An important point to remember is that remodeling not only improves a home’s livability, it also enhances its curb appeal with future buyers.

Market value is the price the house will bring at a given point in time, once the buyer and seller establish a “meeting of the minds” on price.

The sales price is the actual amount a home sells for.

Your real estate agent can provide a comparative market analysis, an informal estimate of value based on the recent selling price of similar neighborhood properties. Reviewing comparable homes that have sold within the past year along with the listing, or asking, price on current homes for sale should prevent you from overpaying.

A certified appraiser can provide an appraisal of a home. After visiting the home to check such things as the number of rooms, improvements, size and square footage, construction quality, and the condition of the neighborhood, the appraiser then reviews recent comparable sales to determine the estimated value of the home.

Lenders normally require an appraisal—which run between $200 to $300—before they will approve a mortgage loan. This protects the lender by ensuring the home is worth the money you want to borrow.

You also can check recent sales in public records, through private firms, and on the Internet to help you determine a home’s potential worth.

Market value is the price the house will bring at a given point in time, once you and the buyer establish a “meeting of the minds” on price.

The sales price is the actual amount the home sells for.

Your real estate agent can provide a comparative market analysis, an informal estimate of value based on the recent selling price of similar neighborhood properties. Reviewing comparable homes that have sold within the past year along with the listing, or asking, price on current homes for sale should prevent you from overpricing your home or underestimating its value.

A certified appraiser can provide an appraisal of a home. After visiting the home to check such things as the number of rooms, improvements, size and square footage, construction quality, and the condition of the neighborhood, the appraiser then reviews recent comparable sales to determine the estimated value of the home.

You also can check recent sales in public records, through private firms, and on the Internet to help you determine a home’s potential worth.

RISMEDIA, Oct. 31, 2007-At least with a flood, Noah could escape on an ark. With drought, he would have been stuck in the mud.

Drought has beset more than one-third of the U.S. in 2007. Much of the West continued its decade-long aridity, while parts of the Southeast-from Mississippi to Virginia-experienced extreme drought.

Global warming will increase precipitation in some places and drought in others.

Warmer air causes faster evaporation over land, which, with other factors, leads to drought. And once in drought, it’s hard to break the warm-dry cycle.

Average annual temperatures are increasing across the continental U.S., shifting warmer climates north. Average U.S. annual temperatures are expected to rise from 5 to 9 degrees fahrenheit during this century.

Drought is now embedded at the two ends of the Sunbelt-the Southwest and the Southeast. Columbia and Princeton University researchers recently projected a century-long drought in the Southwest.

Decreased precipitation is also predicted for the lee of the Rocky Mountains, Oklahoma panhandle, North Texas, eastern Colorado and western Kansas.

But even where precipitation is projected to increase, warmer temperatures will
increase the rate of evaporation. One study suggested that higher evaporation rates will outpace precipitation gains in many areas, resulting in dry conditions.

Drought predictions for a particular state or even region get more and more iffy the further into the future they are made. But short-term predictions-the next six months-are reasonably good; go to the National Weather Service’s Climate Prediction Center at http://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/.

With drought come water conflicts, reduced agricultural production, degraded water recreation, water-quality problems, higher prices and greater fire hazards. Fires covering several hundred thousands of acres are now common in the West.

The annual economic cost of drought-estimated at $6-8 billion in 2000– typically exceeds those of hurricanes and floods.

Warming temperatures-and even more certainly drought–will change what farmers plant where, the types of forests that grow in different places and second-home patterns.

If drought were to persist in the Southeast, for example, water constraints would limit growth and development across the board-in cities, suburbs and second-home communities.

If the Sunbelt gets hotter and drier, markets for retiree housing and second homes will weaken and property values fall. The loss of recreational water in these states would be a harder blow over time than the occasional hurricane.

Several million Americans buy country property for second homes, investment and recreation each year. What should warming and drought mean to buyers of country property, particularly second homes?

Think about it. Factor warming and drought into where you look to buy. Water supply should now be a big part of a buyer’s location choices. Drought projections will not be pinpoint accurate, but they may help you find states that seem to be less prone to drought.

Avoid places with chronic drought and water shortages. Where agriculture already depends on irrigation, look elsewhere.

No place is immune, but some places are likely to be more water-dependable than others. Look from Minnesota east to Maine, south to the upper Ohio River Basin. Look higher in watersheds. Look where it’s now cold and wet.

Look at country in and around…dare I say it…the Rust Belt.

Design defensively. Landscape against fire and for water conservation. Use rain barrels. Excavate a deep pond near your house. Make sure fire trucks can get to your place and turn around. Consider a waterless toilet for emergency use.

