After seeing the February 20 “Love It or List It” episode on HGTV, I am wondering how much the house would have been worth if the basement had been updated and the commercial stove and oven had been left out. Read on and see how it may remind you of some business decisions you have seen made.
For those that do not watch the show, it is about a couple that owns a home. One wants to stay. The other wants to sell it. The show brings in a designer to hear the problems with the house and what the budget is to fix them. A realtor is also brought in to hear what the couple wants in a new house and show them ones that could meet their needs. After they have seen some houses and the design is complete, the couple is handed one more listing. It is for their house with the design changes. The couple must also decide if to love the house again or list it and move to one they have been shown.
On February 20th, the couple had a 90 year old house. It had problems on all 3 levels. However, only one level was able to be corrected and redesigned. The bath on the upper level had to be removed from the design update because money was needed to handle some structural problems.
This brings up a side point. Each week there seems to be a structure problem. Looks to me like the designer would have that checked first and then tell what she is going to do.
To make it fair there are also problems with the houses the realtor shows. Sometimes it is like he did not hear. So it is even.
Anyway, back to the stove. The designer had plans for the kitchen and told the wife to pick out the appliances. The designer even gave her the dimensions that would fit. The wife decided instead to get the commercial stove and oven. Due to space and structure needs for this appliance, the plans had to change. The money that would have been used for the basement upgrades had to be used to handle the stove and oven.
Since a nice house had been found and only 1 floor could be upgraded the couple decided to list. The upgrades did improve the value. However, I was left wondering what would have been the value if the basement had been upgraded instead of the kitchen getting a commercial stove and oven. How many people use that type of stove and oven anyway? Does this remind you of business decisions that you see made every day?
Wednesday, February 22, 2012
Tuesday, February 14, 2012
Second Car and Mass Transit
Living in the northern part of Mecklenburg County, I have been following the articles about the Red Line. The one with the consultant made me realize the impact of the second family car in the 1960’s. Then every driver got a car.
In the 1950’s, most families had 1 car. Early in the 1960’s it became popular for families to have 2 cars. My mom was a housewife. Dad took the car to work or we took Dad to work and then went back and picked him up. I remembered the first house we lived in we could ride the bus because it came by and stopped near our house. When we moved to a bigger house, the bus did not run in the neighborhood. Finally we go the second car.
Families also began buying cars for teenagers. However, my Dad was a holdout so I had to think about this implication a little more. I had to borrow one of the 2 cars and make sure that I was not messing up the parents’ schedule.
The affordability of cars allowed people to have more options about where they lived. People did not have to live within walking distance of work, grocery store or school (when I grew up you had to live 1 mile from school to ride the bus). We have all added this flexibility to our lives.
Any mass transit is going to have to include this flexibility. If it does not, I do not think it can work.
In the 1950’s, most families had 1 car. Early in the 1960’s it became popular for families to have 2 cars. My mom was a housewife. Dad took the car to work or we took Dad to work and then went back and picked him up. I remembered the first house we lived in we could ride the bus because it came by and stopped near our house. When we moved to a bigger house, the bus did not run in the neighborhood. Finally we go the second car.
Families also began buying cars for teenagers. However, my Dad was a holdout so I had to think about this implication a little more. I had to borrow one of the 2 cars and make sure that I was not messing up the parents’ schedule.
The affordability of cars allowed people to have more options about where they lived. People did not have to live within walking distance of work, grocery store or school (when I grew up you had to live 1 mile from school to ride the bus). We have all added this flexibility to our lives.
Any mass transit is going to have to include this flexibility. If it does not, I do not think it can work.
Wednesday, February 1, 2012
Is Gingrich Talking Dictator?
I am an Independent (in North Carolina it says Unaffiliated). Last night I listened to the speeches from the 4 candidates after the election. Gingrich made some interesting comments that disturb me. If my public education is remembered correctly, the Congress creates/updates/deletes laws, the President and his workers execute the laws, and the Judicial decides if they are legal and how far reaching.
Gingrich said he is going to use Executive Order on the first day to abolish the Obama Healthcare, Dodd-Frank and Sarbanes-Oxley. I do not know many people that like all of the parts of the bills. I even know some that like none of the 3 bills. However, let’s stop and think about the real issues.
