Before You Build: What about Your Present Home?

The thought of having a brand-new home is once again on many people's minds as we look at 30-yr. mortgage rates right around 5%. [And by the way, I always encourage folks to go with a 30-yr. mtg. instead of 15 in order to be more in control of their disposable income. What I mean is that you can accomplish the same goal--paying lots less interest over the life of the mtg.--by just adding 1/12 of your 30-yr. mtg. principal to your regular payment (just be sure to write on the check what the extra amount is to be applied on), or by making a lump-sum payment on the principal (such as if you get an annual bonus). By sticking with the 30-yr. mtg., you have more disposable monthly income to decide what to do with, & the slightly higher rate on the 30-yr. mtg. will affect you less if you do make extra dedicated payments to the principal.]

With that out of the way, this post is to remind you to think about your present home's "buyer position" in the Omaha-area market. Would your present home be in a price range for first-time buyers? Were you a first-time buyer when you purchased it? This is vitally important between now and November, as first-time home buyers are now eligible for an $8,000.00 tax credit through the end of November. This means that if your home could be sought by first-time buyers & you've always wanted to consider building a new home, well...NOW is the time to get rollin'! The Omaha home-buying market is heating up, & builders are highly motivated to give excellent service to new clients.

My wife & REALTOR partner Leann is paid by our company, CBSHOME Real Estate, to teach home pricing to both new agents as well as those who need a tune up with this skill. Leann & I pride ourselves in giving home sellers the most accurate information possible about their home's market value, & our company, Nebraska's largest & a Berkshire-Hathaway subsidiary, obviously values Leann's pricing skills highly.

For no-nonsense, no-obligation information regarding both your home's value in the present market as well as whether your home would be in the price range for first-time buyers, please contact us at 690-6100 (Leann) or 657-3333 (Scott). Please also visit my website, ScottYahnke.com, for additional information & helpful web links.

Home Buyer Tax Credit!

The smoke is clearing from the work Congress is doing on the stimulus bill, & first-time home buyers will be able to receive an $8,000.00 tax credit, with no payback required, in 2009! My wife Leann & I were already seeing increased activity in the Omaha area real estate market a couple weeks before Congress came to this agreement, so this action will really encourage people to act on their dreams of becoming home owners.

First-time home buyers in particular would benefit from the services of a REALTOR who will take the time to explain to them & educate them about a home's build quality, whether it is an existing or new home. If you haven't yet checked out my website (ScottYahnke.com) on green building, please take time to look over the information I've placed there.

People seeking to make their first home purchase in the current real estate market should also begin their quest by meeting with a mortgage professional in order to both qualify themselves as a buyer & to establish "how much home" they can afford. As REALTORS with CBSHOME Real Estate & Mortgage Services, my wife & I are fortunate that we have two outstanding mortgage professionals working with us at our Northwest Office just south of 147th & West Maple Rd. Steph Isenberger (StephIsenberger.com) & Dick Hovorka (RichardHovorka@cbshome.com) can be counted upon to offer excellent services, valuable mortgage options & programs, & easy accessibility as part of our company's "one-stop home shopping" network. A prospective home buyer can even complete a loan application with either Steph or Dick. How time-effective & convenient is that ?!

The Skinny on Rehab & Renovation Financing

Are you wishing you could make a move but are worried that you don't have enough "cash at hand" to make necessary improvements to the condition of your present home in order to market it successfully? Are you interested in taking advantage of the great opportunities for investment in the present real-estate market along with the super rates out there?

"Renovation financing" is now available for those who want to put a home on the market that needs updating or improvements, & this kind of financing can also be used to purchase a property that needs to be rehabbed or renovated before its maximum value can be realized.

In other words, Readers, give me a call at 402/657-3333 or email me at BuildHomeswScott@gmail.com so we can discuss the simple & exciting details of this program!

Residential Real Estate in 2009: Alive & Well!

Wow! A brand-new year. What will 2009 bring all of us who are interested in the real estate market? While I hate to think about how fast time goes by & would never wish to skip a day, week, month, or year, I have to say that maybe now that we're beyond 2008, we can look forward to fewer "doom-&-gloom" reports from the media about the housing market. One thing separating Omaha from a lot of the rest of the country is that our residential market is in pretty good shape. It's true that home sellers have to accept that present conditions favor buyers moreso than in past years, homes will still sell to qualified buyers out there.

As a REALTOR, I've had to reset my interactions with prospective home sellers so that they understand, going into a listing, that market conditions have changed & they must look at their own home they're putting on the market as any prospective buyer would. That means everything from price to condition to how long they should be prepared to stick with the listing. Not so long ago, many of us REALTORS became accustomed to taking home listings & "just knowing" that they'd sell in 45-60 days & that buyers & sellers would haggle out the terms to everyone's satisfaction.

