Garage Fire Safety – Common Sense Minimizes Risk

RISMEDIA, November 24, 2010—For many homeowners, a shiny new car is as integral a part of the home as the roof and the door—and it’s often right next to both. That’s because many people go to great lengths to protect the beloved car from the elements, chief of which is garaging it rather than leaving it out in the driveway. Garaging a car keeps it safe and snug—but, if the garage is attached to the home, some risks ensue. One major risk is fire. Most folks have plenty of combustible material in their garages, from gas and oil cans to cleaning products. Combine this with all the fuel and oil in your car, and one errant leak can ignite a devastating fire.

A less obvious, but just as dangerous, concern is carbon monoxide, which is potentially deadly. (In fact, now is the perfect time to check and make sure you have a CO2 alarm in your home and that it’s working). What makes carbon monoxide so scary is that it’s invisible—odorless, colorless, and tasteless—and it’s in your car’s exhaust. Always keep not only the exterior garage door open, but keep your car door open as well, when starting the car—the goal is to have as much ventilation directly to the outdoors as possible. Also, don’t idle the car in the garage; pull the car out of the garage as quickly as possible after starting the car. It sounds basic, but it’s easy to make mistakes and get distracted as soon as you get in the car.

Luckily, there’s no need to panic over these risks—you can minimize them. Just use common sense, and rest assured that you have a whole bunch of codes on your side. Those codes, and the builders who put them into practice, can help to greatly minimize the risk. Here’s a rundown of U.S. national fire codes for attached garages in single-family homes:

-Half-inch gypsum board is required on the garage side of any walls that the garage and house share, as well as any walls that support a ceiling in the garage that is connected to the house. This gypsum board helps prevent fire from igniting wall studs and quickly spreading to the house.

-Any garage ceilings common to the house must contain fire-resistant 5/8 Type X gypsum board.
-The door from the garage into the house must be fire-resistant; it must either have a 20-minute burn rating or, if not rated, must be solid and 1 3/8 inches thick. Lastly, this door must not open onto a room used for sleeping.
-The garage floor must be non-combustible.
-No supply or return air registers or ducts may be in the garage, under any circumstance. Any duct-work that passes through the garage with no openings (the only kind, as no openings are allowed) must be sealed with fire-stop caulking. The ducting material must be 26-gauge steel.

Note that these are national codes; many local codes, which usurp national codes where applicable, are even more stringent. And if you are worried about remembering the above when buying or selling a home, don’t worry—you don’t have to. Just choose a good home inspector, who will know all the rules regarding garage safety. Your only other job, besides exercising common sense, is to drive carefully and enjoy your new wheels.

Charles Furlough is vice president of Pillar To Post Professional Home Inspections.
For more information, visit www.pillartopost.com.
RISMedia welcomes your questions and comments. Send your e-mail to: realestatemagazinefeedback@rismedia.com.

Cynthia M. Parker earns the coveted CDPE®, Certified Distressed Property Expert Designation

Cynthia M. Parker, Broker Associate with RE/MAX Alliance, has been awarded the coveted CDPE ®  designation.

Cynthia, who has been affiliated with RE/MAX for 4 years and licensed for over 6 years, has been helping buyers and sellers in her community, reach their goals.  "I was helping people make sizable profits during the boom time and I feel an obligation to help distressed homeowners during the toughest times of their lives.  I have been certified in other distressed courses and wanted to take my learning further so I could best be equipped to help.  I believe you have to continuously be educating yourself in order to consult at your highest and best."

The Certified Distressed Property Expert®, or CDPE, designation is one of the premier designations for the REO and default industries.  If you or someone you know are having a difficult time due to their home financing and experiencing economic hardships due to the home mortgage payment, give Cynthia M. Parker a call: 303-563-9700 or email: Cynthia.Parker@Remax.net.

