Archive for the 'Down to Earth Information' Category

Don’t Spend Your Saturdays Doing This.

December 12th, 2007 categories: Down to Earth Information, Real Estate News

It’s our independent spirit that causes us to spend our Saturdays driving through the countryside hoping to come upon a house for sale that will fit our needs and desires. Maybe we’ll even find an open houses to visit. A great way to get to know the neighborhoods and what the market is like, right?

I think it just leads to confusion, lots of questions and great way to waste precious gas and time. More than likely the perfect house is the same one lots of people are looking for and by the time you find it, contact the agent and arrange a viewing, someone may have beat you to it.

Ask a realtor – any realtor – though ideally this realtor for help finding a home. Honestly if you’re looking, it just saves you a boat load of time circling neighborhoods like you’re in a holding pattern over Chicago O’Hare.

These are the advantages of contacting a real estate agent first

1. It is a great way to find out if this realtor is committed to doing whatever it takes to find you the ideal home.

2. This realtor will direct you only to the price range of homes that will fit your pocketbook. He/She may even suggest you visit some open houses but will keep you from wasting your time on areas that you do not want to move into.

3. When you do visit an open house you can use the phase “I’m already working with a realtor” that will let you off the listing agents’ hook.

4. If something really juicy hits the market, your agent will get you there first.

5. If you are honest with your agent, let them know you are just looking and not ready to purchase yet, they will keep in touch and get to know your likes and dislikes. By the time you are ready to buy, that agent, if they are worth their commission, will be in tune with you and directing you to the homes that best fit you.

6. You will receive many hours of professional guidance which you will NOT be responsible to pay a penny-until and unless we can accomplish your goals.

7. It doesn’t cost you anything but your commitment to work with them.

8. This realtor also includes my Risk-Free, Cancel-Any-Time Buyer Agency Guarantee. If at ANY time you feel I’m not living up to my end of this agreement (for ANY reason) you can end our relationship, walk away and you’re under no obligation what so ever!

And that’s just for starters. Once you are ready to enter into negotiations, you will know your agent well enough to know she is on your side and promoting your best interest.

No real estate transaction will happen without it’s share of stress and surprises, but having a guide,consultant and trusted advisor working for you from the first day you decide to start looking will save you a lot of Saturdays wandering around the countryside.

Some better things to do on a Saturday:Most Popular Things to Do In Boise

Tags: realtor, buyer, open+houses

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One Tool Every Realtor In Ada County Should Have

November 18th, 2007 categories: Community Events, Down to Earth Information

What is one tool that tells you all about the current issues a town is dealing with? What can give you an insight into what your real estate investment or that of your clients will do in the future? In the case of Kuna, Idaho that would be a simple subscription to the Kuna Melba News.

I will be so bold as to say that every realtor that sells and buys in the Kuna/Melba area needs to be a subscriber and reader! How else can you best represent your clients?

Not all weekly newspapers of smaller towns are the same. I am no expert on the subject, but this is the first paper that I’ve subscribed to that I don’t want to miss a single issue for fear I will not be that well-informed realtor that I am striving for.

I was not totally surprised by this recent article about the decline of readers of local news. Newspaper readership declines

You can read online and perhaps glean some good information, but you will miss out on the complete story. I was surprised that on the day of our last mayoral election, there were numerous citizens of Kuna that I talked to that did not even know what we were voting for! So obviously they are not reading it online either. Something about getting it in the mail that makes it harder to ignore.

I am guilty of not subscribing to the local news in the past. I’ve lived in larger cities and the larger the community, the more money is riding on what is decided in the chambers of the city council. That usually complicates the issues making it hard to know if you are agreeing with the right side. I think it even complicates the decision making of the politicians that are in office. So the newspaper reporting is not clear or easy to believe nor did I feel it involved me.

The same is true for the reporting done on the national elections. It is all so complicated and muddled by big business and money. I don’t believe half of what I see or hear, and have a very hard time when it comes to knowing who to put my trust in with my vote.

The Kuna Melba area has a big advantage and that is a good source of unbiased reporting. The community is small enough that the issues are not that complicated, and our votes can still make a big difference in how our community grows.

