Would a Financial Consultant Say, “Whaddya, Nuts?”

By Bill Primavera

The Home Guru

If only I had known a financial consultant like John Settembrino when I was a young homebuyer.  Being somewhat naive about the financial responsibilities of home ownership when planning a move to the suburbs, I just selected the home I loved with no real concept of what I should be spending for a house or what its monthly expenses would prove to be.

Had John accessed my financial standing at the time, comparing my income with what I was spending for mortgage, tax, utilities and home maintenance, he might have asked, “Whaddya, nuts?”

As owner of Professional Financial Consultants in upper Westchester, John offers counsel to young and old alike, but, he says, “It’s particularly important for first-time homebuyers to be aware of certain issues and to have a financial plan in effect that guarantees a family’s financial future.”

When I acquired my first home in New York City, I did have a plan, and it was called magical thinking. Would you believe that as a naïve 20-something public relations account executive, I managed to buy an historic Federal house in Brooklyn Heights with not a cent in savings and no down payment?  Doesn’t that sound like one of those TV “infomericals” about real estate wheeling and dealing?

Here’s how it happened. I had a free-lance client in the male toiletries business (imagine trying to promote a line of products for men called Tom Cat?) who knew that my wife and I, apartment dwellers at the time, were looking for a rental shop to sell antiques we had been collecting. By coincidence, my client owned a Federal home with his own weekend antiques shop on the first floor, his living quarters on the second floor and a duplex apartment, rented, above that.

One day when he decided that his new toiletries enterprise was not going as well as he anticipated, he suggested that we take over the operation of his shop. “As a matter of fact, why don’t you just buy the whole house?” he asked. I gulped knowing that not only did I not have any savings, but was in debt from a touch of compulsive collecting.

When I shared my financial situation with him, he suggested that I might assume the principal mortgage from the bank, along with a second personal mortgage he held with the home’s former owner, plus yet a third personal mortgage he would take with me. In addition, he would give me six months to raise money for the cash payment of 20 percent of the cost of the house.  I accepted the absurd offer and, as for raising the money for the down payment, I decided like Scarlett O’Hara that I’d think about it tomorrow.

Then the miracle happened. I wrote to The New York Times suggesting that it might consider a feature about a young couple who bought a home without any money and who were willing to sell all their furniture and accessories through their weekend antiques business to make the down payment. The idea was accepted enthusiastically and soon our story appeared, claiming three quarters of a page in the lifestyles section. The following weekend, there was a line of people waiting to get into our little shop and, in only three months, we had earned enough in profit to cover the down payment. 

Magical, right? But it could never happen today, now that lenders are “purer than Caesar’s wife,”  albeit a bit late.

When my wife and I decided to move to the country, we sold our “miracle” home, making a profit that gave us the money for a good down payment on our current home. However, like the warning John Settembrino gives new homeowners, when I bought the house, I didn’t factor in the annual increases in town and county taxes and the extraordinary increases in school taxes. And certainly I didn’t anticipate that oil prices would double the cost for heating in less than a decade.

“There are other basic questions that must be addressed with new homeowners,” John said. “For instance, do they have enough life insurance to cover the liability of a mortgage?  And what about disability income to make mortgage and tax payments in the event of sickness or injury?”

To meet such emergencies, John advises his clients to establish an emergency fund that should contain at least six months of hard costs associated with house expenses.

“And if new homeowners are relocating from another state, it’s vitally important to contact an attorney to redraft wills, trusts, and power of attorney to conform with state law, since many states do not recognize other state documents,” John said.  Who would think of that?

“It’s a good idea when buying a house in a new state or community to establish local relationships with legal, accounting and financial professionals who can guide new homeowners to financial security,” John advised.

At the other end of the spectrum, that is, dealing with senior members of the community who may be living in a house that’s too big for them as empty nesters, John suggested that they think about downsizing and locating a maintenance-free opportunity, possibly a good rental, where “all you have to do is turn the key in the door.”  Ah, that seems like a lovely prospect at some future date, and perhaps not that far in the future.

John Settembrino’s website is www.professionalfinancialconsultants.com.  He can be reached directly at 914-455-2200.

Bill Primavera is a licensed Realtor® affiliated with Coldwell Banker and founder of Primavera Lifestyles Marketing, a public relations firm. His websites are: www.PrimaveraHomes.com and www.PrimaveraPR.com.  For questions or comments about the housing market, or selling or buying a home, he can be reached directly at 914-522-2076.