Inspection Objection Deadline

Inspection Objection Deadline is the contractual time line in the Colorado Contract to Buy Sell, in which the buyer has the right to conduct their inspections of the physical condition of the property and inclusions, at Buyer’s expense.   This includes the physical condition of the property, the physical condition of the inclusions, any proposed or existing transportation project, road, street or highway, or any other activity, odor or noise (whether on or off the Property) and its effect or expected effect on the Property or it's occupants is unsatisfactory in Buyer’s subjective discretion.
And yes, subjective discretion means just that.

November 2010 Market Update

Trend:  The general direction followed by a road, river, coastline, or the like.

            Real estate markets and economies are trend oriented.  They have a tendency to follow specific paths.  Sometimes those paths are a gently rolling road merrily going along.  Other times those roads are fraught with hurdles i.e. rock slides, floods, snow storms, etc.  When those occur, it takes time to clean-up the resulting mess.

 

            That’s where the real estate market and economy are today; in a clean-up mode.  Cleaning-up a financial market not fraught with rock slides, etc., but with fraudulent business practices, greed and stupidity.  Many people have suffered.  Others have prospered.  There is always money to be made in difficult times.

            The Federal Reserve has attempted to expedite the clean-up by pumping a gazillion dollars (that’s a lot) into the economy.  All that is left for them to do now is to start giving money away.  I would surmise the “free money” line would be slightly longer than the current unemployment line.

            After the clean-up has occurred, life isn’t the same.  Things have changed.  People’s perceptions have changed.  They have become more astute, more aware and more conscious of the circumstances of their lives.  They are more analytical and patient.  A knee-jerk reaction is no longer their immediate response.  They attempt to think things through more clearly before they make a decision, be it to buy a home, buy a new car or even where to eat dinner.

            In many ways, that is how the Metro Denver real estate market has evolved.  It is a collective group of buyers and sellers attempting to make wise decisions.  Is this the best time to sell my home?  Is this the best time to buy a home?  Will mortgage interest rates continue to improve or will they “trend” up?  These are all legitimate questions.

            Through October, the 2010 Metro Denver real estate market is trailing 2009 in the number of sold listings.  Single family home sales are down about 11.86% (9,226 vs. 10,467).  Attached units are off about 7.39% (3,722 vs. 4,019).  Overall, the single family and attached unit market is down 10.62% year-to-date compared to 2009.

            For October/2010, the number of active listings (single family homes and attached units) was down 6.75% from September figures (8,233 vs. 8,789).  The 2010 year-to-date Absorption Rate for single family homes and attached units dropped from 202 days at the end of September to 193 days at the end of October. 

        

            As we enter the fall i.e. Indian summer and the winter, real estate activity typically begins to wane.  Inventory levels should decrease as sellers decide to take their home off the market for the holiday season and regroup next spring.  Buyers continue to look for bargains, but they have one foot in a hibernation mode.

            There are some positives to consider in the road ahead for the Metro Denver real estate market.  Although the number of sales for 2010 will be down compared to 2009, the Absorption Rate continues to remain relatively stable.   It is possible the real estate market has reached a plateau; the final clean-up is in sight.  That’s not to say there still aren’t some rock slides or snow storms out there waiting to wreak havoc, but the dark days appear to be less frequent as the national and local economies regain their footing.

Around the Home: Energy Saving Tips for Fall

  RISMEDIA, November 13, 2010—(MCT)—As autumn settles in and we set back the clock, rake the leaves and stoke the furnace, we have a lot of assumptions about the most environmentally friendly ways to proceed. But are those assumptions right? We’ve gathered a bushel of answers to some popular, autumn household eco questions. 

Q: What is the most environmentally friendly way to dispose of my leaves?

A: The best option is to leave a coat of leaves on your lawn and chop them up with your lawn mower to create a layer of mulch that will break down and give your lawn nutrients. This is most easily done when the leaves are dry and crunchy rather than when they are thick and soggy.
Place the rest of the chopped leaves around outdoor plants as ground cover and in your compost heap.
Burning leaves creates undesirable emissions, and it’s illegal in most municipalities. Tossing them out in sealed non-biodegradable plastic bags sends them to landfills where they can’t decompose properly and will leak harmful greenhouse gases.
Blowing them around with a leaf blower creates carbon emissions and noise pollution while eating energy and stirring up allergens. A leaf blower can be useful to push foliage to the street or curbside in municipalities that offer street leaf sweeping. A rake also works just fine for this, however. Collected leaves are taken to farms or composting sites, according to local officials.
In municipalities that don’t have leaf-sweeping days, pushing leaves into the street, “can clog the drains in the street creating blockages and other problems,” Chicago Department of Streets and Sanitation spokesman Matt Smith said.

