Surprised by Overwhelming Quality

I see a lot of homes. Lately, most of my clients have been looking for their first home. It’s often like looking for the ‘needle in the haystack’ as their expectations are quite high and the budget is quite low. Many of the homes we see are in pretty bad shape, but eventually we find one that is the perfect mix of location, price, and condition to fit their needs. So, after a few weeks of starter homes, I was blown away yesterday by surprise in Sylvan Park.

I was helping a friend named Chris Barber who is an incredible custom woodworker. He takes wood and turns it into art that is also a usable piece of furniture or woodwork for your home. He had made a large wine rack for a client and asked me to help him lift in into this client’s loft.

It was early in the morning and I was just helping a friend so I wasn't expecting what we would find in this tiny home that looked like a detached garage behind a Sylvan Park Victorian. I was completely caught off guard as we stepped inside.

Most home I see, it seems, are at varying levels of 'livable', with some described as 'fully renovated'. Even then, not many homes fall into the department of custom designed showplace. That was the case here.

What shocked me was the level of custom details throughout the place. Everything was tailored and hand-selected to make the home feel like a lodge that was nowhere near Nashville.

The work was the highest quality and well done. They had completely gutted the home, raising all the ceilings leaving some beams exposed and built a gorgeous stone fireplace as the centerpiece of the living space.

You could tell that that the home was designed to someone's particular taste, which is what made it so great. It wasn't bland and vanilla, nor was it over-the-top. It was just right.

The kitchen was no less amazing. Chris had custom-built all the cabinets, which feature reclaimed pine to match the mantle that he built. Professional grade appliances mixed with neon whiskey signs and a 6-foot wood carved grizzly completed the décor.

I'm not sure what affects me when I see homes like this. It happens to me every once in a while, but I never really see it coming. I think it's related to the artistic aspect of the home. When someone has a true eye for design and the money to make it happen, it is a wonderful thing.

It was a space that I didn’t want to leave. Again, I’m reminded of how we are affected by the environment we live in. I left inspired to work on my own home, but it will never feel like a lodge in the Rockies…

-Peter

www.NashvilleCityHomes.com
Check out Chris Barber’s awesome woodworking skills here.

Finding House Parts in Nashville

When renovating our 1920’s Bungalow over the past few years, I had to find places other then Home Depot and Lowes to buy house parts that looked like they belonged in a home this old. You can buy the paint and caulk at these stores, but where do you go when you need an old wood door, or a fireplace mantle? Here are some suggestions:

Habitat For Humanity Home Store, 1001 8th Ave South
Habitat runs two stores that are only blocks from each other. Both stores have new/used items that were donated to be sold so they can raise money to build more Habitat Homes. This store, on South 8th has home/office furnishings like filing cabinets, light fixtures, textiles, mirrors and more.

Habitat For Humanity Home Store, 908 Division Street
This store is packed with hundreds of old doors, windows and all kinds of building materials. You can also find kitchen cabinets, bathroom fixtures, paint, flooring and more. The best stuff goes quickly, so you might need to come back often to see what you can find. They post some of their items online so click here to see what I’m talking about.

Hailey’s Salvage & Building Material, 1224 Dickerson Pike
Tons of building materials salvaged from demolitions and renovations. Find clawfoot tubs, vintage sinks, ornate mantles and fireplace surrounds. Might be a great source for items for your rental property. Free tip: Bring the pickup when you go.

Preservation Station, 1809 8th Ave South
After you buy doors at the Habitat Home Store, this is the place to go to buy your antique hinges and doorknobs. They also carry a variety of old doors and light fixtures. This is not a discount store. They carry architectural antiques, which means they are pricey and rare. When you’re looking for that perfect chandelier for your 1905 Victorian home, this is the place to start. They also buy items if you have any antique house parts to get rid of.

