Homeowner News – Page 16

Lead Paint Remediation Options

April 18, 2011 by admin

Lead Paint At Your Home?

If you home was built prior to 1978 chances are there will be some lead paint products in or outside of your home.

If testing reveals the presence of lead-based paint in your pre-1978 home, here are a few of the options at your disposal for removing it.

What does it cost?

According to the EPA, professional lead-based paint removal for the following three options costs about $8 to $15 per square foot or about $9,600 to $30,000 for a 1,200- to 2,000-sq. ft. house. The average removal project costs about $10,000.

Lead Paint Removal Options:

Encapsulation. Typically the least complicated and most affordable method, encapsulation involves brushing or rolling on a specially made paint-like coating that creates a watertight bond and seals in the lead-based paint. However, opening and closing your doors and windows eventually may wear off the coating.

Encapsulation products start at about $35 per gallon. Expect to pay $600 to $1,000 to cover surfaces in a 1,200- to 2,000-sq. ft. home (not including labor).

Enclosure. With this method, the old surface is covered with a new one, such as putting up new drywall or covering windowsills with aluminum or vinyl cladding. If the enclosed surface is ever removed, you’ll have to deal with the exposed lead-containing surfaces underneath.

Removal. A variety of approaches are used to remove lead-based paints, such as wire brushing or wet hand scraping with liquid paint removers. Your contractor may opt to wet sand surfaces, and must use an electric sander equipped with a high-efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filtered vacuum. Another option is stripping off paint with a low-temperature heat gun, and hand scraping.

Removal options including open flame burning or torching, machine sanding without a HEPA attachment, abrasive blasting, and power washing without a means to trap water and paint chips, are forbidden.

Replacement. This more radical strategy calls for taking out the offending surfaces or features and installing new windows, doors, woodwork, and other surfaces.

The do-nothing option

If lead-based paint in your home is in good condition–no chipping or other damage – and no children under the age of 6 live there or visit regularly, you may safely opt to leave the paint untouched. You will need to disclose the presence of the paint if you decide to sell.

However, if the paint is peeling or chipping, or if intact lead-based paint is on window sills and stair rails and children under 6 are present, begin with a cleanup and find out how lead-based paint is regulated by your regional EPA office.

DIY cleanup

Even before lead paint removal occurs, minimize your family’s exposure:

– Clean up paint chips immediately.

– Clean floors, window frames and sills, and other surfaces weekly with warm water and all-purpose cleaner. Thoroughly rinse sponges and mop heads.

– Wash children’s hands often, especially before meals, naps, and bedtime.

– Prevent children from chewing painted surfaces, such as window sills.

– Remove shoes to avoid tracking lead-contaminated soil inside.

For additional information, contact the National Lead Information Center

The Sun Does Not Always Shine

April 4, 2011 by admin

: Check Out A House In The Rain!

Water in the basement, a leaky roof, unwanted water anywhere in a home is a big concern for any potential home buyer. When is the best time to see a home and ascertain whether or not there are any moisture issues – during the rain! Do not cancel an appointment due to inclement weather if you have interest in a property. Visiting a home while it is raining the best way to check out issues that are created by water intrusion, leaky roofs or windows, and drainage issues. It is the best time to determinewhether a house is water proof. Now that Spring has arrived there should be plenty of opportunities to visit your dream home in the rain.

Items you can verify during an appointment in the rain:

– If the house has a sump pump – is the sump pump doing its job? Is water being drained out of the sump pit? Is the sump pump discharge pipe directing water away from the foundation, or is it pooling near the house?

– If the property has a sloped lot is the water being directed away from the foundation?

– Are the rain gutters directing the water away from the home? Is there any pooling of water near the foundation? Is there water overflowing the gutters?

– Is there any evidence of water intrusion in the basement? If the basement has an outside exit, are the exit doors water tight?

– How is the roof holding up? Go up in the attic – are there signs of any leakage?

– Check for any evidence of moisture around the nearby wall under the windows for blemishes or peeling paint possible evidence of intrusion.

– Check the bottom of the doors for moisture and or leaks. Check the point where the flooring meets the threshold.