The healthcare law is not really about forcing people to get health insurance. The real issue is who gets what care. Are all Americans entitled to the same healthcare and if so, who is going to pay for it? We would all like to say that everyone is entitled to the best healthcare available. However, we want someone else to pay for it. I pay for my health insurance. It is going up another 7% in March. We cannot keep dodging the question.
Dodd-Frank was passed because of the financial crisis in 2008. The more people involved with anything, the more compromises are made. Let’s face it. Any law in this country involves at least 535 in Congress and 1 President. However, I doubt if any of us want to see another crisis like that again. If you do, go to Greece.
Sarbanes-Oxley was passed because of Enron. How many of us want a repeat of that? Most of us Baby Boomers have retirement accounts that are 401K’s, IRA’s, etc. As we approach the time to use these retirement vehicles do we want an Enron in them? For those with a defined pension plan, where do you think they have that money invested? If you think your retirement amount is guaranteed, talk with some of the people in these non-profits that have seen theirs cut.
I think we all need to stop and think. We need to listen to what we are hearing and think about what it means. Then we need to face and answer the big questions so we can move on.
Gingrich said he is going to use Executive Order on the first day to abolish the Obama Healthcare, Dodd-Frank and Sarbanes-Oxley. I do not know many people that like all of the parts of the bills. I even know some that like none of the 3 bills. However, let’s stop and think about the real issues.
The healthcare law is not really about forcing people to get health insurance. The real issue is who gets what care. Are all Americans entitled to the same healthcare and if so, who is going to pay for it? We would all like to say that everyone is entitled to the best healthcare available. However, we want someone else to pay for it. I pay for my health insurance. It is going up another 7% in March. We cannot keep dodging the question.
Dodd-Frank was passed because of the financial crisis in 2008. The more people involved with anything, the more compromises are made. Let’s face it. Any law in this country involves at least 535 in Congress and 1 President. However, I doubt if any of us want to see another crisis like that again. If you do, go to Greece.
Sarbanes-Oxley was passed because of Enron. How many of us want a repeat of that? Most of us Baby Boomers have retirement accounts that are 401K’s, IRA’s, etc. As we approach the time to use these retirement vehicles do we want an Enron in them? For those with a defined pension plan, where do you think they have that money invested? If you think your retirement amount is guaranteed, talk with some of the people in these non-profits that have seen theirs cut.
I think we all need to stop and think. We need to listen to what we are hearing and think about what it means. Then we need to face and answer the big questions so we can move on.
Monday, January 23, 2012
PBS BritishAristocracy Overview
I am like a lot of others. I am fascinated with Downton Abbey. So last night I made it a point to turn from the football game to UNV-TV to watch the 8PM show about the Manor Houses of the British Aristocracy and then Downton Abbey (I did turn back to the game between shows).
The show must have been added after the schedule was printed. I had seen the advertisement earlier in the week. It advertised as explaining the aristocracy and the manor houses. It did NOT disappoint me. I am glad that I watched.
The show told the history of those manor houses. It explained the ranks of the king, dukes and earls. It also showed the ranks of the workers on the estates. It explained that the entail kept the estate together so that it would survive. It also explained how it was dependent on the land.
Then it talked about the problems that started showing up in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s. This brings it into Downton Abbey’s time. The show talked about the American girls marrying to get the title. The British needed the money for the manor house. Cora is the character on Downton Abbey. In real life one was Winston Churchill’s mother.
The 8 PM show also told how this class kept trying to hold onto the power and money. Throughout I could not help but think about the struggles that we are talking about – the taxes, wealth, etc. It gave a new perspective about what is happening now.
By the way, Downton Abbey ended in time for me to see the end of the regular time and the overtime of that football game.
The show must have been added after the schedule was printed. I had seen the advertisement earlier in the week. It advertised as explaining the aristocracy and the manor houses. It did NOT disappoint me. I am glad that I watched.
The show told the history of those manor houses. It explained the ranks of the king, dukes and earls. It also showed the ranks of the workers on the estates. It explained that the entail kept the estate together so that it would survive. It also explained how it was dependent on the land.
Then it talked about the problems that started showing up in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s. This brings it into Downton Abbey’s time. The show talked about the American girls marrying to get the title. The British needed the money for the manor house. Cora is the character on Downton Abbey. In real life one was Winston Churchill’s mother.
The 8 PM show also told how this class kept trying to hold onto the power and money. Throughout I could not help but think about the struggles that we are talking about – the taxes, wealth, etc. It gave a new perspective about what is happening now.
