Month: September 2014

Determining a home’s value is key to a successful listing and sale.  Sellers who insist on over pricing their home will find that when it doesn’t compare favorably with others in the same price range buyers won’t make an offer.  Meanwhile, buyers looking at lower priced homes who may be good prospects won’t see it at all.  For homes that are reasonably priced, the negotiation between buyers and sellers with the advice of their agents will ultimately determine their market value.  However, before all parties can go to closing, there is another critical step.

While the ultimate price on the sales contract reflects what the buyer is willing to pay for the home and what the seller will accept, the mortgage company will nevertheless require a report from a professional appraiser.  Since appraisers have no stake in whether the home actually goes to closing, they are the most objective party in the transaction, and their objectivity is further enhanced by the requirement to rigorously follow the mortgage company’s guidelines.

When the appraisal report is complete, the mortgage company determines the amount it is willing to lend based on the terms and conditions of the loan package.  This can range from 100 percent financing  (still an option though it is much more rare than it once was) to a pre-determined percentage of the appraised value of the home.  If the appraisal comes in under the price on the sales contract, the buyer either has to make up the difference out of pocket or has the option to pull out of the contract, not an agreeable outcome for any of the parties involved.

A home’s appraised values reflects a range of variables such as the quality of the local school district, distance to amenities like shopping and other services, condition of the home and  landscaping,  its age and whether or not it has been renovated,  the age of the heat pump or the roof and  the color of the walls or carpet. The value and condition of other homes in the neighborhood are also big factors in determining the value of a particular house. While sellers are not able to control many of these variables, they can become familiar with the process and take steps to assure their home gets the best possible appraisal report.

How Appraisers Work

An appraiser works from a fixed formula, explained Jim Kennedy with Kennedy & Associates and they must follow guidelines laid down by the mortgage company that engages them.  For example, when determining the gross living area of a home the appraiser can only consider rooms that are above grade.  That means if there are two 1,000 square foot ranchers in the same neighborhood, but one has a finished 1,000 square foot basement, they would still both have the same gross living area for appraisal purposes.  This doesn’t mean that the finished basement doesn’t add value to a home, but it is not on par with the upstairs.

In addition to counting bedrooms, bathrooms and square footage, the appraiser will walk through the home and note the materials used for floors walls and countertops.  They will also consider the condition of the home, Kennedy said, as well as any history of repairs.  This means if you have done repairs over the years, for example replaced the roof or the HVAC, added new windows or updated your kitchen or bath, be sure to  provide the appraiser with any records so the improvements can be taken into consideration when the appraiser is preparing his or her final report.

Comparables Are Critical

When determining the value of a home it is essential to consider the competition, said Troy Johnson with Absolute Appraisals.  It is not uncommon, he continued, for homeowners to keep track of every improvement and the costs incurred.  When they are ready to sell, they want to add this figure to what they paid for the house in determining what they think it should be worth.

Unfortunately this is a cost approach to value that fails to consider that a home’s price is always relative to what similar homes have sold for in the same community, Johnson said.  So, for example, it’s great if you just replaced your roof, but unless most of the other homes that sold had leaky roofs, what you have done with your repair is bring your home up to standard with the others in the neighborhood.  This means its sales price will reflect what the others in your area sold for regardless of what you paid the roofer.

Home valuations based on tax records can also give misleading results, Kennedy said.  He explained that tax records often don’t reflect improvements or additions to a home and the square footage may be way off.  As a result, estimates of your home’s value that uses these records may give a general idea of what it’s worth, but chances are will not be very accurate.

Trends in real estate are also a factor in determining your home’s value.  Today people are gravitating to homes with big kitchens and open floor plans, Johnson said.  Also one level living is also very popular.  If your home is a conventional two story with all the bedrooms upstairs, its market price may be less than one next door with a first floor master suite, even if both homes have been well-maintained and have the same square footage.

If you are thinking about selling your home and are considering some spruce ups, focus on the kitchen and the bath, Johnson said.  Natural stone countertops “go a long way” towards making your home more appealing in today’s market.  These would include granite, soapstone, or even concrete if your home and your tastes are very contemporary.

Kennedy agreed with the importance of kitchens and baths if you are looking for ways to make your home more appealing.  He suggests upgrading your appliances to ones that have a more up to date look and function.

Upgrading carpet and paint colors to reflect current trends can also be low cost ways to bring your home up to standard with today’s market, Johnson explained.  You may not see an actual return on dollars spent in terms of a higher sales price, but these updates will make your house more competitive which can mean a quicker sale.  Since more days on the market are costly, you can actually save money by doing the right cosmetic repairs.