You may get a little wet going from house to house but it is worth it. House hunting in the rain reveals things that you would not be able to notice when the sun is shining.

Considering A Property Tax Appeal?

March 12, 2011 by admin

2011 County And Township Tax Bills

Tax season has arrived, Nether Providence Township and Delaware County tax bills are in, and the 2% discount period expires on April 1, 2011. As home values have decreased over the past several years the question if often asked – What is involved in appealing my taxes? There is a misconception that you need a lawyer, and that is an option, but the process is not that complicated.

As a homeowner in Wallingford, Nether Providence Township you have the privilege to pay tax bills on an annual basis. You also have an opportunity to appeal their assessment once a year. By appealing, the property is open to the re-valuation process in which the property assessment may be lowered, raised or remain the same. An assessment is a percentage of the market value of the which is the foundation that taxing authorities use to determine the amount of real estate taxes based on their tax rates.

Remember, in the case of an annual appeal, the Board decision does not take effect until tax bills are issued the following tax year – an successful appeal in 2011 will be reflected in your 2012 taxes. Annual appeals – an Appeal Of Total Assessment – may be filed from March 15 through August 1.

The process is relatively simple. The first step is to obtain an Annual Appeal Form. The form is available beginning March 15, 2012 in one of the following ways:

Calling the Assessment Office at 610-891-4879
Visiting the Office at 201 West Front Street Media, PA 19063
Download the form – 2012 Annual Appeal Form

Complete the form, and mail – Faxing is not permitted, remember this is the government – or drop off the form and an $50.00 check.

Mailing Address:

Board Of Assessments And Appeals

Government Center Building

201 West Front Street

Media, PA 19063

The Process

A residential Annual Appeal hearing lasts about 5 minutes. The hearings are held in the Board Of Assessment Department Board Room, located on the ground floor of the Government Center Building. The property owner has the opportunity to present such information as a recent appraisal or recent sales documentation for sales of similar homes in their area. The property owner may also present other information that may have an impact on the value of the property.

The property owner should provide front and rear photographs of the home. Photographs should be within the last 6 months, and are to include any recent physical changes to the exterior of the property. Failure to bring these photographs on your appeal date may result in an unnecessary delay in processing the appeal.

Applicants are requested to attend but if unable to do so, may send someone to provide the representation with a letter of authorization. If more than one person owns the property jointly it is not necessary that all the owners appear at the hearing. The hearings are held in September and October. Notification of the hearing date and time is mailed at least 20 days in advance of the scheduled hearing.

The Board consists of 3 members appointed by the County Council and generally renders a decision within 3-4 weeks of the hearing date. The results of Annual Appeals are mailed to the property owner on November 15.

Based upon the documentation provided by the property owner, the Board will determine a fair market value for the property. The Board will then by statute, apply the appropriate Common Level Ratio or CLR, to the fair market value to arrive at the new assessed value.

By law all properties within the County must be “uniformly” assessed at a similar ratio. All taxes must be uniform on the same class of properties within the geographical limit of the taxing authority. The guiding principle in matters of valuation is that no one taxpayer should pay anymore or less than their proportionate share of the cost of government.

So the formula used to arrive at the Assessed Value is:

Market Value x Common Level Ratio = Assessment

All properties in Delaware County are assessed at the same ratio to market value. Currently assessments are set at 100% of 1998 base year value.

So what do Common Level Ratio and Market Value mean?

Common Level Ratio

The CLR is created by the Pennsylvania State Tax Equalization Board – STEB – on an annual basis for each county. The CLR is an average of assessments to sale prices, based upon valid sales activity in Delaware County for the prior calendar year.

The Common Level Ratio for Delaware County is currently 1.56

Market Value

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has defined Market Value as:

the price in a competitive market a purchaser, willing but not obligated to buy, would pay an owner, willing but not obligated to sell, taking into consideration all the legal uses to which the property can be adapted and might reasonably be applied.

In other words market value represents the what a buyer would be willing and able to pay for a home in the current market.

To establish the “actual” value of property, the county may use current year market values or it may adopt a base year for market values. For the most part, properties are assessed at a set percentage of a base year value, which in Delaware County is 1998. Property is only assessed at current market value when a countywide reassessment has been conducted and implemented. Unless the County reassesses all properties every year, the property assessments will be predicated upon the base year value.