Store water for those non-rainy days. Catch water in a roof-fed cistern. Build emergency water supply in plastic tanks that can gravity-feed your house. Add one or two storage tanks into your normal water-supply system.

Conserve. While I hate low-flush toilets are much as the next guy, economical water use makes sense. It’s painless and saves money too.

Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) published Are You Ready? A Guide to Citizen Preparedness in 2002 (http://www.fema.gov/areyouready/).

The section on “Emergency Water Shortage” includes sound advice on indoor and outdoor conservation tactics. The book also covers other natural and man-made hazards.

Thinking about drought doesn’t guarantee immunity, but it may improve your odds of staying wet.

National drought maps showing impacts, stream flow, soil moisture, vegetation health and daily fire danger are at http://www.drought.unl.edu/dm/current.html. State information is at http://water.usgs.gov/waterwatch/?m=dryw&w=map&r=us.

Curtis Seltzer, land consultant, is author of How To Be a DIRT-SMART Buyer of Country Property at www.curtis-seltzer.com.

RISMedia welcomes your questions and comments. Send your e-mail to: realestatemagazinefeedback@rismedia.com.
 

“It’s impossible to time any market,” said Piero Orsi, president of the Realtor® Association of NorthWest Chicagoland. “Realtors have worked with buyers and sellers in all types of markets and know what changes or improvements can generate the quickest sale at the best price.”

A common mistake for sellers as the market slows is to set an unrealistic price for their home. A house that is priced appropriately for the market will be taken more seriously and will sell more quickly than one that’s overpriced.

One of the easiest ways to properly price your home is to request a comparative market analysis (CMA), or a report telling you how much your house is worth comparable to other homes sold in the area in the past year. A local Realtor not only has experience with these types of reports, but access to the sales records in your area and can complete this analysis upon request. Once you have a proper price for your home, you can spend some time preparing it for sale.

The changing colors of the fall season can make for a beautiful landscape for a listing. Since most buyers tend to be more inclined to request a showing if a home’s exterior is visually appealing, focus some of your time on improvements to your curb appeal and add interior touches. Even small adjustments can make or break a sale.

Here are some quick tips:

- Keep the lawn tidy. Rake up excess leaves that may distract buyers.
- Add some seasonal accents to your home. Hang a fall wreath on the door or place pumpkins on your front porch.
- Consider baking a pie before your open house. Or burn a candle to fill the home with the scent of cinnamon or apples.
- Open blinds and turn on the lights to brighten the home.
- Emphasize your fireplace if you have one. Light a fire if the weather is cool to create a sense of warmth.
- Trim any bushes or trees that might obstruct the view of your home.
- Move pets to another location before showings.

“The value of your home does not depend on the season,” said Piero Orsi. “Set a competitive price, familiarize yourself with the current market and be patient. Your sale will follow.”

For more information, visit www.illinoisrealtor.org.

RISMedia welcomes your questions and comments. Send your e-mail to: realestatemagazinefeedback@rismedia.com.
 

The American Society of Appraisers (ASA) believes that lender pressure is an ongoing problem for appraisers and is committed to supporting legislation to reform fraudulent practices in the mortgage lending industry.

The new law makes it a crime in California for any interested party in a real estate deal to pressure an appraiser to appraise a property for a predetermined amount.

“The new law in California is a good first step.” said Abel Morales, an Accredited Senior Appraiser of the American Society of Appraisers. “It recognizes that appraisers are often pressured from a variety interested parties in a real estate deal and they need to have some form of protection from that.” Morales continues “The system is so flawed that many appraisers risk being blacklisted, not paid for their work, or not being hired again if their appraisals are lower than the desired number.”

The reason it so important to have an unbiased appraisal is because the appraiser is the only objective third party involved in a real estate transaction. The appraiser can perform an important role in protecting the home buyer and financial institution by giving an accurate appraisal of a property’s value without pressure from the parties involved.

“Home buyers need to protect themselves by checking the credentials of everyone involved in the transaction and requesting that their assigned appraiser be state licensed and accredited by a national professional organization,” said Michael H. Evans, a Fellow of the American Society of Appraisers who practices in Chico, Calif. “Appraisers with advanced accreditations have more to lose if they succumb to pressure than appraisers who are new to the field or who only maintain the minimum certification required by law. They also have more experience dealing with this type of pressure and are not as affected by it.”

ASA reminds consumers to hire a qualified and professionally accredited appraiser. For information about real estate appraisals, or to find an accredited appraiser near you, log on to www.appraisers.org or call 1-800-ASA-VALU.

RISMedia welcomes your questions and comments. Send your e-mail to: realestatemagazinefeedback@rismedia.com.
 

RISMEDIA, Oct. 8, 2007-If a recession is coming, is rural land a good place to have your money?

