Refuge Properties North Idaho

Category: Strategies

  • The Story of Your Home & Neighborhood

    When people come to view your home, the most important thing is usually the home itself and they may have already researched the neighborhood they want to live in, but providing neighborhood data as well as some of the things that the buyer can’t see, like utility costs or even hidden or overlooked special features in your home, may be the thing that seals the deal for them. Gather the following data and then make a special features or “What I Love About This Home” flyer to place in a “Home Book” and on the kitchen counter for those viewing your home. Most of these will be uploaded into the Documents section on your listing in the MLS.

    • Legal Information like the legal property description, picture of the parcel outlines, and the preliminary title report if you’ve ordered one. The legal description and parcel outline is public information found on your county’s assessor website so you’re not disclosing something that isn’t readily available elsewhere and some people want to know. The preliminary title report will have some personal information so you may not want to put that in if it’s a concern, but buyers may ask for it before making an offer and will certainly look at it once under contract. If you’ve had a property survey done, you should also include this.
    • If you are on a well and/or septic, the recent inspection report showing they are in good working order.
    • Property tax information including any exemptions you may have that affect what you pay.
    • Property Disclosure Report. This is a real estate form with questions about the condition of the property like whether there are any issues with the plumbing or how old the roof is. You will have to provide this to anyone who makes an offer so you might as well provide it up front.
    • Information on local schools including the public school district you’re in. You may also consider providing a list of private schools, including day cares, near you since more and more people, especially here in North Idaho, are choosing to send their children to private schools.
    • A list of utility providers and your average monthly cost.
    • Local businesses you recommend like restaurants, supermarkets, health care, and the like. Some people may be moving from out of the area and this will be useful. Is there a great restaurant just a mile down the road that has trivia nights every Thursday? That’s a selling point!
    • For the “What I Love About This Home” sheet, tell the story behind your home. When we sold our last home, one of the things that unintentionally helped sway the buyers was a portrait of our family showing our three boys. We’d actually put this in the garage while “depersonalizing” our home, but the buyers saw it and, after we’d gotten under contract, they told us that was one of the reasons they wanted to move there, as silly as it may seem. They were newlyweds but wanted to have three boys of their own. Of course, I’m not saying you should go into detail about your family. In fact, depending on how you frame it, it could even be a fair housing violation, but even though you want to depersonalize your home to a large extent, adding a little personality and warmth that can only come from the human touch may be the thing that attracts that eventual buyer. Some things you may want to put in this section:
      • Why you bought the home.
      • What you will miss about the home and neighborhood. If the sunsets are spectacular from the back porch or if the neighbors get together for outdoor movie nights in the cul-de-sac every Friday, point this out.
      • The potentially overlooked features in the home. Talk about drinking your morning coffee in the bay window while watching the hummingbirds feed or the fact that there’s a slide out spice rack that may be overlooked while touring. For these overlooked features, it’s a good idea to also make little cards to tape up around the house highlighting them.
      • What your favorite thing about the house is.
      • What your favorite thing about the neighborhood is.
      • What upgrades you’ve made to the home including new appliances, a new roof or siding, or new furnace and when these upgrades were made.

  • Remodeling: Worth the Investment?

    Typically, if you’re planning on remodeling your home, it means you’re planning on staying there for awhile and the investment has as much to do with your own enjoyment of your home as it does with increasing the value. Sometimes, though, potential sellers wonder if they should remodel or upgrade something in their home just before selling in order to make it more attractive to buyers and, hopefully, get more money or a quicker sale.

    Generally, this is not a good idea. You are not likely to recover the cost of the remodel. The only time I encourage sellers to invest more money into their home is if there’s a clear material defect that will make it difficult to sell. If the kitchen is dated, that’s fine, especially since the new owners likely have a different vision of what a dream kitchen is than you do. If the carpet is older but still in okay condition, it’s also probably a good idea to just leave it as is and maybe offer a flooring credit. Again, the new owners might want a different style or may want hardwood or vinyl flooring.

    That said, if the cabinets or counters are heavily damaged or the carpet is heavily worn, replacing them might be worth it. Many people may have a hard time envisioning what a home may look like fully remodeled or with items fixed or they simply want a truly move in ready home.

