guidelines, including guidelines around how much of a condo complex must be owner-occupied (i.e., 75 percent, minimum, in most cases). Also, some bank-owned property sellers will consider offers from owners who plan to occupy the property if they buy it as much as a week or 10 days before they will look at NOO or investor offers.
9. FHA: Short for the Federal Housing Administration, which backs the popular 3.5 percent down home loan program. FHA guidelines also include somewhat strict condition and homeowners’ association dictates, so if a home’s seller notes that they are not taking FHA loans, they might be saying that the property has condition or other issues which disqualify it for FHA financing.
10. Fannie, Freddie: Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, federally controlled company/agency hybrids that now back most non-FHA (conventional) home loans, and thus provide the guidelines most Conventional loans must meet, including guidelines around seller incentives like how much closing cost credit a buyer can receive.
11. DPA/DAP: Down-Payment Assistance or Down-Payment Assistance Program
12. FTH/FTB: First-time homebuyer/First-time buyer – cities, states and large employers like universities tend to be the last bastion of these programs which offer mortgage financing or down payment assistance, usually to people who have not owned a home in the relevant city or state anytime in the preceding 3 years.
13. HUD: The federal department of Housing and Urban Development, which governs the guidelines for FHA loans, acts as a seller of homes which were foreclosed on and repossessed for non-payment of FHA-backed loans, and publishes the Good Faith Estimate and settlement statement forms every buyer and borrower will be provided at the time they shop for a loan and close their home purchase, respectively.
14. HFA: Short for Housing Finance Administration, this acronym refers to a loose body of state
and regional agencies which offer an array of financing and counseling programs that varies by state, from down payment assistance for first time buyers to the Hardest Hit Funds that offer foreclosure relief assistance and principal reducing loan modifications to unemployed and underwater homeowners in the states hardest hit by the foreclosure crisis.
I’m here to help – 209-713-3244 or email me.
How Appraisals Are Derailing Home Sales
November 7, 2011 By Leave a Comment
New requirements are resulting in more cancelled or delayed contracts.
When the appraiser’s number is different than the selling price the buyer and seller had agreed to, and unless the buyer agreed to put up more money, or the seller to lower the price, the deal is dead.
In the past, appraisals rarely disrupted a home sale. But new requirements and a difficult housing market are doing just that. Year-to-date through September, one third of realtors have said appraisals resulted in buyers and sellers delaying or canceling contracts or renegotiating to a lower sales price, according to the National Association of Realtors. That’s up from 29% in all of 2010 and up from less than 10% prior to 2009.
Indeed, lenders say they’re requiring more thorough home appraisals. Appraisers determine the value of a home largely by reviewing the prices at which similar homes nearby sold for in recent months. During the housing boom, appraisers could cite as few as three recently sold homes; today, lenders are often requiring two to three times that, says David Stevens, president and CEO of the Mortgage Bankers Association. To meet that quota, appraisers say they sometimes have to use homes that aren’t similar and may be foreclosures or short sales, though they are taking into account what this property would have sold for if it wasn’t a distressed sale, says a spokesman for the Appraisal Institute, an association of real estate appraisers. "Appraisers have become much more cautious," says Jack McCabe, an independent housing analyst in Deerfield Beach, Fla.
To be sure, a more thorough appraisal process does have its benefits. It lets a buyer know whether they’re offering too much to buy a particular home. "For buyers, the appraisal is a check and balance — it’s there to ensure the buyer isn’t overpaying and the lender isn’t over-lending," says McCabe.
It may also make houses cheaper for buyers — though not without more hassle. If the appraisal value comes in below the agreed buying price, the lender will typically offer a smaller mortgage. For example, on the house that Rogers sold, the buyer would have gotten a mortgage for $358,400, or 80% of $448,000. But when the appraisal value came in at $430,000, the lender adjusted the mortgage amount to 80% of the appraisal figure, or $344,000. The contract the buyer and the seller had signed, however, stated the higher buying price of $448,000, and the buyer (and potentially the seller) had the option to decide if they wanted to make up the $18,000 difference.
