Traveling to Costa Rica – things they don’t tell you before you go

1.  Wifi is hit and miss, even in your hotel.  You often have to go to the lobby to get wifi.

2.  Steep roads are everywhere.

3.  Most roads are bumpy!

4.  Don’t live by the posted schedule.  It may or may not happen on time.

5.  People here are accommodating.  They will tell you what they think you want to hear, and it may or may not be true.

6.  Driving anywhere takes longer than you think it will – semi trucks cannot go more than 5 mph on a windy, hilly road.

7.  No laundromats are available.

8.  It costs money to do everything – even taking a short hike through the rain forest.  They have figured out how to charge tourists for everything.

9.  The hotels often don’t have enough electrical outlets to charge your devices.  Bring a splitter.

10.  It’s OK to drink the water there.

11.  Many of the people there speak English.

12.  If you get a sunburn, aloe vera is very expensive.  They love to take advantage of tourists.

13.  Don’t be afraid to negotiate prices.

14.  Snorkeling on the West Coast could be disappointing – we saw very few fish.

15.  Nothing dries very fast due to the humidity.

16.  It gets dark every night about 6:00.

17.  Usually tipping is included, but don’t be afraid to tip anyway.

18.  You have to pay a $29 departure tax at the airport to leave the country.

19.  Roadside vendors are everywhere.

20.  The traffic in San Jose is abysmal.  Very poor planning by the highway people.  Stay at a hotel close to the airport and avoid downtown San Jose.

Building Lot with a view in Emmett, ID

Newly listed beautiful building lot with views of Squaw Butte. Located on the Emmett Bench this 1.25 acre lot has irrigation, natural gas, water line from shared well and paved street. Great country setting with custom homes surrounding. Bring your own builder and build your dream home in the country. $74,700  Located at 1470 Wren Lane, Emmett, Idaho.  MLS #98574438

Client Recommendation

I just wanted to thank you one more time for all your help. I worked with two different realtors several years back when we tried to sell our home. It never felt like they did much more than put a sign in our yard and walk away. I couldn’t even get them to come to my house in person to give me some advice on the process. Anyways, I feel like you went above and beyond to do everything you could to make things work. I really appreciate you being so accommodating and helpful in the whole process. I will highly recommend you to any of my friends who ever need to sell or buy.

Client Recommendation

We have been very pleased with our recent home purchase. Linda did an extraordinary job explaining all the confusing terms as this is our first home purchase together as a couple. We appreciate that she went above and beyond to accommodate us with her time and communication skills. We would definitely recommend her to any of our family and friends. If you are looking for an honest, trustworthy, knowledgeable agent, Linda Richards will be the one to help find your next home.

Client Recommendation

Linda is either the most generous person on earth or she really, really liked us! I of course would like to believe that she really liked us but I have a feeling everyone she works with walks away feeling the same way. I contacted Linda because two seemingly unrelated people recommended her. I am so glad we found her! Without her I don’t think we would have ever sold our house. Not that we wouldn’t have been able to but that we would have been to scared to try. She made the daunting task of fixing up our house on a very small budget look easy. Partly because she actually came out and helped us do it but mostly because she was so informative and understanding. She answered all of my questions, sometimes more than once. That might not sound like much but I had a lot of questions! I feel like the luckiest home seller ever. I am so relieved that we survived and that the house sold. The only complaint I have is that now we kind of miss seeing her. Thank you Linda!!

Fall Tips for a Great Garden in the Spring

With the coming of fall, it can be daunting to be faced with six months of very little gardening to do. Or, perhaps you decided halfway through the summer that you’d like to take up gardening but felt you missed an opportunity to grow anything this year. But just because we’re about to enter a world of cloudy days and frozen soil doesn’t mean that there’s nothing left to do. In fact, by getting a head start on next year’s garden, we can not only extend the gardening season by a couple of more weeks, but we can set ourselves up to be ready to go when next spring rolls around.

get started on next year’s garden this fall
Below are five simple things you can do this fall and winter to prepare for next year’s garden.

Choose your garden space.

If next year will be the first time you’ve planted a garden, you can take some time to find the right part of your property on which to plant it. Where you place your garden is directly related to what you plan to grow and what sort of resources it needs. If, for example, you plan to grow a lot of leafy greens and root vegetables, you may benefit from picking a spot that has a mix of sun and shade. On the other hand, if you want to grow vegetables that require as much sun as possible, such as fruiting vegetables like tomatoes, then you’ll want to pick a spot that gets full sun.

Weed in the fall.

It can help to weed your garden now, even though there are likely to be weeds that grow between now and next spring. With the ground still soft from the warm summer months, you will have a much easier time weeding now than after the ground has been frozen for a whole season.

