Hows the Market January

Hows the market with Ebbie Bogema. Every month Ebbie takes a look at the Lake of the Ozarks Real Estate market and it reports it to you. To view her video report, simply click on the screen here. As always if you are in the market for Real Estate here at the lake, please contact the Spouses Selling Houses team at 573-302-2313. Thank you.

Mortgage rates hit all-time low!

Average U.S. rates on fixed mortgages fell to fresh record lows this week, a trend that has helped the housing market start to recover this year.

Mortgage buyer Freddie Mac says that the average rate on the 30-year loan dipped to 3.34 percent, the lowest on records dating back to 1971. That's down from 3.40 percent last week and the previous record low of 3.36 percent reached last month.

The average on the 15-year fixed mortgage also dropped to 2.65 percent. That's down from 2.69 percent last week and also a new record.

The average rate on the 30-year loan has been below 4 percent all year. It has fallen further since the Federal Reserve started buying mortgage bonds in September to encourage more borrowing and spending.

Low mortgage rates have helped boost sales of newly built and previously occupied homes this year. Home prices are also increasing, and builders are more confident and starting work on more new homes.

If you are in the market for a home at the lake please contact the Spouses Selling Houses team. Until next time! Ebbie :)

Wood Burning Tips

There is nothing like a warm wood fire crackling in the fireplace during these chilly months. Below we have listed just a few wood burning tips to enhance your enjoyment.

1. Never burn:

• Plastics
• Glossy magazines or newsprint
• Painted or treated wood
• Foil or metallic-coated gift wrap
• Particle board
• Household garbage (diapers, plastic bags, etc.)
• Plywood
• Rags or fabrics made of synthetic materials

These items release toxic chemicals into the air that can be harmful to your health and damage your stove or fireplace.

2. Split your firewood

Wood dries from the surface inward, so un-split wood dries very slowly. The more surface wood is exposed by splitting, the faster the wood will dry. Stack the wood loosely to promote air circulation.

3. Burn seasoned firewood only

The time it takes freshly split wood to become fully seasoned will vary with the type of wood, its thickness, and the weather. As a general rule, however, one should allow a year for wood to dry for efficient, clean indoor burning. Cracks in the ends of the wood are an indication that it is fully seasoned and ready for burning. You can also test whether the wood is fully seasoned by striking two pieces together. Dry wood gives a sharp ‘crack’ while unseasoned wood sounds more like a dull ‘thud’.

Unseasoned firewood provides less heat energy when burned, yet releases more smoke and contributes to hazardous creosote buildup in chimneys.

4. Store wood outside, covered on top with sides open to air

Cut, split and stack firewood in a place sheltered from the weather, but not covered on the sides, so as to optimize air circulation. Block up the bottom row of wood several inches off the ground. During snowfalls, throw a tarp over the woodpile to keep blowing snow out of the stacked wood.

5. Store only a small amount of wood inside your home.

Bringing large amounts of firewood into the home to ‘pre-dry’ is counter-productive, and may release excess humidity into the room. When lifting from the woodshed into the carrying box, or wood sling, a quick tap against a hard surface will release any spiders that otherwise will be brought into your home.

6. Split wood into pieces 4-6 inches in diameter.

Firewood will burn cleaner when more surface area is exposed to the flame. Use the smaller split pieces to get the fire started, and only use larger pieces of wood once the fire is well established.

7. Make sure your fire is getting enough air.

This will ensure it burns hot and clean. Check the air intake of your heater to ensure there are no blockages from dust balls and spider webs. If you have a through-floor intake, check to see that the screen is brushed clean and not obstructed by insect debris or spider webs.

A properly burning fireplace is hotter, produces less smoke and is more efficient. This means more warmth for less money and less impact to your health.

8. Don’t stuff too much wood inside the firebox.

Overloading the firebox can reduce the amount of air needed for ideal combustion. Refuel more often with smaller loads with the air inlet open wide to keep the fire burning briskly. If you need to shut the fire down, wait until it is well-established before turning down the damper. If you throw a fresh log in just before closing the damper, it may smolder for some time before reaching a cleaner combustion stage.

9. Let your fire go out at night.

To reduce the level of wood smoke pollution in towns and cities it is recommended that you do not burn your wood heater overnight on reduced air flow. This will save you some wood and help your stove and chimney remain cleaner for a longer period of time. It will cost less to let your wood heater go out over night and run an electric heater in the morning for 2 hours, than to keep your wood heater burning through the night.

Stay warm! if you are int he market for a home at the lake, please contact the Spouses Selling Houses team. Until next time! Ebbie :)

Organized House Hunting

Buying a home is not like shopping for anything else. For some, a car, boat or other big investment might come in second. But, despite the significant importance of buying a home, many buyers still fail to have a strategy to go about determining which home they really want.

