Author: jessieknadler

When Jay Moore decided to propose to his girlfriend of five years, Joanna Brockel, last winter, he knew he wanted to do something both special and physical since they’re both physical therapists. She does acute therapy. He does outpatient therapy. And they share a love of sports (they play on the same co-ed football league in Richmond). So he planned a ski getaway to Steamboat Springs, Colorado, last February. Over an après-ski lunch one afternoon Jay, who just turned 28, casually asked Joanna, 27, if she’d like to rent snowmobiles and ride with a guide along the Continental Divide to the top of a nearby mountain that offered views of two states.

Jay Moore and Joanna Brockel September 19, 2009 Photo by Sarah Cramer Shields

Jay’s plan was for Joanna to share his snowmobile as he followed the guide up the mountain because he knew that once he proposed, she’d want to ride with him on his snowmobile anyway. But Joanna, who has never been much of a passenger, wanted to ride her own, so they ended up taking two separate snowmobiles.

When they reached the top of the mountain, they stopped to bask in the glittering, snow-covered vista below (this is the part where the guide slunk off into the woods). Jay got off his snowmobile and, still wearing his helmet and ski goggles, got down on bended knee. He reached into the front pocket of his ski parka to retrieve the ring, which he’d tied to a bright pink hairband just in case he accidentally dropped the ring in the snow. Joanna gasped. Jay popped the question. Joanna said yes. Jay removed the hair band in preparation of slipping the ring on Joanna’s finger. But she accidentally bumped his hand, sending the three stone diamond ring into the air and landing in the snow right on the edge of the cliff.

The couple panicked. Jay sprawled along the edge of the cliff to retrieve the ring. Once safely in his hand, he wasted no time slipping it on his fiancée’s finger. Order was restored. The guide reappeared to snap a few photos of the extremely relieved couple. Joanna remarked, “Well, I can’t ride by myself now,” just as Jay figured, so they left her snowmobile in the middle of the forest to be retrieved later by a guide.

Jay and Joanna wed on September 19 in Deltaville, where Jay is from. For a while, Joanna tried to convince Jay to move with her to Charlottesville, where she worked for some time at UVA hospital. But Jay is a “Hokies fan at heart,” she says. “It was hard to get him to move anywhere close to the Cavaliers.” So they ended up putting down roots in Richmond, where they now both work and own a home. For now, children consist of a 130-pound Great Dane named Nolan and a 15-pound Bichon Frise named Buddy. “It’s hard for them to really play together despite Nolan’s attempts,” says Jay. “And Buddy, though little, usually doesn’t want to play.”

For their honeymoon, the couple went to Italy, a trip that combined Jay’s interest in art and history with Joanna’s interest in relaxing on the beach—and they both indulged in plenty of good food and wine. The only glitch in their plans was the decision to buy a box of olive oil and wine at the beginning of their trip: They had to schlep their bounty from one destination to another, a decision that nearly caused them to miss their train to Naples. “We had to run though the train station with four bags of luggage and this box,” says Jay. “I can only hope we gave passengers some comic relief. We were just glad to make the train and I was pretty impressed with my wife. She was a trooper that day.”

If you missed out on the enticing $8,000 tax credit available to first time homebuyers because you already owned a home, fear not—you can still take advantage of government incentives to drive home sales.

In an effort to keep the housing market stable during the winter months, a traditionally slow time for real estate, President Obama signed legislation on November 6 expanding the housing credit to so-called “move-up” home buyers—owners who want to trade their existing properties for something better.

The expansion, which was part of a bill that includes extending unemployment benefits, allows for a $6,500 federal tax credit for anyone looking to switch their primary residence.

Who’s eligible to claim it

• Homeowners who’ve lived in their current home, which must be a primary residence, for at least five out of the last eight years.

• Individuals with an income of less than $125,000, or married couples with an income of less than $225,000 (whereas the $8,000 first time home buyer tax credit was only open to individuals earning less than $75,000 or married couples earning less than $150,000).

