Southeast Alaska Home and Real Estate Guide - February 2018

A PUBLICATION OF THE CAPITAL CITY WEEKLY

SOUTHEAST ALASKA

FEBRUARY 2018

ON THE COVER

9495 MORAINE WAY OFFERED BY PLATINUM REAL ESTATE, PAGE 4

Gwen Place

Associate Broker, Property Manager, REALTOR®

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Coldwell Banker Race Realty 2103 N. Jordan Avenue Juneau, Alaska 99801 WWW.RACEREALTY.COM OFFICE: 907-789-0555 CELL: 907-209-4445 Call or Text

PARKSHORE CONDO

D L O

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AMAZING LOCATION

RACE REALTY

CHANNEL VIEW DOUGLAS CONDO

D L O

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2 bed 2 bath Parkshore condo. Channel View. Complete recent remodel $250,000

Waterfront home in Auke Bay with the best view in town. 3 bedroom 2 and 1/2 bath custom built home, on almost one acre. Featuring beautiful wood work, timber from Admiralty Island, rocks from the Mendenhall Glacier, and an apartment to earn income or be part of the home.

NEW PRICE $899,999

Townhouse with a channel view, enjoy watching fireworks, cruise ships, wildlife and city life from the deck of this 3 bed, 2 bath condo on Douglas Island. Open layout, updated staircase, new washer & dryer, excellent association on top of maintenance & assets. Low condo dues include most utilities.

Asking $179,900

WATERFRONT LOT S. TEE HARBOR

TAKU TOWNHOUSE

WATERFRONT LOT N. TEE HARBOR

On The Cover: Photo by Platinum Real Estate 2 AlaskaUSA Mortgage 3 Coldwell Banker: Gwen Place 4 Ricker Real Estate Consulting AlaskaUSA Mortgage: Minerva Carandang Platinum Real Estate 5 Ask a Broker 7 Southeast Alaska Real Estate: Jocelyn Miles

By The Numbers 9 Exit Realty of Juneau 11 First Bank Mortgage 12 Try this on the Grill 14 Cornerstone Homelending 16 Southeast Alaska Real Estate: Karen Wright

Tucked away right off main road on Tee Way, this 1/4 acre home site offers privacy w/out being off the grid. Partial driveway in, shared easement with neighboring lot.

Sewer/Water, Electric & Cable TV all available at lot line. Fish, kayak, dive, and swim right off your own private beach! NEW PRICE $89,000

• • • • • • •

3 bedroom 2 bath Townhouse in the Mendenhall Valley. Feels like home this property has been nicely updated over the years, and well cared for.

Great open/entertaining on the living level and privacy of bedrooms upstairs.

One car garage and mostly fenced yard. Quick jaunt to the glacier, hiking, airport or central shopping area. Great Location! Grab this one before it’s gone! Asking $299,999

Accessed from Glacier Highway.

Driveway is in and the public power and water are available, multiple choices for site building locations. Clear some trees and have spectacular ocean views! Partial building pad already in. Build your waterfront dream home in the 1.25 acre oceanfront lot! Asking $279,900

MORE LISTINGS

3 bedroom 2 bath mobile home Switzer Village compete recent remodel asking $50,000 2bd 1 ba mobile. Churchill #38, Handy man special. Owner finance w/ half down. Asking $14,500 Over 1 acre land near Mosquito Lake outside Haines, Alaska. 133 ft. State Road frontage. Asking $20,000 Approx. 2 acres building land for your new home in Gustavus, Alaska. Asking $46,000 Almost 30 acre lot on Umnamed Lake outside Willow, Alaska. Asking $30,000 2 acre wooded waterfront lot, 120 ft. of gravel beach front in Angoon, Alaska. Asking $44,000 2.85 acre lot zoned Commercial/Residential, electric/city water avail. Popular destination sport fish and hunting Lodge location. Possible owner finance with large down. Yakutat, AK. Asking $115,500 • Tenakee waterfront lot with large well built storage shed & pilings. Asking NEW PRICE $150,000

RENTALS

• Available Now – 2 bed 1 ba, laundry in unit, pets on approval N. Douglas waterside $1400/mo 1 yr lease.