    In their “Remodeling 2024 Cost vs. Value Report”, Zonda Media listed the following projects as recouping their investment (data from the Spokane market specifically):

    • Garage Doors (227.5%)
    • Entry Door (Steel) (186.3%)/Grand Entrance (Fiberglass) (100.3%)
    • Manufactured Stone Veneer (137.5%) – This addition will depend a lot on the style of your home.
    • Minor Kitchen Remodel (114.3%) – By comparison, a major kitchen remodel will only recoup 55.4% and what constitutes minor vs. major is highly subjective to both you a the potential buyer. The national estimates for a minor kitchen remodel only recoup 96.1%.

    If in doubt whether to take on a particular project before selling, the best thing to do is get a couple of bids from contractors and then have your real estate agent give you their estimate on how much it will increase the value of the home. Remember, though, that while the bid from the contractor will be pretty close to exact, even the best real estate agents can only give an educated guess on how much a particular improvement will add to the value because, again, it’s all subjective.

    At the end of the day, the most beneficial home improvement you can do is making sure the house is clean and tidy and the outside is free of junk or yard debris. Do things like pressure wash the driveway, patios, and walkways. Sweep away the cobwebs from around the entry. Plant some colorful flowers if it’s the right season and mow the lawn. All these things cost almost nothing other than your time and will do wonders in attracting buyers.

    Two other great resources for remodeling costs are the National Association of the Remodeling Industry’s Remodeling Impact Report (2022 is the most recent) and Pillar to Post Home Inspectors Pillar to Post Cost Guide. Both of these reflect national data and estimates.

  • Common Ways to Hold Title

    If you’re purchasing a home in Washington, the Purchase and Sales Agreement has a field defining how you will take title. There are several ways beyond just putting your name(s) down (single man/woman or married couple/community property, the two most common).

    You can also own a home as a married person but as separate property, as a joint tenancy, where each owner owns an equal share. The most common result of this is that the share of the property owned by one of the people (the tenant) will pass to the other(s) upon death instead of to that person’s heir(s).

    Another way is tenancy in common where owners may own unequal shares and their interest passes to their heir(s) upon death instead of to the other owners.

    Finally, you may choose to have the property owned by an LLC or other corporation or a trust. This has the benefit of keeping your ownership private from public record. (People could probably track you down with enough work, but your name won’t be listed in the county title records so it will be much more difficult.) If in a trust, it also makes transfer of the property to your heirs upon your death much simpler, avoiding probate.

    In Idaho, these forms of ownership are not listed on the Purchase and Sales Agreement but they can still be done with a simple addendum which is sent to the title company that eventually records your purchase with the county. Just make sure to make this decision as early in the process as possible as it becomes extra work once the transaction is underway. If you wait until after the transaction is closed, it will require even more paperwork. In the case of wanting your ownership to remain private in county records, if you wait until after it closes, while the new ownership form and name will eventually be recorded, your name will forever be associated with that property.

    Here’s a more detailed description from our friends at First American Title.

    Common Ways to Hold Title – WADownload

  • The Life of an Escrow

    What is escrow and how does it work? When you’re buying a property, you’re exchanging a considerable amount of money for it and the eventual transfer has to go through multiple steps not only to ensure both parties are dealing fairly (remember the old joke about selling the Brooklyn Bridge?) but that all the proper documentation is accounted for and eventually recorded with the county.

    What I’ve found in all the transactions I’ve been a part of is that people aren’t dishonest so much as they are operating off different presumptions about what the other party wants. As a very simple example, take the final state of the home when it’s turned over. It’s very unlikely that the seller will refuse to turn over the house or, worse yet, sign the closing documents and then refuse to leave becoming a squatter (although this does happen), but they may leave a bunch of junk behind or they may have damaged a wall while moving out. This is why it’s important to have a re-inspection or final walk through just before closing. If there’s significant junk lying around or damage, this is where escrow becomes very important. They will hold back the money until the situation is remedied. Furthermore, when a lender is involved, they will be sending their portion of the funds directly to escrow. Finally, when everything has been completed, the escrow or title officer will have the sale recorded with the county recorder’s office. On the seller side, the escrow officer will also be the one to pay off your loan if there is one.

    Here’s a handy breakdown of who does what and when from our friends at First American Title.

