Yes, my husband and I did it: We bought a fixer-upper, and it nearly did us in. It wasBrooklyn, NY, in 2008. I remember walking to the place for the first time and seeing the back seat of a van on cinder blocks being used as a couch—and quickly looked past that eyesore. This could be a great space once it was renovated, I thought. The light was abundant, the space ample and flexible, and its Park Slope neighborhood was about to bloom.
Six months into the renovations, our contractor told us: “In hindsight, we should have knocked this down and started from scratch. It would have been cheaper.” Ah, blessed hindsight. We wanted to keep you from getting sucked into a money pit of your own. For expert advice, we turned to Cathy Baumbusch, a Realtor® in Washington, DC, who told ushow to master the art of buying a fixer-upper. 1. Know that some flaws can be fixedFixer-uppers generally fall into two categories: total wreck and ugly house. “An ugly house is not architecturally appealing: Its paint is chipping away, the yard is unkempt, inside it may smell bad,” says Baumbusch. In short, everything about it needs freshening up. But if these are the kinds of flaws you’re dealing with, take heart: They’re merely cosmetic, and they’re easy to fix. Painting is the easiest task that you can do yourself. Just don’t cut corners—buy all the right equipment (use the tape!) and paint correctly, with the right number of coats. It’s extra work, but it pays off in the end. Even if you hire a painter, it won’t cost as much as redoing the bathroom. You could also refinish the floors yourself, although it involves renting a machine. Click here to read more
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American homeowners are finally digging out of the hole created by the housing crisis. But their housing wealth is playing a much smaller role in the overall economy than it did before the downturn.
Home equity has roughly doubled to $12.1 trillion since house prices hit bottom in 2011, according to the Federal Reserve. As a result, a key gauge of housing wealth—homeowners’ equity as a share of real-estate values—is nearing the point seen a decade ago, before the downturn. Such a level once would have offered a double-barreled boost to the economy by providing owners with more money to tap and making them feel more flush and likely to spend. But today, that newfound wealth has had little effect on behavior. While the traditional ways Americans tap their home equity—home-equity loans, lines of credit and cash-out refinances—are higher than last year, they are still depressed. In the first half of the year, owners borrowed $43.5 billion against their homes with home-equity loans and lines of credit, according to trade publication Inside Mortgage Finance. That was 45% higher than in the first half of 2014, but scarcely a quarter of the amount seen when equity was last as high in 2007. Meanwhile, cash-out refinances, which let homeowners take out a new mortgage and tap some of the home’s value at the same time, were up 48% in the three months ended in August from the year-earlier period, according to Black Knight Financial Services.But they remain below the level seen in the summer of 2013. The average cash-out refinance in the three months ended in August left the borrower with mortgage debt of about 68% of the home’s value—not a risky level by any stretch. Home equity’s effect on consumer spending is at its lowest ebb since the early 1990s, according to Moody’s Analytics. The research firm estimates that every $1 rise in home equity in the fourth quarter of 2014 would translate to about two cents of extra consumer spending over the next 1 to 1½ years. That was a third of the impact home equity had before the bust, Moody’s said. Click here to read more People these days are cray about their pets, which could explain the even crazier contraptions pet owners can buy to keep their four-legged friends occupied and entertained when they’re cooped up all day. Don’t believe us? Behold below some of the weird and wacky ways that pets can while away the hours at home.
Cat exercise wheelFor the indoor kitty with a few pounds to shed (aka, all of them), this cat exercise wheel might be just the thing. It’s pretty much an overgrown hamster wheel, allowing your feline friend to work on his belly contours in the comfort of his home. Sure, the odds a cat would actually want to run on this thing are slim to none, but don’t let that stop you from having yet another piece of exercise equipment in your home that no one uses.This cat wheel is made in South Korea and retails for $447. If you want to save on shipping costs, there’s one available on Amazing for $329.99. Pet highchairFor the dog owner who can’t stand to dine solo (you know who you are), here’s a pet highchair that can make mealtime just a little less lonely. Makers of this highchair for hairy companions claim adding this to your home “promotes more refined behavior.” Um, really? Or maybe it just inspires your dog to clamber out onto the table and scarf down your hamburger. The chair shown below is no longer available, but if you want dinner for two with your animal buddy, a similar one can be bought at PetFoodDirect for $50.15. Click here to read more Federal statistics released Thursday suggest that homelessness in Colorado, and nationally, has plunged since 2010, but local advocates said soaring rents in the metro region are fueling a hard-to-track crisis.
