February Market Action - !

What is a Homeowner’s Association?

For everyone out there looking at homes right now, there are three little letters that could make or break your purchase decision. They are “H,” “O” and “A.” Three of the most frightening letters of the alphabet, imposed over the largest purchase you’ll ever make — it’s a recipe for high anxiety.

But not every Homeowners Association is the nightmare that many home buyers imagine. As long as you do your homework and know exactly what you’re getting into, your HOA may be the best decision you ever made.

Homeowners Associations, Maintenance and Uniformity

HOAs are often part of life for condo, townhouse and some single family homeowners. They’re not all good and they’re not all bad. Their purpose in this modern world is to maintain a sort of uniformity and authority that can not only help neighbors deal with disputes, but help the neighborhood as a whole keep a nice, shiny reputation.

When it comes to attached homes, like condos and townhouses, the HOAs also maintain the exteriors of buildings, including roofing, and common areas, like lawns. Single family HOAs often provide amenities like pools and common buildings that can be used for parties. The more the HOA does, the more the fees will be. And sometimes there will be fees even if they don’t do much.

Homeowners Associations Versus Neighborhood Associations

Another point to clarify is that there is a difference between a neighborhood association and a homeowners association. Neighborhood associations are voluntary, generally have very low fees for membership and do not run with the land. That means that you can buy a house where the former owner was part of the neighborhood association, but decline to be a member yourself.

On the other hand, if you buy a home that’s part of a homeowners association, the covenants, conditions and restrictions (CC&Rs) run with the land itself. So, you buy the land (usually with a house on it) and at closing sign that you agree to the HOA’s rules. You can only change those by being an active part of the association itself and going through the process it takes to allow RV parking in the front yard or whatever it is that you really want to do.

Is an HOA For You?

It’s really hard to know if you’re going to get along in an HOA-controlled neighborhood without taking a long hard look at those CC&Rs. They vary widely, just like the people who live in different neighborhoods. Even if you find a home that you absolutely love, don’t sign a thing until you’ve seen the CC&Rs and gone over them with your real estate agent. You will be living under those rules for a while, make sure you can accept that.

While it would be fun to have a pool you don’t have to clean, sometimes you have to be realistic and say, “These rules just aren’t for me or my lifestyle.”

But, sometimes those rules are really practical and make a lot of sense. For example, some might state that your grass has to be kept under six inches high. Great rule, this practice reduces animal and insect problems by removing cover.

Others might say you can’t have a clothesline or a fence, which might be a total deal-breaker for you. There is often an appeal process, but if that clothesline is a big enough issue, don’t risk it. There are plenty of houses in the sea.

Don’t Forget, HOA Fees Are Included in Your DTI

Last, but not least, remember that HOA fees will be included in your debt to income calculation. So, if you are just barely able to afford that lovely home, the monthly fees may make your lender give you the red light. This is an important item to check when you’re investigating the other terms of the HOA.

You can expect them to run anywhere from a few hundred to over a thousand dollars a month. Definitely something you want to be sure about before committing. Would you rather have that much more in home, or in amenities?

Already in Love With the Idea of a Home In an HOA?

If you and your real estate agent have taken the time to investigate the HOA and the CC&Rs and you’re still good to go, write that contract! Make that home yours and know that the rules will help to maintain home standards, even if they can be a bit draconian at times.

Once you move in, don’t forget your friends at HomeKeepr! Your real estate agent can recommend lawn pros to keep the grass trimmed, siding experts to ensure that the front of your home is always looking its best and other home pros like fence installers for that fence Fido requires.

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Patio Planning 101

It’s finally spring! Time to break out the grill and the patio set and spend your evenings cooking out under the stars. Except, you don’t have a patio, you have a backyard that’s currently a soppy, muddy mess from spring rainstorms. You’d love to get outside, but it’s just so mucky and sticky out there.

This year, you’re resolved to install a patio once and for all. There’s a lot to consider when planning your shiny new patio, but don’t worry, we’re here to help make it simple.

Patio Planning: The Basics

If this is your first major home improvement project, you’ve picked one that should give you a real sense of satisfaction when it’s done. But you’ve also chosen to tackle a multi-part effort that’s not very cut and dry. Before you go out and rent a Skid Steer and hire three guys to pour cement, make sure you’ve checked these items off your pre-patio checklist:

• Location, location, location. Although many patios are constructed as a transition from the house to the rest of the yard, there’s not a rule saying this has to be the case. Choose your favorite flat spot on your lot and try to imagine what it would be like having dinner there.

• Materials. Many patios are poured concrete slabs, but there are also some fantastic stones and pavers out there that would make excellent patio surfaces. And don’t forget the brick. Patios are great because they can really stand the test of time when the right materials are chosen. Consider the weather in your area when you’re shopping.

