FSBO Jane

Good fences make good neighbors—or do they? Chances are, if you’ve owned a home, you’ve dealt with neighbors. And one of the oldest, most common neighborly disputes is fencing. In fact, a recent Chicago Sun-Times story tells the story of an ongoing conflict between an Edgebrook woman and her two police officer neighbors.

What do you need to know about what or what not to allow?

Problem: My neighbor wants to put a fence on my property.

What you need to know: There’s no problem with letting your neighbor erect a fence on your land, assuming it’s OK with you and you don’t need to use that bit of land. However, know that if you allow your neighbors to put a fence that sits on your property, they may end up owning that property over time. In certain states, the laws will be in their favor. If you’re concerned about that, it’s best to stop the fence from being built in the first place.

Problem: My neighbor put up a fence that is hideously ugly.

What you need to know: Your neighbors probably have the right to put up the fence of their choosing, regardless of how much it does or doesn’t offend your taste and style. If the only issue is the attractiveness of the fence, you may just need to accept it. However, if the fence poses any threat to you or others, you may have grounds for asking them to remove/change it. Also, if you belong to a subdivision or regulated area that dictates the types of fences allowed and your neighbors have violated those rules, you might also have a case. In cases where some rule or law has been violated, it’s smartest to go to your neighbors directly first, in case they were ignorant of the mandate. If they still don’t comply, you can contact the authorities.

These are just two examples of common fence-related issues, but there are many more. The most important things to know are what the laws/area mandates state, as well as how big of a concern the fencing is. In some cases, demanding or refusing removal of a fence won’t be worth damaged relationships with neighbors or the cost of legal battles.

I was just about to post a clip from a recent Chicago Tribune article when I saw it posted over at BuyOwner.com’s blog. Essentially, this post/the original article is all about why NOW is actually a great time to be a home buyer.

Why? great prices, great choices, great incentives–and in light of the mortgage mess, better background checks are being done.

Read the Buy Owner Blog post here: Why Now is the Time to Buy.

What’s the good news about today’s market? The silver lining seems to be one for the buyers: never before has there been so many homes available and at such continually competitive prices.

A recent article in the Indy Star had this to say:

“At the same time, the downturn has created a classic buyer’s market, with turn-back-the-clock housing values not seen since the 1990s or even earlier.

‘There are a lot of great buys out there. It’s incredible,’ said F.C. Tucker Co. Realtor Mark Lopez.”

 Read the rest of the story here.

Now more than ever, home sellers are frustrated with the slow market. There are many homes that have been listed over a year, and some have been for sale even longer. According to this recent article, there are things you can do about it.

The article examines the home sale of David Raimondi, who originally listed his house in October of 2005. Now, three years later, it’s still for sale. Here are some of the tips the article offers:

1. Don’t ignore the first offer–it may be the best.
2. Be realistic about price.
3. Get good advice & listen to it.
4. Beware of getting stale.
5. Think Pottery Barn style.

To read more, go here.

This recent article at BiggerPockets puts the whole bailout situation in a new light, and I highly recommend checking it out. If you’ve wondered what the bailout means for foreclosures and what real estate investors are thinking now, and if you want to hear it in plain English, go take a look.

(The article was written by Tom Koziol, author of http://www.homeforeclosureprofits.com/hfp.html.)

Here’s a clip:

“The [bailout] bill has made the big boys whole and left the little guys holding the bag.

The big boys can now give their loans to the government and walk away. They never have to concern themselves with short sales, loan modifications or workouts. If a homeowner is in trouble, so be it. They do not have one iota of incentive to work with him or her.

I can no longer work with the homeowner because the lender won’t talk to me. Oh, they’ll talk to me but only to tell me to have the homeowner fill out a handful of meaningless forms and submit them for review.”