We Save Stuff and More Stuff, But Where To Put It?

By Bill Primavera

The Home Guru

Our homes are where we eat, sleep, play, sometimes work, and store things we’ve finished using but somehow can’t bear to throw away. There are many reasons we may want to hold on to stuff we no longer need, but where do we put it all?

Granted, some homeowners achieve living on the light side where nothing is hidden and what you see is what you get. Or, they’ve gotten religion just before the sale of a home. The homes on the market which show best are those where all the traditional storage spaces – the attic, basement, garage and large closets -- are bare.

In my own home, my attic looks like a commercial storage facility, but not as neat.  A few years ago when my wife and I went through one of our phases of wanting to sell our home, we hired a crew to clean out our basement which had been packed with stuff from cement floor to beams overhead. There was clear evidence there of many different careers and lifetimes, including those of our parents and grandparents, along with leftover materials from house renovation.

One helper took me aside and told me how dangerous it was to have saved enamel paint and paint thinner so close to the boiler. Fortunately it was before I started writing as The Home Guru, so I was only half embarrassed.  At first, it was a visceral experience to instruct the workers what to throw out for bulk pick up. But as the project wore on and I wore out, memories were discarded wholesale.  It felt liberating.

Actually, my wife is the more practical one between us. When she took charge for having our garage cleaned out just recently and a helper asked her what should be saved, she replied, “Just keep the cars.”

My propensity to hang on to stuff started at a young age. Maybe I thought that someday I would be so famous that future generations would want some piece of who I was and what I did in life. But since I turned out to be just an ordinary guy, I have no excuse.

It all started when I was an adolescent and my mother gave me a white envelope on which was written, “My Son William’s First Haircut, Aged 2.”  Inside were Titian red curls that bear little resemblance to my hair today. It was a real curiosity for me.

That was the first item I tucked away in a sturdy cardboard box that originally housed Florida oranges we would receive each Christmas from my Aunt Helen. Through the years, that box accommodated all my other official documents from my birth certificate to a special blessing from the Pope (my wife had connections) when I married.  Since then, that one box has multiplied like loaves and fishes.

By the time I was a teenager, I was collecting books and phonograph records before the time of Kindle and downloading audio files. (Anybody want a rare collection of impressive 33 rpms from the 60s?)  By the time I married, I went on to photography well before the days of digital images and have boxes and boxes of every picture ever taken.

Then my wife and I started collecting things together and, when we got into the antiques business part-time, the floodgates opened.  We never got to the point of hoarding, and our house was always tidy, but we never really organized storage of the things we didn’t have room to display. 

Perhaps as homes get downsized, efficient storage will be more important, and today, there are many resources for creative solutions to tucking things away.

The Internet and large box retailers such as The Container Store are rich with the tools needed to store things properly.  Home Depot boasts Martha Stewart’s cubbies and closet kits, as well as a full assortment of containers for the garage or outdoor shed.  The ones I like best are called “totes” which feature clear plastic bottoms where you can actually see what’s stored in them. Who remembers what’s contained in a big cardboard box stored 30 years ago without opening it as a reminder?

And for those who need industrial strength help with storage, there is always the great PODS concept (www.pods.com), whose slogan is “The Best Moving & Storage Idea Ever,” and I’m inclined to agree. While the company will deliver a POD to a private home for “temporary” storage during house renovation, or preparing for a move, I have seen them stay on properties seemingly indefinitely, and there may be some local ordinances discouraging that.

If I were to dispense any advice about storage at home, it would be only to suggest that we might better manage what we collect in the first place.  Now if only I were able to accept that advice myself, years ago.

Bill Primavera is a licensed Realtor® (www.PrimaveraHomes.com), affiliated with Coldwell Banker, and a marketing practitioner (www.PrimaveraPR.com). For questions or comments about the housing market, or selling or buying a home, he can be reached directly at 914-522-2076.

Resolution: More Maintenance for the Home

By Bill Primavera

The Home Guru

When I read that Irv Gordon from Patchogue, New York, had logged almost 3,000,000 miles on his 1966 Volvo P1800, I thought that surely I had misread that number.  Three hundred thousand, yes, but 3,000,000?  I was not mistaken, and Irv attributes his car’s exceptional longevity to painstaking maintenance.

