Vince Hoehn of CENTURY 21 Pierce Realty LLC, Manitowish Waters, WI

The rains have come to Northern Wisconsin (at last.)

Vince Hoehn — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 18:23:00 GMT

In Manitowish Waters we received approximately 8 inches of rain in June, the majority of it in the latter half of the month, and it has been a real blessing. The reservoir (the Manitowish chain of lakes) does not appear to be quite full yet (as of today), but it is close to full and the channel and lake water levels are certainly sufficient for all types of recreational activity -- whatever floats your boat, so-to-speak. We actually received measurable precipitation 6 days in a row last week, which...(read more)

And so the joke is on me.

Vince Hoehn — Sat, 19 Jun 2010 17:29:00 GMT

Funny story -- not ha-ha funny, but still somewhat amusing. And the joke is definitely on me. I opened up the Lakeland Times yesterday to find my name all over an article about the June Manitowish Waters town board meeting -- at which I was present as I was seeking an answer to a clairification I had requested at the May board meeting about the town's Uniform Dwelling Code Ordinance. I am planning an addition to a non-owner occupied 1940's era home and my belief is that neither the state's...(read more)

New WI carbon monoxide detector law

Vince Hoehn — Sat, 05 Jun 2010 20:43:00 GMT

I don't want to get into the good or bad of it, but it seems like every time I turn around lately I am tripping over a new state law. No "gridlock" in the Wisconsin state legislature. As of June 1st all drivers must carry proof of insurance. I don't know where that came from -- I never heard about it until about June 2nd. On June 25th the method your local county register of deeds uses to determine charges for recording documents changes from the system that has been in use since...(read more)

2010 Vilas and Oneida County fishing tournaments

Vince Hoehn — Sat, 05 Jun 2010 19:07:00 GMT

In the Northwoods we have fishing tournaments for anglers of all types -- amateurs, professionals, those with disabilities. The first several of these tournaments are underway as I write this, including the Third Annual Boulder Junction Walleye Tournament, held on five area lakes on June 5 and 6. Others upcoming: June 12th Bob McClellan Memorial Fishing Tournament Manitowish Waters Contact Stephanie McClellan 543-8842 June 12th and 13th Spring Classic Musky Tournament Eagle River Contact Jeff Heffner...(read more)

New Register of Deeds recording fee schedule in WI

Vince Hoehn — Wed, 26 May 2010 20:48:00 GMT

Presently in Wisconsin the charge for the county Register of Deeds to record a document is $11 for the first page and $2 for each additional page. One common example -- the warranty deed given by the seller to the buyer in a real estate transaction. Typically the buyer pays to record the document, and the buyer would most likely note the $11 charge (assuming the deed is but one page) on the buyer's settlement statement as a charge to the buyer. Other commonly recorded documents are subdivision...(read more)

The Manitowish chain is filling, but oh-so-slow.

Vince Hoehn — Fri, 14 May 2010 12:35:00 GMT

With the precipitation that we have received the last few days, the waters of the lake are finally kissing the outermost posts of our pier. Only 3 feet to go! But I would say that a reasonably full reservoir by Memorial Day is highly unlikely. The problem, of course, is the continuation of the drought that has afflicted northern Wisconsin for the last 7 years or so (maybe longer.) Time and again the rains tend to fall in central Wisconsin and to the south while we have a shower or nothing at all....(read more)

1st Quarter Real Estate Sales Statistics For Manitowish Waters, Mercer, and Surrounding Communities

Vince Hoehn — Sat, 10 Apr 2010 19:29:00 GMT

In January I compiled, graphed,and posted 4th quarter aggregate real estate sales statistics for Manitowish Waters, Mercer, Presque Isle, Winchester, Lac du Flambeau, Boulder Junction, Oma and Sherman. Today I am compiling 1st quarter sales statistics for those same communities for the years 2001 - 2010. The data comes from the Greater Northwoods Multiple Listing Service, and as such, includes only listed properties. It is necessary to aggregate the sales statistics of a certain number of communities...(read more)

Discover Wisconsin comes to Manitowish Waters

Vince Hoehn — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 20:57:00 GMT

Have you ever watched the Discover Wisconsin television program? I have from time-to-time and now I actually have a real reason to -- the episode scheduled to air April 3rd features Manitowish Waters. The 30 minute program is titled "Manitowish Waters - We've Got It All" and will be broadcast locally at 6:30 P.M. on Channel 9 (Wausau) and Channel 34 (Eagle River) as well as on many other stations throughout the state and region. (Channel Guide) See a video clip of the program here....(read more)

Early ice-out this year, but there is still a problem.

