Ice Damning Warning Signs

It is not uncommon this time of year to see water stains at wall and ceiling corners where you have never seen it before.

Typically this type of water entry is caused from a phenomenon called "ice damning". Ice damning occurs when we have snow and ice followed by above freezing temperatures. The surface snow and ice melt and pool in an area that the ice was too thick to thaw at the same rate. It then re-freezes at night as the temperatures drop making the block of ice even thicker. The next day the same cycle happens. The pond gets deeper and eventually goes over the top of the flashing and enters the house at the wall, soffit or the roof deck. Once this happens you see either water staining or wet spots on the inside walls, ceilings or floors.

This is something that should not be ignored, over time mold and wood rot came develop. If you see this at your home or building have it looked at sooner rather than later.

Keepsakes: How I Turned my Muddled Mess into Meaningful Memories

Are you hanging on to physical reminders of people and events thinking it will be a great way to reminisce or even to honor the people those things represent? Keepsakes can be a challenging area to pare down, especially when you feel forced to do it because you're moving to a home with less storage space.

I knew the time had come to pare down my burgeoning collection of mementos when I tried to stuff just one more greeting card into one of my four keepsake boxes and a cascade of papers came tumbling down - with no lid to hold back the avalanche, I received a very tangible wake-up call that I can't save everything.

Greeting cards, ticket stubs, old toys, and even clothing can bring on all kinds of emotions. However, as I discovered, it might be time to realize that boxes loaded with a disorganized collection of memories may be more overwhelming than comforting. I hope my description of the process I went through to turn my muddled mess into meaningful memories will help you do the same.

1. I took it slowly. I took a deep breath and recognized that getting through even one box was going to take quite a bit of time. So I set aside a half hour per day to work my way through the piles.
2. I stored photos separately. I put all photographs in their own box to be dealt with as a separate project.
3. I sorted by person. I grouped the remaining objects according to the originator. For example, the greeting cards, "something old" handkerchief from my wedding, and letters from my grandmother all went into one pile.
4. I contemplated the significance. For each pile, I considered which items captured the soul of the person or experience and whether letting go of any particular item would have any impact on my memories of, or relationship with, the person they represented. I had some good laughs, shed a few tears, and at times shook my head and wondered why I had saved some of the items.
5. I kept only the gems. I let go of most items without much trouble, recognizing that their importance had diminished over time or that other items were more meaningful keepsakes of the person or event. I kept any items that stirred a twinge of nostalgia, but later photographed many of them and let go of the original article. Throughout the entire process, I reminded myself that the item was not the person or the event and I was not dishonoring anyone by letting go of things.
6. I stored the remainder in a meaningful way. I put a date on all items, and for some, I also included a sticky note with a description of why the item was significant. I placed the sorted keepsakes into a banker's box and used file folders to divide the box into sections by person. My goal was to get everything into a single box - after all, I just wanted to capture the essence of my relationships and life experiences, not every trinket from them. However, I created a second box for things from my kids and husband after realizing that the most important people in my life were worthy of more than just a couple of keepsakes.
7. I'll keep a lid on it. I don't miss any of the items I've discarded, and I'm glad to know I've got some room to spare in my two boxes so I can add meaningful items as they come along. I've vowed that I will not add any additional boxes to accommodate my keepsakes - I'll have to delete an item in order to add one, take a photo, or find some other means to capture the memory without keeping the item.
8. I'll live in the moment. While keepsakes help me reflect on how meaningful the people and occasions in my life have been, making the most of each day is the best way to make sure I fully experience and appreciate the important people and events that enrich my life.

Spring Housing Market Might Be Early!!!

Sales of single family detached homes jumped by about 10 percent in 2009. As a homeowner, if you are thinking of putting your home on the market, now just might be the right time.  There is more confidence in the market and the first time buyer credit is helping boost sales.

The impressive gains aren't in just one area. Southern Cook County, Western Cook County and Dupage County have all seen substantive increases in closed homes:

Bridgeview 49 percent increase over 2008
Summit 100 percent increase
Justice 65 percent increase
Bellwood 112 percent increase
Melrose Park 107 percent increase
Schiller Park 89 percent increase
Addison 75 percent increase
Bensenville 106 percent increase
Glendale Heights 71 percent increase over 2008

Townhomes and condos have seen improvement, also. December '09 showed a 28 percent increase in attached home sales plus an 89 percent increase in pending sales.

