So the first show of Professional Grade I watch covered a reno in a master bathroom. I'm not certain what city this fix took place in but it doesn't seem to matter when the show isn't about buying or selling a home.
In any event the master bathroom reno involved getting a new vanity, toilet, floor ties, tub upgrade and of course some significant painting.
Well the contractors estimate on this job came in at $5,800 true cost was $4,100. The home owners win $1,700!
Showing posts with label House. Show all posts
Showing posts with label House. Show all posts
Thursday, 22 December 2011
Wednesday, 21 December 2011
Professional Grade - New Show
I have discovered a new Real Estate show on HGTV called Professional Grade. If you have never seen the show before it's fairly interesting and is more of a renovation show then a moving show.
I suspect that due do the down turn in the real estate market home reno shows are probably going to be a lot more successful these days. Not to many homing flipping shows around now.
The idea behind Professional Grade is that each show home owners declare a home renovation project to the show's host and a local contractor. We then watch the home owners work on there project, sometimes getting in over their head and needing to hire out parts of the work.
At the end of the show the host and the contractor return and write up a quote of what they would have charged to do the job. The home owners then anounce what there trust cost of the reno was and they win the difference between their cost and the quote. Assuming that the quote was higher than the actual cost, which it always has been so far.
I suspect that due do the down turn in the real estate market home reno shows are probably going to be a lot more successful these days. Not to many homing flipping shows around now.
The idea behind Professional Grade is that each show home owners declare a home renovation project to the show's host and a local contractor. We then watch the home owners work on there project, sometimes getting in over their head and needing to hire out parts of the work.
At the end of the show the host and the contractor return and write up a quote of what they would have charged to do the job. The home owners then anounce what there trust cost of the reno was and they win the difference between their cost and the quote. Assuming that the quote was higher than the actual cost, which it always has been so far.
Wednesday, 12 October 2011
My First Home in Texas
I watched this eposide of My First Home on the weekend and it was about a young couple with a $270,000 budget looking to buy their first home in Texas.
It seems that they had been looking for a home for a while but the wife was working out of town so it was a slow process for them. However, I want to say that the wife came off as spoiled (was she an only child?). She had to have the best of everything in her first home, the counter tops must be granite and the floor must be hard wood since tiles were so gross. I kind of felt sorry for her husband since all he wanted in a new home was a nice backyard.
In the end she did get what she wanted when they were lucky enough to find a home that had everything they were looking for that had just reduced it's price to the $270,000 range. Lucky for them, I think they would have been looking for a house for a long time other wise.
It seems that they had been looking for a home for a while but the wife was working out of town so it was a slow process for them. However, I want to say that the wife came off as spoiled (was she an only child?). She had to have the best of everything in her first home, the counter tops must be granite and the floor must be hard wood since tiles were so gross. I kind of felt sorry for her husband since all he wanted in a new home was a nice backyard.
In the end she did get what she wanted when they were lucky enough to find a home that had everything they were looking for that had just reduced it's price to the $270,000 range. Lucky for them, I think they would have been looking for a house for a long time other wise.
Friday, 30 September 2011
Real Hong Kong Real Estate
Another installment in my on going blogging about current real estate in cities that have been profiles in real estate reality TV. Here is Hong Kong real estate for Sale!
This one is actually discussing the enter asian and Hong Kong real estate market. Rather interesting. Especially since may of the homes are similar to those we would find here in North America, not what I expect when I think of buying a home or condo in the far east!
Thursday, 22 September 2011
Texas Real Estate for Sale
Keeping up with profiling some current real estate for sale in a town which has been covered on real estate tv. I present this Youtube real estate video:
No price listed on this property. The home looks empty from the main floor since there doesn't seem to be any funiture or blinds. Yet some of the bedrooms still have beds and looked lived in. I wonder if this video was created from pictures taken while the home was in the process of getting staged downstairs. Or the owner was yet to move out of the back yard.
In addition, I love how this one water front, yet the water front appears to be a man made drainage lake. But I guess that is how they do it in Texas real estate.
No price listed on this property. The home looks empty from the main floor since there doesn't seem to be any funiture or blinds. Yet some of the bedrooms still have beds and looked lived in. I wonder if this video was created from pictures taken while the home was in the process of getting staged downstairs. Or the owner was yet to move out of the back yard.
In addition, I love how this one water front, yet the water front appears to be a man made drainage lake. But I guess that is how they do it in Texas real estate.
