Buying an - Old Home that may have Hazards material

Lately, old character homes have been selling like crazy throughout the country. There is a real move to restore these beautiful old home. however, there are some definite concerns that need to be addressed in purchasing an older home. Hopefully this article will help you to be better educated on some of the points of concern that are attached to these beautifully styled homes.

One thing that should always be checked thoroughly is the foundation. Old foundations can start to crack and deteriorate as many foundations were not sealed on the interior side of the foundation at that time. New practices have brought new standards in the construction industries. Don't forget that the homes that are being built now have the standards they do because of lessons learned from homes built in the early 1900's. The biggest concern with foundations is leaks. Is there water seepage into the basement? If so, this can be costly to fix. It can also create other problems and health risks like mold. Another aspect of bad foundations is Radon. sealing the basement as mentioned before is a good way to prevent this naturally occurring gas from entering your home. The presence of Radon in homes has been linked to lung cancer, so be sure to test for Radon before buying.

Another good idea is to check for anything that contains lead, be it pipes or paint. Both were utilized extensively in the construction oh homes in the early part of the 1900's and right up until the 1980 in some forms. The final concern with old homes is asbestos. Asbestos releases a toxic dust that can be extremely bad for the health of people living in the home. Currently a special license is required to work with asbestos.

Be careful when purchasing an older home, it may not be up to standard with today's building techniques and requirements. If there is any doubt about these items, consult with your realtor and a certified inspector. These professionals should be able to identify and give suggestions on fixing any problems that may occur.

Asbestos

Until the late 1940’s, Thousneds of products containing asbestos were commonly used in house construction, including materials for furnace duct insulation, deck undersheeting, and roof and wall insulation. So if your home was built before then, chances are you may stir up a little asbestos if doing a renovation. According to the Environmental Protection Agency’s “Asbestos in Your Home”, asbestos in good condition should be left alone. However, if you find asbestos that is crumbling or fraying, it poses a health risk.  Worst-case scenarios of asbestos exposure include respiratory illness, including lung cancer. If you think you have asbestos issues, it can be easily disposed of – simply contact a local professional and have it taken care of before moving ahead with your renovation.

By taking a look around your home prior to a major renovation, you’ll be able to spot (or smell) a few potential health hazards that may slow down a costly home renovation. If you’re unsure, ask your Better Homes and Gardens® Real Estate sales associate for a referral on how best to handle your specific circumstance.

Thomasville, GA. BIG ON A/C UNITS – U CAN’T HAVE TO MANY! (ENERGY HOGS)

We do not understand how a 2,500 square foot homes in Thomasville, GA. would be using 2 or even 3 A/C units. This doesn't make any sense, So when looking at homes in Thomasville, South Georgia I would definitely take a look at how many A/C units the home has if not you could most probably spend more for your electric bill then mortgage. Let’s not forget the excusive use of 2 & 3 50 gal water heaters & 2 & 3 A/C Units in new homes built.  These water heaters are working 24/7.

 

Many people buy an air conditioner that is too large, thinking it will provide better cooling. However, an oversized air conditioner is actually less effective — and wastes energy at the same time. Air conditioners remove both heat and humidity from the air. If the unit is too large, it will cool the room quickly, but only remove some of the humidity. This leaves the room with a damp, clammy feeling. A properly sized unit will remove humidity effectively as it cools.

 

Air Conditioning Square Footage Range by Climate Zone
	ZONE 1	ZONE 2	ZONE 3	ZONE 4	ZONE 5
1.5 Tons	600 - 900 sf	600 - 950 sf	600 - 1000 sf	700 - 1050 sf	700 - 1100 sf
2 Tons	901-1200 sf	951 - 1250 sf	1001 - 1300 sf	1051 - 1350 sf	1101 - 1400 sf
2.5 Tons	1201 - 1500 sf	1251 - 1550 sf	1301 - 1600 sf	1351 - 1600 sf	1401 - 1650 sf
3 Tons	1501 - 1800 sf	1501 - 1850 sf	1601 - 1900 sf	1601 - 2000 sf	1651 - 2100 sf
3.5 Tons	1801 - 2100 sf	1851 - 2150 sf	1901 - 2200 sf	2001 - 2250 sf	2101 - 2300 sf
4 Tons	2101 - 2400 sf	2151 - 2500 sf	2201 - 2600 sf	2251 - 2700 sf	2301 - 2700 sf
5 Tons	2401 - 3000 sf	2501 - 3100 sf	2601 - 3200 sf	2751 - 3300 sf	2701 - 3300 sf

