Like many of you, our family has a high school student graduating soon who is both eager and excited to embark upon life’s next phase. It wasn’t all that long ago that for graduates, like ours, community service was something they did to pad their college applications, but now this important exercise is a requirement at most high schools. That’s because a common belief is that community service links together the academic, social, and emotional elements of learning while giving kids the chance for personal growth through helping others. And hopefully those same kids will grow into adults who will continue to be engaged, positive citizens in their community.
This is a philosophy that we believe in wholeheartedly at Windermere. That’s why every year our offices close their doors for one day to help make a positive difference in their communities. It all started in 1984 with a handful of agents who came together to help out a local elementary school that needed some TLC. Thirty-three years and more than one million hours of community service later, we’ve continued this tradition through neighborhood-enhancing projects in the areas where our Windermere teams live, work, and play.
We agree that community service shouldn’t end with a cap and gown. Over the years, our team has proven this time and time again by embodying the notion that service to others is not something you do, it is who you are.
On Friday June 9, Windermere offices throughout the Western U.S. will close their doors for our company-wide Community Service Day. You can follow their projects on our Facebook page: www.Facebook.com/WindermereRealEstate.
You’ve approved your landscape architect’s final site plan for your landscape design, and now it’s time to get the project built. You can pay the landscape architect to select a contractor for you, or you can hire one on your own. Like other building professionals, landscape contractors have different skillsets and levels of experience. A landscape contractor does not need an award-winning portfolio of work in order to do a great job. The work of the contractor comes down to getting the job done on budget and on time while providing good, reliable service and quality installation work.
There are different ways to hire a landscape contractor to build your project. If you have worked with a landscape architect on a design plan, you can further engage him or her to steward the hiring of a contractor for building the project. Or, you can do the work of finding, screening and hiring a landscape contractor on your own. Whatever your path is for hiring landscape contractors, there are things you should know about their qualifications and how they work with designers. Use this article as a guide to hiring a landscape contractor so that you find the best one for your project.
How to Find a Landscape Contractor for Your Project
As mentioned, there are two main ways to find a contractor: work with the landscape architect to select one or research and hire one on your own.
You have the option to pay the landscape architect who designed your property to do construction administration. That’s a technical term in the landscape industry for managing the administrative tasks of getting the installation under way. The landscape architect is then responsible for getting estimates or bids for the work and recommending the best company to you. The architect does not have to send the project out for pricing to several companies. Instead, the landscape architect will probably have a working relationship with a local contractor and will recommend that company to you.
Once you sign an agreement with the contractor, the landscape architect and builder will work together to ensure that the work will be built according to how it was designed.
This method sets up a relationship like a triangle, in which you, as the client, have a contract agreement with the landscape architect for design and construction administration and a separate agreement with the contractor for installation. The tricky part is that there is no contract directly between the architect and the contractor, and the architect does not act as the contractor’s supervisor or boss. However, it is in the best interest of the contractor to build the project according to how it was designed, because the design has already been approved by the client. Ideally, the contractor’s agreement with the client will state that the project is to be built according to the landscape drawings and specifications, as prepared by the landscape architect.
The second option is to hire a contractor on your own. This eliminates the triangle relationship and will work well if you are savvy with building processes or if your project is very straightforward. If you are looking to have simple work completed, by all means hire the contractor on your own without involving an architect. If you do have detailed design drawings from the landscape architect, you can use them to get estimates, because you paid for the design services and you are free to use the plans to get the project built. This use of plans is often stated in the design services contract. The disadvantage of hiring the contractor on your own is that you won’t have the design help of a landscape architect when issues arise. For example, the contractor may not be able to find a particular type of stone and will have to substitute a different type. Without the landscape architect to provide design feedback, you’d have to make the decision alone. This might be fine for people who are knowledgeable about materials and construction lingo, but overwhelming for someone without much experience in design and construction.
A related option is to work with a landscape design-build firm that combines the design services with the installation. I will be covering this topic in a future ideabook.
Regardless of which route you choose, it’s good to know what to expect from the contractor so that you feel confident signing a contract agreement.
If you are hiring the contractor on your own, you need to know where to look and how to review the company’s credentials.
Where to look. There are several ways to find your contractor. Doing a broad Internet search might not yield the best results, so it’s better to focus your search and find a local company. Here are a few good resources:
○Search Houzz for landscape contractors in your area.
○Ask your friends and neighbors for referrals.