• Those looking to buy a new home with a purchase price of $800,000 or less—it doesn’t matter if the home is brand new construction on a pre-owned lot, an existing single-family home, a condo, a trailer or a house boat…as long as it’s a primary residence. Second homes, vacation homes, investment and rental properties are not allowed.

You don’t even have to trade up if you don’t want. The tax credit can be used to downsize by moving into something smaller or relocate because of a job change. You also don’t have to sell your current home—you can rent it out, turn it into a second home or list it for sale at a later date when prices might be higher.

When to claim it

• Now. The legislation went into effect the day it was signed (November 6). You can claim the credit as soon as you close on a qualifying home.

• Before the cut-off date for settlement: June 30, 2010.
 
• If you close on a new home between Nov. 6 and Dec. 31, you can claim the credit on your 2009 federal tax return or amend your 2008 return. If you purchase a home in 2010, you can file for the credit on your 2009 or 2010 return.

How to claim it

• Submit copies of your settlement statement (HUD-1 forms) along with a request for the credit using IRS Form 5405.

Keep in mind that a tax credit is not the same as a tax deduction. A tax credit is a dollar-for-dollar reduction in what you owe at the end of the year. So if you owe $7,500 in income taxes and receive the $6,500 tax credit, you would owe $1,000 to the IRS. Similarly, if you had a federal income tax liability of $5,000 and tax withholdings of $4,000 for the year, you would owe $1,000 to the IRS. But if you qualified for the $6,500 tax credit, you would receive a check for $5,500 ($6,500 minus the $1,000 owed).

Lastly, don’t even think about fudging your federal tax return to claim this credit. It’s been reported that the IRS is being extra vigilant about sussing out fraudulent claims, the result of some 90,000 ineligible claimants (including one from a four-year-old child!) to the initial $8,000 tax credit for first-time home buyers earlier this year. A high percentage of claimants turned out to have already owned a home and nearly 600 supposed first-time home buyers turned out be younger than 18 years old, a violation of the rules (the credit prohibits sales to minors and between immediate family members). 

The IRS has responded by opening 115 criminal investigations (so far) and temporarily freezing more than 110,000 refunds. In other words, this is not an area to get creative with on your tax return. And don’t wait around for another tax credit to come around again soon. All signs point to this being the last one, so take advantage of it while you can. More info at federalhousingtaxcredit.com/faq2.php.

Dan and Molly Laufer dated for half a decade before getting married. Three of those years were spent in separate cities. Dan, 25, lived in Atlanta, where he worked at a business strategy-consulting firm; Molly, 24, lived in Jacksonville, Florida, where she was stationed with the Navy. (The first two years were spent together in Charlottesville, where they met at UVA.) It’s a five-and-a-half-hour drive between Atlanta and Jacksonville, which the couple endured at least twice a month.

Dan and Molly Laufer September 12, 2009 Photograph by Sarah Cramer Shields

After so much long distance, they finally decided to close the gap by getting married this fall. But as wedding plans heated up over the summer, Molly, who is active duty in the Navy, had to transfer to San Diego, where she was expected to deploy to the Middle East (she’s had two prior deployments). The couple, who had hoped to dazzle their wedding guests with smooth moves on the dance floor, had signed up for a series of lessons at a Jacksonville dance studio. But the transfer cut the lessons short so they had to practice what little they’d learned in hotel rooms and hallways during the cross-country drive to California last August.

No sooner had the couple settled into their new digs on the West Coast, they had to fly back east again for their September 12 wedding at King Family Vineyard, in Crozet.

Molly, a Baltimore native, had been informed that she was to deploy a day after the wedding, which meant their honeymoon to Greece and Paris would have to be postponed. Luckily, plans changed at the last minute; she found out (during her bachelorette party, no less) that she was allowed to go on her honeymoon after all, but she was expected to ship out a mere three days after arriving back to San Diego.