I would not be ashamed in any way to encourage citizens of this great community to spent money on this well written source of news.

This is especially true for the real estate agents that sell real estate in this community. The Kuna Melba New has reported on important issues that affect the value of people’s real estate investments such as:

• Kuna’s plan to annex an additional 5000 acres…..
• The early end to Kuna’s irrigation season….
• Development of a Big-box store…..
• Ada county Highway department plans for a Kuna Highway….

Besides all the community events, business ads, guest columnist sharing their wisdom (my favorite by far is “This is the Life” ranks right up there with Laura Wilder!) local school and sports, and of course the classifieds.

I would not hesitate to pay the minimal fee for this great source of information that Scott and Nicola McIntosh at the Kuna Melba News prints.

Tags: newspaper, Kuna+Melba+News, real+estate+agents

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For Sale By Owner: Why I Woke Up Screaming?

November 14th, 2007 categories: Down to Earth Information

The second home my husband and I owned was in Roscoe, Illinois and we bought it from a “for sale by owner”.  

Funny, the things we think about in our deep sleep. I had completely forgotten about this house we bought years ago. By the time the sun reached my bedroom window, and I was fully awake, all these events had come rushing back at me.  Since then I have become a real estate agent.  I rose out of bed with a sense of awe and amazement!!  I now realized how close we had come to a real estate nightmare.

These are the things I now know and shiver to think about.

No One Was Promoting or Protecting Our Best Interest: 

No One Talked About The Price:

I’m not sure how we agreed upon the price. No one did a comparative market analysis for us to see if the house was priced fairly or not.  No one negotiated a better price or terms for us.  The seller used to be a real estate agent, and I bet he knew just want he was doing. 

We did realize a gain when we sold the property 10 years later (most people did) and we were happy with our purchase or blindly blissful.

No Inspection Was Done:

My Dad did walk through the house, but no one encouraged us to get a professional inspection.  We did have to replace a sump pump right off the bat, but that probably wouldn’t have been found on the inspection anyways… 

The odd thing is the people who bought it from us were so anxious they offered to buy our house without an inspection contingency. (The difference being they choose to do the inspection later and live with the results)

No Water Test Was Done:

We did have quite a time with this later.  The seal on the well cap had decayed and bugs had festered in the casing. It cost us plenty to clean this up, but again I think this happened after we owned it, but who knows?

No Septic Inspection Was Done:

I don’t know how we got talked into this one, but we were young and not experienced at all with buying country property. We did this step after we moved in. Septic systems can be very expensive things to correct. Luckily nothing seriously wrong here either.

We allowed the sellers to rent back while their house was being built.

Normally this is an OK thing to do, because you have a final walk through to make sure they kept the house in good repair, but again, we did not have this privilege. We had no one protecting our best interest.  Even if we had found something damaged, without that initial inspection how would we prove that wasn’t the way it was in the first place?  Once again, everything was in good order when we moved in.

Possession Problems:

The move in date kept being pushed back because of delays with the build job.(I found out later the seller did most of the finish work and he was the reason why it didn’t get done on time.)  Again no one represented our best interest! We just keep imposing on the kind folks that let us rent a room for the duration.

No Warranty was Offered

This may have paid for itself when the sump pump went out, but that was the only thing that we would have used it for.(Again lucky!)

Conditions on the Purchase and Sale Agreement were never met.

The promise to finish painting the house was never kept. He did leave the paint for us (how sweet of him).  We were so anxious to move in, we did not hold him to this agreement, but also we did not get reimbursed for it either.

In retrospect, we may not have ended up in that wonderful neighborhood if we would not have stopped to inquire on this property. 

We did not know the seller would have probably paid a real estate agent to bring a buyer to the table. We could’ve had someone looking out for our best interest and it would not have cost us anything.

Not until years later, when I became older and wiser, did I realize how very, very lucky we were. 

 

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Got Sugar? Idaho Does, Though You’d Never Guess It

November 9th, 2007 categories: Down to Earth Information

Driving in the Idaho countryside any fall day and you may get stuck behind a huge truck filled with large grey-colored lumps. They are bigger than potatoes, and definitely not onions. You may even come across huge piles of these lumpy dirt-like produce waiting for processing.