Vince Hoehn — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 20:27:00 GMT

Even by this morning, March 30th, Little Star Lake of the Manitowish chain was already more than 50% open, and late this afternoon the ice sheet will is mostly gone, driven onto the north shore by the strong southerly winds that we are experiencing today. Last year, in a similar weather phenomenon, the wind drove the whole ice sheet ashore on April 23rd. This year, the ice driven ashore, shown in the second photo, is about 1 1/4 " thick and not so rotten, or otherwise wave action would have...(read more)

Selling real estate --what you need to know about cost, price, and value

Vince Hoehn — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 17:16:00 GMT

It is conventional wisdom these days that selling and buying real estate is all about price, but that is an over simplification -- the property in question must offer price with value , and though often confused with each other, price and value are not the same thing -- they have a relationship. In a real estate transaction, price may be defined as what the buyer agrees to give up (in financial consideration) to obtain certain benefits (real estate, and the use thereof.) That price has nothing to...(read more)

The home inspection contingency -- a perennial favorite

Vince Hoehn — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 22:32:00 GMT

One of my posts on the home inspection contingency has received 1,458 views since written last August. I also covered the topic in May and December , but these posts, for whatever reason, have not been as popular. Apparently there is something about my August post that search engines like as questions about home inspection contingencies are matched to that particular writing. Courtesy of my website statistics section, here are actual search questions that brought visitors to my blog just this past...(read more)

My newest creations -- Buyer's and Seller's Flow Charts

Vince Hoehn — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 21:16:00 GMT

On occasion one of the parties to a real estate transaction finds him/herself wondering "What comes next?" Or it might be "What comes after next?" From the beginning of a transaction to the end there is a certain flow to the process, and I am always looking for ways to make explaining things easier, so, Voila! -- my Buyer's Flow Chart and my Seller's Flow Chart . Image only, links are above. Downloaded as PDF files. Of course, I had to combine steps here and there and...(read more)

Announcing my new YouTube Channel

Vince Hoehn — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 21:54:00 GMT

Today I have uploaded my first videos to my new YouTube channel featuring real estate related videos of (I hope) interest to buyers and sellers of real estate in Manitowish Waters, Presque Isle, Mercer, and surrounding communities. James Cameron and Martin Scorsese have nothing to fear from me -- shaky camera, poor lighting, badly performed voice-overs -- I have it all!

Producing one of these things is taking me way too long considering my time available; what I need is a 12 year old kid to do it for me -- he or she could probably do it in one-third the time with superior results. I intend on getting better with practice.

My first two productions are a short video of the hangar we have listed at the Manitowish Waters Airport and a video of a home I have listed on North Farming Road in Arbor Vitae. I am not real proud of my work, but I spent long enough on this project that I am danged sure going to make use of them.

Revisions to the Manitowish Waters UDC ordinance.

Vince Hoehn — Sat, 13 Feb 2010 17:18:00 GMT

The Town of Manitowish Waters is continuing to propose revisions to the town's Uniform Dwelling Code (UDC) and I am continuing to speak my mind about it. Last October the town board held a hearing to propose extending UDC inspection requirements to accessory buildings and garages over 200 square feet in size. I testified about what I thought of the proposal at the public hearing, as did several others. As a result of the hearing, the town board dropped the proposal, at least for now.

This past Tuesday the town board held another hearing on a different proposed revison to the UDC ordinance, which is Chapter 158 Article 1 of the town's Code Of Ordinances. Most of the proposal I had no problem with as it related to fines and forfeitures levied for violations and the Board of Appeal's role in the process. However, a separate part of the proposal was a giant step backwards.

I first became aware of the revision by reading the legal notice in the Lakeland Times. Right away I saw a problem, and at the public hearing, I was surprised that I was the only one to offer testimony about the language printed in the legal notice The "problem" was that the proposed revision replaced very specific language in the existing ordinance with language that was anything but specific and open to all sorts of different interpretations. The existing language is:

The scope of this article includes the following:

(1) Construction and inspection of all new one- and two-family dwellings built after the date of adoption of this article.
(2) Construction and inspection of habitable additions to all dwellings. For purposes of this article, habitable additions are those that add year-round conditioned space either horizontally or vertically to an existing dwelling.

