What’s all the hub-bub about Spring Cleaning? Is it anything that people actually do? I think it was more commonly practiced when the home served a different purpose. For many people their home is just a place to stop for rest or to kill time. During the pandemic, when we were forced to stay in our homes, many people began to treat their homes differently. Many people even changed what they called home. Unfortunately the statistics are something like 80% of those who made the decision to sell or buy a home during the pandemic when the real estate market was crazy regret that decision in some way. HOME has taken on a new meaning for most people. Whatever you do there, it should be taken care of and Spring, a time of refreshing and regrowth, is a great time to spruce up the space around you!
My mother, and new Assistant, spent 20+ years with a cleaning company called Cottage Care cleaning other peoples homes. So when I asked her for some tips and tricks to Spring Clean, she had plenty to say!
Appliances:
Stove/Oven – Use the self cleaning setting or just wipe everything down.
Refrigerator – Clean out old things and clean up spills or drips from the shelves and in the doors.
Dishwasher – Run a cycle with a dishwasher cleaner or a solution of white vinegar.
Washer/Dryer – Run a washer cycle with white vinegar and clean the outside dryer lint trap.
Microwave – Soak a sponge with water and microwave for 10 or 15 seconds to loosen dried up bits.
Rooms:
Windows – Clean the inside. Clean the Outside if they tilt in. Pressure Wash if they don’t.
Blinds/Curtains – Wipe or vacuum blinds in closed and open position. Take down and wash curtains.
Furniture – Spot Clean cushions.
Walls/Doors – Wipe down walls with dry duster. Wipe doors with a vinegar solution and remove stains/dirt.
Fans/Switches – Dust off every blade of the fan. Wipe switches with vinegar solution or window cleaner.
Declutter:
Closets – Remove the clothes or items that don’t fit or aren’t used.
Pantry – Clean out expired food or things that will not be used.
Desks – Clean and organize drawers.
Cabinets – Throw out expired or unused items.
Drawers – Organize items so that drawers close easily. Throw away anything that doesn’t fit or doesn’t get used.
Outside:
Porches/Patios – Sweep, clean, wipe down, or power wash the deck and patio.
Furniture – Wipe down the furniture to remove dust and debris Clean or repair cushions.
Flower Beds – Refresh the flowers and mulch.
De-Pollen – Wipe down surfaces including columns or rails to take away pollen.
I am not the cleanest and most meticulous home owner in the world, but I did grow up with a mother that might be. A few of these are pet peeves of mine! The doors and light switches are one of them. Dust on the blinds is the other. The list is pretty extensive and I don’t know if I would ever get all the way through it. But it’s a great list to guide me! Spring brings some of those quiet, secretly beautiful storms that make a great day for cleaning out some of the years yuck. Spring is about renewing and rebuilding. The forest around me on the farm rebuilds the tree canopy so I can take some time to rebuild the order inside my own home.
Have you ever met a barn cat? They can be a little ellusive. Usually they are wounded or scarred, stay away from human touch, and hide in plain sight. We inherited a barn cat named Mr. Bojangles when we bought this farm. When I first moved here as a renter, he welcomed me with loud cries for food and scary hiding spots in the rafters of my car port. But he was nothing like most barn cats I had known. Unfortunately, he is missing. We are worried and confused but still a little hopeful because he is such a special barn cat.
We always had barn cats on the farm I grew up on with my grandparents. They lived in the basement at night and roamed the farm in the day. I do remember one story of a particular cat who climed into the engine of my grandfathers old Dodge and wasn’t found until after he started the car to go to work that night. I don’t remember any of their names, though I know they had names. And I don’t remember ever snuggling or playing with them.
That is what made Bojangles, or Bo, so different. He was the best fire side cuddler on the farm. If it was cold and you had a fire going, he would curl up in your lap for a little snooze. Most evenings, fire or not, he would come to the house for some loving and an extra scoop of dry cat food, though he had just gotten a can of wet food in the tack room for supper. He loved to be picked up and cuddled like a baby, but only by me and my hubby. At our new farm house, he would sit at the back sliding glass door most nights taunting the inside cat into a game of show and tell. She would show him her toys and he would pretend he didn’t care. When we were new to his farm he had what we called a broken purr. It was rough and incomplete. We always said it was because he didn’t get enough practice. Over the years it fixed itself, or we fixed it, with all the loving he got. He greeted newcomers, human and animal, with caution at first, but quickly taught you how to respect his wishes.
I have always said he will be the subject of a childrens book one day. When the lady built this barn she adopted him and brought him here as a barn cat, but he soon won her heart and she decided to take him to her house for him to live as a house cat. One day, he got out and they couldn’t find him. A few weeks later he turned up back at the barn. This was his home. He chose it. Which is why it feels so empty now that he’s gone. It’s been 2 weeks now and there have been no signs of him. But I haven’t completely given up hope.
He’s been gone for a day or two before, but this is unusual. He’s lived on this farm for 10 years or more and avoided every preditor known to man, and probably some we don’t see. I have watched him run from a fight straight up a tree. He’s tough, but most of all he is smart and fast. I don’t think any of that changed. I don’t see him loosing speed or timing, even if he’s gotten older. He still doesn’t trust people or animals enough to get in trouble. We had a foster dog that didn’t know what to think of this big fluffy cat that came so close to him. The foster dog, Felix, was old and had spent a few years roaming the woods of a neighborhood when we picked him up. We were sure he had seen cats, but he didn’t know what to do with them. It was almost as if they had terrorized him and so he had to chase them away from his food. Bo just sat there and let Felix sniff him. He didn’t make a move or run or hiss. And Felix gently opened his mouth slowly around Bo’s neck. Bo was giving him the benefit of the doubt. But he quickly taught the old man to be a little more respectful.
