5 Repairs You Might Encounter During the First 5 Years of Owning a Home

Fact: Things in your home can break. Faucets might leak, windows can stick and ceiling fan motors occasionally burn out.
Whether your home is newly constructed or listed on the historic registry, repairs will be needed. Here are five common household problems you’re likely to encounter within the first five years of owning your home, plus tips for dealing with the repairs:

1. Leaky faucets, running toilets

Your toilet flushes fine, but it won’t stop running. Or, perhaps you have a bathroom faucet that drips, drips, drips.
Those leaks are annoying, but they can also be very costly. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the average household’s leaks waste more than 10,000 gallons of water each year; 10 percent of homes have leaks that waste 90 gallons or more per day. Worn-out toilet flappers, dripping faucets and leaking valves are among the most common types of residential leaks.
To check for leaks in your home, the EPA suggests taking these steps:

• Check your water meter before and after a two-hour period when no water is being used. If the meter changes at all, you probably have a leak.
• Identify toilet leaks by placing a drop of food coloring in the toilet tank and waiting 15 minutes. If any color shows up in the bowl, you have a leak. (Flush immediately after the experiment to avoid staining the tank.)
• Do a visual inspection of pipes, faucet gaskets and pipe fittings. If there’s water on the outside of the pipes or gaskets, you likely have a leak.

If you find a leak, get fix-it tips from the experts at your local hardware or home improvement store, or have a licensed plumber do the work for you.

2. Peeling, cracked paint and siding

Beyond keeping your house looking great, exterior paint protects your home from wind, rain and insects. If exterior paint is chalky, peeling or cracked, or caulk around windows and doors has failed, your home’s key structural components are at risk. Most homeowners can handle small repairs such as sanding and painting trim around windows and doors.
If you need a full exterior paint job, you’ll likely need to hire a professional. It could cost $2,600 to $7,500 to have a 2,400-square-foot house professionally painted, depending on your location and the amount of prep required. Remember that the longer you wait to repaint, the greater the likelihood that water and pests can damage your home.
Other types of exterior materials — vinyl, stucco and brick — also should be inspected and repaired on a regular basis.

3. Jammed disposal

According to the International Association of Certified Home Inspectors, the average household garbage disposal has a life expectancy of about 10 years — less if you use it a lot or don’t properly maintain it.
If the disposal is jammed or clogged, you may be able to fix it yourself, following instructions in your owner’s manual.
If the unit grinds poorly or is unreasonably noisy you may need to replace the blade, impeller or motor; this should be done by a pro. Because these types of repairs can be expensive, it’s often cheaper and faster to replace the entire unit. Expect to pay $325 to $400 to have a mid-grade disposal professionally installed.

4. Nail pops

If the walls of your brand-new home are dotted with unattractive mounds, you’ve got nail pops. In most cases, drywall nail pops are cosmetic defects that result when the lumber used to build the house dries and shrinks, oh so slightly. This shrinkage often causes the heads of drywall nails to push the finishing compound loose, allowing the nail heads to “pop” out of the wall. Nail pops most often appear near the corner of a wall or ceiling.
If your home is still under warranty, you should ask your builder to repair these blemishes. If you need or want to tackle the job yourself, you can. Simply use a punch to drive the nail deeper, then apply new finishing compound, sand and repaint.

5. Concrete cracks

Extreme weather, improper mixing, shrinkage during curing, pressure from vehicle loads and tree roots can all play a role in the cracks that form in concrete driveways and slabs. Not only are these cracks ugly, they can allow water and insects to infiltrate and lead to more significant damage over time.
Sinking concrete or widespread cracking could indicate a serious problem requiring the services of a professional and could cost upward of $2,000 to fix.
Products ranging from epoxy injections and concrete caulk to polymer-based resurfacers are available for homeowners who want to repair cracked driveways or slabs themselves.
No house is perfect, and no building material lasts forever. By keeping tabs on your home’s wellbeing and preforming regular home maintenance tasks, you can save yourself money and aggravation.

