New Homeowners and Remodeling Projects

 

 

Should You Buy Someone Else’s Customized Home?

Buying a previously-owned customized home can open up some attractive and unusual options for a homebuyer.

You may love everything the former owner incorporated into the house and appreciate the extra amenities. If the features aren’t to your liking, however, you’ll need to factor in the additional cost and inconvenience of remodeling the home.

Here are the four factors to consider when buying a previously-owned customized home.

1. Indoor Customizations

Many typical indoor features are innocuous and often add value to the customized home:

§  custom and unusual floor tiles or coverings

§  wallpaper

§  chair rails and ceiling moldings

§  skylights

§  special light fixtures

§  built-in architectural shelves

§  work areas

§  movie rooms

§  mudrooms

§  children’s playrooms

Even if you don’t have kids who will use a playroom, it may be easy to modify the space and fixtures to fit your need for a home office. Repainting the walls, removing wallpaper and replacing carpet with something better fitting your taste are things you’d probably do in any previously-owned home, custom or not.

On the other hand, other features might take more time and expense to modify or maintain:

§  home gyms

§  special electronics, like built-in A/V systems

§  central home vacuuming system

§  unusual bathrooms

§  saunas

§  indoor pools
 

2. Outdoor Customizations

Customizations extend to the outdoors, too. These can include the following:

§  special exterior home trim features such as moldings and cornices

§  customized gardens and walkways

§  gazebos

§  workshops

§  greenhouses

§  guesthouses

§  unusual plantings

§  swimming pool area

§  statues

§  outdoor cooking and entertaining areas

These options can be wonderful if put to good use, but you don’t want to wind up perplexed as what to do with the spaces. While it may be easy to replace and plant new greenery in the garden, it may be costly to modify custom outbuildings, a pool or entertainment area for other purposes.

3. Buyer Pre-Approval

Keep in mind that customizations to a home can affect financing. When applying for a loan, you may need to create a list of the customizations for the lender. Some banks may not want to loan you the entire amount of the home’s value with the customizations.

Or, you may be required to put down a higher down payment. An appraiser will need to physically visit the property and assign a market value to the home and its customized features.

4. Do You Like the Home?

As with any potential home purchase, envision yourself living in the home. Don’t buy a previously customized home just because it is unique. You have to live there and be comfortable long after you have moved in.

If you don’t like the customizations and want to change them, get remodeling estimates before you buy so you are aware of all the expenses involved. After you have all of the information, put it down on paper and decide if it is worth the extra expense to make changes on top of the selling price.

A previously-owned customized home may just be the house of your dreams—and well worth the cost.
 

Title Terms: CC&Rs - What does it mean?

As part of the disclosure process, once a prospective buyer has an accepted offer on California real estate they will need to review the CC&Rs (if there are any) that exist for the home being purchased.

CC&Rs stands for Covenants, Conditions and Restrictions 
Sounds complicated, but it’s not really...although they can be VERY lengthy with LOTS of legal terms.  You will find them most commonly in subdivisions/housing tracts and they are generally recorded documents.
Simply put, CC&Rs are a description of things a homeowner can and cannot do with their property on the area in which the property resides.

Covenants are promises to do or not do certain things.
The homeowner might be prohibited from parking an RV on the street or in the driveway (a separate area would normally be provided).

Conditions are pretty much the same as covenants, except that it refers to either the monetary penalty, court injunction or action taken against the homeowner for violating a covenant.  A condition can also specify an action that a homeowner must take in order to correct a covenant violation.

Restrictions limit the activities of homeowners
(e.g., You can’t turn your property into a farm) to assure that the property use is consistent with the land use in the general area.

If there is a Home Owner’s Association (HOA) they have the authority to enforce these rules.  Please Note: CC&Rs DO NOT report on the status or solvency of their governing HOA.