Typical solutions include having the buyer paying that difference out of pocket or the seller lowering his price — or both. And sellers often do lower their prices: For example, during the three months ending September, 13% of realtors reported contracts were renegotiated to a lower sales price, compared to 10% who said contracts were canceled and the 8% who said contracts were delayed, according to the NAR.
How sellers can prepare:
Before putting their home on the market, sellers should research what similar homes near them are selling for by looking at online listings, visiting open houses and speaking with realtors, says Rogers. "It’s always good to get more than one opinion," he says. They can also ask for their own home appraisal, which could give them a sense of how close (or far off) the figures are. The cost of an appraisal varies but typically ranges from $250 to $600.
How buyers can protect themselves:
When buyers make an offer, they should include statements in the contract guaranteeing they’ll receive their initial down payment (typically 3% to 5% of the agreed buying price of the home) back if full mortgage financing doesn’t come through for the agreed price or the appraisal value is below the offer that’s in the contract, says McCabe. Separately, the buyer (who’s required to pay for the home appraisal) should ask for the appraisal report and look at what properties the appraiser used as comparisons, says Rogers. It should, he says, include homes that are in the same neighborhood and the same style. In other words, a colonial home shouldn’t be compared to a ranch.
What to do if appraisal value comes in below the purchase price:
In this situation, experts say buyers have several options. If they’re no longer interested in the home, they can walk away. (However, without a contingency clause — see previous section — they risk losing their initial down payment.) But if they still intend to buy the house and they can prove the report excluded similar, nearby properties or had some other issue, they can appeal or ask their lender for a second appraisal.
If those strategies don’t work, the buyer and the seller can consider working out an agreement on their own. Lastly, to report a problem with an appraiser, consumers can contact their state’s appraisal board.
Have you experienced a low appraisal? How did you address that? Let me know how I can help – 206-713-3244 or email me.
10 design flaws in the average home
November 7, 2011 By Leave a Comment
Good design doesn’t have to be froufrou. It can be simple and useful in its beauty, making use of natural elements. Often it’s a matter of looking to things that are important to you apart from conventional ideas and to what the idea of home means to you and your family.
Poor planning and small budgets can lead to design mistakes, but often flaws become apparent as newer and better ways of home planning and construction come into favor.
We’ve chosen 10 common design flaws to highlight in this article, listed in no particular order. If you find some of these problems in your home, take heart. You’re not alone, and there are ways to resolve the situation. Carpenters and handymen have been around for thousands of years, and many do-it-yourself experts learned about home improvement while coming up with workable solutions for design flaws and getting hooked on the problem solving itself.
Read more here.
Modern Photo Wallpapers for Home and Office
November 7, 2011 By Leave a Comment
If you are inclined to feel that wallpapers are so behind the times, Eazywallz has photo wallpapers to remove this held belief and presents some of the astonishing dreamlike masterworks that shall infallibly be apt for modern-day house design. They are multi-shaded, multi-hued and animatedly vivacious and can jazz up any interior of your building. The up-to-the-minute fashion of photo-pragmatism and inexplicably out-sized blueprints take your mind away from dreary the 70s flower prototypes and cheesy incorrigible geometrics. Our innovative wallpapers are facile at customization, and let designers and proprietors comparable to turn practically anything into a mural, a fresco or a legendary frieze.
17 Things You Didn’t Know About Your Morning Coffee [infographic]
November 3, 2011 By Leave a Comment
I take my daily coffee rituals very seriously. And, compared to a few of my co-workers, I am only a moderate addict. We have convinced ourselves that we need (yes, need) coffee to wake us up in the morning, to make the tedious tasks a little more bearable, and to deliver us safely past the after-lunch lull. “Caffeinated” not only describes beverages, but it also fairly describes us after a rough day at work. I’m not judging you, coffee addict, I am bonding with you.
If any of these scenarios could be taken out of your super-secret diary, take a look at the infographic below for some fun facts about everyone’s favorite legal addiction. (And if you scoff in my general direction, preferring tea or diet coke, check out the infographic anyway for some fun dinner party trivia.) Did you know, for example, that coffee is one of the highest traded commodities, second only to oil? Or that coffee addiction was viewed as a vice in the 1700s?