Well, that's not the case now. Sellers absolutely must understand that they are putting their homes on the market because they really want to get them sold & move on with their lives. To do this, thy must get their homes in the best possible condition, because buyers looking for their next homes right now have the attitude that not only can they dictate the price & the terms, if the homes they're looking at have any objectionable aspect to them, they'll just walk out the door & go on to all the others. Something else I'm emphasizing more & more to sellers is that all of us involved with this process must look upon it with a team approach. This includes folks on both sides of the transaction.

In summary, my services as a REALTOR are even more important in the market we are experiencing, & I want to work with people who have their eyes wide open to current realities & want to continue to live their lives without fearing the next negative headline or news story about "how bad things are in the real estate market."

Hey! What would it be like if the news media started with the positive instead of the negative? Will we ever experience this?

Building a Home: Not "Who Ya Gonna Trust?", but WHAT !

Got a dollar bill nearby? A fiver? Tenspot? Take a look at the back, right in the middle. You'll see the words, "In God We Trust" on our money. Wouldn't it be nice if home building was done the same way? And hey, to be fair, even if the Reader doesn't adhere to any faith, wouldn't it be great if a home could be built with nothing but the highest & best intentions of all involved? Well, it doesn't quite work that way...

The key to having a home built to a high degree of sustainability & energy efficiency, I believe, lies in trusting something; that's for sure! However, it's not who is to be trusted, it's what. Specifically, it's the "specs" signed off on by the builder & home buyer(s) that are to be trusted, right along with inspections throughout the building process. And not just the inspections done to satisy local codes, either! Having a home built "green" requires close attention to detail & follow-though throughout the building process.

I'm pretty familiar with the way things are going at the present time with efforts to get more green building going in new-home construction in the Omaha area. As a member of the Metropolitan Omaha Builders Association (MOBA, moba.com), I am on its Green Building Council. We've held two meetings so far, & out of a collection of total members that would be similar to a small-town phone book's thickness, there have been about 4 or 5 builders present at these meetings, & I've been the only REALTOR (out of hundreds in Omaha) at one meeting & 1 of 3 REALTORS at the other meeting). I also belong to the greenOMAHAcoalition (greenomahacoalition.org), & I participate on its Design & ConstructionCouncil (I am the only REALTOR at these meetings, by the way).

Does the Reader wonder why so few builders & REALTORS are actively involved in seeking greener solutions to home building? I'm not seeking to stroke my own ego because, frankly, it puts nothing in my "pay envelope." Rather, in spite of what readers of this blog are undoubtedly aware of because of what's on TV, in magazines & newspapers, & what readers may already feel somewhat educated about in terms of green home building, the Omaha home-building community is not yet anywhere close to a point where prospective home buyers can be assured that their new home builds will include not just green features but more importantly, a green approach to the whole-building process by all those involved, not just the builder & buyer(s).

If you are reading this & contemplating having a home built in the Omaha area, what do you think can be done, if anything, to ensure that you will be provided with a truly green home build? Do you need to hire an architect qualified & knowledgeable to supervise this process? You could do that & pay handsomely for those services. Should you hire an engineer? Should you consider bringing in professionals outside the Omaha area to work as a team to accomplish your green goals? Should you just wait until Omaha gets "up to speed" on green home building?

Say, wait a minute! Could you utilize the services of a REALTOR who has become educated about the various approaches to green home building, who has his own library of resources & personnel available to consult for your benefit, & who enthusiastically awaits the opportunity to work with you & the builder to accomplish your home-building's green goals?

Let's see...what if I told you that you could take this approach to green home building & couple it with all sorts of services ranging from financing to title work to closing to insurance, all provided to you for your convenience? Wouldn't that make things easier for you?

AND THE BOTTOM LINE ABOUT ALL THIS IS: I DON'T GET PAID UNTIL YOUR HOME IS BUILT & YOU CLOSE ON THE PURCHASE, & MY COMMISSION IS PAID BY THE BUILDER!!!

What are you waiting for? Give me a call at 402-657-3333 or email me at BuildHomeswScott@gmail.com so we can arrange a time for you to visit with me at my CBSHOME Real Estate office near 147th & West Maple Road in Omaha. To me, just talking about green home building is exciting. Can you imagine how much fun we could have getting your home built? I can!

Next Post: "Why Is a Green Home Worth Building, Right Now, Every Day, AND at Resale Time?"

What's Causing All the Hand-Wringing About Green Building?

When I taught history to 8th graders for 33 years (I got my real estate license in 1990--see ScottYahnke.com), I often liked to remind them that "time & technology keep changing, but human nature is a constant." This to me provides a ready answer for so many of the problems our world has seen & sees, & why building homes greener isn't happenning faster is no exception. That principle, plus complacency, fear of change, & (well, let's get it out there) the goal of each & every subcontractor of trying to maximize his/her profit throughout the home-building process.

When my current home was finished in early 1999, I couldn't wait to move in. This was my "dream house," & I felt I had put so much effort into the process. Hey, I figured that if I was on the site just about every day from the time we signed the purchase agreement, how could I not end up with a great home?

