Inspections and Appraisals

Thought I would give you all an update on my new house purchase. The appraisal has been scheduled and the home inspection is complete. Home inspections are sort of intense, especially for someone who has little knowledge of building / plumbing and electrical terms. I paid $400 for the inspection and in return I got a 20 page summary of what the inspector found during his inspection. They are very thorough. My house had 7 items in need of repair. thankfull all of them were relatively minor.

Since I have a small case of Attention Deficit Disorder, it took some effort to read the report in its entirety. Here is an example of the first three items that were "in need of repair":

1) Structure: Headers / Blocking needed at the severed floor joist under the stairwell landing.

Huh? Joist? Severed? It all sounds so ominous. Do two things, 1) call your Dad, 2) call the inspector and 3) call a friend who knows a lot about houses

Interpretation: My house has a radon problem. To sell the house, the sellers installed a radon ventillation system. During that process the installers had to cut a 2x8 floor joist under the stairwell. According to codes, a joist can NEVER be cut, as it technically compromises the structural integrity of the house.

Solution: Hire a handyman to somehow put the joist back together, he used words like joist hangers and 6 ft of 2 x8 , all I really heard was 20 minutes and $50.00. No big deal

2) Plumbing: Defective anti-siphon valve at the front exterior faucet. Substantial leakage when back pressure is applied.

What? anit-siphon valve? back pressure? The picture in my mind is me somehow pushing on the faucet and water flying everywhere? But when whould I push on the faucet?

Interpretation: Hoses should never be left attached to an exterior faucet. If they are, somehow the water in the faucet can freeze which can cause the pipe to crack (??) causing water damage in the walls. However, many time the anti-siphon valve goes first....I still really don't know what an anti-siphon valve is, but if there was hose on the faucet and you had one of those nozzles at the end of the hose and you turned those hose on....back pressure would build up and becuase the anti-sphon valve is busted, the faucet would spray water everywhere.

Solution: Install a new faucet, $30.00

And the list goes on an on....technical terms, with relatively simple, inexpensive solutions. But I would not know this had I not called the inspector and had I not talked to my father.

What to do next? Have your Realtor put all the items in an addendum to be fixed by the closing? Or negotiate some amount to be paid by the seller to the cbuyer at the closing to cover the cost of the repairs.

Here is a picture of my new house from the outside (cross your fingers anyways!)

Fed Leaves Rates Unchanged, But..

WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON UPDATE: The first FOMC meeting of the year adjourned with no change to key short-term interest rates, but still resulted in considerable selling of bonds and stocks. The Dow closed down 141 points, while the Nasdaq finished the day down 38 points. The bond market is down 27/32, which created upward revisions to mortgage rates of approximately .75 of a discount point.

While the Fed didn't make any changes to key short-term rates, it did make a slight change to its post meeting statement that seems to have caused concern in the markets. The key difference was an exclusion of the words “considerable period� when describing how long they would keep rates this low. They instead used the word “patient�, which led many traders to think that a rate increase may be in the near future. It does seem a little silly that something that minor can cause such havoc in the markets, but it did.

It is too late to lock in under this morning's rates, so let's wait and see what tomorrow brings. The idea of a rate increase is thought to possibly slow the economic recovery. Whether it will or not remains to be seen. We don't even know for a fact that the Fed was trying to hint at an increase in the near future. But we do have some fairly important economic data being posted tomorrow. We could see investors realize that this afternoon was an overreaction or we may see more selling in bonds. The latter would mean another increase to mortgage rates tomorrow.

The 4th Quarter Employment Cost Index (ECI) is due to be posted tomorrow morning along with weekly unemployment claims. It measures employer costs for employee wages and benefits, giving us an indication of the threat of wage inflation. It usually has more of an effect on the bond market than the stock markets, but a variance from forecasted levels may have an impact on all of the markets, including mortgage rates.

If I were considering financing/refinancing a home, I would....
Float if my closing were taking place within 7 days...
Float if my closing were taking place between 8 and 20 days...
Float if my closing were taking place between 21 and 45 days...
Float if my closing were taking place over 45 days from now...
This is only my opinion of what I would do if I was financing a home. It is only an opinion and cannot be guaranteed to be in the best interest of all/any other borrowers.

Moving to North Carolina!

Hello faithful readers, you'll be happy to note that very soon I will be only posting Minneapolis related real estate news on this site. I am going to turn this over to my team in Minneapolis who will surely increase the quantity and quality of the posts!

My weekly musings will be now be posted on my new site at yadkin-valley.com, yes my friends I am moving to the Yadkin Valley. Can you believe that such a great URL as yadkin-valley.com was still available? That site is only a placeholder. I am going to make that into an incredible place to learn more about Yadkin Valley wines and all the cities that comprise the region. So makre sure you check back in the coming weeks!

