6 worst homes fixes for the money....

It's the magic phrase uttered by almost anyone who's ever considered the cost of home remodeling: "We'll use our home equity and get it back when we sell." Unless you keep those projects practical, though, you might just be kidding yourself.

For example:

• Steel front door: Good.
• Master suite addition costing more than the average American home: Bad.

Every year, Remodeling magazine looks at the hottest home upgrades and renovations and calculates just how much owners get back when they sell. Upkeep is more popular than upgrades these days, says Sal Alfano, editorial director for Remodeling. These are the projects that often recoup the biggest slice of expenses at resale. But prices and returns do vary regionally, he says.

Ever wonder what brings the lowest return when you plant that "for sale" sign? Think high-dollar, high-end and highly personalized add-ons that make you drool. Like a totally tricked-out garage built from the ground up. Or a super luxe master suite addition. Or the home office redo designed just for you. Here are the six improvements that, in their 2010 report, ranked dead last nationally when it comes to getting those renovation dollars back at resale.

Home Office Renovation:

The standard home office renovation, meanwhile -- complete with plenty of built-in storage and high-tech wiring -- is this year's biggest loser in the resale value sweepstakes. Nationally, homeowners spent an average of $28,888 and can expect to recoup about 45.8 percent at resale, according to the report.

Backup Power Generator:

On average, when homeowners have a heavy-duty backup power generator installed, they spend about $14,718, according to the report. Average amount of the price recovered at resale time: 48.5 percent.

Sunroom Addition:

While it seems simple enough, the national average for a sunroom addition is $75,224, according to the report. Homeowners can expect to recoup about 48.6 percent when they sell. Be careful in areas of historic designation, some areas will not allow you to affect the front of the house or anywhere that can be viewed from the street.

 

Upscale Master Suite Addition:

For a super-deluxe master suite addition -- which adds square footage and uses only top-dollar materials -- the average cost is about $232,062, according to the report. Sellers can expect to recover about 52.7 percent at resale.

Bathroom Additions:

For a moderately outfitted addition with synthetic stone or plastic laminate surfaces, figure parting with about $21,695, according to the Remodeling report. Go upscale, with finishes like premium marble or fine tile, and you can easily spend in the neighborhood of $40,710. Either way, you can expect to recover about 53 percent at resale

 

Upscale garage addition:

The price tag for a top-of-the-line detached two-car with all the trimmings is about $90,053, according to the report. You can expect to recover about 53.6 percent of that when you sell.

Why is this important? Be careful when looking at remodeling and make sure you do your research on the value you will receive.

I can do most every job in Real Estate

But the one I dislike the most is painting. I had to paint the trim and touchup spots yesterday for a house I own and am selling. It reminded me of the first time I really did lots of painting, our fraternity house. The summer time before school started, for 2 weeks, we lived and worked on the house. It was hot, sweaty and not a fun time.

Fast forward to our house in Atlanta, we, I was married at this time with my wonderful wife Liz, thought that it would be a great idea to ask our friends and family to help us paint, in exchange for Pizza and camaraderie, we forgot to schedule painting for the winter or spring, instead doing it at the height of summer. I don't think I walked straight for a week after that experience. Also, our family relations were a bit strained afterward.

Don't get me wrong, painting is important to a house, it shows character and in many cases can protect the walls and structure against the ills of water, heat, and cold. Now that we have a stucco house here in Jacksonville, FL, we have had to paint the exterior twice. Sure it would nice to have a ceder shake shingle or brick house that does not need painting, but there would always be interior rooms and so I try and outsource as much of this as possible. I am not a clean painter, my wife calls me a messy painter.

So on my properties, I practice, practice, practice, I take my time not to rush through, use drop cloths, and make sure that I stop in between each task item. I need to stay positive and make sure that I have the energy to complete the work, so I am positive that this old dog has learned some new tricks. Perhaps proof positive that the more you do something, the better you get at doing it.

Jack

I found this interesting about Blackstone Group...

What Blackstone's new real estate business really means for the market…

Private-equity giant Blackstone Group recently announced it would start making private loans to landlords who are looking to grow their residential housing portfolio, but are struggling to raise capital from traditional sources like banks. According to Blackstone, the minimum loan is $10 million. And the rates will float between 5% and 7% for up to five years.