The new language splits dwellings into two groups -- those built before, and those built after June 1, 1980. I understand why this was done -- it works better with the state's UDC language. However, the town's new proposed language muddied the waters by extending UDC inspection requirements to all alterations and additions. The proposed language did not define "alterations" or "additions" and I felt that this was a mistake, and I said so, offering examples of how the intent, whatever it actually was, could be whatever the reader of the ordinance wanted it to be. For instance, removing a portion of a non-structural wall in a 50 year old cottage could be considered an alteration requiring an inspection by the UDC inspector, which I would consider an unwarranted and ridiculous expansion of governmental intrusion. I suggested restriciting alterations and additions by using language similar to (2) above.

It appeared that the supervisors accepted my comments as reasonable and hopefully the proposed language will be revised with my suggestion in mind.

Words of wisdom, some of which have some application to real estate

Vince Hoehn — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 22:43:00 GMT

Lately, for whatever reason, I have been collecting "sayings". If the quotation or anonymous saying strikes my fancy I write it down or simply rip it out of the printed page for later use. Following are the most recent additions to my collection. I can only wish to be so clever as to have come up with any one of them or to some day have my own "saying" worth remembering.

"It is the characteristic of the unlearned that they are forever proposing something which is old, and because it has recently come to their attention, supposing it to be new." -- Calvin Coolidge

That one I like for no other reason than it resonates with me, as does the following:

"There are no stupid questions, but there are a lot of inquisitive idiots."

I like the construction of the next one and how the addition or deletion of one word changes everything. It certainly applies to real estate agents.

"If you have integrity, nothing else matters. If you don't have integrity, nothing else matters." --Alan Simpson

Following is one that I stole, but I don't remember from whom. You get the irony in a guy using a quotation on integrity and in the next sentence stating that he stole a saying?

"When evaluating a real estate agent, effort is admirable. Achievement is even better."

I think that is good advice for evaluating much more than real estate agents. It is far from the whole story, though. Achievement obtained through dishonest or unethical means is but dust in the mouth. (Maybe that can be my quotation!)

My last saying also has an application in the practice of real estate. I printed it out, framed it up, and put it on my office wall as the "Thought For Today."

"Some things you have to see in order to believe. Some things you have to believe in order to see."

The application of this saying to real estate would be in attempting to reassure hesitant buyers that, yes indeed, this property is the right one for you, and yes indeed, it can be everything you want it to be if you believe that it can be, but first you have to make an offer or it will never happen.

Searchable database of foreclosed homes

Vince Hoehn — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 19:20:00 GMT

Considering investing in a foreclosed home? The Federal National Mortgage Association (Fannie Mae) has an online searchable database of residential properties that are currently owned by Fannie Mae. Fannie Mae had purchased the mortgages for these properties as part of its normal business practices and subsequently acquired full ownership via foreclosure, deed in lieu of foreclosure, and forfeiture. Fannie Mae, as you may know, is a stockholder-owned corporation (chartered by Congress in 1968) that, like Freddie Mac, is a government sponsored enterprise (GSE) that purchases and securitizes mortgages to ensure that funds remain available to lending institutions.

http://www.homepath.com/

You may search by state, county, city, zip code, MLS#, etc. For instance, as of this writing, a search of Vilas County returns 4 homes, Oneida County shows 12. Maybe there is a bargain there for you? (Don't forget what I do for a living -- I can be of assistance.) At this site one may also sign up for new property alerts delivered to you via email.

4th Quarter home sales statistics for Manitowish Waters, Mercer, and surrounding communities

Vince Hoehn — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 22:07:00 GMT

As graphical representation of data for a post on my Northwoods real estate outlook for 2010 earlier this month, I charted 4th quarter closings of the sale of single family homes in the years 2006-2009. This chart represented closings throughout the entire Greater Northwoods Multiple Listing Service. If one attempts to do this type of thing, one must choose a large enough geographical area to ensure that there will be enough data points to provide useful information, even more so if one is interested in trend information.

I tried a similar approach while limiting myself to western Vilas and eastern Iron Counties, specifically the communities of Manitowish Waters, Mercer, Winchester, Presque Isle, Boulder Junction, Lac du Flambeau, Oma, and Sherman. I have charted the sales in units of single family homes and sales in units of all types of listed real estate by month for the 4th quarter of each year from 2006 through 2009. The number of units for each category and time period is not huge, but I think large enough that we can learn something from the effort. Without further ado,

(If the green lines seems a bit sketchy, it is because I drew it in freehand -- I couldn't figure out how to make the program do it for me. Y-axis is units. X-axis is year. All means all types of real estate; SF means single family residences.)