    The Life of an Escrow – Detailed (1)Download

  • Rental Investment Properties

    Thinking of buying a rental property? There are few investment that provide a better rate of return and security than rental property. Of course, you’ll have to have enough cash up front, typically 25% plus whatever closing costs and initial upgrades or maintenance you’ll need to perform before renting the property, but if you can swing that (it may even make sense to pull money from another property in the form of HELOC for part of that down payment), you’ll enjoy a steady monthly income and long term appreciation of the asset over time.

    There are some downsides you should be aware of. If something breaks in your rental property, you’ll need to have the cash or credit to fix it ASAP. If one of your tenants fails to pay rent or trashes the place, recovering that money or evicting the tenant can be difficult. Having owned rental properties myself, though, I can tell you it’s worth the minor headaches.

    When looking for a property, it’s best to look at it as objectively as possible. This is not the time to fall in love with a certain aspect of the home. You’re not going to live there. Sure, something about it might be of added benefit in attracting renters, but at the end of the day, a fairly quick market analysis will be able to tell you what it’s going to rent for. Then all you need to do is run the numbers and see if it pencils. Generally, if you’re at least going to break even every month with rents covering your mortgage and expenses, it’s worth it since you’re building equity both by having your renters pay down the mortgage principle and, over time, the property value is likely to increase so you can sell it for a profit when the time comes.

    Here’s a simple rental investment calculator I put together to help you make the decision.

  • Tips for Preparing Your Home to Be Photographed and Shown

    More than anything else, photos sell your home. 95% of people see your home for the first time on the internet and most of those people decide to see it in person based on the photos. This is not the time to pull out the iPhone and snap a few quick pics. A professional photographer with professional equipment will be able to make your home stand out and, in some cases, look even better than it does in person. With almost all of my listings, I also pay for the photographer to do a virtual walkthrough, sometimes called a Matterport tour for the type of camera that is used. This allows people to walk through the home virtually by clicking on spots within the floor plan. Each of these spots is where the 360-degree camera took shots so the person viewing it can see every corner of the house as if they were there. It also provides complete floor plan of the house and what is known as a dollhouse view.

    Before the photographer comes to your home though, there are some things you need to do. I can’t tell you how many photos I’ve seen online where dirty laundry was left on the bed, the toilet seat was up, or the kitchen counter was crowded with appliances or just plain junk. Sure, some people will have the vision to look past all of that. After all, they’re not buying your junk, just your home, but many people will take one look at a few photos and decide the house is not for them just based on the mess. When we purchased our last home, we paid far less than I think we would have had the owner taken the time to declutter and clean. We had the vision to see it was a good home for the price so, in a market where most homes were selling in under a week with multiple offers, this one had sat for months.

    So what do you need to do, beyond removing the dirty laundry from the bed and putting the toilet seat down? In short, pretend like you’re entertaining your boss or welcoming your girlfriend’s or boyfriend’s parents over for the first time. Here are some things to consider well in advance, not the morning the photographer is coming over. A good photographer will do some things, like close the toilet seat, maybe even open the blinds to let in more light, but it’s actually your job to do so.

