Perhaps it’s because my home is going on 20 years old and I’m in the throes of making costly updates (windows, furnace, roof, etc.), but lately I’ve been making particular notes about the age and condition of homes’ costly components when touring with clients.
When viewing a home listing, in addition to the cosmetic aspects of the home, I pay particular attention to items like the furnace, roof, and deck — costly replacement items that may need attention from the new owner in relatively short order.
All natural wood flooring, and marble, slate and granite: 100 years
Vinyl floors: 50 years
Linoleum: 25 years
Carpet: 8 to 10 years
Heating, Venting and Air Conditioning:
Furnaces: 15 to 20 years
Heat pumps for 16 years
Air conditioning: 10 to 15 years
Tankless water heaters: 20 years
Electric/gas water heater: 10 years
Roofing:
Slate, copper and clay/concrete: 50 years:
Asphalt-shingle roofs: 20 years
Fiber cement shingles: 25 years
Wood shakes: 30 years
Siding and Accessories:
Brick, engineered wood, both natural and manufactured stone and fiber cement: Lifetime
Copper gutters: 50 years
Aluminum gutters: 20 years
Copper downspouts: 100 years+
Aluminum downspouts: 30 years
Windows and Skylights:
Aluminum windows: 15 to 20 years
Wood windows: 30 years
Note that these are functional lifetimes. Kitchens, bathrooms, appliances, paint, etc. have much shorter stylistic lifetimes. Obviously, these guidelines are highly dependent on local weather conditions, proper building and design, material quality and adequate maintenance. I can think of a few other exceptions too, like EIFS and LP siding.
Something to keep your eyes open to when touring homes 10+ years or older. You might want contractors to certify roofs, inspect furnaces, provide replacement costs, and give you additional advice during your home inspection timeframe.
The link is broken on the NAHB website, but I’ve got the full, detailed report here.
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After launching their inaugural, eye-catching print issue recently, Portland’s newest home magazine, Portland Spaces has also hit the online space with some real intent.
It has been a while since I’ve done a Friday link post. Here are some updates on the local market as reported in other media outlets:
Portland neighborhoods rate as top retirement locales Money Magazine highlights Goose Hollow and the Pearl District as top spots to retire in the U.S.
The Oregonian piles on the soft condo market
More reporting about lingering inventory and the city’s oversupply of condos.
More Thoughts About the Condo Market
Brian Libby at Portland Architecture comments on the changing condo market and incites thoughtful comments about the Portland housing market
U.S. foreclosure rate down slightly in September, Oregon is mid-pack RealtyTrac releases results and Oregon is #28 nationally with one in every 1,590 homes in foreclosure. The national average is 1 in 554. The U.S. foreclosure rate was down slightly (6%) from August.
Staying in your house awhile?
Then you might have remodeling on your mind. The Oregon Remodelers Association is putting on its Remodelers Home Tour - October 13 -14. They’ll feature 12 projects on display in Portland and 7 in Salem.
As one of the nation’s leading cities in conservation, Portland is also at the forefront of sustainable building practices, products and technologies. To accentuate that point, this Saturday, September 15, the city sponsors the sixth annual Build It Green! Tour of Homes and Information Fair.
Now in its sixth year, the 2007 Build It Green! Tour of Homes features eighteen remodels and new homes, two high-rise residential condominiums and one cohousing development, showcasing a variety of ways homeowners are conserving energy and other natural resources while creating beautiful, unique and healthy homes.
Homes of all kinds can be found on the tour: high-rise condos, period remodels, multi-family homes, eco-architecture (cob, straw, clay), ultra-modern rowhouses, infill projects and co-housing.
Editorial note: I wouldn’t normally burn a couple real estate blog entries on a retail store premiere…but one of the all-too-rare perks of blogging is occasionally getting an invite to speak, write, or in this case, an opportunity to attend a pre-grand-opening…opening.
So my wife and I roamed the Swedish furniture and housewares retailer with reporters from Willamette Week, the Oregonian, Oregon Home, a few radio and TV stations, and a fellow blogger from Metroblogging Portland. After a brief lunch of Swedish gravalax, potato salad, meatballs, lingonberries and a quick speech from store managers, we were led on a tour through their labyrinthine store layout.
Even in the absence of this weekend’s upcoming crowds, the store’s staged rooms and displays were visually overwhelming. The upper floor contains all their room displays with items shown in context to help you with design ideas. The lower floor has all the individual merchandise and the warehouse stock. IKEA’s merchandising is impressive–they even show the entire room dioramas with an all-for-one price in case you like every single piece in their staged room.