With her deployment imminent, Molly and Dan did everything they could to ritualize their special day. On the day of the wedding, Dan, who’s originally from Charlottesville, decided it was bad luck to talk to his bride, a decision that can probably be explained by Molly’s description of him as “the most corny person I know but also someone who is deeply passionate about everything he does.”

“I was so excited to see him all day,” says Molly. “All I wanted to do was give him a giant hug.” At one point during the interfaith ceremony—Dan is Jewish, Molly is Episcopalian—the couple had to bless the wine. As Molly looked into her cup of wine, she noticed an insect floating in it. Her first words to her groom—even before “I do”—were “There’s a dead bug in there.” Dan’s hushed response: “It’s O.K.—it’s protein.” Molly whispered back: “O.K., I’m hungry.” No one understood why the 6’2" groom and his 5’2" bride shook with laughter as they stood under the chuppah.

For their first dance, the newlyweds twirled confidently across the dance floor—“probably more times than we were supposed to,” says Molly—to Elvis Presley’s “Can’t Help Falling in Love.”

At one point, Molly stepped out of the reception hall to take a breather. “I closed my eyes and all I could hear were glasses clinking, the band playing, people talking. I thought this was the one chance in our lives to have everyone we know and love in the same place—the wedding was the best going away party I could have ever had.”

And now Dan, who just got a new job in his new city, tries to keep the home fires burning during his best friend’s absence. Molly is currently deployed with the NIMITZ Carrier Strike Group where she works as a surface warfare officer on the Al Basrah Oil Terminal, an offshore Iraqi oil facility in the North Arabian Gulf that, she says, “looks like something out of the Kevin Costner movie Waterworld.” To stay in touch, Dan e-mails her pictures from his iPhone nearly every day. And “We live on Skype,” she says.

It’s not easy being apart, but Dan says he’s “reminded that a lot of people have it worse than us.” For now, he’s just looking forward to the day she comes home so they can enjoy the little things together—and share the same ZIP code for once: “Cooking dinner together, taking day trips, walking around our neighborhood,” he says. “The reality is that I can do all of those things right now, but it’s just not as fun or as satisfying without Molly.”

As a potential homebuyer, it’s only natural to assume that the gorgeous four-board fence surrounding the property you want to buy is what demarcates it from the neighbor’s, right? Wrong.

A fence—or any structure, really—can be way, way inside the official property line or encroach into the adjacent property. Not knowing a property’s true borders can, at best, distort your perception of the home’s value, or worse, result in having to tear down structures that violate pre-existing covenants if and when the accurate borders are ever revealed. 

This is why getting an up to date survey of a property—whether you’re a buyer or a seller—is important, says real estate attorney Bill Tucker of Tucker Griffin Barnes. In fact, he says there’s been “an epidemic of problems with physical surveys in Charlottesville” which can be prohibitively expensive for whoever ends up buying or selling the house.

A recent example: A house featuring a brand-new $40,000 garage had just gone into foreclosure. A survey revealed that the gorgeous new garage—which was a big selling point for the home—was actually two feet over the property line on two sides, and it violated the official five-foot setback line in the rear by a foot.

The bank or the potential buyer faced a choice: Either tear down the garage, which would have diminished the value of the property significantly, or try to buy several feet of property along two sides of the garage from the neighbors….and shave the rear wall by a foot.

The buyer ended up going with the latter option (luckily, the neighbors were willing to sell a sliver of their properties!), but it was a set of problems that could have been avoided had the previous owner relied on a plat or survey before starting construction, and been up to date on pre-existing covenants and restrictions.

(A plat is a bird’s eye view of a property’s boundaries. A survey is the same but includes structures on the property as well—the home itself, fences, deck, shed, garage, etc.)

Property lines become distorted for a variety of reasons, says Tucker. One of the more common is when the markers—small, unobtrusive pieces of metal set by the surveyor to mark the property—become lost or buried. Or longtime homeowners and their neighbors rely on physical landmarks—trees, rocks, water—to identify their boundaries, which can change or get lost over time; that faulty information gets passed on to future buyers. 