○Check with your local chamber of commerce.
○Ask your local nursery or garden store for a referral.
Review credentials. You want to hire a contractor who is knowledgeable, easy to work with and reliable. At the end of the day, your primary concern is hiring someone who will build the project on time and on schedule using quality materials and best practices. Here is a checklist of items to request that will inform you of the contractor’s credentials:
○Licenses. Landscape contractors have licenses regulated by the state. Furthermore, your town may have additional requirements for a contractor performing work. Contractors will list their license number on Houzz and on their website. You can search on your state’s regulated professions website using this number to check that a license is in good standing.
○Insurance. A landscape contractor should have general liability insurance and worker’s compensation insurance. Ask to see the certificate of insurance.
○Client references. Call a few former clients and see if they were pleased with the services. It may be a red flag if a contractor has a hard time providing references. Some specific questions to ask of references include: Was the contractor reliable? Was the project completed on schedule? Are you pleased with the quality of the work?
○Photos showing quality of work. Landscape contractors install plantings, paving, grading systems, decks, site walls, sod, seed, fences and water features. They have to be generalists, because they work with a variety of materials. They hire subcontractors to do specialty work around pools and other water features, irrigation, metalwork and any other work that’s outside their area of expertise. Ask for some detailed photos of projects they have built to demonstrate quality building techniques.
○Experience with similarly sized work. Contractors work on a large array of project types, but most focus their work in terms of scale. This is important because their crew will bring a level of expertise that’s appropriate for the workflow and staging of your project.
Landscape Contractor 4: SavATree, original photo on Houzz
Ask about sustainable practices. The contractor will be disrupting the site and installing new materials, which will impact the environment. Make that impact less damaging by using the most sustainable materials and methods possible. Some contractors have been using sustainable practices for a long time, while others are just catching on to the concept. Let the landscape contractor know if sustainability is important to you by discussing it early.
You can gauge how well versed a contractor is in sustainable practices by asking some questions:
○What organic and sustainable practices do you use? If the contractor hesitates to answer, try asking more specific questions, like the ones below.
○Where will the materials be sourced from? It is best to use local stone and wood for your project to decrease the carbon footprint. Sourcing local materials can also save you money, because you won’t have to pay for materials to be shipped long distances.
○Do you recycle plant containers or return them to the nursery? Most wholesale nurseries take back plastic plant containers and clean them for reuse. This might seem like a small thing, but those little containers can add up to a lot of plastic in projects with large planted areas. The contractor is responsible for hauling away materials once the job is done, so make sure they will be recycled or brought back to a nursery for reuse.
○Do you use a mulch that’s free of chemicals and additives? Chemicals and dyes are used to make mulch in different colors, and they’re unnecessary additives. Go chemical free. The chemical-free mulches are usually less expensive anyway if they are from a local source.
○Do you use power tools or hand tools? A lot can be accomplished with hand tools, and some compact sites will even require the use of hand tools over power tools and motorized utility vehicles. Most contractors use a combination of both types. If your project is small, there won’t be a big need for big power machinery.
Know who will supervise your project. It’s helpful to know who the key players are in building your project, so that you’ll know who you will be speaking with as the work progresses. Larger companies, with several crews and supervisors, often have multiple project managers, and your project will be assigned to one supervisor and crew team. Small companies (with one or two supervisors) often have one main company manager, who is also an owner-founder of the company. You should know who the point people will be for your project, so you’ll know who to talk to as issues arise.
The site supervisor is the person responsible for leading the work crews each day. The supervisor is the person in charge, whom you will be communicating with onsite during the building process. If you have hired a landscape architect for construction administration, the landscape architect will check in with the site supervisor to keep track of progress and let you know if any issues arise.
Review the subcontractors. As a generalist, the landscape contractor relies on specialty artisans and workers to do custom work or build components with special materials and techniques. Along with knowing who will supervise the work, you will want to know who is responsible for specialty and artisan work, so that you can make sure those people are qualified. Ask for detailed information about the subcontractor’s qualifications, using similar questions to those you asked the landscape contractor.
The contractor hires subcontractors directly and typically has a roster of skilled people for special work. Common subcontracted work includes irrigation (some states require a specific irrigation license), pool installation, pond installation, specialty work (with materials like stone, wood, metal and concrete) and artisan work with sculpture, mosaics or ornate custom fabrications.
