Saturday, February 22, 2014 • Page 1B
EXPERT
OPINIONS Question: What are some of the most costly mistakes home buyers make when looking for, negotiating and eventually buying homes?
Here’s how you demolish a home
As a real estate investor, I find that home buyers have preconceived notions about which neighborhoods they want to live in. This way of thinking can potentially cost an individual or family tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars over the course of time they own the property. For example, if they (the consumer) don’t listen to their realtors’ advice about trending home values OR prices in another neighborhood, which may be close to or even adjacent to their “chosen” neighborhood, they could be totally shooting themselves in the foot! That’s one of the biggest mistakes made. Dave Tyrell Tyvest Ventures LLC Foregoing a home inspection can be a big downfall when buying a new home. It may seem like you are saving money, but in the long run not having a professional home inspection can be hazardous. Trusting that the sellers disclosed every problem in the house can take money right out of your pocket. Foundation and termite problems are hard to identify in some homes. These repairs can be very costly if not properly taken care of from the beginning. Also, not working with a buyer’s agent can cost you greatly in the long run. Not having a professional agent guiding you through the process can be detrimental on your wallet. A buyer’s agent is usually no cost to the buyer and can help with the contract portion and negotiations of the deal. A good buyer’s agent can help you research neighborhoods and verify every document sent from a seller. An agent can also perform a comparative market analysis to compare the houses sold around the area, in order to get the best price on a home you are interested in. Kendal Bezecny, SMP, MRP Keller Williams Realty Time is money! Don’t begin your home search unprepared and uneducated. Know your price boundaries and stick to them. Have your down payment and closing costs estimated, waiting in the bank, and ready to go. Study the areas in which you are considering buying then narrow your focus to the area that is most convenient and comfortable for you, keeping an eye to resale value later on. When making an offer, don’t think you can try to “lowball” your offer. Not in this market! You run the risk of offending the seller and giving them a bad impression of you for the entire negotiation and transaction process, and ultimately you will lose out to someone else, thus wasting everyone’s time, including your own. Be reasonable and focus on making an offer based on market value. No seller in today’s market is going to be willing to offer you a “good deal” by selling under market value. Also, during the negotiation and subsequent option period once you are in contract, don’t ignore warning signs. If it looks too good to be true, it probably is. Have a home inspection and cover your assets! Finally, research flood plain maps and know where your dream house lies in the flood plain. To make it past the negotiation and option period stages of a transaction only to discover you cannot afford your monthly mortgage note plus the cost of flood insurance is a true heartbreaker. Research homeowners and flood insurance early on and know where you stand. Good luck and good house hunting! Elizabeth Villarreal Houston City Living Leasing & Realty “A possible costly mistake that a home buyer could make is when they choose NOT to have a Realtor represent them during the purchase and negotiation process. They often forget that the Listing Agent is working for, and representing the Seller, and usually exclusively in most transactions. Also, although not required, a home inspection is always a good idea. A Home Inspection Report is often a major factor when purchasing, or negotiating a home purchase. Additionally, it’s always a good idea to shop for the best lending rates and terms. These are major areas where an experienced Realtor could assist the client possibly saving hundreds, if not, thousands of dollars, not to mention saving a lot of time and frustration. Lampros “Greek” Vrinios Heights Village Realty
Photo (before) -- The current home at 2922 Attridge Dr., which will be taken down to prepare for a new one.
Photo (after) -- The new home scheduled to be built at 2922 Attridge Dr. in Shepherd Forest.
Modern Shepherd Forest home set at $900,000 By Michael Sudhalter michael@theleadernews.com
Firefighters use a chainsaw as part of a training exercise on a soon-to-be demolished Oak Forest home. (Submitted photos)
HFD trains on soon-to-be demolished Oak Forest home The Oak Forest construction boom gave members of the Houston Fire Department an excellent training opportunity. HFD captain Lee Christ, who was previously stationed in the area, was driving on Wakefield Dr. when he saw a lot for sale. He called Daren Bartula of Bartula Brothers Construction and asked if HFD could do a training exercise before the house was demolished. Bartula plans on demolishing the
home next week and building a 4,400 square foot home. “By the time we build it in August, it’ll probably sell for $1 million,” Bartula said. The firefighters used a chainsaw to enter through the fence and drilled holes in the roof, among other exercises. Christ said it’s difficult to find actual houses to train on, and the department usually uses mock houses on the academy grounds that aren’t as realistic.
The time’s are changing in Shepherd Forest with a new, modern $900,000 four bedroom home replacing an older one at 2922 Attridge Dr. The developer is Garden Oaks resident David King of Third Eye Modern, and he said several folks have developed interest in the home. “Right now, there’s a small house on the property with renters,” King said. “Their lease is coming up soon.” Construction will begin in March and the 3,937 square foot home could be ready as soon as October. It will include a swimming pool, Viking appliances, custom trim and is zoned to Oak Forest Elementary school. King said he wants the home to blend into the community, which is directly adjacent to the Loop 610 feeder road. “I care about the community,” King said. “I just want to make nice looking stuff. I designed it to blend into the community. I ask myself ‘If I’m the neighbor, how would I want the neighbors to build?’.” King expects to build three or four more homes around Shepherd, especially north of the Loop because the land cost isn’t as high. “People are friendly and very nice (in the Oak Forest/ Garden Oaks area),” King said. “It’s very hot right now.”
The Do-Over:
Dental Plant (Submitted photo by NuSmile Pediatric Crowns/Bao Loi)
Northside Properties Earn 2014 Good Brick Awards By Cynthia Lescalleet For The Leader
Children’s teeth, rattling century-old windows and a residential rescue mission prompted a trio of renovations that have earned a 2014 Good Brick Award from Preservation Houston. Among the 10 projects A monthly look honored at the annual at a renovation Cornerstone Dinner on project in our Feb. 21 are these nifty neighborhoods. award-winners located --or relocated, as was the case for one of them -- in Leader News neighborhoods:
DOVER
CAN A BUILDING SMILE? In the light industrial hinterlands near Lazybrook and Timbergrove, NuSmile Pediatric Crowns owners Ray and Diane Johnson Krueger overhauled and expanded a sleek 1964 manufacturing plant for their familyrun business, a dental laboratory that manu-
factures natural-looking crowns for children worldwide. In their 2011 hunt for a bigger plant and headquarters-quality office space, the owners sought “something with more character” to replace their company’s smaller, metal-sided Cottage Grove facility. The midcentury property at 3315 W. 12th St held promise, had good bones – and “looked cool,” recalls Diana Johnson Krueger, who is president and CEO. She grew up in Oak Forest. Her husband, the company’s facilities manager, grew up in nearby Mangum Manor. Although the project was the couple’s first major commercial redo, they have a history of tweaking buildings with a history. “We never build anything new,” she says. Previous redos restored their Montrosearea bungalow home and an early 1900 house in the Old Sixth Ward (affectionately known as the “Queen of the Sabine”) that’s home to the company’s chief operating officer, her son See Do Over, P. 3B
Heights Homestead. (Submitted by Preservation Houston/ Sandra P. Ray)