If he’s lost, I know he can take care of himself. Sure, we feed him. We actually feed him a lot because he always looks so skinny. It’s a true testament to what an active lifestyle can do. But he’s resourceful enough to feed himself. And he absolutely LOVED to show you. He presented us with twin chipmunks laid perfectly side-by-side in a horse stall, birds of all sizes on the door mat, baby bunnies one after another when praised for a being a good boy, and more mice than you can count which he would swallow whole while our dog watched with great envy. If he’s been captured by someone else trying to turn him into a couch potato, he might get out again and come back. Or he might choose the indoor lifestyle for a bit!
At the end of the day, he’s a barn cat. We should envy their freedom. He can do whatever he wants, go wherever he wants, and be whatever he wants. There are people that love him and respect his independence right here on this farm. With that respect comes the unknown, a little bit of sorrow, and maybe some fear. Barn cats come and go sometimes without the help or permission of humans. I guess that’s what makes them so special.
There are no shortcuts in life! And I am not really sure if I believe in luck. Whether you believe in karma or “a plan” or you make your own luck, I do think there are things you can do to improve your “luck”. KNOWLEDGE! That is the reason I write this blog! (Well, one of them. Another might be my passion for a good rant!) But I am always a life-long learner. Always reading, attending classes and seminars, having conversations with other pros, and sharing it. It’s probably because I was a teacher and an English major. Reading and writing is my jam! Anyway, I digress…
Here are 5 tips to Getting Lucky in Real Estate:
1) Be very clear about what you want. Determine the location and specifications that you are interested in before you start looking. Don’t try to adjust your desires to the market that’s available. The market is constantly changing but your wants probably are not. Dig in a little bit to what those are.
2) Get help. You will need three people in your corner. A real estate agent that is familiar with whatever it is you are looking to do. A financing person that fits your needs, even if it is a cash deal. If it is a loan officer, make sure they’re familiar with the type of property that you’re looking for. There are tons of opportunities out there for alternate financing, and a simple search or conversation with the other two professionals helping you is likely to turn up some of that, if necessary. Lastly, you need a real estate attorney. When searching for properties that produce the highest return, a huge complication could be clear title. HERE is my favorite.
3) Make a budget! Know what you can afford before you get into a search. Real estate prices are through the roof right now. That doesn’t mean that you don’t have the ability to find a good deal. That means that you need to be honest about a budget and stick to it. When it comes down to it, your budget may determine some of your specifications about what you want, like location. You’re NOT going to find a lake front property on Lake Norman with a $300K budget with an acre of land…but you mind find a condo in a lake front community. In my experience, budget is the biggest issue! You can add rooms or space or appliances, but it’s a lot harder to add cash!
4) Be consistent. It takes a little bit of hard work to find exactly what fits your needs the best. Consistency is important to find just the right property. Whether you have your real estate advisor send properties to you the moment they become available on the market (or off) or first thing in the morning, make sure that you are reviewing those options on a consistent basis. Asking about a property a week after it went live may be too late. If your agent does not have a way to reliably send you information on a consistent basis, that can become a problem. In this market, it’s all about timing and being on top of it. I am still seeing multiple offers and properties last only days on market. I am also seeing the reverse…which proves there are deals out there!
5) Be creative! When an opportunity presents itself, make sure to brainstorm ways that you can create whatever it is you’re looking for. Things are not delivered to you on a silver platter, as much in life as in real estate. The folks that make a lot of money in real estate have vision! If you don’t, use mine! I am a “Real Estate Advisor” because I Advise…I don’t sell. You’re going to have to make some adjustments and concessions during the process. Because this is about money, the creativity has to come from the way, not the cash.
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Please reach out if I have somehow missed thanking you!
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Do you ever have those days where if it can go wrong, it will? To quote my favorite, “When sorrows come they come not in single spies, but in battalions.” (Hamlet Act 4 Scene 5) It really does! Have you ever heard the rule of three…the bad energy stays around until three bad things happen. Sometimes I think understanding that and believing that allows me to get it out of the system. Like I know three things are coming, so what’s number 2 or number 3. This week has been quite a few things…some weeks it seems like a rule of 10…but in the vein of serious issues to deal with there were some doozies this week. And it all started with last weeks discovery of a water spot on the ceiling of my living room.
If you’ve followed our story, we used a not-so-great builder for our new farm house which took about 18 months to build a simple 2,000 sq. ft. box in the middle of my pasture. (Didn’t follow that…it’s a three part series.) We finally moved in at the beginning of September 2022. Now, 4 months later, my worst fear is coming true. We are asking those same crappy contractors to come out and fix things on warranty. Further more, those things are inside closed, sealed, painted walls. When we were looking at issues of mold and mildew on the joists between the 1st and 2nd floor, I was worried something would happen and we would never know.
