Category Archives: Uncategorized

How to choose the perfect exterior paint for your home

Posted on February 26, 2016 | Leave a comment

Spend time doing your research and be cautious of slavishly following current trends. “You must be very careful choosing a colour,” warns Cath Cornish from Brisbane interiors company Sachs and Cornish. “Colours go in-and-out of fashion, so an on-trend hue will always date. Your house colour is not like a throw cushion; you will possibly be stuck with it for a long time.” Collect quality paint samples and spend time ‘living’ with them.

“The paint you choose must be a good quality,” she says. Ensure its formula includes ultra violet (UV) absorbers to ensure your finish is long lasting, and properly protected from the harsh Australian sun. Consider the surface you are painting. If uneven, opt for a low-gloss or matte finish paint that won’t highlight surface imperfections. “Stock up on sample pots, so you get to know the paint, its qualities, and of course, get a feel for your colour choices,” says Cath. “Paint pieces of wood that you can put in your yard and look at for a few days. Invest time in choosing your paint properly. Never rush your decision.”

When choosing your palette, take time to carefully consider the design of your home, its contents, and the effect you want to create. Consider the colour of your roof, ensuring that your colour scheme doesn’t work against it, but with it. A red tin roof, for example, lends itself to a cream, neutral or red-toned exterior. “Some simple starting points for selecting colour is looking at the colour tones in the flooring, and at what furniture you are keeping for your room ‘makeover’, as they need to work together,” agrees Blaze.

Arguably the most on-trend exterior palette right now is shades of classic grey, from smoke and steel, to fog and charcoal, that imparts a certain ease and mellowness, yet looks as smart as, well, paint. “Try going very dark on your weatherboards, and contrast with a solid white to define window trims and fretwork details,” suggests Blaze. “Another favourite look of mine is soft grey or taupe tones with a contrasting trim.”

Disclaimer: for information and entertainment purposes only.

How accurate is Zillow’s Zestimate? Not very, says one RE Agent

Posted on February 25, 2016 | Leave a comment

Some of that information can come from sites like Zillow that offer what’s called an “automated valuation model” — AVM for short — that purportedly present a great estimate of the current market value of millions of homes. It’s cool technology, amassing an enormous amount of information from publicly available sources in one place that is then scrubbed through very sophisticated algorithms to predict value. And all of that is presented in an easy-to-use user interface.

And to its enormous credit, Zillow has done a tremendous job in reaching “top of mind” status with consumers. There’s just one problem: Those predicted values are wildly inaccurate and inconsistent.

Do you have a client or family member that is stuck on the Zestimate value of their home? Contact the appraisers at www.scappraisals.com and let them assist you with an accurate value of the home.

It simply isn’t possible for any AVM to predict the value of a home with a level of accuracy sufficient to make a housing decision.

Zillow knows that’s true — and they say as much on their Web site (although you have to dig a bit to find it). They have this to say about their “Zestimates” of value: “The Zestimate is not an appraisal and you won’t be able to use it in place of an appraisal, though you can certainly share it with real estate professionals. It is a computer-generated estimate of the worth of a house today, given the available data. Zillow does not offer the Zestimate as the basis of any specific real-estate related financial transaction. Our data sources may be incomplete or incorrect; also, we have not physically inspected a specific home. Remember, the Zestimate is a starting point and does not consider all the market intricacies that can determine the actual price a house will sell for.”

Yet not a week goes by that we don’t encounter a consumer who is fixated on a particular value for a home because that’s what Zillow says it is. Kudos to Zillow for making this kind of impression on the public — brilliant marketing. But our research shows that, on average, those “Zestimates” are within 5 percent of the actual value of a home just half of the time. (Funny, that’s what its research shows as well.)

disclaimer: for information and entertainment purposes only

What’s ahead for the housing market in 2016

Posted on February 23, 2016 | Leave a comment

Let’s consider the major macroeconomic trends in 2016 that will significantly impact those stakes.

Homeowners should enjoy another year of solid gains in house prices. Prices have been moving steadily higher since the housing bust hit bottom four years ago and should post another gain in the middle single digits. With a bit of luck, prices nationwide could reach close to the all-time peaks seen in the housing bubble a decade ago.

First-time home-buyers, in particular, should have an easier go of it. The Federal Housing Administration, the government agency that primarily helps first-timers get mortgages, cut its fees last year and may do so again soon as its finances continue to improve.

For renters, 2016 will be a difficult year, as rents continue to rise strongly in most parts of the country. The problem is that demand for rental units has been outstripping supply, and vacancy rates are now about as low as they have been in 30 years. Fueling demand are the millennials who are finally finding jobs and striking out on their own, along with households that have lost their homes in foreclosure, and more empty-nesters looking to downsize and simplify.