More House Hunters in Hong Kong
Well I watched another new show of House Hunters International and once again it was in Hong Kong. I assume that they sent a crew over and filmed several different house hunts at the same time. As I said in one of my earlier posts this could be due to the still terrible housing market in the US.
In this show the house hunters were also renters due to Hong Kong property ownership laws. This show was about a couple being transferred from Austrilia to Hong Kong and seemed to have a lower budget than the prior show only $30,000 a year in rent!
Once again it was a mix of apartment units being looked at until they found the right one.
In this show the house hunters were also renters due to Hong Kong property ownership laws. This show was about a couple being transferred from Austrilia to Hong Kong and seemed to have a lower budget than the prior show only $30,000 a year in rent!
Once again it was a mix of apartment units being looked at until they found the right one.
Thursday, 15 September 2011
Housing Hunting in Hong Kong
Another new House Hunters interantion was on HGTV last night. This one had a family moving from Cleveland Ohio to Hong Kong.
Clearly a significant culture shock for the family who were selling what appeared to be a 5 bedroom family home with lots of land and ended up moving to an apartment unit where some of the kids needed to share a room!
Still no signs of the US based House Hunters.
Clearly a significant culture shock for the family who were selling what appeared to be a 5 bedroom family home with lots of land and ended up moving to an apartment unit where some of the kids needed to share a room!
Still no signs of the US based House Hunters.
Tuesday, 13 September 2011
Vacation Home in Costa Rica Youtube Video
Here is another real estate video on some current real estate being sold in Costa Rica.
This is a nice short 2 minute video on a cool place in Costa Rica. Looks like a place I would enjoy a nice vacation at. What I love about this video is that the REALTOR lists one of the features of the home as having: 2 wheel drive access. Not really a feature around here, but It's certainly something to consider when you go looking for vacation real estate in other parts of the world.
Tuesday, 30 August 2011
Buying A House Boat in Amsterdam
And now for something completely different. It was an eposide of house hunter but instead of having home buyers looking at 3 different homes we had a couple looking to buy a house boat in the canals of Amsterdam.
Buying a house boat seems to be one of few twists house hunters is working on this season, as I'm also aware that they are doing a show on RV buying.
In any event this show had a couple looking to buy a boat that was docked in the canals of Amsterdam for $750,000 or so. That price seem pretty damn expensive to me for a boat since I imagine that you could get a condo for a better price and not need to deal with the cold that would be part of living on a boat in the winter.
Anyways the boats all seemed to come with a specific docking location which added a lot to their value as well.So even with boats, real estate is all about location, location, location.
3 boats later the couple purchased the smallest and cheapest of the 3 boats as their home.
Buying a house boat seems to be one of few twists house hunters is working on this season, as I'm also aware that they are doing a show on RV buying.
In any event this show had a couple looking to buy a boat that was docked in the canals of Amsterdam for $750,000 or so. That price seem pretty damn expensive to me for a boat since I imagine that you could get a condo for a better price and not need to deal with the cold that would be part of living on a boat in the winter.
Anyways the boats all seemed to come with a specific docking location which added a lot to their value as well.So even with boats, real estate is all about location, location, location.
3 boats later the couple purchased the smallest and cheapest of the 3 boats as their home.
Wednesday, 24 August 2011
Rental Income A Video
Next in our theme of following up a review of real estate tv with a current real estate video is this rental income video that I found on Youtube.
In this one a Vancouver mortgage broker is discussing the income property and how to do it correctly to take advantage of a lot of government and bank programs out there. The important thing that she highlights is that you need to stop collecting rent in cash!
Friday, 12 August 2011
Holmes Inspection - Outside Brick
I found a Holmes Inspection on HGTV last night. It's the first time I've seen Mike Holmes on TV in awhile.
In any event this show followed the normal format. With home buyers being concerned about their home shortly after buying it and Mike rushing in to fix up the real estate in very short order.
What impressed me most about the show is that Mike shows up and without going inside this 5 year old 2 storey home he gets the home owners to come outside the house and shows them how they have all this sloppy brick work.
Now I'm impressed with this, poor brick work on the outside of a house is not something that I world normally be able to pick out. And if people had been able to pick this out then I doubt this house would have ever been able to be sold by the builder!
In any event this show followed the normal format. With home buyers being concerned about their home shortly after buying it and Mike rushing in to fix up the real estate in very short order.
What impressed me most about the show is that Mike shows up and without going inside this 5 year old 2 storey home he gets the home owners to come outside the house and shows them how they have all this sloppy brick work.