The first picture shows what we were seeing in the living room that alerted us to the issue. The good news is that the builder was responsive! They replied immediately to my email and text. The bad news…it’s the same problems as before. Shitty work has caused the issue and the unnecessary disruption and additional work . If people just did their job right the first time, there wouldn’t be an issue. The copper pipe that went to the bathtub faucet was loose in the wall. The constant moving around caused the poorly soldered junction to come loose and leak. They added the wooden block and brackets to keep that from happening again. It looks a lot like some thrown together solution. But as long as it works (and I didn’t pay for it)!
What I’ve learned this month is the importance of warranty work! Builders offer a 1, 3-5, and 10 year warranty. Different things are covered under each section. For example, trade work like plumbing and electrical are in the 1 year range while the foundation and roof are usually in the 10 year range. Jst like everything else, every builder is different. What’s important is to pay attention when they get that information to you. Value Build was supposed to send me a link to their warranty information online. Of course, I never got that email! I still haven’t even though I asked again about it when this situation came up. Some builders put warranty information on a sticker in the cabinet under the sink or to the right or left of the sink. Either way, make sure before you close or sign off on anything that you can get to that information.
You can also warranty an older home with a 3rd party home warranty. There are a few companies I have used in the past for clients. I prefer Home Warranties of America because they offer a product that lasts 13 months and covers most HVAC issues. Old Republic is another company that I have used. They offer many different packages depending on what you are worried or concerned about. I always suggest a client get one when they buy a home with an older or questionable HVAC system. HERE is a great place to compare. They run about $500 – $700 per year but could potentially cover an appliance or system that fails due to a problem that wasn’t detected during inspection that could cost you thousands. It’s like an insurance policy. You pay a deductible or a trip charge and they cover a portion or the entirety of the repair. Read the fine print carefully and ask questions! Recently I have had a few home warranties refuse to replace HVAC systems for 1 reason or another because those regulations change so frequently. In fact, we just had an HVAC regulation change in January.
I think the biggest benefit to using a Home Warranty is that when something goes wrong, you make one phone call. There is no searching for a plumber and a dry wall guy. You don’t even have to vet the technicians. The home warranty company, or in new construction, the builder, does that for you. It is tough to figure out who is good and who is questionable. I don’t know enough about plumbing to know if they are telling ne the truth or not. I do get a vibe from people and I’m a decent judge of character, but none of that was beneficial when building my house, soooooo….
I am a big DIY-er…but I am not going to learn how to fix the plumbing while it’s leaking through my ceiling. I’ll just pay the professional
I am a serious planner! I business plan starting in October for the next year. I have researched, taken classes, conferenced and coached business planning for 5 years now. Here is how I break it down.
Life List…Reflection…Revision…Last Year…This Year…Each Month
It’s a method called “design down” that I took from my teacher days. Start with your end goal and work backwards. What will it take to get to that place on a yearly, quarterly, monthly, weekly, daily basis?
A few weeks ago a friend whose new business has met with a few struggles lately asked for my help in marketing ideas. She texted me one day and asked what kind of planner I used. I told her, “I’m so picky I have to make my own!” After I said it I realized how weird that sounds. But it’s true. There is one planner out that does all the things I need for my business, but it’s bulky and boring (the Ninja Planner)! I wanted something pretty, functional and minimalist. When I can’t find what I want, which is most of the time, I make it! I have been doing that my entire life. I used to even make my own prom dresses because I couldn’t find exactly what I wanted. Now I do it with farm, house, and business stuff. It definitely is how I grow my business. I don’t pay a service to market for me (I’m sure you’ve noticed – hahaha). I DIY just about everything around me, including the plans and planners I use. I thought I’d share some of it here! If you like it, I can share it with you too.
I start by creating a “Life List” of things I want to do with a perfect life! Then I make 3 or 4 goals for each section of my life, Career, Family, Relationships, and Self, that will help me get there or get closer to a piece of my perfect life. Then, a separate page for every Goal inside every Category allows me to design down…what steps will it take me to get to the goal? Setting a Target Date helps me align my 2023 planner to achieve those goals. I can put each Action Item on the Monthly Goals in my Planner. At the beginning of each Month I break those goals into steps for the weeks of that month. It may take one week or it may take all month. For Example…if I want to sell 24 houses this year, what do I need to do every month, week, day to achieve that goal? When can I schedule time in my day to do those things?
But what’s the point!? In real estate especially, do you have to plan your month or day or social media or marketing?
In the years that I have been training other agents, I have heard every excuse in the world. My favorite is, “even if I plan it something comes along and changes my plans.” Well, no shit! Life happens! But flying by the seat of your pants doesn’t effeciantly affect change. I will admit, talent and maybe even luck, will get you places. In real estate, your personality and past life or career will likely get you great places. But it won’t get you ALL of the places. And it won’t get you any of those places with consistency.
The Real Estate industry is in a weird place. I have divided agents into 2 categories…Before and During COVID. If you were licensed DC (During COVID), your definition of “business” is very different. Things just fell in your lap! You could literally do minimal work and get maximum profit. You were able to sell a house by working very little. Maybe you built a business with little to no effort at all. And there were so many people looking to sell, clients were easy to find. Being licensed BC (Before COVID), I know that agents have to work hard to get, keep, and help your clients. I can’t tell you how frustrating it is to talk to a friend or acquaintance that bought or sold a home recently without asking for my help! I think it happens once a week, maybe even every day.
My biggest suggestion to agents is to treat this like a business (because it is)! If you were the CEO of a large company, there would be procedure manuals and schedules to follow. You would have marketing plans and calendars and promotions. You would schedule trainings and conferences and meetings. There should be all those things in your own business. Here are my most important tips for Sole Proprietors and Entrepreneurs:
Make yourself a marketing schedule.
