Real Estate Information Archive

STEVE:  Hi, this is Steve Westmark.  Thanks so much for watching my video blog this week.  This week, I brought in a gentleman who has been doing winterization of houses for over 30 years, and it’s Don Houlding of United Real Estate Services.

DON:  Good morning.

STEVE:  Don, I’m going to ask you questions about winterizing of a home because homes with plumbing can have problems.  Why should a person have a home winterized as they leave for a period of time?

DON:  Steve, I’ve learned over the years as a licensed plumber that homes can freeze up in Minnesota’s cold weather without ever even having the heat fail.  I do recommend to my customers even when they call and say, “You’re not going to do the job” have somebody winterize the property.  They need to be protected in case that damage occurs because when a pipe bursts in a home and the water’s on, the damage can be catastrophic.

STEVE:  Houses that aren’t winterized and have a problem like that, sometimes you’ve told me that people should really check their houses for insurance.  What are the things that they look for in their insurance or they need to ask their insurance agent?

DON:  Absolutely, it’s critical to call an insurance agent and find out if the home is vacant for more than 30 days will their homeowner’s insurance remain in force.  If the home is vacated for more than 30 days, it’s very common that the homeowner’s insurance actually cancels, and there’s no advance notice of that.  So people leave thinking that even if there is a problem they’re covered when in fact, they’re not.

STEVE:  So Don, I know you’ve run into some problems in the past where a house wasn’t winterized.  What have you found as far as some of the costs that have happened and the downsides that could occur?

DON:  Well, Steve, in the 30 years I’ve been doing this, the most difficult thing I still run into is to walk into a home where the pipes have broken and the water was left on.  The damage can be to hardwood floors, to carpeting, to floor joists.  Sheetrock becomes soaked.  I’ve seen it fall off of basement ceilings.  Windows become frozen solid, and it takes weeks, sometimes months to dry the home out.  The expenses run into the tens of thousands of dollars to put all of that back together again.  And then it’s difficult to say that everything is back 100%.

STEVE:  So in a nutshell, Don, what happens when you go to winterize a house?  What are the things that you do that helps the house get winterized?

DON:  Well, the first thing we do is turn the water off at the source.  If there’s a water heater, we remove it.  If there’s a well, we turn the power off to it.  All of the plumbing is drained down, hot and cold water.  We do add non-toxic antifreeze into places where water would collect, usually things like toilet bowls, traps, drains, dishwashers.  That way there’s a little bit of water left, but they do have antifreeze in it, so it won’t freeze if the heat does fail.

I do install a temperature alarm in the houses that I winterize so if the heat fails, we still want to get in there and get it fixed even though the plumbing’s protected.  It’s structurally hard on a home to let it freeze.  So we need to get out there and take care of that furnace and get it going, and we don’t frost on the walls and ceiling.  That’s pretty much in a nutshell it.

STEVE:  Well, thanks so much, Don, for coming in today.  And what’s the best way for them to get a hold of you to get work done?

DON:  I can be reached in my office.  Phone 651-452-5261 or I’m happy to be e-mailed at urescodon@aol.com.

STEVE:  Great.  Thanks, Don.

Hi, this is Steve Westmark of Counselor Realty.  Thanks so much for watching my video blog this week.  Counselor Realty recently introduced to the marketplace through Circle Pix their new Star Marketing System.  And these are some of the things that their new system will do.  Number one, as we add our pictures to your property and you’re putting it on the market, they do a virtual tour on your property.  With that virtual tour, it is then sent out to places like Homes.com, Zillow, Yahoo, Realtor.com, and Trulia.  

They also put things together that go out to YouTube.  And with those YouTube videos of your tour, they’re also linked back to the many websites that are out there in the marketplace that brings your property higher in the search engines as people are looking for it.  They also generate a DVD that gives a video tour that people can pick up and just pop in their computer if they’d like.  They automatically then help us so that we can post it to our Facebook video pages or we can put them on Craigslist or other third-party sites that will allow us to post in social media.

Another thing that they do is they put together a personal QR code on your property with your video tour.  We also now have this 24-hour information line that as people drive up to your property they can either with their smartphone take a picture of the QR code or they can call on the telephone and receive immediately by text or by message more information on your property.  

The continuance of changes in technology are things that we like to adapt and continue to adapt and make things even better for buyers that are in our marketplace, but also much better for you as a seller as you’re trying to get the maximum value for your property by making sure more and more eyeballs are seeing your property on the market.  Make is a great day and thanks for listening.  Bye!