• Available Now - 3bd 1ba S. Douglas 1600 sq. ft. View. Heat/Hot Water/garbage included $1,400/mo

INTERESTED IN A REAL ESTATE CAREER? CONTACT US!

ADVERTISE WITH US! Call Kathryn 523-2274

GARAGE

DO YOU WANT TO PLACE AN AD?

SALE KITS MAKE YOUR SALE A HIT!

YOUR KIT WILL INCLUDE:

✔ Classified Ad in Juneau Empire (3 lines, runs on Thursday and Friday) ✔ Online Ad Thursday, Friday, and Saturday ✔ (3) 2-sided signs with Metal Stakes ✔ (3) balloons ✔ 2-pocket Change Apron ✔ Permanent Marker ✔ 140 Pre-Priced Labels DEADLINE FOR AD RESERVATION IS 10AM ON THE WEDNESDAY PRIOR TO YOUR SALE

CALL NICOLE523-2229 523-2229 CALL ELANA

ALL FOR ONLY

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$

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ROMONA WIGG CCW Sales Rep 523-2290

ASK A BROKER _

By Peter G. Miller

QUESTION:

My mother needs to update her home, but needs financing to get it done. Would you recommend that she refinance her current mortgage or get a separate home equity loan?

Update Before Sale?

ANSWER:

When we place a home for sale we’re always looking for the best price and terms.

We expect that getting $250,000 is better than $225,000 but this is not always the

case.

At first this seems odd, but the reality is that the real estate marketplace is often complex and updates and upgrades are among those strange areas where what makes sense intuitively may not be the right strategy. Here’s why: First, the usual rule is that buyers seek the least expensive home in the most expensive neighborhood they can afford.

If a house has a number of big upgrades, an owner might expect a higher price, but if the price is too high when compared to nearby properties, it’s very possible the home will take a very long time to sell, will be sold at a discount or perhaps even won’t sell. The result is that before upgrading take a look at homes now on the market to see what’s too much in the way of improvements and costs.

Second, the go-to authority in these matters, Remodeling magazine’s 2017 Cost vs. Value Report, shows that the job

cost and the resulting change in resale value can differ by location. What makes sense in Yuma might not make sense in Yakima.

Third, many remodeling projects do not result in a 100-percent resale value increase, if you spend $1,000 the value of the property will go up less in most cases. Fourth, and this is a tricky one, what you see as an improvement may turn off some buyers. The reason is that we all have different tastes. Or, as a buyer recently told me, “please, can we stop looking at kitchens with marble

countertops.”

Whether you refinance your existing mortgage or get a home equity line of credit the balance of all mortgage loans must be paid off at closing. For this reason you want to limit improvements to assure that you can leave escrow with a check.

Lastly, before doing anything, speak with local real estate brokers and get their opinions. Will improvements help sell the property? Which upgrades?

What’s the least you can do to get a good result? What’s too much?

peter@ctwfeatures.com Peter G. Miller is author of “The Common-Sense Mortgage.'

$1,675

The median rent per month in Juneau Source: Trulia.com

www.capitalcityweekly.com

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CONDO NATION They’re a value-priced alternative to single-family homes, offering accouterments such as upscale kitchens, master suites and scenic views while giving up the benefit of a yard. Most are geared to singles, couples or parents of one or two youngsters rather than a growing family.

Condominiums – and their two- or three-story sister designs known as townhomes – are most common in metro areas but sprout up in more limited numbers in towns and rural areas. The properties, located from ground to upper floors in multi-level buildings, are gradually sparking interest in a pricey real estate market low on inventory in which buyers look for varied types of residences. The one-story condos also can double as investments either with owners renting them out or selling at a later date at a profit.

According to the National Association of Realtors’ latest report, condominium and co-op – condo-like properties operated by a group of owners – sales rose by a moderate 1.7 percent in October from a month earlier, to a seasonably adjusted 610,000 units. All the gains were in the South region, which has more than 40 percent of the condo total. Regions also include the Northeast, Midwest and West. Sales from a year earlier were unchanged nationwide and in the four tracked regions.

