Maine Modular & Custom Home News

Let’s face it, with the stress and uncertainty we face each day just to get up, go to work and pay the bills, we all can use a little respite.  Where better to find a place of respite than within our own homes?  With a little planning you can create the perfect place for relaxation – a place you look forward to all day long – within the sanctuary of your own home.  Perhaps for you it would be a home spa.  Having some basic supplies on hand and paying attention to the mood setting ambiance that’s right for you, can change your bathroom into a personal haven.  Read these ideas at the www.relaxation-at-home.com website to get started today.  Spas are not the answer for everyone however.  At www.gmtoday.com you can read about making your walk-in closet into a personalized dressing room that transforms getting ready for your hectic day into a peaceful and calming experience.  If books are your highway to escape and respite, then what you need is your own book nook.  At www.typeamom.net it suggests that you find a comfortable corner and stake a claim to it.  Make this the perfect place to settle in with a cup of tea and a great novel.  Some people crave the sounds and smells of nature to find true relaxation.  At www.ezinearticles.com they give hints for creating a garden paradise with a soothing fountain.  If none of these ideas seem like the perfect at home get away for you, try reading Private Places by Judith Wilson to get some insight into making your home a true place of respite.  It doesn’t always take a lot of money to find place of comfort, just some creativity and a few small changes will make your life better.

Quality is a relevant term and should be treated as such.  All manufactured housing is subject to strict building codes which provide a minimum quality standard (minimum being the key word!)  Mobile homes are built to the HUD code, while modular homes are built to the BOCA code.  Researching the building codes will give you a fair understanding of the minimum quality you can expect when you buy a manufactured home.  All factory built homes are subject to these standards, however not all factory built homes are of the same quality.  HUD and BOCA codes were created to protect the consumer from shoddy craftsmanship.  Keep in mind that all factory built homes can be built to a much higher standard than the minimum.  The quality of your new home is entirely based on what is important to you.  Asking for your new home to be built to your standards assures you that your expectations of quality will be met.  At Schiavi Home Builders we go one step further by offering you the most qualified crew available in this area.  Our set crew, construction crew and quality assurance personnel make the process of delivering and readying your new home to move into a high priority.  We take care of everything so you can be certain the quality of the workmanship is top notch.

Think there is no good news in today’s economy?  Yes, times are tough.  Yes, the unemployment rate in Maine is 8.4%… but that means the employment rate is 91.6%.  Here are a few other positive notes about the market:

• 30 yr fixed mortgage rates continue to drop.
• Residential construction spending increased by 4.5% in April of 2010, bring it to the highest level in 15 months.
• The Northeast region saw a 66% increase in residential construction starts in April of 2010 compared to April of 2009.
• Maine’s Unemployment Rate in May (8%) is lower than the national rate (9.7%).  Maine has gained jobs 4 of the first 5 months of 2010.
• Compared Nationally, Maine has relatively low foreclosure rate.
• Oxford County, ME and Coos County, NH are in the middle 20% for Median Income Nationally.
• Cumberland, & York Counties, ME and Carroll County, NH are in the second highest 20% of Median Income Nationally.

Information found on these sites:

Reed Construction Data

NPR

Google and Yahoo! News

As I loaded my washing machine last weekend, a quick glance at the wallpaper border in the room got me thinking.  Many homes now have a “vintage washboard” as a decoration, but when did this tool go from being a tool to decoration?  This question started my research for this blog.  When did modern conveniences become the norm?

I will start with electricity as our conveniences require this utility.  When did electricity become a norm in American homes?  Ben Franklin may have been experimenting with electricity in the 1750’s, but it wasn’t until the mid 1930′s that electricity was a widespread utility.  President Roosevelt created the Rural Electrification Administration in 1935.  Even with the backing of FDR, many rural farming communities didn’t have electricity until the 1950’s!

The refrigerator is touted as the “most used modern convenience.”  Until the invention of the electric refrigerator in 1913, food storage was anything but convenient.  Many homes had small ice boxes that needed daily re-packing of ice to keep items cool.  Between 1915 and 1925, the refrigerator was sold as an add-on for homeowner’s current ice boxes.  In 1925 the complete unit became available for consumers.  It took 15 years for the fridge to become commonplace.