Now, looking back after encountering numerous problems (which I'll use to illustrate my point), I realize the reality is this: I have a really nice floor plan & a great location, but I own a house that was built to minimum-code standards of construction. For instance, even though I had more windows added during the build, I didn't specify what type of windows to install, beyond telling the builder I wanted casements. So I got the cheapest windows that could be used. On the other end of time of ownership, we had a severe wind & hail storm last June. Winds of over 100 mph drove hail like the house was being blasted by ball bearings. The hail ruined my air conditioner compressor's fins, which could not be combed out. When the HVAC folks went to get a quote for replacing the coil/fins, they learned that this unit had been out of production for years. They told me that it was "way down the line" of compressors under the Carrier company, & that the parts I needed would have to be remanufactured over a time of at least 8 weeks & at a cost of over $3,100. This was more than the cost of an entire new compressor! So at least my insurance company took pity on my family & me in the heat of summer & allowed us to get the new unit altogether.

If you've just read this & are thinking, "Hey, what's the beef here? This guy got a new AC out of it. Why should he complain?" then I want you to understand that you might just look at this situation differently. See, when my compressor was replaced, what they couldn't recycle was put in the landfill, & this was a unit that could've lasted another 10 years or so. And multiply what I'm saying about my home by thousands & thousands of homes that deteriorate much earlier than they should. There's got to "be a better way," & there is!

These kinds of problems with the build quality of my home are pervasive throughout, & yet are far from uncommon in home builds in the Omaha area in the past 15 years (at least). Today, if you search the U.S. Dept. of Energy's website, you will find a quote from a survey that says that over 85% of American home buyers would choose a more energy-efficient home over one that isn't, yet 78% of them say they received no education about this in the process of their home-buying experiences. In my opinion, much the same could be said about what "education," counseling, or whatever you want to call it purchasers of new-home builds receive today about most any aspect of their build plans, even. Sad to say, there are many builders out there who like it when their buyers don't ask too many questions & just let them build them a house. I truly believe that most folks assume that their homes will be built to a fine standard of quality, based upon the image the model homes present to consumers. And those images are influenced greatly by people's hopes & dreams that "their new homes" represent to them.

It's high time to take off the blinders & open our eyes, people! But the problem remains, whom do we trust when we are looking to have our next home built? More on that in the next posting...

What's Needed in Home Building? Where Do We Need to Start Making Changes?

I've held a Nebraska real estate license since 1990 (see ScottYahnke.com). I've also had 2 homes built for my family & me, the first in 1985 & my current home in 1999. I'm a lifelong Omaha, NE resident who has owned/lived in a total of 4 homes since 1975.

I also "flipped" a home in 2001 that I purchased for $35,000, spent $7,000 on while doing most of the work myself, & sold for $86,000. I like to refer to this project as "The Cathouse from Hell," & I don't mean that it was a former brothel! This place had serious issues with it due to the number of cats that had been allowed to reside in it. But I took on the project because I felt confident I could get this otherwise fine property in a great neighborhood in shape for its next owners. And this happened when a teacher & her family purchased the home, glad to be able to move right in with no additional work necessary (as she told me would have been the case with the other homes they had looked at in the neighborhood).

In my experience as a homeowner & a REALTOR, I have come to some unequivocable conclusions about the condition of so many of the homes built in the Omaha area (& probably also around the country) during the last 15 years or so. "Big-box square footage," I like to call them, with the main focus on size over sustainability & energy efficiency. When a person "awakens," as I have, through the everyday practical experience of home ownership & its circumstances, I decided over 2 years ago that I would dedicate my efforts in real estate to advocating for better built homes that focus on "the inside out & the ground up," instead of "from the outside in" (i.e. what one sees when s/he walks up to & into the model home, which the builder uses to show off his/her bells & whistles, high-end finishes, decorating, window coverings, landscaping, etc.).

This is what is wrong with most new-construction homes: the public is at a disadvantage in two critical areas from the time they walk into a typical model home. The first disadvantage is that most people who purchase a new home build are comparing where they currently live to the "new home," & in most cases simply believe that the new one will be "so much better" than their current home because the new one to them represents their dreams, & they certainly didn't dream of "minimum-quality-to-meet-codes-&-get-past-any-warranty-period" construction as they considered their next, new home!

The second disadvantage many buyers face is assuming they can rely on the builder to "take care of" the issues of build quality, sustainability, & energy efficiency for them. My goodness! Time & again I've seen or felt this attitude/assumption coming from buyers, & I just want to get in their faces & heads & tell them to wake up & realize that unless they know about what goes into the build of their home, especially what they can't see, they can just get that Pollyanna idea right out of their minds!

Nice rant, eh? Well, for now, that's where I'll stop. My next posting will continue with the insight I've gotten into the Omaha-area builder mentality. And for sure, Dear Reader, don't think you're immune from these human-nature realities just because you live somewhere else!