Separately, condo prices climbed 6.9 percent from a year ago to $236,800 in October. The West, which had the most expensive sales price in October at $361,800, saw the steepest year-to-year increase at 11.1 percent. The lowest price is in the Midwest, at $172,900, while the South had the scarcest price increase at 2.7 percent to $181,700.

Condos remain a tiny slice of the housing market; single-family home sales in October by comparison reached 5,480,000 — close to 10 times the condominium volume.

The tidy units, typically managed by homeowners groups or professional property managers, are considered in some cases as an affordable housing source.

According to the NAR, which bills itself as America’s largest trade association with 1.3 million members, “the national median condo/co-op price often is higher than the median single-family home price because condos are concentrated in higher-cost housing markets. However, in a given area, single-family homes typically sell for more than condos.”

Real estate observers tend to concur that condos and single-family homes both sport pros and cons and that the final decision is based on the buyer’s choices for amount of room desired, interior perks, land and price.

“While you’re considering a host of factors — the size of your family, your lifestyle, how much you love or hate yard work — you should also look at the varying costs that come with buying and maintaining single-family homes versus condos,” says Dan Rafter, writing for Quicken Loans. “These costs might help sway you toward one property type or the other,” he says on the company’s website in July.

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Rafter cites five expenses to look at: purchase price, homeowner’s association fees and assessments, maintenance, homeowners insurance and property taxes.

Median condo prices were actually $10,000 less as of April than single-family homes, the Realtors association points out.

However, with HOA fees, also known as regime fees for condos that can cover lawn care to garbage pickup, “you can expect to pay between $200 and $400 every month,” Rafter says.

Sometimes, condos charge a special assessment, say for building repairs, which can outstrip the complex’s reserve fund and require additional money each month for owners.

Maintenance costs can add up, although not as high as the 2-4 percent of house value that singlefamily homeowners should save, Realtor.com says.

Condo maintenance expenses can include a new dishwasher or air conditioning unit.

Condo buildings will have their own insurance policies, paid from the HOA fees. “But you’ll also have to take out a homeowners insurance policy for your individual condo unit, which will protect you if your own unit is damaged or items from it are stolen,” Rafter says. Trusted Choice, a group made up of independent insurance agents, says you can expect to pay from $100 to $400 a year for condo insurance, he

notes.

Property taxes would be the same as for a singlefamily home of the same value, say $200,000. “But condo owners might face a big tax increase if the condo’s developer was granted a tax break that’s scheduled to end,” Rafter says.

Steve Gillman, a consumer-style writer, notes on the Penny Hoarder website that he and his wife “have owned and lived in seven houses and two condos in 15 years, and there were pros and cons at each.”

His condo favorites include: Typically lower costs. Among randomly chosen cities nationwide, Madison, Wisconsin, has a median home price of $254,700 and condo median of $173,800; Reno, Nevada, is $314,400 for a home versus a $169,500 condo; and Atlanta goes from a $191,500 home to $168,800 for a condo.

Lower monthly expenses.

Easier to take care of.

Amenities such as a pool or kids playground are often included.

Often better locations such as parks, grocery stores and restaurants nearby.

Condo disadvantages, he says, include extra rules and restrictions, less storage space, no yard, less privacy, higher association fees or special assessments and a higher mortgage rate from a condo add-on charge.

P leas e

RECYCLE ASK A BROKER _

$31.8 25 Cumulative worth, in trillions, of all U.S. homes.

Source: Zillow

www.capitalcityweekly.com

Percentage of Americans that think it will be better to buy a home in 2018 than 2017 – the same percentage that thinks it will be worse.

Source: Trulia

5.8

Increase in home sales prices in November 2017 — more than double wage growth.

Source: National Association of Realtors

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Juneau has made the cut for This Old House's "Best Places in the Northwest to Buy an Old House" and “14 great places where the historic houses need TLC, presenting life-affirming DIY challenges and plentiful opportunities.”