    • Do a deep clean. Sure, the camera is not going to pick up tiny specks of food on the kitchen floor, but you’d be surprised what it will. Make it shine!
    • Remove as much as possible from counters, tables, and desktops. The general rule of thumb is to leave one or two kitchen appliances on the counter, maybe the toaster and the coffeepot. The more you remove though, the bigger the space will look. Do the same in the bathrooms. It’s okay to leave the hand soap dispenser and you might want to dress it up with a small plant, but beyond that, put it in a drawer or a box. Anything you aren’t likely to use in the next month or so might as well be packed away. It’ll save you from having to do so when it’s eventually time to move.
    • Pick up all the toys and other smaller items around the house and in the yard. If the kids have a play kitchen or a large toy truck, it’s okay to leave those out if they are not easy to store, but put them up against a wall or place them otherwise intentionally. A stager will be able to help you with that.
    • Consider removing some of the furniture. The less furniture in a room, the bigger it will look. Of course, you actually want to have some to help potential buyers envision how they are going to use the space, but if you have extra chairs or tables crowding the space, move them to the garage. This is especially true for that raggedy old chair that the cat shredded. Again, a stager will be able to help you with what should stay and what should go. You may even consider selling or donating some furniture if you’re not planning on taking it with you.
    • Remove all the papers and artwork from the front of the refrigerator. (It’s probably okay to leave one picture your kid made if you really want to, but again, less is more.)
    • Make sure all the light bulbs are working. Smoke detectors as well. You don’t want those things beeping away during a showing because the battery has died.
    • If you don’t store your trash under the counter, put it in the garage along with the big dog food container.
    • Make sure the bathroom and kitchen towels are clean and neatly folded. You may even consider buying some new ones to brighten up the space. The stager can help with this. Many times, they’ll even provide you with towels that can add color to the space.
    • Remove bath mats from the bathroom.
    • Make the beds. This is another area you may consider investing in new bed linens or decorative pillows or having the stager provide some.
    • Hide any extraneous cords and remotes.
    • Mow the lawn, weed the garden, pressure wash the driveway, patio, and walkway and clean any dirt away from the siding, and wash the windows both inside and out. Consider planting some colorful flowers if it’s appropriate for the season.
    • Put away any gardening equipment and clean the outside of the grill. You may want to buy a new grill cover if the old one is dirty or worn.
    • Park cars inside the garage if there is room or park them away from the house. You can, of course, put them back in the driveway once the photographer is done, but for the photos, you want a clear view of the front of the house, not your car.
    • Consider depersonalizing your home as much as possible. People should really be judging the home itself, not the occupants, but you’d be surprised how many people may pass on a house just because there are things inside they don’t agree with like political messaging they disagree with or even sports memorabilia from a team they don’t like. Of course, this is totally up to you. It might be that the provocative sign, if the potential buyer agrees with it, might be the thing that seals the deal.
    • Open all the blinds and turn on all the lights just before the photographer arrives.
    • Prior to a potential showing, make sure the place smells nice. Air it out if you have pets or teenage boys. Take out the garbage. Consider lighting a neutral smelling or putting an air freshener out. Stay away from strong smells that some people may be allergic to though.
    • If it’s appropriate for the season, light the fireplace. Do this, of course, only if you know someone is coming to tour your home immediately after you leave.
    • Prior to showing you may also want to put on some quiet and calming music.
    • If you have a hot tub or pool and it’s appropriate for the season, remove the cover and turn on the jets.
    • If you have outdoor patio lights, turn those on for evening showings.

  • The Buyer Love Letter: To Be or Not to Be

    February 6, 2021

    Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou my next home? Poor Romeo and Juliet never got the opportunity to buy their first home together but, chances are, if they had, and if their parents hadn’t disowned both of them, they probably would have been able to make an all-cash offer on a nice little villa overlooking the Adige River, such was the wealth they both came from. I’m guessing competition was also not as stiff back then as it is today.

    Buyers today, though, face tough competition for a house, especially here in North Idaho. Multiple offers, often in the double digits; starting bids well above asking; and all-cash offers are typical. So, what are buyers to do to separate themselves from the competition? Usually, it does come down to who can pay the most with quick and easy closing terms also being strong predictors, but sometimes it pays to offer something that numbers can’t buy and that’s where buyer love letters come in.

    They’ve been around a long time but in a hot market like the one we’ve been experiencing for a few years now; they are more popular than ever. They’ve even started being included with offers for commercial properties.

    The fact is, for most people who’ve lived in a house for more than a year or two, that house becomes a part of the family. They formed countless memories under that roof, celebrating birthdays and holidays and witnessing many “firsts”. Their house isn’t just a house, it’s a home, and they do care, even if it’s just a bit, about who is going to live there after they do. Are the new owners going to rip it down or remodel it? Are they going to care for the garden the seller planted? Are the buyers even going to live there? (During the heady days of foreign real estate investment, some buyers even bought houses as cash-shelters, sealed them up, and let them sit, no one to “love” them.)

    Some agents may disagree and plenty of lawyers, afraid of Fair Housing lawsuits, advise buyers and sellers to stay as far away from buyer love letters as possible. They advise sellers not to look at them if received and to only make a decision based on objective criteria. But lawyers are paid to consider worst case scenarios and mitigate certain risks down to as close to zero as possible. (To be sure, real estate is just a very small subset of the law so, as an agent, my job is to do the same to a large extent; it’s why there are so many pages of paperwork to fill out when buying or selling a home.)