Back to my initial pondering, while the first electric washing machine was patented in 1908, less than 70% of homes had them until 1975.  Hard to believe that same year the microwave became a necessity in many kitchens, and had exceeded sales of gas stoves.  This accidental invention could be found in 60% of American homes in 1976.

Aren’t you glad you didn’t live in your grandmother’s era?

“The kitchen is the heart of the Home.”  This has been a catch phrase for years.  It is printed onto décor and embroidered on kitchen towels in kitchens around the world.  I have a new phrase “My kitchen is mission control.”  Whether I am doing homework with the kids, cooking a meal, paying bills, planning a family trip…. I’m in the kitchen.  Because so much happens in the kitchen, it is essential that I have an area to organize my life within the kitchen space.  Hence the Kitchen Office.

A kitchen office is a small space tucked into the kitchen design that allows you office space.  This space may only be a cabinet with a message board, charging station and bill basket tucked inside.  Or it could be a computer station with print drawer, mail slots and a filing cabinet.  It can be counter height, bar height, desk height, they even have standing workstations!  Kitchen offices can be designed into any kitchen to suit the needs of any family.  You know ‘It’s a good thing’ when Martha Stewart has one in her kitchen.

Kitchen Office in Martha Stewart's Home

Here are some links to get you started on your Kitchen Office:

Fit Functional Office Spaces in Kitchen   by HGTVPro.com

Kitchen Offices and Message Centers from 1001 Idead for Kitchen Organization by Joseph R. Provey

Kitchen Workstation Ideas by Better Homes and Gardens

In the housing market the appraised value of a home is the “line in the sand.”  If you are paying less for your home than the appraised value of the home, then you already have equity in your home.  If the appraised value of your home is lower than what you are paying for it, you have a problem.  Lending institutions will not loan more than the appraised value of a home.

Recently the appraisal process has under gone several changes due to the collapse of the mortgage industry.  Because of these changes, low appraisals have become more and more common.  We had a home appraisal come in lower than our cost to build the home!  How is this possible?  The biggest hurdle we face as a general contractor during the appraisal process is the comps (comparables).  To help determine the value of a home, appraisers look at local sales of similar homes.  There is a good chance the appraised value of your home will be based indirectly on the sale of a foreclosed or short sale home.

So, what can we do to justify the price of the home and ensure the appraised value of your new home is adequate to help you get financing?  Speak with the appraiser.  Banks are no longer allowed to have any relationship with the appraisers, general contractors however can.  A lot of times, we will request that the appraiser come to our Sales Office.  By doing this, they can tour our models to evaluate the quality of our work.  We can discuss the specification of the building project.  Many times we will visit the site with them to point out any value adding details on the property.  After the appraisal, if it is still low, we can request a copy of it to review.  By pointing out anything they may have missed such as hardwood flooring, the appraisal may be adjusted.

Here are some links to help you better understand the appraisal process:

http://www.getrichslowly.org/blog/2009/08/26/understanding-your-home-appraisal/

http://home.howstuffworks.com/real-estate/home-appraisals.htm This article is a bit older but has a lot of information.  This was written before changes were made to the appraisal process.  The article refer to the relationship between lending institutions and appraisal companies, this is no longer allowed.

This is a link to a USA Today article regarding the appraisal process and the debate about whether there is a problem or not:

http://www.usatoday.com/money/economy/housing/2010-01-04-foreclosures-weigh-on-appraisals_N.htm?csp=obinsite

Question:  What happens if during the building of your new home, there is a fire?  You have closed on your construction loan and the bank has made several dispersement payments for the construction costs.  You now have a mortgage but no home, who covers the damages?

Answer:  Your Builder’s Risk Insurance Policy.