Casey-Shattuck in Juneau, Alaska: homes built 1905-40 in Craftsman style.

Selma, Alabama: fixer-upper bungalows to “massive Italianate.”

Lincolnville, St. Augustine, Florida: the nation’s oldest city, founded by Spanish explorers in 1565, includes Folk Victorian homes dating 1870-1920.

Dayton’s Bluff, St. Paul, Minnesota: a historic district with 18,000 residents showcases Queen Anne and Colonial Revival houses.

Historic residences and other homes from long ago can be picked up without breaking the bank

Buying Old, On the Cheap _

By Jim Parker

Rich preservationists, nonprofit museums and national parks hold title to swanky mansions or quaint cabins built decades and centuries ago — some valued in the millions of dollars, pledging ties to famous Americans and viewed by thousands of tourists yearly.

At the same time, obscure owners hang onto 18th and 19th century houses of wood frame or brick that may lack links to historic figures, don’t boast much value now and are viewed only by wandering neighbors or pioneering travelers.

Ancient properties, whether iconic or unknown, list on real estate sites such as CIRCA Old Houses or ThisOldHouse.com when they’re for sale.

Many hundreds of pricey homes on the market in historic districts show up on the online pages. But the real finds are inexpensive residences that, at least on the surface, claim history or architectural interest, often requiring extensive renovations but still able to be fixed up.

“I don’t believe that you have to spend a fortune to find your dream home,” says Elizabeth Finkelstein, founder of CIRCA Old Houses.

The site, kicked off in 2013, includes a popular Instagram feed @cheapoldhouses of what it calls “America’s most beautiful, salvageable historical 8

homes” for sale under $100,000.

“If you’re the type who loves a diamond in the rough, and who looks forward to rolling up your sleeves and burying yourself in a house project, then you’d be the perfect person to purchase, restore and save one of these gems,” she says.

Offering searches by price ranges and for all of the 50 states, Puerto Rico and Canada, the company has built a following among real estate professionals and homeowners. “CIRCA came about in response to my own search for my family’s dream house,” Finkelstein says. Today CIRCA Old Houses claims more than 1.5 million page views to its website monthly.

Old home shoppers can check out photos and learn about regions with a propensity of lowerpriced historic neighborhoods at, among other internet places, ThisOldHouse.com.

The site, tied to the well-known TV program, lists its current projects as the Newton (Massachusetts) Generation NEXT House, Charleston Single House, 2017 Idea House Revival of a Rhode Island beach home and the Detroit House, a 1939 Russell Woods-design restored with help from the community.

The Shaw Neighborhood, St. Louis, Missouri: rows of Second Empire, Georgian and Tudor residences “like waking up on the set of Meet Me in St. Louis.”

Near South, Lincoln, Nebraska: American Foursquare and Richardsonian Romanesque homes from 1869 to the 1920s.

Phillipsburg, New Jersey — town’s 19thand 20th-century houses include “downtown brownstones and multifamily townhouses, most with original details.”

Goldsboro, North Carolina: Queen Annes, Stick Victorians and Italianates ranging in size from 1,100 to 6,400 square feet.

Cathedral District, Bismarck, North Dakota: 20 blocks near downtown with 150 National Register homes including 1900-45 “Eclectic Era” Shingle and Prairie.

Centre Park Historic District, Reading, Pennsylvania — “Reading’s wealthy arrived in the 1870s, building country mansions mimicking Italian villas and British manors.”

Hampton Heights Historic District, Spartanburg, South Carolina: Arts and Crafts and Queen Anne styles predominate.

West Boulevard, Rapid City, South Dakota: three building periods 1875-1949 produced a mix of styles in the “Gateway to the Black Hills.”

Lewisburg, West Virginia: “Outdoor enthusiasts, artists and old-house buffs find common ground” in the mountain town, with some homes dating to the late 1700s.

Rainsford Historic District, Cheyenne, Wyoming: Victorians with quirky roofs stand out. © CTW Features

ANCHOR'S AWAY In real estate, there can be strength in numbers, but only if buyers and sellers make the most of multiples. Sometimes, two or more “For Sale” signs pop up on the same block.