Points I wish to emphasize:

The trend line is up for the 4th quarter of 2009, units are similar to 2007.
Single family home sales in units approached 2006, which was well before anyone realized what was coming (though we should have.)
From 2006 to 2008 the green lines are converging, which, in this instance, means that single family home sales were becoming a greater and greater portion of total sales in units; i.e., buyers were purchasing more improved properties and fewer vacant lots, relatively speaking. In 2009, the lines started diverging again, meaning more vacant parcels and fewer improved properties, relatively speaking. Part of the effect is due to the finalization in December of the sale of a number of vacant lots in Manitowish Waters that were auctioned off in November following a foreclosure.
Nation-wide the implementation and extension of the First Time Homebuyer Tax Credit had a large impact on the increase in home sales. I don't believe that had anything to do with the upturn experienced in our local market.

Small bathroom? The solution is here.

Vince Hoehn — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 22:25:00 GMT

Everyone is aware of the "green" trend that has taken hold in most areas of American life, including building construction and how we make use of our homes. The number of new ideas to make our homes more environmentally-friendly seems to increase every day. Some of these ideas are very good ones, some are very good in theory but less than ideal in practice (composting toilets come to mind), some seem wacky (again, composting toilets come to mind), and some ideas seem so simultaneously simple and brilliant that it causes you to smack yourself on the head and say, "Why didn't I think of that!"

Well, I don't have any examples to illustrate the simple and brilliant, but I do have one to illustrate simple and thought-provoking. Take a look at the toilet in the photo.

Note that the bathroom sink is part of the toilet tank. How cool is that? Who thinks of these things? Saving water and saving space and saving resources simultaneously! How could you get more green?

Ghostblogging? None of that here.

Vince Hoehn — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 21:12:00 GMT

An article in the February 2010 issue of Entreprenuer details the rise of the phenomenon of ghostblogging in the business world -- the practice of hiring an individual to write posts and tweets for the busy executive or business owner in the name of the executive/business owner. The ghostblogger is tasked to write in the "voice" of the client so the world at large will be none the wiser and have no reason to suspect that the CEO's pearls of wisdom are ghostwritten. One estimate is that up to 25% of business blogs are ghostwritten, in effect creating a whole new industry for laid-off PR types and journalists.

So what, you say? I don't know about you, but I, for one, was shocked, shocked to find out that something on the internet is not what it purports to be. In light of this revelation, I suggest that you take everything you read or see on the internet with a large dose of salt -- except for this blog and vincehoehn.com, which I consider to be beacons of truth and light in a sometimes dark and dangerous world.

Urban agriculture? What's that got to do with the Northwoods?

Vince Hoehn — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 21:37:00 GMT

Bear with me on this one. I read an article in the January 18th issue of Fortune Magazine about a wildly intriguing new concept (wildly intriguing to me, as a result of my many years in agricuture.) And this wildly intriguing concept has a nexus (at least in spirit) to our Northwoods with its large concentrations of lakes, which I will get to in a moment.

The article is about a developer in Detroit who has the idea that agriculture within the city limits of Detroit will save the city. Detroit once had a population of about 2,000,000 people, with less than half that now, and is projected to drop to about 700,000 residents. Those 700,000 people will be located within a geography that could accommodate 3 times as many. Already 40 square miles (25,600 acres) of Detroit's 139 square miles (88,960 acres) is essentially abandoned. Real estate values throughout the city have plummeted.

Enter agriculture. Now we come to the genius of the whole idea. By buying up (on the cheap) and farming the excess acreage, scarcity is (eventually) created! And what does scarcity do? Drives up prices! Genius!

Now, just because it is genius doesn't mean it will be easy to put into effect, and the article indicates that there are many hurdles in the path to the realization of a green Detroit. And we are not talking farming in the traditional Midwestern sense of large fields of corn, soybeans, and cereal grains, and giant dairies and feedlots. This is were we get to the nexus I spoke of earlier.

The people working on this envision creating agricultural "lakes" -- that's the term that they use -- of perhaps 300 acres each, each surrounded by its own valuable frontage. See where I am going with this? We are talking lakes of apples, lakes of lettuce, lakes of peaches, berries, and other high-value commodities. Do you think people would be interested in developing around these lakes? I think it quite likely that they would, even before scarcity effects took hold. The area around the lakes would be very suitable for both residential and commercial development. And Detroit would be rejuvenated in a most unlikely fashion. Genius!

