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CRT_Ben
Joined: 28 Aug 2006
Posts: 1684
Location: Northern Virginia
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| Posted: Mon Mar 03, 2008 7:20 pm Post subject: |
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| Phil Smith wrote: | | I think one of the problems is your typical digital camera zoom doesn't go very wide. I started to take interior pics of my house and my Nikon 995. It was immediately obvious that it wouldn't zoom wide enough. I borrowed a friend's D70 with an 18-70mm zoom, and it's a big improvement. |
At the other end of the spectrum I've seen a handful of houses that look like they were shot with a fisheye and the viewer has NO perspective whatsoever... 
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perisoft
Joined: 29 Aug 2007
Posts: 2920
Location: Ithaca, NY
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| Posted: Mon Mar 03, 2008 7:38 pm Post subject: |
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I continually boggle at people who won't buy a house because there's a picture of somebody else in it, or the paint's the wrong color. "Damn, I couldn't live here! I don't like that couch, and who's that dude in the painting? Aaaagh!"
Idiots.
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JustGreg
Joined: 07 Mar 2006
Posts: 3098
Location: Kenosha, WI
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| Posted: Mon Mar 03, 2008 8:28 pm Post subject: |
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I have a question for the real estate savvy....just something I wanted to check out as a possibility to achieve the goal of selling my house by the end of summer-ish and landing comfortably on our feet in a smaller less expensive to own home.
OK. I'm currently in a 7 year ARM. Before anyone starts groaning let me explain why we chose that program when we refi'd 2.5 years ago. The kids are all gone first. Second, we never planned to stay the full seven years...or even this long.
As sh*t happens goes, I lost my job and had to find another. It ended up being farther away than I was used to (commuting=$300.00/mo! now). The subprime mess reared it's ugly head, and existing home values plummeted. I don't believe that affects me where I live but I fully expect prospectives to try and play that card.
My house is in a very desireable part of the city so I don't have any worries about selling. I AM concerned we won't get as much as we need to land softly in a new home of our choosing if I do nothing. I need to replace windows, get some roof work done, replace the water heater (I have the On Demand unit already but need to install it), replace some carpeting, replace the kitchen countertops (nothing fancy, eg, no stone), and do some serious painting inside and out.
Anyway, because I have less money now to get the house ready I was tossing around the idea of an interest only refi. This gives me some freedom to play with my exit strategy and frees up money to really make the house shine, PLUS, the housing debacle will continue to age out while I'm doing things to the house to ensure we get top dollar. The problem is...where the hell is the line???? 
The biggest thing right now is my line of work has almost zero security given the way Sprint has tanked. (I'm an Indirect Sprint dealer and Authorized Service Center) I could start selling for another carrier but even doing that is an agonizing process involving about 8 months....and which one do I whore out to of all the choices? (Sprint stock lost 47% of it's value since the beginning of the year..yeah, THIS year...not encouraging at all).
So...there it is. If I knew any appraisers I'd ask them if what I want to do add's up to a better profit than just doing the least required and selling it almost as is. Seeing as the smartest and brutally honest people are here...why not ask?
My biggest concern is increasing the total amount owed with closing costs. I'm not a rocket scientist but I do know enough to know the No Closing Cost loans are a misnomer and not to fall for that. They just move the costs to the back end of your mortgage with the borrower generally paying for just the appraisal up front.
Funny story real quick regarding appraisals. When I refi'd this last time the lender sent this little bubble headed bimbo who had a straggly haired 'kid' (18-ish) with her and when she got to my basement where the HT is she first; told me a home theater doesn't add any value to the home, second; asked me if the one 14ft section of exposed foundation I hadn't studded and drywalled was poured or block!  (It's poured) I asked her if she saw any rectangles, because I sure as sh*t didn't. She proceeded to tell me there was no need to be rude. I proceeded to tell her my rudeness was more acceptable and appropriate than her ignorance, and to please leave... now!....................
In the Good Faith Estimate that arrived a few days later I noticed she devalued my home by $24K under an appraisal I had commissioned the year before.  I showed HER a thing or two didn't I! 
BTW, other than the job (in)security thing, my ARM doesn't convert until 2012 so no pressure there so this isn't a desperation move.