How much it will cost. There are two ways to get a cost from a contractor: an estimate or a bid. The differences between the two are explained in detail here.
When hiring a landscape contractor, you may want to use the bid, or fixed-price, method if you have a specific price that you do not want to exceed. However, the estimate is easier to compare among companies, because you’ll get detailed line item costs for the project. The landscape architect’s site plan for the project helps the contractor provide a more precise estimate.
Pictured here is a section of an estimate for a small swale garden installation from a landscape contractor. Landscape construction estimates include the materials, labor, delivery fees, waste disposal fees, project management fees (typically included in the labor cost) and anything else required to build the project. The cost of plants and materials is lower than what you would pay for plants at a retail store, because contractors purchase from wholesale distributors. A contractor will provide a detailed estimate with line items, like the one here. Compare estimates from several companies to make your selection.
It’s ultimately your choice as the client to pick the company you prefer. This means that you can override the landscape architect’s suggestion if there is another company you want to hire. The implication of suggesting someone else is that the architect and contractor will need to meet early in the project to build trust and a working relationship prior to the start of construction.
Base your decision on the best combination of qualifications, experience and cost to do the work. The cheapest estimate might not be the best choice, nor might the company with the most experience. It’s also helpful to meet potential contractors in person. The contractor will want to walk your property — or at least drive by — before providing an estimate anyhow, so use the opportunity to meet and get a feel for how professional and reliable he or she is. If you are vetting contractors on your own, request that they visit the site and have a short meeting with you so that you can talk in person. The background check can be done online and by speaking with the company over the phone.
Once you’ve made your selection, you will need to sign a contract that outlines the scope of work, warranty on plants and schedule for project completion.
The shortage of homes for sale has been a major concern for buyers and real estate agents over the last few years. Windermere Chief Economist, Matthew Gardner, explains the impact these shortages are having on the housing market.
More than 80 percent of Americans say they want an outdoor living space where they can relax and entertain. And it’s no wonder why. Outdoor spaces extend your livable space, add visual interest, and increase not only your quality of life, but also the overall value of your home. (In some cases, the increase in your home's value can cover most or all of the cost to create the new space.) Here are some options to consider:
DECK
Decks are still the most popular outdoor living spaces, not only because they work so well for entertaining and relaxing, but also because they have the highest return on investment (see the Tips column for data).
Surprisingly, wood decks (made of cedar or pine) are actually the better financial investment, because building with Trex or other popular composite products costs considerably more, yet doesn’t increase the home’s value by as much.
Expanding and reconfiguring your current deck is another option that’s popular today. The contractor will typically remove the old face boards, extend the underlying structure, and then put down the new decking. This is also an opportunity to add built-in furniture, privacy screens, even plumbing and electricity.
PATIO
Running a close second to decks – in both popularity and investment return – are patios. With a patio, you can relax and entertain at ground level, which can afford more privacy in urban areas, and allows you to be more engaged with the surrounding plants and landscaping.
Typically made of brick, concrete, or stone, a patio also comes with far fewer maintenance and repair issues than a deck. Plus, patios are generally easier and less disruptive to construct – which is why they’re often about 30 percent less expensive to have professionally built.
GAZEBO
For those who want even more privacy, as well as shelter from the sun and protection from mosquitoes and other pests, there’s the gazebo. Available with walls or as an open-air design, with screening or not, these modestly sized, affordable backyard structures can be built from scratch or purchased as a kit (for assembly by a do-it-yourselfer or a professional).
Popular in the Midwest for decades, gazebos have made their way west as homeowners here have discovered how nice and easy they are for creating a shaded spot for reading, relaxing, and backyard gatherings.
OUTDOOR KITCHEN
People tend to gather naturally in the kitchen. And when the kitchen is outdoors, it creates an ideal opportunity to mix, mingle and interact in the open air. Other reasons why cooking outdoors makes so much sense: less kitchen cleanup, the house stays cooler during the summer, and grilled food just tastes better.
Some may think an outdoor kitchen is only for cooks who host large parties, but homeowners who go this route say they’re more of an extension of the home, and great for daily use.
Designs for outdoor kitchens range from the simple (a grill, limited counter and cabinet space, and maybe a prep sink) to truly independent entities with a refrigerator, an elaborate grill, warming oven, freestanding island with storage space, rolling cart stations, and even a dishwasher. Depending on how elaborate your design, you may be able to list it as a second kitchen when selling your house.