Some people view this as a bullish development for the real estate market. But I don't think the implications for the real estate market will be very large…

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac already enable a huge amount of residential mortgage lending. The U.S. is by far the best market in the world for long-term fixed-rate real estate lending. And I'm sure that Fannie and Freddie will get back into the landlord-lending business at some point.

In the short term, Blackstone's actions will increase the amount of capital available for apartment development a little bit, which is good for our country. But I think the bigger issue is not what this does to the capital markets. I think the bigger issue is what it could mean to Blackstone shareholders…

I don't believe large-scale landlords are able to efficiently own single-family homes. It requires so much overhead to maintain an individual property that I doubt it can be done in scale.

So I see Blackstone's decision to move into apartment lending as a sign that it may be ready to unload its large amount of residential property. I always felt that experiment would end in failure unless Blackstone was willing to quickly flip the properties. I think this is an indication that Blackstone will be unloading its residential real estate much faster than people expected… The firm already announced it would accelerate its real estate sales over the next 18 months.

I believe Blackstone discovered that the overhead cost of trying to maintain a portfolio of single-family homes is too great… And I'd be surprised if they don't liquidate that portfolio quickly over the next five years. And that's wiser and much more efficient than trying to own individual homes and then getting into the business of lending to small-scale apartment owners.

So far this year, Blackstone has spent $5.6 billion on real estate (mostly single-family homes), up from $4.7 billion at this point last year… It's now the largest landlord in the U.S.

To me, Jack, this looks like the beginning of the end of Private Equity buying homes, if they cannot make the returns they wanted, they will look to dump them as other equities rise in value and play those trades. Watch interest rates, as they rise, you will start seeing more properties on the market. Banks need higher rates to make more money.....

Cutting down trees at 7:30 in the morning

I was awakened this morning to the use of a chainsaw to cut down trees that had fallen yesterday afternoon as a result of some strong wind and rain. Living in Jacksonville, you may hear something before the 8 AM hour, but most of the time it is a car using its horn. Not chainsaws or crews cutting items.

Since the storms roll through the afternoon and evening hours, it is understandable that the workers can only get to the issues the next day. But really, 7:30 in the morning? Perhaps they could add an air horn to let us all know it is time to rise and shine. A new version of a rooster.

This in not a common occurance, and I understand the need to get to other jobs, if this is a handyperson doing the work. It is good to get work done, especially at 7:30 if the work needs to be done and especially if it HAS to be done. What work do you HAVE to get done today?

Jack

Customer Service

I may have written about customer service in the past and I am going to write about it again. I purchased an item from a 3rd party, it was supposed to have arrived 2 weeks ago, but the delivery company would not deliver the item without a signature so for 4 separate instances the item was loaded onto a truck, and they tried to deliver it, and now have sent it back to the 3rd party.

In a day and age when I can track and package with the push of a button, do the shipping companies not call and schedule delivery of items? Has customer service come so far to be pushed back into the dark ages when it comes to common courtesy? Why can't I receive a simple call when a driver is in my area, so I can rush home and get ready for the delivery of my item?

So I contacted the company by Twitter and their email system. The email system was absolutely worthless. Send an email into oblivion or the far side of the moon as far as I know. Instead, I decided to use social media, so I banged away on Twitter, Facebook and looked for other ways to contact them. I did receive communication by Twitter. I had used Twitter when an airline lost my bag in New York, to great success. So I was hopeful I would get similar results.

In the end the shipper sent the package back. They said they tried to help, maybe they did, maybe not, but the bulk of the blame resides here in Jacksonville. Why is it that these people could not pickup the phone and make a call to me and schedule a time for delivery? Simple common courtesy. They could have even used a computer to make the call.

As Clark Howard calls it, this is Customer No-Service.

Jack

Friends come in and out of your life

I learned a lot about people in my 14 years as a salesperson. I learned that NO does not mean NO, it only means, I don't have a need for your product or service at the moment. I also learned that people come in and out of your life on a daily, weekly and monthly basis. The key to life is to always be willing to meet other people.

Shyness is a natural part of growing up. We all were shy at one point in our life, hiding behind our parents when introduced to "strangers" in our family and among their friends. However, as we grew, our needs changed, we now noticed members of the opposite sex, we noticed that we shared common traits with others and that being shy was really just something you did when you were younger.