With some facsimile of such discipline, our homes can also get great mileage.

My home is celebrating its 278^th New Year, having witnessed the American Revolution, the Civil War, two World Wars, the Depression, presidential assassination, and terrorist attack, along with the invention of electricity, indoor plumbing, technological wonders, and normal wear and tear to the structure itself.  Just since I have owned it, there has been a roof leak, flooded basement, the last gasp of a hot water heater, then the boiler, and the most spectacular occurrence when the transformer on my corner exploded and blew my electrical panel completely off the basement wall. 

But, on the positive side I can see that the guardians of the house prior to me had taken steps to upgrade and maintain it through the years, and I have tried my best to continue that tradition. However, sometimes life gets in the way. 

I was spoiled by my previous home. It had been completely renovated just before I bought it and I never had to do anything to keep in going for the five years of my ownership. I couldn’t get away with a continuing free pass after living for more than 30 years in my new, old home. But, embarrassed as I am to admit it, I’ve usually waited until something has malfunctioned before attending to it, rather than taking preventative measures.

And that’s probably a natural thing for most of us. Realistically, when was the last time you cleaned your chimney or, better yet, drained your hot water tank?

For those of you who want to join me in making a New Year’s resolution to gift your home with proper maintenance, here is a checklist of the basic “to dos.”

 Outside: 

Roof:  If you’re agile and fearless enough to mount your own roof, check for loose or damaged shingles, as well as the condition of flashing at dormers, plumbing stacks, and valleys.   The  rest of us can call a reliable roofer to check anything close-up that may look suspicious from ground level. 

Gutters and downspouts:  Check for blockage, leakage and areas requiring re-sloping.  Gutters should be cleaned both in spring and fall.

Eaves:  Monitor the condition of soffits and fascia, looking for the onset of rot.

Foundation walls: Check for deteriorated brink, block, mortar, and for cracking due to settlement.

Grading:  The grading immediately adjacent to the house should be sloped away from the house, at least one inch per foot for at least six feet.

Doors and windows: Caulking and weather stripping should be checked for better insulation.

Porches and decks: Check wooden components for rot and insect infestation.  Steps and railings should be secure.

Driveways and sidewalks: Check for cracks and deterioration, especially if there is a possibility for someone tripping.

 Inside:

Attic:  Should be examined annually for signs of water stains on the underside of the roof sheathing.  Also determine if attic vents are obstructed.

Basement: Check the walls and floor for dampness and consider a dehumidifier if needed.  And, while down there, check that the sump pump is operating property.

Plumbing:  For supply plumbing, precautions should be taken to assure that pipes in crawl spaces do not freeze during the winter. Outdoor faucets should be shut off from the interior and drained for the winter.  And remember to remove any hoses from the outside faucets.  Check all indoor faucets for leaks and replace washers as necessary.

Electricity:  The main panel should be examined at least once a year checking for rust. Periodically check for frayed or damaged wiring in extension cords, appliances cords and plugs.

Heating system: For forced air systems, conventional or electronic filters should be checked monthly and cleaned or replaced as needed. With hot water systems, radiators and convectors should be inspected annually for leakage, particularly at the valves.  Radiators should be bled of air annually. Electric, oil and gas furnaces and boilers should be checked by a qualified technician on an annual basis.

Smoke detectors:  At least one should be placed on each floor, and one in each bedroom.

Carbon monoxide detectors:  Install one on each level.

Hot water heater:  Drain the hot water heater to remove sediment from the bottom of the tank.

Fireplaces and chimneys:  Have them inspected and cleaned once a year.

 Does this basic list seem overwhelming when ticked off item by item?  Does it have you wondering whether you might not better become a renter, rather than owning, and have a friendly landlord who does the maintenance work for you?  Tip: there is an alternative. Get yourself the best darned handyman you can find.

By the way, did I mention that I’ve become emotionally attached to a 2000 Grand Caravan that has 187,000 miles on its odometer? It has saved my life twice, once in a head-on collision, and I think it deserves great care from me in return.  Shall we say to the extent of at least 300,000 miles?

Bill Primavera is a licensed Realtor® (www.PrimaveraHomes.com), affiliated with Coldwell Banker, and a marketing practitioner (www.PrimaveraPR.com). For questions or comments about the housing market, or selling or buying a home, he can be reached directly at 914-522-2076.