Now I'm impressed with this, poor brick work on the outside of a house is not something that I world normally be able to pick out. And if people had been able to pick this out then I doubt this house would have ever been able to be sold by the builder!
Wednesday, 10 August 2011
House Hunters International in Croatia
Another interesting show of House Hunters International was on last week. It was about a couple that was looking to buy a vacation home in the seaside town of Dubrovnik. What made this interesting is that the home buyers lived in a 2 bedroom condo in Britain and ran a vacation rental business for Croatia.
The home buying couple seemed to be very experienced in finding high end vacation rental homes, however buying a vacation home in a more reasonable price range seemed to be a bit out of their experience range. You could tell this as they seem really disappointed with the homes that they were able to afford.
However like most real estate it ended up that this couple compromised and was able to find a modern updated home that they liked but it was in the country and not sea side.
All in all and interesting show and it makes me add Croatia to my list of places that I would like to visit.
http://realtyexecutives.com/agent/youpage.php?a=02743_018_01_00039&s=F
The home buying couple seemed to be very experienced in finding high end vacation rental homes, however buying a vacation home in a more reasonable price range seemed to be a bit out of their experience range. You could tell this as they seem really disappointed with the homes that they were able to afford.
However like most real estate it ended up that this couple compromised and was able to find a modern updated home that they liked but it was in the country and not sea side.
All in all and interesting show and it makes me add Croatia to my list of places that I would like to visit.
http://realtyexecutives.com/agent/youpage.php?a=02743_018_01_00039&s=F
Sunday, 7 August 2011
Brampton Real Estate Video
Continuing along my theme of profiling a current real estate video from a town that has been profiled in a real estate show I've blogged about. Here is one from Brampton Canada.
Real Estate videos for Brampton Canada ended up being a lot harder to find a good one since there did not seem to be that may that are current at all. I ended up with this one since it's only a month old and the production quality seemed pretty good and I though the home looked top notch. Not sure if it's still available I expect that it would have sold.
http://www.realtyexecutiveselite.ca/agent.cfm?agent=72663
Real Estate videos for Brampton Canada ended up being a lot harder to find a good one since there did not seem to be that may that are current at all. I ended up with this one since it's only a month old and the production quality seemed pretty good and I though the home looked top notch. Not sure if it's still available I expect that it would have sold.
http://www.realtyexecutiveselite.ca/agent.cfm?agent=72663
Thursday, 4 August 2011
Alaska Real Estate Video
Since it has been so hot out lately I've decided that my next installment of a real estate video to be from Alaska. Hopefully the cold thoughts of Alaska will cool you down and not make you realize just how hot it is outside.
Check out this Alaska home without any snow. It's listed at $1.4 million and should keep you nice and warm in the winter. I really like how the REALTOR includes a QR code at the end of the video, I wasn't able to get it to work with my smart phone, let me know if you are able to!
Monday, 25 July 2011
House Hunters from Alaska to Hawaii
A good house hunters was on yesterday. It had a family looking to buy a vacation home in Hawaii moving from the other not continental US state of Alaska. What I learned in this one is that real estate and homes in Hawaii are expensive!
The first home they looked at was $400,000 and this was for a 2 bedroom condo with $800 / month condo fees! Anyways the family needed to double up their budget to $850,000 to look at the next home which they really seemed to love. Wow Hawaii, I think is a great place to visit but not one that I'm going be be buying any real estate in anytime soon.
The first home they looked at was $400,000 and this was for a 2 bedroom condo with $800 / month condo fees! Anyways the family needed to double up their budget to $850,000 to look at the next home which they really seemed to love. Wow Hawaii, I think is a great place to visit but not one that I'm going be be buying any real estate in anytime soon.
Thursday, 21 July 2011
Selling New York - Back Again
It's been a few weeks since I watched or blogged about Selling New York and I must say that I found this show a lot more interesting. It may be that my expectations have been lowered or that the show is growing on me. In either case I enjoyed last nights show.
What was most interesting about it was the the REALTOR when home shopping for a client that was moving to NY from Los Angeles. The real estate agent found the perfect home for the buyers to rent ... good sized with a nice back yard .... so the client told the realtor to get it for them ... sight unseen ... now that is a lot of trust.
http://kathymm.freerealestateadvice.com/
What was most interesting about it was the the REALTOR when home shopping for a client that was moving to NY from Los Angeles. The real estate agent found the perfect home for the buyers to rent ... good sized with a nice back yard .... so the client told the realtor to get it for them ... sight unseen ... now that is a lot of trust.
http://kathymm.freerealestateadvice.com/
Wednesday, 20 July 2011
Foreclosed Arizona Real Estate For Cheap!