We all need each other to survive, you can't sell to a computer and expect the computer to love the product or service you deliver all the time. After all, who built and programmed the computer? (Forget Hollywood for a minute) That is right, we did, human beings. So it stands to reason that if we want to receive something from other human beings, perhaps we need to learn to GIVE and get back to the days of being a teenager and having no fear.

So as friends come in and out of your life as their and your situations change, always remember that it is good to get youthful and get out there and make new friends. Who knows, perhaps the next person you meet can help you to satisfy a need. You will never know until you start! I like Wayne Gretzky, the famous hockey player's quote, "You miss 100% of the shots you never take."

Start taking shots!

Jack

6 homicides in Jacksonville so far this July?

Normally, I say that the heat is the reason for the homicides in the summertime. Lots of people in small spaces make people a little more unstable, but killing unstable? It seems every time I turn on the TV or twitter, I learn about a shooting, robbery, a break-in, it is almost becoming common place. Has crime gotten so bad that we accept it as a society in Jacksonville?

Our fearless leaders, law enforcement, mayor, are engaged in a bitter process with the budget for 2013-2014 going on now, pensions being the main issue. No one seems to care that citizens are killing each other or committing more crimes. Where is Sheriff Rutherford? Was a time when the Sheriff would walk the streets to ask the neighbors about their situations. Is it too hot for our Sheriff?

Then our mayor likes to be on TV so much, I'd swear he works for a TV station. I have yet to hear him discuss the issue about the rise in crime. He claims to be a man of the people, yet I have not seen him in public except at a Jaguar press conference. Maybe he is lobbying for a position when the citizens boot him out of office. He does look good on TV.

I remember when John Delaney was in office and his staff gave away Crape Myrtles and discussed volunteering to help each other. That was a long time ago, have we come that far so fast? Mayor Peyton was a nice mayor, but I don't remember much of a lasting effect from him like Delaney had with the Better Jax Plan as well as the giving away and volunteer efforts. Maybe we should look to get back to what was working a few short years ago. Take care of ourselves and our communities, as it seems our leaders do not care like they did a short time ago.

Jack

Watch what you eat

Yes, I know, everyone says this, your doctor tells you this multiple times, but it is true. My wife and I have been off meat now for almost 5 months and we have noticed a difference in our blood pressure as well as overall health. We only eat fish and vegetables. I saw a study that linked eating meat with Alzheimer's, which her father has, and truly, we don't need to eat the cow, chicken or hog.

Today I was listening to CNN, I know, why bother, right? They were talking that at the fast food restaurants, there are all kinds of nutritional labels on the menus, but were people taking notice and changing their eating habits? No, they really didn't care, which means, to me, that something more dramatic will need to happen to change their habits.

But what? Well, how about a tax on the items that make us the most unhealthy? Sure, go ahead and eat some cow, but we all know that meat leads to excess fat which leads to excess midsection which leads to long term healthcare consequences. Tax the food that makes healthcare rise. If you consume it, you should pay for it. Sort of along the lines of the flat tax idea.

Controversial, heck yes it is, but it may be the only way you can change the bad habits of people. If the Quarter Pounder with cheese costs 7 bucks alone for the sandwich, with 3 bucks going to the healthcare fund, I think you are onto something, will it cure the healthcare woes, no, but it will contribute to the fund of non-insured and may force people to look at lower cost healthier options.

Jack

Wanting is not the same as needing

I have been to some amazing places over the last few months. I am blessed to have a great family, great wife, and great life. We just returned from New York, Connecticut, and Massachusetts a few weeks ago, and then my wife decides to tell me, hey, we are going to the Keys for a few days then we will go somewhere again soon in September.

The whole reason to want to go somewhere was so that we could accommodate going to see a friend's son who was on vacation with her girlfriend's family. I had to drop the news yesterday, it was that I was tired and I had other items to take care of over the weekend. I made the mistake of not having a backup option for them, so I scrambled around and found one, but by then they had contacted my wife and told her, " its ok, we did not need to go either."

Hmmmmph, so they only wanted to go, did not need to go. I understand why people want to go do things, we all have a materialistic side, an ego of desires, but sometimes, oftentimes, that ego needs to be checked and held back. Yes, vacation to the Keys would have been nice, but was not a need to me. What I needed to do was take care of our affairs and that was more important than another vacation. Apparently our friends needed to do something else with their days as well.