Today, there are many systems available to help buyers. There is plenty of information online from articles to sites that have calculators to determine how much home you can afford. There are even apps to store your notes, photos, and links of your favorite home so that they're accessible on your mobile devices and smartphones.

However, in this column, we're going back to the basics. I discovered a sheet that's offered by HUD. It's a good tool for buyers to use to make notes. Some buyers simply bring along a notepad and jot information down on sheets of paper. By doing this they often run the risk of not making good enough notes to decipher later when they're trying to review what they liked or didn't like. Also, without a standard form, the notes buyers take can vary drastically from home to home.

Printing out a form like the one mentioned above, or creating one based on this form, allows you to have a handy tool to put the information about the homes you view in one central place. It'll make it that much easier when you're ready to review the homes.

I suggest getting a three-ring binder and placing many copies of this form in the binder. Include blank notepaper as well. Make sure there are pockets to store loose pages, cards, etc.

As you make your way through the house-hunting process, you'll find a binder and a home buyer's checklist are invaluable. Just think about how they can help. For instance, when you're leaving work on a lunch break, you won't be searching for a notepad or the Multiple Listing Service sheet that your real estate agent sent you. Instead, have that information stored neatly inside your binder with your checklist ready to go. Grab the binder and you're on your way.

You should scan the information in, or if you really want to be creative, you can create a PDF that you can type in the information you want to record using an iPad while you're at the homes you are viewing. Combine that with photo-sharing sites and you have a great way to record your facts and thoughts about the home all online or in your personal computer. You can then print them out and place them in the binder.

If you're going the digital route, then you should look at some of the apps that help you imagine what a home could look like. There are some good ones, and some that are more about what you create once you've taken a photo. Look at Skitch. It's an app offered in the iTunes Store and allows users to take or use photos from their own photo library and then write and draw on the photos. This way you can snap a photo of a home you're looking at and later mark up that photo with changes you would make, such as tearing down a wall or removing the wall paper. You can save the photos and your notes using another program called Evernote. This one will make sure all your digital devices have the same information including your Skitch designs.

At the very least, you owe it to yourself to have a home buyer's checklist printed and with you at all times during your house-hunting. Having one will help you stay organized when it comes time to choose which home you like best. When the homes all seem to start blending together, it will help you recall the important characteristics of each one.

When searching for a home at the lake be sure you call the Spouses Selling Houses team. We are here to help. Until next time! Ebbie :)

New Home Construction on the Rise

A recovery in new home construction appears to be underway, with significant increases in both housing starts and building permits last month, according to the Census Bureau.

Housing starts rose 6.9% in June to a 760,000 annual rate, the highest level in four years. That's up an impressive 23.6% compared with a year earlier. Permits to build new homes fell slightly from revised May numbers to 755,000, but were up 19.3% compared with June 2011.

Demand for homes has been strong in many markets.

"Homebuyers are like a herd of hungry goats right now, going from hillside to hillside looking for something to eat," he said. "There's not enough inventory to go around."

A separate release from the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) reported that builder confidence is at its highest level in five years.

"Builder confidence increased by solid margins in every region of the country in July as views of current sales conditions, prospects for future sales and traffic of prospective buyers all improved," said Barry Rutenberg, NAHB's chairman and a home builder from Gainesville, Fla.

That optimism had a lot to do with recent home price increases, said NAHB's chief economist, David Crowe.

If you are in the market for a home at the Lake of the Ozarks, please give the Spouses Selling Houses team a call. Until next time! Ebbie :)

Showing the House

Your house should always be available for show, even though it may occasionally be inconvenient for you. Let your listing agent put a lock box in a convenient place to make it easy for other agents to show your home to homebuyers. Otherwise, agents will have to schedule appointments, which is an inconvenience.  Most will just skip your home to show the house of someone else who is more cooperative.

Most agents will call and give you at least a couple of hours notice before showing your property. If you refuse to let them show it at that time, they will just skip your house. Even if they come back another time, it will probably be with different buyers and you may have just lost a chance to sell your home.

Try Not to be Home

Homebuyers will feel like intruders if you are home when they visit, and they might not be as receptive toward viewing your home. Visit the local coffee house, yogurt shop, or take the kids to the local park. If you absolutely cannot leave, try to remain in an out of they way area of the house and do not move from room to room. Do not volunteer any information, but answer any questions the agent may ask.

