So the house you're listing or have interested buyers for, has elevated radon in air & water concentrations...now what? The following informative tidbits are applicable to Realtors dealing with radon:

First off...DON'T PANIC! Any radon problem is fixable!

Testing: Whether you're the buying or selling agent, it behooves all parties involved that the person contracted for testing have a NEHA or NRSB certification for radon testing. This will ensure that the individual has invested some time in learning proper deployment & collection procedures. False positives can mean a quick death to any transaction, given the right mix of emotions & misinformation. So if the initial tests were conducted by an unqualified person...first things first; have the proper people do a confirmatory test. Remember that a certification does not guarantee true professionalism...but it is a start in the right direction.

Qualified Contractors: Upon confirmation that there is in fact a problem, contact a "qualified" professional. This doesn't mean surfing the web looking for the biggest coupon special discount of the month...it does mean contacting NEHA or NRSB certified contractors who will take the time to visit the home, survey the conditions, & develop a house specific mitigation strategy. Having done work in the neighborhood does not - a template make.

Contract Wording: Pay close attention to proposal or contract wording. Does it specifically state a guaranteed reduction? Or are there lofty "predictions / goals" or references to "typical results"? I've seen some craftily worded proposals that had homeowners & experienced realtors alike, convinced they were guaranteed a reduction below 1 pCi/l - only to later discover that after a careful review of the wording; they in fact had no guarantee at all. Worst yet; they would have to pay for every additional effort put forth by the contractor with no cap on expense. This is actually standard procedure for a NEHA Certified Contractor operating in CT, & in other States, so use every means of cross checking at your disposal such as the BBB etc. Certified doesn't necessarily mean scrupulous!

Timeframe: Don't wait till the very last second to have the problem addressed. It's a harsh reality of the radon mitigation business that more than one trip is sometimes necessary to get a successful reduction in radon levels. This applies more to airborne problems vs. water. In waterborne radon mitigation, once water passes through the treatment system...it's fixed. But not allowing a time cushion for work to be performed & retested can lead to postponed closing dates.

Choices: You should know that there are often options as to where systems can be installed, pipes routed, fans located & so on. Ask the contractor if more than one option exists. This can be important info to keep in your back pocket in the event a nervous buyer wants to walk because they're not happy with the proposed aesthetic impact the proposed system install will have. If option "B" will be acceptable to the buyer...perhaps negotiate that Mr. & Mrs. Seller pay for the "basic" option...but Mr. & Mrs. Buyer can have option "B" installed if they kick in the difference.

Like most things in life...you get what you pay for. A little planning can go a long way to preventing last minute blow ups. So if you are a Realtor dealing with radon, I hope these pointers help make you better prepared for the next run in with radon.

Southington, CT Market Report: 2011 in Review and Going Forward

Tolland, CT Market Report: 2011 in Review and Going Forward

2011 was a stagnant year for home sellers in Tolland, CT . 117 homes in Tolland, CT sold in 2011 at an average price of $284,514, virtually unchanged from 2010.

“This Author Doesn’t Understand the Real Estate Business”

I have been in the real estate and mortgage business for over 40 years. In this time period I have seen every imaginable real estate market. One factor stands out, the MARKET is very efficient. Every property on the market will get sold. The eventual price will dictate how quickly the properties will get sold.

With all the numbers being thrown around in the article, he is forgetting about the fact that the population of this country is not decreasing. There are new people coming into the house buying market every day and these numbers will increase, domestic and foreign buyers alike.

More Boomers Selling Homes, but Who Will Buy Them?

By: Mark Koba

Baby Boomers putting their house up for sale could flood the market in coming years, while the younger generations may not be interested in buying, a new report says.

"It's already happening in some states like Michigan," says Rolf Pendall of the Urban Institute and a co-author of the report by the Bipartisan Policy Center.

"Seniors there are already putting their homes on the market and the absorption of housing is less and creating more inventory," Pendall explains. "There's hesitancy on the buyer's part."

As boomers downsize because of retirement, finances, health or death, they're expected to release some 26 million homes onto the market by 2030, according to the Policy Center paper.