• Size and shape. Like there’s no required spot for your patio, there’s also not a standard size or a standard shape for them. You want a 10×16 rectangle? Poof! Done. What about a 15 foot long kidney shaped patio? No problem. Design the patio of your dreams, not the patio that other people think should be your dream.

Bringing It All Together

Now that you’ve got a basic understanding of what your patio will be made from and where you’re going to put it, it’s time to take the next step and put that pencil to paper. It can help to draw your entire lot on grid paper, adding buildings, plants and other noteworthy features in their correct spots (you’ll need to measure all of this for best results) will ensure that your patio plan doesn’t run into pesky problems from real life colliding with your perfect patio.

That handy drawing of your patio can become a map to something a little bit more impressive than a simple slab in your backyard. Consider drawing in (and including!) these user-friendly elements so you can make it do even more:

• Pergolas. There’s nothing like a pergola to create a semi-shaded spot in your yard. If your patio is attached to the house, adding a pergola is just a natural step. If not, you can still anchor one in cement so it can be freestanding and won’t blow away. Pro tip: grow your favorite vines on that pergola and they’ll help shade you all summer long.

• Built-in seating. Sure, you have a patio set, but sometimes it’s nice to have some extra benches in case you’re wanting to sit, but not at a table. Like deck builders put benches around the outside of decks, or use them to separate areas on a very large deck, you can do the same with benches made from the same materials as your patio.

• Water features. Look, no one said you need a fountain or pond near your patio, but wouldn’t it be pretty cool? Small fountains add interest and ponds not only give you a place to keep impressively large koi, birds and other wildlife can use them for water.

• Outdoor kitchen. This is the ultimate patio upgrade. Adding an outdoor kitchen, even if that’s just a built-in grill and a small sink, can make your home easier to sell down the line and possibly even increase your home’s value.

When You’re Done Planning….

It’s time to log into HomeKeepr to find the best cement workers, outdoor kitchen installers, stone masons and anyone else who might be helpful in your quest for the perfect patio. All of these people have been recommended by your real estate agent already, so you know they’re the best of the best. Need help with the actual patio planning? There are people in the HomeKeepr community for that, too!

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7 Things to Do Before Listing Your Home This Spring

As the snow starts to melt, revealing the brightly colored flowers of crocus, and robins bop merrily around the yard, another cycle of the real estate market begins. If you’re considering listing your home this year, it’s definitely not too late to get started. March and April can be great months for putting your house in front of prospective buyers, but the summer months are also great times to sell.

Regardless of your timing, there are a few things you need to do right now to start getting ready to list. It’s not as simple as sticking a sign in the yard and waiting for the calls to roll in.

Putting Your Best Foot Forward

You never know who will feel that special feeling people get when they find the house that is just right for them. But you can turn the odds in your favor if you and your home are both show ready long before you open up to potential buyers.

Before you sell your house, you’re going to want to run through this checklist.

Hire a Realtor. There’s a reason that 91 percent of home sellers used a real estate agent to sell their home in 2017: selling a home is a complicated process that really demands an expert. Just like you’d not try to DIY surgery, there are serious financial risks involved with selling your home without an education in real estate law.

In addition to being your safety net, a Realtor can point out items that you might not realize are big turn-offs to buyers, like dated lighting, so you can get started on the cosmetic stuff to make your home show at its best.

Have a home inspection. Wait. Isn’t a home inspection just for buying a house? No! You can have a home inspector out any time you want. Having a full blown home inspection before you put your house on the market gives you a chance to correct items that will likely come up for your future buyer when they have their home inspector out. Get ahead of issues and you’ll sell that house faster.

Get to decluttering. If you have to sell your home in order to buy the next, you’re going to be living in a showroom for the next few months. Take anything you don’t really need immediately and put it in a storage unit. Get it away from your house because pushing clutter around doesn’t really help anything. Declutter as much as you can bear to — it’ll make your house look bigger and more appealing to prospective buyers

Paint the front door. Your Realtor will probably drive home the importance of curb appeal, or how enticing your house is from the street (the curb). The better the curb appeal, the more likely potential buyers will come inside and look around. The interesting thing about curb appeal is how certain elements of your house affect the whole picture. Case in point, Zillow’s 2018 Paint Color Analysis found that a black or charcoal colored front door can bring in as much as $6,271 extra!

Spruce up the landscaping. Along with dressing the front of your house up a bit, make sure that your landscaping is up to par. Prune any unruly plants, replace perennials that may have patchy growth, refresh your mulch, give the lawn a mow. Now that your landscape is radiating amazing curb appeal, keep it that way until your home closes. If you need to hire a landscaper, consider it an investment.

Get copies of your utility bills. People will ask what kind of utility costs are associated with your home. Does it just burn through the natural gas? Does the electricity use seem excessive? This is another place where you can get ahead of potential buyers by putting this information together and giving it to your Realtor on the day you sign your listing agreement.

