I just got back from vacation.  That’s why I haven’t posted much in the past couple of weeks.  Went to Hilton Head with my family.  We had a great time.  Wish we had been going there for years rather that just “Discovering” it now.  While I was gone, I did continue to think about real estate.  Here are some of my thoughts:

1)  Having an ocean in Lexington sure would keep our property values up.  Always funny to me how people will pay through the nose for something that there isn’t much of.  Whether it is land, a view or anything else that is desirable, it always cost more.

2)  Having just moved to an older neighborhood known for big lots that is where all the growth in town is heading, I can see people buying some of the older, outdated houses sitting on an acre and tearing them down.  This has happened in other spots in Lexington where you can get a large lot and a good location.  Probably the one that comes to mind the most is Lakewood.  Seems the pattern is you have a high end neighborhood with big lots that use to be on the edge of town.  Add 30-50 years to the mix and it gets awful attractive to buy the cheapest houses just for the lot.  The only thing more rare than ocean front property in Lexington is a house on a big lot.

3)  Right before I left, a client told me about 2 houses they found appealing.  One was about 20 years old in an established neighborhood on a nice lot.  Funny thing is, my wife and I considered this same house about 5 years ago, but it was over-priced then.  The other house was practically new.  It had all the trendy stuff you could want in a new house.  It was totally beautiful.  Better looking than any house I have owned.  It was on a crazy street and backed to the interstate.  I told my client that while the newer one would be nice now, once all that bling goes out of style, that house will just be another outdated house in a poor location.  The other one, while not as pretty, is always going to be desirable due to the lot and the neighborhood.  You can update any house, but you can never update a location.

4) Most of my real estate thinking over the past week has been how good of a job my wife does at picking vacation rentals.  She does a lot of research.  We have never been disappointed with a house she picked.  We stayed about a 5 minute walk from the beach in a house that backed to some type of lagoon.  It kind of looked like Gilligan’s Island to me with the water and all the trees.  It was nice to not have anybody behind us.  The house had a sweet pool and a covered/screened patio on the side of the house that was huge.  Google “13 Wren Hilton Head” if you want to see it.  I am sure that will get you to the property management’s site.  Maybe it is just me since I am a Realtor, but I always find that the real estate choices you make tend to impact how happy you are.  I mean, a view, features, location…..they all have a big impact on your day.  I think my wife would make a great Realtor.

I’m showing a house in Richmond this week.  Place looks nice.  Lots of updates and new things.  Price seems good too.  As my people are walking around ooooohing and ahhhhhhing the place, I’m checking out the condition.  While this house sure looks pretty, I’m less than impressed.

The 2nd house I ever owned was worse than a money pit.  By that I mean it was the type of place that not only sucks your wallet dry, but takes all your time and leaves you totally discouraged.  I never want that to happen to any client of mine.  While I totally hated that house (and still do!) it did teach me a thing or two about knowing when to RUN away.

The first thing I notice about this house is that there are concrete block columns behind the closet doors in the basement along the wall that is completely underground.  They don’t go high enough to touch the joists, so I know they are not part of the structure of the house.  Then I notice that the basement has been waterproofed.  Not the kind where they jackhammer up the slab and install drain-tile around the footer, it was the kind where they install something that looks like a huge baseboard that collects the water.  Then, I notice that the carpet in the basement is actually carpet tiles, or squares.  As we look under the carpet squares, I notice that some of the cracks in the slab have been caulked, some are filled with dirt/dust, and some are just open with nothing in them.

Playing house detective, I conclude that the house not only has some recurring structural issues, but also that it still has a water problem.  Those concrete columns?  There to keep the foundation wall from deflecting inward due to the load behind it.  The water-proofing?  It had been caulked repeatedly.  Why would it need layers of caulk if it did the job?  When you combine a house whose foundation shifts/moves periodically and a water problem, it is easy for that kind of water-proofing system to come unattached from the wall and effectively serve no purpose.  The carpet squares?  They were there so that only the sections that ever got wet could be easily replaced.  The cracks in the slab?  The caulked ones were places where water had come through.  The ones that didn’t have dirt/dust in them had recently opened, meaning they open and close periodically since there is so much movement in the foundation.  I learned at my old house that a crack that happens and never moves again eventually gets filled with dirt/dust/whatever is on the ground. 

My advice on this house?  RUN!