I watched a real estate show this past weekend in Arizona which I haven't blogged about because it's all become a big blur at this point. However, I wanted to profile this video of a foreclosed home in Arizona, which is one of the hardest hit real estate markets. The home below is listed for only $65,000! Which would be an amazing deal around here.
Check out what you can buy for cheap in Arizona real estate:
http://kathymm.freerealestateadvice.com/
Check out what you can buy for cheap in Arizona real estate:
http://kathymm.freerealestateadvice.com/
Saturday, 16 July 2011
Current Florida Real Estate Video
Since the last House Hunters what in Florida, I figured I'd profile a nice piece of Florida real estate video with this next one.
I hope you enjoy this one!
I hope you enjoy this one!
Monday, 11 July 2011
House Hunters Trilogy in Nashville
I saw an eposide of House Hunters this weekend which was set in Nashville and it ended up being the final chapter of a trilogy. Trilogy in house hunter? Yep, I was confused as well, it turns out that this was this home buyers 3 time on the show!
It seems that this home buyer was on prior with her first house hunt, buying a home after getting a divorce and now she had got married again and was looking for a new family home in Nashville.
Of the homes they looked at where 2 standard large family homes and a 3rd house that was waterfront but required a lot of work. Well the choice was pretty clear what they where going to pick it was the lake front home.
This home was a great size, had a wonderful view and lots of sunlight. The only problem in my mind was the steep slope it was on that lead down to the water and the large number of stairs that would need to be maintained.
The final section of the show had them checking in with the home buyers 4 months later and it seems that they had not actually moved in yet. They were still involved in doing a lot of painting and reno's. However the house did look great so I doubt that they'll be back for a fourth show.
It seems that this home buyer was on prior with her first house hunt, buying a home after getting a divorce and now she had got married again and was looking for a new family home in Nashville.
Of the homes they looked at where 2 standard large family homes and a 3rd house that was waterfront but required a lot of work. Well the choice was pretty clear what they where going to pick it was the lake front home.
This home was a great size, had a wonderful view and lots of sunlight. The only problem in my mind was the steep slope it was on that lead down to the water and the large number of stairs that would need to be maintained.
The final section of the show had them checking in with the home buyers 4 months later and it seems that they had not actually moved in yet. They were still involved in doing a lot of painting and reno's. However the house did look great so I doubt that they'll be back for a fourth show.
Thursday, 7 July 2011
Yard Crashers - Backyard Pool in 2 days
I wanted to mention a new TV show on HGTV that I saw this week called "diy Yard Crashers". I had never seen it before but it seems to be a spin off of the show "Home Crashers".
In this show they seem to pick a home owner at random and make major upgrades to the backyard in a 48 hour period, with the home owner helping out a bit.
I was most impressed with what the show did to this house. The backyard was a medium sized backyard that wasn't maintained at all. It had no gardens and no grass, it was just an over grown mess of weeds with a concrete slab as a patio.
What they ended up doing to this place is putting in a pool in 48hrs, something that I find very impressive since you normally need at least 24hrs for the concrete to dry. But I guess they work overnight using torches to help the cement. The pool ended up being tiled with a small waterfall feature.
But the backyard improvements didn't end there. They created a huge bench table as a center piece, improved the patio with a shade and added a fire feature. Overall a very impressive upgrade. If yard crashers wants to visit my home I'll welcome them into my backyard.
http://kathymm.freerealestateadvice.com
In this show they seem to pick a home owner at random and make major upgrades to the backyard in a 48 hour period, with the home owner helping out a bit.
I was most impressed with what the show did to this house. The backyard was a medium sized backyard that wasn't maintained at all. It had no gardens and no grass, it was just an over grown mess of weeds with a concrete slab as a patio.
What they ended up doing to this place is putting in a pool in 48hrs, something that I find very impressive since you normally need at least 24hrs for the concrete to dry. But I guess they work overnight using torches to help the cement. The pool ended up being tiled with a small waterfall feature.
But the backyard improvements didn't end there. They created a huge bench table as a center piece, improved the patio with a shade and added a fire feature. Overall a very impressive upgrade. If yard crashers wants to visit my home I'll welcome them into my backyard.
http://kathymm.freerealestateadvice.com
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)