Make yourself a social media posting schedule.
Plan time to plan.
Create a Daily Routine
Time Block
I made a schedule that I share with agents in my firm to use for working ON your business because working IN your business is the easy part. It’s called The 15 Hour Work Week (which I’m happy to share). It’s a way to block time in the week for the pieces of growing your business that are most important. And when life and your schedule blow up, you know that things were missed that need to be taken care of later. But writing it down is super important!
Whatever force you believe in, when you speak things into the universe they have a much better chance of happening! I’m not sure if its the speaking or the being heard that makes it so, but it is true. I’m not big on telling other people what my goals and dreams are, but I do write it down. I believe wholeheartedly in vision boards and daily affirmations. Any one else?? One of my favorite quotes is “Stop listening to yourself and start talking to yourself!”
Stop listening to yourself and start talking to yourself!
I don’t care what kind of goals you are trying to achieve this year…it’s going to take a plan and a planner!
In the last few years, I have been a bit more minimalist about my planner, but I do have very specific needs. I used to buy big 8.5X11 size planners when I was a teacher. Now I prefer half-page size ones that I can carry in a large purse or stylish bag instead of a bulky backpack. I need a month, week, and day planner. All three need a place for goals, focus, and tasks. The daily portion needs a time schedule so I can block hours or half hours. The Design Down concept from earlier works the same for every month…what are the monthly goals and how can I break those down each week and every day? I wasn’t able to find something that really met my needs this year, so I made my own.
Here’s my WEEK
And my DAY (obviously for the winter months)
Do you like any of these? I’m happy to share! Digital or Print versions. And if there’s a particular theme you’d prefer, let me know!
The only way that I can get so many things accomplished in my life is by being hyper-focused on one task at a time. I am a mother, run a horse farm, raise chickens and children, run a business, care for my family, and volunteer with a non-profit. It’s a lot to keep up with! We had an instance this week, because of exam schedules, where my calendar didn’t match my teenager’s schedule. She swears she told me she had an exam on that day, but it was definitely not on my calendar, so she couldn’t have because I would have written it down. Luckily, my husband had the day off and could take her to school, but she missed a practice exam that counted as a grade. I may be good at planning and organizing, but I am still not great at mind reading! If I ever figure that one out, I’ll let you know!
My house is now planned for the middle of my biggest, bestest pasture on my farm, with the promise that it will save me some money. You know when people to tell you that if something is too good to be true, then it probably isn’t? That ABSOLUTELY, MOST CERTAINLY applies to builders. I don’t think that it is really there intention to lie to your face, though. I believe better of people, whether I should or not. What I think really happens is that they don’t know what they are talking about, so they make it up, or say something that they think is true. We’ve all done it. I know I used to do it a lot. Maybe it’s my age, but I find myself more often now being able to say “I don’t know, but I will absolutely find out for you.” When the builder told me moving the house would save me thousands because it wouldn’t need a special foundation, and then they charged me a change order for $16,000 because the foundation was “over-height”, I didn’t accuse Daniel of lying so much as just not knowing what he was talking about.
The biggest problem in ALL of this is the MANAGEMENT of the entire process!
Here’s how this builder’s (and others like them) business model works. You work out a “plan” for the cost of the things you are going to be responsible for in what they called a HOE (Home Owners Equity Sheet). They help you plan for the cost of the septic, well, permits, clearing, landscaping, etc. And when you do that work, you can submit to the builder to be reimbursed for the amount you paid, or at least the amount you estimated, because it is figured in your loan. My HOE was somewhere around $25,000. I had no intention of asking for a reimbursement for any of those things. I was going to pay them out of pocket and know that amount off of my mortgage. Then came the change orders. This is the part they don’t really explain. It’s in the fine print of the 85 page contract, along with many other things that it would behoove you to read. I had 3 choices for the change order. I could pay it in cash up front. I could add it to the loan. Or I could take it out of that HOE. BUT the builder, Shannon in particular, told me my only option was the first. They would not continue working on the house until I could pay that.
I don’t know at what point the internal systems of ValueBuild Homes triggers to do certain things, mainly because no one ever agreed to share a build schedule with me. Maybe they didn’t have a set schedule and were just winging it! But at some point during the foundation build, the wood for framing, the roof trusses, and the floor joists were ordered and delivered. Yay! Right? My home was sitting in the middle of the pasture on pallets. I was so excited! We would have a home by Spring! And then nothing.
Daniel was the only truth teller in the group. He showed up one day and we sat down with the computer and he shared that Option 3 with me, where I could just let the HOE cover the change order. He showed me exactly the cost that went into that $16K. And we worked it all out. I signed everything and we were on our way. But, he shared, there was one problem. He did not have a framer available to start on the building. It shouldn’t take long to find a framer. It was the middle of COVID. People were begging for work, right? It won’t be a big deal.
The framers showed up about 4 weeks later. Those beautiful piles of wood sat in the rain and even snow for about 4 weeks. Do you know what happens to wood when it sits, uncovered, in wet conditions for multiple weeks? Mold and mildew! Do you know how I know that? Once the framing was done, many weeks later, I walked the framed house and found black spots and green growth everywhere on the roof trusses and floor joists between the 2 floors. There was nothing on the walls. Maybe those were treated better or covered in the stacks better. But the roof and the floor were horrible. And I was not paying this much money for a home with mold, mildew or whatever. My hubby was furious!
