You just spent thousands of dollars to get into your new home. You were able to negotiate a lower price, closing costs and a buy-down on the mortgage from the homeowner, who at this point is more than willing to hand over thousands of dollars to you to convince you to buy his house. Then — against all the common sense that I can understand — you don’t ask them to lay down $300 - $500 to put up a home warranty that’s going to protect all your appliances, heating/air conditioning, plumbing, electrical, garage door opener, door bell, sump pump, well pump, swimming pool or spa, or washer/dryer.

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The risk of living next to a body of water is obvious and should be considered when buying or building. Where the risk isn’t obvious is on drier ground, where there is no watercourse within several miles of the house. That seems to be more of an issue at times such as this. If you live in a house in an area where the water table is high, you either forgo a basement or build a whole series of safeguards into the cellar to keep it and whatever you are storing there dry.

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search for : water table, basement, cellar

As the number of foreclosures rise around the country, the number of companies offering help is increasing, too. Many are negotiating terms the homeowner could fairly easily obtain on their own, while others are doing even less and simply exploiting vulnerable homeowners. Experts recommend that homeowners screen offers carefully, and take the following precautions: don’t pay upfront fees to any person or organization promising help, don’t sign anything without having an independent lawyer review it, seek out accredited financial counselors, using lists such as those kept by the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

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search for : foreclosures, financial counselor, Department of Housing and Urban Development

About 80 percent of all home buyers begin their quest online, according to the National Association of Realtors. Usually, they visit sites such as Realtor.com, which contain most of the listings available within a specified area. Those sites, however, usually answer only a few of the myriad questions that prospective buyers have about houses. They often don’t address subjects like: How is the neighborhood? Is it on a busy street? Is there any nearby place for the kids to play? Zillow is attempting to expand the conversations centered around the home listings by providing an online forum for exchanging that kind of information.

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search for : National Association of Realtors, Zillow

Even though builders have cut back on the number of new homes they’re starting, they are finding themselves saddled with an unusually large inventory of finished or nearly finished homes. Those empty houses are expensive for builders to carry, thanks to construction loans that won’t be paid off until the home is sold. So builders are getting serious about unloading them. Why should you care? Because if you are thinking about selling your house, new-home builders are your competition. And if you are thinking about buying a house, you should be aware of what is out there.

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search for : construction loan, selling your house

The things inside our homes are getting bigger, as a trip to an appliance store will quickly confirm. Like those colossal baby carriages, appliances are being pumped up to SUV-like proportions. Many washing machines and dryers, for example, are now raised up on huge pedestals for “convenience,” not to mention being slathered with enough fake chrome to shame a Lincoln Navigator owner. The typical wall oven, which used to be made in a modest standard width of 24 inches, has been incrementally larded up to 27 inches and now 30 inches. Presumably, this is necessary because turkeys are now 25 percent larger. And where single ovens were once widely thought to be up to most baking tasks — my father is still happy with his, and he’s a professional baker — nowadays double ovens are considered de rigeur.

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search for : Lincoln Navigator, wall oven, double oven

Why buy a house when you can build one? At first, that didn’t occur to Keith Strand. After all, who builds a house in Manhattan? But when he could find no affordable houses to renovate, he did what an architect would do. He abandoned the hunt for a house and instead went looking for a plot of land to build on. Mr. Strand, 53, who grew up in Colorado Springs, first came to New York in the 1970s with the group Volunteers in Service to America to work on Bronx housing projects.

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search for : affordable house

Property line issues have suddenly cropped up in the emails I’ve received in the past few weeks. It appears that homeowners are more aware of their property lines (specifically if a neighbor is violating it) during the spring and summer months than at other times. As we get out there and trim limbs (from the neighbor’s big oak tree), mend the fence (which is actually the neighbor’s), and try to clean up unsightly encroachments on the line, we become aware that the guy next door hasn’t kept up with his property and now the problem is personal. Keeping up with local fence laws, good neighbor regulations, even your local home owners’ association rules can keep relations between you and your neighbors a lot more healthy.

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search for : Property line issues, property lines, good neighbor regulations

Are you leaving the nest and becoming a first-time renter? He’ll have lots of company. According to the 2005 U.S. Census Community Survey, more than 36 million rental units are rented out in the United States. That’s a lot of first-time renters who have found a place to call home. Leaving home to become a tenant is a big step towards adult responsibility. For many, it’s the first time their behavior impacts permanently on the future — from credit and personal reference history to negative legal possibilities. What do landlords look for? “I like to meet the parents,” explains Jim Stilton, who manages more than 500 units in Los Angeles. “Meeting the parents gives me a sense of their involvement and responsibility.”

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search for : first-time renter

Britain’s wealthy are looking to the U.S. for real estate opportunities. Luxury homes values in London’s most expensive neighborhoods rose 24% last year and have already risen 27% this first quarter over last year’s first quarter. The price surge is expected to continue, driven by foreign real estate investors, record-breaking bonuses paid to London bankers, and a housing shortage. According to a recent Bloomberg article, homes valued at over $10 million have increased in value by an average of 50 % over last year.

British homeowners are faced with new tax laws that have doubled property taxes for some homeowners while absolving foreign investors from having to pay British taxes. Faced with exorbitant home values and stiff tax penalties, many British home buyers are taking advantage of the pound’s strength, which has been worth almost twice as much as the U.S. dollar in recent months. Add to this mix the security concerns and language barriers many are finding in other countries, and American properties quickly become an affordable and exciting option. For the savvy luxury home agent, this provides a clear opportunity to target a potentially fruitful demographic of international buyers. (more…)

search for : foreign real estate investors