John Morrison - Boston area real estate - Exclusive Buyer's Agent, CBR

I recently heard about an unfortunate situation on Boston’s north shore, in Manchester. You can find more about it at the site of WCVB-tv.

Here’s what happened: some unfortunate homeowners purchased a house that was most likely built on an old landfill. They tried to sell their house and potential buyers balked at the last minute. After learning why, the owners had their soil tested. Chemicals galore were lurking in their back yard. Lead, arsenic, mercury. Not exactly healthy. The worst part? Mom was weeks away from giving birth.

Who’s responsible? Surely the builders knew what type of land they were building on, right? Maybe they had no idea - could have just been fulfilling a contract. Surely the town knew the history of the land that was to be built upon, right? It turns out they did, and sent lent a letter to the builder ordering them to stop construction. No one followed up, the house was built, and the rest is history.

The family moved out right after learning about what was present in their yard, and hopefully they will raise a healthy baby. What about the person that sold them the house? If they had done their due diligence about the property, they would have found out this information.

Maybe, maybe not, but if the buyers had used an exclusive buyer’s agent, they could have avoided this unfortunate situation. I can’t express enough how important it is to have someone working on your behalf, not someone just trying to sell you a house. Most consumers are still not aware that they could hire someone, for no extra money other than what they will spend on buying a home anyway, that would work in their best interest. Something to think about if you plan on ever buying a house.

What do you do with all the junk mail you get? Or, for that matter, any mail? Shred anything with personal information on it and keep it along with all discarded paper, and drop it at one of the many bins all over Massachusetts to be recycled. Even better, change every bill you have to electronic statements. Most companies save at least a year of statements to view online, and you can just save the statements on your computer for easy access. Can’t beat it - less paper mail also helps those of us who tend to be ‘organizationally challenged’. Recycling is easy to do, and is becoming mandatory in cities and towns around the commonwealth.

My second tip involves saving money. All those plastic bottles of water we buy and drink and toss out? Buy a durable water bottle, wash it fairly often, and use a faucet-mounted water filter or a pitcher to put in the fridge if you don’t enjoy drinking regular tap water. Replacement filters are cheap and each filter lasts several months depending how much you use, but most estimates state the price for the unit and filters amounts to about a nickel per gallon. How much did you pay for your last bottle of water at the gas station?

Literally. Here in the north shore town of Beverly, MA, a multimillion dollar mansion burned to the ground Thursday night into Friday morning. Thankfully the owners were away and no one was hurt. Why did this house burn completely? Not because of a lack of response from fire crews.

The house was in a secluded area off a private road in Beverly, and the nearest fire hydrant was an estimated 1200 feet away! The first fire truck arrived one minute after a 9-1-1 call was made by a neighbor. That's fast. Trouble was, they had to run miles of hose, and the first responders didn't have enough length of hose in their truck. Neighboring town Peabody sent a fire company with plenty of hose, but by then it was too late, and the crews just made sure that the fire did not spread. It consumed the house faster than they could string hoses up to fight it. Unfortunate, but avoidable. Something to think about if you are in the process of building your dream home. Privacy and views are wonderful, but ashes are not.

The fire inspector determined that the fire was caused by rags covered with paint solvent that spontaneously combusted. Below is a picture of the flames in action.

picture from wbz-tv.

Home sales are way down, that much we know. Sales closing in March of 2008 were down almost a third from the same time frame a year earlier. How come? Without knowing all the facts, one would first point to the struggling economy. Recession fears are all over the news right now. Is that the problem? No. Boston’s economy continues to improve, and although there have been some layoffs in the financial services industry, job growth in our area remains steady. Popular sectors still hiring and growing in the Boston area are high tech and biotech firms. In fact, the economy has grown 3% in the first quarter.

So what’s the deal? Unfortunately, it’s the credit crisis. Lenders are continuing to restrict their loans. They are having a harder time finding money to lend to buyers, and if you don’t have at least 5% saved to put towards a down payment, you will find it very hard to get a loan. I have spoken to quite a few potential buyers who are not able to get preapproved, and in most cases it is because they are looking to buy with little to no money down. Until lenders can access money more readily, this trend is bound to continue.

The majority of owners with homes on the market right now will be looking to turn around and buy again as soon as their current home sells, but with fewer qualified buyers looking at their home, time on the market will not go down until this credit crisis eases.

If you are a buyer with less than a 5% down payment, there are alternatives out there. FHA loans are becoming increasingly popular and may be a good alternative to traditional lenders and brokers. If you are thinking about entering this buyer’s market, ask for help in obtaining preapproval for a loan. Many good agents know about current loan standards, and we at Buyer’s Choice are knowledgeable in this area and can point you to available resources.

(originally posted May 6, 2008 at my blog: http://www.bostonbuyerbrokerblog.com)

Painting a room is the easiest way to make it look updated or completely change its feel. Next time you are preparing to redo your living room, don’t reach for the traditional gallon of paint that you always use. Harsh and harmful chemicals are in that can, and once on your wall it takes up to three-and-a-half years for the paint to stop emitting toxins into the environment you call home. What’s in a normal gallon of paint? Chemicals I can’t pronounce. Research has shown these chemicals play a part in causing insomnia, depression, anxiety, and other ailments. Never mind when you first walk into a freshly painted room and get dizzy, feel lightheaded, and suffer from a headache.

How can you avoid this? Buying paints that have no volatile organic compounds (VOCs) is the first place to start. While there is no current standardized governmental regulation, third party reviewers stamp the green seal of approval on healthier paints. They review all parts of the process of creating paint, so you can trust that it is healthy. While organic/green building centers are not readily available for most, ask at your local hardware/paint store if they have any paint that is low/no odor and does not contain VOCs. Your health will thank you.

The most important question: what’s the cost? So called ‘green’ paint typically costs $30-40 for a gallon. Regular paint averages $20-35 a gallon, so paint that is good for you and the environment is more expensive but not prohibitively so. Moving into a new home and plan on repainting every room? You can expect to spend a couple hundred dollars more, but think of all the benefits. One step at a time, and you can easily go green!