Okay, that’s my list. Be careful, though. It’s very easy to find something at these stores that you love, but you don’t really have a place for. You may end up renovating your home just to have a place to put it…

-Peter
www.NashvilleCityHomes.com

Coffeeshops Across East Nashville

Is there some correlation between number of coffeeshops and the health of a real estate market? I remember in 2003 when my wife and I were purchasing a home in East Nashville, we felt much better about the decision after we found the Bongo Java down the street.

That may seem shallow, but I know that you coffee drinkers out there understand.

There are now many more coffeeshops across East Nashville, which may show how this addiction has spread, but in many ways also represents the growth of the neighborhoods to a level that support these business and the many others that have opened in just the past few years.

To review our current coffee options in East Nashville:

Bongo Java East, 107 S. 11th St. (At Five Points)
Portland Brew, 1921 Eastland Ave
Ugly Mugs Coffee & Tea, 1886 Eastland Ave (Walden Development)
Sky Blue Coffee & Bistro, 700 Fatherland Street (Edgefield)
Sip, 1402 McGavock Pike (Riverside Village)

I won't give my reviews of them. Let's just say that I like the variety and hope they can all stay in business for years to come.

-Peter

www.NashvilleCityHomes.com

7 Things to Look For in a Home Inspector

Over the weekend, I heard someone describe my favorite home inspector as “alarmist”. Now I could see how you might get that impression, but I wouldn’t use that word for him. Alarmist has the connotation that he blows things out of proportion. Instead I would call him very thorough.

The discussion made me think about what makes a good home inspector. Believe me, you want a good one- and you often won’t know what was missed until you own the home and you ask yourself, “Why didn’t this come up in the inspection?”

Here are some things to look for…
1. Experience- The best inspectors have done hundreds, if not 1000+ inspections. They’ve seen about everything and they are passionate about houses.

2. Licensing- Typically in Tennessee the home inspector needs to be fully licensed. You can't just have a friend look the home over for you. To negotiate repairs under the typical inspection contingencies the inspector must be licensed.

3. Report- Mainly, you want to see a good summary of the issues that need to be addressed. Some inspectors will provide you with a fancy multimedia report. One inspector I know even shows you a PowerPoint slide show at the end of the inspection, giving you a visual tour through the home’s issues. This may be overboard, but having some pictures in the report of the major issues is standard and very helpful in visualizing some of the problems that are difficult to see, especially in attics and crawl spaces.

4. Thoroughness- The best inspectors will ‘leave no stone unturned’. In other words, they’ll squeeze into tiny attics and crawl spaces to make sure they don’t miss anything. This is so important. I’ve had at least two instances where major issues were found in homes only because my daring inspector went into small spaces that other inspectors might skip and call “inaccessible”. This might actually build the case for hiring a skinny inspector, but I’ll leave it at that! In the end, the buyer should have a detailed and possibly lengthy analysis of the home. I always say that you'd rather know up front what you're buying than find out later.

5. Passion- My favorite home inspectors will take the time to talk with my client about the issues. They have a teaching spirit and strive to help the buyer understand how homes work and what problems in the report are big concerns and which ones are more commonplace and can be lived with.

6. Non-Alarmist- Some inspectors, for whatever reasons, do tend to go overboard and scare home buyers more. For example, I had one inspector who was telling us how unlevel the floors in a home were (which we knew). He actually pulled a marble out of his tool belt and let it roll across the room to emphasize how bad it was. He also made a big deal about some smaller items that weren’t up to codes even though this home was built in the 1920’s. After a while, it’s hard to know what items are actually concerns, and which ones are found in every home in the neighborhood. A great home inspector will make this distinction for you.

7. Price- This barely made my list, because the prices for different inspectors doesn’t vary that much, but if you know of several good ones, it might vary as much as $100, and be worth checking out. BTW- inspections are almost always paid for at the time of inspection, not at the closing. Most will take a personal check and often credit cards as well.

If you’ve read this far, you might as well just give me a call for a referral for a great inspector. I try to go on all my buyer’s home inspections, and I have seen all kinds of homes. Even the best homes have issues to repair or keep an eye on. If you’re buying a house, please have a home inspection and get a good one!