As I said in this earlier post, HOAs can make or break the sale of a condo or a townhouse. Here’s why:

1. Expense

• Scenario 1: You find your dream home in a small town, outside the big city, but close enough to travel to the city center for some excitement. There is no HOA fee, and the home is selling for $800,000.
• Scenario 2: You discover a similar house, nestled just a few blocks from home #1, inside an even quieter subdivision, and it is $750,000! If both homes are alike, it would make sense to buy the cheaper one, right? Wrong! This house is situated in a charming community that is governed by a homeowners’ association.
• End result: Although the second home is selling at a cheaper price, you may have to pay HOA fees for lawn maintenance and use of the amenities (clubhouse, pool, sports fields, etc.). The fee is usually a fixed amount, between $150 and $600 per month. So you will end up paying more for the cheaper house in the long run. But think of the benefits: a mowed lawn, use of a swimming pool, access to workout facilities and outdoor fitness areas, etc.

2. Rules & Regulations

Homeowners’ associations tend to have a lot of rules and regulations. And while most of them are common sense, new residents might forget one or two when they are new to the neighborhood, especially if they have never belonged to one before. If that’s the case, new residents may be warned for breaking a rule, but most are usually fined. Sometimes, buyers may not want to purchase a house that belongs to an HOA, because they don’t want the hassle of remember all the guidelines.

Some rules may include but are not limited to the following:

• Parking: If the condo complexes or townhomes do not have garages, parking spaces are sometimes assigned to residents. This may be included in the HOA fee or it may be a separate fee. Overnight street parking is sometimes not allowed for safety reasons. Parking on grassy, landscaped areas is usually prohibited.
• Pets: Some HOAs forbid pets. Others allow small animals such as rabbits, hamsters or gerbils. If you own any type of animal, be sure to consult the association before purchasing a condo/townhome.
• Outdoor items/furniture: Grills, gardening tools, trash cans and patio furniture should typically be placed at the back of the home on a deck or patio. Some associations require that the furniture be a neutral color, especially if your yard is visible to the entire community. Furniture is also to be removed during stormy weather to prevent damage to the home’s exterior.
• Holiday decorations: See this post.
• Exterior Lighting: Most lighting outside the home usually boasts clear, white or yellow bulbs. The only exception is for holiday decorations.

While I believe HOAs are beneficial, you should only choose to live in a community governed by an association if you can afford it and if you can adhere to the guidelines. There are a lot of pros and cons to weigh, so the important thing is to get all the information ahead of time so you can make the best decision for you.

H a ll o w ee n is almost here! I always enjoy driving past homes that have cutesy pumpkin decals on the windows or scary gravestones on the lawn. However, when I’m visiting a friend or my family, I sometimes drive pass countless condos and townhomes that have no decorations at all. And while I know that not everyone likes to showcase their holiday cheer, there is often another reason why I see empty yards and windows when I visit other people who live in small subdivisions.

Depending on where you live, if you own a condo or a townhouse that is nestled inside a small community, you may have to belong to a homeowners’ association. All HOAs have different rules and regulations, which can determine any number of things, from parking to patio furniture, outdoor lights and holiday decorations. Some do not allow you to display any decorations until 14 to 30 days prior to a given holiday.

So while my front lawn may be decked out with crazy spider webs, frightening headstones and carved pumpkins on October 1, those who own condos and townhomes in small subdivisions might not be able to decorate their property until the middle of the month! Many HOAs also express that residents must take down decorations by the 30th calendar day after the holiday.

To me, this is not such a big deal. While I would be a little disappointed that I couldn’t put up my decorations until the middle of a given month, it’s not really a problem. And when I was little, my family used to leave my Christmas decorations up until February or March! So I think that a required deadline for decoration set up/removal is actually a good thing. You wouldn’t want to look at terrifying ghouls as you’re eating Thanksgiving dinner, would you? You also probably would not rotting pumpkins to sit on your lawn, as they would most likely attract unwanted bugs and mold.

So when it comes to the “holiday rule,” who really cares? Some people say that HOA rules and regulations make or break the sale of a condo/townhome. But it’s not because someone couldn’t keep their Halloween decorations up until Thanksgiving! Stay tuned for another post about homeowners’ associations.