SoCal home prices up 21%; February sales volume hits 6-year high

The six-county Southland saw the median home price rise nearly 21% over the year, while remaining essentially flat compared with January, real estate information provider DataQuick said Wednesday.
A total of 15,945 new and resale homes and condos sold in February — the highest volume for a February in six years. Buyers in Southern California paid a median of $320,000 last month as fewer homes sold in lower-cost Riverside and San Bernardino counties that have become a haven for investors looking to flip or rent out houses.

“Most every gauge shows prices are up significantly over the past year, even after adjusting for changes in the types of homes selling,” DataQuick President John Walsh said in a statement.
Still, last month's median price was still well off the 2007 peak of $505,000, Walsh noted.
The median sales price is the point at which half of homes sold for more and half sold for less; it is influenced by the types of homes selling as well as a general rise or fall in values.
Home prices have been on the rise as inventory has tightened significantly and interest rates have remained low. Investors have scooped up many low-priced and bank-owned properties to rent or flip and foreclosures have made up a declining share of homes sold.
Foreclosed homes were 15.8% of the resale market last month, down from 32.6% a year earlier.
Absentee buyers — chiefly investors, along with some second-home buyers — accounted for 31.4% of home sales in February, the highest figure since DataQuick began tracking the figure in 2000. Buyers paying with cash purchased a near-record 35.6% of homes.
Data from the previous two months shows investors playing a major role, Walsh said. But that may be influenced some by the holiday house-hunting season, which tends to skew the buyer pool more toward investors.
“March and April will offer a better view of how broader market trends are shaping up this year,” Walsh said. ”One of the real wild cards will be how many more homes go up for sale. More people who've long been thinking of selling will be tempted to list their homes at today's higher prices.”
As prices rise, more homeowners will escape their negative equity positions, allowing them to sell their homes and potentially loosening supply. “A meaningful rise in the supply of homes on the market should at least tame price appreciation,” Walsh said.
All counties — Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Diego and Ventura — saw significant price increases.
Orange County saw the most dramatic price gains as the county’s median sales price rose 22.3% to $477,000.  In Los Angeles County, the median sales price rose 17.1% — a sizable jump, but the smallest of the region. Buyers there shelled out a median of $350,000.

Why For-Sale-by-Owner Sales Fail

Homeowners obviously know their homes better than anyone, but that doesn’t mean they’re the best salespersons for their properties.

Some sellers are tempted to try a For Sale by Owner (FSBO) transaction because their local community is in the midst of a sellers’ market and they think they can sell easily without help. Others try the FSBO route because they want to maximize their profits and avoid paying a commission to a Realtor.

However, statistics show that selling your home with the assistance of a professional real estate agent will garner you a higher profit, enough to cover the commission as well as put more money in your pocket. According to the National Association of Realtor’s 2013 Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers, the average FSBO sales price was $174,900, while the average price for a home represented by an agent was $215,000, a difference of $40,100.

Why to Sell With a Realtor

Choosing to sell with a professional rather than on your own makes sense for a variety of reasons:

◾A Realtor has access to market data about recent sales and other homes on the market that can be used to price your home appropriately. Studies show that homes priced right when they’re first listed sell more quickly and for a higher price than those that linger on the market.

◾A Realtor can show your home when you aren’t available, can respond to inquiries from potential buyers and their agents, and can get valuable feedback from visitors – all things that save you time.

◾A Realtor can look at your home objectively and suggest ways to improve its appearance – by staging and minor repairs - so it appeals to more buyers.

◾Buyers typically prefer to look at a home without the seller present so they can feel more comfortable exploring the rooms and visualizing themselves in the property. At an FSBO sale, the seller must be present.

◾A Realtor can screen visitors to your home, which provides a measure of safety that FSBO sellers don’t have. In addition, by checking to see if the buyers are legitimate and can afford to purchase your home, a Realtor can help you avoid wasting time showing your home to unrealistic buyers.

◾Realtors have professional marketing expertise, contacts with other Realtors who work with buyers, and the support of a brokerage that can market your home more widely than you can as an individual.