Little do most people realize these vegetables are one of the most important crops in Idaho, the lowly sugar beet. Read the rest of this entry »

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Come On: Does It Really Matter What Color It Is?

November 5th, 2007 categories: Down to Earth Information, Featured Properties

This is something often over looked when purchasing or selling your home. Should the color of the outside of the house weigh in when making that all important decision to buy a particular house? Or stated differently, does it make a difference when trying to sell a house? Read the rest of this entry »

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Mother In Law Problems? This May Be The Solution

October 18th, 2007 categories: Buying Land Advice, Down to Earth Information, Regulations and Red Tape

The Mother In Law Ordinance came up when talking recently with a customer. They were looking for property that they could split. Their ultimate goal was to have two residences,enabling their handicapped son to be semi-independent but still close enough to keep an eye on. There is a provision in the unincorporated part of Ada County that does allow, in certain circumstances, to move a family member on to your property in a secondary temporary dwelling. This was always explained to me as The Mother In Law Provision. Read the rest of this entry »

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Buying In The Country? LittleThings Count..Big Time

October 3rd, 2007 categories: Down to Earth Information, Real Estate News

So you’ve found that piece of country property you were searching for and your real estate agent says “Great, this piece of property is in the impact zone!!” Looking at your real estate agent you just nod… I guess that’s a good thing, right?

Impact Zone: a planning tool for future growth of a city. So not only does it give the resident an idea of where the city is planning to go but how the city is planning to use that land, i.e. commercial, high or low density residential, etc. It also gives the city planning and zoning goals when people apply for rezoning or proposed subdivisions. If the property falls into the impact zone then the rules change because now it effects what the city wants to do in the future even though that property is not in the city limits.

Right now Kuna is struggling with some zoning issues that concerns Boise’s impact zone. Seems in the Blueprint for Good Growth plans, where they divvy up unincorporated parts of the county, there is some concern over who gets what in 20 years. Kuna and Boise want the same thing, the land where considerable commercial development and huge tax dollars will be. Great article on this issue at Boise Knocking At Kuna’s Door.

So why does the average homeowner need to know this stuff? Read the rest of this entry »

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What We Are Trying To Avoid In Kuna Idaho

September 9th, 2007 categories: Community Events, Down to Earth Information

Community Living

“(Suburbs) do nothing to satisfy our social human needs; they do nothing to encourage us to be anything but strangers who happen to park their cars on the same street every night.”

Source: Ferenc Mate, A Reasonable Life

 

In my opinion, the best way to keep this from happening here in Kuna is to become involved in your community.  Take time to get to know your neighbors.  Become informed and Vote!!!

 

Tuesday, Sept 11th, is the day to vote concerning the School Bond.  If you are not sure, read the most recent issue of the Kuna Melba News for a very in depth article concerning this bond.  Kuna Melba News

 

 

 

 

Tags: suburbia, community, Kuna

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What Country Sounds Will Matter To Me?

September 2nd, 2007 categories: Community Events, Down to Earth Information

This is one attribute most people don’t take into account when relocating, but it is one I noticed immediately after moving into Kuna. The sense of hearing is very important to our well being. Noise pollution can be a detriment to real estate causing real physical and psychological problems. So lets list the sounds that are typical of Kuna.

1. Meadowlark: Because we have lots of fields, this bird is abundant, especially in the spring and again in the fall. It has the prettiest song, and you’ll see them perched on anything, mouths open wide just belting out their song. This is now my favorite bird!

2. Farm Animals: Towards evening is a good chance to hear the bellowing of sheep, cows demanding attention, or horses signaling their owners. Occasionally, on my morning walk, I hear a rooster off in the distance. If you have one in your backyard, this can be a early morning alarm even on holidays.

3. Farm machinery: We have one neighbor that mows and bales his hay at night. I’m sure it is much cooler to do it then. He has a older machine that has this pleasant rhythmic clicking, whirring sound. Usually doesn’t last long and not an annoying sound once you figure out what it is.