Decorating To Please Yourself, Not a Future Buyer

By Bill Primavera

The Home Guru

When I was 13 years old, I got the urge to decorate my own room as my breakout effort to establish my own identity and, with my mother’s permission, I painted my room bright red.

There was nothing too odd about that, but convinced that the room looked too stark and needed some pattern, I dressed the two windows with drapes that I found in a storage trunk in the attic.  The problem was that the drapes were a green, yellow and pink floral print on a white background. Can you visualize the end result?

A couple of years later when my family decided to sell our home and the first prospective buyers visited, the wife entered that room and exclaimed, “Oh, my God!”  My mother was convinced that it was my room alone that scared them away.

I had never heard the term “too taste specific” until I got into real estate, and lately I’ve been hearing it a lot. Maybe it’s that, in the recession, homes for sale have to appeal to the widest possible audience. And indeed, conventional wisdom has told us that the more “neutralized” the interior, the better.

But maybe we’ve taken that principle too far.

I’ve noticed that some interior designers who blog have started posting their frustrations with clients who are timid about expressing their true selves in decorating for fear of offending some future home buyer.  Flying in the face of “vanilla and white bread,”  more decorators are now advising their clients not to trap themselves  into an existence of visually blah surroundings, waiting for the approval or at least the tolerance of some one else.

One of my new friends who never bowed to others’ opinions about her decoration is Maxine Oliver, a homeowner who recently contacted me through this column and invited me into her split-level home for a broker’s price opinion.  She had given me no advance indication of her interests or decoration, but when I arrived and introduced myself to her and her husband Tom, I looked around and knew that I had found one of the most “taste specific” interiors I had ever seen.

Maxine is an avid hobbyist who collects dolls, including some that she made herself in porcelain, and various types of china and figurines which are displayed wall-to-wall in her den/hobby work room and in her dining room.  In addition she does exquisite bead weaving for a budding jewelry business and is a fiber artist as well, displaying many of her quilts and other wall hangings on her walls. 

While her home currently serves as the repository of the countless items produced by Maxine’s hobbies, the inventory could be thinned out or packed away were the Olivers to place their house on the market. But, there is another home hobby that is evident in a more permanent way:  Maxine’s love of wall stenciling and hand-painted wall murals.

Her dining room and den walls meet the ceilings with meticulously stenciled borders.  In the dining room, the technique she employed is theorem, where several difference layers of paint and wash are applied to add depth. With that one border alone, Maxine said, “I had to apply five different layers of paint around the entire room,” requiring that she paint in an uncomfortable position above her head and repeat the process five times. The project required a solid two weeks of full-time work.

But her piece de resistance was yet to be revealed. Her bedroom, which physically is not large, features a hand-painted mural which places the visitor inside an open Tuscan villa, with Ionic columns and stone work painted with wash, and flowering vines executed free hand with acrylics.  As I gaped at how a medium-sized bedroom was converted to an expansive faux vista, Maxine turned to me and asked, “Do you think I should paint over all of this if I put the house on the market?”

Perhaps influenced by the blogs I had been reading, I replied with great emphasis, “Absolutely not!  This is not a scary wallpaper, and it’s not a horrid paint color. It’s art!  Keep it.”  My feeling is that somebody will fall in love with Maxine’s art and, who knows? It could be the “something different” in a nicely updated but otherwise standard split that would have it move faster than another home of similar size and character.

Maxine admitted that she watched too much HGTV, but still listened to her own instincts as she used her home’s walls as her artistic canvass. She shared with me a story about one of her friends in North Carolina who called a realtor in when it came time to sell her home. “He insisted that my friend paint the entire interior white and to empty out all the furniture and accessories,” she said. “She took that advice and, instead of selling a home, she found that she was trying to sell a big white box! When people looked at the rooms online, they couldn’t tell which room was which.  They all looked the same.”

In support of stepping out of neutrality when decorating, one interior designer recently blogged that “Life is over faster than anyone wants to admit.  So, leave a mark already!” 

Another blog posting I liked from a savvy realtor was, “When a home stager insists that something is ‘too taste specific,’ what she’s really saying in a polite way is that it’s just too damned ugly to remain!”   

Bill Primavera is a licensed Realtor® (www.PrimaveraHomes.com), affiliated with Coldwell Banker, and a marketing practitioner (www.PrimaveraPR.com). For questions or comments about the housing market, or selling or buying a home, he can be reached directly at 914-522-2076.