A picture is a worth a thousand words, especially when you’re trying to sell your house. Overly abbreviated text in a newspaper ad may be informative, but it won’t convey your home’s beauty and overall appeal the way a photograph will. According to the National Association of Realtors (NAR), 83% of home buyers check home-listing photos on the Internet before they visit a house. A bad photo, however, can be worse than no photo at all. (This is one of the many reasons I use a fsbo help like BuyOwner.com)

Here are a few simple tips for transforming your bland photos into breathtaking works of art.

Get to know your camera. Even digital point-and-click cameras have built-in features designed to simplify the photographing experience. Take a look at the camera’s instruction manual, or take a few test shots until you are truly comfortable.

Set the camera on its highest resolution. If you decide to just use the photos online, you can always decrease the resolution.

Shoot in full daylight, preferably sunshine. Never take a photo of your house with a shadow across it.

Get as close as you can to the house while still including nearly all of it in the photo.

Remove cars and other vehicles from your driveway to showcase the drive’s length, construction and quality.

Wet down the brick patio and concrete pool surround to avoid it being too bright in the photo. Wetting it down also brings out the rich color in the brick.

Consider investing in a tripod to avoid blurry, out-of-focus shots. If you are unable to afford a tripod, try this old trick: Press your arms against your sides and spread your feet to form a tripod effect with your body to steady your shots.

When photographing interior shots, use natural light to illuminate the room. Make sure the light is coming from the side or back of you when taking your pictures to avoid glare. Lamps and light fixtures that have tungsten bulbs will give your photographs a yellowish tint.

If you want to showcase lamps and other light fixtures, use your camera’s flash to correct any color tints.

Turn off your camera’s flash when photographing reflective surfaces like mirrors.

Make a room look homey. Arrange books and magazines on the coffee table with the colorful ones on top.

Think before you shoot. Your photographs should showcase your home’s best qualities while downplaying any imperfections. For example, if you have new hardwood floors, be sure that the floors are visible in your pictures.

Give your home a thorough cleaning before you begin photographing.

Remove all people and pets from the room before you begin shooting.

If you own a condo or townhome without a yard but with abundant community amenities, take pictures of the clubhouse, pool, spa or tennis courts.

Create interest by positioning focal points to the right or left rather than always in the center.

Think about timing. Try shooting the part of the house at the time that is most likely to be used.  For example, shoot the breakfast area during sunrise while waiting until sunset to shoot the kitchen and dining room.

When is the best time to sell your home? The short answer is that there is no answer. The best time to sell varies for different regions, based on the current inventory of homes for sale, economic conditions, mortgage rates and a host of other factors.

However, one general principle worth considering is season. Especially in regions that experience pronounced weather changes, paying attention to annual trends makes good sense. Usually, the market tends to slow down for the colder winter months and pick back up in spring, around March. Sales may continue to be strong until mid-summer, when they’ll dip again until a small surge in September. Then in November, with the holidays, the market tends to soften again.

That being said, though, the truth is, people will always need places to live, and, thus, they’ll be looking for houses to buy. The best thing you can do, as a seller, to make sure your home gets noticed at the right time is this: make it always available, ready to show anytime.

This recent article I caught in Forbes gives some pros and cons of selling FSBO, as well as examines the results from a Stanford study on the topic.

“A study last year by Stanford University analyzed housing transactions on its campus over 26 years. It found that using a broker did not significantly affect either the average initial asking price or the average selling price of a home in the sample - indicating that brokers did not ‘pay for themselves by obtaining prices high enough to offset their commissions.’”

The article goes on to include the story of a customer who chose Buy Owner, the FSBO help company I’m always raving about here:

“Seidel’s approach was unique, in that his father-in-law is a real estate agent and had access to the Multiple Listing Service. He paid a 1 percent commission to BuyOwner.com, which provided an online listing and connected him with a title company.

Seidel showed the house just one weekend, and in the end saved about $17,000 off the standard agent’s commission. He also learned a key lesson in sales - remove emotions from the process.”

Read the rest here.