Northwoods real estate outlook for 2010

Vince Hoehn — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 17:58:00 GMT

It's time to make some predictions about how the real estate market will fare in Wisconsin's Northwoods in 2010. My crystal ball is just as murky as the ones belonging to all the other prognosticators, and my forecasts may be worth only what you are paying for it, but here goes:

Even though mortgage rates have trended down somewhat since the first of the year, they are once again going to turn upward soon, perhaps to about 6%, for the reasons I previously wrote about. I don't see the rise in rates to be enough to severely impact our market, though it certainly won't help.
Most sales will remain in the lower end of the market, price-wise, and the upper end of the market will remain very slow, except in the instances wherein sellers have really and sincerely priced their high-end properties to sell.
The three most important things about real estate? In 2010 it will not be location, location, location, but rather location, price, price. I predict that 2010 will bring more buyers to the market than we have seen the last 2-3 years, and the primary motivation of many of these buyers will be the hope of purchasing a bargain property. I further predict a fair amount of success for buyers in 2010.

To prove that I am not merely blowing smoke with my predictions, I have done a little research using data from the Greater Northwoods Multiple Listing Service. The following chart represents total 4th quarter closings MLS-wide for the last 4 years for single family dwellings. Note that the trend line is up for all three months of the last quarter for 2009.

Y-axis is units of single family dwellings, not anything to do with dollars. I chose to chart units as my predictions have to do with numbers of buyers and not with dollar value of sales (though I could chart that, too.)

New for 2010 - I'm on Facebook

Vince Hoehn — Sat, 02 Jan 2010 17:57:00 GMT

I read it over and over in real estate and business trade publications and on the web -- gotta change, gotta adapt, gotta do this, gotta do that. One thing I apparently have to do is to embrace "social media". Well, maybe I do, and maybe I don't. I'm picky about such things, especially activities that can turn into tremendous time-sucks.

I believe that this blog is worth the time and effort, and now I have gone one step further. I have created a Facebook page called Vince Hoehn, GRI for the purpose of providing another place to publish my blog posts. (Pages are for organizations and businesses, Profiles are for individuals. You probably know more about this than I do. I have not also created an individual Profile for the simple reason that my kids would most certainly find it uncool if their Old Man tried to "friend" them, and I would be mightily tempted to do that, if only to annoy them.)

As I said, my Facebook page exists mostly as a platform for my blog posts, but over time, perhaps I will do a few things that I cannot do here. One thing a Facebook page can do is attract "fans." So far I have exactly zero fans, and it may stay that way forever, for all I know.

So, I have a proposition for my readers -- the first one to become a fan of my Facebook page wins $10. Fan #2 will be awarded $5, and Fan #3 gets a very nice likeness of George Washington. Fan #4 gets nothing, sorry -- three fans is all I can afford to buy.

Come to think of it, that's another reason not to create a Facebook Profile -- I wouldn't want to put myself in the position of having to buy my friends, also.

Freddie Sees Mortgage Rates Hitting 6 Percent in 2010

Vince Hoehn — Sat, 02 Jan 2010 16:14:00 GMT

"Freddie Sees Mortgage Rates Hitting 6 Percent in 2010"
Washington Post (12/26/09) P. A12; ElBoghdady, Dina

As reported in the Washington Post, mortgage rates could increase to six percent by the end of 2010, or even sooner, according to Freddie Mac. (Freddie Mac is a GSE, or government sposored enterprise, that purchases mortgages on the secondary market, pools them, and then sells them as mortgage-backed securities.) Interest rates for 30 year fixed rate mortgages have been rising in recent weeks, a process that is expected to continue. The Federal Reserve has been buying mortgage-backed securities issued by firms such as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which has helped keep mortgage rates at low levels, but the central bank plans to wind down the program by March. Federal Reserve economists believe that the gradual tapering of purchases will draw private investors back to the market for the mortgage-backed securites and moderate the pressure on rate increases. However, according to the Post, Amy Crews Cutts, deputy chief economist at Freddie Mac, believes private investors will require a higher rate of return on the securities than the Fed has been willing to accept, and, as a result, mortgage originators may have to raise the rates they charge to consumers. "Anything we get at or below 5 percent is a gift at this point," says Crews Cutts.

(An aside: I found the name Crews Cutts so unlikely that I took the time to use Google to confirm that, yes indeed, that is her name.)