The assessment laws state that “the price at which any property may actually have been sold in the base year or the current tax year is to be considered but is not controlling. Such selling prices can be increased or decreased as part of the valuation process to accomplish equalization with other similar property within the taxing district.” Recent sales of comparable properties are persuasive but not conclusive in helping to establish the market value. The properties selected need not be identical. Sale prices are useful in showing relative values by bringing out similar or dissimilar traits.

Tax Computation

With all that said, the bottom line in computing taxes involves the millage rate for the taxing authority. The millage rate is the amount of tax that is applied to every $1,000 dollar of assessed value:

Assessed Value x Millage Rate = Tax

The Nether Providence millage rate for 2011 is 4.090 – for every $1,000 increment of assessed value of your home you will pay the Township $4.09.

For an assessed value of $149,490:

149.49 x 4.09 = $611.41

The millage rate for Delaware County is 5.180 mills. For every $1,000 increment of assessed value of your home you will pay the County $5.18.

For the same assessed value of $149,490:

149.49 x 5.180 = $774.35

So if you are considering a tax appeal, it is recommended that you order an appraisal for your home, and examine what the taxes and assessments are for your area. I would be glad to provide information on both.

News Homes Will Be Smaller And Greener

March 10, 2011 by admin

A recent study conducted by the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) shows that while consumer hesitation on home buying is waning, the recent housing downturn has changed what Americans are looking for in their next home.

The survey research on consumer preferences, which is presented annually at the NAHB International Builders’ Show, suggests that the severity of the recession has left an indelible mark on prospective home buyers, who have shifted their perspective on the housing they want and need.

Builders who were surveyed expect homes to average 2,152 square feet in 2015, 10% smaller than the average size of single-family homes started in the first three quarters of 2010.

To save on square footage, the living room is high on the endangered list—52% of builders expect it to be merged with other spaces in the home by 2015 and 30% said it will vanish entirely.

“As an overall share of total floor space, 54% of builders said the family room is likely to increase,” said Rose Quint, NAHB’s assistant vice president for survey research. “That makes it the only area of the home likely to get bigger.”

In addition, the relative size of the entry foyer and dining room are likely to be diminished by 2015. However, opinions were fairly evenly divided on the fate of the kitchen, master bedroom and bath and mudroom, said Quint.

The average new home of 2015 is likely to feature a great room comprised of the kitchen, foyer and living room; a walk-in closet in the master bedroom; a laundry room; ceiling fans; a master bedroom on the first floor in homes with two stories; and a two-car garage.

In addition to floor plan changes, 68% of builders surveyed say that homes in 2015 will also include more green features and technology, including low-E windows; engineered wood beams, joists or tresses; water-efficient features such as dual-flush toilets or low-flow faucets; and an Energy Star rating for the whole house.

For more information, visit www.nahb.org.

Contributor: RISMedia

Remodeling Can Pay Off

January 15, 2011 by admin

According to Remodeling magazine’s 2010-2011 “Cost vs. Value Report,” even despite the challenging economy, investing in your home still pays off at resale — and it doesn’t have to cost a lot. The report also showed that home sellers consider first impressions to be a top priority, with nine out of the top 13 projects being exterior replacements that contribute to curb appeal and help attract buyers.

Based on interviews with real estate professionals throughout the country, the Remodeling report found that the top two projects were also the least expensive. A mid-range entry door replacement returns more than 102.1 percent of project costs upon resale, followed by a mid-range garage door replacement, at 83 percent.

While considered upscale, the third-best project, fiber-cement siding replacement, has been a consistently high performer, recouping 80 percent of costs this year, and also showing the smallest cost increase of any project (less than 1 percent).

The right remodeling project, when done well, also has the potential to make for a quicker sale and reduce negotiations with buyers over perceived shortcomings. Access the “Cost vs. Value” website, where you can download data for 80 cities.

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Lead Paint Removal Options:

The Process

Common Level Ratio

Market Value

Tax Computation

S. Clark Kendus