Seasonal effects can cause clustered listings. In Phoenix, for instance, many snowbirds had back north in summer, “so the best time to sell in adult communities is October through April,” says Chad Grabham of RETHINK Real Estate.

Buyers tend to think two listings close to each other are coincidence, but with three or more, “it can create the perception that something is wrong,” explains Glen Henderson of Alliance Group Real Estate.

A buyer’s agent needs to do “additional research into the properties to find out if there’s an issue.

For example, “areas of San Diego are known for cracked slabs due to soil conditions,” Henderson says.

Examine if homes are “selling on an upward pricing trend,” adds Jeffrey Miller, of AE Home

Group, Baltimore. If several nearby listings linger on the market “then we view it as a red flag.”

When not caused by adverse conditions, nearby listings have an “anchoring effect,” explains Manoj Thomas, Cornell University consumer psychology professor. Buyers who tour one home, priced at say $450,000 and then another for $425,000, will tend to bid lower on the more expensive home, and negotiate back and forth more than buyers making an offer on the lower priced property.

Anchoring can increase buyers’ confidence, observes Miller. “The more similar the homes are, the easier it is for buyers to analyze value, compare trade-offs, and confidently pull the trigger.”

And just like stores cluster in malls to give shoppers one-stop shopping, home sellers can take advantage of close-by listings.

“You can have several [simultaneous] open houses,” says Grabham, “and make it a mega event to pull in twice the amount of traffic.”

Count the ways nearby listings impact sales

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COMMUNITY ASSOCATIONS _

By Jim Parker

The term may be vague, but there’s more than a one in five chance your residential enclave counts as one. Moreover, its meetings may be standing-roomonly affairs. And what happens at those gatherings impacts the entire area.

These places are community associations.

According to the Foundation for Community Association Research, they also go by such names as planned communities, homeowners or property owners associations, condominium communities and housing cooperatives.

A new report from the Falls Church, Virginiabased foundation concluded that 21.3 percent of the U.S. population– 69 million people – resides in a community association. What’s significant is that the association boards often include homeowners who serve on a voluntary basis to help out their communities, the group says. It developed the findings in partnership with the Community Associations Institute, described as a leading authority on association education and governance.

The foundation yearly publishes the National and State Statistical Review for Community Association Data, a practice dating back more than 40 years.

According to the 2016 report, the institute estimates there are 345,000-347,000 community associations as of this year. Homeowners associations make up 51–55 percent, condos account for 42–45 percent and cooperatives, 3-4 percent. In 1970, the country consisted of 10,000 community associations with about 2.1 million residents, meaning the growth since then stands at 10 fold. Total housing units during the 46-year time frame soared to 26.3 million from 700,000 in 1970.

“By their inherent nature, community associations bring people together, strengthen neighborhood bonds and promote a sense of community and belonging,” says Thomas M. Skiba, the institute’s chief executive. “As we witness the steady expansion with community associations worldwide, these attributes cannot be overlooked,” he says. “Purchasing a home in a community association offers a diverse choice of services and amenities few Americans can individually afford without the shared responsibility enabled by community associations.”

Florida ranks first in community associations at 47,900, home to 9.6 million residents. California places second at 45,400 communities, then Texas with 19,900, Illinois at 18,600, North Carolina with 13,900

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and New York at 13,800 communities. South Carolina stands 16th with 6,800 community associations.

Among other report findings, home values in community associations total close to $5.5 trillion.

Homeowner assessments of $88 billion are collected each year to fund essential maintenance, the institute says.

The report sets out its top reasons for community association growth, notably: 1. Collective management’s value. In the case of community oversight, association boards are comprised of elected homeowners who voluntarily serve, the foundation notes.

2. Public services turned over to private bodies.

Many cities and towns face fiscal challenges, the foundation says, so they require community developers to assume duties that may have belonged to state and local governments such as road maintenance, trash removal and storm water management.