In this case, I went with my gut to tell me what was right and what I needed to do. I had to get in check with what allows me to sleep at night and work within my confines. If you cannot live within yourself, you will have many long nights. I know, I have been there, but with great friends, family, you have a way to ground yourself!

Jack

How can you NOT have a smartphone?

I was reading an article earlier that stated that Realtors, my wife is one of this group, are being judged by prospects based on their ability to use technology. Really, people judging other people? Say its not so! There are some people who do not use a Smartphone.

Add a signature at the bottom of every device you use to communicate. Your iphone, android, outlook or other email system should all have a signature line to alert people that is YOU who is communicating with them. It bugs me to no end to receive communication from others and have no signature line at the bottom. Am I not important enough to warrant a signature line?

Texting is here to stay, hate it, love it, get OVER it. Texting is the in between area for those who want to call, or send an email. Sometimes 140 characters says more than a 5 minute conversation or 400 word email. The same can be said for electronic documents or e-forms. If you have documentation people need to sign, there is no need to get together, you can send them the forms, they sign them online and move on. Time is important to people these days, we need to use it wisely.

Jack

Healthcare is a major problem

I don't get health care. I don't understand how expensive it has become, how hospitals have become corporations of care. I see hospitals becoming the next banking crisis. I see people enter hospitals for an issue and leave 7 days later with a $200,000 bill. Who can afford the cost of a new house? Liens, lawsuits, it is never ending spiral.

I recently had to get new coverage for myself and my wife. We purchased a nice simple $5,000 deductible plan per person, $10,000 ded for the family. We were at a modest price then all of a sudden, 1 year later, we found our plan being jacked up 15%, because the healthcare said we were 1 year older and due to "their" increase in expenses. What what?

In looking for plans, I stumbled upon the HSA program, health savings account, where you put money into an account, it grows tax free and you can take it out tax free once you hit 65, sort of a savings account for healthcare. I can get a catastrophic plan for the hospital coverage, then a savings account to pay for our own doc visits or specialists, and we can start taking better care of ourselves.

So the burden, as it should have been all along, is back on us, the individual. I can see how we as a society thought that healthcare, if we buy it, should take care of us. We have it, so we are covered and can eat as much sugar and fat as we can intake. I think more people should be denied healthcare coverage, if you are denied, you have to work smarter with your own body and know what you can and cannot do. Healthcare is for sure going to be a major mess for many years to come.

Jack

Another deficit?

Jacksonville, FL is a great city, we, the residents and citizens have a lot going for us, great temperatures this summer, nice periods of rain. The summer has been ideal so far. As we get closer to October 1, which is the deadline for the City to reach a compromise on a budget, we see that the Mayor wants to eliminate police and fire and libraries, again.

Cutting services is, to me, like cutting off your fingers, you know you need them, but you cannot afford them. Why can't we afford them? Our costs for our pensions keeps rising and rising and rising. The mayor did find a way to cut some money from the pension issue, but it is not enough to balance the budget each year, which is what he should have accomplished. How can you claim to solve a problem, if every year you run a deficit?

So we go through the summer, waiting, hoping, remembering last year and how the budget came down to the bitter end. We don't know what backroom deals will take place, we only know that  one way or another, a new budget for our great city will get signed and implemented. Hopefully with the same police, fire and library personnel. We shall see.

Jack

Fertilizer?

No I am not talking about the stuff that comes out of a politician's mouth in Washington DC, although I did see a rant this week that reminded me that some of the people in DC enjoy their TV time a wee bit too much. I am talking about the stuff we throw on our grass.

I was listening to a local radio program, it is on Saturday mornings and they were discussing what to do, when the heat cranks up for your lawn. We all know that the mid 90s will return, sometime, but they said we really need to look at our lawns, daily. Why? Because with the rain, the heat and the organisms, there are changes every day in our lawns.

The mentioned a chinch bug control called Arena, see more here:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=znEUMzXLIjw , which works well and controls the Chinch bug, which can decimate a St. Augustine lawn in a short amount of time. I'd never heard of it, I was amazed of what it can do. Very little cost for controlling these nuisances and control for 2-3 months. Let me know how it works for you.