We were at an impasse. Time #3 of when we should have walked away! I am a solution driven business person. I believe in my heart that every problem has a solution. I have been able to negotiate and save many deals where people think that there is no way around dissolving the transaction. So I put my business brain to action on my own deal and tried to find a solution for this problem. Every time I run in to this type of situation, I am amazed at how many people do not try this type of conflict resolution. I asked the builder management to help me clean the mildew and mold off of the wood. Their solution was to hire a company that could treat the growth with a chemical to kill the growth and make sure it didn’t grow back. I was a little hesitant to accept that. And actually the first company that they suggested that came in didn’t seem to know what they were doing. So, being the DIY-er that I am, I got my tea tree oil, bleach and ladder and started scrubbing the beams. That may have been the hardest job I have ever attempted! I lasted about 4 hours. And only got through the trusses in my office. I immediately called Daniel and told them we would go no further in this build until they had a good solution! They eventually found one (another 3 – 4 week delay).
I think I’ve said this before, but the biggest problem in ALLLL of this is the MANAGEMENT of the entire process. Whoever ordered the wood obviously didn’t know that there was not a framer ready to get started. The sad part is, almost every person that I tell this story to in home construction, with the exception of one person, has said to me “that’s just how it is”. That excuse is just that, an excuse. Do your job better! I bet if it was your house, you would find a way to protect those materials, conserve the stress and time that it takes to fix stupid mistakes and make sure trades are where they are supposed to be when they said they would be there. At the very least, you would lift a finger to make something happen. But they don’t! Contractors are not looking out for their clients, they are looking out for their bottom line…end of story!
Holly hallelujah! We had finally closed on the construction loan in July (3 months past my deadline)! Unfortunately, all of our savings have been depleted, but we were ready to build! I knew that we were going to have to do a lot with our own hands. I believe in the value of hard work! No problem! We got this! Over the next year, my resolve would go up and down like the old wooden roller coaster at Carowinds.
I will start with what was my fault. This business model for ValueBuild calls for the homeowner to do what they call an equity plan, which includes ALL site work. I should have asked more questions about “ALL”. They have a worksheet that estimates what those costs will be and even loop that into your construction loan. This, I thought, was a great way for me to pay a lot out of pocket so we planned to clear the land, install the septic, drill the well, grade the lot and landscape all by ourselves. It even prompted me to buy the tractor I had been dying to buy! I had a particular spot on my land picked out for the home, way back in the woods on a section of land that could serve no other purpose on our farm. I needed guidance as to what the potential concerns would be. About 4 different ValueBuild folks came to my property, walked the area I wanted to build on, one guy with some fancy equipment, and all told me once I had the driveway and a septic plan together, we could start building. So I set out to do all those things.
First, let’s talk about septic. The old saying about having to get the land to “perc” is not entirely true. If you want to deal with the county and you want the county to install a septic system, presumably for cheaper, then YES, their engineers need to come out and see if the land has the right soil make-up and contour for appropriate drainage. That’s what it means to perc! BUT there is another way. Based on my vision of this little farm house in the woods, we were going to have to be creative. I hired a Septic Engineer to develop an Engineered Option Septic Permit for our build. The engineer does add an additional cost to your build, but they have ways of making things magically work out. Essentially, the plan the engineer puts together, along with a soil scientists who advised on the make up of the dirt, gets handed to the county as a solution. The county doesn’t approve or have to agree, they just stamp it. For the application of my little farm house in the woods, this was a perfect solution with a small price increase.
Second, we needed driveway access to that part of the property, but there was a creek in our way. I did a little research to discover that waterways are given designations by federal and state organizations so we had to determine if this particular creek was restricted in the type of way you could cross it. Luckily for us, there were no real restrictions for our particular creek. I found a site contractor that was very knowledgeable about this type of work, and he connected me immediately to the right person. Thankfully, there were no strict regulations. We decided to install a 4′ pipe in the creek about 12′ long to create the road. That meant there would be large rock, small rock, and even smaller rock piled on top of that pipe to make my driveway. We decided to clear the rest of the driveway ourselves, due to our now depleted savings. No problem with a skid steer and my hot hubby! See the video:
Third, we had to clear the build site. The trees and brush were cleared, the driveway gave us access to the site I wanted to build on, and the surveyor told me I could fit it inside the bounds of all the rules (sort of) so we began to cut the small saplings that had started to grow. It was always a bare patch with no big trees. We needed a flat, clean surface for the builder. We used the tractor to move dirt. We used the neighbors bucket pick-up machine thingy to move dirt. We rented the skid steer again to try to flatten it out. But no matter how much we took away or added or flattened, we couldn’t get it to not be muddy. We thought maybe it was the hill or the fact little sun got through the forrest. I begged for ValueBuild to send some of those people back out to look. Especially the guy that had showed up with all the equipment. No one came. No one offered help or suggestion. So we just kept trying to make dirt and make something happen. No one answered my emails. In August they asked for a $20K change order due to “Delays”.
