How older homes can compete with newer construction

It seems like everyone wants to live "close in" today. We all know everyone is tired of the commutes on the Eastside. So the older homes that attract the most buyers and sell for the most money are the homes that have been updated. These homes keep the best features of the existing home, but incorporate some of the attractive features of newer homes.


Want some creative ideas for remodeling that older home? Everyone knows kitchens and baths are the "no-brainer" remodels that will earn home owners the most bang for their buck, but in this article a few more great ideas were presented. Here are some suggestions from the article you can link to below:

Raise the roof! What a great idea. When I show buyers homes I constantly hear about the desire for an open floor plan with high ceilings. This is one of the major attractions of newer homes and is a great way for older homes to compete in the marketplace.

Tear down walls- another great way to create openess. Older homes often have small rooms. Why not open the kitchen to the dining room or family room?

Paint the interior with fabulous colors. No longer is beige, beige, beige in demand. People love personality and color. Go for it and show your style.

Add a bath or hardwood floors. Again, great features that excite buyers.

Check out new construction for what is popular and then adapt the features to your own remodel.


I have seen some really cool midentry and rambler homes built in the 60's and 70's that had open floor plans. These open living areas were created by knocking down walls. When these homes have been on the market, they have attracted top dollar for the sellers. The older homes with the open floor plans, plus the remodeled kitchens and baths, are the most in demand.


http://www.brokeragentnews.com/news/residential/2007_3/3_20_2007_yw_1174443301.html


Call me if you have questions about remodeling and I would be happy to tell you what is selling in today's market.

You Can Be Superman and See Through Walls!

Well almost! With InfraredThermal Imaging you can actually see the temperature measurement differentials given off by all the materials behind your walls. You can then locate areas where water instrusion is occurring, areas where there is energy loss due to improper insulation, and you can also view the electrical and plumbing in your home.

Why do I know this?

Because I have had a water leak in my house and needed to get to the source of the problem. This one spot has leaked in my kitchen whenever we have wind and rain. Usually a couple of times a season, we end up with a leak. Every year we have people out to fix the problem. But each year, the leak is back in the same spot. We really thought we had our leak fixed in 2005 as our entire roof and some skywall windows were replaced. Then in October of 2005, the rains began and the leak was still there. The roofer repaired the leak. The rains came again in October of 2006 and along with it came our friendly leak, like an old friend (or enemy?) Drastic action was necessary. We cut a whole in our ceiling and have chosen not to close it up until we felt we had licked the leak problem. The roofers came out again (for the third fix) and "fixed" the problem. Then came our infamous wind/rain storm last winter. During that storm, I was dealing with an indoor waterfall, not a leak. I needed buckets to catch the rain for that one. Fortunately, the inch downpour only lasted about an hour that day.

I contacted Cascade Thermal Imaging. The company has an Infrared camera that can detect temperature differentials of all materials in walls, ceilings, roofs, etc. They have been out to my home twice now to do testing. It's really fascinating to see. Their camera detects the amount of infrared energy given off by an object. You can then see the differences in moisture and heat. They found evidence of moisture in the wall and also in other spots we never knew might be wet. These images were shown to the roofer and they are investigating further. They are doing some invasive procedures to confirm the imaging photos, but it looks as if there is now some great information that will help solve our leak problem. The roofers may now know where to look for our leak!

I will keep you posted on the saga of the leak and let you know whether the thermal imaging was able to identify the problem areas. I may not fully know the results until we get through another winter as that is the only time I have ever had a leak in my home. We are getting closer to feeling like we can close up the hole in our ceiling.

The thermal imaging process is a new resource that will help identify problems more clearly in ways we have been unable to do before. I see Thermal Imaging being used if you have a problem, such as a leak, and are unable to track the source. I also see buyers using this process as part of a building inspection if there is a concern about a leak, a roof problem, electrical and plumbing systems, and overall energy efficiency of the home.

http://www.Cascadethermal.com

What were the chances of selling an Eastside home in February, 2007?

Monthly Statistics for February, 2007


So what were the chances of selling a home on the Eastside in February 2007?

Sellers had a 42% chance of getting a home sold in February.

This is a fabulous increase from the 33% chance sellers had to sell a home in January. Almost half of all the condos and homes listed in February received offers. This is obviously a very positive trend and it speaks volumes about the direction of our market. Thirty-two% of the homes for sale in December sold, 33% in January, and now in February there was a 42% chance of selling. The amount of properties on the market has increased by only 23 homes/condos, 3%, and the number of sales has increased by 9%.

Looking back at 2006, your odds of selling a home were a bit stronger in February 2006 than this February, but not by much, since 46% of the homes sold as compared to 42%. It will be interesting to watch if our typical yearly patterns continue this year as they have in most of the past years. If you take a look at the Eastside Summary reports (click on statistical reports for 2007) you can see how more of the inventory sells in the spring. Spring is generally more of the seller’s market. I predict the same market swings as we have generally seen in the past few years with the market more seller friendly in the spring and more buyer friendly as the year moves on.

Of course, each area is slightly different. For example, there is a much larger amount of homes available in on the plateau, Snoqualmie, and Issaquah north of I-90. There were almost 500 homes available in these areas. This is a result of the boom in construction that is happening in Snoqualmie right now. These new homes have added greatly to the amount of inventory available in these areas. However, if you look at some of the more established areas of the plateau such as in Sammamish, they, too, do not have many homes for sale.

If we look to areas such as Bothell, Woodinville, Duvall and Kenmore, 380 homes were available. The Kirkland area came in next with 275 homes on the market in February. Inventory declined sharply in many of the other areas such as Redmond/Carnation with 187 homes, West Bellevue with 114, West Redmond/East Bellevue with 98 homes, and Mercer Island with only 90 properties available. The lack of inventory in these areas explains some of the increase in appreciation in each of these areas. The median price of homes in West Bellevue has increased by 68% from last year! This will explain why in some areas homes will have more than one buyer and may sell with multiple offers.

Good news for condo buyers: available condos increased by 26% from 406 in February of last year to 515 this year. More condos sold than last year as 328 condos sold as compared to 301. Even with all the new construction condos being built in all price ranges and the huge number of condo conversions, there still is a dearth of inventory. If you look at February of 2003, there were about 1200 condos on the market, so 515 available now do not represent many condos. In the next few years, many more condos will come on line, particularly in the luxury market.

Don’t forget to look at the attached charts on my website for this past month and past year. (Click on statistical reports for 2007 and for January 2007). Look at statistics-year to date charts to find this information. These charts will clarify a lot of the information.

For those of you who are familiar with my monthly statistics reports, you can see I have changed the format. I try to present market information in the most meaningful way possible. I plan to spend time analyzing the information presented in the past to see if there is a better way to present the individual price range data. However, feel free to contact me if you do have questions about the performance of each of the different price ranges.

Debra’s monthly tip: Since you never know when you may sell, take photos of your yard as the season progresses. Great photos of your yard can always be used in marketing, even if you sell in the dead of winter.

http://debrasinick.com/docs/2007_Year_to_Date.pdf