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Author Archives: Lane Bailey

Water, Water, Everywhere… DANGER WILL ROBINSON…

I wrote a post not long ago about how water (uncontrolled) can destroy your house, and how simple things like gutters and paint can protect your investment.

But this isn’t abut anything so trivial…

Displaced drivewayIf you haven’t been paying attention to the news… or you aren’t reading this post in mid to late September (2009), we are having some serious water issues here in Atlanta.  The words 100 year flood are making the rounds… and I have NO reason to not believe that.  I have been here 20 years and have never seen anything like this.

While out and about today, I saw displaced roads, flooded creeks and rivers flowing over bridges.  Those things all happen sometimes, but the word is that there are several HUNDRED roads closed from flooding.  And the rain hasn’t stopped.

Here is the important part…

So far there are six people that have died in the floods.  Most of them have died in their cars.  All of the folks that have died in their cars have died while driving through flooded roadways… and had their cars swept from the road.

Simply, if a creek or river is FLOWING over the road, do drive through it. Sure, you MIGHT make it through if the water is low enough.  But you might not.  Is it worth it?  Not for me…

Stay safe…

Rough Water CrossingI am perfectly willing to admit that I have taken Jeeps through creeks that were fairly deep.  Even some that were running pretty fast.  But there are a couple of HUGE differences.  With the larger tires and lifted suspensions, the vehicle is well out of the water.  A standard sedan starts getting pushed by the water as low as six or seven inches.  My jeep kept the body clear of the water for almost two feet…

And then there was a “happening” in Kane Creek in Moab, UT.  Some friends had a Jeep start to float while crossing the rain swollen creek.  The Jeep would have kept floating for a while it not attached by winch cable to a stable object.  As it was, it rolled in the creek, and the driver barely escaped a dunking by climbing out the passenger side and jumping to shore.  The Jeep was totaled. It could have easily been much worse.

And stay smart…

Today I saw a car parked in the middle of the road after a deep spot (pooled, not flowing).  The engine may have been toast (we call it hydro-locked.  Water doesn’t compress, so if it gets into the engine, bad things can happen.  And the worst thing to possibly do is try to turn the engine over with the starter if it stalls in the water. Instead, get towed out, and then take out the spark plugs.  Turn the engine over with the starter (watch out, because gas/water may spray out a few feet).  Shoot a little WD-40 in each cylinder and then reinstall the spark plugs.  If there are ugly, unnatural sounds, it might be too late, the damage may already be done.

Sounds like good reasons to NOT drive in deep water, huh?  Death or mechanical devastation…

from GwinnettGarageGuy.com

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Water, Water, Everywhere… Trashing the House…

Water, Water Everywhere... Ocoee RiverWater is essential for life.  Without it, everything dies.  But… sometimes it can be a pain in the butt… like when it is in the wrong place in the house… or outside of the house…

I have a buyer that is under contract on a beautiful home… or more accurately, a home that could be beautiful.  But it has problems.  Water.

The biggest issue is one that people usually don’t think of…

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Repair Bond or Retreat Bond, Which is Better?

Termite cathedral mounds in the Northern Terri...
Image via Wikipedia

I’m not a “Bug Guy” and I don’t play one on TV.  But, as a real estate agent, I get asked about bugs a lot.  More specifically, I get asked about termites… ok, actually about termite damage and termite bonds.

We joke (ok, actually the Bug Guys joke) that here in the south there are homes that have been infested and homes that will be infested.  There are NO homes that won’t get a termite visit.  And I can say from experience that they might be right…

And of course, as soon as my buyer finds a house and we start delving further into it… like the seller’s disclosure, the question comes up about the different bond types that are available.  Basically, there are two types…

  • Repair Bonds
  • Retreatment Bonds

And there are two major distinctions between them.

  • price
  • coverage

Repair bonds are expensive, but cover repairs if termite damage occurs during the course of the coverage.

Retreatment bonds are WAY less expensive, but only cover retreating if termites (or termite damage) is found.