Q: What’s the best way to save electricity on lighting despite fewer hours of daylight?

A: In these darker months the No. 1 thing you can do to save money on your lighting bills, experts say, is switch from incandescent bulbs to compact fluorescent bulbs. CFL bulbs can reduce your lighting energy usage up to 75%. Still, some consumers worry about potential mercury exposure if the bulbs break and are bothered by the harsh white glow of fluorescent bulbs. Some of these concerns are allayed by widely available plastic-coated, shatterproof CFLs and bulbs on the lower end of the lighting spectrum that are designed to mimic the warmer tones of standard incandescent bulbs.
CFL bulbs, however, cannot be thrown out in the regular garbage. Instead, they must be recycled properly through municipal hazardous-waste collection programs or brought to participating stores that offer a recycling program.

Q: I like saving money by cooking cheaper cuts of meat in a slow-cooked stew. Are slow cookers the most energy efficient way to do this?

A: Slow cooker users may assume that because the appliance has a lower wattage (70-250) than a conventional electric oven (roughly 2,000), that they save energy. But Doug Cote (www.stretcher.com), a writer for the “Dollar Stretcher” website, notes that while slow cookers’ heating elements stay on continuously, electric ovens cycle their elements on and off as needed to maintain temperature, often only about one-fourth of the actual cooking time.
Assuming you would use a slow cooker on high for twice as many hours as you would use your electric oven, the energy usage could come out equal. Efficiency can also be affected by the number of other things you can cook simultaneously in your oven, how much heat you lose when you open it and how efficient and well-insulated the oven is. The short answer: there is no clear winner in this fight.
Even more energy efficient for cooking smaller dishes is the toaster oven. And most energy efficient of all, for things that it can cook well, is the microwave.
Still, as online energy adviser Michael Bluejay (aka Mr. Electricity) points out, in terms of preserving money, energy and the environment, what you eat matters much more than how you cook it. Meat and dairy require much more energy to produce than plant-based foods, and switching to a plant-based diet, even once a week, can make a significant impact on your pocketbook, energy usage and carbon footprint.

Q: I love using a fireplace but have heard that you actually lose more heat than you gain. How can I make my fireplace more efficient?

A: While fireplaces can be aesthetically pleasing, they are one of the most inefficient heat sources available, according to the EPA. Because most of your warm air goes up the chimney, experts have typically seen only a 10-20% heat return from wood logs, in the best-case scenario. Burning traditional logs can also greatly diminish indoor air quality with unhealthy gases and particulate matter, even when the fireplace is properly maintained.
Better options: If you choose to build a fire in your home, make sure your fireplace is in good shape and equipped with heat-retaining features (including blowers, intake tubes and radiant grates and inserts). And use fake logs. Now that many artificial logs have gone “green,” turning from petroleum-based binders to vegetable paraffin, they release 75% less carbon monoxide and 80% less particulate matter than real wood, according to the EPA. Plus they burn hotter, giving you a better chance of deriving some heat from them.
If you want to use recycled material, consider buying so-called “java” logs made out of used coffee grounds. Or roll your own logs using old newspapers, a broom handle and some water, as recommended by the EPA. But be sure to first remove glossy inserts that can emit unhealthy fumes.

Q: What’s the best way to stay warm in my house while saving money?

A: Other than closing leaks, changing air filters once a month, insulating well and sealing your doors and windows, the best and most efficient way to stay warm, experts say, is by keeping the heat local. Set your programmable overall thermostat very low—especially at night while you are sleeping and during the day when you are out of the house—and keep your personal space cozy with space heaters, warming bricks, hot water bottles, heating blankets and heated slippers.

