Real Estate Information Center

Getting out from under the liability monster. Insurance costs are crazy. Many builders are finding new ways to limit their exposure while still performing their craft and helping people build, remodel and create the home of their dreams.

It’s a litigious time and alternative approaches make sense. Especially for builders who do not have a full slate of clients-in-waiting with more work than they can handle.

What about you? Are you looking to build a business with lower liability and less insurance? Perhaps you want to continue your career in building but put in less time and reduce your personal responsibility.

Continue reading ‘Custom Home Contractors – Beating the Liability Woes’ »

Three teenagers, one husband, one dog, one cat and myself living in close quarters, crammed into an old two bedroom house, where we have been for just over 12 months. Luckily we all get along. We queue patiently outside that one old bathroom. There have been really fun times but now we need some space. We have really had enough. It’s time to knock down and rebuild. Soon.

We are not the only family in this predicament. In this economic climate of uncertainty, how can we make this new house happen fast and negate the financial risk? We followed these very important steps, which will be of use to you:

1. Firstly, work out the ‘worst case senario’ before you make your plans to build e.g. say that you can’t meet the banks repayments and need to sell the house on completion. Never allow the banks to take the power over your financial decisions. So, consider what you paid for the block of ground, or in our case, the old house. Work out what a well designed and constructed new home on that block would sell for in the current market and try to predict what the market will be doing in 12 months time (at building completion). You need the comfort of this planned exit strategy before you begin.

Continue reading ‘Building a New House With the Perfect Home Business’ »

New trends in home construction have resulted in cost efficient, smaller home designs. It has, however, also created a need for space that is being manifested in the latest renovation craze – expansion of the backyard deck.

According to Harvard’s Joint Center for Housing Studies, the average homeowner has cutback on spending for renovations (after six years of increases), but the average cost of a deck renovation has still risen 40% between 2004 and 2007 to almost $10,350. A typical deck on an above average home has increased to 700 square feet (larger than most indoor great rooms).

Decks make the perfect add-on for the whole family. Kids can play on them, they are great for entertaining and they offer an excellent resale return for your money.When done properly, a deck renovation should appear as an outdoor living space. If you’re seated, indoors and looking out, your deck should appear as an additional room, without walls.

Continue reading ‘Bringing the Indoors Out’ »

Let me get right to the point. Coach. That’s it. Coach people who want to remodel their home. Coach people who want to build a home. Let them be the builder and you be their advisor.

Just because you may be a licensed General Contractor doesn’t mean that you have to take over the project, assume all the liability, and involve all your time. That’s the old traditional way that isn’t as fruitful anymore unless you’ve built a big, thriving business that now has its own locomotion and will carry you through changing trends and economic slowdowns. Coaching is finding its place.

How Home Building Coaches Earn More

Aside from providing a more rewarding business and lifestyle, coaching can increase your income. Builders, trades-persons, and other home building industry professionals are proving that a good coaching business provides steadier and higher profit income.

Continue reading ‘Home Builders – Lower Your Liability to Increase Your Earnings’ »

Oh, and I want this, and I want that … oh, and this too! Whoa, wait a sec … are you trying to fit everything you had in your big home into your small home plan?

Small home living is gaining steam in our economy and with the push of green building. Saving money and saving the earth is in. Small homes can help. But with small homes your thinking has to change. It’s a big mistake to try to keep everything you had in the bigger home and just shrink everything down.

The House That Won’t Sell

There’s a house on the market in our neighborhood that just sits there. No one seems to want to touch it. A walk through almost gives you the willies. It’s all cut up. There’s no flow or openness to it and you never seem to know where you are. It’s like the Winchester Mystery House … kind of fascinating but totally unlivable. It’s a maze.

Continue reading ‘Small Home Designs – Avoid the Amazing Maze in Your Small Home Floor Plan’ »