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By Paul Bianchina
Inman News®

The sun is peeking out and the plants are starting to blossom, so it must be about time for spring chores again. Here’s my annual spring checklist of important issues to tend to around the house.

1. Roofing repairs: If you suspect winter storms may have damaged your roof, it needs to be inspected. (If you’re not comfortable with the height or steepness of your roof, hire a licensed roofing contractor for the inspection.) Look for missing or loose shingles, including ridge-cap shingles.

Examine the condition of the flashings around chimneys, flue pipes, vent caps, and anyplace where the roof and walls intersect. Look for overhanging trees that could damage the roof in a wind storm, as well as buildups of leaves and other debris.

If you have roof damage in a number of areas, or if older shingles makes patching impractical, consider having the entire roof redone. Also, remember that if the shingles have been damaged by wind or by impact from falling tree limbs, the damage may be covered by your homeowners insurance.

2. Check gutters and downspouts: Look for areas where the fasteners may have pulled loose, and for any sags in the gutter run. Also, check for water stains that may indicate joints that have worked loose and are leaking. Clean leaves and debris to be ready for spring and summer rains.

3. Fences and gates: Fence posts are especially susceptible to groundwater saturation, and will loosen up and tilt if the soil around them gets soaked too deeply. Check fence posts in various areas by wiggling them to see how solidly embedded they are.

If any are loose, wait until the surrounding soil has dried out, then excavate around the bottom of the posts and pour additional concrete to stabilize them. Replace any posts that have rotted.

4. Clear yard debris: Inspect landscaping for damage, especially trees. If you see any cracked, leaning or otherwise dangerous conditions with any of your trees, have a licensed, insured tree company inspect and trim or remove them as needed.

Clean up leaves, needles, small limbs and other material that has accumulated. Do any spring pruning that’s necessary. Remove and dispose of all dead plant material so it won’t become a fire hazard as it dries.

5. Fans and air conditioners: Clean and check the operation of cooling fans, air conditioners and whole-house fans. Shut the power to the fan, remove the cover and wash with mild soapy water, then clean out dust from inside the fan with a shop vacuum — do not operate the fan with the cover removed.

Check outdoor central air conditioning units for damage or debris buildup, and clean or replace any filters. Check the roof or wall caps where the fan ducts terminate to make sure they are undamaged and well sealed. Check dampers for smooth operation.

6. Check and adjust sprinklers: Run each set of in-ground sprinklers through a cycle, and watch how and where the water is hitting. Adjust or replace any sprinklers that are hitting your siding, washing out loose soil areas, spraying over foundation vents, or in any other way wetting areas on and around your house that shouldn’t be getting wet.

7. Check vent blocks and faucet covers: As soon as you’re comfortable that the danger of winter freezing is over, remove foundation vent blocks or open vent covers to allow air circulation in the crawl space.

While removing the vent covers, check the grade level around the foundation vents. Winter weather can move soil and create buildups or grade problems that will allow groundwater to drain through the vents into the crawl space, so regrade as necessary. Remove outdoor faucet covers. Turn on the water supply to outdoor faucets if it’s been shut off.

8. Prepare yard tools: Replace broken or damaged handles, and clean and condition metal parts. Tighten fittings and fasteners, sharpen cutting tools and mower blades, and service engines and belts in lawn mowers and other power equipment.

9. Change furnace filters: Now is the time to replace furnace filters that have become choked with dust from the winter heating season. This is especially important if you have central air conditioning, or if you utilize your heating system’s fan to circulate air during the summer.

10. Check smoke detectors: Daylight Savings Time snuck up early again this year, and that’s usually the semi-annual reminder to check your smoke alarms. So if you haven’t already done it, now’s the time. Replace the batteries, clean the covers, and test the detector’s operation before it’s too late.

If you have gas-fired appliances in the house, add a carbon monoxide detector as well (or check the operation of your existing one). CO2 detectors are inexpensive and easy to install, and are available at most home centers and other retailers of electrical parts and supplies.

By Alisha Alway Braatz
Inman News®
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My friend Melissa is amazing. And by amazing, I mean, unbelievable. She can do anything. I have watched her design her own eco-friendly home, complete three acres of landscaping with a boyfriend and a shovel, grow her own garden, build her own chicken roost, and make jams, jellies, cookies, roasts, cocktails and more look e-a-s-y.