Click here to see list of cities required in metro area to have Truth in Housing Inspections

STEVE:  Hi, this is Steve Westmark, Counselor Realty.  We’re at the Twins’ ball park and sitting on the golden glove, and I want you to know that I want to give you golden glove service when you come to buy or sell a house.  Well, in this week’s video blog I’m going to talk to you a little bit about as you sell a house what are some of the things you have to do.

In many cities, they have a thing called for a time-of-sale housing inspection ordinance.  And I’ll name the cities that they’re required in: Bloomington, Brooklyn Park, Crystal, Golden Valley, Hopkins, Maplewood, Minneapolis, New Hope, Osseo, Richfield, Robbinsdale, St. Louis Park, St. Paul, and South St. Paul.  Now if you have a home in one of those areas and we’re going to sell that home for you, you’re going to need to go to our website and we’ll have a download of this five-page report that tells you what to do to do this time-of –sale inspection.

These are great for your buyers because as the buyers come through, you’ll have had an inspection done on the home and in some cases, have to do some repairs that are going to need to be done.  But it’s a great opportunity for you to know about these types of things if you’re a seller in the marketplace.  Now all the other cities at this point don’t require it, but as I’ve had in earlier videos, I’ve pointed out that it’s really a good idea to have an inspection done on your home anyways.

That way, you’re prepared for what a buyer’s home inspection might have to it.  Well, I hope you’ve enjoyed this video today.  At the bottom of this video blog, you’ll see the link that will take you to this five-page report on housing inspection ordinances.  Make it a great day!  And go Twins!

STEVE:  Hi.  This is Steve Westmark, Counselor Realty.  Thanks so much for watching my video blog this week.  Many times, we have people in the marketplace that are struggling to be able to purchase.  It may be that they went through a short sale, they went through a foreclosure, or maybe they’re only going to be in the Twin Cities for a year or two.  Or maybe they don’t have the down payment yet to purchase. 

Recently, within the last 12 months, are Northstar MLS system has now began to put online properties or rent.  So if you have a property that you own and you would like myself or a realtor to market that property online, it could be put out on the multiple listings system as a rental, by price, with pictures, and all the information that you can get also that you see from homes that are on sales. 

But the positive thing also for the renters that are out there is that we have one of these instant systems that allow us to send out to you as a new rental comes on the market in your rental range and according to the statistics that you want, if you want at least a three bedroom or if you only need a one bedroom or you have a minimum/maximum rent that you want to pay.  We can set you into a system like that to let you know what’s going on in the marketplace.

It’s a new and creative way that we’ve looked as realtors to try to help our clients in this changing industry that we’ve had over the last several years.  So if you’re interested in finding out more about putting your property on the market for rent if you’re a landlord or if you’re a person that has had certain things going on in yoru life and you can’t purchase right now, give me a call and we’ll show you how we can find rentals for you.  Make it a great day!

STEVE:  Hi.  This is Steve Westmark, Counselor Realty.  Thanks so much for watching my video blog this week.  I’m going to give you an update on the statistics of what’s happened in the month of January and kind of give you an idea of where the marketplace is going.  Very, very positive things are happening in our marketplace in the Twin Cities, and here are a few graphs to look at.

One is the areas of pending sales.  Our pending sales over the last 90 days are up by 27.3% compared to last year at this time.  The next graph will show you where the pending sales have increased.  But the greatest increase in our pending sales by over 50% is under the 120,000 marketplace.  So if you have a home in the 120,000 price range or less, there’s lots more sales going on there where all the other price ranges seem to be about the same in the year prior.

The next graph I want to show you is the inventory of homes.  This is another positive indicator.  In fact, these two indicators have not come together in this type of situation since 2005.  So our inventory right now is down as you can see by 22% and has been over the last three months significantly less as far as homes for sale.  The next chart shows you what that means for buyers that are out looking in the marketplace.

If you look back in January of 2010, we had a 5.8-month amount of inventory of homes for sale.  There were enough homes for sale that would last with the amount of buyers coming through for 5.8.  Last year, in 2011, we were at 7.2.  Now, this year, we’re at 4.6.  The industry tells us that you’re in about a balanced real estate market when we have about a 4- to 5-month inventory.  And if we have a 2- to 3-month inventory, we’ll be back into a seller’s market.  So in the past, we’ve been more in the buyer’s market.  We are now more in what we would call a balanced real estate market in the Twin Cities.