The answer does not depend on what your definition of “is” is. But there’s no one-size-fits-all answer, because much depends on the severity, length and characteristics of any economic pullback.

And everything else depends on the land you’ve bought–its price, financing terms (if any), location, uses and affordability in light of your income, among other factors.

Land bought with an Adjustable Rate Mortgage (ARM) will benefit from a recession’s lower interest rates.

But if you’re laid off during a recession, you may either lose the land or have to sell it a low price to get free of its debt.

Land bought at a too-high price will lose value.

Easy credit, ARMs and speculation hyper-inflate prices in good times; when times sour, they can boil you.

Most types of rural land have not lost value in recent months. The factors that have steadily lifted their worth during the past decade are not mainly speculation and cheap credit.

Second homes that have doubled or tripled in value in the past several years are the exception. They would be front-line casualties in a recession.

The most vulnerable are likely to be those in destination settings, particularly dedicated communities.

The least vulnerable second homes are those within a reasonable driving distance of metropolitan areas.

Undeveloped land that has marginal characteristics-so-so location, limited uses, negatives-will not do well. But quality land will ride out a recession. Population growth, not speculation, is the flood lifting this boat.

The floor under timberland is its long-term appreciation. That’s why pension funds, endowments, investors and trusts are putting money into it.

Quality land, bought at the right price with sensible financing, should weather a recession better than stocks and many other investment alternatives.

Buying land on time with a long-term fixed rate, coupled with tax-deductible interest and cash potential from a partial sale or rental, is a strategy that floats over turbulence.

The credit crisis we now see is the product of different groups each working the angle of self-interest. Mortgage borrowers jumped at low-introductory rate ARMS and interest-only loans.

Banks sold their sub-prime loans in packages to investors who bet these risks wouldn’t bite. Banks began seeing packaged, hinky debt as a revenue stream.

Investors-hedge funds, pension funds and insurance companies-borrowed to buy these packages of shaky loans.

When mortgage borrowers started being pinched by higher interest rates, foreclosures and other problems, many sectors of the economy yelled “Ouch.”

Common sense has a way of rearing its ugly head. Eventually, lenders will start lending again on the basis of genuine value. Recovery starts with quality borrowing and quality lending. Good land is a better place to wait out a recession than most others.

Curtis Seltzer, land consultant, is author of “How To Be a DIRT-SMART Buyer of Country Property.” For more information, visit www.curtis-seltzer.com.

RISMedia welcomes your questions and comments. Send your e-mail to: realestatemagazinefeedback@rismedia.com.

New sites encourage visitors to bring the real estate conversations they have with their office-cube mates or drinking buddies to the Internet, allowing them to pose questions to strangers about housing values in a specific part of the country, or debate the merits of a certain street in San Jose.

“Americans are obsessed with real estate, whether they own it, aspire to own it or are remodeling it,” said Brian Boero of 1000 Watt Consulting, an Oakland company that works with both real estate firms and companies trying to create online communities. So sites like Trulia and Zillow, which both feature real estate content enhanced by users’ questions, answers and discussions, are trying to take that public fascination and channel it into a new medium.

A real estate site is a natural place for “user-generated content” to proliferate, said Pete Flint, chief executive of Trulia, at www.trulia.com. The 2-year-old San Francisco company’s main offering is listings of homes for sale and information about previous sales, but in May it added “Trulia Voices” to its menu, allowing registered users to post and answer questions on any real estate topic they choose.

“Consumers clearly have real estate questions, and they’re looking for answers, but perhaps nervous about getting in touch with an over-enthusiastic agent who might persistently contact them,” Flint said. The benefit he sees for consumers in using Trulia Voices is “it’s anonymous, it’s free, it’s personal and it’s fast and they get answers back from enthusiasts, residents and agents.”

One recent question from a Trulia user, for example, asked: “How long to sell a starter home in Sunnyvale?” The first answer came 12 minutes later.

Other big names in online real estate are in on the social media fervor. Among them:
–Zillow, at www.zillow.com., which catapulted into household-word status last year by offering value estimates and aerial mapping of about 70 million homes nationwide, now includes a Q&A feature and online discussions. Last fall, the site launched its user-generated content by allowing users to add updated information about their own homes to Zillow’s database. The company’s new, well-visited “discussions” feature is full of timely debates.
–Last summer, brokerage ZipRealty, at www.ziprealty.com., began allowing registered users to rate homes for sale on a variety of criteria; the ratings can be viewed by other registered users.
–Realtor.com. a few months ago began offering consumers access to Realtors’ blogs from all over the country at talk.realtor.com. Realtor.com.’s parent company, Move, sees this as a way for consumers to use the blogs as “a search and evaluation tool to select an agent that best fits their needs.”