10 Cities Where Home Owners Love Pools Most

Daily Real Estate News | Wednesday, July 15, 2015

Some areas value swimming pools so much that two-thirds of residential homes have one, according to a new analysis by realtor.com®. But in Coral Springs, Fla., pools are practically a must-have amenity. Shelly Lesser, a real estate professional in Coral Springs, told realtor.com® that in her community alone only three out of 550 homes don’t have a pool.
Florida and Arizona, two of the states with the hottest weather in the country, boast the highest number of residential pools nationwide. There, swimming pools may be a way to beat the heat, even if they're not always a boost to home values. Some buyers don’t want to pay for maintenance or obtain the extra liability insurance required and others, particularly those with small children, may view a backyard pool as a hazard, according to realtor.com®.

Drought Watch: Which is Worse for California: Pools or Lawns?

But in some areas of the country, backyard pools are becoming the norm. Realtor.com® evaluated public property records of single-family homes to rank the top 10 medium to large cities with the highest percentage of backyard pools:

1. Coral Springs, Fla.: 66%
2. Scottsdale, Ariz.: 62%
3. Tempe, Ariz.: 46%
4. Chandler, Ariz.: 40%
5. Glendale, Ariz.: 37% 
6. Gilbert, Ariz.: 37%
7. Clearwater, Fla.: 32%
8. Clovis, Calif.: 32%
9. Mesa, Ariz.: 31%
10. Plano, Texas: 31%

Source: “Top 10 Cities for Making a Splash in an Amazing Home Swimming Pool,” realtor.com® (July 13, 2015)

These States Have the Most Mortgage Gripes

Daily Real Estate News | Thursday, July 16, 2015

Consumers have a lot of criticism when it comes to banks servicing their mortgages, with five states voicing the bulk of the complaints.

Read more: A Big Mistake Mortgage Shoppers Make

Eighty-five percent of all mortgage complaints fall within two categories: problems when consumers are unable to pay (such as a loan modification, collection or foreclosure) or problems making payments (such as loan servicing, payments, or escrow accounts), according to a nationwide analysis of mortgage industry complaints by the U.S. Public Interest Research Group from December 2011 to March 2015.
The report found the highest number of mortgage complaints surfaced in the following states:

1. District of Columbia: 104.9 (complaints per 100,000 residents)
2. Maryland: 92.2
3. New Hampshire: 83.3
4. Florida: 82.6
5. Delaware: 75.1

The report also found that the three most complained about mortgage lenders – when taken into account with market share -- are Ocwen, Nationstar Mortgage, and Bank of America. Ocwen’s share of complaints were more than four times its share of the market. Ocwen calls itself a leader in servicing "high risk loans."
In a separate report, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau published 138,086 complaints about mortgages, the most complaints collected about any financial product from December 2011 to March 2015.
Source: "Florida Still Ranks High Among States with Most Mortgage Complaints," Tampa Bay Times (July 14, 2015)

How American Homes Have Evolved Since 1994

Daily Real Estate News | Thursday, July 16, 2015

In 20 years, the American home has evolved quite a bit – it now has more bedrooms and bathrooms, fewer fireplaces, greater outdoor features, and it's a lot more expensive. The average sales price in 1994 was $154,500 compared to the $345,800 average sales price in 2014. A lot can change in two decades.
SelfStorage.com produced the following infographic taking a look at the evolution of newly constructed homes from 1994 to today.

SelfStorage.com
Source: "The Evolution of the American Home," Selfstorage.com (July 15, 2015)

1570 Kentfield, Redwood City

We helped this family sell their beloved family home when their father passed away.  Helped them get it ready to put on the market and sold for more than the list price! If you or anyone you know is looking to buy or sell on the Peninsula, we'll be happy to help them as well!

 http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/1570-Kentfield-Ave-Redwood-City-CA-94061/15576460_zpid/

720 Vera Ave, Redwood City, CA 94061

720 Vera Avenue, Redwood City - 

We helped this first time buyer secure a home in the complex she wanted to live in. She had lost out on a prior deal in the complex so we worked hard to get her in to another one! If you or anyone you know is looking to buy or sell on the Peninsula, we'll be happy to help them as well! 

http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/720-Vera-Ave-Redwood-City-CA-94061/15566616_zpid/

How to Prepare for a Temporary Move

When planning a temporary move, you know that your destination will not be your real home, but just a provisional shelter. This interim period, however, may last from several days to a few months or even years, so you need to be well prepared. Exactly what that preparation entails depends on the reason for your move.