When people compare her to Martha Stewart, I just laugh. My money’s on Melissa in any contest of ingenuity and wit.

Melissa is so impressive that she became a bit of an inspiration for our little family. Why, if Melissa can make couch cushions out of recycled flour bags, then I’m sure I could make a pillow case!

And maybe I could hem my own pants? Or make beanbags. So, I gamely took out the sewing machine my mother gifted me more than 10 years ago.

I actually removed the sewing machine from its original packaging, as I had … ahem … never actually opened the box before. Something about sewing at home seemed very lonely and very domestic.

Meanwhile, my husband decided to do a few little fix-em-ups around the house. I was so pleased! On the list: the drippy faucet in the master bathroom and the clogged dryer vent line under the house. Simple stuff. No problem.

We planned to meet back in the kitchen at 3 p.m. and plan a savory, organic dinner. Off to our projects we went!

First, I had to string — I mean “thread” — the machine. Now, where was that thread? I tore the Singer box apart looking for some. Seriously? You mean these things don’t come with thread?

Meanwhile, I heard a loud banging coming from the bathroom. I went to investigate.

What I found was more than disheartening.

There was my dear husband leaning on a crowbar — trying to remove the entire sink. Hey, it’s just a drippy faucet!

“Can I call a plumber, babe?”

I’m sure you already know the answer to that question. Absolutely, “No.”

I took a deep breath and turned away. It’s really better not to watch. And I had to buy some thread anyway, so I took off for the Wal-Mart Super Center.

When I arrived home, he was nowhere to be seen. I figured this was good news, and proceeded to my brightly lit little corner in the den. Here comes a pillow case! And baby clothes, and monogrammed hotpads, and aprons, and more!

The sewing machine manual is so thin, I think, this is going to be cake.

Well.

Three hours later my husband and I meet in the kitchen.

He’s so angry his eyebrows are touching! And he is very, very dirty. I am likewise frustrated. Forget about those directions, and bobbins, and pins and kitchen scissors that can’t even cut through thread.

We call the plumber, an HVAC professional and grandma. Yes! She does want a new sewing machine!

Do-it-yourself enterprises are really awesome– when you possess abilities and talents that fit the project. I’ve learned to leave the “Martha” projects to Melissa, and to just be a really good friend (and make sure I get invited to her cocktail parties and outdoor barbecues).

I now know that I will not be making “Welcome Home” aprons for my buying clients. I’ll have some new address cards printed instead. And … I might suggest that a fellow broker in my office forget about learning HTML and just hire somebody to build his really amazing website.

The last thing he needs is a wrench through the computer. As for my husband? Well, he gets lots of awards and praise for letting the plumber put the sink back in the countertop.

Alisha Alway Braatz is a buyer’s broker for Coldwell Banker Advantage One Properties in Eugene, Ore., and a real estate humorist.

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Climbing rents for apartments are combining with a continued decline in home prices to push once-reluctant home buyers into finally taking the plunge, say economists and real-estate agents, helping what appears to be a good start to the housing industry’s all-important spring selling season.

WSJ’s Dawn Wotapka examines an increase in rent costs nationwide and how it has resulted in would-be homebuyers being encouraged to take the plunge. Photo/David Zalubowski, file

Although increased buying activity from investors and second-home purchasers are also factors behind the recent pickup in home sales, real-estate agents say they are fielding more calls from anxious tenants complaining about rising rents.

“The rental market has been incredibly hot,” said Ronald Peltier, chief executive of HomeServices of America Inc., which owns real-estate brokerages in 21 states. He says rising rents, coupled with slumping home prices and interest rates near record lows, are boosting demand for homes at entry-level prices.

Average apartment rents rose by 2.7% last year while the national vacancy rate dropped below 5% for the first time since 2001, according to a quarterly survey to be released Wednesday by Reis Inc., REIS +0.11% a real-estate research firm.

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The broad and sustained growth of the apartment market contrasts sharply with an uneven and tentative housing recovery. During the first quarter, average apartment rents rose and vacancy rates fell in all 82 metropolitan areas tracked by Reis, when compared with a year ago.