    The fact is, though, life is full of risks that have to be balanced and the same is true with buyer love letters. I know of a number of instances where sellers didn’t accept the “highest and best” offer. Perhaps they didn’t want an investor coming in and ripping down the home that their grandfather had built with his own two hands. Perhaps they wanted to know that those prize roses they’d spent so much time tending would receive the same attention. Perhaps the buyer love letter expressed an excitement to be part of the neighborhood, to attend the summer block parties, and exchange more than a curt nod to those living next door. If those sentiments weren’t portrayed in a letter, the sellers may have chosen to go with someone else and that’s the risk to not including one.

    What’s the downside? For the buyer, none really. I suppose there might be sellers and agents so afraid of violating some Fair Housing Law that they decide not to accept any offers that come with a letter, but even if that fear might be real for some, they are likely to just not read the letter and continue on choosing based on objective criteria.

    For sellers, the risk might be slightly greater but it’s still so minimal that it shouldn’t be of great concern as long as the seller is not discriminating based on any Fair Housing criteria. But here’s how it might play out, just for the sake of argument. A seller receives a letter that talks about how much the buyer’s kids will enjoy playing in the backyard and how the vaulted ceiling in the living room is perfect for the family Christmas tree. These two things, which reveal family status and religion (although plenty of non-Christians put up Christmas trees so I’m not sure that’s even accurate) of the buyer, could be possible grounds for a Fair Housing suit, but again, what are the realistic chances of a potential buyer who lost out suing on the off-chance that they think they lost out because they fell into a certain category? Offers are private. Letters don’t get posted on some website for the world to see and listing agents aren’t allowed to show them to anyone other than their sellers.

    All that said, here are some tips when drafting that buyer love letter:

    • First, your agent probably won’t help you draft it nor should they. You know best what you love about the house and your personality will come through better if you write it.
    • Steer clear of details about yourself that could reveal your status in a Fair Housing class (race, color, national origin, religion, sex, family status, and disability; in some jurisdictions, sexual-orientation and identity are also categories). Don’t talk about your kids, your holiday gatherings, or how the oven will be perfect for baking a big pan of your particular culture’s special dessert. (Just say it’ll be perfect for baking.)
    • Do talk about the house and neighborhood! Not only will this allow you to steer clear of those Fair Housing categories; people usually like hearing about themselves more than they like hearing about other people. So, talk about how much you love the roses and how you plan on taking care of them. Talk about how your dream home always included a soaking tub or wainscoting. Talk about the fact that the house is located on a dead end, and you see dead ends as bringing life to a neighborhood. (True story: I was moved by this exact sentiment in a letter when I sold my personal home; objectively, the offer was also the best, but I was still touched by the sentiment in the letter.) Talk about the large basement room and how it will be perfect for movie nights.
    • Bonus: if the seller hasn’t “depersonalized” their home and you see something that you share in common—maybe you graduated from the same college; maybe you both love Harleys—it doesn’t hurt to include that.
    • Do talk about how you plan on living there and not just using it as a rental or fix-and-flip project. Again, people love their homes as if they were another family member and the fact that you are the intended occupant can sometimes sway the seller if a similar competing offer is from an investor.
    • While there are several Fair Housing categories, a buyer’s financial and employment status is not one of them. Typically, an offer comes with a pre-approval letter from the mortgage lender (if your offer doesn’t include one of these—or “proof of funds” if you’re making an all-cash offer—your agent isn’t doing their job), but you may also want to let the seller know you are secure in your employment. While this doesn’t need to go into your letter, a pro-active call from your mortgage lender to the listing agent to assure them that your loan is on track and all your financial statements and employment have been verified, is probably the most important thing you can do beyond making a strong offer. Having your mortgage lender be pro-active also shows the listing agent that they’ll be easy to work with during the transaction since, in most cases, any issues that come up after the inspection has been completed will be mortgage related.
    • Don’t “oversell” yourself. You still want to get the best deal you can and, if something comes up during an inspection and you want to ask for a price reduction or some other concession from the seller, you still want to have some negotiating power, so avoid using language like “I’d do anything to get this house!” or “this is the tenth house we’ve looked at and if we don’t get it I don’t know what I’ll do!”
    • It probably goes without saying, but don’t include anything negative in the letter like “I really love your house but what were you thinking painting the walls green?! That will be the first thing we change when we move in!”
    • Consider handwriting it (then scanning it, if you’re submitting it electronically). The handwritten note is increasingly a thing of a bygone era and will go a long way.
    • Keep it short; one page typed, or two-pages handwritten.
    • Proofread it. A lot of people don’t seem to care much about grammar and spelling these days, but enough do that your attention to detail here will reflect on your attention to detail during the transaction (even if your agent is the one doing most of the work).
    • Include your letter in a sealed envelope separate from the rest of the offer (or as a separate attachment, if sending it electronically) so that sellers who do want to refrain from reading it can easily do so.