I just figured I'm not staying too much longer..a year TOPS, so I don't really care about the small amount I'd be paying down the principal in that time with an interest only loan.
Sorry for the length...I was never very good at clear and concise. 
Thanks in advance!
Greg
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Greg
"Is it ignorance or apathy? Hey, I don't know and I don't care!" --Jimmy Buffett
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drice1234
Joined: 07 Oct 2006
Posts: 1309
Location: Allen, Texas
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| Posted: Mon Mar 03, 2008 10:02 pm Post subject: |
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Phil,
I have a megapixel IP CCTV camera that I have been playing with. It has (4) 2 megapixel cameras in one dome to give you a 180 degree view. I can capture the video on my laptop and then save specific frames in a picture format. I am going to try to get some 180 degree views of my theater room. I'll post some pics if it works out. I live in Allen and work in Addison so I go by your house every day. I could stop by and capture some video and get you some wide angle views of your rooms.
Dan
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rmcarthur
Joined: 03 Mar 2008
Posts: 7
Location: Chilliwack, BC Canada
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| Posted: Tue Mar 04, 2008 12:30 am Post subject: |
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| kal wrote: | | rmcarthur wrote: | | Person99 wrote: | | First, let me say I think Real Estate agents are pretty much the most useless people in the world. In an Internet age, they add zero value. |
Wow! As a Realtor I find this quite insulting, an all-out insult to Realtors that read this forum all around the world. But I guess to someone not fully educated & trained in what it takes to sell a home for full market value and protect the sellers greatest asset in the process this is a common misunderstanding.
I will not go into the reasons why having a Realtor (in Canada) is important such as Error and Ommisions Insurance, MLS advertising, knowledge of the Legalities involved in the sale of property, knowledge in performing property price assessments, staging a home, writing legal and binding contract of purchase and sales, experience in negotiating maximum price for your home, ethics etc., etc. etc.
This list could go on for pages. |
I understand what you're saying but as a Canadian myself, living in a market where good houses are selling themselves in hours and for $500-600K, why give 20-50K or more of that to a realtor when little work needs to be done? My parents just sold their house a couple of years ago for around that price range in an area that is in extreme demand. They didn't use a realtor but instead used Grape Vine (a sell-it-yourself service) and got a good lawyer who knows real estate and paid him $1000-2000 or whatever.
Nothing wrong with paying a realtor for working on selling your house when it's not an easy sale but houses that used to sell for $150-200K 10-20 years ago are now selling for 3 times as much. People are also flipping houses faster and moving more often so a lot of the houses are single owner, almost new, zero issues. Is the realtor really working 3 times harder and deserves that flat rate percentage cut when it's a sellers market out there??
Realtor rates are negotiable of course. If I was selling and wanted to use a realtor and knew I had a house that would sell easily in a hot market, I'd go for a fixed fee instead of a percentage and just offer the realtor a flat fee. But not likely, I'd probably do it myself and get a good real estate lawyer for the legal stuff.
What the usual realtor percentage rate these days? 5%? 10%? On a 500KA house that sells quick and easy that's 25 - 50K for what amounts to a few days work!
Last I checked the realtor is not in any way legally responsible for the sale - if something goes wrong or they make a mistake, they are not responsible (Realtors don't have liability insurance do they?).
It's obvious that the market's changing as there are more and more 'sell it yourself' services out there now as the flat percentage fees charged by realtors are too expensive for most people.
Kal |
Hi Kal,
I wasn't defending whether or not an individual should use a Realtor as much as I was addressing the tone of person99's comment. The statement that a person in a particular profession is "useless" is quite insulting regardless of their career choice. I didn't think we are here to attack a persons profession. I am sure there are a great deal of people out there willing to put in the time and effort to sell their home themselves but it is not for everyone, that's where a Realtor comes in.
I'm sure we can all do someone elses job better if we really want to .... right.
There is a lot more to selling a home and protecting a person's greatest asset than the general public may realize. Real Estate is a constantly evolving beast and continual training is a must to keep up. You don't just write a test and effectively sell Real Estate. In Canada Realtors belong to a Professional Organization that polices it's members and holds them to a professional Ethics code and mandatory annual training. All this constant training must be teaching us something that the "average" person does not know. Many people pay investment advisors for the same type of service, this they could also learn to do themselves if they were so inclined but they choose to have an expert do it for them.
