FAQ – I’m ready to list. What does the listing process involve?

Understanding the Real Estate Process from A – Z – A Seller’s Guide to Real Estate – Part 3

This is the third post of a series in an FAQ format that I hope will help would be sellers better understand the real estate process that they are about to go through. There will be a follow-on series for real estate buyers.

FAQ – I’m ready to list. What does the listing process involve?

In some cases, all of the things that were in the first two posts will be condensed into one visit by the Realtor. I don’t like to do business that way, because things can get rushed and a client might feel pressured to sign the listing documents before they are ready. I will normally do at least two visits – one to look at the property and provide advice about getting it ready and a second to go over the Market Analysis that I have created, based upon that first visit and to go through the listing process and take care of the Listing paperwork, if the client is ready.

So, just what makes up the listing process? There are two main sets of paperwork to go over and get signed and some physical work that needs to be done during the listing visit. The most important

piece of paperwork is the listing contract itself. I usually go over each page of the contract line-by-line. Our contract is 4 pages long, but some other companies use even longer contracts. It is important that the sellers understand that this is a legal contract between them and the broker to sell the property. The contract has several obligations that they must agree to, not the least of which is they cannot discriminate in any way against anyone who may wish to visit or to make an offer to buy the property.

In the listing contract the obligations of the broker (and me as the agent) and the sellers is clearly laid out. By signing the contract, the sellers agree to those stipulations and to abide by the terms of the contract. In conjunction with the contract, a set of Agency Disclosure documents must be signed by the sellers, acknowledging that they understand the role defined in the listing contract of Seller’s Agent that the broker and I will be playing. In the case of my company, Real Estate One, there are also disclosures to the Sellers about the other ancillary companies that the broker owns – a title company, a mortgage company and an insurance agency – which they might also end up doing business with, but which they are not required to use for any of those functions. However, we are required to disclose that we own them and that the broker may receive compensation from those companies if the Seller does business with or through them. The agent gets nothing from that business.

A second set of documents accompany the contract and agency disclosures and constitute the Sellers’

disclosures of information about the condition of the property. One is the Seller’s Disclosures and One is the Lead-based Paint (LBP) Disclosure. Both are mandated by Real Estate Law in the State of Michigan and the Lead-based Paint Disclosure is required by the Federal Government. These are (and should be thought of as) legal affidavits being made by the Sellers as to the current state of the property. Both use questions, which the Sellers must answer truthfully about what they know about the condition of various systems and components of the house, the history of the house and, in the case of the LBP Disclosure, the presence or absence of paint with lead in it anywhere in the house. Owners/Sellers are expected and assumed to know about those things and to answer honestly. Failure to honestly answer the questions or falsely answering the questions can lead to legal problems later and/or charges of fraud. So we I go over those documents with the Sellers line-by-line and help them understand the questions. There can be no blank lines left on those documents when they are done.

The process of going through the listing contract and disclosure documents can take anywhere from ½ an hour to an hour or more, depending upon the questions that come up.

Next in the listing document packet is usually the MLS Data Sheet. The Multi-List Service (MLS) in each area or state may have slightly different data gathering requirements;, but, generally they all need to capture lots of information about the property, such as – when was it built, how big (in Square Feet) it is above grade and how big is the basement, what materials are using on the exterior, how

many bedrooms and bathrooms and lavatories (1/2 baths) are there, how is it heated and cooled, how big is the actual land that the house sits on, what size garage does it have, what school district is it in, and on and on. You get the idea. Our MLS Data Sheet is four pages long. In addition, at least in my MLS, there is a requirement to measure and record the size of each room and the floor covering for each room. In the old days (just a few years ago) I would ask the Seller to help me with the room measurements by holding one end of the measuring tape. These days I use a laser measuring device. We also record what floor of the building (or the basement) the rooms are on.

We may also discuss the Sellers requirements or restrictions for showing appointments at this time, or a little later. These Showing Instructions are given to the Showing Appointment Center (if the company uses one) or to the people who answer calls and set appointment at the listing office. Sellers have the right to define when they will allow showings and how much advance notice they need. They also define who needs to approve each showing request and what means of communications are required – voice contact via phone, messaging to a phone or email. Some Sellers have family or pet situations that require lots of advanced notice and may require that someone go home to remove a pet for each showing.

Obviously having showing instructions in place that are too restrictive can hurt the marketing effort and discourage would-be buyers. We may discuss this until we reach some agreed upon compromise and I make sure that the Sellers understand the consequences (intended and un-intended) that may result from any restrictions on showings. I also advise them that Buyers (and their agents) do not like to have the Sellers hanging around during showings. It makes the Buyers feel uncomfortable and they

feel like they can’t discuss things out loud while on the visit. Some would-be buyers won’t even visit a home if the seller is going to be there.

In some listing appointments I also arrange to take pictures of the house, both outside and inside; but in many that is another visit. It just depends if the Sellers feel ready for pictures or need more time to “stage” the house for pictures. The minimum that I need to place the house on the MLS is a picture of the front of the house from the street. The interior pictures, and any other outside pictures that I take, are used on the MLS and in the marketing flyer that I will create later. If I am to take pictures during the listing appointment, the appointment can take up to three hours. Without taking pictures that day, the appointment is usually over in about two hours. I usually take 60-70 pictures and chose to use 40-50 on the MLS.

The final things that I will usually do on this listing appointment is to put the sign on the front lawn and put a lock box on the front door, with a house key in it. It is surprising how many would-be sellers have to scramble around to find a front door key or may have to have one made because they can no longer locate one. Most sellers get used to entering and leaving their homes through the garage or a side door. I usually ask for a second key or go have a copy made of the one that is in the lock box. It is amazing how many times the key that is supposed to be put back into the lock box by the showing agent either gets lost or is locked into the house as the agent leaves the showing. There are a variety of different lock boxes, but the idea is the same with all of them. A code is given to showing agents when they make a showing appointment and that code allows them to get into the lock box and use the key that is stored there to get into the house. Sometimes (but rarely) a home may have a punch code lock already on it and we can just use that instead of a lock box.

