Tuesday, February 28, 2006 - Planning a Yard Sale

It may seem a little cold right now to be planning a yard sale, but the nice weather is just around the corner. A little planning now could reap great rewards a month or two down the road!

Use a yard sale to reduce the clutter in your home and get rid of items you don't want to move.

1. Check with your city government to see if you need a permit or license.
2. See if neighbors want to participate and have a block sale to attract more visitors.
3. Advertise. Put an ad in free classified papers, put up signs and balloons at major intersections and in stores near your home.
4. Price items ahead and attach prices with removable stickers. Remember, yard sales are supposed to be bargains, so don't try to sell anything of significant value this way.
5. Check items before the sale to be sure you haven't included something you want by mistake.
6. Keep pets away from the sale.
7. Display everything neatly and individually so customers don't have to dig through boxes.
8. Have an electrical outlet so buyers can test appliances.
9. Have plenty of bags and newspaper for wrapping fragile items.
10. Get enough change, and keep a close eye on your cash.

(C) 2006 Susan Pruden.

Friday, February 24, 2006 - How Your Agent can Sabotage Your Listing and You'll Never Know

Answer: When it first goes on the market. When buyers and their agents are scouring the internet and the streets for something new. When excitement is highest.

What is the reality? For a variety of reasons, the listing agent can make it difficult to show the house. Usually, it's lack of attention to detail, not a deliberate sabotage. Many agents just don't feel a sense of urgency because they know that the house will sell eventually.

Sellers don't usually have any idea that this is happening. They also don't know that buyers and their agents are often frustrated and angry by the time they finally get in to see the property -- not the best frame of mind to be looking at a house.

• The sign goes up, but the listing agent hasn't turned the paperwork in to the office staff, so the office not only has no record of the listing, but doesn't know who the listing agent is. Buyer drives by, calls the office and gets nowhere.
• The listing appears in the Multiple Listing Service (called MRIS in our area) as available, but when the buyer and agent get there, the lockbox isn't on yet. A call to the listing agent reveals that the agent hasn't gotten around to it yet. The buyers then have to reschedule to come out a second time - and to hope that the box will be on when the listing agent says it will be.
• Showing instructions indicate "Call agent to make showing arrangements", but the agent doesn't return the call. Here is an actual example of showing instructions to the Buyers Agent. Before showing, the buyers agent should "Call Office, Call Lister, Lockbox Front Door, Restricted Times". The buyers agent calls office - who has never heard of the listing. Buyers agent calls Listing Agent, leaves message. Window for showing comes and goes, buyer cancels appointment to see property. Buyer tries to reschedule, but buyers agent can't get anyone with whom to make the appointment. After two or three tries, they finally get in or give up entirely.

I wish I could say that this is rare, or that only a few agents do this consistently.However, the reality is that this happens with such regularity that buyers agents can be heard on the phone with listing agents saying, Is it really available? Is the lockbox there yet? Am I going to have any problems getting in? I heard an agent on the phone just the other day, practically shouting at the listing agent, You know, if it says AVAILABLE in the MLS, it's supposed to be available!

If you were buying a car and the sales person said he was going to get the keys so you could take a test drive, but he never came back with those keys, you'd finally move on to another dealership, wouldn't you?

Your listing agent's credibility transfers to you and your property. If the lies start with showing the property, the buyer and the buyer's agent start off wondering what other problems they will encounter. The way a transaction starts is often a clue to how the contract will go - the rocky road to settlement.

It's simple to avoid the sabotage. Insist that, by the time the sign goes up and the listing goes into the MLS, everything is in place and ready-to-go. The agent shouldn't get in the way of selling the house. They should strive to make sure that buyer's agents LIKE writing offers on their listings by being honest in the marketing and in the MLS description.

(c) 2006 Susan Pruden

Thursday, February 23, 2006 - Improving (and Protecting) Your Castle

My husband and I have been talking about remodeling our house for several years now. That's all we've done - talk. Okay, we've cut out lots of magazine photos, too. We're sort of slow starters sometimes.

But I got to thinking about homeowners insurance and what happens when you remodel.

So of course I did a little surfing on the 'net and found a really great article that talks all about what kind of insurance your contractors should have and why you should talk to your insurance company before you remodel. Especially if you plan on being your own general contractor.

Several other things to think about:

Let's say you are doing such extensive remodeling that you have to move out for a few months. Many insurance companies won't insure your house once it has been vacant for more than 30 days. All you need is for one person to get hurt for the costs of medical care to outweigh the cost of the additional coverage.

Or you build an addition and an electrical short causes a fire, burning down the addition and severely damaging the rest of the house. (This happened to my next door neighbors when I was a child.) With the soaring costs of building materials, you might not have sufficient coverage to rebuild.

Anyway, it's a good idea to talk to your insurance company every few years even if you're not remodeling.

I'm calling mine tomorrow.

Wednesday, February 22, 2006 - More on Maryland's tax assessments

A few days ago, I wrote about property taxes and assessments in Maryland and what they mean when the house being assessed has been the principal residence for several years. The Homestead Tax Credit insulates those owners from the huge increases in assessed value that we're seeing now.

But what happens if you bought your home after June 30? For you, the Homestead Tax Credit won't kick in until your second year of homeownership.

Let's break down the tax assessment. A) is the old total market value when it was assessed three years ago. B) is the new market value. In this example, the value increased over 150%. C) is the amount your taxes will be based on if you just purchased the home or if the property is not your primary residence. The three figures that make up D) are the amounts that the previous owner was paying taxes on due to the Homestead Tax Credit. The amounts vary depending the county, state or municipality.

I'm sure this is clear as mud. The good news is this: If you just bought your house, even though your taxes are likely to go up, after this year you'll have the benefit of the Homestead Tax Credit. They won't go up nearly as much after this year. The good news for investors? Your tax deductions just got bigger.

(c) 2006 Susan Pruden

Monday, February 20, 2006 - Is your contractor licensed?

The other day I came home and found a flyer for a home improvement contractor stuck in my door. While the flyer stated that the company served Maryland and Washington and that it is licensed, bonded andinsured, the license number was nowhere to be found. I went onto the Maryland Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation website and put in the company's name. According to the DLLR, this particular company was not licensed in Maryland at all.

This got me to thinking about the hazards of working with unlicensed contractors. Especially since more than 85% of homes in Cheverly, for example, were built before 1979, making this a prime area for remodeling and renovation.

Did you know that it is a criminal offense for contractors to do home improvements without a license? Like the Real Estate Commission, the Home Improvement Commission has a Guaranty Fund. This Fund compensates homeowners for actual monetary losses due to poor workmanship or failure to perform a home improvement contract and protects homeowners up to $15,000. The Fund applies only to work done by licensed contractors. So if you use an unlicensed contractor, you aren't protected by the Guaranty Fund.

Using an unlicensed contractor may even depreciate the value of your home. Many buyers today are leery of buying houses where remodeling was done by unlicensed contractors or where the proper permits weren't pulled. Many buyers feel that if you don't care enough to use a licensed contractor, where else might you have cut corners? They also worry about problems with wiring and plumbing down the road. I know that the previous owner of our house was a definite do-it-yourselfer and not necessarily a talented one at that. It cost quite a bit of money to re-do correctly what he had done poorly.

To find out if a contractor is licensed, visit the DLLR website.

Also, if your house was built prior to 1979, your contractor may be required to have lead abatement accreditation and be required to give you lead hazard information. For more information, there are fact sheets at the EPA website.