The problem is that echo-boomers, or Generation Y—those born between 1982 and 1995—may not be buying up the inventory, says Pendall, whose retired mother is trying to sell a home and downsize.

"Whether it's jobs, confidence, tight credit or a slowdown in immigration, there could be a real slowdown in buying from the younger generation," Pendall explains.

The Bipartisan Policy Center's report states that young adults are struggling with higher levels of credit card and student loan debt than their elders—some of which could take decades to pay off.

Couple that with the current housing struggles and the report concludes that young people are just not in the buying mood—now or anytime soon.

"Certain areas of the country are better off than others," Pendall says. "But if we look at the Northeast and Midwest, seniors are going to be putting homes on the market and moving to warmer climates. That means more inventory to sell. Housing will depend on the echo-boomers, and it's not known what they will do."

But some analysts don't see the explosion of seniors selling homes as a hit on housing.

"It's not that big because when you look at the market, it's pretty good right now and getting better," says Walter Maloney of the National Association of Realtors (NAR).

"Besides, seniors have been selling homes for years, and overall inventories are going down. We believe there is pent-up demand," Maloney adds.

Some experts say a final verdict on any kind of senior housing glut is too hard to make right now.

"The extent to which baby boomers unload their homes is a projection at this point," says Greg McBride, senior analyst at Bankrate.com.

"I think it ignores the impact of foreign investors buying homes in the U.S.," McBride argues. "The decline of the dollar and the global expansion of the middle class is bringing in plenty of buyers."

But even as domestic and foreign investors help improve housing markets such as Miami there may not be enough of them to soak up the homes, says Pendall.

"The sheer number of retirees putting homes on the markets will be overwhelming," Pendall says. "Investors can't make up the whole difference."

The number of homes on the market has declined in the last year. Some 2.3 million are currently for sale—down from 4.4 million in July of last year, according to the NAR. It also takes a much shorter time to sell a house—24 percent of homes on the market are selling in less than three months, down from six months in early 2011.

But other numbers are going up. Since 2011, an estimated 10,000 people in the U.S. turn 65 every day, according the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That's up from 7,000 in 2010. Meanwhile, about 6,000 to 10,000 people retire each day.

Many of those seniors will vacate their current residence to move into nursing homes or be forced to sell because of financial reasons, the death of a spouse or because the house is just too big to maintain.

Admitting that it's hard to say exactly what will happen to housing in the years ahead, Pendall argues that some sort of national housing policy is needed that will help both buyers and sellers at any age.

"It's government and markets too. We need to look at the financial system, tax incentives and why credit is so hard to get these days," says Pendall. "We need to prepare for what's ahead."

image:gregory szarkiewicz/freedigitalphotos.net

“3200 Mortgage Jobs Cut in January”

I don’t understand the math, I don’t see less mortgage activity going forward, if anything I see much more. What is the rational of some mortgage bankers and brokers to cut staff?

The preapproval activity continues to be up, HARP 2 is now in full force and the FHA refinance program will start up shortly. How do you start cutting mortgage jobs. They must have been reading the papers and listening to economist.

There must be a new formula, hire when mortgage activity goes down and cut jobs when the activity goes up. Almost sounds just like the Federal Government.

Mortgage Bankers and Brokers Cut 3,200 Workers in January

By; Brian Collins

Mortgage companies cut 3,200 full-time employees from their payrolls in January, according to government figures released Friday morning.

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that employment in the mortgage industry fell to 262,100 positions in January from 265,300 in December.

Overall, the number of jobs in the mortgage banking and broker sector fell nearly 4% from a year ago.

The government offers no details on where the job cuts came from but it's likely that a good chunk of the losses came from Bank of America which has been cutting thousands of mortgage workers for the past year.

Meanwhile, BLS reported that the U.S. economy overall created 227,000 new jobs in February. Hiring in January was revised upwards to 284,000 from 243,000. (The mortgage job numbers lag the U.S. total by one month.)

January marks the third straight month in which the economy has generated more than 200,000 new jobs. Jobs in construction were unchanged in February after builders added 21,000 workers to their payrolls in January.

Friday's jobs report also shows the U.S. unemployment rate in February was unchanged at 8.3%

image:ddpavumba/freedigitalphotos.net