In effect, with a retreatment bond, if your house caves in because of an infestation, they will come by and spray the wreckage left in your yard…

Often, the actual treatments are the same whether you have a repair or retreatment bond.  The difference is the exposure the termite control company has.  Under a retreatment bond, they might be out a few bucks for chemicals and a little labor for the technician to make the call.  Under a repair bond, they could be out tens of thousands of dollars for repairs.

One little tidbit…

Most companies are quite ethical in their operations…  But, I have had a couple of clients that had interesting experiences with repair bonds… basically, after a couple of years, the company would “forget” to send out a new invoice.  In a couple of cases, when they had a new inspection done, there was termite damage…

So, especially if you have a repair band with your termite coverage, MAKE SURE that you keep it up to date.  Don’t rely on the renewal notices…

from GwinnettGarageGuy

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The Press Is On…

Dale Stinton, CEO, National Association of Rea...
Image by whiteafrican via Flickr

I have recieved emails this morning from the NAR and from my local association regarding the $8,000 First Time Home Buyer Tax Credit.  There is a full court press from the National Association of Realtors as well as the local associations to not only continue, but expand this program.  And there is NO doubt that the program has been effective, especially in the last few weeks.  Entry level home sales are up.

But, honestly… it needs to end as scheduled.

But it is helping my business…

I can hear some of my real estate agent friends saying that very thing.  That is the basis of why the NAR wants to continue the program…  But, we really need to examine the long term implications of what we are doing.  NOT paying attention to the long term implications of current actions are what made this problem to begin with…

Whether you think that the bubble was caused by the Community Reinvestment Act, Fannie and Freddie pushing for lower and lower barrier to home ownership, out of control credit markets or even just people buying more home than they could afford… thinking that they could always bail out for more money… it is obvious that nobody had their eyes on the future.

And there is an solid fact… the market is going to find its bottom, and then begin recovery. No matter how the government intervenes, the market HAS to find a REAL bottom… a place where people look at their situation, and see that homes look like a deal and they feel like it is time to jump.

Many think that the initial $8,000 FTHBTC short circuited the process and gave the market a bottom.  But, there are some economists that think the bottom was happening anyway… others think that prices may go down after the tax credit expires.

If prices may go down when the tax credit expires… we need to keep it!

Newsflash.  If we aren’t at the bottom, and prossibly even if we were, prices will likely go down when the tax credit expires.  Demand has been juiced in the last few weeks because of the immediacy of the tax credit expiring.  That has eaten a little of the supply and buoyed prices.  If the Tax Credit is extended, the immediacy goes away and demand will slacken again. If the tax credit goes away, the demand will still slacken.  The difference is that our children and grandchildren won’t be left with yet another bill from the government.

But, what happens when the demand weakens and prices start to drop?  Gee… I don’t know…  what happens when the store runs a sale and you can get that flat screen you’ve been looking at for the last 3 months?  If you have a little money saved up, you go buy it.  That is the market working.

Prices will drop, and people will buy properties that seem like good deals to them.  A few buyers in the market will see properties that they have been eying getting snapped up before they respond… and the market will start its recovery.

The Home Buyer Tax Credit is a stalling tactic…

That’s all.  It doesn’t create recovery, it spurs demand from the people that were on the fence… but we need a constant stream of people coming OVER the fence.  The ONLY way to do that is to make people comfortable with their jobs and with the family finances.  The economy needs to begin recovery for that.  Adding more deficit spending isn’t going to do that…  That actually hurts, because it places a restriction on credit availability… subject for a different blog post…

The bottom line is that housing has to recovery naturally.  Yes, real estate agents have been helped by the program, but it is our kids that will get the bill for that help.  We need to call a stop to this before it gets more out of hand.

originally posted to GwinnettGarageGuy, another of Lane’s blogs

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Minor Tweaks… For Now…

A few days ago I wrote about my overwhelming desire to mess with my blog.  I get this from time to time… I just can’t help it.

As a hot rodder, I like to tweak things.  When my wife sees a nice car, truck or Jeep, I see a platform to make something cooler.  When she sees a pile of junk, I still see a platform to make something cooler.  No matter what… it is a platform to make something cooler…

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