That said, space heaters should be used with extreme caution—especially around small children—and you should opt for those with the latest safety features, such as automatic shut-off when they tip. Keep them away from combustible materials and high-traffic areas of your home, and plug them directly into the wall instead of using an extension cord. Oil-fueled radiant heaters are considered to be some of the safest because they never get hot enough to ignite a fire. If used properly, the energy used by space heaters will amount to far less than it would cost to heat an entire home.

This doesn’t mean you should shut off central air registers in certain parts of the house. That can damage your HVAC system by creating too much pressure and overheating your furnace. If you want to close off some rooms, consult a specialist to see what works best for your particular system.
If you think it’s cheaper to maintain a constant temperature rather than letting your house cool when you’re out and then warming it up when you’re home, think again. The U.S. Department of Energy estimates that for every degree you turn down your thermostat for an eight-hour period in the winter, you can expect a correlating percentage of energy savings.

(c) 2010, Chicago Tribune.
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.
RISMedia welcomes your questions and comments. Send your e-mail to: realestatemagazinefeedback@rismedia.com.

Maximizing Space-How Much Do You Really Need?

When planning your home décor, it is vitally important to understand your space needs. Do you have enough room to open any doors? Can you walk from one side of the room to the other without climbing over the furniture? Here are some rules to keep in mind when you plan your room update:
 

1. Living Room – Keep in mind that for good conversational and traffic flow, keep at least 4-10 feet between sofa and chairs. Place your coffee table between 14-18 inches from the sofa (although I would only use 18 inches if you have long arms!).

2. Family Room – To the above rules about sofa and chair placement, add the viewing area needed for a television. To view a 30 inch TV screen, the sofa or chair should be at least 90 inches away (but not so far that you have to change your glasses prescription to view!). To create an easy flow in any room, there should be traffic lanes which are at least three feet wide.  

3. Dining Room - A seated adult at a round or square table usually occupies a depth of about 20 inches with at least 12-16 inches more to pull back a chair. Rectangular tables need at least 24 inches per person and about 32-36 inches clearance between table and walls. On the serving side, the table to wall distance should be at least 44 inches.
 

4. Bedroom – For maximum comfort, the distance from the bed to the wall should be at least 24 inches. To allow any door to open easily, there should be 36 inches between the bed and the door.
 

Knowing how much space you really need in a room can make planning your
space much easier. Be sure to measure your room height and length, the size of
windows and check to see of your room is “true” or square before you place your
furniture. Doing so will help avert a potential disaster like buying a king-size bed
for a queen-size room!

Pamela Cole Harris
http://www.homeandgardenmakeover.com
http://www.diy-homedecor.com.

Renovations Halted by Recession Leave Homes in Limbo

RISMEDIA, November 4, 2010—(MCT)—Ralph and Gloria Dickerson began a $150,000 expansion of their Englewood, N.J., house in 2004. But the work dwindled to a halt several years ago, and foreclosure proceedings were started on the house last year. The property now sits empty, with exposed insulation wrap outside, peeling paint inside and signs on the lawn announcing: “For sale by owner.” When home renovations stall, properties like this turn into white elephants. If they go on the market, their unkempt state scares off many potential buyers. And in the meantime, neighbors fume at the eyesore in their midst.


“Are the neighbors upset? That’s the understatement of the year,” said Charles Klatskin, an industrial real estate broker who lives near the Dickersons’ house, in a neighborhood of large, graceful homes assessed at $1 million and up.

Municipal building codes generally require that home additions and renovations be completed within a certain period, and building officials typically fine homeowners who don’t comply. But enforcement can be tricky.

“How can you make someone spend money on their homes if they don’t have it?” asked Gary Montroy, construction official for Mahwah, N.J. In the most extreme cases, involving safety issues, the town can levy fines of up to $2,000 a day, he said. In one such case, Montroy is dealing with a homeowner who left a big job incomplete—including a pool that is not properly protected by a fence. After several years of fines, the homeowner now owes the town more than $350,000. The house is worth about $800,000, Montroy said. “We sent him violation notices; he ignored them,” Montroy said. “He has financial issues; I understand that. But all he needs to do is put up a chain-link fence. I don’t care about ‘pretty.’ I care about ‘safe.’”

