Nolo’s Real Estate Tips for Home Buyers

If you're nearing retirement -- or just like to plan ahead -- what you'll do with the house you own is an important topic for discussion with your spouse or partner.

Yes, that sounds obvious. But an astonishing number of couples haven't had that basic conversation, as pointed out by USA TODAY's Sandra Block, in her column entitled "80% of couples disagree when it comes to retirement planning."

Among the statistics she points to, provided by Fidelity Investments: 60% of couples disagree about when to retire, 44% disagree about whether to work in retirement, 42% disagree about their retirement lifestyle, and 44% disagree about whether they'll need to sell real estate to fund their retirement.

This isn't a conversation that should wait until the last minute. For example, perhaps you're thinking about a bathroom remodel.  If you know you'll want to stay in this house during retirement, now might be a great time to take some measurements and make sure it's wheelchair accessible, just in case. But if you know you want to sell the house and move, your focus should be on what changes to the bathroom will add the most to your selling price.

What makes a house suitable for retirement, anyway? Look for features like:

• accessibility to public transport and shops, in case the time comes when you shouldn't really be driving
• minimal challenges to a person with limited mobility -- single-level homes with few stairways are best, and
  
• easy-to-grip handles and knobs, plus safety railings (these probably aren't there now, but make sure they won't be a problem to add later).

For more on evaluating your house's retirement potential, see Buying a Second Home: Income, Getaway, or Retirement, by Craig Venezia.

It's no secret that now is not the best time in recent history to sell a house. Prices are down in most areas of the U.S., buyers are taking their time and asking for lots of concessions, and the economy is keeping everyone cautious.

But life moves on, and many people can't wait for a turnaround to sell their home -- particularly those moving to a place where they can find work, moving to a retirement home, or needing a bigger house for a growing family.

That's why we wrote our most recent Nolo book, Selling Your House in a Tough Market. The book provides advice on key aspects of the process, like getting to know the local market (some are better than others for sellers), setting the right price (so the house doesn't stagnate on the market), staging it to look its best, and much more. And you can hear free tips from the authors, Alayna Schroeder and me, Ilona Bray, by listening to a podcast interview (click here). 

Moving to a new house is a thrill, and will probably offer lots of benefits to your children if you have any: separate bedrooms, a bigger play area, maybe even the possibility of their first cat or dog.

Yet despite all that, your children  may not share your excitement at moving. As child and family therapist Debbie Essex told us when we were writing our book Nolo's Essential Guide to Buying Your First Home, "One of the reasons moving is tough on children is that they've usually had very little input into the process -- they just feel like their lives are being disrupted."

One way of helping kids deal with those feelings is to read them (or gently suggest they read) books about other children who've gone through the same thing. In fact, I'm told by a Berkeley librarian that such books get a lot of requests. We mentioned a few good books in our Nolo guide, but more are out there, even a few recently published goodies. Here's a list of some I've come across:

Plum Fantastic, by Whoopi Goldberg and Deborah Underwood (Hyperion, 2008): Alexandra Petrakova Johnson moves from a small southern town to New York City, where her mother enrolls her in ballet lessons despite her wish to become a speed skater. She must learn to make new friends, conquer stage fright, and more. 

Aldo Applesauce, by Johanna Hurwitz (Puffin, 1989): Aldo, a fourth-grader and vegetarian from New York, adjusts to his family's move to a small town.

Anastasia Again, by Lois Lowry (Yearling, 1982): Fans of Anastasia Krupnik will enjoy watching her deal with her parents' move to the suburbs.

Mr. Rogers' Moving, by Fred Rogers (GP Putnam): I'm from the generation that watched Mr. Rogers so much that I can still sing "It's a Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood", so I have to trust this nonfiction, read-along guide for toddlers!

Alexander, Who's Not (Do You Hear Me? I Mean It!) Going to Move, by Judith Viorst (Atheneum, 1998): The title says it all, at least until Alexander has said goodbye to all his favorite things and come around to the idea of moving.

The recent economic stimulus bill lets first-time home buyers take a substantial tax credit -- either on their 2008 or 2009 taxes! This can work even if you haven't bought your house yet. You'd need to either file for an extension now or file an amended return later this year, after the purchase.

The exact amount of the credit is either $8,000 or 10% of the home's value, whichever is less.

For an excellent set of instructions on how to take the credit in 2008, see USA TODAY finance columnist Sandra Block's article, "Claiming this year's first-time home buyer's tax credit is easy," in the Tuesday, March 31st edition of USA TODAY. And for other details, see the CNN article, "Final score: $8,000 for homebuyers."

Own a co-op? Then you probably won't be happy to know (or remember) that residential buildings are a major offender when it comes to releases of carbon dioxide emissions. But as you also know too well, doing something about it will require enthusiasm, or at least buy-in, from other owners. For inspiration and advice, check out Mireya Navarro's article, "It's Not Easy Turning Co-Op Boards Green," in the March 26, 2009 issue of the New York Times.

One of the most interesting factoids was that you don't need to go all out with solar panels to have an effect on the bottom line -- the greatest bang for the buck comes from simple conservation measures like insulating pipes and weather-stripping doors.