4. Crickets: One week this summer the crickets were so loud, it must have been mating season, or they all gathered in my backyard for a party. Made me wonder as I drifted off to sleep.

5.Train Whistles: Kuna became the train depot for this area because Boise is in a valley and too hard for the trains to get to. So Kuna became “the” delivery stop for the trains. We still have about 30 trains in one day go through this little town. Probably because there are so many, I never hear them. Also my house is not directly next to the tracks. I have heard this can be a potential problem if you are a light sleeper.

6. Construction: If you are one of the lucky ones, and there is a lot of Kuna under construction, you will hear the trucks and hammers as soon as the sun comes up, especially when it is hot. The only concession is that eventually it stops and the crews move on.

7. Nothingness: After the animals are bedded down, the farmer is in bed and the train has gone by, there is a lot of periods of absolutely no noise at all. I love it.

Tags: Sounds, Kuna, pollution

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Ten Low Cost Things You Can Do To Stage Your Home For Sale

August 27th, 2007 categories: Down to Earth Information, Real Estate News

This is probably the number one question I get when listing someone’s home. And there is a direct correlation between days on the market and those that follow this advise and those that choose not to. These great suggestions are better done before your house has that for sale sign planted in the front yard.

1. Curb appeal: If you can’t get them in the front door the next nine suggestions will not matter much. Edge, mulch, clean and add some color. Be sure the front door is updated and the focal point. The grass needs to be green, free of clutter and weed free. If you can do this for the backyard too, great but not nearly as important as the front.

2. Light: Nothing improves the interior appeal like light. Make sure all the light bulbs are a higher voltage and working. If the showing is during the daylight hours, open shades and let the sunlight in.

3. Clean, Clean, Clean: This is the stuff that will take a little time. A messy house is different, messy you throw under the bed at the last minute. Deep cleaning is removing anything that would remind a potential customer that someone has lived here. Shining woodwork, gleaming chrome, spotless windows, polished tile, and even carpets will look less worn if they are professionally clean. Bathrooms and kitchens are especially scrutinized. Remember if the buyer doesn’t think, “this house needs a lot of work before I will move in”, you have just increased your chances of selling.

4. Floor space: One thing buyers like is space. If you can let the buyer see more floor they will be able to imagine more room for their belongings. Start packing things that occupy the floor space. Then stack those boxes in the basement, garage, or better yet a storage bin. Sort and give away all those treasures you don’t plan on taking with you. Arrange what you have left to look more spacious.

5. Storage: People love closets and shelving. The best way to increase this element is to get rid of half of the things we have in our closets, on our shelves and in our pantries. I know you can do this!! Pack up those Christmas decoration and book collections and store them. Then take what you have left and arrange in a organize fashion to give the appearance of more storage space.

6. Personal Items: Remember buyers are looking at your home not your personal items. Especially your very personal items like pictures, medicine bottles and laundry. Some collections are OK if they fit in your decor, but too much of this type of character may make it hard for them to fit their personal style into your house. And I must say, the older we get, the longer we live in one house, the more of this will have to go. So have a good friend or your realtor help you separate your personal items from the decor.

7. Details: Pay attention to small details, this just goes a long way to saying you care. If the door knobs are tight, faucets don’t leak and the chalking in the tub is good repair, that translates into you taking good care of the rest of your home.

8. Smells: It’s the most memory inducing sense. Some suggest having some bread baking or something to remind them of home, but I found that pretty impossible to do (they never want to see your home when you have time to do this) But I think the lack of smell is best of all. Perfumes and candles can be too much for some folks and causes some to wonder what you trying to cover up. Be very conscious of animal smells. If your house is clean, and you are careful about what you cooked the night before, this should not be a issue.

9. Color: If you have some pretty, dark colors on walls of your main living areas, consider a neutral color. Even though paint is cheap and most people are able to get this job done prior to moving in, neutral grays and creams on the walls go over much better with the buying public. Keep the focus on the room not the wall.

10. Bodies: The best thing to do to help sell your home is to arrange to have you, your children, grandma and your animals either kenneled or gone during the showing. Allow your buyers to really feel comfortable checking out your house by not being in it!

Tags: Staging, Selling, real+estate

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