Green Built homes use less energy than a standard or low-end built home and a green home A/C unit requirements is less then half the size of a standard built home.

http://www.mamapedia.com/article/home-building-1-or-2-story-utility-cost-concerns

Price Per Square Foot is Misleading for Real Estate Values

Over the years working as a Realtor I have seen numerous home buyers as well as other Realtors try to use dollars per square foot as a good measuring stick for market values. Sorry folks but that is a very poor way to analyze value.


There are a number of reasons why this is the case but lets just start with individual homes themselves. If you look carefully at housing characteristics you can basically break down a home into one of four categories.

Economy~ Economy would be characterized as building a home in the most cost efficient manner. The materials used in constructing a home in this category more often than not will be cheaper than other categories of homes. The goal is to deliver a home that would be affordable to those buyers on a lower income. If you looked in a catalog of materials such as cabinets, flooring, lighting and plumbing fixtures you would see the lowest grade used in this category.

In Thomasville, GA these are the type of homes being built and sold "ECONOMY" with an "ECONOMY" home you also get the cheapest materials and labors the builder or unlicensed person claiming to be a builder can find. These homes are also built to minimum bare to low building code. So if you are looking for the cheapest homes for square footage price then these homes can be found in Thomasville, GA. So do not complain when these type of home ends up costing you more money on the long run, like water bill for one person over $100/per Month and other things going wrong or braking down.  

Standard – A home built under this category would be a step up from an economy home. A large percentage of homes would come under this category. You would expect to see the quality of the home jump from an economically built home. With a standard built home you may see some construction items that could also be found in both economy and custom categories.

Custom – In a custom built home you are bound to see things that you will not find in either an economy or standard home. The quality of the materials used to construct the home as well as the amenities inside are going to be different. As an example you may see a higher level of finish woodworking, cabinetry, flooring selections and hot buttons like granite counter tops and stainless steel appliances. Custom homes are more unique and may have other architectural characteristics that make them more expensive to build such as intricate roof lines and higher end materials used on the facade such as stone or brick.

Luxury – A luxury home is the creme de la creme. These are the homes that are built with the highest grade construction materials. There is no expense spared on anything and the amenities seen inside the home are sometimes enough to make your mouth drop! It is not unusual to see such things as home theaters that rival going to the movies, indoor swimming pools, wine rooms and other such amenities.

Of course it is possible for a home to fall somewhere between each of these categories but the four categories are enough to show you why using price per square foot to determine a homes value is a very poor measuring stick.

Lets look at a quick example of two homes that are both 3000 square feet. They are both a year old.

House “A” has the following amenities:

■Granite counters and stainless appliances

■A custom tile shower

■Hardwood floors throughout the 1st floor

■Raised paneling and crown moldings

■A brick walk way

House “B” has the following amenities:

■Formica counters and white appliances

■A standard shower

■Carpets through out the 1st floor

■Plastered door openings with no molding

■A dropped flagstone walkway

How about a quick guess of which home is going to be worth more on a dollars per square foot basis?

This example clearly shows that you can not take the average price per-square-foot and multiply it times the square footage of the home you are thinking about buying. There are far too many variables involved with the characteristics of a home to make a generalization like that. It just doesn’t work that way. The pricing per-square-foot simply gives you average or median ranges; it shows you trends in the market. It does not compute value!

The comparison above only touches on one reason why cost per square foot is a poor indicator. There are others including the fact that prices per-square-foot can vary based on the homes location, improvements, condition, age and updates, including lot sizes, and whether it’s a one-story, two story or split-level home, among other things.

I think it is easy to see that if home “A” was also located in the best part of town and home “B” was not, the disparity of the selling price is going to be even greater which would change the price per square foot between the two homes.

One of the best reasons for even looking at the price per square foot of a home is to see what the trends are in an area. You can look at the average price per square foot over a given time period and see whether overall market are values going up or down.