Most banks require that a Builder’s Risk policy be in place at the initial closing of a construction loan.  They want to ensure that their interests (the money loaned for the project) are insured in the event of a catastrophic loss during the construction of a new home.  Builder’s Risk Insurance is a physical damage policy that covers all phases of construction.  From the moment equipment arrives on site to occupancy of the home.  Some of the losses this insurance covers include theft and vandalism, water, fire and weather damage.  This coverage is for the interests of the General Contractor, sub-contractors, bank and homeowner.  Each policy is project specific and should be reviewed between the General Contractor and homeowner.

Does your G.C. have Builder’s Risk Insurance? 

For more information, check out these links:

http://buildersriskinsurancehelp.com/

http://www.ehow.com/how_2049312_prepare-builders-risk-insurance-checklist.html

I’ve known what the topic for the “F” Blog was going to be for several weeks now, but needed to do a bit of foot work before writing the blog.  Facebook has become an unexpected phenomenon that has completely revolutionized the idea of “staying in touch.”  It is now possible to “stay in touch” with family and friends in minutes each day with just a few keystrokes.  Facebook has grown so quickly that now businesses are jumping on board.  What better way to get up to date information to clients, new and old, than on a media they are already using.

Schiavi Home Builders created our Facebook page back in 2008.  Since then we have posted several times a year…..  We are obviously failing miserably at “staying in touch” via Facebook.  This needs to change.  I have spent the past week adding photos to our profile and updating the information.  I invite you to check out our Facebook profile, here is a link:   Schiavi Home Builders on Facebook.  Become a Schiavi Home Builders Fan and watch as we develop this new face of our business.

Do you use Facebook to stay up to date with businesses you are interested in?  If so, what information do you look forward to receiving through Facebook?

Why is it that when our home renovations are complete, we aren’t 100% happy with the results?  For some reason the reality of the room doesn’t always live up to our expectations.  I believe the reason for this is that we don’t “go for it” when we are picking out our paint colors.  We tend to tone down our choices for fear that what we really want to do will be too drastic, too bright, too dark, too vivid….  The “toos” go on and on.  And when the job is complete, we end up just short of what we really wanted.

After years of watching shows like “Trading Spaces” “While You Were Out” “Design on a Dime” and many others, I had learned that being afraid of color can limit your design options.  I knew that my husband would have a fit about what I wanted to do in our home, so I started redecorating during his deployment.  Boy, was I glad I did.  The color I picked for the ceiling and top half of the walls of our Living Room was called Baritone, it was a really deep purple.  The first coat looked like “Barney” purple!  But I didn’t stop, I had a picture in my mind and knew that if I changed anything, I wouldn’t get that picture.  Besides, I already had the paint, I might as well finish, and if I didn’t like the results I could always adjust afterwards.  I’m so glad I followed through.  The Living Room turned out beautifully as did the Dining Room that we did the following year. 

Visit Behr, Glidden, Benjamin Moore or any other paint manufacturer for ideas for your renovations.  Get inspired and go for the picture you have in your mind!

Before I came to work at Schiavi Home Builders, I was a stay at home mom.  This meant we had a single income to support a family of four, plus two dogs, three cats and a guinea pig.  We are also working on a major home renovation….  The household budget was a very important part of my “job.”  I think this is why I am choosing Household Budgeting as the topic for my first blog.

In the society we live in, instant gratification is not only expected, it is now the norm.  I want something now; therefore, I go buy it now.  Living on a budget is “taboo.”  This attitude not only makes debt reduction difficult, but planning for a new home impossible.  Whether you are saving for a down payment or closing costs, or just trying to decide what you can afford for a mortgage payment, a detailed household budget should be part of this process.

There are many budget programs out there.  A family could spend hundreds of dollars to get books, software, programs, going to seminars, or lectures.  It is not necessary to spend anything to create and manage your household budget.  Below are links to website that offer FREE budgeting information:

This article Budget isn’t a Bad Word explains the advantages of using a budget.

To help you get started, here is a link to a basic budget worksheet:  Budgeting Form.

And finally, here is an article that has several links in regards to cutting expenses and finding extra money in your budget: Easy Ways to Cut Expenses.