100 Easy Street

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BEST VALUE IN NEIGHBORHOOD!! New HVAC, New Carpet, Freshly Painted, Full Privacy Fence! The owner has done it all so you don't have to! This home has a large eat-in kitchen, with all appliances staying, a large great room with vaulted ceilings and a fireplace, and a low maintenance yard. The master suite has vaulted ceilings, a spacious bathroom, and a walk-in closet with built in organizer. One of the two additional bedrooms has a cedar lined closet. Ask your REALTOR how you can get assistance with closing costs on this home!

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Neighborhood Historic Designation Can Raise Property Values

   

 

By: Terry Sheridan

Getting a historic designation for your neighborhood can boost your home’s value by as much as one-third.

A neighborhood historic designation won’t guarantee home values in the historic district will rise, but studies show it’s likely.
Home values rose 5% to 35% per decade in more than 20 historic districts nationwide, compared with home values in undesignated neighborhoods in the same communities, according to a 2007 analysis by Jonathan Mabry, historic preservation officer for Tucson, Ariz.

The biggest property value boost comes from local historic district designations and districts that layer local and national designations, the study says.

Why neighborhood historic designations protect property values

Even if your home’s price doesn’t rise, it’s less likely to fall if your neighborhood is in a historic district.
That’s because historic neighborhood designations help ensure that the aspects that make the area attractive to home buyers will be protected over time by explicit design limits on such things as demolitions and out-of-character exterior remodeling, according to the National Trust for Historic Preservation.
If your historic neighborhood includes commercial buildings, your home’s value could rise even more because home buyers pay a premium for homes where they can walk to shops, restaurants, and work.
If you don’t have time to research the historic aspects of your whole neighborhood, apply for a historic designation for your home, which takes less time and research.

Choose an appraiser who knows historic designations

When you need to value your historic home, say because you’re refinancing your mortgage or deciding how much insurance to buy, use an appraiser who specializes in the historic designation home valuations niche.
If your home has historic designation, but the neighborhood doesn’t, be especially picky about the appraiser’s expertise in historic properties. Your home will be harder to accurately appraise than a historic home in a designated district that’s better known to appraisers.

3 neighborhood historic designation options

• Local historic designations for districts or individual homes are typically created via a town zoning board vote. Once your home is in a local historic district, you’ll have to put up with architectural reviews and more restrictions when you want to renovate, demolish, or build a new home. Those restrictions can be a pain in your side when you want to repaint your home, but they also keep the neighbors from building an out-of-scale monstrosity next door.

• State designations for historic districts usually let individual owners opt to include themselves or decline to participate. Your state may even offer you a property tax break for owning a home in a historic district.

• National historic designations involve public persuasion because a majority of your neighbors have to approve your plans to turn the area into a historic district.

Terry Sheridan is an award-winning journalist who has written extensively about historic preservation issues, most recently for the Daily Business Review in Miami, Fl. She lives in a 147-year-old former stable and carriage house in New Hampshire.

Read more: http://www.houselogic.com/articles/neighborhood-historic-designation-can-raise-property-values/#ixzz1GpMHKPl1

It is Easy to Be Green

5 low-cost things you can do to go greener at home

By Dena Kouremetis

Fluorescent light bulbs not only last longer but are more environmentally and economically sound.

When that certain lovable Muppet Kermit the Frog sang “It isn’t Easy Being Green” so long ago, chances are pretty good that he wasn’t referring to how easy it is to help the environment.

Helping the world go greener can begin with you. Anything from purchasing the right appliances to changing out a light bulb can make a huge difference to both the world around you and even your pocketbook in the long run.

 

 

 

 

 

1. Reaching for the “stars” What is already in place in your home that could be a drain on energy? Is it that old refrigerator in the garage? Did you know that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimates that one older appliance (such as your trusty old fridge) can cost you as much as $150 more per year than an energy-efficient model?

Here’s a sobering thought — if just 10 homeowners replaced their older appliances with EnergyStar®-qualified ones, it would be equivalent to planting 1.7 million new acres of trees. Plan a budget to slowly replace all your “energy hog” appliances with new energy saving models and you’ll thank yourself later on.

 

2. How hot is hot and how cold is cold? Turning down the thermostat in cold weather and inching it up during the warm months can save as much as 3-5 percent for each degree adjustment. In fact, as much as 60 percent of your energy bill may be heating and cooling related. Programmable thermostats can make the most prudent adjustments automatically during any 24-hour period but are grossly underused, according to Ron McClure. of the Pleasant Hill, Calif.-based California Home Energy & Comfort Solutions, a company that sends inspectors to perform energy “audits” for homeowners or buyers.