House PlacementSide Yard (not a dirt pile)Front Yard
At the end of August they fired Ralph, our foreman, and told me John would be in charge of my house. I never met or talked to John. He never answered my calls, emails or texts. Literally, nothing else happened until December when I received another email introducing me to Daniel, my new-new foreman. All the while, I am still moving dirt, clearing the ever growing brush and forest, and begging for dry dirt. I am very thankful for Daniel, but we didn’t start off so good. He too one look at what we had cleared and staked and graveled…and told me it probably wouldn’t work. We called the guys to dig the footers, they showed up the very next day (amazing that I’d been waiting 2 months and they show up the next day), and began to dig. Twenty feet down, they still had not found solid ground. You could actually see water running though one of their now 20 foot ditches. Daniel said it would require some type of engineered footers. We were essentially building on a 100 year old creek bed and the ground was too soft for a foundation.
“Yes!” I said. But my husband said “No!” So we looked at the rest of the land and Daniel chose a spot in the big pasture that seemed much easier. I pitched a fit, because, to me, it changed the entire dream for the entire property. Moving this far up the hill put us too close to the original trailer to use it in the future. I had already created this dream in my head of a quaint little AirBNB where people could bring their horses to ride and kayaks to explore Mountain Island Lake. This conversation about moving the house seemed inconsequential to the builder (and my husband), but it was a giant problem for me. Daniel was telling us we would save so much money (it didn’t). It would be so much easier (it wasn’t). And my hubby was buying every word. The dream I created about a vacation rental I could manage on my very own land with farm fresh eggs delivered every day and veggies picked from the garden was now in the toilet. Daniel asked me to sign a change order right there in my drive way to move the house, and I almost walked away. I seriously told him no and I would have to think about it. Opportunity #2 that I should have walked away.
We debated long and hard about what to do. We actually debated selling and moving. We even looked at a few options, well I did. We were 9 months into this and there was nothing but a beautiful gravel driveway and a cleared muddy lot to show for it. Furthermore, everything that I had been planning and dreaming about changed in about 24 hours. There would no longer be a house in the woods! There would no longer be a vacation rental to manage! Do you want to know what kept us here? Mr. Bojangles! If we left, he would never leave. And if we tried, he couldn’t live in a neighborhood. And if we left him, the new owners might not take care of him. I know it sounds crazy, but we literally made a decision about continuing the build with ValueBuild homes based on the barn cat! We decided to do everything we could to stay and keep him safe for the rest of his life.
If you’ve been following me for a while, you may be aware of the chaos that has been building our new farm house! Well, we finished! We are moved in! But it was not without drama (and lessons). Whether you are wanting to build and want to know what NOT to do or you just like drama and dirt, it’s a great story that’s going to take some time for me to finish!
Seven years ago or so I bought a horse farm near Denver, NC to get back to life as I like it, hard work, homesteading, and free range. It had a double wide mobile home on it that was old and deteriorating, but not in horrible condition. When we got married out here we decided to work toward building a new house in the woods and use the trailer as an investment property, a vacation rental that people could bring their horses or play on Mountain Island Lake. It was a great plan! Enter COVID…
I want to build houses the way I live the rest of my life, not creating brand new but repurposing and recycling.
We went from 2 people living here all the time and 2 children half the time, to 4 people living here, homeschooling, furloughed, working from home, and dealing with the construction market. We wanted to build ourselves, but banks will no longer make construction loans to owners. Counties will let you GC a project and permit it yourself if you own it, but you would have to pay cash or use a commercial loan. I tried to go the commercial loan route, but they were still pretty leary since none of my building experience was on paper. We searched for a builder that offered a particular kind of product. We wanted to be able to do as much on our own, and in cash, as possible. We also had a very specific design in mind. I had actually paid an architect to draw it out. Lastly, I was looking for a very specific price. I was not interested in “custom builds” or “custom home”. I found the biggest reason they were called “custom” was 4″ baseboards and crown molding. I just wanted a builder to give me the skeleton and I would go from there. Guess what…that doesn’t exist! We thought we had a builder friend that would do it for us, but he even backed out at the very last minute in the crazy COVID market, leaving us a bit in the lurch to find a builder in time to clear the loan and pay off the original mortgage. I can assure you that I investigated all the options…modular, mobile, stick built, local builder, national builder, custom builder. I poured through home designs and contracts, met with many builders, and stressed out a lot because our crappy little double-wide was falling down around us and time was running out. I learned enough to fill blog posts for weeks! I can tell you pros and cons for every builder out there, I think! Just Ask!
We signed a contract with Value Build Homes in March of 2021. Our sales experience was okay. We wanted to do a lot more ourselves than they would allow us, like cabinets and light fixtures. But we were able to add a side door and do the floors ourself. There business model forces the homeowner to do all the “site work” themselves, including well, septic, grading, driveway, landscaping, and a few others. My philosophy is that I can save a lot of money using reclaimed or salvaged things that are in great shape. I want to build houses the way I live the rest of my life, not creating brand new but repurposing and recycling. But that wasn’t going to work with these guys, so we decided to put that into practice when we upgrade. Get the basic-est house and upgrade as time goes on with the cabinet, countertops, light fixtures, etc. It’s a real waste of time, money, and stuff, in my opinion, but we had no other choice.