Lighting

When you know someone is coming by to tour your home, turn on all the indoor and outdoor lights – even during the day. At night, a lit house gives a "homey" impression when viewed from the street. During the daytime, turning on the lights prevents harsh shadows from sunlight and it brightens up any dim areas. Your house looks more homey and cheerful with the lights on.

Fragrances

Do not use scented sprays to prepare for visitors. It is too obvious and many people find the smells of those sprays offensive, not to mention that some may be allergic. If you want to have a pleasant aroma in your house, have a potpourri pot or something natural. Or turn on a stove burner (or the oven) for a moment and put a drop of vanilla extract on it. It will smell like you have been cooking.

Pet Control

If you have pets, make sure your listing agent puts a notice with your listing in the multiple listing service. The last thing you want is to have your pet running out the front door and getting lost. If you know someone is coming, it would be best to try to take the pets with you while the homebuyers tour your home. If you cannot do that, It is best to keep dogs in a penned area in the back yard. Try to keep indoor cats in a specific room when you expect visitors, and put a sign on the door. Most of the time, an indoor cat will hide when buyers come to view your property, but they may panic and try to escape.

The Kitchen Trash

Especially if your kitchen trash can does not have a lid, make sure you empty it every time someone comes to look at your home – even if your trash can is kept under the kitchen sink. Remember that you want to send a positive image about every aspect of your home. Kitchen trash does not send a positive message. You may go through more plastic bags than usual, but it will be worth it.

Keep the House Tidy

Not everyone makes his or her bed every day, but when selling a home it is recommended that you develop the habit. Pick up papers, do not leave empty glasses in the family room, keep everything freshly dusted and vacuumed. Try your best to have it look like a model home – a home with furniture but nobody really lives there.

For real estate at the lake please contact the Spouses Selling Houses team. Until next time. Ebbie :)

August Home Maintenance Checklist

Remove pest magnets There are many reasons – fire protection, air circulation, drainage, attractiveness and safety — to keep the outside walls of your home clear and free of debris. One more compelling reason is that piles and stacks of tools, lumber, ladders, yard waste and toys create a haven for spiders, rats, mice and wood-boring insects. Take an hour to circle your home outside, removing anything touching the siding. Donate, discard or store what you’ve removed. 

Firewood is one common hiding place. Stacking it under the eaves of the house keeps it dry, but there’s a price: The wood creates a home for spiders and invites them into the house. Also, wood piles trap moisture against the siding and prevent circulation. If left long enough, the dampness could rot siding or trim. Instead, store firewood at least two feet from the house and 18 inches above the ground. Keep it dry by building a little shelter over the top of the pile.

In addition, discourage pests by clearing out vegetation under decks that might give them a safe place to hide. And pick fruit from trees as soon as it is ripe. Keep the ground clean under fruit and nut trees.

Seal garbage cans tightly. If you’ve had problems with rats, dogs or raccoons getting into the trash, make sure the cans have tight-fitting lids. Tighten the lids by linking a stretchy tie-down from handle to handle. Knot it to shorten it if necessary. Buy or build a small enclosure for your cans. 

Wash and rinse items you intend to recycle. Keep them waiting for disposal indoors or in a sealed enclosure. If you store pet food in a garage or carport, keep it in containers with tight lids. Also, if your bird feeder is attracting rats, get rid of it. To see if you’ve got “four-legged birds,” shine a light on the feeder in the middle of the night or in the wee hours of the morning.

Don’t let water sit around your yard or garden; it breeds mosquitoes. Change the birdbath and wading pool water at least weekly. Toss water out of pet dishes, flowerpot saucers, cans, buckets and anything else lying around that collects rain. Keep gutters clean.

Pamper the lawn
Homeowners can’t successfully emulate the tightly trimmed golf-course look because they don’t have a golf course’s budget and army of maintenance professionals. Instead, the best thing you can do to achieve a good-looking lawn is to mow frequently and high (three inches or more – or just set your mower blades as high as they’ll go). This discourages weeds and trains the grass to grow in thickly. High, frequent cutting encourages roots to grow deep and retain water, so you’ll need to water less frequently. Let the clippings fall onto the lawn to add nourishment.

If you’ve been watering the lawn this summer, keep it up: Water infrequently but deeply, giving it an inch to an inch and a half of water each time (measure by putting an empty tuna can on the lawn). Water early in the day to avoid evaporation — not at night, which invites disease. You’ll know it’s time to water when your footprints don’t spring back when you walk across the grass, when the grass gets a blue tinge or when you can’t easily push a screwdriver or steel rod into the soil.

If your lawn has turned brown, don’t try to rescue it by watering now. That’s hard on the grass plants and a waste of water. It’ll come back when the rain starts in the fall. 

