Page 1B • The Leader • May 25, 2013 • www.theleadernews.com
EXPERT
OPINIONS
Each month, we ask a panel of Realtors and business people in the area for an opinion on a specific topic. Here was the question this month, and their answers below. A recent survey of renters by Fannie Mae showed that two-thirds of them aspire to home ownership--but that many fear the mortgage qualifying and application process. What’s the best piece of advice you can offer to a renter contemplating home-buying?
Sharon Ettinger Keller Williams Metropolitan
There is nothing to be scared of, yet there is a lot to understand. Even a borrower who claimed bankruptcy can purchase a home after two years, once credit has been repaired. Know your numbers –– for example income, debt and assets. Be current on all taxes, and submit an application to a qualified loan officer. They will tell you what you can afford or what is required to qualify for a loan. Take action so you can have a plan. You will know what you can afford and what the costs will be so you can relax and enjoy looking for your new home.
Pamela Efferson Keller Williams Metropolitan
Debbie Kotzur Hartman & Associates
The best piece of advice for a renter looking to buy would be to find a lender that they are comfortable working with. They should contact the bank or credit union that they have done business with in the past, or a mortgage broker. Their Realtor should be able to give them several suggestions on who to talk to. The lender/mortgage broker is going to need quite a bit of information from them regarding their employment history, down payment, tax returns, monthly expenses, monthly income, etc. The joke among Realtors is that after you are finished working with the lender, they (the lender) also want the blood of your first born! With that being said, the lender does need a lot of information from a potential buyer, so it helps that the buyer be well organized. He/she should have all this information at his/her finger tips and should have no problem getting this to the lender in a timely manner. There may be times when your lender will tell you that you have not met certain criteria for getting the new loan, but they will tell you what you need to do in order to qualify. Be patient, do as the lender suggests, and you will be in your new home before you know it!
Pat Walker - Realtor Keller Williams Metropolitan
The most important thing I would tell a “scared” potential buyer is do not go on this journey alone. Contact a Realtor that has knowledge of the area in which you are looking. Also, a Realtor that has good working relationship with Lenders, Inspectors, Escrow Officers and “trade vendors” ie: Roofers, Plumbers, Electricians, etc. All these professionals can put your fears at ease & make your first home-buying experience, hassle free. There is no greater experience than receiving those keys at closing.
Melodie Matlock Oakington Realty
My best advice is to work with a good Realtor. A good real estate agent will have a network of people they can refer you to, or ask your friends for a lender referral. It may be intimidating to call a lender the first time, but most are friendly and willing to help walk you through the process.
Susan Pesl Prudential Premier Properties
For them to find a well qualified Realtor that they feel comfortable working with that can guide them through the process. Someone that will listen to their needs and concerns.
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TxDOT discusses noise walls with Oak Forest residents by Michael Sudhalter michael@theleadernews.com The Texas Department of Transportation is planning on 14-feet noise walls for the inbound and outbound lanes on U.S. Hwy. 290 between 43rd Street and Antoine. TxDOT held an informational meeting last week at St. Ambrose Catholic Church to dis-
cuss the logistics, planning and to answer any Oak Forest residents’ questions regarding the noise walls. Upon arrival at the meeting, residents were given a packet, in which they could vote to have a wall along the right of way between 43rd and Antoine and return their votes by May 30. Residents also had the opportunity to vote on the color of the barrier that will be on their
side of the property. The options were soft tan, wetlands or ashtar stone. Stanley Cooper, an Environmental Coordinator for TxDOT, gave a presentation on the walls. At 66 decibels or more, TxDOT is required to look at noise abatement for a property.
see Expert • Page 9B
Nature takes its course by Cynthia Lescalleet For The Leader
The best advice is to learn from the mistakes of others. Here are two of the most common mistakes I see: ·Not knowing what you can afford. Examine your budget, get a copy of your credit report, and sit down with a qualified lender to determine how much of a loan you can afford. Ask your Realtor for several lender recommendations and comparison shop for a mortgage before looking for a home. ·Forgetting to consider the overall costs of home ownership. You can make the monthly payment, but remember to add in the cost for homeowners’ insurance, property taxes, utilities, plus maintenance.