Yesterday, my Realtor, Gambill Aldridge of Basin Creek Realty in Elkin, NC, called and informed me that my offer had been accepted!!! And then today interest rates started falling once again, how great is that!! It's quite amazing how low house prices are in Elkin. I only paid $77 / sq. ft in NC, whereas in Minneapolis for the same sort of house, I would have paid $250 / ft or more...needless to say, I am very excited to move to the heart of the Yadkin Valley. It's an exciting beautiful place, a place where all of you should consider to vacation and retire someday. Bookmark www.yadkin-valley.com and check back in a few weeks to learn more about the area.

Brent

What are Blogs??

Web Blogs Defined, Explained and Understood
by Sharon Housley ©Copyright 2004

What are Blogs?
Having heard the term previously but not having paid much
attention most are just to afraid to show their ignorance
and ask the question, what is a blog? Lets face it; the term
blog does not conjure pleasant images. Blogs are web logs
that are updated regularly, usually on a daily basis. They
contain information related to a specific topic. In some
cases blogs are used as daily diaries about people's
personal lives, political views, or even as social
commentaries. The truth of the matter is that blogs can be
shaped into whatever you, the author, want them to be.

Where Did Blogs Come From?
The roots of blogging can be traced back to the mid 1990's. Who
the very first blogger actually was is unclear, as the art of
blogging did not really take hold until 1999. The original
"weblogs" were link-driven sites with personal commentaries.
The very first blogs were human guided Internet web tours. While
initially thought of as diaries or online journals, blogs have
evolved into the latest fresh web content.

The Future of Blogs
A buzz word in techie circles, "blogging" is the wave of the
future. Whether it's a fad, or proves to be a new way to
communicate with existing and potential customers it deserves
at the very least a cursory look.

Why is Blogging Helpful to Businesses or Individuals?
Just as animated .gifs were once cool, blogging is the trendy
thing to do. That does not mean that it is not beneficial to
businesses. Webmasters struggling to keep fresh, attractive
content on their websites to lure visitors back, have found
blogs to be the answer. Content is a necessity for online
businesses, both for purposes of being found by search engines,
but also because it gives visitors a reason to come back.

Now that we have established that blogs are not only trendy but
also beneficial to businesses, it's important to understand how
they can be used to your advantage. We currently manage and
update two blogs on a daily basis. The first is our new business
blog at:

http://www.notepage.net/blog.htm

This professional business blog allows us the opportunity to
tell potential, or existing customers industry news, updates,
or generally how mobile or paging software can be used in
specific situations to alleviate problems. The bottom line is
we control the content. It's updated daily, which increases the
chances that search engines will spider on a regular basis and
it helps with page rank because it's been submitted to all the
blogging directories. Initially started on a whim, we've found
it beneficial to report tips, tricks or make visitors aware of
new regulations related to the mobile or paging industry.

The second blog we manage is at:

http://www.softwaremarketingresource.com/blog.html

This blog is less formal and contains marketing tips, or
promotional advice for software developers or online
marketers. We found that we had overflow from our monthly
newsletter. Generating a daily blog required very little
effort and assisted us in creating fresh content which our
readers told us was of significant interest.

Blogs & Your Business
The bottom line is you need to determine how a blog will benefit
your business, determine a schedule and adhere to it. Let your
readers know what to expect and when to expect it. Blogs provide
great supplemental content and direct attention to areas of your
business that you want to showcase; you direct the content but
let your readers guide you.

Creating a Blog
There are numerous online tools that can be used to create a
blog. We found that because of security concerns, it would just
be best to use a standard html program. In our case, we use
Dreamweaver and create daily posts. It's really not much more
complicated than typing an email. The content is then sent via
FTP to a web server. If you want to test the waters there are
online web-based tools that help you publish to the web
instantly. The most popular web based tool is likely Blogger
(http://www.blogger.com).

Other Advantages to Blogs
While you may initially create a blog for your existing
customers, you may find that you can attract new customers by
illustrating your expertise in a specific field. There are
numerous websites that act as "blog search engines". Be sure
to submit your sites to these websites to increase your
exposure. This will also help with your page rank and increase
the likelihood you will receive decent ranking with Google.
You can also create an RSS feed in order to syndicate blog
content and gain additional exposure.

Vineyards and Adkins

Well, my journey for this week is coming to an end. Today, I am back in Asheville, readying to drive to Knoxville to catch a flight back to Minneapolis. The weather has just been incredible...50's and sunny pretty much the while trip, although it's in the 40's now. Of the four regions I explored (Asheville, Knoxville, Yadkin Valley and Greensboro), I settled on the Yadkin Valley.

The Yadkin Valley is a little deceptive. The area is about 40 miles from Winston-Salem and 90 miles or so from Greensboro. It's an area rife with transformation. However, it's very easy to overlook all the great things that the Yadkin Valley offers. As I mentioned previously, I had the benefit of two great guides in the forms of Mark Greene and Gambill Aldridge. Mark is the owner of Elkin Mill Vineyards and the Cimarron Steak House in Elkin. He has a beautiful piece of property at the Elkin Mill with about 5 acres of vines in the ground. He introduced me to Gambill Aldridge who is the owner / broker of Basin Creek Realty. Truly, a great guy. He knows the area inside and out and was able to introduce me to some great neighborhoods, that most would never know exist.