Deep clean like you’ve never cleaned before. And hey, maybe you haven’t, we’re not here to judge. Even though painting is a quick fix to renewing your home’s interior, deep cleaning is less expensive and can result in a better overall effect. For example, if you clean your windows, inside and out until they’re super clean, you’ll immediately notice how much more natural light penetrates the room.

Is There Time For All of That?

If you find yourself crunched for time, don’t make up for it by skipping important things before listing. Instead, call on your HomeKeepr community to help you find the people who can move your home sale along. Whether you need a cleaner, a landscaper, an organization expert or even a home inspector, we’ve got you covered. Your agent already has a list of recommended service providers who can help, let these experts free up some of your time as you get ready to sell.

How Are My Property Taxes Calculated?

Understanding how your property taxes are calculated can often feel like unraveling one of the deepest mysteries of the universe. However, it’s vitally important that you get your arms around this tax, if you are subject to it, as it’s often a large expense that you may be saddled with for a lifetime.

Property taxes can vary wildly, not only between different areas of the country, but even between different parts of the same municipality.

Just how do property taxes work? Shouldn’t they be the same for everyone?

First, Real Property Versus Personal Property

When we refer to “property taxes,” what we really mean is “real property tax.” The term “real property” means the land you own and everything that is permanently affixed to it. For example, if you have a stick-built house, a garage, a shed with a permanent foundation — these are all things that would be considered “real property.”

On the other hand, you may also have “personal property,” which is basically anything else that you own that may have a title and can be moved, even if it takes a bit of work. Your fishing boat, your car and, to confuse matters further, most manufactured homes, are considered personal property – not real property. Manufactured homes specifically can be a bit of a sticky wicket because you can often affix one to your real property in such a way that it also becomes real property.

For the purposes of this discussion, when we say “property tax,” we’re talking about real property, less any specially qualified manufactured homes.

Your Property Taxes Are Made Up of Layers

Most people know that their property taxes are calculated based on the value of their property, but there are lots of homeowners who don’t realize that what we all generally refer to as “property tax” are actually several different taxes smashed into one greater tax sandwich… or layer cake, if you will.

Your home is very likely located in several intersecting tax jurisdictions that can vary greatly from area to area. The taxing jurisdictions that homeowners most often encounter are your:

• City
• School district
• County
• State
• Fire district
• Cemetery district
• Library district

Each of these layers will have their own tax rate, making the calculation of your property taxes even more confusing. And by the way, the value used to determine your taxes isn’t necessarily your home’s appraised value, it’s something called the assessed value.

An Aside for Assessed Values

Property tax assessments are often one of the most confusing concepts for most new homeowners. However, you need to have a handle on it in order to understand your property taxes. The assessed value absolutely is what your taxes are based on, but there’s no set way for any tax jurisdiction to determine this number.

In some places, your property’s assessment and your home’s market value may be more or less the same, in others, the assessment is a stated percentage of the market value. In addition, these values might be updated yearly, every other year or only when the home is resold. If you meet certain requirements, you can also have your assessment frozen so that your taxes can only increase if the rate itself increases (and even then, there are a few states that will freeze your actual tax rate).

Put another way, knowing how your property assessment will work is kind of the key to how everything behind the scenes works. Without that, all the layers of government grabbing at your wallet are pretty meaningless. Fortunately, if you’re just looking to simple math, this figure is provided for you by your taxing bodies. We recommend you call or drop into your local tax assessor’s office to get a detailed explanation of your specific tax situation as every taxing body may be slightly different.

Wait, What’s a Mill Levy?

You’ve probably seen the term “mill levy” tossed around if you’ve been reading up on property taxes. A mill levy is just another way to describe the tax rate that’s being applied to your real property’s assessed value. One mill is equal to a buck per $1,000 of the real estate’s assessment, or 1/1,000 of a penny. The mill rate that determines your tax is set by the taxing authorities themselves.

For example, let’s say your property is assessed at $250,000 (by whatever method). If your county mill levy is 5, then for every $1,000 of assessed value, your bill goes up $5. In this case, that’s a very reasonable sounding $1,250. Remember, though, this is just one layer of the tax layer cake. You’ll need to add all the layers together to get your actual tax bill. Get your calculator ready and pour yourself a stiff drink – this could take awhile!

Need More Information About Your Property Taxes?

There’s no better or more reliable source for tax information than the people on the ground nearby. That might mean CPAs, real estate agents, home appraisers or even a mortgage pro. They can help you make more sense out of your tax bill if something specific is confusing. And don’t worry, finding the best of the best among these professions is simple with HomeKeepr. Just ask your community for recommendations and before you know it, you’ll be elbow deep in answers to your most burning tax questions.

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