• Temporary relocation for work. If you have found seasonal work away from your hometown, or if you need to go to another city on a short-term assignment, you will need adequate temporary housing close to your workplace. A hotel stay is definitely the most convenient option for spending a few days or weeks in unfamiliar surroundings. You will only need a suitcase packed with your personal essentials and a few electronic devices – your phone, laptop, and camera. But, if your assignment is going to last for several years, you will probably plan a temporary move with your entire family and most of your belongings. In this case, the only logical option is to move into an appropriate rented property and take most of your personal possessions with you, or place them in temporary storage while your own home is leased out to tenants.
• College or other academic pursuits. When you’re moving to study, you will only need to take a number of personal possessions. Your parents will probably keep the rest of your belongings at home, and you will likely return on a regular basis to enjoy the comfort of familiar surroundings and the company of family and friends. Even if you forget to pack something you need or enjoy, you can always take it on one of these visits back home, or have your parents send it.
• Home renovation. It may be necessary to move temporarily out of your home for the duration of any major renovation projects. You will need temporary accommodations for your family within the same town, and storage for your belongings until the restoration work is over.
• Assisting a relative or friend. If a close friend or relative needs assistance, especially due to an illness, you may want to move closer to them. However, you will probably only take some essentials and will not move or store your household items.
• Relocating to a new area before you have found a home there. Choosing the right home for you and your family requires time to research your new area, the standards of living and the available opportunities in the different neighborhoods. If you haven’t had the chance to get familiar with your new city in advance, moving into temporary housing may be the best navigational tool for your successful relocation. You will be able to experience the overall spirit of the community, and to take into account the housing prices, crime rate, infrastructure, proximity to amenities, distance to your workplace and your kids’ school, healthcare centers, and available recreational and entertainment options to decide which neighborhood is best suited to your needs and preferences.
• Closing on a home sale before your new home is ready. When selling your old home, it may not be possible to arrange convenient move-in and move-out dates. Even if you have already located your new home and organized your relocation, the place you are moving to may be in dire need of repair or could be still occupied. If you can’t settle in immediately after leaving your previous property, you will need to find temporary accommodations and place your belongings in temporary storage.

Housing options for a temporary move

The best way to prepare for a temporary move depends not only on the reason for your relocation, but also on the type of temporary housing you choose.

• Hotel. You may stay at a hotel to avoid all the troubles involved in renting short-term housing and moving all your belongings several times to several different locations. Your household items can stay in storage until you move to your final destination, since you won’t need them. Hotels offer full service amenities, so you should only pack your clothes and medications. Just keep in mind that hotels can be rather expensive.
• Extended stay hotels. This option is more affordable and just as convenient as a regular hotel. All the necessary utilities will be available, as well as suitably furnished rooms with full kitchens and on-site laundry facilities, so you can store all your major furnishings and pack only your personal items.
• Rental home. If your temporary move will last more than six months — and especially if you have your family with you — you should search for an appropriate rental home. Look for a fully furnished place, so that you don’t have to move all your household items. They can stay in your home until you return, or in storage if you’re moving into a new home eventually.

How to pack for a temporary move

1. Find out what is already available in your temporary home. Make a detailed list of everything you are going to need — including TVs, stereos, kitchen utensils and cookware and other smaller appliances — and check whether it’s provided. Find out if bedding and towels are provided, and pack whatever you need to ensure your comfort.
2. Consider the climate. When packing clothes and shoes for a temporary move, take into consideration the weather conditions at your destination area and the time of the year when your move takes place.
3. Sort your belongings carefully. The more items you move, the more expensive and difficult the moving process will be. Take only what you’ll really need and enjoy, and place the rest of your possessions in storage. Entertainment items will come in handy in a place where you don’t know many people and may feel isolated, but don’t pack too many of them — you can always visit the local library or go to the movies.
4. Don’t forget your essentials and valuables. Take all your personal documents, medications, clothes and accessories, toiletries, important electronics (such as your laptop and phone, as well as your camera and your music player, together with their chargers), toys and games for your children, pets’ amenities, a variety of small tools and other items that will bring you comfort and entertainment. Keep safe all the items that have high monetary or sentimental value.