Most agents in our company use what are called “pitchfork” signs which we can put into the ground by just stepping on the bottom of the sign, which drive the two tines at the bottom into the ground (thus the name pitchfork) to hold the sign up. Some of our agents and most other companies’ agents will order a wooden post to be installed on the front lawn, with a sign hanging on it. That takes a day or two to be installed by the sign service company and may leave a big hole in the front lawn when it is removed, since they dig the hole for the pole with a power auger. I will return within a day or so and also place a flyer box next to the sign to hold the flyers that will have created for the house.  I usually put some flyers in the house, too.

Some clients have requested that their homes be listed but that no sign be put on the lawn. They are apparently worried about nosy neighbors or just don’t want the general public to know that it is for sale, for some reason. It is certainly their call on the sign, but I always advise against that restriction. A significant number of real estate sales are kicked-off by the buyer seeing a sign on the lawn and calling on it. Buyers still cruse neighborhoods looking to see if they like the area and if any homes are for sale in the sub or development.

That pretty much take us through the listing appointment/process itself. Next we’ll start discussing the Sellers’ role during the listing. 

FAQ - How can I determine the market value for my house?

Understanding the Real Estate Process from A – Z – A Seller’s Guide to Real Estate – Part 2  

This is the second post of a series in an FAQ format that I hope will help would be sellers better understand the real estate process that they are about to go through. There will be a follow-on series for real estate buyers.

FAQ - How can I determine the market value for my house?

The Market Value of Your House -

Hopefully you have already taken the advice from the first post in this series and found a GOOD Realtor® to help you understand what needs to be done to get the house ready to list. That same Realtor is the key to determining the best market value at which to list the property to assure a successful outcome. A successful outcome is one that gets the seller the maximum amount that the market will support, as quickly as possible and with the least amount of hassle.

So, how do you determine the market value for your house? Well, here are some things that do not play into that determination –

·         What your neighbor down the street got for his house last year.

·         What you Dad or Uncle Bob tell your they think it is worth.

·         What a friend at work sold his similar size house across town for last month.

·         What you saw in the paper that another house in town with the same number of bedrooms just sold for.

·         What the Zestimate says it’s worth on Zillow.

·         What you “need” from the sale.

None of those things can give you an accurate estimate of what you house is worth on the market right now. Why Because they don’t reflect the market that you will be competing in right now and they do not take into consideration what condition your house is in right now as compared to those houses that sold in the past.  If there have been several sales in your neighborhood over the last 3-6 months, that may give you a good ballpark idea of the potential value of your house, but it is only a ballpark. Only a Realtor can evaluate what your house might be worth today in the market in which it will be competing.

Just how big is the house?

One of the factors that plays a big role in determining the market value is its size in square feet. There are many differences within the various groups who may try to determine the size of houses for a variety of reasons. The original builder, local tax assessors, insurance agents and realtors may all come up with different figures for the square footage of the same house. The original assessment visit may be the only time that the house was measured for the Public Records Database (PRD) which is what most people (including most Realtors) use when ask about the size of a house. One other thing that happens often is that owners add square footage over time (some with and some without building permits) that don’t get recorded in the Public Records Database. If there is any doubt as to the size or differences between what the PRD record says about the house and what the owner says, your Realtor should take the time to measure the house. 

A GOOD Realtor will know how to measure the house properly and probably will ask you to help

(you can hold the other end of the measuring tape). Even then, the Realtor will have to make some judgement calls about things such as how much of the second floor space to include, if the house is a

Cape Cod style, with dormers and slanted roof line ceilings in the upper floors. The Realtor should almost never include any of the basement square footage in the stated size of the property. There are exceptions to that rule, if three of the four side of the basement are above grade; however, that is rare and just because the basement may be a walkout and may be fully finished, it should not be included in the stated square footage of the house. There is a place in the comments to talk about the finished square footage of the basement. Bedrooms that are located in the basement are also not officially counted as bedrooms in most places. In many places they would be considered to be illegal anyway.

Comps – really?

Your Realtor should do a thorough analysis of the local market and look at houses that are similar to yours that have sold within a reasonable distance from your address, as well as homes that are currently on the market. They will try to find sold examples that are within 3 miles of your home and that have sold within the last 3-6 months. Usually they will try to find similar sold and active homes in the same school district. You will hear the word “Comps” used by some agents. That stands for

houses that are Comparable to your home. I tend to use the word “similar” instead of Comps because neither I, nor most other Realtors, do the level of detailed analysis or site visits that an appraiser goes through to insure that a house is really comparable to the house that I’m listing. I use factors like the square footage, number of bedrooms and baths and other amenities like garage or no, finished basement or no, materials and finishes, and the 3-C’s from yesterday’s post – Condition, Clutter and Cleanliness. If I’m lucky, I may have been through some of the similar homes that are on the market, so that I have a better feel for the competition; but, many times I just have to depend upon the MLS listing information and the pictures that might be posted on line about those homes. I do generate a bunch of statistics so that I can see the average and median sold and active prices. Those statistics help define the “ballpark” that your house will likely play in and the competition that it will face.

What adds and what detracts from Market Value?

When I visit a home that is a potential listing I look for the things that I know will add to the market value or may detract from that value. I usually include a Franklin Chart in my Market Analysis report back to the owners. That chart lists the Pluses and Minuses that I saw and that I believe that potential buyers will see in the house. Those pluses and Minuses obviously add or subtract from the perceived value of the house. I go over those pluses and minuses in detail with the would–be seller. Many of the minuses are things that the seller might be abler to correct before putting the house on the market; however, some minuses are so “baked-in” to the house that they cannot be changed. The architecture

of the house is one such item. Houses that are ranch style or colonial never seem to go out of style and these days the Cape Cod style house is the builders’ and buyers preferred style. But, what about split level houses or raised ranch styles. Those style 60’s and 70’s and into the 80’s; but they have fallen way out of favor with both builders and buyers. So, if a house is a tri-level or quad-level or maybe a raised ranch (also called a bi-level), it starts with one strike against it in the modern market. That is a negative that the owner cannot do anything about, but which does factor into the market value. Things like fresh paint, crown molding, granite counter tops, new flooring, updated windows, new furnace and/or water heater and other improvements/upgrades and updates all add to the value. Conversely, if those things have not been done, they detract from value.