3. Rising rates of affordable housing. In a bid to increase homeownership in the U.S., more inexpensive properties have helped out – particularly for first-time buyers. Condominiums tend to serve as low-cost entry housing, the foundation says.

4. Improving efficiency in the housing market.

According to the foundation, community associations maintain home values, while reducing the need for government oversight and expenses by providing services and responding to local worries.

Elsewhere, the report notes a steady uptick in communities, housing units and residents since 2010.

Regions with the most associations tend to fall on the Eastern Seaboard, Great Lakes region, the West and Texas. Just seven states – Alaska, Arkansas, Mississippi, North Dakota, South Dakota, West Virginia and Wyoming –count fewer than 1,000 associations.

According to the foundation study, 6,0009,000 associations are considered “large scale,” typically meeting criteria such as a minimum 1,000 neighborhood lots and/or homes and a minimum $2 million annual budget.

All told, there are more than 2.6 million board and committee members on the 342,000 associations as of 2016, performing 80 million hours of service a year and racking up $1.93 billion of unpaid work based on the Bureau of Labor Statistics estimate of $22.55 an hour for volunteer time, the study concluded.

Visit www.foundation.caionline.org.

CROWDFUNDING A DOWN PAYMENT _

By Marilyn Kennedy Melia

Cash. We all want it, especially aspiring homebuyers trying to come up with a down payment. Oddly, however, etiquette prevents us from asking for money outright. But in recent years, websites – wedding registries and “crowd-funding” sites – enable buyers to make their request at arm’s length.

Moreover, in late 2017, one lending company has rolled out a crowd-funding pilot program that eliminates the paperwork that’s routinely required by lenders whenever borrowers use gift money for a down payment.

The typical paperwork requires a letter from donors stating that they don’t expect any payback from the homebuyer. And, documentation that the gift-giver had the funds in his savings — and didn’t borrow the money — is required.

Wedding gift cash is “handled slightly differently,” says Neil Caron of Freedom Mortgage.

Couples can expect to furnish their marriage certificate, wedding invitation and the deposit slips from the gifts, Caron says.

Now, another site, HomeFundMe, received the blessing of Fannie Mae, the agency that oversees mortgage lending. Run by CMG Financial, a nationwide mortgage lender, the site lets borrowers collect down payment money, and when borrowers are ready to apply for their mortgage, typical gift-related paperwork is eliminated.

Like other crowd-funding sites, borrowers can plead their case as to why they want a home, and donors can be strangers as well a friends or family who are alerted to the effort.

“In theory, if the story impacts enough people the entire purchase price could even be raised,” says CMG Financial CEO Chris George.

And, if borrowers also attend home buying education, CMG Financial may offer matching money on the gifts collected.

While HomeFundMe is a pilot, if loans made under this model are successful, meaning that borrowers don’t default on their mortgages, George believes more lenders will be rolling out similar programs. © CTW FEATURES

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TRY THIS ON THE GRILL

A GUIDE TO GRILLING WITH WOOD AND SMOKE Slow smoked chicken, ribs, and brisket are staples of the traditional American barbecue. The deep smoky flavors and falloff-the-bone tenderness is a hallmark of the low-and-slow -- a low temperature, cooked over a long time -- cooking technique.

Originally, open pit fires were used for the slow cooking process. Luckily, with a smoker box, wood chips and a gas barbecue, backyard chefs can now taste the smoky flavor of wood and cook with the convenience of gas.

Here are some helpful tips for adding smoky flavor to your next backyard meal. * Wood chips should be soaked in water for at least an hour before using. Drain them and add them to a stainless steel or cast iron smoker box. * Fill the smoker box two-thirds of the way with chips and place the box on either the heat plate above the burner or on the cooking grids. * Add wood chips five to 10 minutes before putting your meat on the grill --raw meats take on smoky flavors much better than even slightly cooked meats. Having a smoky environment to start will enhance and deepened flavors. * Smoked meats will have a deep, pink ring on the outside -- this indicates how deep the smoke has penetrated your meat. * Hickory is probably the most famous smoking hardwood. It imparts a strong hearty flavor to meats and is used mostly to smoke pork shoulders and ribs. * Mesquite is one of the most popular woods, it is sweeter and more delicate than hickory, and is a perfect complement to richly flavored meats such as beef, duck or lamb. * Apple has a sweet, mild flavor and is used mostly with pork and game, but can be used for poultry as well.