So if you don’t have a survey of your property, get one. Sellers will usually hand off a copy to the buyer. (If you’re a seller, make sure to display it at openings.) But if they don’t, definitely track one down before making an offer. Surprisingly, the county courthouse doesn’t register or record surveys so it’s up to buyers and sellers to keep track of them.  Sometimes it’s possible to track one down through the title insurance company. Or commission one yourself from one of the surveying companies in town, like Commonwealth Land Surveying, Old Albemarle Surveying or Residential Surveying Services. A survey costs around $500—a small price to pay if it means avoiding much more expensive hassles later.

Leafy hazards

For the proud homeowner, there are few sights more appealing than a gorgeous old tree tinged with autumn colors in front of a carefully tended home.

But just because a tree may look grand and sweeping doesn’t mean it’s necessarily an asset to the home. In fact, many homeowners don’t give enough consideration to potential problems big trees may pose to a property….or neighborly relations.

Most homeowners know that if a tree dies and falls over onto their house or another structure such as a swing set or woodshed, their homeowners insurance will cover the expenses, both to repair the damage and have the tree hauled away.

But who’s responsible should that same tree topple over into the neighbor’s dining room? “It depends,” says Greg Leffler, an agent at State Farm insurance in Charlottesville. “If the accident was weather-related and the tree was otherwise healthy—which is to say, no one was at fault—each homeowners insurance pays for damage to each respective property, right up to the property line.” So even if the tree owner’s damages are nothing more serious than some upturned dirt and rocks, while the neighbor’s roof is half gone, each side’s insurance has to pay for damages to their own properties. Insurance premiums won’t go up for either the tree owner or neighbor.

But if the neighbor whose dining room was destroyed can prove the tree owner was actually negligent—the tree had posed an obvious risk for several years—and decides to sue, then the tree owner’s insurance may end up paying for everything: legal fees for both parties and damage to both properties. And the tree owner can expect his insurance premiums to increase.

To prove negligence, a neighbor must keep a paper trail, either by producing copies of warning letters/e-mails or photos of the offending tree. 

So how to know a tree—whether for the tree owner or neighbor—may one day pose a problem? Large cracks are an obvious sign, but there are others that can be a bit more elusive to spot, says certified arborist Wayne Scott of Partlow’s Tree Service.

The most common sign, and the one that accounts for nearly 20 percent of Scott’s calls, is when the root system starts to crack through a cement driveway, deck or even the foundation of the house. “This means the tree was planted too close to the home and must come down,” says Scott. “Otherwise, the roots will girdle—they’ll turn back around and start growing into the tree, which will kill it.” 

Fungus or mushrooms growing around the base of the tree is another clue problems are forthcoming since it means the root system is in the process of rotting, or dying. The rot will continue up the trunk, which is why fungus sometimes appears on trees.

Multi-stem trees—trees that look like two trees growing from the same trunk—also pose a hazard since one stem is usually weaker than the other and will start to lean…or break.  

For more issues with trees, check out the USDA Forestry Services’ “How to Recognize Hazardous Defects in Trees” at na.fs.fed.us.

One more thing: If a homeowner decides to chop down a perfectly healthy tree because it’s obstructing the view, she is within her rights to do that, says Scott. The only thing stopping her is if she belongs to a homeowner’s association or similar organization that prohibits it.

More evidence that online dating indeed works: Marylyle McCue, 33, met Jordan Reiter, 32, on OkCupid, a free dating site. This was back in the summer of 2005. The site rated them 80 percent compatible so they felt fairly confident sparks might fly—after all, they grew up 10 miles apart and attended the same high school, Western Albemarle (she was a senior, he was a freshman)—so they decided to go out on a date.

