Drywall work. Lots of us call it by the name given it by the first manufacturer of the stuff, Sheetrock. It's supposed to replicate plaster in appearance and functionality, but it is not as expensive or time consuming to install and maintain.
It's molded gypsum sandwiched between two pieces of heavy paper. Most home applications are 4' x 8' x 1/2" sheets nailed or screwed to the wall and ceiling framing members. The seams are then covered with a somewhat pasty gypsum with heavy paper tape pressed into the gooey mess.
After they completely dry out, those seams are sanded smooth. In some areas this process is called "tape and bed," in other areas it's referred to as "tape and float." Whichever you choose to call it, hanging and finishing drywall is both labor-intensive and an art.
As part of the home improvement project Patty and I began a couple of weeks ago, we needed the services of a drywall contractor. The interviewing process began. We picked Javier Garcia and his crew, a group recommended to us by our framing contractor, Mickey Smith.
Interestingly, it was four men, including Javier, plus his 14-year old nephew, Edgar. Edgar served as a gofer, but more importantly, he was always called to bridge translation gaps between this primarily Spanish speaking crew, and the two English-only speaking employers.
There are trades where Mexican-bred men seem to excel: masonry, drywall, painting, tile. Javier and his crew were not exceptions.
In this picture, that's Javier on the left, Manuel next, and Edgar The Translator on the right. That's World Headquarters in the background.
NOTE: The way Javier is pronounced is Hauv-e-air.
Javier Garcia
Garcia Drywall and Painting
214 690-2098
214 324-5861
Like the other contractors we have used and whose names I have passed on to you in these posts, Garcia Drywall and Painting comes without my specific recommendation. However, each is someone you should interview and do your due diligence on id you need the service they provide.
Here are the other posts to this series: Framing Air Conditioning electrical. Others left to come include plumbing, finish carpenter and flooring contractor.
BILL CHERRY, REALTORS
DALLAS
214 503-8563
Our 43rd Year
Updating along with taking care of deferred maintenance at our Dallas home continues. But because it took so long and after a number of false starts to assemble the team to do the work, I vowed to share our findings with all of Dallas.
In the previous two pieces, I told you about Mike the Electrician and Roberto Miranda at Quigley Heating and Air Conditioning. Now it's time for the framing crew.
While most of our home is brick veneer, there are parts like the gables and the garage that were sided with what I have always thought was one of the worse inventions of mankind, T-111. This stuff looks good the day it is hung, but it's usually a quick trip down hill after that. Ours needed to come down and be replaced with one of the modern "lifetime" sidings.
Through a stroke of luck, we found Mickey Smith, a local third generation carpenter/contractor who has been framing many of the elaborate additions to the multi-million dollar Highland Park homes for years. Mickey brought by one of his four men crews -- they've all worked together for years.
Mickey always in his old-fashioned carpemter overalls, worked right with them.(That's Mickey, second from the left.)
Some framing needed correcting, exterior doors changed out and the siding needed to be replaced. It was a much more complex job than it sounds.
With four days of intense work, this time it's there to stay!. Here's how to reach Mickey:
Mickey Smith
MLS Construction
214 801-8565
903 873-8041
Like the others, I am not recommending Mickey and his company. You'll need to interview him and do your own due diligence. However, I am suggesting that you consider him.
BILL CHERRY, REALTORS
DALLAS
214 503-8563
Our 43rd Year!
Finding competent contractors and repair people in any large town is a serious task. Dallas is no exception.
As I explained in a recent post, Patty and I have had to have some major repairs and updating done to our home, Uncovering contractors and repair people who would live up to our expectations was difficult at best.
In yesterday's post, I passed on to you the name of an excellent electrician. Today, I want to tell you whom we chose for our air conditioning and heating contractor, and why,
For the past three years, our central air compressor has had a freon leak, and about every three months we've had to have it pumped back up. Either none of the repair people we called knew how to repair the leak, or they didn't want to. I don't know which. However, we even dropped our American Home Shield contract because they refused to have their service people get to the cause and repair it once and for all.