Before you make any final decisions about upgrades, invite your REALTOR® over to walk through your house and give you suggestions.  They are very familiar with your competition and can give good advice on what will be the most cost effective ways to get your home ready for sale.

Cost Versus Value

If you are planning some renovations and want to know if they will add to the value of your home when it goes on the market, there is another source of helpful information.

Every year Remodeling Magazine publishes the Cost vs. Value Report that is available at their website.

The report considers 35 common remodeling projects and compares their costs with what REALTORS® and brokers estimate they will add to the price of the home when it sells.  This year 4,500 REALTORS® from around the country participated in the survey, and each region was represented by selected cities, the closest to us being Richmond.

The good news is that as the housing market improves, so do the values of different remodeling projects.  This year’s report shows that the number of dollars recouped on remodeling projects increased for the second year in a row, and while national trends were reflected in regional data, there were some interesting local variations.

For example, the top project nationally was installation of a new steel entry door, which recouped 96.6 percent of its cost at closing. This renovation no doubt reflects the continuing importance of curb appeal in today’s market.  While homeowners in our area can expect an even higher return on this project (100.3 percent) a bathroom remodel that returns 110 percent is an even better investment.  Nationally the bathroom remodel returned only 72.5 percent.

Some other beneficial investments reflect either concern for curb appeal, energy conservation or both.  These include garage door replacement, which returned 100 percent in Richmond, and vinyl, and wood window replacement at 99.2 and 96.7 percent respectively.  These were substantially higher returns than nationally where both came in at less than 80 percent. Fiber cement siding replacement is also a good choice returning 94.2 percent.

If you could use more living space in your home, you might want to consider adding an attic bedroom (89.6 percent) or undertaking a basement remodel (86.5 percent).

Do Green Features Help Sell Your Home

Will you get a higher price for your home if you invest in energy savings?  While research elsewhere in the country suggests the answer is yes, local appraisers say this can be a difficult question.

A 2012 article in the Washington Post reported on a study conducted in California, which was based on 1.6 million homes sold between 2007 and 2012.  Results showed buyers were willing to pay an average of 9 percent more for a home that was green certified.   This result held even after controlling for other variables such as location, school district, crime rates or the home’s amenities.

When it comes to Charlottesville “the verdict is still out,” Johnson said.  He explained that to include the value of green in a report he has to be able to prove the difference with hard figures based on analysis of the data.  Unfortunately it is often difficult to find an impact on price.

“We don’t have a big enough volume of sales,” Kennedy said, suggesting it may take a few years with the growing volume of green homes on the market to really say for sure.

“Green features can make your home more competitive,” Johnson said adding that this means your home may sell more quickly than one which is lacks these upgrades.  “We won’t know until we have more data,” he said.

Depending on how long you are planning to stay in your home it may be worthwhile to undertake green renovations since you will enjoy energy savings, greater comfort, and possible tax credits in the meantime.  Keep good before and after records.  That way when your house does go on the market you can show prospective buyers the savings they can expect.

What is Your Home Really Worth?

Valuing your home is both an art and a science.  While the market price reflects buyer and seller preferences, this must be backed up by the appraiser’s best estimate of the true value.  If you are ready to put your home on the market, consult your REALTOR® about how best to prepare it for an effortless sale.

Celeste Smucker is a writer, blogger and author who lives near Charlottesville.

Classical music fans in Central Virginia love September. So do some of the finest classical musicians in the world. For fifteen years now, Charlottesville natives Timothy Summers and Raphael Bell have brought the two together for the Charlottesville Chamber Music Festival, two weeks’ worth of stimulating concerts of classical music for small ensembles. The eight 2014 performances (seven ticketed and one free) take place September 7-18, in the city’s most beautiful performance spaces, The Paramount Theater and Old Cabell Hall, and, fittingly, in a nightclub known for contemporary sounds.

The roots of chamber music “reach far from the here and now, into history,” Bell and Summers write, introducing this year’s continuation of that history. “What we call ‘chamber music’ arises from a long and literary tradition. We have books of sheet music in front of us, which we read aloud, proceeding at a literary pace. Over spans of an hour or an evening, we give stories, sounds, and sequences which were written down and which are meant to be read. Much of it has travelled a long way.”

The two local boys turned world travelers studied music together, first at Charlottesville High School, then at New York City’s Julliard School. Today they enjoy international careers; Summers as second violinist for the celebrated Orpheus String Quartet, and in the first violin section of the Mahler Chamber Orchestra; Bell as principal cellist of the Royal Flemish Philharmonic. Once a year, they bring it all back home, inviting a group of colleagues (19 in 2014) to join them for a festival that has become a highlight of the musical year and the vibrant Charlottesville cultural scene.