As I said in a buyers market it is much easier to sell a home than in the sellers market the US is in. The original poster is in the US, that is what I thought we were talking about. Many people do not want to take the time or risk involved in selling their own home. A mistake can be very costly. Realtors in Canada carry Error and Ommissions Insurance to protect the seller. A Realtor can be sued if they make a mistake on a contract or in the selling process, what insurance does the For Sale By Owner have. It is easy to make a mistake that can cost you tens of thousands of dollars.
Here in Canada our market is slowing down as well and it is not as easy to sell a home as it once was.
I am a DIY guy and do as much of everything that I can do myself but when it comes to some things I leave it up to the experts. I got my Barco 808S from Curt and have repaired it myself but if it was a brand new 9500LC I wouldn't chance damaging it, I would take it to Curt.
I am sure person99 and yourself (Kal) are experts when it comes to CRT projectors due to your experience with them and I would expect the same respect back when it comes to Real Estate. You have learnt a great deal in working with them over the years as would a Realtor in dealing in Real Estate transactions. As with anything there are good and not-so-good Realtors.
I am done with my rant and apologize to everyone for it. Thanks for the debate and I do not expect to change some peoples minds about Realtors so I will not try. I just thought I would give you a different perspective.
Regards,
Rob
We now return you to your regularly scheduled program.
P.S. Long live CRT!
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kal
Forum Administrator
Joined: 06 Mar 2006
Posts: 18114
Location: Ottawa, Canada
TV/Projector: JVC DLA-NZ7
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rmcarthur
Joined: 03 Mar 2008
Posts: 7
Location: Chilliwack, BC Canada
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| Posted: Tue Mar 04, 2008 1:15 am Post subject: |
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Thanks Kal. I have been a very long time lurker and always had nothing but respect for you guys but Dave got my juices flowin' a bit there.
While I have your attention I just thought I should compliment you on your great looking HT room. I should get mine up on Curts site as it is nearing completion now. I only live about 45 minutes from Curt and have been to his house many times he's is very helpful and convenient to have so close by.
Rob
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kal
Forum Administrator
Joined: 06 Mar 2006
Posts: 18114
Location: Ottawa, Canada
TV/Projector: JVC DLA-NZ7
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dc_pilgrim
Joined: 31 Oct 2006
Posts: 225
Location: PA
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| Posted: Tue Mar 04, 2008 1:52 am Post subject: |
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Kal - any comments on the shots the realtor took of my place?
http://vow.mlspin.com/idx/details.asp?mls=70716251&aid=BB801207
I know the HT pics suck, but in fairness to the realtor, I was behind schedule and hadn't had a chance to tame the wires yet, so his angles were limited.
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NateTTU
Joined: 14 Feb 2007
Posts: 297
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| Posted: Tue Mar 04, 2008 2:53 am Post subject: |
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I'm in the market for a new home, first time buyer as well. I've found a few good homes but its now just understanding what I can afford. Does anyone have a recommendations for a first time buyer? As if this isn't enough stress I will be getting married in August and we would like to buy a home in June or so. However, not to offend anyone, but I'm seeing that living in Texas is definately cheaper than other places.
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kal
Forum Administrator
Joined: 06 Mar 2006
Posts: 18114
Location: Ottawa, Canada
TV/Projector: JVC DLA-NZ7
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| Posted: Tue Mar 04, 2008 3:27 am Post subject: |
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These are actually pretty good! They've gotten the exposure right on most of them. A wider angle would have helped on a few of them though I think. The first big main shot of the house I could have cropped a bit more/differently (too much open road). As illogical as it seems, you want to make it look like you're not on a road with neighbours... crop it so that it seems peaceful, separate, etc.
Most of the shots are really well done. The place looks nice and bright. That's what you want to see. Exposure's on the inside of the house for most of them so that the windows are blown out and completely white. Perfect.