-Peter
www.NashvilleCityHomes.com

The Sellers Are All Banks!

Okay, not ALL the sellers are banks, but some days it seems like it. Yesterday, I showed six homes to one of my incredible buyers and half of them were bank-owned. It's a dynamic that is definitely a change from a couple years ago. Working with a bank to purchase a property is a little different than negotiating with a human. Here's what to expect:

1. Banks are not 'emotionally attached' to this property like normal homeowners may be. They are mostly interested in the bottom line net sales price and how quickly they can get it off their books.

2. In my experience, banks are not as 'desperate' as most buyers seem to expect. They are not likely to take an offer of 10% off the list price under most circumstances. If they were that motivated, they would have dropped the list price. They may be negotiable on price, but we'll have to go back and forth a few times to hash it out.

3. Typically, we'll write up the initial offer and send it to the bank's listing agent. They will then log into the banks online system and input the info from the offer and hit 'send'. We'll then wait a couple days and get a verbal counter offer. In one transaction I was working the listing agent said that she didn't even talk to anyone at the bank about the offer. It was all done through email. After the bank counter-offers we generally work out the details verbally.

4. Once all the terms have been agreed on verbally, the bank will send us a packet of their addendum. Often this is longer than the initial offer and will spell out all the terms. As one recent client rightly pointed out, the language is more bent toward the bank. I'm sure they have a team of lawyers that came up with it to protect them. We'll read it over very carefully! After we sign the addendum the listing agent will often have to overnight them to the bank's asset manager to sign and send back. Once the bank has signed off, you then have a binding contract.

5. Within the bank's addendum will be several pages telling you that they absolutely do not warrant anything about the property and that you are taking it "AS-IS". Of course, it is highly recommended to do a home inspection and make sure you know what you are buying. These properties are often in rough shape with the utilities off, so the inspections are an important step.

6. Because they are selling "AS-IS", don't expect them to fix anything that comes up in the inspection. You may be able to renegotiate the price or something, but the bank isn't likely to spend money repairing the HVAC.

Bank-owned properties can be a great value because:
A) Often these properties are on the market for less than the previous owner paid for them in the last couple of years. For example, I saw a great home in Madison yesterday that was built in 2001. Someone bought it in 2006 for $131k and got foreclosed on. Now this home is listed at $115k and still in great shape. In this case the next buyer should have some great equity when the market comes back. I see this dynamic all the time.

B) They may have a smaller pool of potential buyers because of the rough, AS-IS condition that most of these homes are in, and because the banks will often ask for a large earnest money check with the offer. That home in Madison required a 2% earnest money check or around $2500, weeding out some buyers.

It would be interesting to see how many homes in our housing inventory are bank-owned an how that has affected supply and demand. It seems like the human sellers that don't have to sell for some reason are waiting for the prices to go back up. I don't blame them for that, though I look forward to working with the humans again soon...

-Peter

www.NashvilleCityHomes.com

East Nashville Market Snapshot- July 2008

We had 39 home closings in East Nashville for July at an average of $135 per square foot. Three homes sold over $400k with the top sale being 1209 Holly Street at $555k. The average days on the market were 74.

To put this in perspective we had 58 closings in July 2007 at an average of $119 per square foot. The average days on the market were then 56 days.

Comparing these we again see the trend of rising prices per square foot with fewer homes selling. This may just be the effect of buyers being picky. The homes in the best condition and location are getting picked, while those needing work or funky floor plans wait on another buyer to come along.

This is a different dynamic for East Nashville than a couple years ago when there were fewer homes to select from and buyers felt confident that prices would continue to rise and protect their investment. Today, you need to list your home in the top third of your market for condition and the bottom third for price.

In this type of market, it’s extremely important to do as many repairs to your home as you can, clean it thoroughly, then stage and de-clutter before listing it. It may be the difference between it selling and not.

-Peter
www.NashvilleCityHomes.com