The first time buyer credit is working. The holidays are over and the weather appears to be improving. The April 30 deadline for the tax credit is looming. All factors could heat up the spring market earlier than anticipated.  As a seller, get your home ready and on the market in the next couple of weeks. Buyers, get your mortgage pre-approval from the lender you will be using.  Whichever you are, now is the time.

Foreclosure Rescue Scams

It's always sad when scams have to be addressed, especially when many homeowners are financially strapped and are trying to avoid being foreclosed on. It is imperative that if you are having mortgage problems, that you address them with your mortgage company right away. Additionally, should you choose to seek assistance from an outside source, that you are using legitimate options. According to an article published by houselogic, 2.8 million properties were hit with foreclosure notices in 2009. Scam artists specifically target those consumers so it's well worth your time to invest the time and effort to research legitimate options and don't make any hasty decisions.

The article goes on to report that the U.S. Federal Trade Commission has identified 71 companies running suspicious foreclosure rescue ads, and the Better Business Bureau counts foreclosure rescue rip-offs among its top 10 scams.

For details on these scams, please follow this link.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) website has a list of HUD-approved counseling organizations listed by state. To view the list, visit www.hud.gov/counseling.

Homeownership Ain't for Sissies

I hate New Year's resolutions. I really do, but not for the reason most of you are thinking. For most people I've heard talking about New Year's resolutions this year, I've been mostly reminded of the windbag promises that politicians make. Yes, we have huge goals, laudable goals, and vast sweeping declarations of intent with absolutely no way to accomplish the goal. Sure, the goal is to "loose weight" or "become better parents" but those simply are not concrete achievable goals.

I am not making any resolutions this year; I'm still working on executing last year's resolution: Learn new skills to take care of my home.

So how do I learn new things? I make a plan and do research to give myself small achievable steps to get to where I want to go. Think of it this way, a doctor doesn't wake up one morning and just "become" a doctor. A student dreams of being a doctor. A student takes basic science classes in high school, pre med classes in graduate school, attends and survives medical school and residency. Finally, after years of grueling study and sacrifice, they have transformed themselves into a doctor.

The first thing I did is make a list of all the chores, maintenance, and projects I dreamed about for my home. Cleaning the furnace filter is the one chore I always forget. When should I put fertilizer down on the lawn, trees, and azalea shrubs? Did I seal coat the driveway last year, or was it in 2007? When do I schedule time to check the windows and doors to see if they need new caulking? (I check every September before it gets too cold for caulk to flow easily.) I did small projects with my son, projects that required nails to be hammered, drills to be used, simple safety rules reviewed. He built his pinewood derby car mostly by himself. We then built a dolly for moving heavy furniture, then a cabinet, a box, a small set of stairs. Each project matured our skills and gave us greater confidence. By fall, I felt prepared to start planning the finished basement project. Now when I approached the village building department for guidance, I understood the requirements and I could ask intelligent questions of the officials.

A good friend came to visit in August and he happened to see my home's calendar on my workbench. We had a great little conversation about how it helped me keep things under control. He had asked a great question "Why wasn't a regular check on the sump pump and ejector pump on my maintenance list?" Frankly, I didn't know how to perform maintenance on a sump pump. Now I know to check the float mechanism to see if the pump turns on. I check to make sure the outflow pipe is clear and the discharge flows away from the foundation. I check the battery back up and change that battery every five years (July 2011 for me). I then seal the pit cover with some caulk and know the system is in good working order.

It dawned on me; my first step was to create a calendar just for my home maintenance, filled out each snowy January that charts out exactly when each chore is due. Once I know when the regular chores are done, I can schedule the extra projects. Because I started the schedule last January, this fall I finally started the basement remodeling project I've been thinking about for six years.

If becoming a better homeowner is one of your resolutions, try my method of scaffolding your resolution. Make your resolution concrete, something you can physically do, right now (make a calendar in my example). Decide which steps you can take now, and which steps need to happen later. Be kind to yourself, just like children start with addition and move on to multiplication and division, start with changing the furnace filter and using basic tools before you begin remodeling the basement. Brushing up hibernating skills or learning new skills take time. Make your resolution open ended, it's not "finish the basement", the goal is to become proficient and grow your skills. Good luck in 2010 with all your home improvement goals!