So last month we decided it was time for our Carrier unit to go, and to be replaced with a new unit, and further, we thought it should be increased from a 3.5 ton unit to a 5 ton unit. We knew our duct work, etc., could carry the larger load.
Patty insisted that we get bids from at least four companies. We got seven instead. Two of the bidders' bids were out of line by more than $1,500. One never called back. Another was totally inflexible in how his company would do the work.
The company whose representatives were the most professional was Quigley Heating and Air Conditioning, an organization that has enjoyed a fine representation in Dallas for three generations. Their "Comfort Consultant," Roberto Miranda had come up through the ranks. He had been an installer and repair man before he went into sales.
<<==Roberto Miranda, Quigley Heating & Air
Roberto knew his stuff, and we were impressed.
It was obvious to Patty and me that Quigley should get our business even though they were a bit higher than our second choice. Changing out the unit required a great deal of modification, and the combined expertise of seven men. The mechanical brains of the Quigley organization is John Cunningham, a seasoned old bird like me, who designs your new system and then rides herd over the installation crew.
We went from a Carrier to a Trane. It works great!
So, while I can't promise that your experience will replicate ours, when you need heating and air conditioning repairs and replacement, call Roberto Miranda at Quigley. I'll bet you'll pick him, John Cunningham and the rest of the Quigley Team
Roberto Miranda
Quigley Heating and Air Conditioning
Cell: 214 869-7184
Office: 214 526-8533
Tomorrow, I will tell you about our choice of framing contractors. That's the one you need when you are rebuilding any part of the structure of your home.
BILL CHERRY, REALTORS
DALLAS
214 503-8563
Our 43rd Year
Those of you who have read my pieces over the years know that my real estate career started by accident. For those of you who don't, here are the Bill's Cliff Notes:
I was a young banker and my wife was an accountant. Adding our salaries together, we were barely getting by. I found a book in the library by William Nickerson, "How I Made $1,000,000 In Real Estate," read it and then we decided the advice there would be our meal ticket to a better financial life.
We began by buying, renovating and selling or renting the large 19th Century homes of Galveston. That required us to not only learn about construction, but to also learn which electricians, plumbers, carpenters, air conditioning mechanics and trim men were competent and fair with their charges, and which ones weren't.
That's a huge learning curve and not getting it right can quickly put a remodeler in the poor house.
Recently, we've had to have some significant repair and updating work done to our home in Dallas, and it has required us to begin looking for and testing a whole new set of companies and their employees. Over the next few days, I'm going to give you some that we have found to be real winners.
TEXAS ELECTRICAL
214 289-0639
Many handymen and do-it-yourselfers feel they, themselves, are competent to do home electrical work. And that's what one of the previous owners of our home thought, too. Unfortunately his knowledge and ability in this area was slightly on the positive side of zip. Most of what he did was far from meeting code and some was dangerous.
Mike, the one man owner-employee of Texas Electrical came to us from a random search of the classified ads of a neighborhood magazine. He spent two days here. He came on time, worked quickly, was very neat and proud of his work, and his charges when it came time to collect were very fair.
Dallas area residents who need residential or commercial electrical work would be wise to check out Texas Electrical. Mike is a real winner!
Tomorrow, I'm going to help you to know and be able to depend on a fine air conditioning company. You're sure to be surprised...there is a REAL winner among those in Dallas.
BILL CHERRY, REALTORS
DALLAS
1 800-314-7110
*It is unfortunate that tort cases being what they are today, it is necessary for me to add a disclaimer. Obviously I can't guarantee anyone else's experience with Mike and Texas Electrical will be as good as ours was. But I can suggest that you interview Mike, check his references and decide for yourself when you are considering hiring an electrician.
BILL CHERRY, REALTORS
DALLAS
214 503-8563
Our 43rd Year!
Let me admit right up front that I am not a Dot Com kind of guy, especially when it comes to financial things.
I want to see a building with the bank's name on it. I want to walk into a lobby where there are people transacting business. Most of all, I want to sit at a bank officer's desk and look him in the eye.