The most common mistake that sellers make –

Overpricing is the most common issue that Realtors into and usually it’s based upon bad advice that the seller has gotten from someone else or from the seller’s belief that they “can always come down, but they can’t go up in price.” That is not only not true in many cases, but it actually hurts them, because they scare off good buyers by being overpriced. Seller will say that they want to leave themselves some “wiggle room”, so that they can negotiate; however, they end up just wiggling away on the market while other, well-priced homes are selling. Eventually they come down in price, but usually not before the listing has become stale and buyers have become suspicious that “there must be something wrong with the house, because it has been on the market for so long”.

The market doesn’t care what you need.

Sometimes I hear the phrase “I need this much out of the sale”; maybe because of the need to pay off a mortgage, or because the seller is trying to get enough from this sale to allow them to buy another home. In either case, I have to tell them that the market really doesn’t care what they “need” from the sale. The market only cares about what this property is worth relative to other, similar properties in similar condition.  If you really can’t afford to sell your home unless you get that sale price that you “need” and it is significantly different than what your Realtor is advising you on the market value, perhaps you really can’t afford to sell right now.

Don’t make those mistakes; listen to your Realtor on pricing. He or she has you best interest at heart and is trying to advise you on a price that will result in a successful outcome. And if you put it in the market and it sells in the first week, it was not because it was underpriced; it was because it was

properly priced. In many cases a properly priced house may attract multiple offers which will drive the final sale price up. An overpriced house will just attract crickets which the owner can listen to as they sit there.

IN the Market vs. ON the Market –

A well-priced house will find its place IN the market, occupying a position where its price matches the perceived market value for the property. The first 3-6 weeks that a house is listed are considered to be “the Golden Time” for the listing, the time when the “newness”of the listing draws attention and the majority of the buyers who have been looking at similar houses will flock to see it – if they perceive that it is priced right. The goal should be to delight those visitors and not to disappoint them. An overpriced house will be ON the market at a price that draws poor reviews and feedback and possibly even drive would-be buyers away. You want the reaction of buyers to be Wow and not Whoa.

Buyers leave every visit to a house with a mental list of things that they saw that they think they will need to fix or change. The buyers assign dollar and time values to those items and make a quick determination of whether they want to take on the cost and time commitment necessary to complete those projects. Today’s buyers are often very busy people and the prospect of spending lots of time and money after they have bought a new place is just a big turn-off. Those who may be willing to take on the projects will add up the costs that they have mentally calculated and take that off their offer price. The key to being IN the market, instead of just ON the market is finding that listing price at which the perceived value that visitors will arrive at is equal to the asking price. At that price, there is nothing stopping the buyer from making an offer and the best way to find that happy price is to listen to the advice of a good Realtor. If you find a Realtor who agrees to list your house at whatever price you want, no matter how outrageous; run, don’t walk, away from that person. That is not a good Realtor. 

The bottom line…

A GOOD Realtor will get you IN the market at a price that will immediately attract would-be buyers;

so, find a GOOD Realtor and listen to his/her listing price advice. Remember that Realtors (especially the GOOD ones) are acting as fiduciaries for you, which means that they are acting in your best interests, not their own. They want to get you the most that the market will bear for your property in the shortest amount of time with the least amount of hassle – they want a successful outcome for you. You and they both know that a successful outcome for you will mean a payday for them and that is a win-win situation for both of you.

FAQ - What do I need to do to get ready to sell my house?

Understanding the Real Estate Process from A – Z – A Seller’s Guide to Real Estate - Part 1

This is a series of posts in an FAQ format that I hope will help would be sellers better understand the real estate process that they are about to go through. There will be a follow-on series for real estate buyers.  

FAQ - What do I need to do to get ready to sell my house?

So, you’ve decided to sell your house. Great! Before you even get into the real estate process itself, you need to do a few things to get ready for selling your house. These next two posts will be about things that you need to do in order to get ready. While the order of doing these things could be reversed, I believe that there is great value in doing them in the order in which I will present them.

Find a good Realtor® agent to work with.

This may initially seem self-serving, since I am a real estate agent; however, most people don’t truly GOOD real estate agent; one who will work with you, and for you, weeks, sometimes even months, before you are ready to list.

understand al of the things that a good agent can do on the front end of the process, before the house is even listed. The value of having an agent list your house has been well proven over time to bring a higher sale price in a shorter amount of time; but what is the value before it is even listed? That pre-listing value does vary by agent, which is why I said to find a

What does he/she do ahead of the listing?

A good real estate agent will be willing to walk through your home and, based upon their observations, give you a list of recommendations of things that you may need to do to get the house ready for the market. Realtors look at your property the way that a buyer might and they see the things that you’ve become “nose-dead” to in the house. Not only may they be able to give you a to-do list of things that need attention, but most good Realtors can also supply some leads to tradesmen in the area who might be able to do the work, if it is beyond your DIY capabilities. A good Realtor will

be completely (some might even feel that it is brutally) honest with you about what needs to be done to get your home ready to list. They will normally explain the updates and deferred maintenance items that they see need to be done and give you some idea what the impact will be on the potential sale price of you chose not do the work.

What are the 3-C’s of Real Estate?

