Negotiating a purchase price is hard enough these days, but many real estate deals break down during the second round of negotiations over inspection issues. Both buyers and sellers have to be willing to compromise, and perhaps forfeit a little money or pride in the name of closing the deal. This article from the Sun-Times article looks at both sides of the problems that can arise during post-contract home inspections
Archive for the ‘Repair and Renovation’ Category
Successful Negotiations Require Compromise
Monday, October 9th, 2006Remodeling No-no’s
Monday, September 4th, 2006Not every home upgrade pays off when you try to sell your home. In fact, a few can actually hurt your resale value. Don’t get mad at your boss for cheaping out on the holiday bonus this year, you might not have wanted that pool anyway. The top four downers:
- Swimming pools
- Poorly-designed additions
- Trendy kitchen finished
- Jacuzzis
Cooking Up a New Kitchen
Monday, August 7th, 2006Remodeling your kitchen probably has the biggest impact on your home’s value of any project. But it requires careful consideration. How much should you spend? How long are you planning to stay in the house? And what is the standard kitchen in the neighborhood like? You don’t want to spend all your savings on a state-of-the-art chef’s kitchen. Some experts recommend spending 10-20 percent of your home’s market value as a rule of thumb. Your choice of finishes and appliances should also reflect how soon you might consider selling the home. If you’re planning to stay for a while, feel free to really customize it to your tastes, but you think you might leave sooner than later, you probably want to stick with more standard, popular finishes, hewing close to those in your neighborhood so you can compete in the market.
What Buyers Want
Monday, August 7th, 2006With much of the leverage in the real estate market swinging to buyers, they have become more demanding in their lists of must-haves for potential homes. High-end upgrades like walk-in closets and stone countertops are essential in new homes, but different groups of buyers focus on different things. Many younger buyers are looking for more space for home offices, an attached garage spot, larger rooms, and multiple bathrooms. For sellers, the trick is determining your likely buyer and making sure your home has the necessary features before you put it on sale. You may not be able to add an extra room, but small renovations and a good job of staging can help put your home’s best face forward.
Contract the Cleaning Too
Sunday, May 28th, 2006Obviously a remodeling project can make a big mess in your house, but it’s probably worth your money to hire one more contractor to do the cleaning, and do it before you move back into the new rooms. Properly cleaning the dust, adhesives, and scraps left behind isn’t just hard work, it takes special know-how to do it right. So spring for that extra $200-300 for a professional cleaning crew; chances are it’s nothing compared to what you just spent on your rehab.
Renovating Might Not Mean Profit
Sunday, April 30th, 2006From the New York Times this week, Americans poured a record amount of money into home remodeling projects, but even experts can’t predict how much value that money spent adds to a home. Kermit Baker, a senior research fellow at the Joint Center for Housing Studies at Harvard, said that said researchers at the Harvard center “threw up their hands” after trying to determine the return on investment of remodeling projects. Studies that project return on investment can only measure national or regional values, and the return on remodeling jobs can often hinge on the markets at the neighborhood level. The real key is to value remodeling projects by the enjoyment you derive from them, and not for their financial return.
Weekend News Roundup
Sunday, February 5th, 2006A quick rundown of this weekend’s real estate news sections:
- An overview of the International Builders Show by the Sun-Times focuses on building materials and home fixtures to be featured by home builders in the coming years.
- Several new high rises in the city take advantage of their proximity to Millennium Park, including the fabulous Heritage.
- There are a million large-scale residential remodeling projects undertaken each year, but buyers getting ready to take the plunge on a fixer-upper should know how much the repair job will cost, what home values the community will support, and most importantly, whether they can handle living in the middle of a mess.
- Owning investment property can afford significant tax benefits, in addition to the usual gains from appreciation and rental income.
- Buying a home near a major street may have its drawbacks, with the added congestion and noise, but you can usually get a lot more house for your money.
- Football may have nothing to do with buying a home, but Super Bowl weekend usually marks the kickoff of the annual buying season.
- The government encourages home ownership through tax incentives like the ability to deduct mortgage interest, but did you know they also provide loans for down payments?
5 Tips for Renovating your home
Wednesday, January 18th, 2006Top five home repair scams
Tuesday, January 17th, 2006Chimney safety and sweeps
Tuesday, January 17th, 2006Weekend News Roundup
Sunday, January 15th, 2006A quick rundown of the best of this weekend’s real estate news sections:
- The Historic Chicago Bungalow Association has made $750,000 available for grant funding so that bungalow owners in need of assistance can make repairs. Bungalow owners making less than 80 percent of the area’s median income can apply for grants of $3000 to $5000 to make repairs on roofing, plumbing, electrical systems, and furnace and water heater upgrades.
- Home decorating trends in 2006 are leaning towards more personal touches, bringing out a home’s individuality with unique and repurposed items instead of expensive matched furniture sets.
- Learn how to remove ice from your walkways and patios without destroying the surface underneath.
- Make a New Year’s resolution to secure your home by fixing up your fireplace, checking smoke and carbon monoxide detectors, patching slippery surfaces, and installing good external lighting.
- Bathroom decor is becoming as lavish and as important to the home’s overall styling as the usual living spaces.
- The FHA has loosened home maintenance and repair standards for the homes being purchased by buyers using FHA-backed loans. Formerly, the FHA made it difficult for borrowers to purchase homes “as is,” or homes in need of significant repairs, even if they were only cosmetic. This shut out many buyers who could not afford homes in better condition. Analysts hope the new rules will spur market activity as more first time buyers can afford homes, and sellers can move on to successively higher-priced properties.
Detective work will reveal where air leaks are lurking
Sunday, January 8th, 2006This week’s home maintenance Q&A from the Tribune focuses on finding energy bill inflating air leaks.
Home hot or not 2006
Wednesday, December 21st, 2005Broker Agent News’s Mark Nash gives his opinion of what’s in and what’s out for homes in 2006. Among other things, he says smaller homes that are ready for high-tech touches like flat screen TVs, built in stereos, and high speed internet are in demand, while dark finishes and lack of natural light are out.
NAR Remodeling Report
Sunday, December 18th, 2005The National Association of Realtors has just published their 2005 Field Guide to Remodeling. It includes a plethora of links, articles, and reports with information on everything you need to know before starting a remodeling project.
One of the highlights is the Cost vs. Value Report, a detailed assessment of the return value on remodeling costs for different parts of your home. Here is a sample of the average nationwide return on investment for various projects:
- Deck addition – 90.3%
- Major kitchen remodel – 84.8%
- Bathroom remodel – 102.2%
- New roof – 84.7%
- Family room addition – 83%
- Master suite addition – 82.4%
Great pretenders
Sunday, December 18th, 2005Synthetic building materials are gaining popularity because they look almost identical to the real thing, cost less to maintain, last longer, and are often easier to install. Man-made materials like fiberglass doors, cement siding, laminate floors, and brick veneer may cost slightly more than their authentic wood, stone, and metal counterparts, but the cost is recouped over their lifetime with less upkeep. However, while these components do a good impersonation of traditional materials, discerning eyes can still tell they aren’t the real thing. You have to decide if the cost benefit is worth the aesthetic tradeoff.