Elkin hosts the Yadkin Valley Wine Festival each year. The city, more than any other in the Yadkin Valley is beginning to embrace the notion that the Yadkin Valley may very well be the next Napa Valley. I know many regions like to tout that they are the "next Napa" but with 20+ wineries and new vineyards opening every month, the area is truly being transformed into a rich viticultural area.

This impact has not been lost on the town. New businesses are opening, new money is flowing into the town and jobs that were lost when the textile mills began to close are now being added in the services and tourism industry. With all of it beauty, Elkin still does not have even one Bed and Breakfast! Amazing growth will be occurring in this region in the coming years.

For those reseaons, I have decicded to call Elkin my home. I've decided it's best to hold off on the purchasing of any prime vineyard land and instead focus on finding a nice home with just a bit of land where I can practice growing grapes. Once I am settled in, perhaps in 6-12 months I can pursue buying a nice chuck of land to develop and nurture into Kleinheksel Vineyards and Winery.

A couple of other things about Elkin, NC. 1) They have a wonderful parks and recreation system. There is a beautiful facility with a fitness room, indoor basketball courts and 6 lighted tennis courts...all sitting on a trout stream in beautiful little Valley. They have a great country club and golf courses surround the area, additionally Elkin sits at the base of the Blue Ridge Mountains...so some great hiking and rock climbing is just minutes away.

Well that's all for now, I'll tell you more about my house, if I am able to put a deal together. I found two great homes, either of which I think would be great...so we'll see!

Brent

North Carolina Vineyards

Hi all! I am sitting in a library in Elkin North Carolina. I flew into Knoxville on MOnday and have made my way from Knoxville to Clyde to Asheville and now to Elkin tomorrow I will be in Greensboro. I am on the hunt for some property to begin my (our??) new adventure! It's been awesoem so far, great weather, great sites and great people.

The Yadkin Valley is pretty special and I was fortunate enough to meet up with a local vineyard owner who took me under his wing and spent the last couple of days with me, introducing me to other vineyard owners and introducing me to all the nicks and corners of Elkin. I visited three vineyards today and got a personal tour at each, what a treat! I learned a great deal...

In ther afternoon, I met up with a local Realtor (god bless them!) who took me around to a few properties that met my criteria. I found a couple, one with 47 acres, that really seemed like they might be a good fit. Elkin is a special place, a place that I might consider calling home for a few years to build out this vineyard and pursue a change of lifestlyle.

The Yadkin Valley is in it's infancy, but the number of vineyards now exceeds 20 and it owuld be great to be right on the Yadkin Valley Wine Trail, what a treat!!

I'll keep you posted!!!

Brent

2003 Final Sales Totals

Great Homes in Minnesota (this site) is one of many sites that I run under the auspices of GreatHomesUSA. However, since I live in Minneapolis, I was able to build this site first, as such the team servicing the business generated from this site has been at it Since August 7th, 2003. Prior to that, for the months of May, June and July I either serviced the leads myself or I auctioned the leads to other Realtors.

By my tally, the 2003 numbers are fantastic, considering that it wasn't until October before Wollmering & Elliott began to realize their first sales and also it wasn't until April that I received my license.

For 2003, the site generated over $7.5 million in residential real estate sales. These are sales that CLOSED in 2003. Already for the first 6 days in 2004 we have over $2.6 million in closings scheduled for January and February. I predict a $20 million dollar year minimum, with $30 million definitely possible.

Hats off to Wollmering & Elliott. They are the #1 real estate team in Minnesota for many reasons including honesty, integrity and customer service. Great Job Team!!!

Brent

Happy New Year!!

Hope all of you had a safe and happy New Year's celebration! I ushered in the New Year with a new look and feel to the Blog, this makes me very happy. :-) For the actualy New Years Eve celebration, Jen and I visited The Cotton Mansion in Duluth MN. That place is just incredible, we had the most relaxing three days ever! We stayed in the Terrace Suite, which features breakfast in your room every morning.

The owners were a husband and wife team and they made our stay wonderful. We ate at a couple of decent restaurants and spent the days shopping and enjoying the Lake Superior views. Too bad Duluth is so cold, because the city and the views are just amazing. We were there this spring and it was so beautiful!

Other than that, my days are very very busy right now. Taxes, and many many changes to the sites. 2004 is looking to be another great year for real estate, interest rates are projected to stay low, the job scene is improving and hopefully the situation in Iraq will improve, all that means is that we will be selling lots of homes with tons of happy customers.

Hats off to my teams in Chicago, Atlanta and Minneapolis. They are doing a great job and selling lots of homes!!

Happy New Year!

Brent

Demographic Trends May Boost Condo Values

RealEstateJournal | House Talk