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Question #7: Are wall anchors a good way to stop a bulging wall?

Answer: NO WAY! I have stacks of wall anchor plates at my shop. They came from all the wall anchor systems we had to remove to truly SOLVE once and forever the Bowed wall problem. Wall anchor systems are supposed to slowly straighten a wall over time. The company comes out drill a hole in the wall and drives a metal rod or screw into the earth. The threaded rod then has a plate nut and washer. The company will give you a special wrench and then tell you to give it a ¼ turn every couple of months to “draw the wall slowly back. This is pure nonsense in order to truly straighten a wall the wall must first be excavated removing the heavy soil so the wall can be then straightened and repaired.

Someone was talking about wall anchors recently… here? In the comments? Inspector? Contractor? I mostly still see I beams… does he collect those too? Why would he be taking wall anchors back and collecting them? Discard them? Recycle them? This is a series from a spam email from a basement contractor in Central Ohio.

Question Seven dedicated to Dave of Dave’s Beer for his devotion to the series. Thanks

Wet Basement Quiz Questions 5 & 6

Wet Basement Quiz Question 4

Wet Basement Quiz Question 3

Wet Basement Quiz Question 2

Central Ohio Wet Basement Quiz…

The bottom of the list is a great place to be in this case.

The third quarter 2007 report from the PMI Institute (private mortgage insurance) about  risk by US market is out… It’s a PDF.  PMI 3rd Quarter 2007 ’What’s a Normal Housing Market?’  Page 7 and page 11 are my favorites.Page 11 map is a great graphic.  California, Las Vegas, parts of Florida are  red hot with risk for declining prices.  Not so much the markets on the bottom of the table on page 7 pf the PMI report:

1.  Fort Worth - Arlington TX
2.  Dallas, Plano, Irving TX
3.  Pittsburgh PA
4.  Houston, Sugarland-Baytown TX
5.  San Antonio TX
6.  Indianapolis - Carmel IN
7.  Cincinnati - Middletown OH, KY, IN
8.  Columbus OH
9.  Austin Roundrock TX
10. Kansas City MO KS

Harley E. Rouda Jr. president of Real Living (Real Living is in lots of markets across the US but is based in Columbus Ohio)  forwarded the news to Real Living associates yesterday with a note:

“Dan Riley in Cleveland shared this information with me that is very interesting. Basically, you can look at the top metro markets in the U.S. and see the probability of average home price decreases over the next 2 years; Affordability Index; as well as other information. In many markets, the media hype predicting home price declines is just not based on the facts.”

Thanks Harley Rouda Jr.  Thanks Dan Riley from Cleveland….

Unit sales were down 7% according to info the Columbus Board of Realtors supplied to the media yesterday. And to us the membership a day later… I’ve always had a hard time with that… hearing it or reading it from the media… yes historically we did not have the channels to transmit the information internally but we do now. I just think the real estate bloggers should get to scoop the media.

Business First of Columbus - Realtors: Area homes sales down 7% in 2007

The Columbus Dispatch - “Housing rebound on way?”

” Dismal ‘07 could lead to local-market rebirth”

Daily Reporter - Local Realtors say they expect home sales to improve during 2008

With a 7% decrease in unit sales the year was still the 4th largest (highest) on record. Dollar volume was down 8% and the average price slid from 174,882 dollars to 172,990 dollars.

According to the President of the Columbus Board of Realtors, Greg Hrabcak, there were less homes sales over a million dollars in 2007. There were also more home sales under 30,000 dollars, investors buying while the buying is good.

The story is also available to the public via the consumer info available at the e Columbus Board of Realtors website.  It’s in our In Contract Magazine for the membership as well “2007 best year on record for central Ohio home buyers”

This series has not been as much fun as I thought it would be. Oh well…

I can’t post the questions 5 and 6…. it is just too much… It’s too spammy that they are the only one for the job… it’s came from an email spam after all. Super Dry Basement guy (he’s got kind of a superman thing going on on the website) wrote the book on “Super Dry Basements”

Here’s a synopsis…

USE US

Don’t Use a GC

Don’t use a handy man

Don’t use anyone unless they are “COMMERCIAL” like us…

We use STUFF they can’t buy…

I showed a property with a wet basement recently… or maybe a formerly wet basement… there may be some moisture coming in the walls is a better description. It just was not a pretty basement but we looked at the property three times. He wanted to get input from a family member and a friend about that basement. Last night the buyer told me he’d ruled it out.