Jack

Leaders Lead and followers follow along...

I was sitting at lunch today and we normally have a table of 10-15 "guys" and we pontificate about nothing, most days, but today was a good day to discuss something! We discussed an event that someone had been having and how it started out 40 years ago, as a grass roots event with bare boned expenses. Sitting around a campfire and everyone brought their own chairs, food, etc.

Now that event has grown to the magnitude of a social club involved where the bring in chairs, tables, nice while tablecloths and of course added expense. For pete's sake they charge 5 bucks for a potato. Really?

So the guy in charge of the event said, that is enough, we are going back to grass roots, bare back style next year. One end of the spectrum to another. But what about the social club? Well, they will have to adjust and work on making money elsewhere, as they should. No club should ever look to profit from what was once a friendly gathering. But maybe it was easier for some leaders to go with the flow and allow it to happen. Nice to see leaders lead and followers follow.

Jack

Do you dream at night?

Many "experts" that I have heard say that dreams are the pathway to the soul. If that is the case, my soul is a trainwreck. I had a dream that woke me up this morning. I was somewhere other than where I live in Jacksonville, at the Super Bowl (hmmmm, could not be more than 31 other places?), and I was there with some of my fraternity brothers (Beta Theta Pi at Georgia Tech).

We had been to dinner and we were having fun and we decided to go to the game. That was when yours truly had had a bit too much to drink and I ended up running into a policeman that had come to my rescue in a previous real experience (I called out 2 police officers to address an unruly neighbor owner). Being a bit tipsy the officer pulled me aside and asked me if I was OK.

I informed the officer that I did not feel well, and that I had confronted another officer earlier (cries for help is what this sounds like) and he did nothing to help me. So this officer took my wallet, did not return it, and I was asked to leave  the stadium. When I complied, I realized I had left the stadium without my wallet. How was I to get home eventually, driving or flying? I tried to desperately get back in the stadium, I tried to describe the policeman, but it was pointless, I had to rely on this person to get me my item.

Then I woke up. What does it all mean? I don't know, but it sounds like I had one heckuva day yesterday or week and that I had better cut down on being tipsy, be more respectful to police, and be more responsible citizen in public. Hope I find my wallet!

Jack

Stand your ground?

Yesterday I was working at an investment property. I was removing the old fence at the property, it was done, needed to go. So I removed the posts, and placed them by the street for the metal resellers to take. In the process of doing so, the neighbors next door, who have 2 great and cool dogs called their landlord to inquire as to it.

So their landlord comes out and wants to ask me what my plans were, and I said I was removing the fence to this far, and was not going to impact the fence for the dogs. So the renters were relieved, but apparently the owner was not. He started challenging me about the new wooden fence I installed. He then said it was not to code, he continued at me with names, his friends with him did the same, and I got fed up with it and called the police.

So I called the police, they were in the area, and busy for the day, but they did stop by and I explained what happened, the owner was gone by this time, the tenant came out and we had a nice discussion, but the owner was just a complete you-know-what. I stood my ground, did not back down, but no one wins in an argument, so remember, sometimes it is best to pack up your stuff, turn the other cheek and avoid confrontation, especially when the other person is bent on just picking a fight.

Jack

Out with the old, in with the new

Who has not been spammed, I get it daily, by radio, by email, by direct mail, by friends. We have all this "stuff" coming at us, designed to get us to identify with their message by searching our needs to see if any of the messages will stick. Spam, it is a problem.

We cannot do much about direct mail spam, it comes and keeps mail people employed. Friends are friends until we see them as just spammers who see us as a number. We can turn off the radio or TV and eliminate that issue, with email, there is a law against it, yet people still do it....so does it make it legal to spam someone?

That is the debate my local real estate investor group is having now. Can we spam people? The answer is obviously no, but the larger issue is, can we continue to market to people who 4 years ago bought a product of ours, we can if they OPT-IN, where we send them an email link, they go to a site and opt-in to receiving our information. For new people to our site, they opt-in once, then we send them a link to opt-in a second time. It is part of what is needed to satisfy the email police. Even then it may not be enough.

If 1 or 2 or 3 people send a note to the spam police that what we send them is spam, this goes through the internet like wildfire and other email servers see it and conclude, right or wrong, that we are email spammers. Is it worth it? I say it is not, outsource the email to a 3rd party, let them work with us to clean up the email list or outsource this to a marketing firm who can clean it up.