RESPA CHANGES Effective 2010

I think everyone has heard the news about the changes to the HUD-1 Settlement Statement and GFE (Good Faith Estimate). HUD, in an attempt to bring more disclosure to the Consumer and hopefully cut down on predatory lending has adopted new guidelines that took effect on January 1, 2010. For the consumer it's great. For Realtors, it's one more thing that they're going to need to keep up to date. Any changes to the contract will need to get to lender very quickly.

Summary of Changes

There are a number of changes and they can be found on HUD's very informative website at: www.HUD.gov

They offer this summary:

Fact Sheet on HUD's final RESPA Rule

• For the first time ever, HUD will require mortgage lenders and brokers to provide borrowers with an easy-to-read standard Good Faith Estimate (GFE) that will clearly answer the key questions they have when applying for a mortgage including:
  • What's the term of the loan?
  • Is the interest rate fixed or can it change?
  • Is there a pre-payment penalty?
  • Is there a balloon payment?
  • What are total closing costs?

• HUD estimates that by improving upfront disclosures on the GFE, and limiting the amount estimated charges can change, consumers will save nearly $700 in total closing costs.

• Based on substantial public comment, HUD withdrew a proposed requirement that closing agents read and provide a 'closing script' to borrowers in favor of a new page on the HUD-1 Settlement Statement that allows consumers to easily compare their final closing costs and loan terms with those listed on the GFE.

• HUD's new Good Faith Estimate has been reduced from four to three pages, including an instructional page to help borrowers better understand their loan offer. In addition, the GFE will consolidate closing costs into major categories to prevent junk fees and display total estimated settlement charges prominently on the first page so the consumer can easily compare loan offers. HUD will specify the closing costs that can and cannot change at settlement. If a fee changes, HUD will limit the amount it can change.

• To help borrowers compare their Good Faith Estimate with their HUD-1 Settlement Statement, each designated line on the final HUD-1 will now include a reference to the relevant line from the GFE. Borrowers will now be able to easily compare their estimated and actual costs in the same manner many revisionists suggested.

• HUD will require lender payments to mortgage brokers (often called Yield Spread Premiums) to be disclosed in a more meaningful way. These payments are directly dependent on the interest rates that consumers agree to. To ensure that HUD's new requirement will not create a consumer bias against brokers, the Department did rigorous consumer testing and found the new Good FaithEstimate helped consumers to select the lowest cost loan nine-out-of-10 times, regardless of whether the loan was originated by a lender or a broker.

• Loan originators will be required to provide borrowers their Good Faith Estimate three days after the loan originator's receipt of all necessary information. To facilitate shopping, loan originators could not require verification of GFE information (tax returns etc.) until after the applicant makes the decision to proceed.

• HUD will allow lenders and settlement service providers to correct potential violations of RESPA's new disclosure and tolerance requirements. Lenders and settlement service providers will now have 30 days from the date of closing to correct errors or violations and repay consumers any overcharges.

OMG! TTYL! I Can't Text and Drive Anymore!

Effective January 1, 2010, it will be come illegal in the state of Illinois to compose, send or read an "Electronic Message" while operating a vehicle.  To make things easier to read, I'm just going to refer to the composing, sending or reading an Electronic Message as "texting."  The law is named Public Act 096-0130.  An Electronic Message includes, but is not limited to, electronic mail, a text message, an instant message, or a command or request to access an Internet site.  It does appear that the Act provides for a few allowances:

• A law enforcement officer or operator of an emergency vehicle can text so long as it is regarding the performance of his or her official duties.
• One may text for the sole purpose of reporting an emergency situation and for continued communication during the emergency situation. 
• One may text using their hands-free device or voice-activated mode in their car. 
• A commercial driver who reads a message on a permanently installed communication device designed for commercial vehicles, so long as the device is within the appropriate size limits. 
• One may text while parked on the shoulder of a roadway. 
• One may text while in neutral or park while in traffic.   

Additionally, Illinois lawmakers created Public Act 096-0131 to state that no one may operate a vehicle and use a cell phone in a school zone or on a highway in a construction or maintenance speed zone.  There are some allowances when a cell phone can be used, like emergency situations and with hands-free devices.

Not sure about you, but ST&D (Stop Texting & Driving) is going to be a hard one for me although I know it's the safer choice!  Texting is my preferred method of communicating.  I only call when I need to or when I've had too much coffee and can't stop talking.  What about you?

