Finding a "Good Deal" in Real Estate

Too frequently, people in the market for a house will say, “I’m looking for a good deal.” What they really mean is they want to pay below market for a property.  For clarification, I’m talking about people looking for a house in which to live, not speculators or developers.  A few of the more probable ways of purchasing a property below market are as follows:

• Finding an older person with dementia and talking him in to selling his property for a ridiculously low price before anyone who cares about his best interest steps in and prevents him from being cheated out of the property.

• Giving someone with a nice house in a nice neighborhood a predatory loan and then foreclosing on their property.

• Marrying someone who already owns a house and having the person add you on to his/her deed.

Of course two of the above mentioned scenarios are immoral if not illegal but the point is this.  A good deal is a good house in which you want to live, purchased at fair market value.  If the house can be had for a ridiculously low price, there’s a reason for it.  There are too many people looking for houses for a person to be able to sneak in a low-ball offer on a property worth more.

I can’t tell you the number of times clients have lost great houses they have wanted to purchase, because they had to have a “good deal.”  There may have been multiple offers on the property and after losing it, the client would say, “they paid too much.”  Well guess what.  If there were multiple offers and the price escalated higher than asking, the escalated price is fair market.  I would rather have a house at a price in which many people wanted to purchase it, than a house that’s been on the market for 180 days for 5% less than asking.  At least I know the house with multiple offers is desirable and will command a good price, if and when I want to sell it.

When buying a house, condo or coop, a “good deal” is a property in which you would love living, in a neighborhood where you want to be, at fair market value.  It’s easy to get a “bad deal.” The surest way is to focus on how much you pay rather than focusing on where you want to live. Figure out your budget and within that budget, focus on nothing but the house and location. Everything else will take care of itself.

The War on Ants! - How to Get Rid of Them

Spring is here and so are the ants. Consequently, it’s time for me to write a post dedicated to getting those annoying little creatures out of the house. I’m not a professional exterminator but over the years I’ve had so many problems with ants that I’ve gotten pretty good at getting rid of them. As a matter of fact, I’ve been more successful than the monthly exterminator services I’ve hired previously. It’s all about knowing the way ants work. Except for a few exceptions, most house ants find a place in the wall or near plumbing to nest. There’s a queen ant pumping out tons of baby ants. All the male ants do is eat, lounge around the nest and mate with the queen; just like human males. They don’t even have to make a living! I’m sure many of the female readers of this blog won’t be surprised to find out that the sterile female worker ants do all the work with nothing in return other than being the first to eat. They build the tunnels, gather food, and groom and feed the others (male ants, larvae and queen) in the colony. The thing about ants is they are extremely prolific reproducers but also extremely stupid. They’re more than happy to eat food with a delayed poisonous effect and take it back to the colony for everyone to enjoy. Because most humans aren’t as stupid as ants (I’ll admit some are), knowing the information in the last sentence is all you need to know to effectively get rid of ants. If you see an area with ants crawling around, never spray an aerosol insecticide at it. Yes, you’ll kill the ants in the immediate area, but the queen ant will be pumping out replacements by the second. It’s like dealing with terrorists in the Middle East. You can kill all the little guys but to have a real effect you have to get the guys in charge. The key is to lay down poisonous bait so the dumb worker ants take it back to the colony. The whole colony parties with the delicious meal the workers provide. All of the sudden, they all begin to get sick and before they can complain to the health department, they die. The bait with which I’ve had the most success is a product called Combat ant killing gel. It’s available at most large hardware and big box home improvement stores. It comes in a syringe and I think it works much better than discs or ant traps. To use it you lay a small bead (about an inch) in an area where you see a swarm or trail of ants. The good thing about this product is that it can be put in a crack or an area where a pet or child won’t get to it. It doesn’t have to be placed in the middle of the trail, just close to it. Don’t overdo it. Don’t put tons of the gel down, or in places where there are no ants. You don’t want to attract ants from the outside. After a while you’ll see the ants having a feeding frenzy on the gel. When this happens you’re 90% there. Don’t touch or disturb them. If you like, offer them a glass of wine to enjoy with the meal. I recommend a cote du Rhone. You may see what appear to be dead ants after they’ve been dining for a while. Again, don’t touch or disturb them. After a day or less, the ants and the gel will be gone. So will the ants from the colony. SUCCESS! Or as Charley Sheen would say, WINNING! You probably won’t be rid of ants forever. New colonies are produced all the time. They may pop up in different areas of the house, but now that you’re an expert exterminator….no problem. Use the same method for the new colony. You’ll know what you’re doing so you’ll be in control.

Hot & Sour Soup Recipe

Although this recipe has a lot of ingredients, making it is a piece of cake. Additionally, it's almost impossible to screw up. Enjoy!

Easy Hot & Sour Soup

2 Tbsp Olive oil

1.5 Tbsp Chili garlic paste

1 8oz box Sliced mushrooms

1 8oz box Baby Bella mushrooms

1 6-8oz can Straw mushrooms

2 32 oz box Chicken stock (Vegetable broth for vegetarian)

1/3 Cup Rice vinegar

1/3 Cup Soy sauce

1/4 Cup Water

4 Tbsp Cornstarch

1 Each Egg (Leave out for vegan recipe)

Coat the bottom of a 12 quart soup pot with the olive oil and sauté the mushrooms until slightly done (don’t over cook them). Add the chicken broth, bring to a boil and immediately turn down to simmer for 10 minutes. Keep simmering and add the rice vinegar and soy sauce.

In a separate bowl, mix the cornstarch and water and add slowly to the broth while stirring. Beat egg and add to the broth while stirring hard (spinning the soup). Simmer for 1 hour. Serves 8.