They wouldn’t let me use my own finance company, and that should have been my first sign. Let me start off by saying that is illegal! I had been preapproved with a guy already when we were looking at modular and wanted to stay with him. The crazy thing is the person they sent me to worked for the same company just in a different office, so unethical. Jackie Wampler with Intercoastal Mortgage was either very new or just not good at her job. In hindsight, I think they must have just created this “partnership” prior to my contract, because she definitely got better in the 16 months it took to build my house. Our biggest problem occured when she called in the appraisal. On new construction, they approve your construction loan at 80% loan to value of what the value will be when the house is built. In other words, they guess, putting the specs of the house you want to build on that lot. You either pay the other 20% in downpayment or you use the equity you may already have in the lot. Considering I had been paying on the property for 5 years, I was sure we would have enough equity to cover it.
Above are pictures of the farm prior to construction. Pictures 6 & 7 are where the house would eventually go, where the appraiser should have been placing the 2000+ sq. ft. new home.
The appraiser that showed up had no idea what he was doing because the lender didn’t give him the correct information (and maybe because he wasn’t good at his job either…there is a theme here). He appraised my 2000 sq.ft. new house on a horse farm with barn, arena, fences and 6 acres compared to the same size newly built house in a local neighborhood on .2 acres. He valued my property at $350K. I begged for a re-evaluation, a new person that had experience with equestrian properties. Jackie just kept telling me that they had no control over the appraisers. As a real estate agent, I knew there was some truth in that. But I also knew that she must not have provided him with any up front explanation. I personally reached out to him and convinced him to ad $25K for at least the barn while the lender did nothing to help and just kept claiming she had no control. Her negligence to provide the appraiser with the survey (I paid for) and comparable properties (I provided), a practice I do with every appraisal, cost me $30K in cash at closing! I had to pay a $30K downpayment just to get the construction loan started on a property I had owned and paid for for 5 years. That was all the money we had saved to do the site work for the home.
The most frustrating part was the lack of desire to help me from anyone involved in the process except for Greg, my salesman! Intercoastal Mortgage reminds me of those predatory lenders that just fills in the boxes and fills up their pipeline without caring how they affect the client. That kind of disregard is what got us in trouble in 2008. Many times Jackie would call my husband out of the blue at work and ask him where a random document was, when she had been working with me for the last week to get documents uploaded. The insistence of the builder to use them makes them equally at fault to the predatory nature. I work with builders all the time who offer incentives to use their in-house lenders, like no closing costs or free appliances, but I have never been told that I didn’t have another choice and HAD to use their lender. When Taryn Donahue, Start Coordinator for ValueBuild Homes, said that to me over the phone, conveniently not in writing, I should have walked away. That was opportunity #1. There would be many other opportunities to walk away or fire them that I should have taken, but I stuck it out and lived to tell the entire, disgusting, sordid, warped tale of how we built a house (not) in the woods.
This is part one of a four part series! Next post I’ll talk about land prep and what that means, how it works, and what ValueBuild failed to do to help us. Follow along as I relive the drama and lay out all the lessons I learned, but most importantly, identify the reasons why everyone needs a Construction Manager or Buyers Agent. The things that I did to get this house built no normal person could do and keep their day job or sanity. I want to help other people build the home they dream of! You shouldn’t be at the mercy of the builder. They are not looking out for your best interest. They are looking out for their companies bottom line. They work for their company, not you! Even if they are nice, which ValueBuild is not. Issues come up and contractors just don’t have the best interest of the client or best possible creative solutions in mind. Some of it is because they are likely building 7 other houses and you only care about 1, but most of it is about money. So, PLEASE, for the love of all that is holy, hire someone to advocate and work for you!
Well, we knew this day was coming and it finally did! Mom RETIRED! She is 75 (ish) and has worked since she was 14…for the record, so have I. It‘s just how this family is built. This was a GIANT step for her! Our emotions are all over the place, excited, scared, nervous, proud. But she’s not really retiring. She’s coming to work for me! So this post is not about her, so much as it is about me, hiring my first employee, creating work for her, paying my first set of taxes, and figuring out how all of that works!
The whole Fam on Vacay last Thanksgiving.
I went into real estate to help myself, originally, more so than to help other people. I wanted to build a career around selling homes for others but mostly buying them for myself to create passive income. Along the way, I realized that I have a service heart. I really love helping people achieve their goals, whatever they are! I enjoy sharing the benefits of homeownership with people similar to my story who didn’t come from a family with financial literacy. What I found is that sometimes that goal is just to have an independent place to live. I have certainly been there too. Some clients need help taking care of themselves and their families now to build the skills to get to home ownership a year or two or five down the road.
Enter my Momma! She wanted to retire, but was worried about money, because she has no retirement or wealth (other than her home…you can see what I mean about not learning these things from an early age). I have been really busy the last 2 years helping clients and want to focus time on the parts of the business that I enjoy, like writing this blog. I would also like to expand in a few other ways, like coaching new agents and entrepreneurs, growing a Lake Norman office, and building my own portfolio. So I asked Mom to come work for me to free me up to do more!
There are many reasons why that simple invitation is a miracle. Our relationship, probably like many parent/child relationships, was strained in past years. Life is not always rosy in that garden. But in my 40’s came great wisdom! She did the best she knew how. The same way I do the best I know how with my girls. It is not perfect, but it is my best. Most importantly, it is not for anyone to judge! Myself included! I realized a few years ago that if I didn’t find it fair that I judge other Mommy’s or let their judgement of me feel painful, I couldn’t judge my mother either. There is a book called Mother Hunger that the Red Table Talk has been focusing on for a while and I was really interested because I am a mother and my relationship with my mother didn’t seem strong. What I decided is that identifying that is all well and good, but the value is using it to grow into a better me.