By the way, Downton Abbey ended in time for me to see the end of the regular time and the overtime of that football game.
Wednesday, January 11, 2012
Be Careful with New Domain Names
Starting Thursday, new top level domain names will be available for a price. These are the names that appear at the end such as “com” or “net” or “org”. The price is $185,000 to acquire. I have also heard $25,000 each year to keep it.
Who has the money for this? Naturally large corporations will be protecting their brand. Also inventive companies will be involved. The Wall Street Journal ran an article on them on Monday.
One area that has not been discussed is the security threat. No one seems to be talking about the hacker. People like to think of the hacker as an individual. They can be. They can also be workers in organized companies.
How fast are any of us going to click on a search result and suddenly be connected to a fake site? If it looks real and asks for the ID and password, we could give it before we think it through. The site could pass us to the correct one. In the meantime we just gave someone (there is that person again) our info.
We will need to make sure that the sites we access are the correct ones. We are just going to have to stop and think first. It can happen to any of us at any time. No one is immune.
Who has the money for this? Naturally large corporations will be protecting their brand. Also inventive companies will be involved. The Wall Street Journal ran an article on them on Monday.
One area that has not been discussed is the security threat. No one seems to be talking about the hacker. People like to think of the hacker as an individual. They can be. They can also be workers in organized companies.
How fast are any of us going to click on a search result and suddenly be connected to a fake site? If it looks real and asks for the ID and password, we could give it before we think it through. The site could pass us to the correct one. In the meantime we just gave someone (there is that person again) our info.
We will need to make sure that the sites we access are the correct ones. We are just going to have to stop and think first. It can happen to any of us at any time. No one is immune.
Friday, December 30, 2011
Housing Market's Black Hole
I continue to hear about the shadow market of foreclosures in the housing market. However, no one discusses the aging population and the housing market. I am.
Let’s face that we all have to die sometime. Yes, I know that most of us will spend some time in a care facility first. Before that we have to live somewhere.
At the end of 2010 the estimate was 40 million on Medicare. Therefore we have approximately 40 million that are now 66 and over since it has been one year. There are approximately 78 million in the Baby Boom. We are the generation born between 1946 and 1963 (some count into 1964 to handle the school year, etc). To government horror we have sent over 3 million onto Medicare this year.
You are asking what this has to do with housing. Stop and think. How many of these over 65 do you know that still live in their homes? How many of these are 1 person is living in that home? What happens when that person finally dies or goes to a nursing home? How many “boomers” have a home and are the sole owner? How many “boomers” are now “empty nesters”? Take a look at your family, neighborhood, friends and colleagues.
My neighborhood is a good study. There are a number of us that are the sole owners of these houses. When I go (I prefer that term or passed on, sort of like “went long, did not come back”), I doubt that my brother and sister will wait for a high price since my home is paid for. Also they are not going to want the hassle of checking on it. It is not worth that.
Some are sole owner and have mortgages or money on Home Equity Loans (HELOCS). Those may just default depending on the estate and where the heirs are located. Realize that heirs may not be able to check on the properties and may have to get out quickly.
Homes are on the market for various reasons. One or two are in foreclosure. The couple in one died and the son is trying to sell it. Another home owner has been injured and needs to move closer to family. Some have had to move for jobs. One is moving to granny’s home and selling this one.
Some start out trying to sale. Then they try to sale or rent. Some just go straight to the rent option.
About 2 years ago, 4 houses had senior couples living in them. Now they have widows.
I know of one home taking care of an illness. There are probably more.
How many of these people own timeshares or vacation homes? What will happen to those?
I do not think that anyone has the statistics on all of this. Most cities and counties get money from property taxes but they do not keep up with the age of the owners or who lives there. This could be scary for future budgets.
I am currently reading the “Black Swan”. Maybe this problem in the housing market is the next one. I think this is the true shadow over the housing market. I do not think that anyone can estimate it. It should be very interesting over the next few years.
Let’s face that we all have to die sometime. Yes, I know that most of us will spend some time in a care facility first. Before that we have to live somewhere.
At the end of 2010 the estimate was 40 million on Medicare. Therefore we have approximately 40 million that are now 66 and over since it has been one year. There are approximately 78 million in the Baby Boom. We are the generation born between 1946 and 1963 (some count into 1964 to handle the school year, etc). To government horror we have sent over 3 million onto Medicare this year.