I’m no IKEA furniture fanboy, but I was impressed with the organization and preparation for what will undoubtedly be a legendary retail onslaughtthis upcoming weekend Wednesday, July 25. Five days away from opening and the store was 99% ready for customers already. Employees appeared to be focused and driven to finish their merchandising preparation–yet each was exceedingly patient while we lolly-gagger ‘journalists’ ogled the merchandise and slowed their progress.
That said, heaven help anyone bound for the PDX airport this weekend next week, ‘cuz it’s going to be ugly. The routes in and out of Cascade Station are limited and there have been historic traffic jams, even tramplings, in previous IKEA openings.
IKEA officials are braced for the mayhem with lots of extra traffic police, etc. They are even encouraging the party atmosphere with planned festivities like a campout in the IKEA parking lot, starting as early as Monday night (July 23). The first 100 adults in line get a very nice leather chair. They are also handing out 2,500 mystery bags with various coupons and prizes to early-birds in line.
Even without the grand opening party (and despite its unpopular big box footprint), IKEA would have done very well in Portland anyway. They have a good record of sustainable production practices, a good corporate stewardship reputation…and good grief, the stuff is exceedingly affordable (I will stop just short of ‘cheap’). They will even give you a $10 home delivery credit for taking the MAX to the store this weekend.
What does this have to do with Portland real estate? Not much, but I was impressed by their kitchen cabinets, counters, faucets, and range hoods. We toured with the Willamette Week writers, and one told me he had done his entire kitchen for under $1,000 with IKEA cabinets and counters. The drawer units I tried had those slow-close rails and felt substantial to the touch. While their designs continue to be predominately modern and spare in nature, many major furniture item designs were moving more toward the mainstream, and I have a feeling we’ll be seeing more IKEA-designed kitchen remodels in Portland in the near future.
If not in the market to upgrade or downsize your home, you may be looking to plow some money into a remodel project. I am often asked, “What are the projects that will yield the best return at the time of resale?”
REMODEL Magazine (and the National Association of Realtors) attempts to answer those questions annually in their “Cost vs. Value” study. They survey over 100,000 agents and appraisers across the nation to determine the value estimates for various home improvements. Here is a sample of their findings for Portland (and the West Coast*) vs. the national average:
Job Cost
Resale Value
Cost
Recouped
National
Avg.
REMODELS
Minor Kitchen Remodel
$18,241
$16,855
92%
85%
Bathroom Remodel
$14,731
$15,013
102%
85%
Home Office Remodel
$20,936
$14,037
67%
63%
Basement Remodel
$62,103
$57,381
92%
79%
ADDITIONS*
Bathroom Addition
$34,311
$31,195
91%
75%
Deck Addition
$16,297
$14,846
91%
77%
Family Room Addition
$88,731
$72,247
82%
72%
Master Suite
$111,157
$95,916
86%
73%
REPLACEMENTS*
Roofing (midrange)
$17,060
$15,160
89%
74%
Siding (fibre-cement)
$13,859
$13,783
102%
88%
Window (vinyl)
$15,200
$14,679
97%
85%
Siding and window replacements appear to have a 1:1 return ratio, along with a bathroom remodel. I tend to think the Portland/West Coast* returns are higher primarily to a stronger housing market than the rest of the nation.
Perhaps your first decision should be to repair any obvious defects or worn-out features (a subject for a future article). If you intend to sell your home in the near future, and you think some items will be flagged by a professional home inspection, get them fixed now.
Other remodels and upgrades can improve energy efficiency, curb appeal, and livability, but some won’t pencil at resale time. You might want to check with an agent before investing in a major remodel or addition. Will granite counters and solid wood floors be out of place in your neighborhood? Will that family room addition make your home the largest on the block? Will you get your investment back, lose money, or come out ahead if you intend to sell in the near future?
* ADDITIONS and REPLACEMENTS data are regional numbers (AK, CA, HI, OR, WA), whereas the REMODELS information is specific to the Portland market.
Contact me for more information from REMODEL magazine’s report.
With the housing market in a bit of flux currently, we’re seeing more owners are taking the opportunity to plow their money into fixing up their existing home as opposed to cashing out and moving on.
The DIY and remodeling craze (along with social networking resources) has a cottage industry (pun intended!) of blogs devoted to documenting owners’ projects. Today’s Oregonian (go to bottom of the page of this link) briefly touched on the appearance of diaries devoted to homeowner’s remodel projects.