Marylyle McCue and Jordan Reiter August 16, 2009 Photo by Billy Hunt

Marylyle has an ear for “bizarre indie rock” and world music, so she took Jordan to a rock show at Buddhist Biker Bar & Grill to hear the band B.C. There, it was immediately clear there was potential for (at the very least) a strong friendship. “We were so comfortable with each other,” says Marylyle. They shared a romantic rest of the summer together, but by fall, Jordan left for London to pursue a master’s in international studies.

Despite their feelings for each other, Jordan’s hop across the pond made way for a bit of ambivalence, which was compounded by his gnawing wanderlust. “I thought, I’m going to travel the world and be a diplomat,” he says. “I had to do it. I was possessed.” No sooner had he returned to Charlottesville, he was off to Egypt. Though the couple had a rendezvous in ultra-romantic Paris, Marylyle was somewhat concerned Jordan would never put down roots. She went ahead and moved to Philadelphia to pursue a master’s in library science.

But while in Egypt—a traditional society where there is no such thing as dating, only marriage—a moment of clarity came. “I would show Egyptian friends pictures of Marylyle, and they’d say, ‘She’s so pretty, you should marry her, why don’t you marry her?’” says Jordan. “It simplified things for me—why wouldn’t I marry her?” So when he got back from Egypt he moved posthaste to Philadelphia to be with Marylyle. They promptly moved in together. Jordan now works as a freelance computer programmer and Marylyle is a librarian.

On August 15 of last year, they got engaged, and spent the next year planning a cross-cultural wedding extravaganza, to be held in Charlottesville, that paid tribute to her Celtic roots and his Sephardic Jewish heritage. The wedding took place a year and a day after their engagement—August 16—and featured belly dancing (Marylyle does it as a hobby), henna tattoos for the bridal party, and the African-American tradition of the bride and groom jumping over a broom. 

Not surprisingly, the couple now recommend OkCupid to all their friends.

Catherine Zirker, 26, is an avid rock-climber. So is her husband, Chris Zirker, 24. In fact, they pretty much live outdoors—climbing, backpacking, running, kayaking or launching off ski jumps together.

The couple met in the fall of 2005 while climbing—of course!—at Rocky Top in Charlottesville.

Catherine Anderson and Chris Zirker May 22, 2009 Photo by Sarah Cramer

Chris was belaying a friend, and Catherine was standing nearby eating her lunch. Chris noticed the confident, athletic woman beside him, and began precariously hopping on and off the rock face while tied to another climber several feet up.

“I knew he was trying to be Mr. Cool,” says Catherine of the chiseled climber with the infectious smile.
The ploy for coolness backfired because within minutes Chris had been dumped on his butt, skidding in the red clay. He looked over at Catherine beaming. “She was laughing,” says Chris. “I had already decided I was going to pursue her.”

Catherine was hesitant. After all, he was still an undergrad at UVA while she was already working as a middle school teacher. But he persisted.

So in an attempt to ward him off, she invited him to join her at the grocery store, “thinking he’d turn down such a riveting date opportunity,” she says. He didn’t. So she threw another curve ball: They both had to dress in full climbing gear (shoes, harnesses, chalk bags) and play Marco Polo in the aisles. When the idea was met with even more enthusiasm, Catherine became intrigued.

The date ended eating frozen yogurt illuminated by blinking headlamps.

From that point on, they were nearly inseparable. They made plans for a big ski trip that January.

But a month before they were scheduled to depart, the couple went skiing at nearby Wintergreen. Chris, a snowboarder, went off a jump at just the wrong angle, and ended up going over backward.

“I saw the whole thing,” says Catherine. “I was kind of laughing because he ate it so badly, but he didn’t roll over. I yelled, ‘Can you move?’ He couldn’t. I immediately signaled for a rescue.”

Chris broke his neck and had to spend the next five months in the hospital.

“Catherine ended up doing the lion’s share of taking care of me,” he says. “I can’t imagine going through what I did without her. I feel very lucky that she decided to stick around with me.”

“It was an easy choice,” she says. “It was Chris. He hasn’t changed.”

Catherine was so inspired by Chris’s rigorous rehabilitation and subsequent recovery that she abandoned teaching, and is now a year away from earning her degree as a doctor of physical therapy.