Economy Alters How Americans Are Moving
November 2, 2011 By Leave a Comment
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The continuing economic downturn has drastically altered the internal migration habits of Americans, turning the flood of migrants into the Sun Belt and out of states like New York, Massachusetts and California into a relative trickle, an analysis of recent federal data confirms.
Essentially, millions of Americans have become frozen in place, researchers say, unable to sell their homes and unsure they would find jobs elsewhere anyway.
An analysis of new data from the Census Bureau and the Internal Revenue Service by the Carsey Institute at the University of New Hampshire confirms earlier census assessments of a migration slowdown, but also offers a deeper, state-by-state look at the impact of this shift, which upends, however temporarily, a migration over decades from the snowy North to the sunny South.
The institute’s study compared three years’ worth of data from the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey, which was released early Thursday and covered 2008-10, with the data from 2005-7. Since the survey’s findings are released in three-year increments, this was the first time that researchers had a set of data that included only years since the financial collapse began, allowing them to make a direct comparison to a similar period before the collapse.
Using this and other data from the I.R.S. that many researchers consider even more comprehensive, they found that migration into formerly booming states like Arizona, Florida and Nevada began to slow as soon as the recession hit and continued to shrink even into 2010, when many demographers expected it to level off. At the same time, Massachusetts, New York and California, which had been hemorrhaging people for years, and continued to do so in the three years before the financial collapse, suddenly saw the domestic migration loss shrink by as much as 90 percent.
Mobility always tends to slow in times of economic hardship, and there has been a gradual decline in American mobility for decades. But census numbers released earlier this year showed that domestic migration in 2010 had plummeted substantially since the recession began and reached the lowest level since the government began tracking it in the 1940s.
“When times get really hard it gets really hard for people to up and move,” said Kenneth M. Johnson, the senior demographer at the Carsey Institute, who conducted the analysis. “People who might have left New York for North Carolina are staying put. But that is a very recent change, so that places that had been growing rapidly suddenly aren’t, and the outflow has really slowed down.”
Mr. Johnson said that the same phenomenon could be seen within states, as the growth began to slow in once rapidly growing suburbs, and shrinking cities like Los Angeles and Chicago began to stabilize.
In the last three years, Florida saw its first net migration loss since the 1940s, according to the analysis. According to I.R.S. data, the state had a net migration gain of 209,000 in 2005 but a loss of 30,000 in 2009.
Nevada’s strong migration gains flipped to a net loss of 4,000. Arizona scraped by, ending the decade with a 5,000 net gain, down from 90,000 five years earlier. Maricopa County in Arizona, home to Phoenix, and Clark County in Nevada, home to Las Vegas, two areas that had exploded with growth at the start of the decade, began to see more people move out than move in.
On the other hand, New York had a net loss of 71,000 migrants in 2009, substantially fewer than the 170,000 migrants it lost in 2005. California saw its loss of migrants shrink to 71,000 in 2009, down from 201,000 in 2005.
The I.R.S. data covered the period through the 2009 tax year, but offered a detailed picture of the country in April 2010, when many returns were filed.
The internal migration data does not include those who came to states from other countries or the natural increase of the population through births. Those changes are major drivers for overall population growth and continued to make the Sun Belt and Western states the biggest population gainers of the decade. And young people, who have long been the most reliable group of new migrants to cities, also appear to be less willing to move to the cities in the Sun Belt.
In an analysis of the American Community Survey data made public on Thursday, William Frey, a senior demographer at the Brookings Institution, found that large metropolitan areas with once-flourishing economies, like Atlanta, Phoenix and Riverside, Calif., are no longer magnets for Americans ages 25 to 34.
“These places that were getting real new interest amid the bubble are not seeing that anymore, and in a way it is making people give another place a second look,” Mr. Frey said. “The dynamics of high housing costs on the coasts and relatively affordable inland is starting to change so, in effect, that shuts off the merry-go-round.”
“If nobody can buy or sell their homes, there’s going to be a stagnancy,” he added.