I use what I call the “3-C’s” of Real Estate as a mechanism to provide the advice that I usually give would be sellers about the things that they are responsible for doing to get ready for the market. The 3-C’s are:

Condition – This “C” deals with the state of the house as it compares with a house in the market area that is in an excellent, market ready state. This category covers both the deferred maintenance items that I might see and the updates, or lack thereof, that buyers will be looking for in the house. I will point out to you the things that you’ve gotten used to living with that need to be repaired or painted or replaced – the missing plug covers, the rusted old front porch light, the shabby looking front door that you never use or the overgrown foliage that started out as cute little shrubs. I will alert you to the missing handrails and the need for GFCI circuits in kitchens and baths that may not have been required when the house was built.

I will also go over with you’re the updates that may be missing from your house that will impact the

market value. It is probably not the time to put in granite counter tops or a whole new kitchen, now that you’ve decided to list; however, it might be, if the negative market value impact of not doing that will be great enough. Other things like flooring updates, new windows and new roofing can also be discussed. Usually I do not recommend major updating expenditures at this point, since the seller will not recoup the cost; but, again we will assess the negative impact of those updates being needed. Would-be buyers will almost certainly make lists of those same things and come to their own conclusions about the possible hassle and costs of making those upgrades later. They almost always come to conclusions that are higher than it might have cost you to just do it and that take those costs off their offer price. We will discuss the impact of the disappointment that buyers might have, at the price point that you will be at in the market, if your house does not live up to the expectations that they will come in with. Those expectations are set by visits to other listed homes and by people watching too many MTV shows.

Clutter – The second “C” is clutter, which almost always the biggest issue that I face with sellers, especially those who have been in the home for 320-30-40 years or more. People just naturally accumulate stuff; and that stuff is usually everywhere in the house. Walls may be full of family pictures.  Shelves are full of knick-knacks and vacation mementos. Rooms are full of furniture. Basements are full of everything that didn’t fit upstairs anymore, plus all of the stuff that the kids left years ago and some of the items that you got out of your mother’s house and all of the left over stuff from hobbies that were abandoned long ago.

My challenge is to get you to de-clutter. People need to be able to see themselves living in this house. They are not there to admire and share your family/vacation pictures. They need to be able to freely move through the rooms and imagine their stuff in them and not just see all of your stuff. They expect to be able .to open a closet door without being attacked by a cascade of your stuff tumbling out. They need to see the space in the garage for their cars, not how much stuff you were able to stuff in there. They need to be able to see how big the basement is and not just gaze at a wall of boxes of your stuff. They need to be able to SEE! So, I will be recommending that you de-clutter. Moving is a perfect time to get rid of stuff that you haven’t used in years. Don’t worry the kids will never come back for their old stuff – they’ve moved on and it is time that you did too.

Cleanliness – Even very meticulous housekeepers can probably use some advice and maybe some help with the deep cleaning that may be needed to get the house ready for selling. While would-be

buyers won’t be going through the house with white gloves on looking for dust; they will notice the corners that have been forgotten long enough to collect cobwebs or the dusty blinds or ceiling fans. When buyers see a house that is less clean they make a mental leap (right or wrong) that it is probably less well maintained too. This is an area that I can recommend that you do spend a little extra and hire a good cleaning company for a one-time deep clean prior to listing it. Hopefully the seller is still able to maintain the house clean during the listing; otherwise I might recommend a cleaning service at least once or twice a month until it sells.

In my next post I’ll go over the pre-listing market analysis work and the pricing decision that needs to be made before you list. Nothing is more important for a successful outcome that being properly positioned IN the market and not just ON the market. For now, there will be plenty of things for you to work on before we get to that step. 

New loan products from John Adams Mortgage

Sometimes we just need a second chance and now John Adams Mortgage has a loan product called the Fresh Start Loan  that can give that chance to those who may have fallen on hard times in the past.

No, we're not back to the easy money days that caused the Great Recession, but John Adams Mortgage does recognize that many hard working and trustworthy people have been shut out of the housing market by overly tough mortgage lending practices and rules; so they have created the Fresh Start Loan program to offer new mortgage loans to those who might have had a foreclosure, a deed-in-lieu transaction, a bankruptcy or  short-sale in the immediate past, but who might otherwise qualify.

Note also that they have a new program for Investors and also have a program to deal with non-warrantable condos - A non-warrantable condo is a condominium property in which the loan is not eligible to be sold to Freddie Mac or Fannie Mae, and as such, mortgage financing for this type of property is considered by most banks to be more “risky.”

From the BAC Florida Bank web site comes this explanation of non-warrantable condos - Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae would consider a condo to be “non-warrantable” if, for instance, the condo:

• Is in a development which has yet to be completed
• Is in a development which allows for short-term rentals
• Is in a development where one person or entity owns more than 10% of all units
• Is in a development where less than 50% of the occupants in a complex are the owners
• Is in a development involved in litigation of any kind regardless of whether the building is suing another party, or is the party being sued.

Some of the common property types which fall into the non-warrantable category include condo-hotels, time shares, fractional ownership properties, and other projects which require owners to join an organization, such as a golf club.

So, if you need a fresh start or are trying into buy a condo in a complex that is non-warrantable, give Chris Knocke a call today and see if these programs might work for you.

Am I buying a time bomb?

Many first time buyers, or perhaps buyers moving out to the country for the first time, encounter something that they have little or no idea about – a septic system. Many people have lived their entire lives in cities of communities that have sewer systems. They never worried about where things went when they flushed the toilet, nor did they concern themselves about hiring someone to come pump out a huge tank in their back yard. If they had any notion of a septic system maybe it was from watching the 2000 movie Meet the Parents, which probably didn’t leave a favorable impression about septic fields.

So, now they are looking at houses out in the country a bit and seeing the terms Well and Septic on the listing ticket. What’s that all about? Should you be concerned if you see that? Am I buying a time bomb? The short answer is NO, you need not be overly concerned; but you should take the time to educate yourself about these waste disposal systems and what that means in terms of your responsibilities.

