Wallpaper Making a Comeback

Could wallpaper really be making a comeback?  We've all either owned, visited or toured a home that had hideous wallpaper.  You know the home, the one when you walk into the foyer and the giant, dated, floral wallpaper is coming at you so hard that you want to turn around and run.  Yep, we've all been there.  It's scary.

First thought as a prospective home buyer is "Holy cow, how much blood, sweet and tears is it going to take to get that down?"  The question is, how many layers of wallpaper are underneath the one layer that you can see?  If you're thinking of tackling a wallpaper removal project, check out HGTV. 

Now if you're really adventurous, you might be thinking of actually putting up wallpaper.  Say what??!  I know, I know, it sounds crazy.  But really, could wallpaper look good?  The answer is yes!  If you get to check out the Street of Dreams in Lake Oswego this year, they do wallpaper right!  It had me wanting to run right out and pick out wallpaper for my house!  

If you're thinking of selling your home anytime in the near future, the trick is to find something that you like, but also something that buyers wouldn't run away screaming from.  Neutral colors, blacks, whites, greys, something that can stand the test of time when it comes to style.

Wallpaper really does have the ability to look good.  But this isn't a task to take lightly, because we all know how it can go wrong so quickly.  If you're thinking about adding some style to your bathroom or entryway, do your research and see if your home could end up looking like these multimillion dollar homes in the Street Of Dreams! 


For something a bit crazy:
Check out wallpaper you can color (I just can't get behind this idea).

Is Solar Something That You Could Do?

Solar panels are becoming more and more popular as technology improves and costs continue to go down.  All you have to do is start driving through a few neighborhoods and look up at the roofs to see that solar is popping up just about everywhere.  It's like when you buy a new car and you start seeing that make and model of car every place you go, solar is the same way - once you start noticing solar panels, you see them every where you turn.

photo from dreamstime.com

You know it's good for the environment.  You know it would cut down your energy bill.  But can you really afford it?  That's the big question.  At the end of 2016, some of the big tax credits are going away.  Now is the time to figure out if solar is right for you, so that you can cash in on those big credits before they become a thing of the past.


What would it actually look like if you put in a solar system?  Here are a couple of examples:

Solar Electric - PGE customer - 4,000 Watts system

$16,000     Total installed cost
-$3,200      Energy Trust incentive
$12,800     Amount homeowner pays to contractor

-$3,840      Federal Tax Credit (30% of $12,800)
-$6,000      Oregon Tax Credit ($1.90/watt, up to $6,000)

$2,960       Final cost to homeowner

For Utility Customers not served by PGE or Pacific Power - 4,000 Watts system

$16,000     Total installed cost

-$4,800      Federal Tax Credit (30% of $16,000)
-$6,000      Oregon Tax Credit ($1.90/watt, up to $6,000)

$5,200       Final cost to homeowner
 

In order to do solar, your roof has to have at least 10 years of life left.  The best type of roof is a metal roof, because the solar panels can just be clicked onto the metal roof without any penetration of the roof.  Solar panel last about 20 years, of course they could last longer and there are no moving parts, so very little maintenance is involved.  There is an inverter that only last 12-15 years before it'll need to be replaced. 

If you live in Oregon and have PGE as your electric company, you can have solar for just $2,960 (examples from Solar Oregon)!  I don't know about you, but that is much less than I thought it would be.  The big chunk of change comes out of your pocket first and the tax credits come later, but if you can afford to wait for those tax credits to come in... you can really get solar panels for not a lot in the end.  If you live outside of the Energy Trust of Oregon territory, which is any place not served by PGE or Pacific Power, like Forest Grove or Vernonia, then you won't be able to qualify for that incentive, but you would still get the State and Federal tax credits.

Here's where the problem lies in Oregon, your house has to pass the minimum shade requirements.  We do have enough sun to be able to benefit from solar panels, but 75% of the homes in Oregon don't work for solar due to too much shade.  Contact SolarCity to find out if your house qualifies.

An exciting piece of new technology is the back up battery by Tesla called the Powerwall that works with solar.  It goes on the side of your house and can be used like a generator, providing energy when the sun's not shinning or in the event of an outage.