Cautious users

At StreetAdvisor, a site launched in the United States this summer by Australian brothers Jason and Adam Spencer, the mission is to get users to rate the street they live on, and provide commentary about it. In three months, 1.5 million streets have been added, Jason Spencer said, but he admitted it’s hard to get users to add content as fast as the company would like. Out of every 10 people who sign up for the site, perhaps three write a review straight away, he said.

“They don’t want to be the first to interact. People are very cautious about what they put online,” he said.

Another surprise for him was that people regularly write about what they dislike about their streets. “I thought a lot more people would rate their street perfectly. . . . They’re being very honest.” A site user in New York, for example, recently wrote of his street, “all the big trucks coming into Manhattan early in the morning from Brooklyn use it as a short cut. . . . From 4 a.m.-6 a.m. it sounds like a heard of elephants.”

How much honesty?

That brings up the question of how much honesty online real estate sites can take when many depend on income from real estate agents, some of whom might prefer that commentary about particular streets or homes stays positive?

Spencer said StreetAdvisor will remove clearly inappropriate or racist comments, “but if they are talking about the kids down the street having parties at 3 a.m., we don’t take that off.” Realty agents have not complained, he said.

Many sites delving into social media feature real estate agents prominently, and in some cases sell prime advertising space to real estate professionals. The agents hope to position themselves as local experts and ultimately generate business leads through their involvement.

Amy Bohutinsky, director of corporate communications at Zillow, said users seem to tolerate that many answers to their questions come from real estate agents, as long as the responses are not too overtly commercial and self-promoting.

“If it’s very salesy, it’s not as useful,” she said.
The new fondness for social media or user-generated content owes much to online dating sites and the popularity of networking sites like Facebook, said Greg Sterling, founder of Sterling Market Intelligence, a consulting company.

“It’s a fashion trend on some level,” he said. Users may not expect real estate sites to have discussion and Q&A features, he said, but venture capitalists currently do. Early in Internet history, the preference was for professional content creation, he said, but “now conventional wisdom is we do this cheaply by letting the community fill out the content.”

Boero said it’s still not clear whether consumers will form long-term communities built around their interest in real estate ownership. Privacy concerns remain, he said, including consumers’ discomfort with finding bird’s eye photos of their homes online, or chatting about their neighbors and streets with strangers.

“Homeowners view the home as the sanctuary,” he said. “You may talk about bands online, but you may not want to talk about your neighborhood or home.”

Copyright © 2007, San Jose Mercury News, Calif.
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.

RISMedia welcomes your questions and comments. Send your e-mail to: realestatemagazinefeedback@rismedia.com.

RISMEDIA, Sept. 18, 2007-(WSJ.com)-Many Americans are losing their appetite for costly kitchen makeovers. With pending home sales at a six-year low and home prices flat, people are no longer willing to sink as much money into their kitchens as they were during the boom. Spending on kitchen renovations costing more than $20,000 was $53.4 billion in the year ending August 2007, a 40% drop from the same period a year earlier, according to new data from the National Kitchen and Bath Association, which surveyed about 20,000 consumers.

Homeowners aren’t tossing in the dish towel altogether, however. The roiling market has convinced many people that it’s important to update their kitchens at least somewhat to preserve resale value. Approximately 7.6 million kitchens were remodeled in 2007, according to the trade-group survey, about 200,000 more than the year before.

When Toni Hopping bought her ’50s-era bungalow in Ann Arbor, Mich., 10 years ago, she spent $30,000 on upgrades such as new cherry cabinets, a trendy glass cooktop and a bump-out garden window. Recently the retired librarian decided it was time to renovate, even though her house isn’t currently on the market; she wants to keep her house competitive with other homes in the neighborhood.

Still, she didn’t want to go overboard. “You don’t know a buyer’s tastes,” Hopping says. “You could put something in, and the buyer might rip it all out.” She chose to replace her well-worn laminate countertops with a creamy polished quartz, and add a gray-green tile backsplash. Having one or two flashy focal points in a kitchen is important, says Ms. Hopping, who spent about $10,000 on the makeover.

The resale value of kitchen renovations has been shrinking since the end of the real-estate boom. In 2006, a major, midrange kitchen remodeling job — one that includes such things as new appliances and cabinets — cost $54,241 and returned an average of 80.4% of its original price on resale, according to the 19th annual Cost Versus Value survey of more than 2,000 real estate agents by Remodeling Magazine, published by Hanley Wood; in 2005, the same job cost $43,862, and recouped 91%. Less drastic jobs, such as changing out countertops and refinishing existing cabinets, bring better returns, but there, too, value is shrinking. A minor kitchen remodel cost $17,928 and returned 85.2% of its value in 2006; a year earlier, it cost $14,913 and recouped 98.5%.