(Image only, see website for functioning widget)

Diary of a snow shoveler

Vince Hoehn — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 16:50:00 GMT

I came across this humorous piece on another blog; the author is unknown to me. It made me laugh (even though I knew what was coming), I hope that you enjoy it, too. It's a bit crude, so don't continue if you are easily offended.

Diary of a snow shoveler

December 8 - 6:00 PM

It started to snow.

It’s the first snow of the season and the wife and I took our cocktails and sat for hours by the window watching the huge soft flakes drift down from heaven.
It looked like a Grandma Moses Print.
So romantic we felt like newlyweds again.
I love snow!

December 9

We awoke to a beautiful blanket of crystal white snow covering every inch of the landscape.
What a fantastic sight!
Could there be a lovelier place in the whole world?
Moving here was the best idea we have ever had!
I shoveled for the first time in years and felt like a boy again.
I did both our driveway and the sidewalks.
This afternoon the snowplow came along and covered up the sidewalks and closed in the driveway, so I got to shovel again.
What a perfect life!

December 12
The sun has melted all our lovely snow.
Such a disappointment!
My neighbor tells me not to worry- we'll definitely have a white Christmas.
No snow on Christmas would be awful!
Bob says we'll have so much snow by the end of winter, that I'll never want to see snow again
I don't think that's possible.
Bob is such a nice man, I'm glad he's our neighbor.

December 14
Snow, lovely snow! 8 inches last night.
The temperature dropped to -20.
The cold makes everything sparkle so.
The wind took my breath away, but I warmed up by shoveling the driveway and sidewalks.
This is the life!
The snowplow came back this afternoon and buried everything again.
I didn't realize I would have to do quite this much shoveling, but I'll certainly get back in shape this way.
I just wish l didn’t huff and puff so.

December 15
20 inches forecast.
Sold my van and bought a 4x4 Blazer.
Bought snow tires for the wife's car and 2 extra shovels.
Stocked the freezer.
The wife wants a wood stove in case the electricity goes out.
I think that's silly.
We aren't in Alaska, after all.

December 16
Ice storm this morning.
Fell on my ass on the ice in the driveway putting down salt.
Hurt like hell.
The wife laughed for an hour, which I think was very cruel.

December 17
Still way below freezing.
Roads are too icy to go anywhere.
Electricity was off for 5 hours.
I had to pile the blankets on to stay warm.
Nothing to do but stare at the wife and try not to irritate her.
Guess I should've bought a wood stove, but won't admit it to her.
God, I hate it when she's right.
I can't believe I'm freezing to death in my own living room.

December 20
Electricity's back on, but had another 14 inches of the damn stuff last night.
More shoveling!
Took all day.
The damn snowplow came by twice.
Tried to find a neighbor kid to shovel, but they said they're too busy playing hockey.
I think they're lying.
Called the only hardware store around to see about buying a snow blower and they're out.
Might have another shipment in March.
I think they're lying.
Bob says I have to shovel or the city will have it done and bill me.
I think he's lying.

December 22
Bob was right about a white Christmas because 13 more inches of the white s**t fell today, and it's so cold, it probably won't melt till August.
Took me 45 minutes to get all dressed up to go out to shovel and then I had to piss.
By the time I got undressed, pissed and dressed again. I was too tired to shovel.
Tried to hire Bob who has a plow on his truck for the rest of the winter, but he says he's too busy. I think the a**hole is lying.

December 23
Only 2 inches of snow today
and it warmed up to 0.
The wife wanted me to decorate the front of the house this morning.
What is she, nuts?!!
Why didn't she tell me to do that a month ago?
She says she did but I think she's lying.

December 24
6 inches - Snow packed so hard by snowplow, l broke the shovel.
Thought I was having a heart attack.
If I ever catch the son of a b**** who drives that snow plow, I'll drag him through the snow by his balls and beat him to death with my broken shovel.
I know he hides around the corner and waits for me to finish shoveling and then he comes down the street at 100 miles an hour and throws snow all over where I've just been!
Tonight the wife wanted me to sing Christmas carols with her and open our presents, but I was too busy watching for the damn snowplow.

December 25
Merry freaking Christmas!
20 more inches of the damn s**t tonight -Snowed in.
The idea of shoveling makes my blood boil.
God, I hate the snow!
Then the snowplow driver got stuck up the road and the *** came to my door asking to borrow a shovel -- I hit him over the head with it and broke another one.
The wife says I have a bad attitude.
I think she's an idiot.
If I have to watch "It's A Wonderful Life" one more time, I'm going to stuff her into the microwave.

