7 Maintenance Moves That Will Save You Thousands

With the dog days of summer behind us, fall is the perfect time for home maintenance.

A few weekends of work before the weather really turns will help you get ready for winter and avoid any nasty surprises—and big repair bills—the cold might bring.

Here’s your must-do checklist for fall.

1. Gutter Maintenance

Clogged gutters can allow overflowing water to damage walls, spark a rodent infestation and erode your landscaping. Worse, the water can leak through your foundation, causing a flood in your basement.

A minor flood could cost $500 to $1,500 to repair, if you catch the problem quickly. If you don’t, there could be mold, damage to the sheet rock and ruined installation to repair as well, pushing the cost up to $10,000 or more.

To prevent a problem before it starts, clean and repair your gutters early in the fall. Once cleaned and repaired, consider adding a layer of waterproof mesh over your gutters to keep leaves out.

2. Protect Screen Doors

Winter’s harsh weather can rip holes in screen doors or cause the metal to rust. Replacing a damaged screen door in the spring will cost you from $150 for a lightweight model to $225 for a heavy-duty model.

To keep your screen doors intact, remove the door, clean the screen and store it in a dry place until spring.

3. Shingles

Scaling your roof to check for loose or broken shingles may not seem like the ideal Saturday, but if left unattended, small problems in your roofing can lead to major leaks during the winter as rain, hail, sleet and snow pound your home.

Professional repairs on a 10-by-10-foot roof cost an average of $630. Save yourself money and make the small repairs now.

4. Winterize Your Pipes

Burst pipes are a costly problem. A non-urgent call to a plumber can cost up to $250, while an emergency pipe repair can cost up to $600. Repairing the damage from the resulting flood could costs thousands more.

In cold climates, you need to winterize your pipes to protect your home. Outdoors, shut the water off to any spigots and drain any remaining water by briefly turning on the spigot. Indoors, locate any exposed pipes that may get cold in the winter. Wrap the pipes in foam or vinyl insulation to prevent freezing.

5. Mind the Gap

Gaps in your window or door frames let in cold air, causing your heater to work overtime all winter long, but these have an easy fix.

Start by running your hand over windows and doors. If you feel a draft, apply weather stripping around the frame to create a tighter feel. Sealing up those leaks can reduce your utilities bills by up to 10%.

6. Call the Chimney Sweep

Your fireplace should be inspected and cleaned once a year, even if you don’t use it much. While a professional may charge up to $350, it is worth the cost.

The most minor potential problem is that the lining of the chimney could crack, costing $2,000 to $4,500 to repair. At worst, the chimney could force carbon monoxide into your home or cause a fire.

7. Test Your Heater

Before the cold sets in, fire up your heater.

After your home starts to warm up, walk from room to room. If you notice cold spots, loud screeching sounds or strange smells, you may have a heating problem.

If the furnace stops working, repairs could cost $325 to $475. And if you wait until the busy season, technicians may raise their prices.

Original Article From: www.Realtor.com | Written By: Angela Colley

6 Great Reasons To Buy A Home Right Now

To take advantage of near-record low mortgage interest rates and home prices undervalued by as much as three percent nationwide, now is a great time to buy a home.

You've already missed the bottom of the market, but that doesn't mean there aren't great buys to be had out there. Your community may not have appreciated as quickly as some of the big metro areas have recently. Your boom may yet come.

To begin with, the economy is growing. From information gathered on or before August 22, 2014, the Federal Reserve's "Beige Book" report found economic activity is up in all eight national districts, including consumer spending, freight loads for deliveries of goods, and more.

But there are even better reasons to buy a home right now. Here are just a few:

More jobs are available

The Labor Department announced that the jobless rate is now below six percent. Consider how far the job market has come since January 2010 when unemployment was 9.7 percent.

Houses hedge against inflation

The Consumer Price for All Urban Consumers is up 1.7% from August 2013 to August 2014, excluding volatile food and gas prices. The food index has risen 2.7 percent over the span, while the energy index has increased 0.4 percent. This is the first month that the index hasn't risen since 2010.