Also trouble for the home-renovation industry: Money is drying up for people seeking home-equity loans or lines of credit to finance projects. Moorestown, N.J., remodeler Craig Lord says a client recently had to cancel a $200,000 remodeling job because his lender felt his house had been falling in value over the past year, and so didn’t have the equity needed to support the loan. Marc Savitt, president-elect of the National Association of Mortgage Brokers, says that underwriting standards for loans have “tightened across the board.” While homeowners with a lot of equity and good credit still have borrowing power, he says, that’s no longer true for those who bought homes recently with little or no down payments or weak credit scores.

For people who bought at the top of the market, having little or no equity to borrow against means having to tap other sources. Jarrod Dalton, a 26-year-old Cleveland biostatistician who bought his first home, a four-bedroom Colonial, two years ago, is using sweat equity. He’s spent about $6,000 to upgrade the faucets and some appliances in the kitchen and to replace the room’s “pretty hideous” worn-out carpeting and gold-flecked counters with beige granite tiles. Doing the labor himself, assisted by his brother and his father, is saving him thousands on installation costs, he says, though it’s had some downsides: The work has eaten up many of his weekends over the last few months and has rendered his kitchen unusable for long periods of time. “I’m getting sick of eating pizza and junk food,” he says.

With tighter budgets, consumer priorities are changing, remodelers say. Washington, D.C., remodeler Chris Landis says many of his clients are looking harder at energy-efficient appliances and lighting fixtures, because they save money over their functional life. Benjamin Morey, a Laguna Hills, Calif., remodeler, reports that many of his clients are looking for longer-lasting products, as well as universally designed plans that will accommodate homeowners as they age.

To pump up business as the market slows, some remodelers are offering incentives. In Cape Cod, Mass., John Falacchi is offering a deal similar to promotions offered by furniture stores: 180 days of free financing, with no payments and no interest. Mark Richardson, a Bethesda, Md., remodeler, has come up with a loyalty program similar to airline frequent-flier programs: Clients earn “dollars” based on a percentage of the total cost of their project, which can be used to offset the cost of future projects or transferred to family and friends.

Businesses that concentrate on fixing up kitchens are also thriving. Brad Grattan, whose Denver company refurbishes wood cabinets and floors, says he’s had 186 renewal jobs so far this year, a 25% increase over the same period a year ago. He says his customers, who include both residential owners and real estate investors, are reluctant to put money into more substantial improvements. “They are worried about updating something that won’t bring a positive return,” he says.

Stacey Quinn, a Minneapolis banker, spent $20,000 earlier this year on bamboo floors and granite countertops, in preparation for putting her four-bedroom ranch on the market. “I was going for the ‘wow’ factor,” she says. She bought the house five years ago for $274,000 and put it on the market in the spring for $399,000. It didn’t sell, nor has it attracted any interest at her new asking price: $359,000. Now Quinn is wondering if the upgrade was such a good idea. She thinks she might have done better if she’d simply offered her house as a “fixer” at a deeply discounted price. “These days, people want bottom-of-the-barrel deals,” she says.

But with inventory levels growing in many parts of the country, and builders throwing in extras such as pot-filler faucets and digital dishwashers, most real-estate agents still recommend upgrading the kitchen, since that’s the room that can often make or break a sale. Daniel Johnson, a Breckenridge, Colo., broker, says a townhome in his area with a refurbished kitchen, listed at $710,000, recently sold, while an identical unit without the new kitchen, listed at $699,000, has had no takers. “Upgraded kitchens sell units,” he says.

E-mail your comments to june.fletcher@wsj.com.

RISMedia welcomes your questions and comments. Send your e-mail to: realestatemagazinefeedback@rismedia.com.

RISMEDIA, Sept. 12, 2007-(MarketWatch)-Question: I have owned a time-share in Southern California since the early 1980s. The maintenance fees have risen beyond reason and it is next to impossible to find a decent exchange for it. I would like to donate the time-share and take a charitable tax write-off. There are charities that accept time-shares, some of whom use Donate for A Cause. How can I verify who is legitimate and acceptable to the IRS? Also, how do I calculate the amount of the write off? Sharen Sherman

Answer: Anyone who donates real estate — or any other thing of real value, for that matter — should ask the charity for a copy of the Internal Revenue Service notification letter granting the organization charitable 501(c)3 status. Only gifts to groups that have gained that status are tax deductible.

Chase Magnuson, president of Real Estate for Charities (www.realestateforcharities.com), also suggests checking out the potential recipient on the Web site www.GuideStar.org. “Most charities have their tax returns posted on the site along with any derogatory government action taken against them,” he says.