So the idea of going to some web site, filling out an abbreviated loan application, then punching SEND without so much as knowing where it's going, much less to whom, has serious flaws for me.
Recently, my clients -- a settled married couple about 60 -- wanted to buy a home. They had been married for nearly fifteen years, were in jobs that they had been in for a long time, and in spite of some minor blips, had saved sufficient funds to qualify for a loan.
I confidently sent them to two fellows I know and really like, one of them with a big bricks and mortar bank; the other with a well-known mortgage company. For whatever the reason, they offered us no encouragement.
On a whim, my client went to the web site of www.Texaslending.com, filled out their on-line application, and by the grace of God was assigned to Senior Mortgage Consultant, Stephen Brady.
He looked at the history, pulled credit, and within a few hours emailed back that Texas Lending could make them a loan. Then Stephen called me, and he assured me that all we had to do was find them a home, and he'd take care of the financing.
<<===STEPHEN BRADY, SENIOR MORTGAGE CONSULTANT
Today, he lived up to his promise. My clients closed on their home.
So I told Stephen that I wanted to write a piece for the Active Rain readers about him and www.Texaslending.com. And I wanted to give the readers his direct phone number. This guy is a pro.
But before I do that, here's a bit of a bio for Stephen.
He has a degree from University of Texas in communications, and he has been in the mortgage loan industry for five years, and has closed more than 325 transactions. He and his wife have been married for seven years and they have a three year old daughter, Kaplan. And Stephen's kind of a sports nut. He plays golf and tennis and is a certified scuba diver. But on top of all of that, he's also been One of Us. He worked in sales for a home builder before he joined Texaslending.com.
So here's how you get in touch with Stephen:
Office: 214.550.5195
Mobile: 214.394.5264
sbrady@texaslending.com
Update Aug. 20: Yesterday Stephen and I met in person for the first time. We had lunch at BJ's in Addison, an upscale suburb of Dallas, and near his office. My evaluation is that this guy's got his feet firmly on the ground and excels at his business.
BILL CHERRY, REALTORS
DALLAS
1 800 314-7110
Our 43rd Year Brokering Texas
Oft times I wonder what was going on in someone's mind that preceded and caused their decision and actions.
In Dallas, we have a handful of real estate companies that primarily list and sell estates, and most of those estates are in an area called the Park Cities.
Frequently, one of these companies will list an outdated home that is on a valuable lot. Rather than give prospective buyers a chance to decide for themselves, the MLS listing will not show a photo of the home, but will give the dimensions of the rooms, etc., then announce that the "value is in the lot," and further refuse to allow potential buyers to even see the inside of the home.
I notice that many of these fail to find a buyer. The listings are renewed, then renewed again and again. Nothing changes. In my view it's a true example of the Pollyanna; Pollyanna of the agency and Pollyanna of the owner.
Recently I came across a listing on such a piece that had expired several months back and had not been renewed. I had a client who I thought would buy it, so I dropped a note to the owners asking for the listing.
The following day the phone rang. It was the woman who, with her husband, owned the property. Very obtusely, she told me to take them off of my mailing list. "Sure, I said. Be glad to. What's your name and address?"
"Darned," she had to have thought. It hadn't ocurred to her that she was going to have to tell me who she was. She had gone to great efforts to make sure her phone number was blocked from Caller ID. But without telling me who she was and what her address was, she realized there would be no way for me to remove her from my mailing list. So she told me, then slammed the phone down.
There isn't a list. There was only going to be one letter pertinent to her particular property, and she had already gotten it.
So I won't be the one who sells it. I won't even try, even if she relists it. And we already know the company it had previously been listed with couldn't sell it.
What's the property look like? I'd love for you to see it, but like I said, they've decided it's a tear down so there is no picture.
Where does my caller live these days? You guessed it. She and her husband live in the tear down.
There are a number of common sense provisions that retail landlords should have in their leases. And interestingly they protect not only the landlord, but the sanctity of the center.
One, and a very important one, is a provision which disallows going-out-of-business and close-out sales. Without going into great detail, it should be obvious how these can infect shoppers' feelings about the mall, in general.