Tillage.

As you may know, it can help to turn over soil on which you plan to plant—also known as tilling the soil. This process helps to aerate the soil and facilitate more easeful planting of the crops. But tilling in the fall can be of particular help as well, including leaving a smooth surface for planting in the spring.

Add organic matter months before gardening season.

By adding organic matter to the soil, such as dried tree leaves or manure, you can loosen up the soil and improve drainage. Work this matter into the top six or so inches of the soil.

Lay mulch or a bed of leaves over to protect the soil through the winter.

With winter comes the potential for quite a lot of precipitation and other seasonal activity. To protect all of your hard work from too much damage, lay mulch or a bed of leaves over your garden area. This will provide you with less work to do in re-cultivating the soil when it’s time to plant in the spring.

A couple of days of focused work on your garden now could lead to saving a week or more at the start of the next planting season. Try one or more of these tips out and watch how much easier it is to return to the garden next year.

Map of Capital Manor

Capital Manor South is located NW of the intersection between Milwaukee and Ustick.  The words “West Bench” are covering a portion of the subdivision.

Capital Manor Schools

Valley View Elementary, Fairmont Jr. High, and Capital High School are the schools that are within walking distance of Capital Manor.  Here are some statistics from each school.

Valley View ISAT scores:

Reading – 95.3% of students were proficient

Math – 86% of students were proficient

Language – 86.5% of students were proficient

There is a JFK child care center in back of the school.  Valley View has established a sound reputation for academic excellence, consistently scoring above District and State averages on standardized testing. Valley View is committed to providing a warm and a positive learning environment where students and staff uphold the Boise District’s values of respect, dignity, honesty, responsibility, and teamwork.

Fairmont Jr. High is located on Cole Road.  ISAT proficiency scores are as follows:

7th Grade

Science – 46.8%

Reading – 83.0%

Math 72.8%

Language 67.2%

8th Grade

Reading – 90.3%

Math – 72.1%

Language – 61.4%

9th Grade

Reading – 80.7%

Math – 66.7%

Language – 59.6%

Capital High School ISAT scores:

10th Grade

Science – 73.2%

Reading – 86.4%

Math – 80.5%

Capital Manor Subdivision

Capital Manor South Subdivision is located off of Milwaukee between Goddard and Ustick. Residents living in the neighborhood are convinced it is the most ideal place to live in west Boise. The homes were constructed in the last 1970s and most of them have basements.  Capital Manor is 5 to 10 minutes away from everything–the mall and the myriad of stores and offices that surround it. There are sidewalks throughout the neighborhood and traffic is limited to the residents of Capital Manor. It is located within walking distance of Valley View Elementary, Fairmont Jr. High, and Capital High School. There is a swimming pool at Fairmont that is open all summer. Baseball, soccer, lacrosse, and football practice fields are also adjoining these schools, which is convenient if your children are involved in sports. Many dentist and doctor offices are close by. Walmart is constructing a new neighborhood grocery store on the corner of Cole and Ustick that will open in October 2013. Reggie’s Veggies is within walking distance as is Capital Care Center.   Fitness 19 Gym ($5 a month) and the post office are in the same strip mall. The Library is in this same area, and just down the hill into Garden City is the fairgrounds and the Boise Hawks Stadium. Capital Manor Subdivision is without a doubt an ideal place to live and raise a family.   Here is a link to a home that is currently for sale in Capital Manor:   http://www.trulia.com/property/3032598562-8500-W-Pembrook-Dr-Boise-ID-83704

How to Sell Your Home Without Giving It Away

How To Sell Your Home Even If Your Neighbors Are Giving Theirs Away
Posted on January 10, 2012 Written by Joe Manausa, MBA Leave a Comment

Distressed Homes For Sale In Tallahassee GraphOne thing that home sellers really want to know right now is how they can sell a home without giving it away … in a market loaded with distressed properties for sale.

I mean, if the Jones family down the street is going to give their home away, how are you going to entice a buyer to purchase your home at its fair market value?

Well, you can sell your home, even if some of your neighbors are giving theirs away, but you need to know a few things first.

For example, take a look at the real estate graph on the right. This is a picture of your competition. If you have a home for sale in Tallahassee that is worth less than $75,000, you must understand that 2/3rds of the properties that you are competing against are owned by people or organizations that will sell them at any cost.

Contrast that with homes valued over $750,000, where only 1 in 13 are short sales, foreclosures, or bank owned (REO) properties.

Sizing up your competition is the first part of getting your home sold in today’s difficult housing market, and too often sellers ignore this critical task.