As far as calculating the deduction is concerned, you must pay for a qualified appraisal of your property. The appraisal is necessary to support your “fair market value” deduction and should be attached to IRS form 8383, which will be provided by the charity when it accepts your real estate gift.

Q: Could you explain to me how the $500,000 capital gains exemption on a personal residence works with regard to donating that property to charity as opposed to selling it outright. My wife and I will eventually donate our residence to the University of Southern California for cancer research, probably in the form of a charitable annuity.

Assuming one is allowed the exemption on a charitable gift, if the house is worth $1 million and our basis is $250,000, that leaves $250,000 in capital gains. What is the best way to handle such a situation? I haven’t run this by the USC legal staff because it is probably several years away. Of course, if one of us dies in the meantime — we are in our late 70s — the problem becomes moot because of the stepped up basis. Gary Robb

A: An exchange of a personal residence for a charitable gift annuity doesn’t take into consideration the exemption because the property basis is allocated between the present discount value of the gift annuity and the gift component.

“The donor cannot take both the exemption and gift deduction in this process,” reports Chase Magnuson of Real Estate for Charities, my expert on these matters.

Magnuson suggests a more favorable arrangement is possible by having USC or another charity, if you so chose, enter into a “bargain sale” purchase of half your property and exchange the other half for a gift annuity. This way, he says, most, but not all, of your proceeds would be sheltered under the $500,000 family exemption.

“They could then take the untaxed cash and create a second gift annuity that provides them a gift deduction usable against 50% of their adjusted gross income rather than 30% the property equity would allow them,” he says. “But this only makes a difference should the donors expect to earn around $1,800,000 in adjusted gross income over the next six years. That’s what it would take for them to completely use a $600,000 gift deduction.”

As you can see, this is complicated stuff, so anyone considering donating their real estate should not do so blindly. Get professional advice. For what it’s worth to you, Magnuson says USC has “one of the best groups of professionals with which the donor could be communicating. They may have other options once the donor’s estate planning attorney crafts a plan for them.”

RISMedia welcomes your questions and comments. Send your e-mail to: realestatemagazinefeedback@rismedia.com.

RISMEDIA, August 29, 2007— (Bankrate.com)–Siding replacement continues to pay back as much or more per remodeling dollar spent in a home’s resale value than any other major improvement. So, yes, it is obviously one of the most important elements in a prospective home-buyer’s view. The bad news is that on average, you will be getting back less than 90% of the money you spend on the project, according to the latest Cost vs. Value Report by RemodelingOnline.

Just a few years ago, cost-value reports showed that returns for an upscale siding replacement were a desirable 103.6%. The latest report, however, based on interviews with nearly 2,200 Realtors in 2006, shows an average 88% return on resale value for an upscale siding replacement using fiber cement and 83% using foam-backed vinyl. For a midrange job using vinyl siding, average payback is 87.2%.

These estimates were all based on the replacement of 1,250 square feet of existing siding. RemodelingOnline attributes the lower payback to the softness in the housing market and a more efficient calculation of all the labor, materials and subcontracting involved in such jobs.

Does this mean you shouldn’t add siding? Not necessarily. Since you plan to sell soon, curb appeal is of the utmost importance right now. That means the condition of the house’s exterior (your current siding or lack of it), along with your home’s landscaping and entryway should be optimal and inviting. In other words, if the exterior is in bad shape, you may still have to side it to sell it, even if it means getting back only $8,700 on a $10,000 investment. Such are the economics of the current buyer’s market.

I’d urge you to reconsider your choice of siding materials, however. Most solid-wood siding, while perhaps not significantly more expensive than other top-of-the-line siding products, must still be stained or painted, and that staining/painting can add thousands of dollars to the final job cost. In the case of the cedar you mentioned, the siding may age to four different shades on four different sides of the house over the years if not treated. Even when stained, cedar is known for fading in the sun after several years, although heavier-bodied stains offer greater UV protection to help thwart this.

Still, if you are planning to sell soon, why take a chance with wood and a buyer who may be scared off by potential fading problems?

Source: http://www.bankrate.com

RISMedia welcomes your questions and comments. Send your e-mail to: realestatemagazinefeedback@rismedia.com.

And when real estate agents were shown “before” and “after” photos of houses that upgraded with new, stylish garage doors, they increased the estimated list price of the home anywhere from one to four percent. That means a $2,000 investment in a garage door could potentially increase the value of your home by as much as $7,000 if you’re selling a $175,000 home.

You can learn about these and other little-known garage door facts (part of a “top 10 list”) on http://www.GarageWowNow.com, a non-commercial Web site sponsored by the garage door industry.