Another interesting suggestion comes up in the article "Start Greening Your Building," from The Cooperator: The Co-Op and Condo Monthly: installing a device that measures every owner's individual energy usage -- that can certainly wake up some people who weren't too concerned about energy costs when they were spread among all owners.

And for more information for New York City residents, check out the website of Green Home NYC, a volunteer-run organization whose mission is to facilitate the adoption of sustainable building methods and materials by owners of small residential and commercial buildings in New York City.

Getting the mail delivered to one's new home is always a nice confirmation -- the place is really yours, even the delivery person recognizes it!

But what type of box is that mail coming to? If it's outdoors and unsecured, you may be opening yourself up to identity theft. Enterprising thieves can steal your bank statements, tax documents, and more, thus gaining all the information they need to drain your accounts or take out new credit cards and loans. Investing in a locking mailbox might need to be one of your first steps as a homeowner.

And then there's the matter of your outgoing trash -- another possible gold mine for thieves. Make sure to shred or rip out any sensitive personal information in your papers, particularly anything with your Social Security number.

With a little knowledge and preparation, you don't have to be a victim. That's the subject of Nolo's new book, Stopping Identity Theft, by Scott Mitic, an expert in the field and CEO of TrustedID, Inc. You'll find tips on dealing with all kinds of identity theft issues, not only around your house, but while shopping, traveling, surfing the Web, and more. I learned more than a few things about how to protect myself and my family by reading it! 

I have to start with a confession -- I'm the type of person who pays bills without looking very hard at them. Once, I signed a credit card charge slip for $1,500 that should have been $15. That's probably why I married someone who is the exact opposite and will stand by the grocery store checkout line mentally adding up everything on the receipt while I'm already carrying the bags to the trunk.

But he gets the last laugh a disturbing amount of the time. In fact, having seen how often mistakes happen, I've started checking things more carefully -- in this economy, the only mistakes I want to see on my bills are the ones where they forget to charge me!

And he got to tally up one more moral victory yesterday, when our gas and electric bill came. "That's a lot higher than normal," he said. "Huh?" I said, looking at the numbers cluelessly. "C'mon, let's go read the meter," he said. "You can do that?" I asked.

Five minutes later, I was feeling much more empowered, having witnessed for myself that, indeed, the gas bill showed a meter reading that was much higher than our real-life meter showed. And it's not much harder than reading your car's odometer. Even with the old-fashioned type of meter (which we of course have), where the arrows swing around as if on a clock face, you basically just look at whichever number each arrow is pointing at, in succession. Click here for pictorial instructions.

The happy ending: We'll be getting about $150 back on our gas bill very soon.  

Paul A. Rude, retired General Contractor and member of the American Society of Home Inspectors, answers your questions on remodeling, dealing with contractors, and home maintenance.

Dear Paul: What money-saving tips can you offer to homeowners who need to make repairs or would like to start remodeling projects?

Dear Reader:
Because times are tough for everyone, you might actually get some good deals. Here are some of my favorite strategies:

• If you have the time to shop for things to spruce up the ol' homestead, you can find just about anything on Craigslist, EBay, etc.
• Lumber yards often have returned merchandise that is seriously marked down -- sometimes these are top-of-the-line items like custom windows or doors. You just have to be imaginative to think of how to use them.
• Paint stores always have lots of returned paint that's just fine but wasn't the exact color someone else wanted. It's nearly free, and even if it's not what you had in mind for the dining room, it will be fine for the basement, garage, or wherever the exact color is not important. If it's a light color, you may even be able to get it re-tinted closer to what you want.
• In the current economy, lots of contractors will be going out of business and may sell off their stock of materials and tools at cents on the dollar.
• Most larger towns have salvage yards and recycling centers that handle building materials, appliances, and fixtures.
• If you have friends or neighbors whose homes also need sprucing up, put together a cooperative effort -- have a painting bee, share a debris box to get rid of junk, and so on.

Settling into your new kitchen and curious about things like whether to buy a plastic or wooden chopping board? Here's a fun quiz from the Sierra Club -- I scored pretty well, but still learned more than usually comes standard in the average "green" article.

And while we're talking green, let me throw in a tip of my own. I just painted the bedroom and was finally able to justify having saved all those old bedspreads, sheets, and towels -- you know, the ones that are too ratty to give to charity -- just like my Lithuanian refugee mother taught me. The box of rags was starting to feel like its own kind of clutter, but I was able to cover the floor and all the furniture that was too big to move out, without having to buy any tarps. Very satisfying.

Everyone loves a sequel, right? And as authors of Nolo's Essential Guide to Buying Your First Home, we're thrilled to have just received, hot off the presses, copies of our sequel to that book: The Essential Guide for First-Time Homeowners: Maximize Your Investment and Enjoy Your New Home.

This is the manual we wish we'd had when we became homeowners. It covers everything from housewarming parties to new-found tax deductions, from maintenance to remodeling. And it's loaded with tips for economic hard times, like how to decorate on a budget, deal with your lender if you have trouble paying the mortgage, lower your homeowners' insurance payments, and even save money by going green.

You can start reading a sample chapter right now -- enjoy! And if you know anyone who's just bought a new house, think about this for a fun-yet-practical housewarming gift.