Atlanta, which ranked third as a destination for young people in that age group from 2005 through 2007, sank to No. 23 in the period from 2008 through 2010, according to Mr. Frey’s analysis. Phoenix dropped to No. 17 from second place, and Las Vegas plummeted to No. 35 from 10th place.
The winners were cities like Washington, which skyrocketed to sixth from 44th, Denver, which jumped to first from 12th, and Boston, which is now No. 26, up from No. 45.
Mr. Frey said that, in many ways, young people were staying in the more established cities with a kind of wait-and-see approach to the economy. He said he expected the relocation rates to pick up as soon as there were new housing and job opportunities for young adults.
“They are trying to bide their time in a hip place they know,” he said. “But there is going to be a pent-up demand for migration, because right now people are just putting their lives on hold.”
Jennifer Medina reported from Los Angeles, and Sabrina Tavernise from Washington.
Repairing a Finished Wood Floor
November 2, 2011 By Leave a Comment
The rich look of wood floors can add class and beauty to any room. The natural beauty of a wood floor never goes out of style and is very easy to incorporate in redecorating. But keep in mind that after much wear and tear, wood floors can look dull and worn and may need repairing.
Luckily, it is not always necessary to sand down the damaged part of your wood floor to give it a newer look. By filling cracks and gouges, your floor can look new again and it won’t cost you a lot of time, effort and money. With these helpful wood floor repair tips you won’t have to cover scratches or gouges with pieces of furniture or area rugs. If you have a stained floorboard that needs replacing, see How to Refinish Wood Floors. These small problems can be easy for anyone to fix with the right materials and tools. Remember that before you repair the floor, it must be cleaned thoroughly and all dust and debris must be vacuumed or swept up.
Fixing a Scratch on a Natural Finish
Tools and Materials You Need: • Polyurethane or urethane finish (small amount) • Artist’s paintbrush • Dry rag Apply the Finish: Get a small can of wood floor finish, usually polyurethane, urethane or varnish (If you are not sure, use polyurethane.) The sheen of your floor may be satin, semi-gloss, gloss, or high-gloss. Try to match the new finish to the finish on your floor so it blends well. These types of finish cover the scratch best on a floor that has been finished naturally, or with no coat of stain. Apply the polyurethane or other finishing material to the scratch with an artist’s paintbrush or any tiny paintbrush. The porous part of the scratched wood will absorb the finish and cover the scratch.
Buff the Scratch: Wipe away the excess polyurethane finish before it dries. If excess finish is not wiped away, it will be noticeable when the light shines on that spot. Buff with a rag to help the scratch to disappear.
Fixing a Scratch on a Stained Finish
Tools and Materials You Need: • Stain or furniture touch-up marker (similar color to your floor’s stain) • Polyurethane or urethane finish (small amount) • Artist’s paintbrush • Dry rag
Apply the Stain and Finish: If your floor was stained before it was finished, you must stain the scratch before applying the polyurethane or other type of finish. Use an artist’s paintbrush or any tiny brush and apply stain to the scratch using a similar color to that on the floor. You can also cover the scratch with furniture marker in place of stain. Let the stain dry for at least 24 hours and then apply the polyurethane using the same brush. Buff the Scratch: Wipe off the excess polyurethane that is not absorbed into the scratch before it dries so it does not leave a mark. Buff the scratch lightly with a dry rag to help it disappear.
Fixing Gouges
Tools and Materials You Need: • Latex wood filler • Putty knife • Sandpaper • Artist’s paintbrush • Stain (if needed) • Polyurethane, urethane or varnish (small amount) • Dry rag
Fill the Damaged Area: Fill the gouge with latex wood filler and smooth it over using a putty knife, removing the excess filler. Let the area dry completely and smooth it with sandpaper. Stain the Latex Wood Filler: If the filled gauge is very noticeable, it can be stained even if it is a natural finished floor. Use an artist’s paintbrush or any tiny brush to apply stain to the dried latex wood filler. Let the stain dry for at least 24 hours. Use a stain that matches the color of your floor as closely as possible. Apply the Finish: Using an artist’s paintbrush, apply polyurethane or any other finish to the area once it is dry. Wipe away excess finish before it dries and buff the area with a dry rag.