The new estimate by the U.S. Housing and Urban Development is based on data collected throughout the nation and in individual states on one night last January. HUD reported a 26 percent dip in the number of people living on the streets nationally since 2010, and a 35.7 percent decline in Colorado during the period. In Colorado, homeless service providers reported a total of 9,953 people were homeless, a decline of 5,529 people, HUD said. "I think those numbers were incredibly low," said Annetta F. Crecelius, of the Colorado Coalition for the Homeless. "It is always hard to get a really good picture of what the numbers look like." The Metro Denver Homeless Initiative participated in the statewide survey, using volunteers to track the homeless in the seven-county metro region. "What you have to remember is that it is one night of a year and it is largely just the individuals who are willing to participate. Last year, we had a number of folks who refused. We do our best to assess the number across the seven counties, and it is quite a daunting task," said Gary Sanford, Metro Denver Homeless Initiative executive director. Click here to read more WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. home rental prices rose at a slower pace in October, a possible sign that apartment costs are testing the upper reaches of renters' incomes.
Real estate data firm Zillow said Friday that median rents increased a seasonally adjusted 4.5 percent from a year ago. This marks a steady deceleration from annual prices gains of 5.3 percent in September and 6.2 percent in August. Zillow recently updated its methodology for averaging rental prices, showing that past growth rates were higher than previously reported. Housing costs have consistently exceeded income growth. Average hourly wages rose just 2.5 percent over the past year to $25.20, according to the Labor Department. Rents in metro San Francisco, San Jose, Denver and Portland, Oregon — areas that have attracted younger, educated workers — each rose by more than 11 percent from a year ago. But not all areas of the country are seeing dramatic escalations in rent. Between September and October, rents fell slightly in Chicago, Philadelphia, Detroit, Minneapolis, Baltimore and Pittsburgh, among other cities. The median rental payment nationwide was $1,382 in October. That works out to roughly 30 percent of the median U.S. family income of $53,657, a level that the government has historically identified as being financially burdensome. The price increases have consistently surpassed apartment-dwellers' ability to pay. Click here to read more The former Gold Star Sausage factory in Denver's red-hot River North neighborhood has changed hands for the second time this year — and for nearly $1.4 million more than it did in March.
Pathfinder Partners, a San Diego-based real estate investment firm, purchased the one-story brick industrial facility at 2800 Walnut St. for $4.57 million in October, according to NAI Shames Makovsky, which represented them in the deal. In March, Gold Star got $3.2 millionfor the five connected buildings, its longtime headquarters and food-processing facility, selling it to an Arapahoe County limited liability company that planned to "repurpose the asset to take advantage of market conditions," representatives said at the time. Pathfinder has already begun work to adapt the 47,000-square-foot structure for use as creative office and retail. Construction is expected to be done by midsummer. "When we compare our price per square foot to other properties trading in the immediate area, we still feel we were able to achieve a very strong purchase price," said Trent Rice, corporate services director at NAI Shames Makovsky. "Even though it was $1 million more, we thought we got a pretty good deal, given what's going on in the RiNo neighborhood today." The real estate market in RiNo has been in a"feeding frenzy" all year, with developers, restaurateurs and residents alike drawn to the area's artistic, gritty vibe and soon-to-open commuter rail station at 38th and Blake streets. Click here to read more It's still possible in Boston for a mail carrier, an accountant and a Harvard-trained psychiatrist — basically, the crowd from "Cheers" — to live as neighbors.
