Checking That Vinyl Siding
June 30th, 2008 Categories: For Homeowners
I found a interesting topic that many of you in this area should be aware of during a home inspection. VINYL SIDING… What can go wrong with vinyl siding? You may be surprised. This article from my friend in NC will help you out.
Check That Vinyl Siding Before You Buy A Home
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Why Parking On Your Lawn In Loudoun Could Cost You…
June 2nd, 2008 Categories: For Homeowners, Real Estate News
The Loudoun Board of Supervisors may follow Fairfax and Prince William Counties in making it illegal to leave cars parked on your front lawn.
The reason: it looks bad.
Scott York, Loudoun Board Chairman says, “It brings down property values and adds to neighborhood problems caused by crowding of homes and the recent spate of foreclosures.”
Under the proposal, lots with 36,000 square feet (the 6 homes that have that much, lol) or less would be prohibited from parking on unpaved sections of their front yards. They also couldn’t pave over 30% of their front yard to comply with the ordinance.
The truth is that most communities that have this problem do not have an HOA. Most HOA’s would never allow this. I agree that it looks bad. The question becomes should the government be able to control where we park on our land?
Let me know what you think…
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Beware Of Hidden Housing Issues
April 17th, 2008 Categories: For Homeowners, Sellers
Many of the homes now under contract are being sold by the bank. As I mentioned earlier, the banks are not huge fans of addendum’s such as home inspections since most of them are being sold in their “AS IS” condition.
Being the diligent buyer you are, this is not an option. So what do you do? You get a home inspection for informational purposes only. If you find items that you aren’t willing to deal with you walk, if you still can, or try to work something out with the bank.
Here is a great video on some major issues to look out for during a home inspection. Even if you are hiring an inspector these will help you ask some great questions.
Sellers this is a great video for things to look out for. If you know of things that would scare away buyers it is best to address them before they scare away your future buyer.
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The Sacred Open House
March 24th, 2008 Categories: Buyers, For Homeowners, Sellers
What is the goal of an open house?
The chances of selling your home during an open house have to be like 1 in 100.
If the odds are that low, why the heck to do we still hold our houses open? Wouldn’t it be much more efficient to spend that couple of hours that we hold our homes open passing out flyer’s or something? Seriously, think about it. We spend all day Saturday stressing ourselves out trying to make our home appear clean, smell good, and get those vacuum lines in our carpet so we can let complete strangers and nosey neighbors wonder around our homes for three hours? Do we seriously expect that that during those 3 hours the future buyer of our home will be in our neighborhood and be so enthralled by our 4 signs that they will come and visit our home and want to buy it on the spot?
Don’t get me wrong. It could happen. The question is, “is it worth it?”
Truthfully, I bought my home after going to an open house. However, I was already going there because I knew it was for sale. I have had clients buy homes after going through an open house. However, I sent them there meaning we would gone either way.
The truth is that I hold open houses. I will probably hold one open this weekend. I do it because sellers think it is important. Every weekend. NO. But once in a while, sure. Open Houses are the sacred cows of real estate. Its like knocking on wood. Will knocking on wood really ever save you from being jinxed? Of course not. Will holding a home open sale it? Probably not. Its just that sellers are desperate to sell their homes and do not want to leave any stone unturned. I understand.
History: I believe open houses used to work before the days of computer searching. Now, most people will view your home online way before they take their time to drive out to see it. Therefore, make sure you don’t hire some lazy Realtor who won’t spend the time and money to have professional pictures taken of your home. Remember, pictures speak a thousand words. So do bad photos. I have all of my listings shot by a professional photographer with wide angle photos, and have many of my listings staged to show their absolute best. I also advertise my open houses in the local newspaper before holding them open so people actually come.
If you want open houses automatically emailed to you on the weekends you can sign up here. Be sure to click in the “Only Show Open Homes” Box.
If you are looking buy or sale in Ashburn Village, Broadlands, Brambleton, Belmont, Leesburg, Lansdowne, or River Creek you can contact me here.
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Why to Home – Inspect – Your – Gadgets
March 20th, 2008 Categories: Buyers, For Homeowners
Two weeks ago I wrote an article called The Secret To Saving Yourself From A Dying Home where I talked about purchasing a home warrant when buying your home. At that time I didn’t talk much about the essentials of a home inspection.
When you write an offer on a re-sale home in VA, you have the option of conducting a home inspection to check out the house beyond the appearance. Depending on the size of the home you are looking to pay $250 and UP. This is not something that you want to overlook or just bring in your buddy who knows housing well. Overlooking an issue could cost you A LOT OF MONEY in the long run if not addressed. The state views this as such an issue that there are forms you may have to sign if you decide against having the inspection. In most cases you can actually decide to not buy the home if you find things that scare the mess out of you, or the seller refuses to fix them.
During a standard home inspection, your inspector will go through your home, looking over all of the electrical issues, plumbing, appliances, outlets, roof, windows, smoke detectors, etc… This does not mean that if the roof appears old or if there is a ding in the wall that you can force the seller to address it.
The worst thing that I see taking place after a home inspection in this market is that buyers who have already picked the sellers pockets during the negotiations come back and seek to get thousands of dollars more of work done for issues that are not hazardous to the home but the seller simply wants fixed like a wood piece on a garden wall leaning, or to have the whole side of a 1950’s house repainted.
Don’t get me wrong, it is ok to ask for issues to be addressed that cost a lot of money. However, I am referring to minor issues that have nothing to do with the structure of the home, appliances, heating, cooling, electric, plumbing, etc. It can simply become an issue of taking advantage of people at a certain point.
I can assist you with buying a home in Fairfax City, Chantilly, South Riding, Ashburn, Leesburg, Hamilton, Vienna, Mclean, Reston, Sterling, and Herndon….. CONTACT ME.
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