That's terribly important to the remaining tenants.
Frequently, I write about Dallas' most famous retail mall, NorthPark. The genius of Raymond Nasher and his wife Patsy, NorthPark opened in 1964. The look and feel were so perfect then that there has never been any serious reason to alter or modernize any of its physical design.
But I notice that in the past several months, NorthPark has had several stores announce that they were closing up shop, and then liquidating their merchandise on site. The most recent was The Sharper Image.
And then there is an accompanying "good judgment." Every lease should provide for an upfront deposit in form and amount that would allow the landlord to totally repair and reface those parts of the building's exterior that carried the tenant's signage.
Once the tenant is gone, a good memory should be the only factor that reminds the public what was once there. One store of about 25,000 square feet that's near Patty and me has had two failed businesses in it during the past five years. The most recent was Fred's. Before it was a national drug chain. Both signs removed, you can easily see the imprint of both on the facade of the space.
How long will the strip center management allow that look to announce those failures?
The International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC) has many resources. One of them addresses leases. Landlords and leasing-management companies should be as rabid about membership and participation as vendors and mechants are.
BILL CHERRY, REALTORS
DALLAS
OUR 43RD YEAR SERVING TEXAS
1 800-314-7110
WASHINGTON (Associated Press) - The Federal Reserve has adopted a new plan intended to curb shady lending practices that sent home foreclosure rates to record highs.
The plan will:
Most of the rules take effect Oct. 1. Escrow requirements will take effect April 1, 2010.
I began my business career as a real estate loan officer. It was 1962. This is essentially how we were required to underwrite loans back then. We also required the borrowers to have an equity position of their own -- not 0%, not 3%, not 5%, not 10%, but at least 20%!
I can't believe these people have finally admitted we knew what we were doing --- that our way was better than theirs. Will real equity be next?
WHAT NOW?
Texas real property taxpayers appear to have little understanding of the logic behind our Central Appraisal District system. And I've concluded that at least some of the Chief Appraisers of CADs don't understand them either.
I wrote a voluminous piece on this some time back. Here it is for review.
That piece has brought any number of telephone calls and emails from taxpayers who went before the Appraisal Review Board at their Central Appraisal District to protest the new appraisal of their home. Each lost as a result of the smoke and mirrors presentation of the CAD's appraiser that he/she presented to the ARB.
The taxpayer didn't know how to argue against it, and the ARB members, interestingly, rabidly showed they had no understanding of how the Texas Central Appraisal system works.
In each case, the appraisal district's appraiser used as his/her evidence for raising the value of the protester's property, a handful of current sales in the neighborhood. Current sales are only evidence if every other like property's value was likewise raised equally.
More often than not, the district will try to use current sales to show why the protesting taxpayer's argument is invalid. Most of the time, this "evidence" isn't applicable because the neighbors' appraisals were not also raised. This is the smoke and mirror's presentation I mentioned.
NOTE THIS: The appraisal district has only one function, and it has two parts. Part one is to, through research, determine the fair value of every piece of property in the county, and then to assign them. Part two is to make sure that the value assigned to each taxpayer's property follows the logic of the values assigned to the property of his neighbors.
EXAMPLE: So if everyone on your block lives in a similar home, and those homes are all on the tax rolls at $100,000, then one of your neighbors sells his for $135,000, the Central Appraisal District cannot raise the value of yours to $135,000 without raising the value of the homes of everyone of your neighbors'.
And further, and interestingly, it is illegal for the CAD to immediately raise the value of the home that just sold for $135,000 to $135,000. That violation is known as "chasing the sale." Our state doesn't allow that.
So what should you do if you protest and the appraiser brings out current sales as his evidence? You point out that it is immaterial to the issue. Your protest is that your house has been assigned a value that cannot be justified when compared to those assigned your neighbors. Then you give your reasons.
If the ARB rules against you, you have a great course of appeal. The state Comptroller's office has trained and appointed several hundred Arbitrators. You can find the list and their qualifications on the Comptroller's web site. You do not need an attorney; in fact the arbitration process was specifically established so that most property owners would have a place to appeal a decision without the need for attorney and court costs.
