Treat Before the Heat

The winter winds are blowing and the air is freezing that’s for sure. It’s nice to stay warm indoors this time of year. However, while you are sipping your tea and cozying up to a book, termites, ants and bees may be laying dormant within your walls, just waiting until the warm weather to make their presence known. 

If you own you may want to make it a point to have your home treated prior to springtime in order to stop insect infestation. 

Telltale signs of termites are visible conduits of saw dust that they construct as roads, one might say, on the surface of interior walls. Bees or wasps like to hide behind the wooden shingles that many of our homes have as siding. Be on the lookout for sawdust drippings caught in cobwebs. And ants…well they are a more clever where they reside in the winter, they can’t help but be seen once spring arrives. You’ve seen these guys or should I say gals…they are those big black, black ants.

If you rent, pay attention to any noises you hear within the walls. It may sound crazy but you can actually hear termites chewing wood if you listen carefully. Don’t be afraid to burden your landlord with a call. I’m sure they’d love to know.

In our older homes here on the cape, the seasoned wood is like a bottle of aged wine to any bug. It is mind boggling how quickly a support beam can be consumed.

Although its not a pleasant thought and could cause the creepy crawlies, insect infestation is not uncommon on Cape Cod. Property owners pay thousands of dollars yearly in repairs and treatment related to insects. These are definitely those house guests that will eat you out of house and home. Awareness is key to prevention and in the end will saving you money.

A Mind for Selling

Lately we’ve been discussing methods of selling property in the soft real estate market. We’ve shared advice on topics such as staging your home, lowering your price, gimmicks and interest rates. One area that hasn’t been covered is the Seller’s mental health when it comes to living in a home that won’t sell.

If you live in your listed house and are feeling the anguish of not selling, you may want to make some changes to help you stay sane. Keep in mind that it can take up to one year to sell a house so you should be comfortable and like where you live.

Lets start in the living room: Buy a slip cover for your couch and chairs. Make sure they are matching. Add new cushions. Change out old magazines on your coffee table and buy fresh flowers every week. 

In your kitchen, start by clearing canisters and unnecessary items from your counter top. If you don’t have a backsplash, add either a faux tile or put in a tiled backsplash. It won’t cost too much and will make your kitchen feel drastically different. 

In your dining room or eating area change the light fixture that hangs over your table. A new light will give it a new feel.

In your bedroom, think about adding a slipcover to your headboard to make it feel new. There are quilted covers that make it appear your headboard is padded. If you have a chair in your bedroom or exercise machine, remove them. These only make good clothes catchers and are rarely used for their purpose.

In your bathroom try changing the vanity. Home Depot and Lowes offer low cost vanities and medicine cabinets that can totally change the feel of your bathroom.

These inexpensive and small changes in each room can make a big difference for your mental health. Who knows maybe you’ll get a buyer once you make the changes. However, the main point is to feel better about living in your home until it sells.

Storm Unearths a Sunken Treasure

Happy Valentines Day to you and your loved one. As a special gift to you, we are straying from real estate this week and bringing you some spectacular photos. On January 27, this year, we experienced quite a storm that churned the ocean viciously, ultimately causing the skeleton of a sunken vessel to wash ashore on Newcomb Hollow Beach in Wellfleet.

The 60 foot remains of the ship, believed to be a 19th century schooner, lay upright on the beach as if on display in a museum. Due to the number of shipwrecks off the coast of Cape Cod and without a name, spectators speculated as to the ship’s identity. Theories were abundant in the crowd that gathered around the decomposing hull that the ship was a fishing vessel from Gloucester or a coal carrying barge. No one really knows for sure. 

The National Parks Service has no plans to remove the ship and the remains are expected to be washed out to sea. If you have a chance to visit the Cape, check out the ship as it is truly a remarkable piece of history.

Please enjoy these pics that Atlantic Bay Sotheby’s International Realty Broker Associate Lincoln Sharpless snapped while visiting the wreck.

NOTE: Check out the blog entry on provincetownrealestatenow.com for pictures (click here)

A Saving 'Grace'?

Q: Are there any laws, in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts that allow for a grace period in mortgage payments (say for example, forgive a couple months payment prior to commencing foreclosure activities, provided the homeowner can prove and actually is pursuing remedies to the situation, e.g., selling the property, etc.)?

A: Today in the immediate wake and occurrence of the mortgage meltdown the last thing a bank wants to do is foreclose on a house. The typical foreclosure will cost a bank around $50,000 when all is said and done. Many banks are negotiating new terms with their clients rather than foreclose. Call your bank and see if there is a way to renegotiate your mortgage. This is very common in today's market.