We’d asked some questions about the basement and got no response.

Nice place. Ugly basement.

Wet Basement Quiz Question 4

Wet Basement Quiz Question 3

Wet Basement Quiz Question 2

Central Ohio Wet Basement Quiz…

A Central Ohio home

Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous…

Is Robin Leach still around? He is. Leach is hanging out with the rich and famous in Las Vegas and has a “popular” blog on AOL - Luxe Life Vegas

A comment 0n a TechCrunch post ‘Zillow Adds 10 Million Homes, Adopts Real Estate Data Standard With Yahoo and Trulia’ says:

# Erick

January 10th, 2008 at 10:25 am

I have a friend who’s parents own one of the most expensive houses in Columbus OH. They are selling it for 8.5-9 million dollars. Zillow zestimates it at 1.5 or so. That’s REALLY lame. I dont understand the issue since the comparibles in the area are around the 4 to 5 million dollars i believe so 1.5 just seems real off.

I am not sure where Erick got his information that Zillow has a home that is on the market for 8.5 or 9 million dollars Zestimated* at 1.5 million dollars. It’s not that way now.

Call me nosy but by “on the market,” I assume Erick means listed with a brokerage that is a member of the Columbus Board of Realtors. I did not think we had homes that high in price in our market (the “luxury” market is not my area of expertise.) I found only 2 homes over 5 million dollars on the market in Central Ohio… looking at the Columbus Board of Realtors multiple listing service. If I’d noticed the second comment from Erick (is this Erick the writer of the Tech Crunch piece? The name of the commenter is not linked but the article is written by Erick Schonfeld…) I would have known the home he says is selling for 8.5 to 9 million dollars is in New Albany.

In response to another comment, Erick wrote:

# Erick

January 10th, 2008 at 11:20 am

@JSM - The house is rural. Outside the outterbelt where parking isnt an issue. Its in the New Albany area if that helps. Same neighborhood Les Wexner lives in.

Central Ohio homes over 7 million dollars - 2 properties

Property One

According to Zillow:

“ZESTIMATE®: $4,603,000

Value Range: $3,912,550 - $4,695,060

30-day change: -$17,000

Zestimate updated: 01/03/2008″

Second home over 5 million…

“Zestimate®: $4,150,500

* Value Range: $3,527,925 - $4,233,510

* 30-day change: -$15,500

Zestimate updated: 01/03/2008″

I will agree that there is still a huge difference in value between the properties list price and their Zestimates but I don’t see the 1.5 million dollar estimate (or Zestimate) that Erick is concerned with.

What is a Zestimate* according to Zillow:

“Zestimate
A Zestimate home valuation is Zillow’s estimated market value. It is not an appraisal. Use it as a starting point to determine a home’s value.
The Value Range is the high and low estimated market value for which Zillow values a home. The more information, the smaller the range, and the more accurate the Zestimate.”

Don’t believe everything you see on the Internet…

Search for homes on Real Living HER (the IDX from the MLS - broker to broker_

Luxury Homes - Gold and Platinum Homes

The $4,150,500 to $4,603,000 values that Zillow is using? Look at the county auditors site.

Erick’s comment about the home being in an area that has comparables (homes sold) in the 4 to 5 million dollar range is odd… maybe new builds that did not go through the multiple listing service… are selling like hot cakes in New Albany in the 4 to 5 million dollar range… I don’t find those comparables for resales though… again this is not my area of expertise.  What do I know?

Zestimates have been highly inaccurate. Zillow’s value ranges are huge…

Real Living is putting ALL of our (It’s Real Living HER in Central Ohio) listings on Zillow… I was Googling for news on the Zillow / Real Living reconciliation when I found Erick’s comment on TechCrunch.

Real Living “Loves Z Loves Z Not…”

Beyond the Call of Doody