Today we’ll examine a Northeast Tallahassee home seller who has a home worth between $250,000 and $300,000, and determine what this seller needs to do to sell a home at its highest market value.
Case Study – How To Prepare To Sell Your Home

In order to sell a home in today’s highly competitive market, you need to do more than a normal CMA (Comparative Market Analysis). You must conduct an in-depth study of supply and demand which includes a break-down between distressed properties, and properties that are being sold “arms length.”

Additionally, you should focus your valuation to homes that are very similar in nature to the one that you want to sell, trying to maintain high similarity profiles for key buyer objectives (school zones, number of bedrooms, amenities, etc.). For the purpose of keeping this post relatively brief, we will look at the entire market. Just note that a real competitive analysis would focus more tightly on similar properties in your area.
Step 1: Identify And Quantify The Competition

Number of homes for sale in TallahasseeWhen we look at the inventory of homes for sale in Tallahassee, we can see that our case-study home seller will be competing with 144 homes in Leon County in the same price range. More importantly, there are 124 of these properties located in the Northeast which the seller must consider his closest and most real competition.

Using both the table on the left, as well as the graph above, we can determine that there are most likely 29 distressed homes for sale in his price range in the Northeast (24% are distressed), and five more located around Tallahassee for a total of 34 distressed homes for sale between $250,000 and $300,000 in Tallahassee.

So the Northeast Tallahassee competition looks like this: 74 arms-length home sellers, and 23 distressed home sellers.

Knowing the competition is very important, and now we know exactly what “we’re up against” when it comes time to sell this home. But we also have to know what the current demand is going to be, and it is the second important step in determining how to sell a home in a market where neighbors are giving their home away.
Step 2: Estimate The Current Demand For Similar Homes

Demand For Homes In TallahasseeWe can estimate the current demand for similar homes by looking at the total number of homes sold over the past twelve months, and then determining a monthly average.

When we look at the table on the right, we can see that 14 sales of homes valued between $250,000 and $300,000 have occurred each month (on average), and that 10 of these were located in Northeast Tallahassee.

One way to interpret this data would be to say that while 97 homes are on the market in Northeast Tallahassee (priced between $250,000 and $300,000), only 10 are going to sell. Common sense would have us believe that the ten best values are the most likely to sell in the next 30 days.

But we have not accounted for distressed properties, and their impact on the market.
Step 3: Estimate Specific Demand For Your Home

What most home sellers do not realize is that if they are selling a home (not in distress), then they have something that many distressed properties cannot deliver. And that is flexibility on closing dates, inspections, and repairs. Consider this as an “ease of purchase” package.

One half of the distressed properties are short sales, so homebuyers who need to be in by a date certain really cannot attempt a short sale purchase. Additionally, many buyers do not have the knowledge or capability for financing repairs into their purchase, so many of the distressed properties will be beyond their reach.

It is this group of buyers, who either do not have the time or the resources to purchase a distressed property to whom we want to market the home. So, let’s take on final look at some numbers in a graph:

Distressed Home Sales In Tallahassee

This graph of distressed home sales shows that roughly 1/3rd of the home sales in the past year were distressed properties. Knowing this, we can estimate that 1/3rd of todays buyers (current demand) has the time and resources to pursue REOs, foreclosures, and short sales, so we can thus deduce that 2/3rds will be buying an arms length sale.

That means we should expect about 6 to 7 arms length home sales, and 3 to 4 distressed home sales each month in Northeast Tallahassee, for homes priced between $250,000 and $300,000.

Combining all of our assembled information yields the following:

Number of Arms Length Homes On The Market: 74
Number of Arms Length Buyers In The Market 6.7
Months of Supply Of Competition: 11.1

This means that if nobody with a $250,000 to $300,000 home enters the market for the next 11 months, we have ample supply for the current number of buyers. Additionally, this means that serious sellers need to be priced among the 7 best values for all arms-length sellers to have a good chance of selling each month.

We know from yesterday’s weekly special report that home values continue to decline, so home sellers need to evaluate their position frequently, and adjust their asking prices accordingly.
Sell A Home Without Giving It Away

Today’s blog post covered how to determine your highest value by only comparing it to the highest valued segment of the homebuying and selling market. This exercise hopefully gives you an idea of what you should expect your real estate agent to do when giving you a value range for your home. But what we did not cover is equally important!

Once you know the best value range for your home, you absolutely must use targeted marketing to expose it to the ready buyers in the market. Yesterday’s blog post went into great detail about how to best market and advertise a home for sale. If you combine today’s article with yesterday’s post, you can sell a home without giving it away.