“About six out of ten households already have programmable thermostats but don’t use the automatic (programmable) function on them,” says McClure, “The first thing they do on a cold morning is head to the thermostat to warm up the place and by the time they are comfortable they head out the door without another thought..” he relates. Even if you remember to shut your heat off before you leave the house, however, McClure goes on to say that it costs more to reheat your home than to maintain the temperature with a properly programmed thermostat.

Other low-cost energy saving tasks to look into:

• Get some new clothes for your hot water heater by placing an insulating jacket around it (usually costs under $20) and outfit your pipes for even less.
• HVAC (heating, ventilation and cooling) changes can contribute even more – something as simple as cleaning your furnace’s air filter monthly during heavy usage times can make a big difference.
• Shade your east and west facing windows to prevent the most brutal heat intrusion during summer months. And if your house doesn’t already possess dual-pane energy-efficient windows, why not start replacing those windows slowly, but start with those that receive the most intense sun exposure first?
• Saving heat generating activities such as dishwashers and cooking until the evening hours can help you ease up on cooling costs as well as your local energy grid.
• Using ceiling fans to move air on low speeds (even if TV reality remodeling shows think they’re not fashionable) can permit you to push the thermostat in either direction, providing more circulation of either cool or warm air.

3. Water, water everywhere but not a drop to waste You may love the forceful flow of water at your faucets, toilets and showerheads, but did you know that installing aerators on them could cut your annual water consumption by more than half?

And then there is the commode... Toilets installed 15 years ago use more than twice the amount of water than the newer low-flow models. Even if you have older toilets, however, you can adjust your float valves to permit a lower water flow into the tank.

 

4. Going into the light Replacing your incandescent light bulbs with the EnergyStar®-rated compact fluorescent variety all over the house can save you $100 per year, according to the Partnership for Advancing Technology in Housing (PATH), a voluntary partnership between leaders of the homebuilding, product manufacturing, insurance, and financial industries. They calculate that if every family in the U.S. did this, greenhouse gas emissions would be reduced by one trillion pounds.

True — buying new bulbs does take an initial investment, but even a recent ad by Starbucks in The New York Times that said if every person who received the newspaper switched one light bulb to a compact fluorescent light (CFL) bulb, it would be the equivalent of taking 89,000 cars off the road.

 

5. Filling in the gaps Have you bothered to look around your attic space to see if all areas contain insulation? According to PATH, even a small area with limited or no insulation — or even insulation that has been damaged or compressed — can significantly decrease overall effectiveness. The U.S. Department of Energy says that adding insulation to the attic is relatively easy and very cost effective. To find out if you have enough attic insulation, measure the thickness of the insulation. If it is less than R-22 (7 inches of fiber glass or rock wool or 6 inches of cellulose), you could probably benefit by adding more. Most U.S. homes should have between R-22 and R-49 insulation in the attic.

An "energy audit" may cost you anywhere from $159 to $359, according to McClure, but PATH figures that you can recoup the cost of the inspection in about a year by implementing the recommendations the audits can provide. Try PATH for a list of inspectors in your area.

Copyright © by Move, Inc.

Home Improvement Apps for iPhone, Android, and BlackBerry: Your Digital Toolbox

By: Les Shu

Published: February 17, 2011

Downloadable iPhone and Android apps offer ways to maintain, improve, and save money on your home.

Match that paint color

If you see a color at a friend’s house that would look great in your home, use Benjamin Moore’s Ben Color Capture or Sherwin-Williams’ ColorSnap, free mobile apps for iPhone, to conjure up a matching paint color and code in a jiffy. Take a photo with your phone, and the app matches the paint as closely as possible, and will display secondary and complementary colors. (ColorSnap is also available for BlackBerry.)

Get rid of stains

Good Housekeeping magazine has placed all their best stain-removal and cleaning advice into their free @Home app. It also includes decorating ideas and a searchable list of the 5,000-plus products that have earned a Good Housekeeping seal.

Look for recycled stuff

If you’re searching for a cheap replacement part, or looking for a deal on slightly-used appliances and materials, eBay’s free Mobile app lets you search the auction site’s entire marketplace from iPhone, Android, Windows Phone 7, and BlackBerry devices. You can also put any of your disused-but-functional household items up for sale and recoup some cash.

For listings close to home, search the popular Craigslist site through the free Craigsnotifica for Android or Craigspro for iPhone.

Price comparison

Finding lower prices on electronics and appliances used to mean driving from store to store or scanning Sunday circulars. With the free Price Check by Amazon, you can scan a product’s barcode at a store and compare the price against Amazon and other merchants. (Android and BlackBerry versions are also available.) PriceGrabber has a similar app for iPhone and Android.

Carpenter’s tools in one

For $1.99, the iHandy Carpenter app puts a ruler, protractor, bubble level, surface level, and plumb bob into your iPhone, allowing you to make measurements without lugging out the tool box. It’s perfect for simple jobs like hanging frames and mirrors.

