More Tiny Neighborhoods Are Coming

More Tiny Neighborhoods Are Coming

Tiny homes are still mostly illegal in the majority of the country since they don’t tend to meet municipalities’ zoning and building standards. But more cities are looking to change ordinances to pave the way for entire tiny home neighborhoods.

Tiny homes are usually between 200 to 600 square feet. They can be on wheels or on a foundation. They tend to be more affordable than traditional homes. However, the growing movement of tiny homes is often centered more on the idea of simplifying your life and even sustainability.

Tiny home neighborhoods are springing up in areas like Texas, Florida, and Colorado. For example, in Spur, Texas, town officials changed ordinances in 2014 in order to make claims to “America’s first tiny house friendly town.”

“Most of America is struggling with affordability,” Alexis Stephens of Tiny House Expedition told CNNMoney. “We can activate existing land and create housing that is affordable by design.”

In Spur, tiny home residents are able to buy land in the city to build on.

“This is a fairly new concept in the tiny house world: ownership of a house and land in a subdivision,” says Danny Schallenberg, a tiny house builder and developer in Spur. About a mile from the downtown, there will be an entire area for tiny homes that will sit on two acres with 22 homes, priced between $30,000 to $50,000.

In Rockledge, Fla., plans for another tiny home community consisting of 13 homes is currently underway, after city officials made a change to its zoning laws.

Source: “Tiny Home Living Is Having a Moment,” CNNMoney (Nov. 14, 2016)

Ready to Sell More New Homes?

Ready to Sell More New Homes?

More single-family and multifamily homes are entering the pipeline. Housing starts increased 25.5 percent in October, reaching a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.323 million, the Commerce Department reported Thursday. It is the highest pace since August 2007.

Single-family housing starts zoomed to a nine-year high in October, reaching a rate of 869,000.

The higher-than-expected gain across all regions of the country “reaffirms our view that steady improvement in the housing market is likely to continue over the next two years,” Rob Martin of Barclays Bank PLC told The Wall Street Journal.

The multifamily market, which can be volatile, posted a whopping 74.5 percent month-over-month gain in October as apartment and condo construction ramped up, the Commerce Department reports.

Permits — a sign of future construction — were also up in October, albeit more modest. Building permits for multifamily and the single-family new housing market increased 0.3 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.229 million, which is the highest pace in nearly a year. Permits for single-family homes rose 2.7 percent in October to a rate of 762,000.

“Both single-family and  multifamily starts now stand well above the pace implied by permits, and a correction over the next couple of months is inevitable,” says Ian Shepherdson, chief economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics.

Source: “U.S. Housing Starts Jump 25.5% in October,” The Wall Street Journal (Nov. 17, 2016)

How to Tell If a Home Has Lead Paint

How to Tell If a Home Has Lead Paint

If your buyers are looking at older homes, remind them to check whether any lead paint is present inside the home and still needs to be removed. Lead was a popular ingredient used in house paint for years until scientists discovered that it could lead to a range of health problems, particularly in children, including anemia, seizures, and even death.

Since 1978, the federal government has banned the sale of lead-based paint. But even homes built after 1978 may contain lead-based paint. “Many painters loved lead-based paint” because it tends to be glossier and hold color better, says home inspector Welmoed Sisson with Inspections by Bob in Maryland. “Once they learned the ban was going into effect, many of them stocked up on a cache of lead-based paint.” Sisson says he knows of inspectors who have found lead-based paint in homes built in the 1990s.

So, are there any telltale signs of lead paint? The naked eye won’t detect anything definitive, but “when the paint deteriorates, it creates a pattern that looks like scales,” Sisson says. “It’s actually called ‘alligatoring.'” Also, Sisson urges buyers to investigate closets, along baseboards, and basement window sashes to make sure painters didn’t try to cover up the peeling paint with a new coat.

A better way to know for sure is to test the walls with a paint testing kit available at local hardware stores. The kit prompts you to rub a solution on the walls. If the solution turns pink, it’s an indicator you have lead. (Note: The solution stains walls if it turns pink, so don’t do this if you’re just looking at a home for sale.) But the tests only discover lead at the surface, and it may not reveal if the lead-based paint had been covered up by new paint.

A home inspector can provide a thorough, more precise test for that. But you may have to request it. Certified lead inspectors also can be found in your location on the lead abatement page of EPA.gov.

“When lead is suspected, inspectors use an X-ray to look through the paint layers to the base wood of the wall,” Sisson says. “X-rays can’t pass through lead, so it is easy to spot.” If lead is discovered in a home, a certified inspector will need to remove it. The cost could be about $8 to $15 per square foot, or an estimated $10,000 on an average-size home.

