Water Worries

Gutter System.  Photo Courtesy of www.guttersmanchesternh.com

The past week or so has been unusually warm in Minnesota.  With temperatures reaching 40+ degrees, the massive accumulation of snow has begun rapidly thawing, and the streets are filled with water.

While we are all excited for the grand exit of this years particularly bad winter, all of the melted snow has to go somewhere.  And that "somewhere" is often, unfortunately, your basement. 

Water in your house can pose serious problems.  Moisture is a significant cause of mold growth.  Water stains walls and carpets and looks unappealing.  Frequent water problems might frighten buyers away from your house when it comes time to sell.  For all of these reasons, it is critical to tackle the problem early.

Most inspectors or contractors will tell you that most water problems stem from two main sources:

1)  Poor yard grading, and
2)  No gutter system

Fixing these two problems alone resolve probably 90-95% of all problems.  It won't solve everything, but you can seriously mitigate the risk of a damp basement by addressing these issues.

With regard to yard grading, most experts would advise a homeowner to have 1 inch of slope for every foot you move away from the house.  Thus, if you are 6 feet away from your house, you should be standing 6 inches below where the grading begins along the edge of the foundation.

With regard to the gutter system, make sure your downspouts are ejecting water in a safe area.  I know from personal experience that this is important - the previous owners of my house had a downspout pointed directly at the house and running under the porch.  Sure enough, we had a bad storm and all that water from the roof ended along the foundation under the porch, and subsequently in my basement.  Just by simply rerouting the downspout, I have been able to avoid any future issues.  There are hundreds (or thousands, who knows) of gutter companies around the Twin Cities and I would recommend calling them if you have more technical questions.

If you have a well graded yard and a properly installed gutter/downspout system and you still experience water in the basement, it is probably time to call an expert.  If you are experiencing this, please contact me and I can get you in touch with remediation experts. 

At the end of the day, homeowners can prevent many of their water-related issues by simply being a little bit proactive and investing a little bit of money.  For example, gutters are mostly inexpensive (expect maybe the labor) and go a long way towards preventing these potentially disastrous situations.  If you have more questions, please feel free to contact me -  I would be happy to educate!

Mortgage Modification Mania

President Obama's chief attempt to quell the housing crisis, HAMP, has been woefully ineffective.  The program began as an attempt to modify 3 to 4 million homeowners, but nearly two years after the program began, it is estimated that only about half a million homeowners continue to make successful HAMP mortgage payments. 

While I applaud the attempt by President Obama to help homeowners modify their loans, the truth is that HAMP has been the definition of failure and has had many unintended consequences along the way. 

I think the biggest problem has clearly been the consequences facing those who entered the program but were either kicked out or stopped making the trial payments.  For many of these homeowners, they saw HAMP as a way to stay in their home.  They expected a reduction in their principal or a lowering of their interest rate.  They expected explicit, clearly defined costs and more affordable monthly payments.

However, the more we learn about HAMP, the more we are finding that these promises were far from reality.  Many homeowners have actually seen their payments increase after their modification.  If they could afford their monthly payments before, how could they possibly make even HIGHER payments?  Others have entered HAMP, qualified and made trial payments, and were promptly kicked out of the program.

With HAMP struggling to help homeowners, we've also seen a steep rise in the amount of private mortgage modifications available.  These are facilitated by the banks alone (WF, Bank of America, Citi), with no government backing or assistance.  In many instances, these private modifications have been even worse than HAMP.  In a particularly egregious example that I recently heard, a homeowner about to face foreclosure was told by their bank that they should simply miss a mortgage payment, allowing them to qualify for the bank's private modification program.  The homeowner followed the bank's instructions and awaited the modification paperwork in the mail.  However, the next week, foreclosure paperwork showed up instead.

At the end of the day, it is easy to get sucked into the hype and hope of the modification plans.  Outwardly they seem designed to help homeowners, perhaps one of the few cases where the government might actually be trying to help homeowners rather than banks.  But two years later, I think we can pretty safely throw cold water over this one.

This is where I come in.  My team specializes in short selling houses.  A short sale is not the perfect solution.  It is not a white knight that will save every homeowner from the aches that ail them.  But a short sale is a process with a defined outcome and clear objectives.  Short sales are done by real estate agents with a presence in the local community.  The goal is to get the homeowner out of the house with their credit intact, their heads held high, and in some cases, with some money in their pockets.

If you or someone you know is having a tough time making mortgage payments, please contact us.  We have the experience, skills, and resources to negotiate with your bank and help you move on.  The day that you stop worrying about your mortgage is the day you can start over fresh.