You are asking what this has to do with housing. Stop and think. How many of these over 65 do you know that still live in their homes? How many of these are 1 person is living in that home? What happens when that person finally dies or goes to a nursing home? How many “boomers” have a home and are the sole owner? How many “boomers” are now “empty nesters”? Take a look at your family, neighborhood, friends and colleagues.
My neighborhood is a good study. There are a number of us that are the sole owners of these houses. When I go (I prefer that term or passed on, sort of like “went long, did not come back”), I doubt that my brother and sister will wait for a high price since my home is paid for. Also they are not going to want the hassle of checking on it. It is not worth that.
Some are sole owner and have mortgages or money on Home Equity Loans (HELOCS). Those may just default depending on the estate and where the heirs are located. Realize that heirs may not be able to check on the properties and may have to get out quickly.
Homes are on the market for various reasons. One or two are in foreclosure. The couple in one died and the son is trying to sell it. Another home owner has been injured and needs to move closer to family. Some have had to move for jobs. One is moving to granny’s home and selling this one.
Some start out trying to sale. Then they try to sale or rent. Some just go straight to the rent option.
About 2 years ago, 4 houses had senior couples living in them. Now they have widows.
I know of one home taking care of an illness. There are probably more.
How many of these people own timeshares or vacation homes? What will happen to those?
I do not think that anyone has the statistics on all of this. Most cities and counties get money from property taxes but they do not keep up with the age of the owners or who lives there. This could be scary for future budgets.
I am currently reading the “Black Swan”. Maybe this problem in the housing market is the next one. I think this is the true shadow over the housing market. I do not think that anyone can estimate it. It should be very interesting over the next few years.
Friday, December 16, 2011
Touring High Point University
This week I had the opportunity to attend an event at High Point University. My main goal was to hear Dr. Nido Qubein who is the President of the University. We also had a tour of the campus before lunch. Since then I have begun realizing lessons that I learned from the event.
If you are putting your name on something, budget for the maintenance of it. If people want to put your name on something, find out how it will be maintained. During the presentation we had seen pictures of old buildings that have now been replaced. They also have new names. During the tour, one cannot help but notice that they are maintained. I could not help but think that the name on the previous building meant old, dilapidated, unclean, and/or eyesore. Some way to be remembered! I am sure that is not what someone had in mind when they first gave the money for the building.
Remove bad distractions. The tour showed a clean campus. One does not have to dodge trash when walking on the sidewalks. Security guards were at each entrance. They were more like greeters but with uniforms and the nice fence and gates gave a feeling of security when driving onto the campus.
Be polite and assist others. Students hold open doors for visitors. They say “excuse me”. I walked back from lunch to the student center instead of using the shuttle. One student stopped his car for me to cross. How often do you see that?
Keep your focus. I was there to listen and learn. I cleared the day to just be for this event. I am still listing what I learned. I am glad of the lesson that I learned some years ago. Unless the item is life or death, it can wait or I am a slave to it. It is not a nice thought but it is real.
How many of us are spending time trying to handle something that we do not need to be handling? This campus is working to remove those distractions for the students, parents and faculty. Maybe that is the main lesson we all need to work on as the new year approaches.
If you are putting your name on something, budget for the maintenance of it. If people want to put your name on something, find out how it will be maintained. During the presentation we had seen pictures of old buildings that have now been replaced. They also have new names. During the tour, one cannot help but notice that they are maintained. I could not help but think that the name on the previous building meant old, dilapidated, unclean, and/or eyesore. Some way to be remembered! I am sure that is not what someone had in mind when they first gave the money for the building.
Remove bad distractions. The tour showed a clean campus. One does not have to dodge trash when walking on the sidewalks. Security guards were at each entrance. They were more like greeters but with uniforms and the nice fence and gates gave a feeling of security when driving onto the campus.
Be polite and assist others. Students hold open doors for visitors. They say “excuse me”. I walked back from lunch to the student center instead of using the shuttle. One student stopped his car for me to cross. How often do you see that?
Keep your focus. I was there to listen and learn. I cleared the day to just be for this event. I am still listing what I learned. I am glad of the lesson that I learned some years ago. Unless the item is life or death, it can wait or I am a slave to it. It is not a nice thought but it is real.
How many of us are spending time trying to handle something that we do not need to be handling? This campus is working to remove those distractions for the students, parents and faculty. Maybe that is the main lesson we all need to work on as the new year approaches.
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