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Residents choose sound barrier
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Remodeling projects throughout the inside of Dottie Forbes’ Garden Oaks home created several cheery, highly personalized spaces that also improved views into her large yard. Creatively minded, the homeowner then opted to change what those views would encompass. She has converted her grass-carpeted yard into a nature reserve with more heat-tolerant native plantings that require less water -- and maintenance. “My yard looks very different,” Forbes said, clearly liking the still-awork-in-progress. “It was a big project.” Among the steps: cutA monthly look at a ting short and killing the renovation project in existing St. Augustine our neighborhoods. turf, laying a plastic barrier to prevent its return, adding a layer of soil, introducing the new seeds (adding more soil) and awaiting what came up. (Lots of waiting.) With patience and persistence, Forbes’ pocket prairie will continue to thicken in two distinctly different zones of native plantings. A shade-friendly grass mix of foot-tall Inland Sea Oats and Blue Grama currently fills the lot’s light-dappled north-side, which began with a season of Cereal Rye to enrich the soil. The far-more-sunny back yard is home to shorter, fluffier Buffalo grass, whorled and windwhipped off the deck. The yard’s still-evolving natural state is a bird and bug magnet, Forbes said. Birds bypass the feeders, holdovers from the original lawn, and head straight for the grasses, diving a bit below view. In 2011, Forbes’ yard became a big palette for friend Larissa Poindexter, an investment manager whose interest in environmental stewardship has become her avocation. Having transformed portions of her own yard, smaller and a bit sun-challenged, she helped Forbes achieve an outdoor environment looking like it’s in Brenham. Poindexter is a proponent of shifting prevailing landscaping practices away from choices that require a lot of water and fertilizer to grow and landfill space for trimmings. She realizes it’s a different mind-set. “Once you get them going, they’re sustaining,” she said of native plant yards. “And your ground is healthy.” Unlike Buffalo grass, which can get by less on than a foot of water a year, the thirsty turf St. Augustine and Bermuda grass commonly found in Houston yards can consume 60 to 120 inches of water a year, according to Native America Seed (www.seedsource.com), Poindexter’s go-to experts.
DOVER
Dottie Forbes turned the front yard of her Garden Oaks home into a pocket prairie with natural grasses that require less water - but still need upkeep. At left, in a multi-step process, the more traditional St. Augustine turf was dug up, and Buffalo grass was planted in the sunny back yard to extend the pocket prairie. (Photos by Cynthia Lescalleet)
About 70 percent of a home’s water use can be its yard, Poindexter learned. (Her call to action was a $400 water bill one summer month during the drought.) Native and natural does not mean untended, however. “Raking and weeding is a very different yard maintenance experience,” she said. “We’re still weeding by hand what comes in from other people’s yards.” (Translation: St. Augustine and Bermuda grass.)
Water means weeds
All projects deliver lessons. Forbes noted in a follow-up email that when the seeds they selected for a portion of the yard proved to be larger than the seeding machine, they had to laboriously sow the seeds by hand and manually cover them with topsoil. Also, stabilizing the seeds in the drainage ditch out front was expensive and has made it more difficult to weed the area. Poindexter said that tilling the
soil early on instead of adding a barrier initially promoted growth of unwanted shoots. Meanwhile, don’t overwater. “Once there’s fuzz, stop watering.” Forbes said she’s pleased with the “lush look” of the grasses in her front and back yards and recognizes that it will take several more years for the grasses to fill in. Plus, it will continue to require weed-pulling and surveillance to prevent unwanted intrusions by aggressive or invasive plants. “However, it is good to see a return of bugs, lizards, birds and butterflies to my yard. I feel good not having to cut the grass and adding to the waste disposal problem here in Houston.” “My yard looks a bit wild and unkempt, but it’s natural and I’ve grown to like it very much.”
see Garden Oaks • Page 3B