That finding by the real estate brokerage Redfin makes the capital of Massachusetts a rarity at a time when neighborhoods in most U.S. cities are increasingly isolated from each other by income and home values. Redfin analyzed home sales over the past 24 months in 20 major U.S. cities, breaking down the data by neighborhood. Many of the cities reflect home values that have outpaced wages over the past 15 years and contributed to a widening wealth gap among neighborhoods that mirrors a national trend. San Francisco, for example, enjoys the benefits of tech fortunes, but its homes are largely unaffordable for the police officers, firefighters and teachers the city needs. And while housing in Baltimore seems affordable, low and unstable incomes there have depressed home ownership rates. Redfin said its analysis is a first step in examining changes over time in neighborhoods and in economic mobility. "Our argument is the shape of the American city is the shape of American life," Redfin CEO Glenn Kelman said. "When the only time you meet someone wealthy is when you're handing them a croissant, the likelihood that your kids are going to attend a good school and know how to pursue a career go down." Click here to read more Boulder won't pursue occupancy violations against illegal co-ops while the city tries to work out ordinances that would provide legal ways for cooperatives to operate here.
Just a week ago, the Boulder City Council gave final approval to an ordinance that makes it easier to enforce occupancy complaints by adding new requirements for landlords and increasing fines in three student-heavy neighborhoods: University Hill, Martin Acres and Goss-Grove. Many advocates for cooperative housing, as well as those who live with more roommates than the legal limit to save money, had asked the City Council not to pass the ordinance because sharing housing is the only way they can afford to live in Boulder. But homeowners in student-heavy neighborhoods said increased enforcement is necessary to prevent the loss of remaining single-family homes to investors who can make more money by renting to students. Boulder's occupancy limit prohibits more than three unrelated people from living together in low-density residential areas and more than four unrelated people in medium-density residential areas, regardless of the size of the house or the number of bedrooms. In the midst of this debate, city inspectors received an anonymous complaint against one of the city's better-known illegal cooperatives. On Tuesday, City Manager Jane Brautigam and City Attorney Tom Carr sought approval from the City Council for not enforcing the ordinance against households that have the characteristics of cooperatives, including a governance structure and sharing of resources. Click here to read more MOSCOW — In a move raising the potential threat of a Russia-NATO conflict, Russia on Wednesday said it will deploy long-range air defense missiles to its base in Syria and destroy any target that may threaten its warplanes after the downing of a Russian military jet by Turkey.
The incident was the first time in half a century that a NATO member shot down a Russian plane. If Russia responds by downing a Turkish plane, NATO member Turkey could proclaim itself under attack and ask the alliance for military assistance. Most observers believe that a direct military confrontation is unlikely, but that the shooting down of the plane will further fuel the Syrian conflict and complicate international peace efforts. The situation is also alarming because the Russian and Turkish presidents both pose as strong leaders and would be reluctant to back down and seek a compromise. The S-400 missiles, which Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered sent to the Hemeimeem air base in Syria's coastal province of Latakia, just 30 miles away from the border with Turkey, are capable of striking targets within a 250-mile range with deadly precision. The military also moved the navy missile cruiser Moskva closer to the shore to help protect Russian warplanes with its long-range Fort air defense system. Click here to read more Fewer Americans bought homes in October, a sign that rising home values may be pushing more would-be buyers to the real estate market's sidelines.
The National Association of Realtors said Monday that sales of existing homes fell 3.4 percent last month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.36 million. The decline comes after strong growth in homebuying for much of 2015, bolstered by steady job gains and low mortgage rates. Home purchases have advanced 3.9 percent from a year ago. Colorado marijuana testing facility CannLabs closed its Denver laboratory on Tuesday and laid off as many as 15 employees. The shutdown of one of the largest labs in Colorado, and one considered an industry leader, comes after months of controversy involving the company's leadership. "It's positive for us," CannLabs Inc. CEO Mark Mirken told The Denver Post on Tuesday, "There were a significant amount of issues surrounding our involvement with CannLabs Colorado, items that were made public by certain people within that company that were factually incorrect and clearly became an impediment to our ability to work with them under the administrative services agreement." Click here to read more |
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