December 26
Still snowed in.
Why the hell did I ever move here?
It was all HER idea.
She's really getting on my nerves.

December 27
Temperature dropped to -30 and the pipes froze; plumber came after 14 hours of waiting for him, he only charged me $1,400 to replace all my pipes.

December 28
Warmed up to above -20.
Still snowed in.
The B***H is driving me crazy!!!

December 29
10 more inches.
Bob says I have to shovel the roof or it could cave in.
That's the stupidest thing I ever heard. How dumb does he think I am?

December 30
Roof caved in.
I beat up the snow plow driver, and now he is suing me for a million dollars, not only the beating I gave him, but also for trying to shove the broken snow shovel up his ass.
The wife went home to her mother.
Nine more inches predicted.

December 31
I set fire to what's left of the house.
No more shoveling.

January 8
Feel so good.
I just love those little white pills they keep giving me.
Why am I tied to the bed?

The home inspection contingency, Part III - a case study.

Vince Hoehn — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 18:50:00 GMT

My previous blog posts (May 29th and August 3rd) about the home inspection contingency and how it is constructed in the Wisconsin WB-11 Residential Offer to Purchase continue to receive beaucoup views, averaging about 7 per day for the last 6 months. Apparently a large number of people are doing online searches looking for information on that very subject, and in light of that fact, I am presenting the information once again using a different format – a (fictionalized) case study.

The facts of the case: Seller “S” has accepted an offer written on the WB-11 Residential Offer to Purchase by buyer “B” for a single family home constructed in 1985. The home is in a rural area and has a private well and septic system. S had noted on the Real Estate Condition Report (which had been received by the buyer and attached to the offer as an addendum) that the basement wall has a crack in it that developed shortly after construction and has remained stable over the years. The home inspection contingency provision of this contract provides that:

· The offer is contingent upon a home inspection by a Wisconsin registered home inspector which discloses no defects as defined within the contract language.

· The buyer has 30 days from acceptance to complete the inspection and deliver a notice of defects and a copy of the inspection to the seller or the contingency will automatically be deemed satisfied.

· Buyer bears the costs of the inspection and any follow-up inspections.

· Seller has the right to cure.

(Contract provisions do not specifically address testing, therefore, there will be no radon, asbestos, mold, water quality, well capacity, nor any other type of tests performed. The home inspection contingency does not automatically allow for well and septic inspections – these also must be specifically addressed.)

B immediately retains a home inspector and receives the inspector’s report within 10 days. The home inspector notes that:

· The asphalt shingle roof is the original roof, near the end of its life-span, but appears to remain weather-tight.

· Loose kitchen cabinet hardware.

· No GFCI (ground fault circuit interrupter) devices in the garage (required since 1978) or the unfinished basement (required since 1990.) The GFI outlet in the master bath is not working properly.

· Deck railing needs repair.

· Several smoke detectors have no or dead batteries.

· Crack in basement foundation wall, but it appears stable. Recommends qualified expert follow-up inspection.

B contacts his agent, “R”, and states that he wants the seller to pay for a new roof, fix the cabinet hardware, replace the malfunctioning GFI outlet and install GFCI devices in the garage and basement, fix the deck railing, and provide proof that the foundation wall is stable, or fix it if it is not – in short, everything on the inspector’s list except for the smoke detector batteries, or he is walking. R, to her credit, says “Not so fast there, big fella.”

Explains R, “The deteriorated deck railing and the failed GFI outlet are safety issues and it would be proper to ask the seller to fix these problems. There should be GFI outlets in the garage as they were code-required when the house was built – however, they were not required in the basement at that time. We can ask the seller to install the outlets in the basement, but he may say no, with some justification. We cannot just demand that a seller bring an older home properly constructed for its time up to current code and not expect resistance.”

“The loose kitchen cabinet hardware does not rise to the level of a “defect”, as defined by the contract. We can ask the seller to fix the hardware, but if he says no, we won’t be able to use that as a justification to walk from the contract. And I really hate to tell you this, but the foundation wall crack was known to you before you wrote the offer – according to the language of the inspection contingency you cannot claim it is as a defect unless the extent of the problem can be proven to be much greater than you reasonably believed it to be. Surely you remember, we talked about this. Another problem is that this issue may impact your financing contingency. Remember, your lender also has a copy of the Offer and the Real Estate Condition Report. As for the roof, let’s see what we can negotiate on that. We have two weeks time remaining to negotiate with the seller before we have to deliver the notice of defects.”

