I have managed to learn a few things in my 16 years of covering real estate and more than four years of writing a column on the topic. I’ve done my best to pass that knowledge on to you.
Beginning next week, my colleague and fellow award-winning columnist Mary Umberger will move into this slot from her current assignment with the Saturday New Homes section.
Treat her well, as you have me. I know she will look out for you.
I am off to “pursue other interests,” as they say. (Hint: You will still be able to find me and my home-grown opinions on the World Wide Web.)
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Before I go I wanted to leave you with my Rules of Engagement in the homeownership war. Some defy conventional wisdom; some defy any wisdom:
– No newly constructed house is perfect. No house that somebody else has lived in is brand new. Both have advantages and disadvantages, but with the existing house the disadvantages ought to be more readily apparent.
– Upon pain of death, do not purchase any property without getting a proper inspection. Even if your inspector turns up nothing of substance, the report you receive about your home’s condition will be invaluable in your future maintenance and repair plans.
– No matter how much you may like a particular house, do not fall in love with it. A house may keep you warm at night, but it will never love you back.
– Lawyer jokes are great. (What do you call a dozen attorneys at the bottom of the ocean? A good start.) But home buyers who refuse to hire an attorney to help in the real estate transaction are only playing a bad joke on themselves.
– There are bad home builders and lazy real estate agents out there. But they are far outnumbered by the good builders and the hard-working brokers. A little investigation can usually help you weed out the bad. But there are also buyers and sellers who behave abominably, and the builders and the Realtors have little protection from them.
– Let’s face it. There is no sure way to protect yourself when it comes to hiring contractors to remodel your home. (I used two brothers who worked magic on the basement when they were being friendly with each other and wreaked havoc with the deck when they were in the midst of a business breakup.)
The best you can do is rely on the recommendation of friends and neighbors, preferably being able to watch their projects in progress. But you may also find the best person for the job by combing the bulletin board at your local hardware store.
– Residential real estate is the single best investment you can make. Historically, the value of a single-family house has outstripped inflation by a good percentage point or more each year.
You can control that appreciating asset, worth hundreds of thousands of dollars in many cases, with just 5 percent down or less. The federal government subsidizes you with a tax deduction for your mortgage interest and property taxes. But that doesn’t make your house a financial commodity like a stock or bond, to be traded on analyst recommendations or market rumors. It is, first and foremost, your shelter.
– For the reasons cited above, don’t be afraid of a big mortgage. It’s the best debt you can hold. Use your extra money to pounce on those recommendations and rumors.
– The Internet is becoming the place to start a home search — 50 percent now turn to the Web first, according to Gomez Inc., an Internet marketing research firm. It has put listings at buyers’ fingertips, provided community and school information with a click of the mouse and made searching for a home a whole lot easier by creating a database of vital information. It has created smarter consumers and changed the way the realty industry does business. But it will never replace the old-fashioned tire kicking, faucet twisting, alley walking, next-door neighbor interviewing and personal hand-holding that must also be a part of any home transaction.
– If you take advice from a real estate columnist, especially one from a newspaper, demand proper credentials. As with Prof. Harold Hill in “The Music Man,” you may never actually get to see any certified documents or testimonials. But you can infer authenticity if what you read makes you pick up your head, walk around town with a bit more swagger and smile just a little more often.