Many of the reno-blogs I’ve seen offer before-and-after shots and helpful advice about sourcing materials and construction basics. Many invite comments and pose questions to their readers. But some also document the emotional and financial drain (in addition to the disruption of everyday life), that these projects can cause. (Anyone remember the Money Pit, made before Tom Hanks became a perennial Oscar nominee?)
If you’re a fan of rehabbing, remodeling, restoration and the like, log on to houseblogs.net, a fairly comprehensive and tight-knit community of remodel-bloggers. Share the pain and the joy, the agony and the ecstasy, the trials and tribulations, the flub-ups and the workmanship pride of these intrepid rehabbers. May they serve as inspiration (or at least, a good warning)!
Portland gets another merit badge for their green, eco-friendly reputation.
The RMLS, the area’s multiple listing service, has released its latest database incarnation and it provides the ability to market homes with environment-friendly features, such as renewable flooring materials (cork or bamboo), solar energy, or 90%-efficient furnaces, for example.
Also, if a new construction home qualifies for Earth Advantage, Energy Star, or LEED standards for energy efficiency, agents can denote that as well in the listing. Potential buyers may be interested in the energy savings, but it remains to be seen if mortgages, appraisals, or home insurance rates will be positively affected.
I’m not sure if RMLS is the first multiple listing service to adopt ‘green’ features, but reports are that it is likely the largest. The green features aren’t searchable on the RMLS public website, but your agent or broker can filter for properties by your preferred criteria.
The front page of the November 19 Sunday Oregonian Homes Section features my listing at 425 W Dartmouth in Gladstone.
I wish I could say the feature is due to my superior marketing skills, but alas, this week the Home section highlights properties that have undergone thorough remodels, and the writer happened to bump into my listing through the multiple listing service.
In this case, the home at 425 W. Dartmouth was redone from the studs out, including new plumbing, wiring, sheetrock, kitchen, windows, bathrooms, flooring, and paint.
At $279,000, it features 2,063 sq. ft, 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, a 8,750 sq. ft. lot and a huge (365 sq. ft.) master bedroom with fireplace.
I will be holding the home open on Sunday, November 19 between 1 and 4 pm. Come visit. Here’s a map.
From the productivity-maven LifeHacker (motto: Don’t live to geek; geek to live) comes this handy, online paint color selector application for Behr paint. Called ColorSmart, it’s a nifty example of a Web 2.0, consumer-friendly interactive site.
While you can always find printed color-chip guides at the home center or paint store, with ColorSmart you can click and pick swatches from the comfort of your own chair. Choose one of Behr’s pre-configured palettes, or if you’re creatively inclined, make up your own body+trim+accent selection.
If you’re selling your house soon, my advice is: go with the pros’ color selections. Trust me, very few will really like your ‘artistic’ turquoise exteriors or lavender interiors.
You can save your color choices for later review, and print out chip codes to get your paint ordered. With ColorSmart, you can buy an 8 oz. trial size to check your colors first. If you choose a paint that doesn’t sell samples in small amounts, then go ahead and buy a quart. I recently painted my home’s exterior, and my first choice….well, let’s just say that the $9.00 I spent on the tester quart was an excellent investment. We went with choice number 2.
One reviewer of the Behr site mentioned Sherwin Williams’ version, the Color Visualizer, which I thought was cool because they actually simulate different rooms and architecture styles with your color choices. Just drag-n-drop the color on the walls. You can even preview different faux finish techniques.
Perhaps it’s because my home is going on 20 years old and I’m in the throes of making costly updates (windows, furnace, roof, etc.), but lately I’ve been making particular notes about the age and condition of homes’ costly components when touring with clients. 
It has been a while since I’ve done a Friday link post. Here are some updates on the local market as reported in other media outlets:
As one of the nation’s leading cities in conservation, Portland is also at the forefront of sustainable building practices, products and technologies. To accentuate that point, this Saturday, September 15, the city sponsors the sixth annual Build It Green! Tour of Homes and Information Fair.
Editorial note: I wouldn’t normally burn a couple real estate blog entries on a retail store premiere…but one of the all-too-rare perks of blogging is occasionally getting an invite to speak, write, or in this case, an opportunity to attend a pre-grand-opening…opening. 
If not in the market to upgrade or downsize your home, you may be looking to plow some money into a remodel project. I am often asked, “What are the projects that will yield the best return at the time of resale?” 
With the housing market in a bit of flux currently, we’re seeing more owners are taking the opportunity to plow their money into fixing up their existing home as opposed to cashing out and moving on.
From the productivity-maven 
One reviewer of the Behr site mentioned 