B turns out to be the reasonable sort after all, so B and R prepare an amendment to the purchase contract that states that the seller agrees to: either install a new roof on the house before closing or escrow $5,000 to be used to pay for a new roof after closing; replace the failed GFI outlet and retrofit GFCI devices into the garage and basement; repair the deck railing, and authorizes a follow-up inspection by a qualified expert of the foundation wall if the bank requires it as a condition to providing financing.

S receives the amendment as presented by his agent and says, “Forget this guy! He knows he is not buying a new home! I am not paying for a new roof! I factored in the age of the roof into the price I accepted!”

S’s agent, “V” by name, as professional, charming, and sophisticated as he is handsome, says, “Take a chill pill, “S”, we have something here that we can work with. Let’s not throw the deal over yet – this is the fun part --negotiating.”

V continues, “Let’s start with the stuff that shouldn’t be too controversial. I suggest that you agree to fix the railing – you remember, we talked about it, and for a few dollars you can replace the GFI outlet. I also think that it would be a good idea to put GFCI devices in the garage as they should have been originally installed. I further suggest spending the few dollars for the outlets in the basement as a gesture of good will. We should also agree to allow the follow-up inspection on the condition that the bank demands it – otherwise the deal may die due to lack of financing.”

“All these things are not going to cost you very much, but we will get estimates before proposing our own amendment. While we are at it, let’s also get an estimate for a new roof and then I will work up some net proceeds scenarios and then decide what we are going to do.”

Within one week S has estimates of about $450 to replace the deck railing and $200 to replace and retrofit the GFI outlets. The roof came in at $5400.

S and V respond to the buyer’s amendment with one of their own. Initially S remained adamant that he would not pay for a new roof, but eventually accepted that it was not in his best interests to lose this deal for a few thousand dollars. The new amendment, as delivered to R, proposed that the seller would replace the deck railing and provide GFCI devices in the garage and basement as well as replace the defective one. Furthermore, S would escrow $2,000 for a new roof that must be installed within one year of closing. S agreed to the follow-up foundation inspection, but only if it was required as a condition of financing.

Ever since B had presented his amendment he had been sorely tempted to go to his lender and point out the foundation crack and use this as a stratagem to get out of the contract if indeed there was something severely wrong with the foundation. His agent, R, got wind of this and two of them had a long talk about the wisdom of this approach. On R’s advice, B instead had another conversation with the home inspector, and this comforted B’s mind to some degree as the home inspector reiterated that the foundation appeared to be stable as that the crack didn’t weep moisture, was old, and didn’t appear to be growing. As it turned out, the bank didn’t make an issue of it either, and a follow-up inspection was never done.

B was now ready to accept the amendment as proposed by S except for the issue of the roof. He was feeling that if he was going to have to accept the foundation wall crack, he shouldn’t have to stand any of the cost of a new roof. B and his agent had a long talk about this, also. R pointed out that B and the seller were only $3,000 apart at this point. R also knows from conversations with V that a new roof will cost about $5400. R tells B, “I was told long ago that splitting the difference while negotiating is for suckers, but I think that may be the approach to take in this circumstance. We may hold out for the $5,000 we first asked for, but then we may run the risk of the seller refusing and then running out of time to continue negotiations as we only have 4 days left to deliver a notice of defects if we can’t come to some sort of agreement. If we do deliver a notice of defects, the seller may elect not to cure, as is his right. Then you don’t get the house.”

Continued R, “But the seller doesn’t want this deal to die any more than we do. Maybe he would go for the 50/50 split.”

And so B and his agent prepare their second proposed amendment, which mirrored everything in the seller’s proposed amendment except that the seller would escrow $2,700 for a new roof instead of $2,000, and it provided for 2 days for S to accept. V had already anticipated this move and had prepared an estimated net proceeds sheet for S with these figures, and after waiting till almost the last moment, S accepted the buyer’s amendment. B and his agent then prepared and delivered a notice stating that the home inspection contingency was satisfied.

S fulfilled his contract requirements by seeing that the work that he agreed to was done in a good and workmanlike manner and delivered a notice to the buyer 4 days prior to closing detailing the work done. He and V further arranged for the escrow with the title company of the $2,700 to be used for roof replacement, a project completed 10 months post-closing.

And so ends our case study. Simple, right?