Why is that good for homeowners? Even in a tepid inflationary environment, when prices rise, a major asset such as a home, purchased at a fixed cost, becomes more valuable. Typically, in an inflationary environment, housing prices rise.

Housing price gains are slowing

The median existing-home price in August was $219,800, which is 4.8 percent higher than home prices in August 2013. This marks the 30th consecutive month of year-over-year price gains. In 2013, home prices rose in the double digits.

Mortgage interest rates are still low

According to Freddie Mac's archives, the lowest that mortgage interest rates have been in modern history (since 1971) was in November and December 2012 at 3.35 percent with 0.7 points for a benchmark 30-year, fixed-rate loan, and that was back in 2012 before the housing recovery began in earnest. The most recent Freddie Mac survey found national averages at 4.16 percent with .05 percent points in September 2014.

Pent-up demand ready to release

Household formation has been muted since the Great Recession, preventing as many as 2.5 million people from forming households who otherwise would have. Economists with Harvard's Center for Joint Housing Studies predict that annual U.S. housing starts should average 1.4 to 1.5 million over the coming decade. Considering that the largest generation ever –81 million Echo Boomers -- are well into renting and homebuying age, the numbers should be closer to the 2.3% annual growth of the 1970's, when 78 million Baby Boomers reached adulthood.

Buy VS rent ratios favor homeownership

Trulia, a real estate marketplace and research group announced that nationally, rents rose 6.5% year-over-year in September 2014. Apartment rents were up 6.9%, while single-family home rents gained 5.2%. At the same time, housing prices have leveled off.

The takeaway

A housing market never remains even. There are always surges and dips. Buyers could wait for better market conditions, but the present alignment of low mortgage interest rates, slowing home prices, rising rents and pent-up demand add up to great reasons to buy a home right now.

Original Article From: www.RealtyTimes.com | Written By: Blanche Evans

How Older Homes Beat New Homes

For a society that likes shiny new things, the latest research could foreshadow a surprising trend -- homebuyers choosing older homes over new construction.

Why? The prices and operating costs can vary widely. In August 2014, the median sales price of new homes sold was $275,600, while the median price of older homes was $219,000. Taxes and insurance may cost less for an older home.

People are often wowed when they go into a builder's model and see how beautiful it is. It has the latest bells and whistles, but when the buyer starts to add upgrades, the price can quickly increase. Once they see how much it costs to get everything they want, older homes start to look much more affordable.

Retro charm

Whether you prefer mid-century modern or Victorian shabby chic, older homes have personalities and features that are a lot of fun to decorate. You can also update an older home a little at a time instead of paying a big mortgage to have it all at once.

More available

Since the Great Recession, existing homes have been much less expensive than new homes, and builders have had a hard time getting market share traction. For example, the sales of existing homes in August were seasonally adjusted at 5.05 million units. Sales of newly built, single-family homes were 412,000 units, which is low by historical standards.

Stricter financing

A new home with a higher price tag may be harder to finance. Stricter lending requirements mean that borrowers have to stay within traditional guidelines of affordability, including down payments and debt to income ratios. An affordable home should not take more than approximately 30% of household gross income to cover mortgage notes, taxes and insurance.

Wealth effect is gone

Despite recent gains in the stock market, people simply don't feel as wealthy or as confident. In 2010, returns were about where they were in 2000, meaning a lost decade of wealth-building in stocks and bonds, as well as housing equity. Four years later, many investors have yet to make up their losses.

Higher building costs

National Association of Home Builder's (NAHB) research shows lumber and wood products account for 15% of the cost of construction for a single-family home. Lumber prices are 27% above their average 2011 levels. NAHB economists estimate that a 10% increase in the price of framing lumber per 1,000 board feet adds approximately $660 to the price of an average new home.

Even a small change in home prices or interest rates can determine whether homebuyers can buy a home. A 2012 priced-out analysis done by NAHB found that a $1,000 increase in new home prices from $225,000 to $226,000 eliminates 232,447 households from being able to afford the same home. A 10% cost increase in the average wholesale price of framing lumber would mean that about 160,000 families would not be able to qualify for a mortgage on an average first-time home.