SIX PLANNING SUGGESTIONS
Before meeting with contractors, gather photos of designs and ideas that you like; this will make it much easier to communicate your ideas.
Make sure the materials you plan to use, as well as the overall size of the structure, will be harmonious with your home’s current look and feel.
Give serious consideration to a roof – which will likely add significantly to the cost, but will also provide much-needed shade on hot days and protection from rain and inclement weather. In fact, to ensure things are structurally sound and architecturally appealing, start with the design for the roof first, then set your sights on the roof supports and structure below.
Incorporate lighting into your design, which will extend its usability into the evening and throughout the seasons.
Consider convenience, comfort, and longevity when choosing materials. For example, a floor made of dirt or stepping stones may last forever, but one made of wood or concrete is much easier to clean and arrange furniture upon.
If you’re eager to live a healthier lifestyle and reconnect with family and friends, as most people are today, it’s time to consider an outdoor living space.
Will the Trump administration have an impact on the U.S. housing market? Windermere Chief Economist, Matthew Gardner, weighs in on how mortgage rates, inflation, and the possible repeal of Dodd-Frank could impact housing in the foreseeable future.
Windermere Real Estate Chief Economist, Matthew Gardner, was interviewed by real estate industry news leader, Inman News, on what impact recent White House turmoil could have on the U.S. housing market. This is what he had to say:
Windermere Chief Economist Matthew Gardner says that housing will be isolated from yesterday’s events, at least for now. “Financial markets hate one thing more than anything else, and that is uncertainty,” Gardner told Inman. “Yesterday’s sell-off was a clear response to the appointment of a special counsel and markets were clearly on edge.
“As far as housing goes, the downside will likely be muted, at least for the time being. Yesterday’s news headlines cast further doubt on the new administration’s ability to rapidly enact the legislation that prompted investors to make big bets on higher stocks and interest rates.
“Unsurprisingly, investors pushed stocks and interest rates lower following the news. This triggered mortgage rates to drop significantly, as part of the broad-based sell-off in equities. At least for the time being, I do not see any long-term housing related issues following the political turmoil that currently embroils Washington.”
There are parts of every job, no matter what field you’re in, that are just less fun than others. Building professionals pride themselves on doing anything and everything to make clients happy. But that doesn’t always mean the builder is jumping up and down with excitement at every stage of a project.
When it comes to remodeling and home building, contractors will do just about anything to make you happy. They’ll meet with you on short notice. They’ll come up with creative solutions to your unique requests. They’ll even clean your toilets if you ask (although maybe not for free).
Contractors may have a brave face on at all times, but I’ll let you in on a little secret: There are some things they just don’t like to hear. Such as …
1. “I reselected my plumbing fixtures.” Most good contractors will harp on how important it is to get all your selections made as soon as possible. Some won’t even start a project until everything is selected. It’s a great practice, and it helps to keep your project going as smoothly as possible.
So if you come to your builder in the middle of the project and say, “Hey, by the way, I chose all new plumbing fixtures for the master bathroom,” they might get a little nervous. Depending on what stage of work they’re in and what you reselected, this could be no big deal. Or it could mean doing a lot of extra work to prepare for the new fixtures. Even worse, there may be a lead time associated with your new selections. This could cause an unplanned stop in work, which nobody (homeowners, subcontractors, builders, neighbors) likes.
2. “Can we hang this chandelier up there?” (Points to 20-foot-tall ceiling.) Why, yes! Yes, we can. I’ll just be sitting in the corner biting my nails as I watch my electricians stand on massive ladders that I (the person with the fear of heights) would never set foot on, all while they hold and hang a massively heavy and most likely expensive chandelier. But, yeah, we can definitely do that. No problem.
There’s really no way to avoid challenges like this. But it helps to give your builder a heads up on out-of-the-ordinary needs you may have. That way, he or she can take extra precautions, such as setting up scaffolding, and warn you of any additional costs that your request could involve.
3. “Can you meet at 5 p.m. this Friday?” Admittedly, I don’t think anyone likes to hear this. Contractors may work long hours and be available pretty much whenever you need them to be, but that doesn’t mean that they don’t want to go home a little early (or at least leave on time) on Friday to relax.
A great way to ensure you’ll have your contractor’s undivided attention is to set up recurring meetings. Find a time that works for both of you and save it in your calendars. That way, no one has to worry about last-minute, pre-weekend meetings.
