The Money Pit

A dark legend in the world of real estate, the monster in the closet, the secret fear of all investors.

Why do we do it?

Why do we pour time and money, blood, sweat and tears, into a home renovation when the house turns out to be the equivalent of a lemon on the car lot?

 Maybe it's because Americans love a challenge. Maybe it's because we're uneducated about what we're getting ourselves into, and too proud to stop when we figure it out. Or maybe it's a secret emotional attachment to the roofs over our heads that leads us to take on these houses that just won't cooperate.

Some people are getting smart. In fact, there's a whole business devoted to those who want to weed out the lemons, and they're ruthless about it when they get going. Professional house flippers, who renovate strictly for resale value and for profit, have learned how to take emotion out of the process. As soon as a professional house flipper sees signs of a money pit, they're liable to bail, cut their losses, and call in the demo team.

But it's not the professionals that are getting in over their heads. The susceptible ones are those buying the Victorian on the corner that caught their eye. As far as they're concerned, it just needs a little TLC. Even if it does have a condemned sign across the front door.

Real estate has always been an American passion, but lately, with a huge boom in the market and an even larger boom in home renovation shows on television, we've become more and more obsessed with our homes. Maybe it's this starry-eyed view on renovation, brought on by television shows where a house can be demolished and rebuilt in the course of a weekend that is causing the problems.

Hidden problems are common in old and defective properties, but smart investors generally hire home inspectors who tell them what might be going on before they even sign the contract. If it looks like too much, they back out. It's the private investors, the people determined to own a renovated classic that get into trouble. And that's not to say they don't hire inspectors. It just means they might not listen to them.

If you purchase a money pit, the results could be disastrous. It could involve crews of grim men with water vacuums and boards and ladders. It could involve far more cash than you'll ever gain back on the market if you decide to sell the thing.

On the other hand, if you have the resources for it, refusing to back down when your house strikes back could be half the fun.

     

www.pinellas247.com

www.suncoastrenttoown.com

Dobler Consulting Inc
2339 Warwick Dr
Oldsmar
FL 34677
United States

To stop further mailings or to change your details, click here.

The House Flipping Trend

Picture this:  You purchase a run-down old house at a local auction.  The house is falling apart, maybe even in the kind of ways that require Condemned signs, and you walk away thrilled to have spent $65,000 of your hard-earned money to own it.  What world is this?

This is the world of house-flipping.  If you haven't heard of house-flipping, chances are you don't work in real estate.

Then again, neither do many house-flippers, at least not at first.  House-flipping is the new term devised for people who buy properties in bad shape, ideally with little structural damage but plenty of cosmetic wounds.  These people rebuild the houses within a strict profit margin, and use a little real estate know-how to produce a salable house, ready for the market.  Then they sell it for many times the price of original investment plus construction.

With the real-estate market booming, more and more everyday people are getting involved in this business of fixing up real estate to sell.  Some people live in the houses as they flip them; others just buy, buy, buy, send out crews, hold open houses, sell, and buy some more.  It all depends on your budget, and the kind of flipping you're willing to do.

It generally takes a professional, with lots of investors and money in the right places, to take a truly destroyed property and make it salable.  Amateurs do best sticking to houses that might have terrible paint (or no paint at all), ripped-up lawns, bad tile, and other cosmetic damage that they can fix at low cost.  Once you get into the horrors that can be caused by termites, rotten wood, and caving ceilings, you're probably talking about a job for the professionals.

Of course, many shrewd house-flippers, even the ones with investment backing, won't flip a house with too much damage.  You might fall in love with a rustic old Victorian and cherish the idea of restoring it to glory, but the world of a house-flipper is all about profit.  Those who get emotionally involved with the properties are in trouble.  Before you know it you'll find yourself in over your head trying to fix problems whose expense is going to far surpass what you might be able to sell the house for later.  A true house flipper knows when to walk away.

For anyone intrigued by this new trend in the real estate market, it helps to know as much as possible about your local real estate market.  Maybe a house with some fairly serious damage is still worth the cost of repair if it's located in a prime area.  Informed flippers will know at a glance what might be worth their time.  The world of house-flipping is an oddly shrewd one, considering the creature comforts they work with every day.  These are people that are able to thrill over installing a cathedral ceiling, and walk away from it at a moment's notice if it flies over budget.  These are not people who go weak at the sight of old paneling.  They might go weak, however, at the cost of repairing it.