Commutes more expensive

Most new homes are built where land costs are cheaper, well outside the inner city. The Department of Energy expects commuters to pay an average $700 more annually in gasoline costs to live in the suburbs. The cost of commuting could make older homes in the inner city, walking communities, and homes near public transportation more attractive to homebuyers.

Where new homes beat older homes

Because it's easier to build green than to retrofit, new homes have the advantage over older homes when it comes to energy efficiency. Sixty-eight percent of homebuilders say the home of 2015 will have more energy-efficient features such as insulated windows and water-efficient fixtures, and Energy-Star-rated appliances, heating and cooling systems.

Whether homebuyers choose existing or new homes, one thing is certain- they can't go wrong either way. In an inflationary environment, buying a home is one of the best hedges against rising rents and higher building costs down the road.

Original Article From: www.RealtyTimes.com | Written by: Blanche Evans

Buyers Beware: Builder Incentives and Seller Concessions

Buying a home is more than a financial investment; there’s also an emotional component. Builder incentives and seller concessions are sales tactics to encourage you to make an offer on a home.

It is easy to be drawn in when a builder or seller offers assistance—or a fun incentive—to purchase their property. When you’re deciding on your down payment and estimating your monthly payments, any help is welcome.

However, while financial assistance, a free vacation, a sunroom addition, or a new car are enticing reasons to consider one property over another, buyers must keep a long-term focus in mind and a skeptical eye on these kinds of builder incentives and seller concessions.

If you truly want a property for other reasons aside from the incentives and concessions, it may make sense to make a serious offer.

However, if you’re more interested in just taking advantage of a seemingly cool deal, then you need to keep looking for a home you truly love and dig deeper into the details of the deal.

Why are incentives offered?

Builders of new homes offer incentives to buyers at various times during the development cycle.

In the initial stages of selling a new community, builders often offer incentives to pre-sell homes. When a community is almost sold out, builders may provide incentives in order to sell their final few homes.

Sellers of existing homes may offer concessions to buyers, particularly if they’re trying to sell an unusual home or if market conditions favor buyers.

If you’re looking for a home in a seller’s market and are offered a concession or incentive by a seller, take it as a red flag and ask why the seller is so eager to offer a deal.

Common builder incentives and seller concessions

Builders often offer to pay closing costs or for optional features such as a finished basement, a sunroom addition, or stainless steel appliances.

To get the incentives offered, buyers usually must work with the lender recommended by the builder as well as the title company chosen by the builder. If you choose to work with the builder’s preferred service providers, you still should shop around for a loan and compare title company fees to be sure your deals are fair.

Some sellers may stoke interest with offers of a free vacation or car. Keep in mind you may have to pay taxes on these items—and you’ll be responsible for insuring a car, too.

Sellers also can offer to pay closing costs, buy down your interest rate, or pay homeowner or condominium association dues for a few months. Remember to evaluate whether the price of the home has been increased to offset these concessions.

Remember, a good REALTOR® can help you analyze the true market value of a property and any concessions.

Your lender still needs to know

Loan programs have rules about how much a seller can contribute towards a buyer’s purchase. If you’re considering a deal in which the seller or builder will pay some of your closing costs, you must discuss this with a trusted lender.

When you work with experienced and responsible professionals, you can feel confident any incentive you accept is just a bonus on top of your decision to buy a home you can comfortably afford and love.

Original Article From: www.Realtor.com | Written by: Michele Lerner

The Cost of Home Improvement Fraud

Home improvement fraud is big business, netting $1.4 billion in 2012 for unscrupulous parties, the Federal Trade Commission has reported.

Yet homeowners shouldn’t let this deter them from carrying out renovation projects that could increase their own enjoyment of their home and potentially boost its resale value.

Instead, they should make themselves aware of common contractor scams and how they can protect themselves, as this infographic from Home Advisor illustrates.

Original Article From: www.realtor.com | Written By: Cicely Wedgeworth