More grilling tips and recipes are available online at www.broilkingbbq.com.

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Assistive Living Technology Helps Disabled Residents Feel Secure At Home _

By Alex McCarthy | JuneauEmpire.com

Sandy Frickey , left, talks about new assistive technology being used at home to help Frickey’s daughter, Gina, be safe.

(Michael Penn | Juneau Empire)

Juneau becomes the first city in Alaska with SimplyHome service Gina Frickey, left, and Sabrina Cardinal, a service coordinator for REACH, talk about new assistive technology being used in Frickey’s home to help her stay safe. (Michael Penn | Juneau Empire) The Frickey residence, located Out the Road, is in a picturesque spot. Snowladen trees surround the house, the interior of which is bright, wood-paneled and decorated for the holidays.

Despite the beauty, it can be treacherous living out there, due to isolation and the bears that lurk around the property. For Gina Frickey, living in the house with her mother Sandy, cerebral palsy and memory issues made it even more dangerous.

“I would be getting up in the middle of the night, I would be trying to use the restroom and then falling down,” Gina explained.

Gina, 39, would also sometimes forget to close the doors when she went outside, leaving the family’s multitude of dogs and cats at risk of escaping — or allowing outside animals to come into the house.

A longtime client of REACH, Gina has thrived in a variety of realms, from being one of the early leaders of REACH’s shredding program to producing pottery at The Canvas community art studio. But her struggles at home were frustrating both for her and Sandy.

A solution to their problems was all the way in North Carolina. A company called SimplyHome specializes in designing in-home systems that assist individuals with disabilities, and the Frickey house recently became the second residence in Alaska to have the system installed.

Motion sensors are installed above all the exterior doors, and in multiple locations in the house as well. The system was specifically designed to make for a safer environment when Gina gets up in the night to use the bathroom.

There’s a pad on her bed that senses whether she’s in bed or not, which then communicates with other sensors around the house.

The motion sensor in the bathroom knows when Gina is out of bed, and calls Gina out by name if it senses she has fallen asleep or fallen in the bathroom. To add to that, Sandy gets alerts to her phone if Gina has been out of bed or immobile for a certain period of time.

These precautions have put both of them at ease.

“Safety-wise,” Sandy said, “things are a lot better.”

Representatives from REACH first met SimplySafe employees at an American Network of Community Options and Resources (ANCOR) conference, and talked back and forth with them for the ensuing months.

This February, SimplyHome representatives ended up coming up to Juneau to see what kind of distinctive challenges and situations people with disabilities were facing in town. SimplyHome Chief Development Officer Jason Ray was on that trip, and said he and his colleagues were immediately interested.

“REACH really wanted to be a pioneer and a leader in Alaska for finding new ways to support their individuals,” Ray said. “They really saw this as a good opportunity for them and we wanted to help them in that process.”

Juneau is currently the only city in the state with SimplyHome, and the company now has installations in more than 30 states. There are four residences in Juneau with systems in place, with the Frickeys’ house being the second. There are two more residences currently working with SimplyHome now, REACH Service Coordinator Sabrina Cardinal said.

The system, which is run through a large white box centrally located in the house, has been easy to operate. Sandy, a self-described non-techie, said she doesn’t touch the equipment much and that it’s worked well on its own. Each system is catered to the specific residents, helping in areas such as cooking safety, bathing needs, sleep patterns, food access, medication safety and general independence.

The system cost a little more than $3,000 at the Frickeys, in addition to a $65 fee per month, but REACH does quite a bit in applying for grants and helping to fund the systems. REACH employee Henry Wyatt installs the systems, which saves about $500 in installation fees.

Overall, the system has put Gina and Sandy more at ease. The five cats and two dogs (as well as neighbor dogs and grand-dogs) are less likely to go out of the house with motion sensors to remind Gina to close the door.

