Monthly Archives: August 2010

Pittsburgh – A Top City

Again Pittsburgh is getting attention for being a top city to reside.  Housing prices are very reasonable and it is still a buyers market with plenty of inventory. Here another article . . .

“Pittsburgh is quickly emerging as one of the top cities in the United States overall, with the largest number of green buildings, nationally high ranked museums and schools and even one of the best airports it truly aims to pull in top marks in all aspects and areas of life. As you can see Pittsburgh is a great choice to explore when you are looking to move, look at the prices, the culture and even the lifestyle and you are sure to fall in love with the city.”

Heinz Stadium 2009, Photo by A Myers
c 2009

Sellers, How to Get Ready for that Home Appraisal

Whether you are selling, re-financing or taking a home equity loan, you will be having an appraisal. It is a good idea to have the house clean and have access to all harder to reach areas. I have some tips that will help you.

Here are some things to assist when the appraiser stops in:

1) Allow 30 to 60 minutes for the appraiser to go in and inspect the property as well as take photos. The appraiser will also measure the home, garage and any other outbuildings.

2) Make a list ahead of time of things that you would like to improve or have ready prior to the appraisal. This will help you have better results.

3)Â If you have a floor plan or blue print of your home, it can come in handy when trying to verify measurements.

4)Â Write up a list that includes improvements you have made to the property since you have owned it and how much you spend on those items.

5) Make sure the appraiser has access to all spaces on the property including attic and crawl space areas.

6) Point out key features of the home that you feel give it some value. There may be some things the appraiser could miss.

7)Â Provide information on last year’s tax assessment.

8) Be able to tell the appraiser when the house was built and when improvements were done. Such as what year the roof was put on.

9)Â If you know of some recent comparables in your neighborhood, have those available.

Never Think you Have Seen It All


Last evening I showed a couple a home. It sounded so wonderful. The home is probably about 3500 square feet or more on 4 acres on a dead end road in the country. Very few neighbors. It has a pool and about 2 acres are grass. The house had been added on to at one time. It appeared to have an in-law suite on the side. There were three kitchens in the house. The third being in what appeared to be a basement apartment. Lots of work needed to be done but maybe the place had some potential. The floor plan was so chopped up but looked so awesome from the outside.

So when we got to the upstairs the master bedroom, we found out that it had two bathrooms and one it shared with what the another bedroom connected to it (being captured). One things that did not make a whole lot of sense to me was that it had laundry hooks-ups in the middle of the master bedroom and the washer was still there. Now keep in mind the home had first floor laundry and there were no doors to the outside as if this was an apartment. Then we go into the next room connected to the master (that shares the second master bath) and there is a working, built-in, jacuzzi tub in the corner of this caputured bedroom.

I have included a rough sketch of the floor plan and some photos.