Other bits of garage door trivia from the list:

- A garage door can be a chic fashion statement. People are becoming more style-conscious when replacing their garage door. Call it “exterior decorating.” On many homes, the garage door claims a third of the facade, so it’s a snap to add curb appeal when you choose from the many different looks available today in elegant and stylish carriage house, contemporary or raised panel doors.
- In severe weather (such as hurricane season), a properly reinforced garage door can protect your home against powerful winds. Researchers studying the wind effects of devastating storms know that garage doors are often the entry point for severe damage. A strong new garage door is an integral part of maintaining the structural integrity of your home. And, during power outages, a popular accessory sold with new garage door openers is a battery back-up system that allows you to use your garage door opener several times until the power comes back on. When installed by a professional, a garage door can go up in a snap.

It’s not a job for a DIY-er. It’s a complex and dangerous task. The garage door is the heaviest piece of moving equipment on your home. The cost of professional installation is well worth it.
And finally, the garage door can be your key to the Magic Kingdom. The GarageWowNow.com Sweepstakes offers you the chance to win a free trip for you and a family member or friend to Walt Disney World in beautiful Orlando, Fla.

RISMedia welcomes your questions and comments. Send your e-mail to: realestatemagazinefeedback@rismedia.com.

The Web portal offers both free and subscription-based articles, links and tips. Editorial content is strategically focused on current real estate market conditions and trends, as well as addressing the most up-to-date issues facing home sellers.

Help Us Sell Our House has valuable information for real estate agents as well. The editorial focuses on the sales and marketing expertise offered by fellow experienced realtors, as well as offers supplemental information for agents to better educate and guide their client base.

“When it comes to selling a house, people can become paralyzed with the process,” said Robert McCoy, publisher of Help Us Sell Our House. “With a lack of confidence in the current real estate market as well as misguided expectations of what it takes to sell a house, sellers need to be armed with knowledge of their local real estate market, guidance for effective ways to market their home and a creative edge to make their house stand out among the competition.”

“Help Us Sell Our House offers homeowners an opportunity to have a complete guide at their fingertips,” said Krista Hummel, online editor of Help Us Sell Our House. “The detailed information and the simple ‘how to’ articles make getting top dollar for a house in a soft real estate market not only realistic, but probable. The web portal is designed to be easy and fun to read while having articles and tips that are simple to use by any person, at any skill level.”

Help Us Sell Our House answers all the questions sellers need to know, as well as provide homeowners a guide through the selling process, with or without a real estate agent. It addresses the many issues that most homeowners are simply not equipped or prepared to handle, and issues realtors struggle to guide their clients through the process.
Some of the editorial departments within the web portal include:

Pricing Matters: Learn the importance of accurately pricing a house for sale and being realistic about the asking price. Find out the most effective and efficient ways to determine realistic values.

Realtor / Client Success: Homeowners can learn about the professional responsibilities that a realtor has towards his or her client, as well as how to develop and maintain an effective and professional realtor/client relationship.

Staging Success: Help Us Sell Our House™ provides information about how and why house staging can help sell a home faster than an empty house. Home tips, tricks and cost effective ideas to make a house show its best.

Maximizing Advertising: Cost effective advertising methods to enhance or supplement a real estate agents normal course of business.

“It’s a tough real estate market right now,” said McCoy. “Any assistance home sellers can get while marketing their home is invaluable. With stiff competition in every part of the country, homeowners need strategic direction, creative thinking and solid answers on how to sell their homes.”

Sparo Publishing International, Inc. is the publisher of Help Us Sell Our House™. Sparo is a Phoenix-based consumer and contract publisher with publishing interests in real estate markets such as residential real estate and specialty real estate developments. Help Us Sell Our House™ is its first fully integrated web portal for homeowners and home sellers. Sparo partnered with Sub Hub Limited, a U.K.-based CMS and Internet provider, for portal development and management. Editorial content for all publications is U.S. based.

RISMedia welcomes your questions and comments. Please send them to realestatemagazinefeedback@rismedia.com.

RISMEDIA, August 1, 2007—(MarketWatch)—An infestation of carpenter ants signaled the demise of a shade tree in Doug Cowles’ yard almost 20 years ago when he lived in Downers Grove, Ill. In retrospect, he knows he should have given the trees a better look before buying the home.

“I had to pay to lose my shade,” Cowles said. “Once it was gone, the deck wasn’t as useful an asset to the property — or as nice to enjoy.”

Any real estate agent will stress the importance of curb appeal, a home’s first chance at a good impression based on how it looks from the street. And from a seller’s perspective, a lush green lawn and manicured shrubs can do wonders in wooing a prospective buyer.
But buyers shouldn’t get swept off their feet too quickly, charmed by landscaping detail or the welcoming shade of a mature tree.