Chris, who (amazingly) only missed one semester of school throughout the ordeal, is set to earn his master’s in mechanical engineering in 2010. Even though he still walks with a cane, he started skiing again in December 2008, helped in part by Wintergreen Adaptive Sports, a program that helps injured people return to their favorite outdoor activities.

“It was so liberating the first time we were able to ski again,” says Catherine. “It was the first time Chris felt like he didn’t have a disability.”

The couple was finally able to take their long-awaited ski trip last January, and Chris has gradually returned to rock-climbing, kayaking and hiking.

Catherine and Chris tied the knot on May 22 at King Family Vineyards in Crozet. Instead of going to the Bahamas or taking a cruise like a lot of newlyweds, this outdoorsy twosome spent their “honeymoon” at Wintergreen with 16 of their favorite friends, hiking and grilling and soaking up the views of the Blue Ridge Mountains, where so many of their memories were made.

Sign of the times

In today’s buyer’s market, it’s not uncommon for some sellers to be saddled with two monthly mortgage payments—one on the house they live in, and one on the house they’re trying to unload…a predicament few people can afford for long.

For these sellers, listing the latter as a rent-to-own is an attractive option. This type of transaction can benefit a certain type of buyer, too.

Similar to a car lease, a rent-to-own (or, what is known in real estate parlance as a lease-option or a lease-purchase; more about that in a minute) works like this: Interested buyers pay what are called rent premiums—an amount slightly higher than the usual rent, with a portion of that money going toward an eventual down payment. (For example, if the monthly rent premium is $1,300, $500 of that might go toward the down payment.) At the end of a set period—usually around three years—buyers have the option to buy the house, using their accrued rent premiums as a down payment. (In this case, that’s $18,000.)

Additionally, renters have to pay a one-time option fee, a set amount usually in the four digits—let’s say, $5,000—that is also used toward the down payment, bringing the total down payment to $23,000.

If, however, the buyer decides not to purchase, they forfeit the option fee and all the rent premiums to the seller…which translates to a tidy source of income for the seller in an otherwise dismal seller’s market.

So why aren’t there more rent-to-own listings in Charlottesville’s housing market? (A cursory search on the Charlottesville MLS pulled up only five such listings.) ReMax associate broker Charles A. McDonald says that precisely because it’s a buyer’s market, there is no reason for buyers to lock themselves into long-term commitments when there’s “so much other inventory to choose from.” For Sale signs abound.

In fact, McDonald says rent-to-own deals make sense primarily for a specific kind of buyer: those who have less-than-prefect credit scores and/or no money for a down payment.
 
A closer look at the ins and outs of such deals for both buyers and sellers:

• The purchase price is locked-in from the very beginning, so if at the end of three years, housing prices have skyrocketed, the seller still gets to pay the lower, agreed-upon price (same goes if prices collapse). Related to this, the seller is contractually prohibited from selling to another buyer should a better offer come along.

• Because buyers stand to forfeit their down payment should they decide not to buy, they should be fairly confident this is a house they want. But this works both ways: If the buyer discovers the house has serious problems (faulty foundation and wiring, asbestos, etc.), the lost fees pale in comparison to the exorbitant repair costs they could encounter as owners.

• Another hurdle for buyers: They cannot be late making payments or they lose their entire rent credit—the amount that goes toward the down payment—that month. If this becomes a habit, it could mean thousands of dollars lost per year. The flip side, of course, is easy money for sellers.

• Unlike normal renters, rent-to-owners are responsible for all repairs on a home even when they’re still technically renting it. Think of it as homeownership in training.

• Understand the terms: Most real estate professionals call rent-to-owns lease-options or sometimes lease-purchase deals. Even though the terms are sometimes used interchangeably, there is technically a difference. A lease-option means just that: The buyer has the option to the buy the house. A lease-purchase means they’re contractually obligated to…an easily missed but critical difference.