◾A Realtor can help you negotiate a contract that not only garners you an appropriate price for your home, but that meets your needs for a settlement date and perhaps includes a period when you rent back your home from your buyer. In addition, a Realtor can make sure your contract is in compliance with all local regulations.

FSBO Dangers

Most buyers today work with a buyers’ agent to represent their interests. If you choose to sell your home on your own, you’ll be negotiating with a professional and relying on your own skill to finalize a contract. Not only could you end up selling your home for less money, you could leave yourself open to potential legal problems unless you have the contract vetted by an experienced real estate attorney.

FSBO transactions can be successful, of course, but 90 percent of homeowners prefer to work with a professional rather than risk an unsatisfactory home selling experience.

 

Zillow set to acquire Trulia for $3.5B in stock

The companies will maintain their separate brands, with Trulia CEO Pete Flint staying on board and reporting to Zillow CEO Spencer Rascoff. Although the deal has been approved by both companies’ boards of directors, it’s not expected to close until sometime next year. When the deal closes, Flint and another Trulia director will join the combined company’s board of directors.
Talks to bring real estate’s two most popular sites together started six weeks ago, Rascoff told Inman News.
Rascoff says the plan is for Zillow to offer a portfolio of brands in the real estate space, as it does with HotPads and StreetEasy in New York.

The new portal giant will be good for both consumers and the real estate industry, Rascoff said.
“The combined company can innovate even faster to help the consumer,” he said.
Also, with the immense reach, resources and talent that the portal giant can bring to the table, agents will get access to tools that will help them “take advantage of the technology revolution,” Rascoff said.
Flint shared the same idea on a call he and Rascoff held this morning for investors and investment analysts, and said the merger will also create savings in marketing. Zillow and Trulia are set to spend a combined $110 million this year on their national marketing campaigns — $65 million for Zillow, $45 million for Trulia.
Zillow already powers real estate search at Yahoo Homes, AOL Real Estate and MSN Real Estate.
“It ought to be quite clear to a listing agent or a broker that it behooves their seller to have their listing displayed on Zillow and Trulia or sites that Zillow powers,” Rascoff said on the call — a message he’s been hammering for months on social media and elsewhere.

4 Tips for Sellers to Seal the Deal

You want to get the best price for your homes as quickly as possible. Who doesn’t? But how do you entice prospective buyers to seal the deal? Impress potential buyers with these four well-researched real estate tips, and you may impress yourselves with the results.

1. Sales price

A correctly priced house is the key to selling a home. Buyers will be looking for a home to meet their price point and includes their top priorities. In most cases a home listing becomes stale due to improper pricing. A house priced too high may miss potential buyers, which costs time and money. And of, course, you don’t want to price yourself so low that you lose money on the house. You want to seal the deal.

2. Location, location, location

A home in an excellent location sells quicker and for more money. Home buyers seek quality of life in a neighborhood: parks, community pools, gyms and supermarkets close to home. Properties close to mass transportation, highways and fewer traffic zones save time, and they can add a lot of lifestyle convenience. This goes for future resale value, too: a home located a block from a noisy train station will have lower resale potential than one two blocks from a school and park.

3. Fix it up

This is the time to spruce up your house to seal the deal. Odd jobs you’ve put off: do them now. Fix the damaged door hinge, the chipped light switch, and the paint on the garage door. You don’t want a picky buyer to pass on your $300,000 home because they were put off by a spot of peeling paint that made them wonder if anything else is less than tip-top shape. You want to seal the deal instead by doing the little things.

4. Make your home welcoming

Sellers need to present a welcoming atmosphere. This is the best opportunity to showcase the qualities of your home for home buyer viewings so you can seal the deal. Clean up the yard as much as possible. Purchase a nice welcome mat and some potted plants to place around the entrance to the house. If your REALTOR® makes suggestions for staging the home interior—decluttering, moving furniture, maybe painting a wall—heed them. They know what’s selling. And they want no less than that for your home, too.

All sellers want to be able to seal the deal quickly, so that they can move on to their next experience. Following these quick sellers tips can help get that done sooner, rather than later.