Now the first graph I want you to just look at is what’s happened in the median sale price.  Even though the sales have been increasing, our median sales prices have dropped, though slightly.  In 2010 to 2011, the median price dropped by 6%, and in 2012, it dropped by about 3.4%.  Now part of that you need to look at is if you remember the statistic I showed you before, that there was a 50% growth in the sale under 120,000.  We may be seeing in the next few months some increases in housing prices.

The last graph I’m going to show you is in the area of housing affordability.  And what this graph shows you is that we have grown in the past years from 216 housing affordability index to 235 to 256.  You may wonder, well why has that happened?  Two things that have happened is number one, the prices on properties have remained very affordable.  And as you saw in that last graph, they’ve continued to drop slightly.

The other thing is that we’re at record 60-year low interest rates in the high 3 percents.  If you’re thinking of buying real estate and wondering when is the market going to turn, I think these statistics are showing you that the market has turned.  Make it a great day!  Thanks so much.  Bye.

STEVE:  Hi, this is Steve Westmark of Counselor Realty.  Thanks so much for watching my video blog.  Today, I’ve brought in Bonnie Clark from the Twin Cities Senior Housing Guide.  Welcome, Bonnie.

BONNIE:  Thank you.

STEVE:  Well, Bonnie, I ran into you in a seniors group that we belong with networking and helping seniors with their housing situations.  And you do this terrific guide on housing.  Tell us a little bit about what goes into this Senior Housing Guide and how does this help seniors in their choices.

BONNIE:  Well, the Twin Cities Senior Housing Guide is a listing of all the senior housing in the 11-county metro area.  It includes everything from totally independent housing where there would not be any services—although you might bring services in on your own—to memory care and residential care homes that people would need assistance available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

The book does not include nursing homes, however.  If you wanted information on nursing homes, I would suggest that you call the senior linkage line, and the number is in the book.  The book is comprised of grids that list everything county by county.  And then there’s also an index where you can look up a property if you want to.  And it does have a few resources and information actually stated in your own home.  It also has information on reverse mortgages.

STEVE:  Well, many times, I’m meeting with seniors or I’m meeting with seniors and their children and they have a lot of questions about this.  I may even bring this magazine.  But what are some of the things that maybe you can do to help the seniors or the children in their choices and directing them?

BONNIE:  Well, I do direct service.  So if you ever have a question you can certainly call me.  But one thing you need to ask yourself is how much can I afford to spend on housing.  You’d be surprised the people that don’t know what their exact income is.  But you need to sit down and figure out what you’re exact income is and how much you can afford to spend on housing.  And then secondly, what services do you need?

You know, be honest with yourself.  None of us want to admit that we’re getting older or that we might like some meals or might need some help.  Nobody wants to admit that.  But be honest with yourself because you want to find the right place for yourself, and if you can’t stay there, and you can’t bring in services, if you get set in one place, then that means another move.  And that’s probably the third thing to think about is what happens if I need more services and they do not offer it?  Am I willing to move again?  So probably those three things.

STEVE:  Well, I think this housing guide is just great opportunity for people that are looking at senior housing.  How is the best way to pick this up or get it in the hands of people today?

BONNIE:  Well, the book is free at libraries, senior centers, some real estate offices.  Counselor Realty.  They could pick one up here at Counselor Realty.  But probably the best place though is senior centers.  Libraries tend to run out of them.  They can also call me.  I do send the book out, but I do charge a nominal fee if the postage is high.  But if they call me at 651-690-3141, just make sure if I’m not there to leave a message and I’ll call you back.  But I’d be happy to send one out.  But I do charge a small fee, whereas if you just pick it up, it is free.

STEVE:  And Bonnie, thanks so much for coming in today.  You have such a great product here, and it’s so helpful to seniors.

BONNIE:  Thanks.

STEVE:  Thanks so much for coming in.

BONNIE:  Thanks for having me.

STEVE:  Hi, this is Steve Westmark.  Thanks so much for watching my video blog this week.  This one of the items that I have in the area of senior housing that I wanted to talk about, and today I brought in Steve Garver to talk about reverse mortgages.  Welcome, Steve.

STEVE G.:  Thank you, Steve.  Thank you for having me today.

STEVE:  Well, Steve, when people hear reverse mortgage, a lot of people don’t really know what that is.  Can you explain simply what a reverse mortgage might be and how a customer might use that?

STEVE G.:  Steve, great question.  A reverse mortgage is giving a senior the ability to access the equity in their home and do that without incurring mortgage payments.  And the qualification is simply are you 62 or older and is this your primary residence?  And there are no restrictions on how you’re going to use that money that you’re accessing from your equity.