Most importantly, though, Gina feels safer and more secure in her home.

“I would recommend it to anybody and everybody who might need it,” Gina said, “because it’s an awesome thing to have.”

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First-Time Buyers _

By Marilyn Kennedy Melia

Lenders are warming up to Struggling, First-Time Buyers HOPEFUL BUYERS who’ve worried they’ll never pass muster with a mortgage lender could be surprised by approval in 2018.

More than half of the 200 mortgage professionals polled recently predict that growth in first-time buyers will beat overall housing market growth next year, in part because financing rules are easing.

More mortgages requiring a down payment of just 3 percent of a home’s purchase price will be made, as well as loans to people with lower credit scores – 620 and higher –forecast the lenders, surveyed by Genworth Mortgage Insurance.

“While these loans are in fact widely available, not all potential homebuyers and borrowers

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are aware of them,” says John Clifford, Genworth senior vice president.

Still, a different hurdle, “actually finding that home,” still will prevail in 2018, says Keith Gumbinger, of mortgage data site HSH.com.

“There’s just not a big inventory of homes on the market.”

Before the actual house hunt, most real estate agents usually ask buyers to visit a lender for pre-approval on how much they can borrow.

Seeing a lender early also is advisable. The two most readily available 3-percent-down-loan plans that are approved by government rulemaking agencies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac – the “HomeReady and“Home Possible” mort-

gages – may require that the borrower complete a homebuyer education course.

Moreover, while a borrower with a credit score between 580 and 620 might be able to receive an FHA-insured mortgage, “some lenders are leery of making these,” Gumbinger says.

Borrowers may want to shop a couple of different banks and/or mortgage brokers to see what they might qualify for – and the rate and fees on the loans. “Rates are higher when credit scores are lower,” Gumbinger says. “While a borrower with a 740 credit score might qualify for a four percent loan, someone with a 680 score might pay 4.5 percent.” © CTW FEATURES

An Upward Trend According to the Pew Research Center, 2016 continued a recordsetting trend with 60.6 million Americans living in multi-generational households— and home designs are quickly

An In-Demand Floor Plan for Multi-Generational Households American families have changed a lot in the past few decades. But most homes were built for the stereotypical two parents, 2.5 children household.

“Today’s consumers are thinking about accommodations for both their aging parents and young adult children who have not moved out,” says Chris Porter, chief demographer at John Burns Real Estate Consulting.

That conclusion was reached after a survey of 21,000 prospective home shoppers, with 45 percent indicating they would like a floor plan to accommodate a multiwww.capitalcityweekly.com

generational family.

A separate master suite with its own entrance, and perhaps equipped with a mini-kitchen and small living area, is what multigenerational families living together would desire most, Porter says.

But they could house hunt a long time before finding these features.

“Existing homes are typically not oriented to a convenient private access unless it’s on a second floor or to an apartment above the garage – especially if the garage is separate from the home,” Porter says.

Renovating an existing home is

Multi-generational family homes have continued to rise, even though the Great Recession is now in the rear-view mirror. Growing racial and ethnic diversity in the U.S. population helps explain some of the rise.

As a result, home designs are including efficiency apartments, suitable for independent living or a rental income.

an option. However, “adding a second entrance could be expensive. It may be cheaper to buy a [newly built] home, unless the neighborhood is very strong,” Porter observes. In areas where home prices appreciate at a strong rate, the cost of renovation is more likely to be recouped.

Dina Petrakis of Littlerock Renovation Coaching says buyers of an existing home would have to first make sure it could be remodeled to suit their needs.

In the Chicago neighborhoods where she works, it’s popular to remodel a “two-flat,” originally built

to house two families on two different floors, into one larger home, and renovating the basement as a suite with its own entrance.

Recognizing the demand, builders are increasingly constructing multigenerational homes, Porter says.

But could such homes become obsolete, should families revert back to the 1950’s Ozzie and Harriet model?

“The great thing about the separate lock-off space is it could be used for other purposes,” Porter says. Those include a home office, or a space to rent, Airbnb style.

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