4. “Let’s make all of the walls smooth!” I think smooth walls are beautiful. They’re crisp and clean and are a must in my book. I’ll say this much, though: They aren’t always easy. It’s one thing to hire a high-quality drywall contractor who is a pro at smooth finishes. It’s another thing entirely to have all involved parties be happy with the final product.
It’s kind of like If You Give a Moose a Muffin. It starts with one thing that needs to be fixed (“That corner isn’t perfectly square”) and seemingly overnight turns into a mile-long punch list detailing everything from millimeter-wide blemishes to areas of texture that look weird in a certain light. Like I said, I adore smooth walls, but getting them to a level of smoothness that everyone can agree on can be a bit of a task.
If you can find it within yourself to hold off on the nitpicking until your builder at least has the paint primer up (this is the stage when it’s easiest to see any remaining imperfections), you’ll save yourself and your builder a headache.
5. “Could you help me move [insert expensive item here]?” Grand pianos, $50,000 paintings, one-of-a-kind sculptures — you name it, I’m afraid of moving it. Asking remodelers to help you move something valuable to you (whether monetarily or emotionally) is asking them to take on a lot of liability.
While it may make sense to ask them for a little help — after all, they have plenty of crews, and they’re already at your house — it’s not worth the risk for any party involved. Your best bet is rephrasing the question to “Do you know anyone I could hire to help me move [insert expensive item here]?”
As I was speaking to my co-workers for their take on things contractors “hate” to do, it became apparent to me that, for the most part, there isn’t too much that we won’t do to make our customers happy. On top of that, there aren’t a huge number of things that make us shudder. (Notable exception: When someone used the toilet at a house where the water wasn’t on — yuck.)
There might be materials or tasks contractors try to avoid if they can, and some might even steer their customers away from certain things to make everyone’s life a little easier. (Our in-house designer avoids marble in kitchens at all costs because of its susceptibility to stains.) But in the end, we’re in the customer service game for a reason. We love to make people happy, and we’ll do whatever we can to facilitate that.
For many children, the free meals that they receive in the school cafeteria may be the only food that they get for the entire day. And that’s just on the weekdays. On the weekends, children often go hungry because their families cannot afford to cover basic household expenses, including groceries. And when the school year ends, they lose the security of those two meals, making summer the hungriest season of the year for children in our communities.
Through the Windermere Foundation, many Windermere offices throughout our network support programs that provide weekend and summer meal programs. These programs help girls and boys at risk of hunger get access to nutritious meals outside of school.
Here are just a few of the programs that our agents and offices support…
California
For the past two years, the Windermere Redding office has supported an afterschool/summer program at Eagles Soar Youth Activity Center (ESYAC) with a monthly donation of $54 that they can use to purchase food, clothes, and other necessities. The program serves “housed” homeless kids—kids who live in transient housing such as motel rooms and trailer parks. It is a 100 percent volunteer organization that is funded by donations from the community. Program volunteers pick the kids up after school twice a week and they also have a summer events program. They feed and tutor the kids, provide them with clothes if needed, and send them home with food for the weekend. Over 90 percent of the kids they help are on the honor roll.
Montana
For the past two years, the Windermere Missoula office has supported the Missoula Food Bank’s Kids Empower Pack program. The Kids Empower Pack is a nutrition program helping kids stay nourished when school is not in session. School officials identify children living with chronic hunger and enroll them in the program. And every Friday, they are sent home with a backpack full of nutrition for the weekend. In 2016, the Missoula office donated $1,200, with half of the proceeds from their annual standup paddle board race being donated to the program. The program will be one of the beneficiaries again for this year’s event. Last school year, Kids Empower Pack was helping 528 local kids every weekend. In 2017, Kids Empower Pack will feed 750 kids every weekend.
Oregon
The Windermere Gearhart and Cannon Beach offices support Warrenton-Hammond Healthy Kids, Inc., donating $500 to them in 2016 and $3,500 over the past six years. WHHKids currently serves Warrenton Grade School's 771 students and Warrenton High School’s 261 students with food weekend backpacks, clothing, and hygiene items. The student population that receives free and reduced lunches is 55 percent. This is down from a high of 64 percent for the past few years. They also serve the district's homeless population.