    Finally, remember that, while buyer love letters may push your offer over the edge, “highest and best” is almost always the deciding factor, so make your offers objectively strong!

  • Inspections

    You’re about to make what is quite possibly the biggest purchase of your life and there’s a lot you don’t know about it. What’s in the attic and crawlspace? Pests? Mold? Fifty issues of National Geographic from the 1970s that have been there since the last owner moved in? (True story on that last one and a fun find that my client gifted to me.) Is the foundation solid? Do the included appliances work? In most cases, the house you’re buying will have several minor issues that you might want to address after you move in, but none that would cause you to walk away from the transaction or even ask for repairs to be done or a reduction in price. Inspections are still very important though because you never know what they might turn up. They typically cost between $500 and $1000 depending on the size and age of the house and how many things you want inspected (just the house? sewer line? radon test?). Here are some things worth when hiring an inspector.

    • What credentials do you hold and how long have you been an inspector? In Idaho, inspectors aren’t licensed by the state, but they should still be able to point to some sort of certification like the American Society of Home Inspectors (ASHI)
    • What is the cost for the inspection? Are sewer line inspections extra? (They typically are.) How about radon tests?
    • Is there an extra charge for larger homes or homes over a certain age? Homes out of their typical service area?
    • How quickly can your inspector typically make it out to a home once your offer has been accepted and how long will it take them to return their report? If they can’t make it in the allotted time frame, is there another inspector they can recommend who can?
    • Will they do a complimentary re-inspection of any issues that have been fixed by the sellers?
    • In regard to the radon inspection, make sure they are measuring it for 72 hours and that the meter is placed in a habitable room on the lowest habitable room in the house (i.e. a basement office or bedroom, not a utility or laundry room or closet.

    Additionally, before the home inspection occurs, make sure the sellers have address the following potential issues. When it comes time for the appraisal inspection, these may be called out, especially if it’s an FHA loan, and the lender will require them to be fixed and re-inspected with the re-inspection with an added cost of $200 to $400 in some cases.

    • Standing water against the foundation or excessive moisture in the basement.
    • Hazardous materials on site. This is not necessarily asbestos or lead paint, which is common in a lot of homes built prior to 1978, but if there are signs of exposed asbestos (i.e. not painted over), exposed electrical wires, and other potentially life-threatening situations, these will be called out.
    • Evidence of possible pest infestation.
    • Leaking or worn-out roofs. Roofs should have at least five-years of life left in them. If they seem close, hiring a specialty roof inspector or roofer to give you a “five-year certification” is a good way to placate any appraisers/lenders who are in doubt. Of course, realize that even if you get this certification, you’ll need to budget for a new roof in the near future.
    • Faulty mechanical systems, i.e. plumbing, heating, or electrical aren’t working.
    • Evidence of possible structural failure, i.e. unsupported floor joists, cracked or bulging walls or foundations. (Some cracks may not be evidence of structural failure. All houses settle over time and minor cracks can appear. If in doubt, it’s prudent to hire a structural engineer to give a second opinion.
    • Missing handrails both inside and out.
    • Working smoke alarms inside every bedroom (or in a hallway if bedrooms are close together) and on every floor. This is a common one and an easy fix.
    • Carbon monoxide detectors. Required on every floor. Another common issue with an easy fix.
    • Earthquake straps on water heaters. Probably the most overlooked issue with an easy fix.

    If you hire me as your agent, I will take care of all of this and already have existing relationships with home inspectors in the area who I trust.