Good news for existing home owners.  Existing home sales are up for the month of November.  Enough, in fact, that sales are nearing that of the final months of when the Federal stimulus package was in effect one year ago.

Pending home sales were up 5.9 percent in November from 2010 and up 7.3 percent from October, capping a fortnight of positive indicators for the housing market.

The National Association of Realtors' Pending Home Sales Index hit 100.1, its highest level since April 2010's tax credit-fueled buying rush. The index reflects

signed contracts, but not closings.

I'm back from a day of builder training at Stratford Homes.  They have added a bunch of awesome products to their already extensive line of options.  The new Guardian spray foam option really caught my attention.  This "hybrid" system is composed of spraying 1"-2" of spray foam to prevent air infiltration, then adds a fiberglass batt insulation in the space remaining.  This creates an R-24-R25 in a 2x6 wall, fall surpassing the industry standard of R-19.  I'm sure you are asking why use a fiberglass batt insulation in the raining space.  First, with batt insulation, additions can be made to the wall, such as adding adding electrical for a wall sconce or communications lines at a later date in the future.  The second reason is that is helps to keep construction costs down.
It always pays to save energy, than to produce it.  This new offering will accentuate everything Stratford Homes and Contemporary Homes do to make our homes the most efficient on the market.  Happy Insulating!

I've had several inquiries to see how the local Stratford Homes open house went.  I can say without a doubt, that the local population is much more optimistic than in the last two years.  People wanted to talk about the things they want to get done, not about how the economy is.  I am excited to say, that we have nine new potential clients from this event.  We also had potenital clients come who we had met at our local builders show in Medford three weeks ago.  Thank you to everyone that helped to make the open house a success.

Hey everyone, just wanted to let you know that Stratford Homes announced the date of their Spring Open house.  Mark your calenders for Saturday, April 9, 2011.  (10 a.m.- 3 p.m.)  Yours truly will be there to meet you in person, and answer your questions regarding building, along with free building seminars and plant tours.  There are four awesome model homes to see that day, including the award winning Timber Lodge plan.  One, personally, I could move right into..... it feels so homey
If you need the address for your GPS,  the Plant Address is: 
Stratford Homes
402 South Weber Street
Stratford, WI 54484



 

I was talking with a client last week, and the question came up, " How much snow will be able to be on my roof before I need to shovel it off?"  Considering that locally, we  have yet another snow advisory happening over the next 48 hours, what a fitting question for the day.
Stratford Homes builds each structure to accommidate a 50 lb. per square foot snow load.  This is higher than nearly any other home being built in Central Wisconsin.  To compare, many structures snow load rating in this area are 30 lb.- 45 lb.   When building in areas where there is significant snowfall, (like Lake effect snow in Michigan) they will increase the snow load to 70 lb., and in a few cases 80 lbs.

If you are one of the unlucky ones who do have to go out and remove snow from your roof, make sure to use a roof rake, and stay off the roof yourself.  Many people have been injured because they started sliding on ice, or the snow released form the roof, taking them with it to the ground.

Angela and I, (my real estate guru, as well as my wife) have been talking about Radon in homes as of late.  In the last twelve months, she has had some existing homes she listed, test positive for radon slightly above safe levels.  These homes are located in areas where radon was previously unknown.  She has had to have discussions with sellers and buyers regarding having radon mitigation systems installed.  These systems can be retrofit, but is easiest to install when building your new home. 
If you are concerned about radon in your own home, you can test for it.  Check  your local directory for listings for radon testing.  If no listings, check with your local real estate office.  They will have some contacts for this testing.
If you have a positive test that is above safe levels, then you have two systems available: passive or active systems.
Passive systems can control up to moderate amounts of radon, and have no moving parts to maintain.  Passive systems utilize a pipe which goes from below the basement floor, and continues vertically until it exists the roof of the home.  Air movement across the top of the pipe creates a chimney like effect, drawing air, from below the floor to the exterior world.  It gives an exit path for radon to leave the building, without entering the living areas.
An active system uses a pipe which is installed the same way, but uses a powered inline fan to created a vacuum under the basement floor.  This removes larger levels of radon from beneath the floor, before it can enter the living areas.  The picture below shows Angela learning about an active radon mitigation system at the international Builders Show last year.

After getting into the statistics from January a little more, I wanted to add another piece of information for Wisconsin, being that it is my home State.  January sales of existing homes in Wisconsin is up 15.2% from January last year.  Way to go Wisconsinites.......consumer confidence is strong amongst you!  For those of you in other States, check with your local real estate professionals.   They will be able to give you the percentages for your area.

Ground breaking news everyone.......January Home purchases 2011 are up 5.3% from January 2010!  Now that is a reason to take pause, and no one is looking, do your own version of an end zone victory dance.   Give me a moment....."dah, dah, dah,la,la,la".... O.K. just got mine done. 

Here's a link you can paste into your browser and read for yourself:

http://www.realtor.org/press_room/news_releases/2011/02/january_above

So what does this mean in the bigger picture?   Continuing an upward home purchasing trend through 2011 would reduce the number of existing homes on the market, thus allowing the average selling price to come up.  Good news for existing home owners, not quite as good news for people looking to purchase a home.   After being a part of home building for the last 11 years, something in my gut is telling me the real estate market is finally on the rocky, pot holed, road to recovery.  Don't get me wrong, I love to travel, but the last three years not a place I hope we ever have to visit again. 

What do you see happening in your local market?  I'm checking in with my Real Estate agent this weekend.  I'll let you know Monday what she says is happening here, in Central Wisconsin.

I had a meeting with a local appraiser this morning to have her take a look at some lots that we have prepared and have available for clients.  They are located in and around the Medford and Rib Lake area, both in city, and a few country plots. We have seen some drop in land values, but nothing that would prevent building a complete home.  We are fortunate that the homes we build (Stratford Homes) appraise at the top of the market.  This helps offset any land decrease, thus making new home builds affordable for most families.
This is also good news also for anyone who holds a piece of land that they are preparing to build home upon.  If you are willing to be a little conservative with placing options in your new home, appraisal should still work, just as it has in past years.

You gotta see this.  We have a new under mount kitchen sink that  that works with regular laminate counter tops, and is seamless!  I know, how awesome is that.  We put men on the moon 40 years ago, but couldn't get a laminate top/sink without a seam until now.  So, say good bye to that seam to clean on all other sinks, and say hello to the new Wilsonart undermount sink line up.