Temporary storage

You will need a suitable storage solution for all the household items you’re not taking with you. Ensure maximum protection for your stored belongings, and easy access if you happen to need any of them.
If you need temporary storage for a short period, your movers may provide the most beneficial storage option for you. They will move all your belongings out of your old place, into the storage facility and then to your final destination when it is ready.
Self-storage units are another option. When choosing a storage facility, take into consideration its location and overall condition, as well the size of the storage unit you need, the security level provided and the quality of the service offered.
If you intend to leave all the furnishings in your permanent home and lease it for the period while you are away, take adequate precautions and set clear terms with tenants concerning the usage and the condition of your belongings.
Preparing for a temporary move requires careful planning and thorough research. Do your homework properly to ensure a smooth relocation experience.
Related:

• Time-Saving Packing Hacks for Your Next Move
• 5 Ways Families Can Ease the Stress of Moving Day
• Picking a Moving Company: How Do Your Choices Stack Up?

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About the Author

Moving.Tips

Moving.Tips is a resource center that provides a complete solution for people on the move. From the pre-move tips, through the packing and moving day advice, to the post-move helpful information, it has it all. Moreover, budgeting your move and finding a mover can be child's play when you have an ally like Moving.Tips.

What You Need to Earn to Buy in 10 Cities

Daily Real Estate News | Friday, March 20, 2015

Affordability in real estate is improving, despite recent rises in home prices. Lower mortgage rates and an increase in the national family median income gave a slight lift to housing affordability at the end of 2014, according to the National Association of REALTORS®. But how far your money stretches in real estate greatly depends on where you live.

Read more: How Much You Should Earn to Buy a Home

NAR created a new infographic that takes a look at home prices in 10 metro areas over a two-year time span and shows the income needed to purchase a home in those places with a 10 percent down payment. The 10 cities show how that amount can vary nationwide. For example, in Orlando, buyers need to earn at least $37,474 to buy a median-priced home there, whereas in Washington, D.C., buyers would need to earn at least $77,613.

Visit Realtor.org to view more from NAR’s 2014 fourth quarter Metropolitan Median Area Prices and Affordability report
Source: National Association of REALTORS®

Rent Unaffordable for Average Worker in California

A study shows California workers must make $26.65 an hour to afford rent in the state, while the average renter's wage is 18.96.

 By Bea Karnes (Patch Staff) July 27, 2015  

By PATRICK LUCE (Patch Staff)

While the economy has improved and the unemployment rate has dropped in most states across the country, many people are still struggling to pay the bills, especially when it comes to rental housing, a National Low Income Housing Coalition study shows.

The problem is that while jobs have increased, wages have not, forcing roughly 21 million working Americans to scrape by on a near minimum wage salary, according to the Pew Research Center. At the same time, rents keep rising because the demand for rental units has increased across the country as the home ownership rate has dropped to its lowest point since 1989. The result is that people are being priced out of the rental market, and it’s worse in California than most parts of the country, according to The Atlantic’s City Lab. In fact, only Hawaii and Washington, D.C. are tougher on renters.

Most economists advise renters to pay no more than 30 percent of their annual income on housing. Anything more is unaffordable. Nationally, the average worker needs to make $19.35 an hour to afford the rent on an average two-bedroom home. In California, a renter needs to make $26.65 an hour.

It gets worse for people in California working for near minimum wage. Those toward the bottom of the income scale in California must work 92 hours a week to afford just a one-bedroom apartment priced at fair-market value. Many cities have rent control, plus workers are eligible for federal housing programs.

The problem continues to grow as potential homeowners are increasingly priced out of the market, instead turning to rentals, further limiting the rental stock and driving prices higher.