Kal
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My basement/HT/bar/brewery build 2.0
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greg_mitch
Joined: 03 May 2006
Posts: 5320
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| Posted: Tue Mar 04, 2008 4:22 am Post subject: |
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| NateTTU wrote: | | I'm in the market for a new home, first time buyer as well. I've found a few good homes but its now just understanding what I can afford. Does anyone have a recommendations for a first time buyer? As if this isn't enough stress I will be getting married in August and we would like to buy a home in June or so. However, not to offend anyone, but I'm seeing that living in Texas is definately cheaper than other places. |
Figure out your monthly expenses and see what is leftover for a mortgage payment. Don't forget to include property taxes and insurance (usually placed in a single escrow payment).
For a first time just out of school, I would see what I could afford and then bring it back a few notches.
You will be surprised at how many expenses will pop up out of the blue!
One thing I can also recommend against is buying planning on future money. Don't plan on what you think you might have, but plan for what you have at this moment.
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dc_pilgrim
Joined: 31 Oct 2006
Posts: 225
Location: PA
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| Posted: Tue Mar 04, 2008 2:08 pm Post subject: |
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| kal wrote: | | These are actually pretty good! They've gotten the exposure right on most of them. A wider angle would have helped on a few of them though I think. |
I didn't think they were bad either, but figured I'd get a second opinion. I asked the realtor if it was a big deal to change the pics if I didn't like them when they were shooting. They got a little nervous when I asked that. But my big complaint is when I see house pics on the web is that they are often too dark. Or there are seasonal items in the shot (e.g. christmas stuff) that tells the buyers how long your place has sat on the market.
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Phil Smith
Joined: 08 Mar 2006
Posts: 7717
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| Posted: Tue Mar 04, 2008 9:34 pm Post subject: |
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| drice1234 wrote: | Phil,
I have a megapixel IP CCTV camera that I have been playing with. It has (4) 2 megapixel cameras in one dome to give you a 180 degree view. I can capture the video on my laptop and then save specific frames in a picture format. I am going to try to get some 180 degree views of my theater room. I'll post some pics if it works out. I live in Allen and work in Addison so I go by your house every day. I could stop by and capture some video and get you some wide angle views of your rooms.
Dan |
Dan,
That's very kind of you! We should do that when you get time. I'll buy dinner.
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Clarence
Joined: 08 Mar 2006
Posts: 3827
Location: Smith Mtn Lake, VA
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| Posted: Tue Mar 04, 2008 10:39 pm Post subject: |
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| kal wrote: |
These are actually pretty good! They've gotten the exposure right on most of them. A wider angle would have helped on a few of them though I think. The first big main shot of the house I could have cropped a bit more/differently (too much open road). As illogical as it seems, you want to make it look like you're not on a road with neighbours... crop it so that it seems peaceful, separate, etc.
Most of the shots are really well done. The place looks nice and bright. That's what you want to see. Exposure's on the inside of the house for most of them so that the windows are blown out and completely white. Perfect.
Kal |
Where it says "Click on a thumbnail to view the larger version", it took me a few clicks until I realized that the "larger version" was being pushed to a 200x256 frame above. The pics of the house should at least be as big as your realtor's mug shot. 
Ah, I see now... if you click "Large Photo", then you can see even larger pictures.
Nice job decluttering your place. Buyers are easily distracted by piles of junk on the countertops, and on the mantle, bathroom counters, bedstands, etc.
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Clarence
Joined: 08 Mar 2006
Posts: 3827
Location: Smith Mtn Lake, VA
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| Posted: Tue Mar 04, 2008 10:56 pm Post subject: |
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| Phil Smith wrote: | | I think one of the problems is your typical digital camera zoom doesn't go very wide. I started to take interior pics of my house and my Nikon 995. It was immediately obvious that it wouldn't zoom wide enough. I borrowed a friend's D70 with an 18-70mm zoom, and it's a big improvement. |
The D70 has a 1.5x field of view crop from the lens to the digital sensor, so 18mm on the D70 is equivalent to 28mm on a full-frame SLR. Same limitation that I've got with my Canon XTi.
The 18mm lens may be wider than the P&S digicam you originally tried, but for a realtor or anyone seriously interested in interior photography, I'd recommend one of the newer full-frame DSLRs... like the 5D.