It all boils down to a numbers process.  Those interested in house flipping should start slowly.  Study the market, watch the numbers, and get advice wherever possible.  When you make the plunge and purchase your first flippable house, congratulations.  Now don't get attached, because if you do your job correctly, it won't be yours for long

     

www.pinellas247.com

www.suncoastrenttoown.com

Dobler Consulting Inc
2339 Warwick Dr
Oldsmar
FL 34677
United States

To stop further mailings or to change your details, click here.

The Final Walk Through

So you've bought a house. The paperwork is signed and in order, and all that remains is your final walk through. Wait! Your job isn't over.

The final walk through can be a crucial step in the home-buying process. While it's true that home inspections and all other negotiations should be taken care of well before this time comes, the final walk through is by no means a free day. There are a few things that you as the buyer must be aware of during this final step in the process. Remember, the condition of your future home is on the line.

The final walk through on a home should always occur after the sellers have moved out, but before you go to the final closing and receive the deed. This allows some time for any loose ends to be cleared up, and it also means that with the original owners' possessions out of the home, you'll be able to see things as they really are. Keep in mind that at this point in time, you have already signed the contract to purchase the home. Now is the time to verify that everything on the physical premises is as it was stated on the contract at the time you agreed to purchase. Was anything damaged as the owners moved out? Did they leave all of the appliances they agreed to leave, and are they in the same working order as they were when you signed? Feel free to actually walk around and inspect the house at this point. It is your moment to point out any discrepancies and avoid possible major headaches later.

If you do find anything amiss, the final walk through gives you the chance to settle matters with the sellers and negotiate costs of repair or replacement on anything that has changed since the contract was signed. In most cases, you will be allowed to withhold the amount required for repairs from the amount you have agreed upon for payment. This is a lot like a security deposit in an apartment: The sellers are responsible for keeping the condition of the house as it was on the contract sign date, and any repairs are their financial responsibility if they wish to uphold the contract.

If for any reason repairs needed are serious, or if the condition of anything in the house is seriously altered, it is possible to put off closing the sale until the required repairs are made. You as the buyer have the right to have the house in the exact condition it was in when you agreed to make the purchase.

The final walk through is extremely important because once the deed changes hands and the process is complete, anything you did not take note of is no longer the seller's responsibility. So be vigilant, bring an expert if you have to, and ask plenty of questions. After all, your future home is worth a second look.

    

www.pinellas247.com

www.suncoastrenttoown.com

Dobler Consulting Inc
2339 Warwick Dr
Oldsmar
FL 34677
United States

To stop further mailings or to change your details, click here.

Staging a Home for Sale

So your house is up for sale. It's a good house, well-priced for the neighborhood, and in decent repair. But nobody's buying. What's wrong?

The fact is, you might be looking right past the problem. You've lived in your house day in and day out, and you're accustomed to it being, well, your house. It takes a leap of faith and imagination to picture another family living within those familiar rooms. If it's hard for you to imagine someone else living in your house, then chances are, it's hard for potential buyers to imagine living there, too.

A new fad sweeping America is called "house staging." This is, essentially, "de-personalizing" a house. Staging means making small changes to decor to make it easier for potential buyers to imagine themselves and their possessions in the house. It's a subtle skill, and it works.

Staging can be a difficult process if you're still living in the home while you're showing it. But keep in mind that when it sells, you're going to be moving anyhow. Take advantage of this opportunity to start packing, and start with the things you use the least but see the most: Your decorations. It might be a little uncomfortable at first living in a house with stripped of photographs and refrigerator magnets, but it's worth the effect it will have on walk-throughs. When people see a house without personal effects, it reminds them of a showroom or a model home, and makes it easier for them to imagine their own belongings in the rooms. Think about it: Would you, as a buyer, feel more at home in a living room crowded with photos of someone else's kids, or a living room with clean walls and a vase of flowers on the table? The former makes you feel like you're intruding. The latter makes you feel the room's potential.

Speaking of walls, it's important to take a good look at your color choices. For staging purposes, soothing neutrals are the best choices for your walls. Although it's easy for a buyer to paint the house once they move in, the psychological effect of seeing paint colors that clash with their furniture or taste could cost you a sale.

Finally, staging involves one other major step: See your rooms in a new way. Just because your family has always had the computer set up in one corner of the bedroom doesn't mean it has to stay there. Do some experimenting and try putting the computer in an alcove off the front door, or behind a dining room wall. Create new, practical spaces with your furniture to show buyers the potential in each room. Try placing a small sofa or table and chair in the office and making it a sitting room instead. All houses have plenty of possibilities. The trick is finding the potential in your house, and displaying it in an effective way so buyers will be excited about making those rooms their own. 