It really comes down to this, solar is possible.  Solar is economical with all the incentives and tax credits.  If 400,000 homes in Oregon had solar panels, that would create all the energy that Oregon needs!  Three thousand dollars and you could be an energy superstar.  Think about that.

Helpful links:
Tax credit information
SolarCity - Solar provider
Sunrun - Solar provider
Tesla Powerwall battery
Solar Oregon
Solar World - Solar manufacturer

South Hillsboro Project

Click HERE to see the full size map from the City of Hillsboro

Have you heard about the South Hillsboro Project?  If you live anywhere close to 209th to 229th in Hillsboro, you probably have.  I recently went to a meeting on it for Realtors because I was curious about this project that has been in the works since 1998, that we've heard so much about, yet haven't seen any dirt actually move.

It's 1,400 acres between 209th on the East,  229th on the West and between TV Highway on the North and Farmington Road on the South.  It's going to have 8,000 dwellings, some 20,000+ residents (like building a Forest Grove in South Hillsboro), 286 acres of parks and 5 new schools.  This is a whole planned community from shops and restaurants to senior centers, apartments and high-end homes. 

One of the major intersections to get into South Hillsboro will be at Cornelius Pass and TV Highway.  Right now that intersection T's and comes to a stop at a field.  Well that field will one day be gone and instead be new South Hillsboro.  In order to go into new South Hillsboro, Cornelius Pass will go over the railroad tracks into that land.  Just that intersection alone has taken five years to plan!  They've had to close other railroad crossings as part of the agreement to get this one new crossing in place.  Maybe you've seen some work at that intersection?  I drove by it a few months ago (-ish, could be more, could be less, one never knows with my memory) and saw equipment there appearing to start some of the more basic work that has to be done to get that intersection in place.  Apparently getting a new crossing over a railroad track is no easy feat.

They started the concept planning in 1998 and have been working hard on the project for 16 years now.  Residents and people staying on top of it like Realtors keep hearing that it'll start soon.  Apparently the dirt work will start next year.  Now that doesn't mean that homes are going up, that just means that the dirt will start to move for infrastructure.  Course, we've heard it before, "next year", so it could be more like 2017...

Is a USDA Loan Right For You?

If you're thinking of buying your first home, but do not have money for a down payment, you might want to consider a USDA loan.  

With a USDA loan, you don't put anything down, it is 100% financed.  Before you get too excited and think "Wahoo!  I don't need any money!" - you will still need earnest money, money for closing costs & for any inspections.  In a buyer's market you can often get the seller to pay your closing costs.  In our current market, a seller's market, it's still possible that a seller might pay your closing costs, but it's not as likely.

A USDS loan takes longer to get, so the closing timeframe on a house is going to be longer, at least 60 days, often more.  There are certain requirements like all the exposed wood must be painted.  They don't care if the house is polka dotted, it just can't have exposed, unpainted wood siding.  You can't get a USDA loan on a house with any out buildings, like a shop, or things like a pool.

Besides the fact that this type of loan is finicky with the condition of the house (like no plumbing, electrical or roof issues), it also is only available in certain areas. Basically think rural, outlying towns.  You'll want to talk to your lender, but in this area some of the approved towns for USDA loans are Forest Grove, Cornelius and North Plains.

As with any loans, there are requirements.  But don't think that this is a bad option.  The fact of the matter is, it is an option.  When you're thinking about the current low interest rates and thinking that now is the time to buy before home prices go any higher, this may just be the option for you.  You could buy a home and start building your own home equity, instead of continuing to rent and paying off someone else's mortgage.  Talk to a lender today and if you don't have one, give me a call and I can get you connected with a lender that you can trust.

7 Apps and Web Tools That You Never Knew Existed

Here are seven tools that you can use regularly but probably never knew existed. 

1) Autodesk Homestyler is probably the neatest free design tool that I've seen and so user friendly.   You can create house floor plans.  You can input your furniture and then move it around to see how different layouts work.  It gives you so many options that your head will spin and you'll wonder how you ever decided on a layout before this! 