In 2016, the Windermere Portland-Raleigh Hills office donated $2,000 to Take Action INC. Take Action INC is an all-volunteer backpack program, non-profit organization, whose mission is to find resources to feed hungry kids, educate the public of the severity of childhood hunger in our midst, and encourage local communities to adopt schools of their own. One hundred percent of the grant is used to purchase food at a generous five percent discount from their Beaverton Grocery Outlet store partner to help 36 low-income families and feed 45 food-insecure kids at Hayhurst Elementary School.
Washington
Over the past three years, the Windermere Seattle-Wedgwood office has supported the Hunger Intervention Program with approximately $9,000 in Windermere Foundation grants. The program provides nutritious weekend food for students eligible for free or reduced price lunch when school lunches aren’t available, in addition to providing meals during the summer. The program currently serves students at Olympic Hills, John Rogers, BrierCrest, and ViewLands Elementary schools, as well as Kellogg Middle School and Nathan Hale High School.
Sometimes individual agents recognize a need in their communities and create their own programs, like Anne Jones, an agent at the Windermere Tacoma-Professional Partners office. After speaking with representatives from various schools, it was determined that food insecurity was a significant issue. So last fall, Anne created the Snacks for Schools program to support Tacoma area schools. The ultimate goal of the program is to not only provide food, but to also foster connections between community members and schools throughout the city. The program’s first delivery took place in March 2017 at First Creek Middle School, where they were able to provide a snack for all 750 students. In April, they stocked the pantry at Blix Elementary. So far, snacks have been provided for 2,400 students. With the help of other agents and community partners, the program hopes to reach 13 more schools during the month of May.
Thanks to the efforts of our Windermere offices and agents, we are tackling issues of food insecurity in our communities and helping our nonprofit partners provide nutritious meals for children in need. If you’d like to help support programs in your community, please click on the Donate button.
Oregon State has added almost 40,000 new jobs over the past 12 months. Although growth has slowed significantly, we can attribute this to the fact that the state has reached “full employment.” When this is achieved, growth has to rely on the population rising to drive jobs higher and, inevitably, the pace slows. Year-over-year, employment in Oregon rose by 2.2%.
In February, the state unemployment rate fell to 4% and is now at a level that has not been seen in more than four decades. Additionally, the number of people who are unemployed dropped to about 82,000—a figure last seen in August of 1995.
HOME SALES
First quarter home sales fell by 4.5% compared to the same period last year. In total, 12,299 homes sold in the first quarter of this year.
Sales rose the fastest in Klickitat County, which saw a 50% increase over Q1 2016. There were also noticeable increases in sales in Skamania, Cowlitz, Klamath, and Tillamook Counties. Home sales fell the most in Jefferson, Crook, Hood River, and Washington Counties.
There were 11 counties where sales rose year over year, and 15 counties that reported declines.
The low number of homes for sale continues to affect the market and is pushing home sales activity lower. This means sellers remain firmly in the driver’s seat.
HOME PRICES
The average home price in the region rose by 9.4% year-over-year to $334,299. This is down from 10.9% in the fourth quarter of 2016.
Jefferson County took over as the market with the strongest annual price growth, with homes selling for 30.7% above the level seen a year ago.
All but three counties experienced rising prices when compared to the first quarter of 2016, and most of these saw significant, double-digit increases.
Despite rising interest rates, the lack of inventory continues to drive home prices higher.
DAYS ON MARKET
The average number of days it takes to sell a home in the region dropped by five days when compared to the first quarter of 2016, but it took 17 days longer to sell a home than in the fourth quarter of 2016.
The average time it took to sell a home in the region was 98 days.
In several counties, days on market rose when compared to the same period a year ago. This is not too surprising given that the counties where sales slowed are small, which often leads to erratic demand.
Counties where homes sold the fastest were Washington and Multnomah Counties, where it took an average of 33 and 42 days respectively for homes to sell.
CONCLUSIONS
The speedometer reflects the state of the region’s housing market using housing inventory, price gains, home sales, interest rates, and larger economic factors. Economic growth in Oregon State remains impressive, and the region’s housing market clearly continues to benefit from such robust growth. Home sales have slowed, which has taken a little steam out of the strong appreciation rates we’ve seen over the past several months. That said, the market remains remarkably tight and unlikely to shift dramatically for the duration of 2017. As such, I have moved the needle slightly more toward sellers for the first quarter.
Matthew Gardner is the Chief Economist for Windermere Real Estate, specializing in residential market analysis, commercial/industrial market analysis, financial analysis, and land use and regional economics. He is the former Principal of Gardner Economics and has over 25 years of professional experience both in the U.S. and U.K.