The best time to fertilize depends on your climate and the grass type in your lawn. In general, avoid fertilizing during extremely hot weather or periods of drought. Do not use products with nitrogen when your lawn isn’t green – it can encourage weeds. Start thinking about fertilizing at the end of this month and consult professionals who sell lawn-care products or call your local home-extension service to get advice on what to use and exactly when to use it. August is the perfect time to root dandelions out of the lawn using a long-handled forked tool or with judicious use of an herbicide.

Clean sink drains
If you’ve got a slow-draining sink, take action. First, try a homemade drain cleaner. Onthehouse.com recommends mixing a solution of equal parts of salt, baking soda and vinegar. Pour it into the drain and chase it down with two quarts of boiling water. You can use this solution monthly. Avoid chemical drain cleaners; they can damage the pipes and create toxic exposure for you and your family.

Or you can apply some elbow grease and fix slow drains by cleaning out the drain and trap  – the U-shaped pipe that’s directly under the sink. Position a bucket under the trap to catch falling water and gunk and keep a pile of rags at hand for cleaning up. This can be a messy job – you may also want to wear rubber gloves.

Loosen and remove the couplings that hold the trap to the straight pipes that run from the sink and to the sewer. You may need to use a plumber’s wrench. If the pipe is plugged, all kinds of messy stuff will fall into the bucket and must be removed from the trap. If possible, take the trap outside and shoot a stream of water from the hose through it. Rinse it out thoroughly. Use a snake or wire from a coat hanger to remove built-up debris from the pipes.

Clean the drain plug
Also, pull out the sink’s drain plug to clean it. The plug pops up and down in the sink. It is attached to a rod and lever that are held to the back of the drain pipe by a nut. Pull out the rod by unscrewing the nut. Clean the drain plug and remove any gunk that’s in the pipe, then reassemble the plug. Reassemble the trap, tightening the couplings by hand so you don’t screw them too tight. Flush the drain by running hot water for a few minutes. 

Fix leaky faucets
Check faucets for leaks and install new rubber gaskets by unscrewing the faucet end, removing the old gasket and reassembling it. Also fix dripping faucets. First, shut off the water under the sink. For sinks with independent hot and cold water faucets, dismantle each faucet, removing the washers (rings made of rubber, plastic or brass). Put the washers in a sandwich bag and bring them to the hardware store to look for replacements. Reassemble the faucets and turn the water back on. For a single-arm faucet, fix leaks by replacing the faucet’s inner workings. That’s not hard, because you can just note the brand and buy a faucet rebuild kit (about $50 at hardware stores). Dismantle the faucet, laying out the pieces on a paper towel. Shoot a photo or make a sketch to refer to when assembling it. Put the faucet back together and turn the water back on.

Clean and replace grout and caulk
Inspect the grout in tiled areas of your home, particularly in bathrooms and the kitchen. If grout is cracked or missing, remove and replace it in the affected areas. Grout should be cleaned regularly, particularly if it comes into contact with moisture, to keep it free from stains and mold. Use an old toothbrush and one of these cleaning products: TSP, hydrogen peroxide, vinegar, bleach or grout cleaning solutions (available at tile stores or on the Internet). Inspect the seal around sinks, showers and tubs and recaulk any spots where caulk has cracked or separated. Use silicone tub and tile caulk.

Get a furnace inspection
Have your heating system inspected and serviced by a professional. Call the company that sold it to you or your fuel distributor to get recommendations for servicers.

Blanket the water heater
Get one of those nice, fat insulating blankets for your water heater if it doesn’t have one. You don’t want to pay to heat all that water and then let the heat leak into the atmosphere.

Inspect and maintain the water heater
Have your water heater professionally serviced once a year. Inspect the water heater thoroughly and check the walls and floor around it for evidence of leaks, rust or corrosion. Also check the lines and connections to the heater. Even a small amount of moisture can rot the flooring and subfloor. Lie on the floor to look at the bottom of the heater from underneath, using a flashlight. If you find leaks, replace the water heater.

Test the water-heater valve
Test the valve that controls temperature and pressure on tank-type water heaters. Do this once a year because, if the valve becomes stuck in the on or off position, an explosion can result. Work carefully because the water in the tank is extremely hot. Do it during business hours on a weekday so you can get help if you find problems. Put a bucket under the water heater’s overflow pipe to catch the drainage. The valve is at the top of the water heater and is recognizable because it has a small handle. Lift the test handle for five seconds to release a little water, then close it. If the valve refuses to close, or if nothing comes out, call a plumber immediately to replace it. 

For your home at the Lake of the Ozarks please contact the Spouses Selling Houses team. Until next time. Ebbie :)