We need to send a clean, concise message and spamming people from long ago will not build a solid brand. It only builds a number of wild bees who wish you would go away. Limit the liability and move the bees to someone who knows what they are doing.

Jack

Practice what you preach.

I am rehabbing a house in Jacksonville, and I paid a fence company to come out and install a new fence. They also removed an old fence, which they did a good job on, but when they installed the new fence, they left the white tags at the bottom of each post, so now there are white tags at the bottom of each fence post, if they are not littered on the ground near the fence.

So I went to look at their website, sure enough, no white tags at the bottom of their fence posts, so to me, deceptive marketing lies all around us. You cannot trust what people are going to do, until you confront them with the power of money. Hold back money from purchases, to make sure the work is done and done to your satisfaction, not your contractor, not your nosy neighbor, YOUR satisfaction.

Amazed at the number of people who say they are social media experts and who have not blogged or tweeted in months

I read Seth Godin's blog, not every day, but most days. He has like 20 years of blog posts, one a day and he has created thousands of posts. He is, to me, the undisputed leader of blogging and posting. So why is it that other so-called experts think they are experts, yet they only have maybe 2 posts on a blog (even I have more than that), and only a few hundred tweets. Don't you have to eat your own product, to prove to me you are worth my money to you as a social media expert? I think so. Jack

What is up with all the young people walking around with their shirts out? I see it every time I travel on a plane, youngsters dressing as if they are on a bus instead of a plane. While I see professionals in button downs, with coats and BELTS, (Any Gen-Y or Z folks know what a BELT is - No its not what your daddy used on you when you were bad, it is part of the dress code) I still see too many men with an untucked shirt and looking like a slob. Maybe Animal House has a rebirth in today's culture, because the new class of leaders look like slobs, everywhere you look. If you want to have your elders and peers look down on, keep on looking like you came from a Spring Break party at PC Beach. I would never hire someone who looked like a train wreck, their residence probably looks worse. Jack

What is up with generation Y complaining? I mean really, I was in generation X, and I came out of college during the recession of 1992. Without receiving ANY job interviews with my flattering 2.2 GPA, I knew I had to do something different from the norm. Anyone coming out of college is not guaranteed a job, get over it, and realize that if "It is to be, Its Up to Me". I worked in computers at Deloitte Touche for 15 months before my graduation, I worked to setup PCs and laptops, this lead to a job at Coca-Cola working in their Workstation Support group. Had I never been exposed to computers, I never would have found my 1st job. It lead to other great IT jobs and I was able to transition into Real Estate and Sales before the bubble burst in 2001. Generation Y, grab yourself by the bootstraps and rise up. Get into what your generation is about, social media and taking care of boomers and find a way to become successful with the hand life has dealt you. Our country needs successful people, not whiners! Jack

Systems: Why is it that McDonald's sells more burgers than yourself? We all know your burger is better tasting and has more good toppings, but the difference is that McDonald's has a system, that they work and repeat and repeat and repeat, they keep pounding on what works. It is a great solution for them to sell everything from ice cream to fish bites. Their stock references it as well. Real estate is the same process. Build a system and follow it and become an expert in real estate. Very cool and you can rock it out! Jack

Collect the rents

Amazing how people can think they can skip out on rent. We have 9 rental properties and most people start out thinking they will pay the rent, then as time goes by, rent falls behind JEA and Cable, until pedicures are more important than rent.

Bull poop, rent is the most important thing, as my friend Paul Howard and Bill Gray have taught me. Pay it or I send your stuff to the street and I send you packing AND I send the rent owed to the three collection agencies.

Someone said being a landlord would get us ahead. It sure does not feel like it.

Happy Monday! Jack

Signs - are they really a problem?

Signs signs signs, everywhere are signs. So what? Are they really the devil as some in the City of Jacksonville claim, or do these government employees just need more to do? I think they are good to show people where local businesses are located. After all don't we as a society have more to worry about like teens on their cell phone while driving....anyway these kids are not our target market anyway. But really $250 for a first offense? Is the city that much of a pain to money? Guess so. But signs do work, otherwise people would not put them out. So do it and try it and see what happens in real estate. Jack