When you’re embarking on a renovation project, it’s a good idea to clear as much space as possible before the chaos ensues. Think about what you want and need in your new room, and thoroughly declutter the area. Follow these tips for clearing, organizing and storing to ensure your building work creates as little upheaval as possible.
Be systematic. Start sifting through your cupboards and bookshelves. If you need to pack up a room or two, now is a great time to assess what’s lurking in the back of your cabinets.
Pack frequently used items into transparent storage boxes. Label them clearly and move them to another room. They’ll be out of the way of dust and builders, but still easily accessible.
Items used less often can be packed in cardboard boxes and stored out of the way. Pack them carefully and label each box with the general contents. It’s a great idea to take photos of the box and label in its new location, so you can easily find things during the renovation or when you’re unpacking after the work is complete.
Consider your needs. If you’re planning an interior remodel to change the way you use your space, think about why you want to change the layout. Do you need a safe play area for young children, or maybe a small office space to facilitate working from home?
Provide your designer or architect with as much information as possible about how you want to use your space, so he or she can make it really work for you. A good professional will listen and provide a solution tailored to your requirements. In this dining area, for example, the designer has incorporated neat wine storage beneath the bench seating.
Look at the space objectively. Once you have an idea of how you want your renovated space to look, you can plan your decluttering strategy. Take a few photos of your room and look at them with a friend or relative whose opinion you trust. Talk about what you need to take out to achieve your desired look. This will help motivate you as you declutter, getting rid of everything that doesn’t contribute toward your goal.
Also, think about whether you want to take on the mammoth task of decluttering yourself, or whether it’s worth calling in a professional organizer to help you declutter at the outset.
Use storage that moves. Plastic storage boxes on wheels will come in very handy, as you’ll probably be moving things around to give your builders access around the house.
If you’re planning a bedroom refurbishment, you’ll need to be selective about which clothes and toiletries you pack away and which you want to keep on hand for the duration of the improvements. A portable covered clothes rail and some lightweight drawers on wheels can store a capsule wardrobe and keep your clothes dust-free.
Think about daily routines. Most home remodeling projects involve some disruption, so plan ahead for changes to your daily routine. If you’re having your kitchen renovated, you could think about setting up a mini cook station elsewhere in the house. This could be something as simple as a table and microwave.
Alternatively, you could arrange to stay somewhere else for a while. Pets might also need a place to go; ask a friend to help out or research reputable pet sitters in your area.
Store valuables securely. While it’s important that you trust your builders, there will be periods during the renovation when your home will be left unlocked. It might possibly be without windows, doors and even walls at some point. In addition, a stream of tradespeople will be coming and going. So take precautions and keep valuables in a safe in your home, or in a deposit box off-site.
Make some room. Almost any renovation project will require you to be living in fewer rooms than usual, and these areas will probably need to be multifunctional. If you’re not going to keep all your room furniture when the work is finished, it’s a good idea to pass pieces on or sell them before the work starts. Decluttering prior to the renovation means you’ll have fewer items to move, pack, store and unpack once the work is finished.
If you’re planning to use a garage or loft for storage during the project, check in advance that large items will fit through doors and openings. Also, make sure you’ve cleared out sufficient space for the furniture to fit. Alternatively, you could rent a secure storage locker while the renovation is taking place.
Don’t forget the outside. If your project involves some external work, do that outside decluttering you’ve been putting off. Clear away all those items you’ve left outside to deal with in the future, as the future has now arrived! Rent a dumpster or a van and get rid of your accumulated junk. If it’s not junk, add to your project budget by selling your unwanted possessions.
Gather everyday essentials. With all the disruption of a home improvement project, it’s crucial that you don’t lose essentials such as your keys, phone, chargers, project paperwork and tape measure. Consider setting up a special workstation to keep these necessities on hand.
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The average home price in the region rose by 9.4% year-over-year to $334,299. This is down from 10.9% in the fourth quarter of 2016.
The speedometer reflects the state of the region’s housing market using housing inventory, price gains, home sales, interest rates, and larger economic factors. Economic growth in Oregon State remains impressive, and the region’s housing market clearly continues to benefit from such robust growth. Home sales have slowed, which has taken a little steam out of the strong appreciation rates we’ve seen over the past several months. That said, the market remains remarkably tight and unlikely to shift dramatically for the duration of 2017. As such, I have moved the needle slightly more toward sellers for the first quarter.