A septic system performs the same functions as the sewer system, just at a much smaller scale and much more close to home. Everything that goes down a drain in the house or is flushed down a toilet has to go somewhere and has to be dealt with somehow. In settings with sewer systems your house is hooked with pipes to much larger pipes that carry all of the waste water from all sources in your house (and every other house around you) to a central waste treatment plant somewhere. You really don’t care where that is at; unless, perhaps, you happen to live right next door to it. At the waste treatment plant the waste from thousands of homes is treated with chemicals and natural bacteria in huge ponds. The bacteria are there to breakdown and digest the solids in the waste water. Eventually the clean  water that results is released into stream or lakes.

Individual septic systems perform the same functions, just underground and right out in your back or side yard.  The waste water from your house flows into a large tank (called a septic tank, which is named thus because the water and waste that flows into it is septic - infected with bacteria) usually of 1000 gallons of more. The septic bacteria came mostly from you, but that’s likely more than you really want to know.  Anyway the septic tank provides a place where good bacteria can work on the solids in the waste water to break then down and digest them. The solids tend to settle to the bottom, providing a smorgasbord for bottom-feeding bacteria. Some remain suspended in the water which is directed out of the tank and into the septic field. The septic field is a series of pipes with holes in them that are buried several feet underground. The holes let the water escape out into the soil where other good and hungry bacteria digest whatever is in the water for them to eat.

A well designed and properly installed septic field can last for a very long time, if it is also well maintained. However, they are not necessarily design to last forever. A study of septic systems published in 2013 by Cornell Cooperative Extension (CCE) via a grant from the NYS Water Resources Institute with funds provided by the NY State, had this advice.

Most septic systems will fail eventually. These systems are designed to have a useful life of 20 to 30 years under the best conditions. Older septic tanks with concrete or metal parts degrade over time. Eventually the soil in the drain field becomes clogged with organic material. Many other factors can cause the system to fail well before the end of its “natural” lifespan. Pipes blocked by roots, soils saturated by high water tables, crushed distribution pipes, improper location, poor original design, or poor installation can all lead to major problems. The most common reasons for early failure are misuse or inadequate maintenance by homeowners. When a system is not pumped regularly, solids build up in the septic tank, then flow into the drain field and clog it.

Symptoms of Septic System Failure –

·         Slowly draining sinks, bathtubs and toilets.

·         Surface emergence of wastewater

·         Lush green grass over the drain field, even during dry weather

·         Nitrate, nitrite, or coliform bacteria in your well water

An excellent article by Mila Ready outlines the main reasons that septic systems fail. The bottom line is abuse or neglect (or both) by the owner. One of the more common things that I see in my little patch of the world is people overloading their septic system by having more people in the house than the system was designed to handle. When the developer lays out the plans for developments that will have septic systems associated with each house they have very specific guidelines about how many bedrooms the house should have given the proposed size of the septic field. The idea is that a three-bedroom house will house maybe four or five residents with their waste byproducts. Some developers then build houses with “bonus rooms” that they sell with a wink of the eye as the fourth bedroom. Sometimes owners just add bedrooms through add-ons or converting spaces in basements or elsewhere into bedrooms.  The result is a house with 5-people in it, all contributing to the waste going into a septic system that was design to handle 3-4 residents. He system gets overwhelmed and fails.

The other things that I see a lot is poor or no maintenance of septic systems. Many sellers tell me that they don’t even remember that last time that they had the septic tank pump out. Why is that important? Well, eventually the solids can build up to the near the top of the tank and get into the pipes that make up the field and clog them up. The other thing that can happen is that the field itself gets “clogged” with solids and can drain away the liquids, so they eventually come to the surface. Remember the scene from Meet the Parents when the main character was driving through the soggy, failed septic field – yuck.

Going all the way back to the headline question; perhaps you are buying a time bomb, if you don’t pay any attention to this very important system. You should have the septic tanks pumped out every 2-3 years and many will also recommend not putting normal kitchen waste down a garbage disposal. In fact, most country homes were built without disposals to begin with. Some of the solid kitchen waste that you might put into the septic system by grinding them up in an in-sink disposal just don’t “digest” the way that other waste matter does and can clog the system up. Animal fats and meats are particularly bad for the system.

If the septic system fails due to a clogged field, there are companies that profess to have remedies that you can introduce into the system to clean it out (here are links to two of them – NewTechBio and REX-BAC-T). Think of them as super hungry bacteria that get in there and eat everything they hit.  Most septic companies would probably disagree with that and still recommend replacing the whole system.; however, replacing a septic system can cost $8-15,000 (more if it is an engineered field). Hope springs eternal, so maybe trying one of those modern biotech solutions first is worth the few hundreds that they may cost. Of course, the best solution is not to have a failed system in the first place, so regular maintenance is still the lowest cost approach. You can get on the right track by insisting that the septic be pumped out as a condition of your purchase offer.

So, you don’t have to fear the septic like a ticking time bomb, but you do need to be mindful of its ability to blow up in your face, if you don’t take care of it. Set up a regular maintenance inspection and pump out with a local septic company to remain flushed with pride about your home.

Norm Werner is a full-time Realtor® working under the Real Estate One brokerage in Milford, Michigan. For more about Norm visit his web site – hppt://www.movetomilford.com.

Is it a good time to list my home?

One of the most common questions that I get as a Realtor is, “Is it a good time to list my home?”

The answer is YES, now’s a great time to list your home. The listing inventory is the lowest that it’s been in longer than I can remember and the buyers who are out looking are ready to buy.

We know that this is a great market to be in according to Fannie Mae’s Home Purchase Sentiment Index, a survey of 1,000 Americans in January about their attitudes toward housing.

• ·         42% of Americans believe home prices will increase, a month-over-month uptick of 7 percentage points in January.
• ·         69% of Americans say they are not concerned about losing their job, a 1 percentage point increase from December 2016.
• ·         15% of Americans say now is a good time to sell, a 2 percentage point month-over-month increase.
• ·         15% of Americans who say their household income is significantly higher than it was 12 months ago, a month-over-month increase of 5 percentage points.
• ·         29% of Americans who say now is a good time to buy a home, a 3 percentage drop from December 2016 and a new survey low from May and September 2016.