2)  I'm sure you've watched news clips about the latest arrest of a sex offender and thought at least that person didn't live near me.  Which then leads you to wonder if one does live near you or that perfect house that you want to buy.   Find out at Oregon's Sex Offender Inquiry System.

3) Property Tracker is a free web tool that will email you when a new house fits your search criteria.  Maybe you want to sell your house in two years and just want notice of homes that sell near you to get an idea of what prices people are getting.  Maybe you want to buy but don't want to waste time searching.  Set up a search once with Property Tracker and it'll do all the work for you.  You can choose how often you get notice, once a day/once a week, etc.  P.S. don't forget to put my name is as your Realtor connection so that if you want to see the home or get more info, just a simple click and I'm on top of it for you!  Get it for your smart phone too at JLSapp.com/amiek and with a quick download you're all set.

4) Painting is probably one of the surest ways to clean up a room and really make it pop!  But selecting a color and figuring out the amount of paint that you actually need can be problematic.  The Paint Quality Institute is an easy online tool that'll calculate how many gallons of paint you need to buy.  This quick app from Benjamin Moore will let you take a picture of anything and it'll match the paint color that's closest to it! 

5)  Are school districts important to you in your home search?  Check out Oregon Home Town Locator that not only shows you the boundary maps of the school districts but also gives stats on each school.

6)  Ever wondered what the value of a tree would be to your street?  The National Tree Benefit Calculator inputs the location, species and tree size to give users an understanding of the environmental and economic value that trees provide annually.  While you're thinking about trees... try this tree identification app called Leafsnap.  It is only for trees but it lets you take a picture of a leaf and it'll tell you what tree it's from.  Now when you're walking by a really neat tree, you can figure out what it is!

7) Do It Yourself Project Calculator is so very neat!  Want to know what it would cost to fix up your bathroom?  What about a kitchen remodel?  Put in a new deck?  All of those questions can be answered using a very easy estimator and with a couple of selections of the size, type of finish and voilà! You've got a project cost!

Home Demolition vs. Deconstruction

First off, can I start by saying every time I hear the word "demolition" I immediately think of the movie Demolition Man.  I don't know what that says about me, other than I like cheesy movies. 

Now that we got that out off the way, let's talk demo!  Many times, the highest and best use of a piece of land means that the existing home structure needs to be demolished.  It's too small, in need of too much repair or has issues that simply can not be remedied.  In this case, when it comes time to get rid of the home, what can you do?

photo from dreamstime.com

Burn it?  Sometimes the fire department will burn the home down as an exercise for their firefighters.  This often isn't possible though due to the closeness of the home to other structures. Or you simply don't want to pollute the air by setting the home of fire.  Understandable.

There's the classic demolition, meaning someone coming through with big equipment, destroying the house and dumping the remains at a landfill.  Sure, the landfill might recycle a lot of the debris (like Tualatin Valley Waste Recovery, who does a great job of recycling and recovering materials).  But still, it seems so sad to destroy a house and waste all of the materials that could be reused.

That brings us to deconstruction! Deconstructing a house means they take it apart carefully over days to be able to reuse the cabinets, doors, hardware, floors, fixtures, bricks, etc.  One place that you can buy and sell used construction items are at the Bone Yard NW.  The items that can't be reused are recycled.  This is truly a way to honor the past and give way to a bright new future.

Read more about deconstruction here.

Less Homes For Sale, But More Sold

Are you someone who likes good hard stats?  This should be right up your alley then.  According to Trendgraphix, this last month we had only 5,856 homes for sale combined in Multnomah, Clark, Clackamas, Washington and Columbia Counties.  Compare that to the 7,332 homes that were for sale in March of 2014. 

However, even though we had much less homes for sale than one year ago, we SOLD more homes than last March.  We sold 2,929 homes in March 2015, verses 2,385 in March of 2014.  Plus we have a much higher rate of pending sales, 4,114 to be exact in March of 2015.  Verses only 2,985 sales pending in March of 2014.  This means more homes are selling now than a year ago, even though there are less homes on the market.

This just further illustrates what we've been talking about with the limited amount of homes for sale and the huge demand from buyers for homes!  If you're thinking of selling, this should make it easy.  Now is the time!