“Try to get away from the paint and how pretty the landscaping is,” said Frank Lesh, president of the American Society of Home Inspectors, as well as an Indian Head Park, Ill.-based inspector. Instead, pay attention to how these outdoor elements are functioning, noticing, for example, the health of the property’s plants, how their placement could affect the home and the overall slope of the lawn, he said.

Valuing curb appeal

Consumers often perceive value in a home’s landscaping at first glance, and a 2005 study by the Department of Horticulture at Michigan State University showed evidence of that.
The study presented participants in seven different markets with multiple pictures of the same home. One image had only a lawn and cement sidewalk and driveway in front of the home; others imposed various landscaping schemes, said Bridget Behe, one of the researchers and a professor of horticulture at Michigan State.

The overall finding: Value increased from 5% to 11% for homes with good landscaping. The elements most important to participants were those that displayed some design sophistication, such as curving flower beds instead of rectangular boxes against the home.

The next most important element was plant size, followed by the diversity of plant material in front of a home, according to the study.

Enhancing an average home with eye-catching landscaping is “like putting a nicer frame on a modestly priced painting,” Behe said. “It enhances the perceived value of that home.”

To identify exactly how much landscaping elements are worth, some higher-end home sellers are paying several hundred dollars for a service to profile — and assign a value to — the plants in their yards. Cowles, the homeowner who had the misfortune of losing his tree to carpenter ants, is the president and CEO of Horticultural Asset Management, Inc., a Cary, N.C.-based company that assesses a property’s plants for both insurance and real-estate purposes.

The company aims to help quantify the curb appeal of a property, Cowles said. Using the assessment, a prospective buyer can consider during negotiations the value of a property’s mature trees, many of which could cost $25,000 to $30,000 each to replace, he said.

“In this way, we help a property owner who may have a lot of plants, high quality plants or mature landscaping create a competitive advantage against other properties with fewer, lesser quality or smaller plants,” he said in an e-mail.

What to look for

The seller of a median-priced home likely won’t spring for a thorough evaluation of trees. Instead, as a buyer nears the closing table, a home inspector will probably evaluate outdoor elements to make sure conditions won’t cause problems tomorrow.

Before seriously considering a property, however, it might be a good idea for a buyer to look over a home’s exterior. He or she might make mental notes of minor issues, but larger ones that need to be taken care of — such as the removal of a tree or large limbs — could be discussed in the negotiation process, Lesh said.

Here are some tips on what to look for:

- Plant health. Even if you’re not an arborist, there are some telltale signs that a plant is sick. Wilting plants or brown and crispy leaves are warning signs that a plant might not be in good health, Behe said. Mushrooms and fungus at the bottom of a tree are also warning signs, added Cowles, who would also advise looking for evidence of insect problems.
- Placement of tree limbs. Look to see if any limbs are touching a roof or could interfere with a power line — both possible areas of concern. But be especially aware of a tree limb hanging over the chimney, Lesh said. Not only could animals climb down into the chimney, but a blocking branch could affect the draft and create higher carbon monoxide levels in the home.
- Problems underground. It’s tougher to look for evidence of heavy root growth than it is to take a survey of the limbs above. But sometimes roots will make their presence known by lifting or cracking a sidewalk or driveway, creating a trip hazard, Lesh said. Also, a depression in the yard could indicate a leaking sewer line as a result of root interference, and may need to be checked further, he added.
- The lay of the land. Take a drive around the block and get a good look at the ground the home is on, Lesh said. Is it at the bottom of the hillside, at the top of one, or on flat land? It’s important that rain isn’t able to follow a downward slope toward the foundation, a condition that could lead to flooding.
- Foliage proximity. Watch out for foliage that is close to the house’s exterior, Lesh said, because that can provide shelter for insects and rodents that allow them to hide from their predators — and give them an excellent vantage point to enter the house. Also, if shrubs are too close to the building and the wind causes them to rub up against the house, the siding could wear out as a result. “The plants will grow back next year, the house will not,” Lesh said.
- Deck construction. While a deck isn’t a living part of the landscape, it’s still an important one to inspect. The building of a deck is a common do-it-yourself project, and sometimes novice mistakes can be found in the final product, Lesh said. Make sure that the deck is fastened to the house correctly and is supported properly. They should have places for people to grab onto, he said, and balusters should be close enough that a 4-inch ball couldn’t fit through them (ensuring that a child’s head couldn’t get stuck).

Amy Hoak is a MarketWatch reporter based in Chicago.

RISMedia welcomes your questions and comments. Send your e-mail to: realestatemagazinefeedback@rismedia.com.