Tim Burroughs, Realtor at The Tim Burroughs Group

I took a continuing education class taught by Barbara Dawson yesterday about Historic Homes and Historical Districts in Boise, Idaho. It was interesting to know that facades of buildings can be identified and appraised and then set in perpituity, so that the owner of the building is still required to maintain the exterior, even though a not-for-profit now owns the facade.

Did you know you can't sandblast or use a chemical to remove paint on a historic home's exterior brick, or a fence constructed of similar materials on historic homes and historic districts in Boise, Idaho? Did you know that a historic home with a porch may not be able to be removed? Did you know that if you can provide photos of the home in a previous age, like say one taken in 1930, that shows a different facade or porch or screened in porch or other detail you want to return to and the commission may approve your request.

There may have been alterations made to the house, like exterior metal siding or metal windows made prior to the area being declared a historical district. If you can show the staff at city hall or the commission evidence that at one time the home didn't have the metal siding or windows, then you might be prevail and be able to restore the house to the original finishes.

Windows seem to be a big deal. Vinyl windows are not allowed, except new designs that show the deeper sill depths. It really is more acceptable to have wood windows or metal clad wood windows that reflect more the appearance of the original windows.

The Tudor style with exposed wood and stucco finishes adds interest to the house. Often it is blended with brick.

The simple lines of the covered front porch make it inviting for people to gather together.

If you would like more information about historical districts in Boise, Idaho or homes within these areas, please contact Tim@TimBurroughsGroup.com.

Hard to find homes in Boise, Idaho

I was looking for homes in a particular price range the other day that my client wanted in the Rocky Mountain High School area in Meridian, Idaho. There were only five homes available and four were short sales and one was a bank-owned home. It's hard to make a family happy, like this foursome below, when you have to wait for banks to decide on whether they can own a home or not.

If you need to close on a home within a specific time frame, it can be hard to find homes in the Boise, Idaho area. Many of the homes available for sale are "short sales" which can carry several issues. Often the seller loses interest in the house since they are going to lose the house anyway and receive no money at closing, so where is the incentive to maintain the house.

In addition, the lender usually takes far longer to make a decision even after they have received all the required paperwork from the seller and the offer accepted between the buyer and seller. Often a buyer can't wait for the seller's lender to decide, so the same house is under contract and then out of contract, making the homes stay on the market longer and longer.

In fact, according to the Intermountain MLS, only 27% of the homes available for sale will sell this year on average for all the Realtors in the MLS. Individual Realtors have a better track record, like the Tim Burroughs Group at Keller Williams Realty-Boise, Idaho, has a 66% success of sale rate.

If you would like more information about how we can get your home sold, send an e-mail to Tim@TimBurroughsGroup.com and we will let you know our program, including our "Easy Exit Listing Agreement".

Where did this year go? We have been so busy, but we had sellers who were not saleable and buyers who couldn't make up their minds.

That all changed last month with sellers. We have trimmed the fat and are only accepting listings from nice people with nice homes in good locations who have a need to sell.

As far as buyers, we are going to spend more time at the beginning asking the right questions and instead of showing one house at a time we will group homes together and show a few each time out and press the buyers to make decisions.

With the $8,000 tax credit deadline looming in a few short weeks we have to get going now to be able to close by the deadline.

Let's get busy and concentrate on those things that matter.

As I sit down to write this article I am reminded that we are in a great area. We usually recover well before the national data and we have some great Realtors working with buyers and sellers in our area.

Often though, the homes that appear to be available, are not. I had a client send me a list of MLS numbers they had just viewed on-line, on a website which is updated regularly. Of the five, one was active, with no offers. Of the four remaining, one was pending and the other three were all contingent-other which in MLS speak means they are "short sales" where the seller has decided to accept the offer but the lender and/or investor must still sign off, but the house really isn't available because you could only write a "back-up" offer.

Most of our short sales are taking months to get a response and buyers who have waited weeks for a response usually don't have the staying power to wait. Some lenders are working fast to get deals put together, but other lenders, Countrywide, now Bank of America, seem to have a lack of respect for the buyers and often are cancelling approved deals before they have time to close and cause havoc wherever they go. Oh, and they don't return e-mails, or phone calls for days at a time.

I would suggest that we have one setting for short sales while they are waiting for the response from the lender and that is pending. It would cut down on the time we have to look up these properties for clients that aren't really available and it would allow people who access websites like mine which are updated regularly to see homes they actually could have.

It would also make the inventory numbers look smaller which would allow the buyers to be more responsive when they see only a few listings instead of fifty they will make offers and the business will take care of itself.

Boise, Idaho is a great place to live.

We can't seem to hold onto the listings we take. When they are priced within the market, staged to look their best, clean and neat and void of most personalization, and smell good, the buyers like them.

We have listed and sold several homes in the last few weeks, in fact we list or sell a home every 2.8 days.

We have had to general contract lots of our recent listings with new central air conditioning unit, painting, new carpets, vinyl flooring and other fixes to put our listings in great shape.

Let us know your questions of how to get your homes sold.