I had a buddy several years ago that took MLS pictures for realtors. Great gig... for $250, he provided 25 pictures. It took him maybe 25 minutes. When we sold our previous house, I saw the realtor quickly snap a few pictures. That evening and the next morning, I took several, put them on CD and gave them to him. IMHO it made a huge difference in the listing.
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dc_pilgrim
Joined: 31 Oct 2006
Posts: 225
Location: PA
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| Posted: Tue Mar 04, 2008 11:09 pm Post subject: |
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| Clarence wrote: | | Nice job decluttering your place. Buyers are easily distracted by piles of junk on the countertops, and on the mantle, bathroom counters, bedstands, etc. |
Took us about a month to get the place ready between rushing to finish the HT and hauling all the clutter out of the house (and I mean all of it - we even emptied the attic) to offsite storage. Credit goes mostly to my wife, who watched a lot of HGTV over the years, and carried her share of the load.
It was pretty bad to be honest. You've been promoted, welcome to hell. Wish it was the NoVA market of 2004 we were selling in.
My wife had a good idea of putting our daily use items in opaque storage tubs, that we rotate in and out of the garage depending on if the house is scheduled for a showing. Helps us live in the "for sale" zone.
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Phil Smith
Joined: 08 Mar 2006
Posts: 7717
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| Posted: Fri Mar 14, 2008 2:34 am Post subject: |
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Well I've got to be the slowest person on earth, but I'm FINALLY almost ready to put my house on the market. Here's the website HT page, which I just finished: http://www.dallas-music.com/House/HT.html
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Clarence
Joined: 08 Mar 2006
Posts: 3827
Location: Smith Mtn Lake, VA
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| Posted: Fri Mar 14, 2008 3:10 am Post subject: |
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| Phil Smith wrote: | | Well I've got to be the slowest person on earth, but I'm FINALLY almost ready to put my house on the market. Here's the website HT page, which I just finished: http://www.dallas-music.com/House/HT.html |
A few edits...
on http://www.dallas-music.com/House.html
there's no link for "General house pictures: CLICK HERE!"
also on that page, you misspell veneer as "veiner"
change "looking for a home in this neighborhood regularly for 2 year before I bought one" to "2 years"
http://www.dallas-music.com/House/HT.html
change "I ALWAYS watch it a light on" to "I ALWAYS watch it with a light on"
http://www.dallas-music.com/House/System.html
change "It consist of an HTPC" to "It consists of an HTPC"
http://www.dallas-music.com/House/Garage.html
"professionally re-sheetrocked, taped and bedded" do you mean "professionally re-sheetrocked, taped and mudded"?
change "is a small shelve with AC outlets" to "is a small shelf with AC outlets"
"The the screen and audio cabinets stick out from the wall"
Change "I didn't want lose my garage" to "I didn't want to lose my garage"
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Phil Smith
Joined: 08 Mar 2006
Posts: 7717
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| Posted: Fri Mar 14, 2008 3:41 am Post subject: |
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That you Clarence! I do appreciate you going over it.
I often make mistakes like the ones you pointed out. No matter how much I write, I still do it. If I try to proof read something immediately after I write it, I won't catch any of the mistakes. I have to wait at least wait a couple of hours, and preferably a day, to effectively proof read my writing. Although I've never been diagnosed with one, this is such constant problem that I think I must have some sort of mild reading disorder.
I'm particularly bad about leaving "s" off the end of words, omitting words, or writing the same word twice, as I did with "the the". The double words are the result rewriting something and cutting and pasting in error. That's not so surprising, but that I so often don't catch the mistake is.
Funny thing is, I wrote shelve instead of shelf at least 2 other times on that same page. I caught the others, but not the one you found, in spite of proof reading it several times. Like I said, I need to take a break before I attempt to proof read.
The few things I did not make a mistake on:
The "general house pics" link doesn't work because the page is not done yet. No need to make a working link to something that doesn't exist yet. I was working on it when I popped in here and read your post.
In Texas we call "tape and mudding" "tape and bedding". Technically I probably should have wrote mudding, but I think more people in this part of the country would understand bedding better.
I'm tired! I've been taking pics and working the web page all day. I'll resume this in the morning.
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None of which is done with direct malicious intent. He's just, well, Dave. 