As a Real Estate Assistant, she can take a lot of things off my plate, freeing me up to really spend time on the things I enjoy and that make me the most money. But maybe even more importantly, she can help renters so that they can become buyers. This means we can help renters find homes by learning the tricks and streamlining the process for them. Her and I both see a real need for help with this process. She has worked with people in her previous job that struggled finding suitable housing so she is well aware of the lack of affordable housing in Charlotte.
We are also going to extend our services to include rental property management. Again a service that I otherwise would not have time to staff or manage. I’m most excited about this service because this is my end goal long term. I want to own rental properties and manage them ourselves so we have passive income. It is such a great way to grow wealth! That will also include vacation rental property management. Again, a service I intend to do for my own rentals, so the ability to do it for others is a bonus. There are actually tons of vacation (or short term) rentals in and around Charlotte. And there are plenty of regulations, issues, and things that can be outsourced to a management team like us.
As with any growth there are always growing pains! It has been a struggle to figure out her pay structure. Since she is retirement age, she gets her full Social Security, which is under $20K (who could live off of just that?!). If she makes more than $52K per year in combined income, the federal government (and probably the state) will go back and tax that $20K so she would have to pay taxes, which she had to do last year. We decided it’s just safer to make just under that threshold and avoid taxing the SS income. We’ll see if that philosophy changes as we grow and move forward. Researching all the regulations for that, salary, and taxes has been difficult and I’m not sure I have all the answers, but I have a plan! Of course, I could hire a pay roll company. There are plenty out there! But I like doing things myself. Lets hope thats not a huge mistake!
Our biggest challenge has been training and job description. It has taken me 4 years to get to where I am in the business, so teaching someone else how to do what I do is pretty difficult. But I am a teacher at heart! I sat down last weekend and created an Assistant Manual for her. It’s a giant 2″ binder with everything she needs to work this job in writing. It comes complete with a monthly and daily suggested schedule. I dedicated a page for each computer system that I use with log in information, what it’s used for, and what her responsibility for it would be. I sprinkled in a little life philosophy like dream casting, life lists, and volunteer work. And then I wrote out as many tasks as I could think of that she might complete. I remember working jobs in my life where I had no idea what I was responsible for because there was no job description. You can’t hold people (even children, BTW) responsible for something if you never told them what that is.
We made it through her first week! And she has already reminded me to return emails I would have lost and gotten marketing postcards completed in record time. I am so excited for what we will do together! I am so excited for the additional number and types of clients we can really help! But most of all, I am proud that I can take care of my momma like I always said I would. I am also very nervous about that one, if I’m being honest.
It’s like watching So You Think You Can Dance, all of the seasons back to back in a row, in super fast forward! The housing market and interest rates move together in this partner dance that can sometimes be too much to watch. I just want to be like Twitch and try to explain how that looks and judge whether it’s good or bad!
Let’s start with where we came FROM…unsustainable high rates of appreciation, ridiculously low rates of interest, and a market that no longer served the individual buyer because it served the conglomerate company that had assets and cash readily available. Homes appreciated at more than double the normal appreciation rate all over the country. Interest rates bottomed out at under 3% for refinance and barely over for new home purchases. Due to the high competition in the market, cash was really KING, so anyone that had it could get anything they wanted, and those that didn’t couldn’t get anything!
Now let’s look at the adjustments. As home values increase at a slower rate, or even decrease, the market makes a correction. The growth we were seeing was unsustainable. The Charlotte area saw value increase in 2021 of 16.9% (in 2020 it was 9.4%). That means if you bought a home for $300,000 in 2020, you may have seen an increase in the value of your home by $50,000 that year. Maybe today that home looks like it’s worth $350,000. The Charlotte area normally sees appreciation of real property at an average of 6 – 8% per year. After 2 years, the home should realistically be worth $340,000. That is what we are adjusting for! We will not go too far backwards (this is very different than 2008), but we will begin to level out that average. And that is good! Because the income rate did NOT increase by 20% in 2021! Therefore, fewer people are able to become homeowners, or at least become homeowners at a payment that they can truly afford (and that is reminiscent o 2008). The American economy thrives on homeownership, no matter what people try to ay about renting. Ownership builds wealth, but it also builds a community.
What about interest rates!? As I’m writing this, we are at about 7% for a mortgage loan with a decent credit score. Other than discussing how the interest rates of 2 years ago were impossible to sustain, I’m going to try to explain how it doesn’t even matter. We’ll go back to our $300,000 house. In one year you will pay about 5.5% in interest (and I can make that happen) and still make 6-8% in appreciation. Yes, the margin is much lower than it was in 2021, but it is not a negative! And the numbers from COVID will never come back. They were done in an emergency situation to spur the economy. Unfortunately we let it run amuck. And now we have to get back to normal! Yes, your house is going to take 30 – 60 days to sell. But your home will still sell in Charlotte, NC. Yes, you are going to pay a higher interest rate, but it is still a much more solid investment than the stock market! How many investors in Bitcoin can say they have increased their investment by 6-8% per year since their investment?
The bright side…negotiation becomes a thing again! We are slowly shifting back to a buyers market. I prefer working with buyers! This season of everyone wanting to sell has been crazy for me. I usually have a goal of 3 or 4 listings per year. I have almost doubled that this year. I can’t wait to getting back to searching for just the right thing for a particular buyer!
southerngirlweb 