You can file for Arbitration. The fee cannot exceed $500. The arbitrator will hear your case and rule. The arbitrator's ruling is final and cannot be challenged. If you, the taxpayer, win, the CAD must pay the entire fee.
I am one of those originally appointed arbitrators. Prior to that, I served two terms on an ARB. That's why I have a pretty good knowledge of the ins and outs of appraisal district mechanics. But my purpose here is not to solicit arbitrations. My purpose is to give readers a dependable piece on how the CAD system works.
If you are going before one of the ARBs to protest your appraisal, print this out and hand it to the chairman before you begin your presentation. If there is disagreement to methodology, stay to complete your hearing, but be prepared to file for arbitration.
Copyright 2008 - William S. Cherry
All rights reserved.
DALLAS
1 800-314-7110
Lenders are foreclosing homes right and left, and the ownership of many of those pass to FHA or one of the other governmental secondary market lenders for them to dispose of.
That's because the loans were sold to them by the originating lender or mortgage broker.
As a result, an opportunist industry has developed. You see, rather than dole out the listings of these properties to licensed real estate brokers and agents on a lottery system, through some magic, only certain agents have gotten the majority of the listings.
This is yet another case where the National Association of Realtors didn't bother to step in and assist the governmental lenders and underwriters in developing an honorable, fair system.
There are any numbers of those specially treated agents in Dallas; the ones whose primary business is listing foreclosed homes.
I am familiar with three companies that have "teams" (a euphemism for a business within a business) composed of about six people, each whose major part of the real estate business is listing and managing foreclosed properties for the government.
One has so many of these listings that they don't bother to answer or return the phone calls of buyers. The signs in the front yards with the agent's rider and number at the bottom are of no value to obtaining and handling buyer inquiries.
The listing agent does not answer or return calls.
The agent expects the buyer to make inquiries and issue contracts on his listings through one of the other agents in the city. The problem is that the client has no way to know that's the rules he's expected to play by.
Just think, when some 14,000 agents in the Dallas and Ft. Worth area and where many are scratching to make a living, our government is consciously making a select few rich.
And there's no way to lose one of those listings because it will eventually sell at some price.
And if that isn't bad enough, it is obvious that the government has no audit procedure in place to see that these listings and sales are handled on the up and up. Many aren't.
I was involved as a co-op broker in one such listing. My client's contract was not accepted even though my client offered full price and immediate closing.
Why? It was obvious to me that before the listing hit the MLS, the listing agent had already cut a side deal as to whose contract would be accepted.
Real estate brokerage has had a propensity for dishonest dealings since the beginning of time. It's most certainly been going on since I entered the business forty-three years ago.
(Remind me to tell you about the time, representing a buyer, as trustee I bought a $3 million building for $711,000. It was because of the total incompetence of the government's selection of a real estate broker to represernt them in that sale.)
And as it has so many times in the past, the government is once again fanning the flames of deceit.
BILL CHERRY, REALTORS DALLAS
1 800 314-7110
RETAIN THE FAMOUSLY GENTEEL BROKERAGE SERVICES OF BILL CHERRY, REALTORS***214 503-8563***THERE'S NEVER BEEN A TEXAS HOME WE COULDN'T SELL. Visit www.billcherrybroker.com
"A Realtor's Secret Weapons"
A forty-five minute radio interview with Bill Cherry by W. Neil Gallagher, Ph.D.
A disciple of Zig Zigler and Kenneth Cooper, M.D., Dr. Gallagher is known throughout the US as "The Nation's Money Doctor." And it is primarily the result of Dr. Gallagher's reputation, that we have sent hundreds of copies of this complimentary CD to individuals and real estate agents all over the United States and Canada. We'd love to send you one, too. Totally free. We even pay the shipping charges.
Call or Email us for your complimentary copy.
1 800-314-7110 Extension 105
********
What We'll Do For You Is Entirely Different....