Montroy says that if the homeowner puts up the fence, he will negotiate the fine to a more affordable level—probably around $10,000, he said. If this homeowner doesn’t comply, he said, the town could foreclose on the property to pay the fine, or the Municipal Court could order him jailed.

Some owners try to sell their unfinished homes. But that’s also complicated. Barbara Ostroth of Coldwell Banker in Oradell, N.J., for example, has a listing for a half-renovated house. The owners started an ambitious updating project more than 10 years ago, but the work stalled when the couple split up. Though the house has central air conditioning and three renovated bathrooms, some of the rooms remain stripped to the framework.

Now the three-bedroom house is on the market for $307,000. A contractor estimated completing the job would cost $80,000-$90,000, Ostroth said. “The buyer for this house is not someone who’s in the $300,000-$325,000 price range,” she said. “The buyer is in the upper-300s price range, with the imagination to see how it can be completed. The buyer has to be willing to take that on.”
Some half-finished renovations end up so badly damaged by rain and snow that they can’t be salvaged, building officials say. Beyond that, many buyers just don’t want the trouble of completing a renovation when there are plenty of move-in-ready houses on the market.

“Most buyers do not have the vision to see a partially finished home become a reality,” said Jay Shapiro, an agent with Prominent Properties Sotheby’s International Realty in Tenafly, N.J. He has worked with buyers who considered, and rejected, such homes. “Many buyers today do not have the time, skills or inclination to finish a home on their own,” Shapiro said. “If the buyer is neither a professional nor skilled in home improvement, trying to get the right contractor to price, execute and finish the job both on time and to the buyers’ satisfaction is fraught with danger.”
While these homes wait for a buyer, neighbors can feel exasperated by the lack of progress on the reconstruction. That’s certainly the case near the Dickerson house.
According to public records, the Dickersons got a building permit in June 2004 for a second-story addition, expansion of the kitchen and dining room and addition of a “hearth room” and deck on the first floor. They estimated the cost at $150,000, and started work.

Scott Mager and his wife bought the house next door to the Dickerson house in December 2005, and have seen no progress on the renovation since then. In fact, he said that he got the city to reduce the assessed value of his home, based on the condition of the Dickerson house. His home is currently assessed at $2.4 million, down from $2.5 million in 2009. “The fact that I have this thing next to my house is reducing its value significantly,” said Mager, CEO of a New York building-maintenance company.
The city Building Department has issued violation notices on the property and is continuing to investigate, according to Englewood Mayor Frank Huttle. “These situations shouldn’t arise, but obviously they’re there for a reason; obviously, the property owners must have some issues,” he said. “Action needs to be taken, because the property can’t stay in the state it’s in.”

The house, which is assessed at $1.66 million, was on the market for just under $2.5 million in 2007 and 2008, according to the former listing agent, Mary Lenk of Prominent Properties Sotheby’s International Realty in Alpine, N.J. Its current asking price could not be determined, because calls to the phone number listed on the “for sale by owner” sign were not returned.
Ridgeview Builders of Kearny, N.J., worked on the addition, but owner Jose Abreu said the Dickersons failed to pay all they owed him.

Abreu went to court and got a judgment against them for $13,400 in early 2008, but is not optimistic about his chances of collecting. “It looks like they don’t have anything for us to go after,” he said. His lawyer, James Cleary, said that since the home is in foreclosure, the lender’s claim would come before the builder’s.
The foreclosure proceedings were started in March 2009 by Merrill Lynch Credit Corp., which wrote a $1.2 million mortgage on the property in 2004. The law office representing Merrill Lynch said the case has not been resolved yet.

(c) 2010, North Jersey Media Group Inc.
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.
RISMedia welcomes your questions and comments. Send your e-mail to: realestatemagazinefeedback@rismedia.com.