In Massachusetts one of the other factors that can really skew the averages on the price per square foot of a home is how the square footage is actually calculated. In the Greater Boston MLS there is a big disparity on what agents include in the gross living area of a home. You will see that some homes include finished basement space and others do not. This can cause quite a fluctuation in how these figures appear when doing an analysis on square footage value.

As you may realize, finished space below grade is far less valuable than above grade living area. When these figures are mixed together it makes a straight line comparison much more difficult.

I have run into plenty of buyers agents over the years that try to present a case of why their clients offer is a fair one. When they start talking about price per square foot I usually end up giving them a lesson in proper market evaluations:)

Real Estate News and Views for Metrowest Massachusetts. Published by Bill Gassett RE/MAX Executive Realty


http://massrealestatenews.com/price-per-square-foot-is-misleading-for-real-estate-values/



















The greatest health risks from open burning is smoke inhalation. Smoke is largely made up of air pollutants known as particulate matter. These pollutants are small enough to invade our respiratory system as we breathe in polluted air. They can damage lung tissues when they reach the alveoli, which are the tiny air sacs where we take in oxygen and unload carbon dioxide (see image below). This reduces your lung capacity.
When trees are burned, the carbon is released into the atmosphere in the form of carbon dioxide. Carbon dioxide is a green house gas which means it absorbs heat. This absorption of heat is called global warming and has serious environmental and economical consequences. It increases the earth's temperature, thus causing glaciers to melt and sea-levels to rise; it disrupts earth's weather patterns. For example, droughts, massive floods, and extremely powerful hurricanes are just some of the effects of global warming.
http://www.scdhec.gov/environment/baq/OpenBurning/health_effects.asp#

Builders in thomasville GA - Buying A Standard home Vs. A Custom Green Home?

Realtors are not the only ones looking for creative way to sell homes. We can not leave out those builders that are making the most of minimum code.

An energy efficient (Green) home is a better built home. A green custom built home has to follow strict guidelines by the EPA and other green programs like LEED or NAHB Green. These guidelines are set so the outcome of a green custom home is a home built above minimum code, and a healthy home built above minimum code will save you 40% to 50% on your energy bill. A standard built home has no guidelines has no restrictions. A standard built home can be built with cheap materials, cheap labors, and built below or to bare minimum code and in my area these are the type of homes being built and widely shown for a quick sale.
These homes were advertised as quality built, but changed to luxury. I guess the quality work was left out and someone pointed this out.  Do the math, buying a cheap home / non green home will only cost you more money in the long run. See a few listed examples below.

Example-1: Wrong size A/C unit = If the A/C is to small it will work overtime to cool the house and if the A/C is to big your home will have too much Moisture in the house and to much moisture creates mold.
Example-2: If the roof is not vented properly all that heat will not escape again A/C unit will be working overtime and in winter the cold attic will take longer for the A/C unit to warm the house.
Example-3: Improper use of valley metal or no valley metal and the improper use of roof paper. All have a good potential for a roof leak. Example-4: Holes in the sheathing or big gaps is a good way to get cold spots in winter and A/C leakage in the summer, Also A good potential to keep the pest control companies in business. Big problems, in my part of town.Example-5: We can go on listing all of the non benefits of building a cheap home or non green home, but hopefully you get it. Example-6: Felt paper. As warm moist air rises the felt paper allows the moist air to pass through, but if some of the moisture condenses on the underside of the shingle, the felt paper keeps that condensed moisture from touching the wood.

Analyzing whether or not green certified homes are worth more

Analyzing whether or not green certified homes are worth more

If my home was built by a non licensed contractor is he still responsible for bad work?

I had a new house built by a non-licensed person. My roof leaks, is this person liable for repairs?

Thomasville, Georgia is well known for non-licensed builders or builders working under someone else’s license with NO EXPERIENCE on how to build a home correctly. I would suggest you do your homework if not you are going to end up with not a big home build right but a big square box with holes were your money well be going.

Ask Your Realtor You Would Like to Meet Your Builder Then Ask him to show you have License. You will see that he personally does not have one.


02/01/2007 - Contractors - State: ALL #1449

Home Inspectors Under Scrutiny For Payments To Realtors - Omaha News Story - KETV Omaha

Home Inspectors Under Scrutiny For Payments To Realtors - Omaha News Story - KETV Omaha



HOME BUYERS FIND YOUR OWN INSPECTOR................