Many of the real estate firms in Dallas, especially those with national franchise affiliations as well as the large local firms, work from business models that require that they attract huge volumes of listings, often at any cost. They reason that way enough sales will come to fruition for them to make a respectable profit.
In contrast to our business model, theirs simply cannot be a focused passion to do their very best to successfully sell each listing. Instead, by design theirs must be a "some will sell, some won't sell" mentality. Put another way, it's, "Throw them all against the wall, and hope enough of them will stick to cause us to make a profit and to keep us in business."
This current somewhat depressed, over-built, over-listed "buyer's market" is hardly the place for that mentality.
Our Very Different Approach....
Our firm has a totally different approach. When I developed it many years ago, I decided we'd refer to it as the "Boutique Firm Model." Here's how it works for you.
First and foremost, we make certain that we are retained only by a few sellers and a few potential buyers at one time. That's very important. Then we analyze and develop a comprehensive plan for each of them, specially tailored and individualized. Third, we totally focus our attention on bringing our efforts for each client to an early, successful conclusion.
And that's what we'll do for you. In addition....
We'll stay in close touch with you all along the way. In fact, you'll be pleasantly surprised. You'll hear from us all of the time.
So Now You Have a Choice....
You can either be the big fish in a small pond by picking us to represent you, or the minnow in a huge ocean by picking someone with the large local or franchise firm.
Which do you think is best for you? In your heart you know the answer....
It's with us, isn't it?
It's where you'll be that very big fish. And we will sincerely honor and treasure that relationship. Our clients frequently tell us it's the very reason they have been with us since we opened our first real estate office a long time ago, and so many of their children and friends have joined with them as clients as well. What an honor.
Call us. 214 503-8563 (We answer our own telephone.)
For more information, please visit our nice web site: Bill Cherry, Realtors' Web Site . Read Bill's social commentary on Town Hall. Read Bill's monthly Texas history column at Texas Escapes Magazine. Bill posts and comments on senior living at Eons. Linkedin. Bill's Realtown Blog
We represent all people, regardless of sex, religious creed or national origin. We always have and we always will. Period.
.
...the great Realtor Bill Cherry was Cynthia's and my exclusive historical real estate consultant for twenty years. - George P. Mitchell, oil company chairman and president; developer of The Woodlands, Texas
What makes Bill good are the quick witted business skills that he uses for negotiating on behalf of his clients. - Joseph N. Murphy, investor
I am delighted that you and your wife have moved to Dallas.... - Raymond D. Nasher, developer, NorthPark
Bill brought integrity back to real estate brokerage. - Frank Musick, president, Stewart Title Co.
Bill's a real estate whiz kid. - Maxine Messinger, columnist, Houston Chronicle
I've followed Bill's career since he left UNT. He's amazing! - Leon Breeden, professor of jazz emeritus, University of North Texas
You're the most creative broker Vivian and I have ever had represent us. - R.E. (Bob) Smith, legendary oil wildcatter
Bill, a published author, radio and tv personality, businessman and musician, was Kathryn's mentor at the beginning, helping secure her first professional gig in 1966 at the Lookout Room in Galveston's exotic Flagship Hotel on the Pier.
Bill is a man of many talents, with a vitae in music (among other things) that found him playing some of the most famous 5-star dining rooms thoughout the USA. He now lives in Dallas, and performs his piano wizardry only on a part-time basis, but his influence is still very much felt nationwide. Famed Lite Jazz Singer Kathryn Taubert's Web Site 2007.
Bill is listed in the famous Marquis Who's Who in America; Who's Who in the World; and in Who's Who in Banking and Finance, and beginning in 2008, Marquis Who's Who in the World.
Bill has been listed in Who's Who in U.S. Real Estate for more than thirty years.
Bill is a Premier Member of the Texas Radio Hall of Fame, 2005.
ActiveRain Corp. is not responsible for the accuracy of the site's content (which is written by members of the ActiveRain Real Estate Network) and does not endorse the views of the real estate agents, mortgage brokers, and others listed here.
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WILLIAM S. CHERRY, REALTORS