“The tightening rental market has the most significant impact on low income renters,” the report concludes. “Many higher and middle income renters occupy units that are affordable to lower income groups, reducing the supply of affordable and available decent apartments for the lowest income renters. As a result, for every 100 extremely low income (ELI) renter households, there were just 31 affordable and available units.”

The highest wage needed for two bedroom rentals are all in the San Francisco Bay Area:

• Marin County $39.65
• San Francisco County $39.65
• San Mateo County $39.65
• Santa Clara County $34.79
• Santa Cruz County $33.77

Your 'Birth Lottery' Determines Your American Dream? - New Study

American children born into high-income families see far greater earnings over their lifetimes than children born into low-income homes.

By Susan C. Schena (Patch Staff) July 30, 2015  

BY CLIFTON B. PARKER

When one wins the “birth lottery” by being born into a higher-income family, the economic payoff is very large, according to Stanford researchers.

“This result is not consistent with the American dream in which children from low-income families are supposed to have ample opportunities for economic mobility,” said David Grusky, the director of the Stanford Center on Poverty and Inequality.

In a new study of economic mobility, based on tax data, the gap between this ideal and the reality of the U.S. economy is shown to be very large, Grusky said.

“The American dream is about ensuring that all children, no matter how poor their parents may be, have an opportunity to be mobile by climbing the economic ladder and moving into a higher income group,” he said.

Economic payoff
Pablo Mitnik, a research associate at the Stanford Center on Poverty and Inequality and lead author of the report, said the research is based on a measure of economic mobility known as the “intergenerational income elasticity,” which reveals the economic payoff of being raised in a higher-income family.

In a society with perfect mobility, this elasticity would equal zero and there would be no economic payoff, on average, to being raised in a higher-income family. Although Mitnik noted that it is well-known that the elasticity is much larger than zero, there has been uncertainty in prior research about exactly how large it is.
The elasticity is a concrete measure of the payoff to being raised in a higher-income family. “This measure tells us how much the adult income of children increases with each additional percent of parental income,” Mitnik said.

In other words, if children from families making $50,000 per year are compared with those from families making $60,000 per year, this measure describes how much of that 20 percent difference is carried forward into the adult lives of those children, according to Mitnik. If the elasticity were one, then the full 20 percent advantage would be passed on.

The study revealed that the elasticity is very large: The family-income elasticity is .52 for men and .47 for women.

“These two estimates, both of which are toward the high end of the existing range of estimates in the research literature, indicate that approximately half of parental income differences are passed on to children,” Mitnik said. Similarly, the elasticity for individual earnings (wages and salary from someone’s job) was as high as .56 for men.

It is noteworthy, Grusky said, that the family-income elasticities for men and women are quite similar (.52 for men and .47 for women). This means that they obtain roughly the same total-income benefits from being raised in higher-income families.

But the research also shows that the earnings elasticity for women, .32, is much lower than that for men, .56.

Though women raised in higher-income families benefit less when it comes to their own earnings, Grusky said that this disadvantage is counteracted by an increased chance of marrying a spouse who will bring money into the family.

“The upshot is that, for women and men alike, the benefits to a higher-income upbringing are substantial,” he said.

Equalizing opportunity

The purpose of the report, Grusky said, was simply to “present the facts to the public,” not to weigh in on whether the country should act on them.

But he added that “insofar as there is a commitment to equalizing opportunity, it will likely require ramped-up policies that go well beyond those that are typically entertained.”

Grusky said, “The birth lottery is so consequential that there is no escaping the conclusion that the usual policy interventions are just too narrow-gauge and incremental to get the job done.”

The problem with prior research, Mitnik said, is that a host of methodological complications made it difficult to measure the elasticity. These problems include small sample sizes, missing data or measurements taken too early in peoples’ lives.

Mitnik and Grusky said their research overcomes these problems by advancing new methods and relying on a new high-quality data set based on tax and other administrative records.

This data set, Mitnik said, was developed within the Statistics of Income Division of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) under the guidance of co-authors Michael Weber and Victoria Bryant of the IRS Statistics of Income Division. During the research, all access to tax data was limited to Weber, Bryant and other IRS employees per IRS rules.

--Stanford News Service
--Images via Morguefile