Real Estate Investing

Have car with full tank of gas, will travel.  After yesterday’s very interesting showing instructions, arguments, and additional comments I thought I’d share the results of these specific house searches with you.

1. No showings until 4:00 p.m.  We didn’t go see and won’t go back.  But we knew that yesterday when they said we couldn’t see it until after 5:00 p.m.
2. Key hidden under rock.  What a beautiful, loved home it was.  Unfortunately the back yard goes straight down and will be too hard to mow (but check out the gorgeous photo of the jogging ring!).
3. Something smells dead.  Yes, like a mouse maybe or squirrel even.  But the house was amazingly beautiful.
4. The doors stick.  We couldn’t even get in because the part I left off was “don’t lock bottom lock.”  Someone did lock it and the frame of the door came over so that we couldn’t get key in to unlock.  We’ll have to take their word for it that the doors stick.
5. Don’t go into the basement.  We didn’t.  Actually we didn’t go at all when we read more information about the property and saw that it didn’t have central heat and air.  I felt bad about skipping it, but we must have cool air when the temperature is 105 degrees and the humidity hangs at 99 percent.

Thankfully we didn’t experience anything scary this go-round.  Like Doreen.  Or anything suggestive.  Like Marianne.  Have you had any interesting experiences while looking for a home?

Buyers in my area have become hesitant to purchase homes that have been renovated or remodeled by investors / flippers.  A buyer told me today that she’s been advised by her friends to never ever buy a house that the seller has not lived in because they haven’t personally had the chance to fix the little things that will go wrong once a home is lived-in.

I’ve thought a lot about the advise and believe it makes sense, except for one thing:  Home Inspectors.  A home inspector should test wall outlets, check the heat and air unit, water pressure, appliances, attic, ceilings, crawl spaces, and more.  There should be no major surprises after you move into a remodeled home if the inspector has done a thorough job. 

However, like humans when we break an arm or catch a cold, houses can also “get sick.”  Whether it’s been one month or three years since you moved in, problems inevitably occur.  Home maintenance is part of the package that goes along with home ownership and part of that maintenance is making repairs as needed so a house doesn’t wear down.

YouTube has great videos about do-it-yourself home repairs.  Before you begin a home repair, you might visit Evansville, Indiana’s Better Business Bureau to determine if you have what it takes to do it on your own.  They say,

Cosmetic changes, such as painting or wallpaper are easy DIY projects. Structural changes, such as plumbing, wiring, or framing are typically best left to the professionals. Even moving a bathroom sink a few inches can become a huge hassle involving re-routing the plumbing, painting, caulking, and tiling.

My biggest home project was stripping wallpaper (I failed) and painting (success!).  I know my limitations.

Photo from here (which incidentally shows you how to remove wallpaper).

I do not have a degree in macro-economics, trigonometry, accounting, investment, banking, financial prowess,  matrix algebra, or computational data analysis.  I am not an economist.  I am an outsider looking in at the massive amount of statistics that determine the national housing index. 

What I do know is that my cell phone has begun ringing again.  I’m getting calls from both people I know and those I’ve never met asking about buying property.  Several months ago, my calls were from sellers who were nervous and scared about the value of their homes going down the tubes.  Today my calls are from buyers who have figured out that yes, the percentage rates on loans are incredibly low and yes, home prices may have hit bottom.

This renewed interest in home buying seems to be playing out on the national real estate market, as well.  Real estate guru and senior editor of Realty Times Blanche Evans is reporting that the falling prices of homes are leveling according to the real-time housing index.

Days on market have gone down from 122 in February, to 119 in March to 111 in April, which is also a positive trend. Miami and Detroit experienced the longest days on market.  Austin, Texas, sold homes the fastest at 67 days on market.

That means it’s time to carefully watch inventory build-up. It’s spring so it’s natural for more homes to come on the market, but it’s begining to look like some markets may have bottomed in February.

When we see the market hit bottom, it has but one direction to go… back up.

The best part is that the buyers who are now calling are smarter.  They are talking to lenders before asking me to drive them around exploring neighborhoods and walking through houses.  Their agents are performing the neighborhood comparables to be sure the sales price is fair market - today’s market not last year’s.  This puts buyers in a really good position to negotiate for a great price and it’s a relief for homeowners to be finally able to sell and move forward with their lives.

Here’s an overview wherein some agents agree the market has hit bottom, while others are not so Mary Sunshine about real estate.

Naples Real Estate Blog: Market Hits Bottom!

(Wisconsin) Real Estate Market Hits Bottom: See the Numbers!

The Housing Crisis is Over? Not in Phoenix

The Gory Details of Real Estate: A Bell Will Not Ring When the Market Hits Bottom

It reminds us that all real estate is local.  Just because one area of the country may flourish, another may still be facing hardship (but it will get better!).