February 3, 2010 – 5:59 pm
Following article is from Fannie Mae announcing seller assistance on HomePath properties. Call it a discount or call it seller assistance, it’s a positive move to change properties from being in REO limbo into productive members of a neighborhood.
From Fannie Mae
WASHINGTON, DC — Fannie Mae (FNM/NYSE) announced today that people purchasing a Fannie Mae-owned HomePath® property will receive up to 3.5 percent of the final sales price to be used toward closing cost assistance or their choice of appliances. The offer is available to any owner-occupant who closes on the purchase of a property listed on HomePath.com before May 1, 2010.
“Attracting qualified buyers to the market and reducing the inventory of vacant homes is critical to stabilizing neighborhoods and helping the market recover. Many families are taking advantage of the federal homebuyer tax credit to buy a new home so this is a great time for Fannie Mae to offer some additional help,” said Terry Edwards, Executive Vice President of Credit Portfolio Management. “Homebuyers have the option to choose between financial assistance toward closing costs or new appliances for their home.”
Properties eligible for this incentive are listed on HomePath.com and most listings include detailed property descriptions, photographs, community and school information and more. In addition, many Fannie Mae-owned properties are eligible for special HomePath Mortgage and HomePath Renovation Mortgage financing which offers homebuyers an opportunity to purchase with as little as 3 percent down.
January 25, 2010 – 2:09 pm
I finished connecting some orphan lawn and planter irrigation lines into my main system two days ago, so far no obvious leaks. Yeah!
If I was looking to add some existing irrigation to a property, I’d first look at where the existing irrigation water supply is available and where existing wires from the hard wired timer run. Then, it would seem logical to place valves in that vicinity and run pipes to where I needed the water to be delivered. Not so for whatever genius put in those lines.
They placed the lines and put valves with little battery powered timers sitting on the ground next to the valves all the way on the other side of the lot which is maybe 100 feet or so. What did they save? 60 feet of trenching to run from the existing valve location to the new lines they put in. Dollar cost differences would be negligible.
Why I believe that home improvement wasn’t really an improvement doesn’t have to do with the bad layout however. I haven’t capped it yet, but I believe the water line that was being used for the irrigation system was from the house, not from the irrigation lines. That’s all fine and everything as long as you know you’ll never, ever have a drop in water pressure. The old irrigation layout had no backflow prevention which means a drop in water pressure could lead to contaminants/fertilizers/pesticides siphoning from the yard into our house water. Not a pleasant thought.
My only regret? That I was the one that did that 60 feet of trenching.
January 24, 2010 – 9:30 pm
I had a bit of a problem with a plumbing leak in the waste line of one of our bathroom sinks, perhaps caused by overzealous drain cleaning by eldest son, or perhaps just due to the fact it’s an eight year old drain. No matter, the point is I needed a waste line and promised the household leader(wife) I’d get it taken care of promptly.
While making a run over to Costco, it seemed like a good time to find the Habitat for Humanity ReStore which we knew was in the area but we didn’t have exact directions. Driving up and down a couple of streets we found the store and they happened to have a couple of sink waste lines in stock.
I did not price what a cheap waste line at a home improvement store would cost, but I paid $12.00 for a Kohler wasteline, made of metal, rather than the plastic that is so common in the home improvement stores.
Do I feel ripped off? Hardly. I was able to procure the wasteline I needed at something probably comparable to home improvement store prices, but undoubtedly a much higher quality product.
The ReStore has kind of a thrift store quality to it, you can never tell what you’ll find, but there are windows, doors, countertops and a ton of other stuff you might find useful.
It’s rare when I can actually find something useful that also serves the purpose of societal benefit, I’ll give a big thumbs up to the Habitat for Humanity ReStore , seek them out if you are doing rehabs or other property improvement. I did see a couple of other Kohler wastelines that I think I’ll run back and procure just as rainyday projects. 