This recipe is very receptive to other ingredients such as tofu and/or pork, bamboo shoots or whatever else you think would go well with the hot & sour flavors.

Selling Your House-Fix It Up? Yes? No?

When asked if it’s wise to put significant resources into fixing up a house before putting it on the market, I have a different answer than I did before the real estate credit crunch. Back in the “old” days, I would tell sellers to aggressively clean their house and yard, de-clutter, paint and plant flowers. If kitchens and baths were clean and working, but out of date, I would advise against buying new appliances and laying new tile, etc. At the time, many buyers expressed an interest in picking out their own kitchens and baths and didn’t want to pay for someone else’s choices.

Times have changed. I now advise to replace dated appliances, counter-tops, floors, bathroom tile and fixtures. I’m not advocating complete renovations but I believe replacing items in the house that are out of date will result in a net gain over not replacing the items.

Why have I changed my attitude from before the credit crunch? It’s very simple. Back in 2005, if a person bought a house with 0% down, he or she could immediately get a home equity loan to finance a renovation. Those days are over. The only ways renovations get financed in today’s market are with cash or credit cards. Getting home equity loans is very difficult unless the equity in your house is at least 20%. With down payment requirements being what they are in today’s market, very few people have the means to renovate after purchasing. Consequently, buyers in today’s market want houses that need no updating.

A word of caution to sellers. The net gain one achieves by fixing up and updating a house for sale, is more of a prevention of the negative rather than a gain of the positive. What I mean by this, is if a seller has a dated house for sale that should sell in the $700K range, and he or she puts in $30K to fix it up, it is unlikely that the house will bring $730K. On the other hand, if the seller leaves the house as is and doesn’t invest in the updating, it is very likely the house will end up being discounted far more than the $30K that would have been spent on the updating.

The Best Wine With Indian Food

Probably no food is more difficult to pair with wine than Indian food. When eating at an Indian restaurant, you can always drink water, but I always like alcohol to accompany my thirst quencher. Beer is another alternative. It is definitely a safer choice, but if you're not particularly fond of beer and extremely fond of wine, you may want to investigate the possibility of hitting a great wine/Indian food match. It seems like any time you ask someone what goes well with Indian food, the answer is Gewurztraminer. I guess Gewurztraminer is mentioned because it's a spicy and often sweet wine and is believed to be able to hold up well against the intense spices in Indian food. I used to order Gewurztraminer whenever I ate at an Indian restaurant and could never figure out why I was disappointed. I thought maybe there was something wrong with my taste in wine. After researching wine and Indian food, I learned that because Indian food is so nuanced, and the spices so varied, no wine is going to work as the stock "best with Indian food" wine. Years ago someone must have mentioned Gewurztraminer as being the "Indian food wine" and it became an urban legend. Indian food has so many flavors and spices, that truly the best way to match wine with it's varied dishes, is to seek the help of the particular restaurant's sommelier. Each restaurant has it's own dishes and list of wines. The sommelier is going to be the one who has tasted the restaurant's wines and dishes. He or she is going to take pride in getting it right. Don't be intimidated. Most sommeliers love doing what they do and love working with novices as well as wine experts. Also, don't be afraid to give a price range. It is my experience that sommeliers take pride in buying and serving great wines in all price levels. Picking a wine at a steak house is easy. Picking a wine at an Indian restaurant is a challenge. Use the restaurant pro if they have one. If they don't, you may want to go with beer. I know the title of this posting is The Best Wine With Indian Food, so I guess I have to give a couple of generic recommendations. Again, my first recommendation is to use the restaurant pro, but if I must .......With the dishes in which you would normally drink a white wine, I think a good choice is a Viognier. Pinot Grigios, Rieslings and Sauvignon Blancs are also good but I think a Viognier is about as versatile a wine as there is. If I have to pick a red I think works most often with Indian food, I'd go with a cote du rhone; also because of its versatility.

A Beautiful Drive in Washington DC

One of the most underrated activities in Washington is the short drive on Ohio Drive Southwest starting from East Potomac Park, just before the East Potomac Park Golf Courses, and continuing around Haines Point until exiting East Potomac Park into West Potomac Park. A large swath of Washington can be seen in a very compact drive, with views of architecturally and historically significant sites.

To follow are a few of the many sites to be seen on the drive:

Southwest Waterfront and Marinas

Haines Point Golf Courses

Fort McNair

The War College

Buzzard Point

Boiling Air Force Base

The Wilson Bridge

George Washington Masonic National Memorial

National Airport

The Pentagon

The Air Force Memorial

Arlington House/Robert E Lee National Memorial

The Washington Monument

Give this short drive a try on a beautiful day. I promise you'll love it.

Some Thoughts on Real Estate Appreciation and Depreciation

Back in 2005, when the real estate market was steaming, one of the things that occurred to me was that real estate appreciation was driven from bottom to top. That is, it was the intense demand at the lower priced properties that pushed up the prices of starter homes that then pushed up demand at homes moving up the price ladder.

In 2011, it is still the lower price end of real estate that drives the overall market. It’s just that instead of driving the market up, for the past few years it’s been driving the market down.

If you remember when the market began to slide in 2006, it was the lower priced houses and condos, along with properties in new or unfinished developments that were the first to be affected by the downward trend. The higher end properties in economically established communities fared well for at least a couple of years longer, because the effects of the lower end slide hadn’t yet affected the higher priced properties. Recently, the price decline of the higher priced properties has been more noticeable because the decline happened in the more recent past.

Interestingly, it seems that most of the “bottoming out” in the real estate market has been happening at the lower price point. Hopefully, if recent history repeats itself, we’ll see the same “bottoming out” moving up the price ladder and the beginnings of real estate appreciation.