   

www.pinellas247.com

www.suncoastrenttoown.com

Dobler Consulting Inc
2339 Warwick Dr
Oldsmar
FL 34677
United States

To stop further mailings or to change your details, click here.

Sprucing Up Your Yard and Garden to Sell

If you are thinking of selling your home, the best way to raise the value of your property is to fix the place up!  Whether it be new landscaping, a new front door, remodeling the kitchen or bathroom, or building a fence, every dollar that you put into your home to make it better for the person who is going to purchase the home in the future.  While you are in the process of fixing things up, putting dollars into your home may seem a futile effort. 

 

What if these improvements don't raise the market value or salability of your house at all? These are concerns that all home owners looking to sell are faced with, and while they are valid concerns never make the mistake of underestimating what a few spruce ups can do the selling power of your home or property. 

 

Curb appeal is everything.  Most intelligent prospective home buyers will not stop to attend the open house for a home whose gardens are falling apart or are nonexistent, whose lawn has bare patches and whose porch is sagging in the middle from the weather.  When it comes to selling a home, the prospective buyer's first impression really is everything.  A good tip is to try to put yourself in the other person's shoes.  Stand in front of your home and walk up the walkway.  Be as critical as you can of your home, it will help you in your improvement endeavors.  What is it about the house that first attracted you to purchase it? Are these things still intact?  Do you see any problems with the house that a prospective buyer might notice, such as an old roof or a broken screen door?  Homes are already expensive enough; most buyers are not going to want to make the home repairs that you should have made upon purchase of the property.  Well established gardens and curb appeal can add as much as 20 percent to the sale value of your property, meaning that if you make a good transaction all of the money you put into the project should come back to you.

 

Do you have things in your yard such as garden gnomes and lawn furniture, or even a child's swing set or jungle gym in the back yard?  It is strongly recommended that you remove these things from your yard before showing your home if at all possible.  Of course, removing a swing set or jungle gym would be a hefty task, but perhaps moving it to a corner of the yard that is a little more difficult to see from the backyard will help.  If they think garden gnomes are tacky and you have three or four scattered about your front lawn, believe it or not that may turn a prospective buyer off. The prospective home buyer cares as much about outer appearance for their future home investment as you do, and they should be able to picture their own things in the yard and garden. 

 

   

www.pinellas247.com

www.suncoastrenttoown.com

Dobler Consulting Inc
2339 Warwick Dr
Oldsmar
FL 34677
United States

To stop further mailings or to change your details, click here.

Small is Beautiful

Remember the studio apartment you had in college? That one room apartment served as bedroom, living room, kitchen and den; it probably held a daybed, a television, a coffee table, and maybe even the stove and refrigerator along one wall. Moving into a real home after experiencing such a cramped way of living can be a huge relief. So it comes as a surprise to some that home owners today are deliberately building smaller. If you've got the cash, some think, why not slap on as much square footage as possible?

But sometimes building smaller means building smarter.

It's a fact: small is more efficient than large. Building a large house requires a lot of building materials and manpower, and consequently, a higher cost. That's why many larger homes are built with lower qualities of wood and other materials- if the builders used the best materials, they would price themselves right out of the market. A smaller home, on the other hand, can be built with high-quality materials and attention to detail, and still not fall into an impossible price range. If you're not particularly in need of floor space but you love the idea of oak trim and vintage cabinetry, then it might be in your best interests to build small.

No matter how much you spend to build the house initially, a smaller house will save you money in the years to come. Heating and cooling costs of a smaller-sized home will be a fraction of what they are in larger properties, and repairs on a one-story roof run much cheaper than those on a three-story mansion. Painting or siding the exterior of a house that doesn't have as much exterior is an easy job and well within most home owner's budgets.

Of course, there is the space factor. But unless you have a large family or another reason why you need lots of square footage, don't rule out small homes as being too cramped and claustrophobic. In the hands of the right designers, smaller spaces can be given wonderful, wide-open feelings that rival those of larger houses. Smart designers know the tricks of opening up a small space and giving it the flow it needs to feel larger. Rooms that open into each other, a lack of hallways and narrow entryways, and large windows can all help a small home feel gigantic. A light style of furniture and simple, bold pieces on the walls complement a small space perfectly and give it a clean, contemporary feel. Imagine living without the compulsion to fill your space with "stuff." Imagine a home where one or two quality chairs and a sofa can make a room come alive.

So if you're considering building or buying, consider going small. It's the new, budget-conscious wave in home design

 

   

www.pinellas247.com

www.suncoastrenttoown.com

Dobler Consulting Inc
2339 Warwick Dr
Oldsmar
FL 34677
United States

To stop further mailings or to change your details, click here.