Charlottesville “was not only a good place to grow up,” Summers says, but “it is a place which seems to continually develop culturally. There is so much music and arts in the area, and there are so many interesting people coming from the University and community, we can depend on an interesting and interested audience. It is also extremely nice to bring people here from all over the world, to visit in a place we know has so much to offer.”

The two old friends and orchestra mates call their 2014 season “one of our most ambitious yet, tracing an historical path from the 18th century the 21st,” an “instrumental path from works for one to works for fifteen,” and “a geographic path through Austria-Hungary, Italy, Charlottesville, New York, and elsewhere. It is both an explosion and a condensation of chamber-musical history.”

The season kicks off in Old Cabell Hall on Sunday, September 7 at 3:00 p.m. with Franz Schubert’s Violin Sonata in A major, D. 574 and Piano Trio in B-flat major, D. 898, and Bohuslav Martinu’s Sonata for Cello and Piano, H. 340. Tickets for Paramount and Old Cabell Hall concerts are $25 and $18 for adults, and $6 for students.

“The opening program this year is the quietest, the homiest,” Summers says. “The music of Schubert has a special place right near the center of chamber music, something surprisingly deep. There follows a group of four concerts together, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. It’s hard to describe one without the others, since they make a sort of explosive, exploratory set.”

The first concert of the group, 8:00 p.m. Thursday, September 11 at The Paramount Theater, has “themes of afterlife and of turn-of-the-century Vienna,” with Erich Wolfgang Korngold’s “Glück, das mir verblieb” from Die tote Stadt, W.A. Mozart’s Quintet for Winds in E-flat major, K. 452, and a rare chamber orchestra arrangement of Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 4 in G major. The second concert, 8:00 p.m. Friday, September 12 at the Paramount Theater, runs from the baroque to the modern, with works of J.S. Bach (Brandenburg Concerto No.2), Antonio Vivaldi, Luciano Berio, Alexandre Lunsqui, and Gioacchino Rossini.

The third concert of the group, at 8:30 p.m. Saturday, September 13, is the second annual Fresh Squeezed Music program, featuring a wide-ranging selection of work by contemporary composers in a casual environment. This year it’s at The Southern Café and Music Hall. Doors open at 8. The audience will hear new, improvised, “and otherwise recreational” compositions by Luciano Berio, Steve Reich, Jacques Brel, Astor Piazzola, and Sebastian Fagerlund. Trumpeter Jeroen Bal will play a set combining work by 18th century French composer Jean-Philippe Rameau and 20th century French singer-songwriter Jacques Brel. General admission tickets are $12.

Bal (“a heckuva trumpet player,” Summers says), will be featured as well in the fourth concert of the set, Sunday, September 14 at 3:00 p.m. at Old Cabell Hall, in a program that includes a chamber orchestra arrangement of Ludwig van Beethoven’s Symphony No. 3 in E-flat major, Op.55, (the “Eroica”), Beethoven’s Trio in B-flat major, Op. 11, Bohuslav Martinů’s La Revue de Cuisine, Georges Enescu’s Légende, and Györgi Ligeti Le Grand Macabre. “The Ligeti and Martinu are quite absurd,” Summers says. “Ligeti’s piece is about the sort-of-end-of-the-world and Martinu’s is a love triangle between pieces of cookware.”

Each year, Festival musicians help foster the next generation of classical music lovers, visiting schools in Charlottesville and surrounding counties. On Thursday, September 18 at 12:30 p.m., the festival welcomes school kids and curious adults alike to its annual free lunch hour concert at The Paramount Theater, with violinist Jennifer Koh and pianist Benjamin Hochman, hailed by New York Times critic Anthony Tommasini as “two exciting artists of the new generation (who happen to be married).”

Koh and Hochman join Summers and Bell at the Paramount at 8:00 p.m. that evening for the festival finale, playing three new American works – Yehudi Wyner’s Concordance, John Zorn’s Passagen, David Ludwig’s Aria Fantasy for Piano Quartet – plus a repertory staple from the 19th century, Johannes Brahms Sonata for Piano and Violin No. 1 in G major, Op. 78.

Over its fifteen-year history, the Charlottesville Chamber Music Festival has built a loyal – and adventurous – base of subscribers. “We have a very enthusiastic audience,” says festival board chair Henry M. Peskin, “which is interesting, because we have had quite an eclectic program over the years. Some things are very familiar and some things are very unfamiliar, and they support it.”

Even mayors support it! “I love classical music, although I have limited knowledge of Western classical music,” says Charlottesville mayor Satyendra Huja. “But that doesn’t stop me from enjoying it. I am looking forward to the Charlottesville Chamber Music Festival. The festival contributes significantly to our cultural vibrancy and economic wellbeing. I encourage residents and visitors to participate.”

By Ken Wilson