The largest rent increases came in San Francisco and San Jose, Calif., which saw increases of 5.9% and 4.9%, respectively. Even boom-to-bust Las Vegas, which has struggled with falling rents in previous quarters, saw average rent rise 1.8% from a year earlier.

Such increases are one reason why analysts at Zelman & Associates believe 2012 will be the first year since 2005 when the share of apartment renters that moves out to buy a house increases from the previous year. “The equation of renting versus owning is becoming much more favorable for owning,” said Ivy Zelman, the firm’s chief executive.

Unless the economy worsens, there is little sign that rent growth will slow until hundreds of thousands of new apartment units currently under construction hit the market over the next few years.

Nishu Sood, a housing analyst with Deutsche Bank DBK.XE -3.52% who tracks housing costs, says that, historically, the cost to rent an apartment has been about 10% lower than the after-tax cost of owning a home. That rental discount began to fall in 2010 and disappeared entirely last year. By the end of 2011, Mr. Sood’s research found that the cost to rent an apartment was about 15% higher than the cost to own a home. Conditions are “overwhelming in the favor of buying now. It is unequivocal,” he said.

In San Jose and the Silicon Valley, where home prices have tumbled 36% from the mid-2007 peak, home affordability has more than doubled in the last five years, Mr. Sood said. Affordability has also improved in Long Island and northern New Jersey, where during the boom, renting was half as expensive as buying. Now, it is almost equal.

To be sure, not all markets have seen the same development. In Orange County, Calif., and New York City, where home prices are extremely high, renting is still cheaper. But even in New York, real-estate agents say sales of small studio and one-bedroom apartments are brisk because renters don’t want to pay such high amounts to rent.

“The entry-level market is back,” said Dottie Herman, president of Prudential Douglas Elliman.

Jennifer Regan and her husband went under contract to buy a three-bedroom home in Martinez, Calif., last month. With a 4.25% rate on a 30-year fixed mortgage, their monthly payments, including taxes and insurance, will be around $600 less than what it costs to rent a comparable house. “I couldn’t believe it had gotten so expensive” to rent, said Ms. Regan, 36 years old, who is moving before her oldest son starts school this fall.

It isn’t always easy for individual home buyers to make it to the closing table, however. Lending and appraisal standards remain tight, keeping many would-be buyers out of the market. And aspiring buyers are competing with savvy investors who have turned buying and reselling foreclosed homes into a business. Last week, the National Association of Realtors trade group said the number of homes purchased by investors rose 65% during 2011 to 1.2 million, representing 27% of all sales.

And for some renters, the housing crisis has shaken their desire to become owners. “If I was going to buy, I feel like I would be just in the same problem that other homeowners are having with the market,” said Laurel Slutsky, 24, who just renewed the one-year lease on her Chicago two-bedroom.

“Right now, all my friends and I are hopping around neighborhoods, and I don’t see the benefit in buying and staying in one place.”

—Josh Barbanel contributed to this article.

Article By: Krista Franks Brock, DSNews.com

Capital Economics expects the housing crisis to end this year, according to a report released Tuesday. One of the reasons: loosening credit.

The analytics firm notes the average credit score required to attain a mortgage loan is 700. While this is higher than scores required prior to the crisis, it is constant with requirements one year ago.

Additionally, a Fed Senior Loan Officer Survey found credit requirements in the fourth quarter were consistent with the past three quarters.

However, other market indicators point not just to a stabilization of mortgage lending standards, but also a loosening of credit availability.

Banks are now lending amounts up to 3.5 times borrower earnings. This is up from a low during the crisis of 3.2 times borrower earnings.

Banks are also loosening loan-to-value ratios (LTV), which Capital Economics denotes “the clearest sign yet of an improvement in mortgage credit conditions.”

In contrast to a low of 74 percent reached in mid-2010, banks are now lending at 82 percent LTV.

While credit conditions may have loosened slightly, some potential homebuyers are still struggling with credit requirements. In fact, Capital Economics points out that in November 8 percent of contract cancellations were the result of a potential buyer not qualifying for a loan.

Additionally, Capital Economics says “any improvement in credit conditions won’t be significant enough to generate actual house price gains,” and potential ramifications from the euro-zone pose a threat to future credit availability.

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