These attitudes and sentiments point to a favorable market for those considering listing their current homes. The additional factor of it being a very “tight” market (few homes for sale) make it a Seller’s Market; one in which the Seller is in control and likely to get top dollar.

The only caution that I have to advise is not to get too greedy. Even in this favorable market, there are still homes sitting on the market for long periods because the owners got greedy and overpriced them. Listen to your Realtor® and price it properly. Not all areas have come back from the “Great Recession” at the same pace and there are still pockets of depressed pricing, which your Realtor can identify.

Many people decide to wait for Spring and warmer weather to list their homes. That is a mistake, too, in a tight market. The old saying to “strike while the iron is hot” should be modified to read “strike while the market is tight” for real estate. In the spring lots of new listing will all come on the market at once, giving the buyers too many alternatives to look at and potentially burying your home in the crowd. List now, while you will stand out in an un-crowded field.

I saw a sign outside a dentist’s office that read “Accepting new clients”. Well, I’m accepting new listings, if you are ready. The market is certainly ready and primed for your home to be listed. If

you’ve been waiting to downsize, nor that you’re retired or that the kids are all gone; or you are ready for that move-up home that you can now afford; give me a call and I’ll come out and give you a free Market Analysis, so that you can see what your home is worth in the current market as well as provide you with feedback on the things that you might still need to do to get it ready for the market. The analysis is free; but, the advice that I give you, based upon my visit may be priceless.

Call today – Norm Werner at 248-763-2497.

Be a part of the dream - help build an Angel House

If you could save a child from a life of sex slavery or forced childhood marriage would you? How about if you could help save 50 children from that fate?

There are places in the world (too many places) where poverty and ignorance lead people into human trafficking, mainly of young girls, but also with young boys. One of the most dangerous places on earth to be a child is India, where abject poverty leads too many people to sell their children into slavery or into arranged childhood marriages that doom them to a miserable existence and rob them not only of their childhood but of any dreams that they may have had for their lives.

Two local people, John and Lisa Schiller have had a dream for many years to do more about it than just feel sorry for them. They have a long background in providing foster care of children in need of the love and discipline of a stable family environment. Now they are in the process of realizing a long-held dream to do more. They are behind a project to build an orphanage in India as part of the Angel House program there, which provides safe refuge for hundreds of children across India.

The Angel Hose that John and Lisa are building will begin construction in June of this year and is scheduled to open in the first week of December. Once it is built and open the on-going maintenance and operational costs will be picked up by a local church in India. John and Lisa plan on traveling to India in December of 2017 for the opening of their Angel House and to meet the 50 children who will live there.

Building the orphanage is a big undertaking financially and John and Lisa can use your prayers and financial help. You can see more about the Angel House Program please visit their web site at http://angelhouse.me/. To learn how to support John and Lisa’s project to build their orphanage at www.missions.me/angelhouseofhope. If you can help financially, please contribute at that web site; if not, at least add them and their project to your prayers. 

I’m sure that John and Lisa will bring back pictures from India of the children that are being saved and given a chance and the opportunity for a less dangerous life.

The Fenton Winery & Brewery - A Great area Venue for Special Events

One of the greatest benefits of being an Ambassador for the Huron Valley Chamber of Commerce is the opportunity to meet the owners and staffs of area businesses. Recently I got reacquainted with Joe Sirl from Fenton Winery & Brewery, which is located just north of downtown Fenton. Joe does a lot of their community outreach and marketing stuff and he gave me an update on their banquet capabilities. I visited them when they first opened a few years ago and they had great plans for the utilization of the facility that they had just moved into at the time. It was good to hear from Joe that those plans have come to fruition and the property now offers a great venue for special events.

Fenton Winery & Brewery is the place for your event.

Indoor & Outdoor; it’s all here.

Weddings

Receptions

Rehearsal Dinners

Graduations

Birthday Parties

Reunions

Showers

Proms

Holiday Parties

Anniversary Parties

Fundraisers

Conferences

Our Banquet & Event building seats up to 280 guests and provides a beautifully rustic

feeling.  Uniquely built, cedar sided, and set back in a wooded setting, this venue will compliment any event.  Included is an outdoor patio area complete with a stone fireplace and an area for seating up to 150 people.  Our guests have the option of true one-stop shopping to actualize their vision for events.  Bridal and Grooms suites, on-site ceremonies, outdoor weddings with an indoor backup plan, in-house catering, and a developed network of partnering vendors for additional décor and entertainment services are among the most valued ease of planning features.  

We offer an acre of park like space outdoors that can be outfitted to hold events up to 300 people during those gorgeous Michigan months.  If you are seeking a smaller, more intimate location, our taproom area is cozy, inviting and has space for up to 35 people.  Our Banquet & Event Coordinators work with each guest individually to plan and execute the perfect event. Our chef has designed complete menus

featuring delicious entrees, tasty appetizers & luncheon or casual foods to fit a wide variety of banquet needs.  Our coordinators will happily arrange & price any specialty items that you desire.

Each year as we celebrate our Anniversary in late January a reflection occurs of what drives the continued growth of Fenton Winery & Brewery.  Events like our Mug & Stem Club Appreciation Dinner highlight the support and advocacy of local individuals which we are incredibly fortunate to have received by the bushel over the last 9 years.  Without our surrounding community believing in our mission, the current set-up of 20,000ft. split between two buildings and nearly 5 acres of total property would not bear our name.  It is a far cry from the 2,000 suite in a strip mall on N. Leroy St that was originally called home.

The passion to continue to create jobs and provide a hub of community is of vital importance and makes the long days profoundly worth it.  We have had the pleasure of working with seemingly countless community organizations and remain dedicated to expanding our scope.  The mutual support with groups such as the Lions Club, area Chambers of Commerce, Adopt-a-Pet, local schools, cancer and other health based organizations, small

business and community development groups is the most rewarding part of Fenton Winery & Brewery.  