STEVE:  So Steve, how do people use a reverse mortgage?  I’m sure there’s multiple ways that they can do it.

STEVE G.:  It’s as varied as the number of people that knock on the door, Steve.  And it really comes down to you either use it as a refinancing tool or you can use it as a purchase tool.  And the question with purchasing is: Where are you going to age?  Are you wanting to age where you’re at or somewhere else.  And what the reverse mortgage was doing is given the senior the opportunity to be able to have options in where they want to age.  They may say, “Well, I really want to age in place and they want to use it as a refinance too.  And in that situation, are you using it because one of earliest ones was “I’ve got to have this safari.”  And she took her safari at the age of 72.

And it could be to the opposite extreme where maybe they’re facing foreclosure and they’re using the reverse mortgage then to take away that threat of losing their home and anything in between in terms of maybe it’s to put funds into a loan that will help their kids, the grandkids go to college.  It could be that they want to have that second home, and this provides the opportunity to have that second home and not have any mortgage payment associated with it.

STEVE:  I’m sure there’s a lot of curiosity both of the senior and maybe even the senior’s children about how these work?  Do you have a counseling process and how does that counseling work?

STEVE G.:  Steve, great question.  What’s important for that consumer who is considering a reverse mortgage as a financial tool for themselves is to get enough of the right information to make the right decision in their best interest, and that starts typically with me and informal consultation.  We’re going to set down.  We’re going to understand where are you, where are you trying to go, and is this a potential financial vehicle that will help you find a solution to your problem or your challenge or your need.

And secondly, once we’ve reviewed that then the next step is a formal consultation with a counselor certified by FHA.  That’s an individual who understands this product also extremely deeply and very well and also then is going to look at not only the reverse mortgage.  Are there other options available for that senior that they’re aware of and they can share with that senior?

STEVE:  So as a person goes through this, there’s obviously trusted advisors that they have involved in this process.  What are some of the advisors that maybe a person would have involved in that decision process?

STEVE G.:  Steve, that’s an excellent question also, and I start out when I’m doing my initial consultation, I will ask if they have children that they would like to have present, trusted advisors that they would like to have come in and join them as we’re discussing reverse mortgages and how it might be a solution for them.  And it’s simply reaching out and saying No. 1, the realtor is a great potential person to have present. 

And I also encourage that they have a banker or a CPA or an elder law attorney or financial planner.  Who are the people that they would like to have to help them and advise them and not coming directly from me?

STEVE:  Well, thanks so much for coming in today, Steve.  As you can see, there’s a lot to this, but it’s also a great alternative for helping seniors.  What’s the best way for people to get a hold of you to talk about reverse mortgages?

STEVE G.:  My direct number is 612-636-9578.

STEVE:  Thanks for coming in Steve.

STEVE G.:  Steve, thanks for having me.

STEVE:  Hi, this is Steve Westmark of Counselor Realty.  Thanks so much for watching my video blog this week.  Well, this is Christmas week and as we go all the way through to the next Monday, we will have celebrated Christmas on Sunday.  And I just wanted to wish you and your family a very, very Merry Christmas.  Make it a blessed time.  Make sure that you enjoyed your family and how ever you celebrate these holidays, just make the time to bless them, spend time loving and caring for them. 

And for me and my family, we will be celebrating the birth of Christ, and we’re so grateful for that gift that came to this world.  And I just wish you a very, very good Christmas week and thanks for watching.  Bye now.

http://www.twincitiesusa.com/video/Steve-Westmarks-Thanksgiving-wish-to-you-for-2011

STEVE:  Hi, this is Steve Westmark.  Thanks so much for watching my video blog.  Generally, on my video blogs, I’m talking about real estate.  And the only thing I’m going to be talking about in real estate today is about your house that you’re going to be spending your Thanksgiving in.  This last Sunday, the church I attend did a service called a Blessing Service where they had people come forward if you wanted to and be blessed 

 And as I sat and contemplated in that service, I thought about this Thanksgiving time that we’re going to be coming up on, and the time when you have family around you and the dinner table and the time that you could be thankful, but also give a blessing to your family.  Whether it be your children, your grandchildren, blessing your parent, blessing your spouse, take this time to make a great Thanksgiving to your family, but also, reach out and bless them by just looking at them and telling them how much you appreciate what they are and what they mean to you with no expectations on them other than just loving them and blessing them. 

Have a great Thanksgiving, and thanks for watching.  Have a great day.