Source: “Does Your Home Have Lead Paint? How to Find Out,” realtor.com® (Nov. 14, 2016)

Does the Marble Test Really Work?

Does the Marble Test Really Work?

A viral video recently showed a marble rolling on an uneven floor inside a luxury apartment building in San Francisco called the Millennial Tower. This summer, residents there learned that the structure, which had been constructed on bay mud, had sunk a total of 16 inches and is leaning at least 2 inches.

But can rolling a marble test really reveal if your listing has this kind of a problem?

“The marble is a good way to demonstrate the floor is not level, but not to tell if this means there is a problem,” says Bill Neal, a structural engineer in Vernon, Conn.

Instead, there’s a different tool you’ll need. “Put a 4-foot-long level on the floor. Ideally, when the level is level, the end should not be more than an eighth of an inch off the floor. If it’s a quarter inch or more, the house definitely should be checked,” Neal says.

An uneven floor could indicate a structural problem or possibly poor workmanship, Neal says.

But don’t let a little marble get buyers bent out of shape. “The truth is, all floors are going to be a little bit unlevel,” says Mayer Daham, a real estate developer in Los Angeles. “If you can notice your building is dipping, that’s not acceptable. Between one room and another, if a marble rolls, you’ll survive.” After all, a marble could roll from room to room because of different finishes on the floor.

Joel Goodrich, a San Francisco-based luxury real estate adviser, says experts can help put things in perspective. “The real value and importance of having a professional inspector or structural engineer inspection is that they can say whether the settling is active (i.e., worsening) or cosmetic (i.e., not structural, but a function of the age of the building),” he says.

Marble roll in Millennium Tower from Frank Jernigan on Vimeo.

Source: “Does the Marble Test for Floors Really Work? Try It, but Keep a Level Head,” realtor.com® (Nov. 15, 2016)

Why Your Buyers Need to Get a CLUE

Why Your Buyers Need to Get a CLUE

Eighty-six percent of Americans are unaware that insurers’ use of the claims history for the previous owners of their home can be factored into setting their premiums for a new policy, according to a new survey of more than 1,000 adults by InsuranceQuotes.

Many insurers use CLUE — Comprehensive Loss Underwriting Exchange — to report and check the claims history of homes. Yet, only 12 percent of buyers say they ask for a CLUE report before buying their current home, according to the survey.

“Consumers of all ages, from millennials to seniors, are almost entirely unaware of how the CLUE database affects their insurance rates,” says Laura Adams, senior insurance analyst at InsuranceQuotes. “In most states, an inquiry about property damage can be added to your CLUE report and used against you, even if you never file a claim.”

Only the owner of a property can request a CLUE report. Homebuyers, therefore, need to ask sellers to obtain a copy on their own behalf.

“The CLUE report, which maintains data up to seven years, is a valuable tool for homebuyers because it reveals prior claims and potential risks,” Adams says. “It also helps homesellers provide full disclosure about their property’s condition.”

The CLUE report can be obtained for free once every 12 months.

Source: InsuranceQuotes

Home Ownership Key in Retirement

Home Ownership Key in Retirement

Older home owners who leverage the equity in their home may be better off in funding their retirement, according to a new study by the Urban Institute. However, the recession may have hampered many retirees’ abilities to do so.

“Not only does a house meet the basic needs of shelter, but it’s an asset that typically can be used to build wealth as home owners pay down their mortgages,” the study’s authors note. “In fact, many retirement security experts argue that the conventional three-legged stool of retirement resources—Social Security, pensions and savings—is incomplete because it ignores the home.”

Before the recession, home owners aged 65 or older could have used their home’s equity to increase their retirement income by over 50 percent – up to $60,000 –either by borrowing a home equity line of credit, selling their home at a profit, or taking a cash-out refinance or second mortgage. However, the Urban Institute’s study notes that percentage fell to 50 percent – up to $49,000 – by 2012, even though retirees accumulated an average 10 percent more equity than in 1998. Home owner’s equity grew from $117,000 to $166,000 between 2000 and 2006 before falling to $129,000 by 2012.

The study’s authors say that older home owners have more opportunity to unlock the wealth potential of their homes in retirement, particularly now with the recession over.

“The majority of older adults, regardless of income, race and ethnicity, and education, own homes that they could use to help finance their retirement,” the authors note.

Source: “Study: Home Equity Still a Retirement Failsafe?” RISMedia/Urban Institute (Nov. 13, 2016)