It is an absolute honor to be chosen to partake in major life celebrations, like weddings and birthdays, and work with causes that so many dedicate their valuable time to propping up.  Those are the things that allow us to have such an incredible staff, a client base of friends, and insight into the strength of those we are surrounded by in our neighboring towns. -Joe Sirl

Joe provided me with the write-up above and the pictures. If you haven’t checked out the Fenton Winery and Brewery, you owe it to yourself to take the drive to Fenton, Michigan and on through town on N. Leroy Street, which turns into Fenton Rd. About 2-3 miles out of town you’ll hit N. Long Lake Rd and see the Fenton Winery and Brewery. The address is 1370 N Long Lake Rd, Fenton, MI 48430. Call ahead if you aren’t sure that they’ll be open at (810) 373-4194. They are closed on Monday’s but open most other days. Their web site is http://fentonbrewery.com/. Check out this great local event venue for your event or just stop in and sample the great craft beers and wines that are made there. 

National Radon Awareness Month

January is National Radon Awareness month. Radon is a big issue in the Milford area and throughout the Huron Valley. Radon is a colorless, odorless gas that naturally percolates up through the soil, especially in areas with heavy gravel and sand content in the soils. Thanks to the glaciers that used to cover much of Michigan or local soil conditions are conducive to Radon getting into basements. Radon bubbles up under the foundation and seeks any crack or hole through the basement floor slab to get into the house.

Why is Radon a big deal. Radon is known to be the third leading cause of deadly lung cancer in America. If you want to scare yourself, go read about it here. Of all of the issues that one can hit in a house that they might buy, Radon is the most serious health risk. It is also the easiest to deal with, so don’t panic if your home inspector reports a higher that acceptable level of radon. Radon remediation systems are relatively easy to install and, once in place, remove the danger forever.

Radon remediation system vary in price, depending upon the size and configuration of the house, but

generally they run between $800 – 1,500. The “system” usually consists of a vacuum pump and piping to exhaust the Radon gas away from the house. The vacuum pump pickup is placed underneath the basement floor slab by either using an existing sump pump well or cutting a new hole through the floor slab. If the sump pump well is used, the top is sealed shut and the sides are broken out to allow the gas to be sucked into the well. While Radon “bubbles-up” through the soil it is heavier than normal air, so it seeks the lowest levels. The sump pump well is usually placed in the lowest level of the basement. 

Most old houses in the Milford area were originally built with Michigan Basements, most of which had dirt basement floors. Many people concreted over the dirt, but many still have some dirt areas. In cases where the basements are not used there is likely no reason to worry about the Radon risk; however, as old homes were updated many were converted from their original steam or hot water radiator heating systems into forced air systems. Now, the Radon that was hovering around in the basement might be picked up by the heating system and blown throughout the house. It’s worth getting the basement checked for Radon if you have one of those old houses and it has been upgraded to forced air heating and cooling. It might be a bit more of a challenge to remediation in an old home that still has some dirt floors.

Many homeowner of more modern homes seem to believe that if they have a walkout basement that will remove the threat of Radon. That is not true. Opening and closing that doorwall or door may help lower the level temporarily, but is does not remove the threat. Radon health risks, like the risks from smoking build up over time and the time that you spend down in a finished basement area, even if it does have a doorwall, will let the Radon accumulate in your longs a little at a time. Eventually it will cause a major health problem..

Home owners can get free (or low cost) Radon test kits from the Oakland County Health Department.

You can also buy test kits at home improvement stores like Lowes or Home Depot. National Radon Awareness Month is as good a time as any, since homes closed up for the winter will give you the most accurate readings of the Radon levels in your home. Getting the basement checked and remediated, if needed is a much safer and less expense things to do, rather than taking that risk.

Real Estate laws and practices that no longer serve a purpose…

As the society evolves around it, the world of real estate has gotten out of sync with current needs and expectation in its laws and practices. That is not unusual. Many things that have been around, basically unchanged for many years, begin to look and feel dated over time.  Some laws and practices that were originally put in place to help may now be actually hurting the businesses or the very people that they were initially trying to protect or help.  That is certainly the case in the world of real estate.

Recently the Michigan Legislature finally abolished the Dower Rights laws that have been embedded in Michigan Law and real estate since the late 1700’s. Those laws were originally put in place to protect the rights of widows against being thrown into poverty due to the death of a spouse or ex-spouse.  Dower Rights established the right of the widow to a 1/3 share of the real property of the marriage, should the husband die first. Later laws dealing with estates broadened and clarified the rights of inheritance of widows, but the old Dower Rights laws remained on the books in Michigan, which was the last state with Dower Rights still in effect. In practice that meant that a man could not sell property without his wife signing off on giving up her Dower Rights to that property.  With society changing to recognize non-traditional marriages, the old law, as written actually may have become unconstitutional, so the Legislature thought the easiest way to deal with the changes was to do away with the Dower Rights  law. See this article from the Michigan Bar for more on this.

Many practices in real estate are not backed up by laws, but rather are just rules or practices that various groups that are involved with the process have enacted over time. Some are defended as being in place to protect the rights or interests of the buyers and sellers of the real estate, but, in reality, many were put into place to protect the interests of the companies involved – to shield them against loss or to add to their bottom-line profit. I recently read a good article by Benny L. Kass, a staff writer for the Realty Times web site, entitled “Escrow Accounts Serve No Purpose” .

In the article, Kass makes a very reasonable case that the escrow accounts that most buyers are forced to establish with lenders is not really needed and may just serve the lender by giving him access to the escrowed funds (one way or another). These escrow accounts are a classic case of the consumer being told that he/she is being protected from themselves for their own good, by “insuring” that they have money set aside for taxes and insurance on the property. Kass makes the logical case that it is in the best interest of the owner to make sure that those obligations are met and so the escrow accounts aren’t really serving anyone but the lenders.