I am not aware of any laws that grant leniency to homeowners for unsatisfied or late mortgage payments. Again, the best place to start is your bank. The Bush administration is seeking to help homeowners who use a short sale, not to be taxed on the forgiven debt. A short sale is when the house sells for less than the mortgage. Right now, if your bank grants a short sale, one of two things happen: 1. You owe the bank the difference in a separate loan usually with a monthly payment similar to a car payment. 2. The bank forgives the difference however, you will be exposed to a capital gains tax on the difference. Since the bank granted you this amount it is considered a gain.

I would start by calling your bank and asking them about renegotiating your terms. Tell them you are aggressively marketing your home for sale. Also, inquire about a short sale. This may be the remedy you need to lower the price on your house and produce a buyer. Beware though, some banks record short sale balances on your credit.

Fractional Ownership

Q: Can you address the question of fractional ownership? We are attempting to sell a condominium in the west end of Provincetown and our realtor keeps telling us to adjust the price. We’ve recently heard a real estate guru speak about maintaining home value by selling property fractionally? Tell me what this is.

A: This is a very good question and a topic that I’ve been asked to research by one of my clients. One obstacle we keep hitting is the collateral aspect. Each lendor wants to be in the number one spot if the payments are not made and the property needs to be sold. With short sales now happening, t is easy to see how banks fight for every piece of the pie before a foreclosure occurs. With fractional ownership, the financing is difficult if not impossible to do. Each lendor will be vying for the number one spot for receivership. When conveying an entire house with multiple buyers, the best way is to have the buyers set up a corporation or limited liability partnership. This, so far, has proven difficult when most people who would "buy in" to this type of situation are buying one and two bedroom condominiums that are now reasonably priced. In your case, the best hope is to find two or three friends who buy your condominium together.

2008 is projected to be the bottom of the market and the best way to sell your property right now is to price it right. Real estate sells if it is priced correctly and fractional ownership seems to me like a complicated gimmick created to sell over priced real estate that will ultimately fail leaving your property on the market longer making it a stale listing.

Use your realtor and the tools at his or her disposal.

Here are three basic things to check.

1. Have your realtor show you comparable properties that sold. Look at the closed prices.
   
2. Are there any defects that need to be accounted for that will impact the price
   
3. How many days was the property on the market before it sold.

Use a professional, price it right and toss the idea of fractional ownership in the trash.

Mortgage Meltdown

The mortgage meltdown has claimed its largest victim. Countrywide Financial, after being bailed out last year, is the latest to succumb. It will be assumed by Bank of America, and the buyout will be finalized later this year. 

This week The Closing Table is not about Countrywide or the tighter restrictions placed on potential mortgagors when looking to buy property. I thought I’d talk about optimism. Remember what it was like to get a mortgage ten years ago? Well, we’re pretty much there again. When you get approved it actually means you really are qualified to buy a house. One could say, these are a return to normal times. And with normal times comes optimism for a better future.

This year, we are already seeing excitement creeping back into the real estate market. Activity has been up in Truro and Provincetown. Buyers who have been spectator prospects for the past three years, are now putting themselves in the field and making the decision to buy. 

Although it is harder to get a mortgage and even the most seasoned mortgage brokers are sharpening their pencils, qualified buyers are recognizing that we are most likely at the bottom of the market. 

Even the so-called experts are saying that the first half of 2008 is the absolute bottom of the real estate crash. With mortgage rates recently decreasing, now under 6% for a 30 year fixed, qualified consumers are taking advantage of low listing prices and low interest rates. In 2009, this optimistic and toe testing consumer behavior, will turn into an all out feeding frenzy on low priced property, fueling buyer activity which will make the market come back with a vengeance.

This is an interesting prediction and one that I hope, proves to be true, for my clients’ sake, both buyers and sellers.

Energy-saving Tips

The price of heating oil these days could be worth more than its weight in gold.

With this in mind, there are some energy saving measures you can take to hopefully save money this winter.

If you were able to prepay for your oil, that was the best measure with the per gallon cost at $2.79 according to the local oil companies. However, this is a large amount to pay at once and many of us don't have that kind of change hanging around.

If you locked into a pre-pay rate and could not pay ahead of time, price per gallon could be as much as $2.89. If you had the misfortune of not being able to take advantage of either of these, oil is now over $3.00 per gallon.

In this new oil crisis, here are some simple steps you may want to take:

Turn your thermostats to 65 degrees. Wear sweaters and housecoats along with slippers. The days of wearing shorts around the house in the winter should be over.

If you do not have new windows or storm windows, wrap your windows with a plastic thermal covering that prevents cold drafts and air from entering your home.

Get small rugs or draft stops to put by exterior doors. This will help. Also, for sliding glass doors, you may want to hang draperies.

Limit the amount of fires you have in an open fireplace as that sucks hot air out of a room. Always remember to shut the damper once the fire is completely out the next day.

With these helpful tips, you may be able to tip the scales on your home heating expense this winter.