Find green homes in Chicagoland MLS!

It just got easier for buyers interested in green homes to find them!  On Thursday, the Multiple Listing Service that serves Chicagoland (called MRED) released new fields that cover the green features of a home.  

The fields cover general green features of a home, such as if it includes a tankless water heater.  They also cover "dark green" features such as the green-building certification that a home was built to, or the HERS (Home Energy Rating System) score of a home.  Buyers can find the most green details about a home by searching for homes with the new "Green Disclosure" on file.  This optional form includes extensive information from the seller with everything from insulation values to the walking distance to public transit to the products used to promote healthy indoor air. 

The fields and the disclosure is optional.  Once you identify a home that has the disclosure on file your REALTOR can pull the disclosure from the listing record.  Then it is up to you, the buyer, to evaluate if the green features of the home meet your needs, and as with everything else in a home purchase, to validate the seller claims for yourself.

I know these features will prove to be an extremely valuable tool in our market.  The fields will allow sellers of homes with green features to fully promote them, for buyers to find them and for appraisers to fairly evaluate the value that the green features bring. 

Consumer Resources

Yes, we are a large association that has many members. How frankly does that benefit you, the consumer? I'm glad you asked :) On top of the 10,000 plus REALTOR members, we have an active group of Affiliates. Affiliates are non-REALTORS who are somehow involved in the transaction. Examples of Affiliates include house inspectors, bankers, organizers, etc. So really, what does this mean for you? This means you have a credible resource that you can visit when you need someone to service your current or future home. Our database is easily searchable and even includes discounts. Check it out today and let me know if you have any questions. I'm also always looking to expand my Affiliate database so feel free to contact me if you would like to discuss joining our Association. http://www.succeedwithmore.com/about/for_consumers/aff_search.cfm 

I highly recommend using our Affiliates. I've bought two houses in the past 12 years and have used the Affiliate database for finding a company for my mortgage, inspecting my purchases, cleaning my house, getting a home warranty, painting my trim, and getting rid of nests in my vents (long story on that one).

Happy Holidays to you and your family from Mainstreet Organization of REALTORS.

Year-end DIY Projects (and a tax credit too!)

Winter has set in for sure just as the final days of 2009 are winding down. If you’ve been by annoying winter drafts this week, I’d suggest you make a quick year-end resolution. You’ll feel more comfortable and earn a quick tax credit in the process!

Each household is eligible for up to $1500 in energy efficiency tax credits for projects done in 2009 or 2010. Here are some tips on a few projects that are doable by the end of 2009 if you’d like to claim part of your deduction right away! These projects will help you earn the tax credit, cut your utility bills, make your home more cozy and appeal to buyers when you go to sell your home.

• Insulation - A big majority of homes in MORE’s market area were built at a time where gas was cheaper than insulation! This means that most homes could benefit from any bit more of insulation that your budget will allow. Attics are the best place to start since heat rises. Be sure to assess attic ventilation to avoid future mold issues before adding attic insulation. You can find qualified insulation contractors through the Better Business Bureau, Angie’s List, etc. Schedule right away if you want to add insulation during 2009!
• Air Sealing - The vast majority of cold air leaking into a home comes from gaps where two different surfaces meet. For example, where window flashing meets the brickwork of the house, or where a water pipe exits from your basement. The notes below describe some quick do-it-yourself steps to do a little air sealing in 2009!

Air Sealing Quick Start Guide

Materials Needed: Insulating spray foam product like Dow’s "Great Stuff" (caulk is helpful as well but better in spring/summer/fall to make sure you have adequate outside temperatures to ensure the best seal)

Where to Start: Unfinished sections of your basement

Cost: Approximately $20 per can or less (Some air sealing products are eligible for the 30% energy efficiency tax credit. To qualify, make sure you get a copy of the "Manufacturer's Certification Statement")

Time: 1-4 hours of work depending on how many areas you have to seal

How To:

• Consult the State of Illinois’ Keep Warm Illinois brochure. The booklet describes how to shop for insulating spray foam and where to use it. It also lists problem areas for air leakage typically found in a basement.
• Look at every place where a vent, pipe or other material passes from the basement to the main level or outside. Follow the instructions to seal the gaps closed.

More projects: Keep Warm Illinois outlines many more air sealing “how to’s” for your main level and attic if you want to seal up your home even more!

Have a happy and cozy New Year!