In Michigan the real estate brokers have all found a way to charge just about the same amounts for what they have euphemistically called “Compliance Fees”. The original rationale was that they were collecting these fees to cover the costs imposed by the State laws for record keeping and reporting of the sales. Court cases challenging these fees under RESPA laws (and now under RESPA-TRID) established that were was no such work actually being done; so, now the brokers just call it what it always was – extra commission on the sale – even though many still use euphemisms to try to mask the real nature of this added cost.

While there has been much complaining about the new TRID rules governing the mortgage and closing processes, most of that has come from the people that the rules were enacted to reign in from shady or fraudulent practices. The old practices of lenders that brought about the need for TRID involved not sharing all of the costs and charges with the borrower until it was too late for them to use that information to make decisions. It was not uncommon before TRID for lenders to release the final closing packets the morning of closing and for that final document to be full of surprises for the borrower. Many times the borrower would not even know how much he had to bring to closing until that morning. It was a mess of their own making that required that lenders be brought under tighter government control.

The real estate business itself has been slow to evolve, with many traditional brokers having to be dragged kicking and screaming into the 21^nd Century. There are many experiments that are ongoing to try to find alternative business models to the traditional broker-centric model that make sense in modern times. Hopefully some of them will succeed, because there is really no reason to maintain the current broker-centric model.  Traditional brokers were very good at lobbying for laws to protect their interests; so, there will be many State laws governing real estate that will need to be repealed or modified. 

The so-called “traditional brokers” will need to accept changes to how the business will be run in the future based upon the changing needs of the customer and agent bases.. Just like the automotive industry is morphing into a mobility industry, the classic real estate brokerage needs to morph into something that better serves both the customers and the people (agents) who are actually out doing the real work. The somewhat feudal-like relationship between the traditional broker and the agents will need to change to reflect the lesser role and lesser values of the brokers in today’s real estate world.

Most of the changes that need to take place and will take place over time will be kicked off by customers and agents asking “Why”. Why do we need this practice? Who does it really serve? What purpose does it really serve? Why am I paying for somethings that doesn’t benefit me? Why are the laws protecting the profits of a few at the expense of the many? There will be much mumbling and perhaps even some loud cries of consternation from those in the real estate industry who have sacred cows that will be gored by these changes. For many it only by that sleight-of-hand and hidden extra fees that they get by these days. Change is in the air and perhaps it will blow away some of the odor left from tired old practices and no longer serve any good purpose. 

Michigan Legislature Votes to End Dower Rights in Real Estate

Michigan has the somewhat dubious distinction of being the last state in the Union to have laws in effect that provide for the association of Dower Rights to real property. Most other states repealed any dower rights laws on their books years ago.

So what are Dower Rights?

A very good explanation of dower  and dower rights comes from a paper published by James M. Leby titled LAST ONE STANDING: MICHIGAN’S DOWER LAW . Brief excerpts from that paper below may help explain the concept:

The dower right was originally a common law creation. During feudal times, the common practice was that property passed from the husband to the eldest son, and real estate was the primary source of wealth.  The concept of a Dower provided a method of supporting a man’s wife and children after his death. The Dower gave the widow a life interest (estate) in one third of the real property owned by her husband during the marriage, from which she could support herself. This right attached to more than just the land held by the husband at his death. The wife retained dower rights even in property that the husband disposed of, unless she signed off on the transfer of the property as well.

Statutory forms of dower in Michigan stretch as far back as an ordinance from 1787. The 1787 ordinance actually provided for the widow to receive a life estate in one third of her spouse’s personal property as well as the traditional life estate in a third of his real property. Later statutes once again removed the right to take personal property.  Early forms of dower were justified partly by the fact that women could not own their own property while they were married, and thus could not build up any independent resources.  The state legislature gave women the right to own their own property in the mid-1800s; however, the legislature continued to retain dower as a means of supporting widows.

Ed. – Effectively this meant that a woman in Michigan could buy and sell real estate without her husband’s approval or sign-off; however, a man who married needs the approval and sign-off of his wife to dispose of any real estate that he owns, even if he owned it prior to the marriage, because her dower rights gave her an interest in it.

New laws abolish the Dower –

New laws that the lame duck 2016 Michigan Legislature passed and sent to the Governor for signature will abolish this last vestige of the common law practice of dowers in Michigan. From the Legislative News published on the web site www.mirealtors.com.

Dower Repeal (Senate Bills 558, 560 (Jones - R-Grand Ledge) & HB 5520 (Kesto, R-Commerce Township)

The three-bill package eliminates Dower and references to Dower Rights in Michigan. After the United States Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriage, Michigan's Dower Rights statute came under scrutiny by outside groups and the legislature. Specifically, the constitutionality of all gender-based laws came into question.  Since Michigan's Dower is limited to the "wife" and the requirements of Dower created transactional uncertainty and clouds on title, the preferred approach by the legislature and stakeholder groups like Michigan Realtors® was to pursue elimination of Michigan's arguably unconstitutional approach to Dower.

For those unfamiliar with Dower, upon the death of her husband, a wife is entitled to the use – during her lifetime – of 1/3 of all lands owned by her husband during the marriage.  It is important to note that Dower is an expectancy only, meaning that her rights only vest if a wife survives her husband.  As a practical matter, this right is rarely, if ever, exercised upon the death of a husband. Instead, a widow in Michigan has the alternative of electing a share of all of the property of her husband at the time of his death.  It is rarely the case that an interest in the income from one-third of real property he had owned would exceed that.

Ed. - So, what is Michigan left with after the old dower rights are repealed? Just like politicians at the national level, the Republican-led State Legislature in Michigan has repealed an existing law without providing any replacement. It may be argued that none is required due to protections provided to widows and women in general under other, more modern laws governing estates and probate and divorce and such, but only time will tell on that. The same legislature has been reluctant to deal with issues concerning non-traditional marriages, so it remains to be seen whether any new laws to protect the interests of partners in same-sex marriages will be needed or ever enacted, even if they are needed.