Need just a level? There’s a free app for iPhone from iHandy and for Android from Johnson.

Calculate materials you’ll need

Before you approach a home improvement project, use the $1.99 Handy Man DIY to record dimensions of flooring, windows, walls, and more. It calculates how much material you’ll need and gives you a cost estimate.

Order supplies

If you’re in the middle of a home improvement job and need supplies, use the $4.99 Work Shop app to order them from your iPhone. It’s also a great tool for keep track of expenses or plan your budget for a future project.

Light the way

With the iPhone’s bright display and the super-bright LED flash, you can use it in place of a traditional flashlight to illuminate crawl spaces, attics, cabinet recesses, and other dark spots. There are many apps for this purpose, but two favorites are the 99-cent Flashlight (and 99-cent Flashlight+.

Know what and when to plant

Wonder why certain vegetation isn’t growing in your yard? Landscaper’s Companion provides a reference guide to more than 2,000 plants. You can search for a plant based on your garden’s sun exposure and garden zone, helping to ensure you won’t get any dead leaves after planting. The app costs $9.99.

Find a stud

Using your iPhone’s magnetometer, StudFinderPRO can help you locate studs by locating the magnetic fields emitted by metal objects like screws and nails. The app costs $2.99. A free Magnetic Stud Finder is available for Android devices.

Hire a virtual designer

Need decorating ideas for inspiration? Check out Home Interior Layout Designer--Mark On Call for $2.99. Created by an interior designer, the app can help you plan a space and determine if furnishings will fit. Also consider the $4.99 Living Room app for iPad and the 99-cent Dream Home app for iPhone. 

A writer covering the latest technologies and trends for a variety of national publications, Les Shu is currently automating his home with the newest doodads to make it smarter than he is.

Understanding Real Estate Representation

By: G. M. Filisko

Published: March 29, 2010

Whether you’re buying or selling, it’s important to choose representation that meets your needs in the transaction.

1. Buyer’s agency

When you’re buying a home, you can hire an agent who represents only you, called an exclusive buyer’s representative or agent. A buyer's agent works in your best interest and owes you a fiduciary duty. You can pay your buyer’s agent yourself, or ask the seller, or the seller’s agent, to pay your agent a share of their sales commission.
If you’re selling your home and hiring an agent to list it exclusively, you’ve hired a selling representative--an agent who owes fiduciary duties to you. Typically, you pay a selling agent a commission at closing. Selling agents usually offer or agree to pay a portion of their sales commission to the buyer’s agent. If your seller’s agent brings in a buyer, your agent keeps the entire commission.

2. Subagency

When you purchase a home, the agent you can opt to work with may not be your agent at all, but instead may be a subagent of the seller. In general, a subagent represents and acts in the best interest of the sellers and sellers' agent.
If your agent is acting as a subagent, you can expect to be treated honestly, but the subagent owes loyalty to the sellers and their agent and can't put your interests above those of the sellers. In a few states, agents aren't permitted to act as subagents.

Never tell a subagent anything you don’t want the sellers to know. Maybe you offered $150,000 for a home but are willing to go up to $160,000. That’s the type of information subagents would be required to pass on to their clients, the sellers.

3. Disclosed dual agency

In many states, agents and companies can represent both parties in a home sale as long as that relationship is fully disclosed. It’s called disclosed dual agency. Because dual agents represent both parties, they can’t be protective of and loyal to only you. Dual agents don’t owe all the traditional fiduciary duties to clients. Instead, they owe limited fiduciary duties to each party.

Why would you agree to dual agency? Suppose you want to buy a house that’s listed for sale by the same real estate brokerage where your buyer’s agent works. In that case, the real estate brokerage would be representing both you and the seller and you’d both have to agree to that.

Because there’s a potential for conflicts of interest with dual agency, all parties must give their informed consent. In many states, that consent must be in writing.

4. Designated agency

A form of disclosed dual agency, “designated agency” allows two different agents within a single firm to represent the buyer and seller in the same transaction. To avoid conflicts that can arise with dual agency, some managing brokers designate or appoint agents in their company to represent only sellers, or only buyers. But that isn't required for designated agency. A designated, or appointed, agent will give you full representation and represent your best interests.

5. Nonagency relationship

In some states, you can choose not to be represented by an agent. That's referred to as nonagency or working with a transaction broker or facilitator. In general, in nonagency representation, the real estate professional you work with owes you fewer duties than a traditional agency relationship. And those duties vary from state to state. Ask the person you’re working with to explain what he or she will and won't do for you.

Other web resources

More on real estate agents' roles
G.M. Filisko is an attorney and award-winning writer who zealously protected her clients’ interests as a lawyer. A frequent contributor to many national publications, including Bankrate.com, REALTOR® Magazine, and the American Bar Association Journal, she specializes in real estate, business, personal finance, and legal topics.