Charlton Cottage Update

Framing nearly complete at 521 E. Charlton. The ceilings are out. I thought the rafters might be left exposed but now we're thinking of putting up drywall which would be a cleaner look but still give the cathedral ceiling effect. You can see it's quite a difference in the living room already having the extra height. The metal roof is also going up, although as you see, it's not that easy to photograph it to show that it is a metal roof. Of course the buyer will take pleasure knowing it's a metal roof even if no one can ever see.

Living Room: BEFORE














Living Room: AFTER

528 E. Duffy Update

You can definitely get a feel for the house at this point in the framing. You will recognize the exterior as being very similar as 414 E. Duffy but the interior has been modified.





















The stairs are a little closer to the front of the house, creating a larger great room.














The view from the kitchen to the front of the house. That's a pantry on the right and behind the pantry is a half bath which exits toward the back door, not directly into the kitchen.














Front bedroom with full wall of closet.














Back bedroom with twin closets and a space for furniture and/or TV between the closets. The bed would directly face the closets/TV. The third bedroom is difficult to photograph so it's not included in this round of photos.

House Hunting in ... Portugal

By VIRGINIA C. McGUIRE
Published: January 19, 2011

A TWO-BEDROOM APARTMENT IN AN 18TH-CENTURY BUILDING WITH RIVER VIEWS IN LISBON 1.1 MILLION EUROS ($1.48 MILLION)

This apartment, one of six in its 18th-century building in the Lapa district, was restored three years ago using antique materials salvaged from other historic buildings. The apartment has prime views of the Tagus River and the dark red 25 de Abril Bridge, which is often compared to the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco. Other windows in the apartment, set on the third floor, overlook historic buildings and Lisbon’s cobbled streets.

The entryway provides access to a bathroom and a galley kitchen, which has a gas stove and brushed steel hardware and countertops. The living/dining room is 750 square feet in size, with a painted wood ceiling and recessed lighting. The dining room has a chandelier and wide-plank floors.

Both bedrooms have built-in window seats and closets, as well as en-suite baths; the master bath is tiled with pink marble. Walls in both rooms are lined in antique tile.

The building has an elevator and a marble staircase with ornately wrought railings. This apartment shares the third floor with another unit.

Lapa is one of Lisbon’s most affluent areas, known for its well-preserved architecture. Because it sits on top of a hill, it survived floods that submerged much of the city in the 18th century. The neighborhood is home to several embassies, as well as a thriving arts community. The upscale shops and nightclubs of the Chiado district are a five-minute walk; the airport is a 10-minute drive.

MARKET OVERVIEW

The property market has been buffeted by the global economic downturn, according to Paul Houston, who manages Portuguese operations for the Barcelona-based real estate firm Lucas Fox. Prices have been flat over the past year, and tight lending restrictions continue to suppress the market, he said.

In Lisbon, the average price per square meter is about 2,100 euros ($260 per square foot, at 0.75 euros to the dollar). Upscale apartments in Lapa run about 4,500 euros per square meter; this apartment, priced at 7,500 euros per square meter, is much more expensive because of its restored historic building and views of the river, according to the listing agent.

Georgina Richards, a sales associate with the London real estate company Knight Frank, says prices have fallen 30 percent in the western Algarve region, and slightly less than that in the central Algarve; both are popular second-home destinations along Portugal’s southern coast. She says that while foreign sellers tend to lower prices in response to market conditions, Portuguese buyers are more likely to stick to their prices and wait for the market to recover.

WHO BUYS IN PORTUGAL

In Lisbon, buyers come from “throughout the English-speaking world,” including Britain, the United States and Canada, said Gonçalo Figueira, a lawyer with Neville de Rougemont & Associados, a law firm in Lisbon that specializes in advising foreigners on real estate transactions.

British, German and Scandinavian buyers are common in the Algarve, Ms. Richards said.

BUYING BASICS

Foreign buyers must apply for a Portuguese tax number, Mr. Figueira said. During this process, they must have a Portuguese resident acting as their representative; Mr. Figueira says that law firms, accounting firms and property management firms often perform this service, for a fee.

Transaction costs include a 6 percent transfer tax, according to Nuno Durão, a senior sales consultant for International Realty Group Christie’s Great Estates in Lisbon. Buyers also pay 250 to 300 euros for deed registration, as well as legal fees of about 3,000 euros. He says the real estate agent’s commission ranges from 3 to 5 percent, and is paid by the seller.
WEB SITES

Official Portugal tourism site: visitportugal.com

Lisbon Tourism Association: visitlisboa.com

The Portugal News: theportugalnews.com
LANGUAGES AND CURRENCY

Portuguese; Euro (1 euro = $1.34)

TAXES AND FEES

A municipal tax equal to 0.5 percent of the assessed value is charged annually, according to Mr. Durão. Maintenance is 70 euros a month.

CONTACT

Nuno Durão, International Realty Group Christie’s Great Estates, 011-351-910-488-602; irgportugal.com.

View original article: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/20/greathomesanddestinations/20gh-househunting.html?_r=1

The Love Affair With the Fireplace Cools

By CHRISTINA S. N. LEWIS
Published: January 19, 2011

WINSOME BROWN, an actress and writer, and her husband, Claude Arpels, own an enviable apartment in TriBeCa worthy of a spread in an interior design magazine. The apartment — which is, in fact, being considered for an issue of Elle Décor — has maple floors, casement windows and all the character one would expect to find in a building that was once a factory.

But one of the features that many people in the city would pay a premium for is something the owners don’t like: the fireplace.

“A wood-burning fire in the city is a ridiculous luxury — we would never have put it in ourselves,” said Mr. Arpels, grandson of one of the founders of Van Cleef & Arpels and the former managing partner of Netto Collection, a baby furniture company bought by Maclaren. “In the city, it doesn’t make sense to burn fires, because it’s inefficient and it’s polluting.”

Hard as it may be to believe, the fireplace — long considered a trophy, particularly in a city like New York — is acquiring a social stigma. Among those who aspire to be environmentally responsible, it is joining the ranks of bottled water and big houses.

“The smoke from a fire smells very nice,” said Diane Bailey, a senior scientist with the Natural Resources Defense Council in San Francisco. “But it can cause a lot of harm.” The tiny particles, she said, “can cause inflammation and illness, and can cross into the bloodstream, triggering heart attacks” as well as worsening other conditions.

Or as Starre Vartan, a 33-year-old blogger who goes by the name Eco-Chick, put it: “Any time you are burning wood or cow dung, you’ll be creating pollution. It’s like junk food: if you do it once a month, then who cares? But if it’s something you do every day, it’s important that you mitigate it somehow. It’s a hazard.”

Not surprisingly, the green community has been sounding the alarm for some time. For the last several years, TheDailyGreen.com, an online magazine, has advocated replacing all wood-burning fireplaces with electric ones; an article published in September by Shireen Qudosi, entitled “Breathe Easier With a Cleaner Fireplace,” argued that there is no such thing as an environmentally responsible fire: “Switching out one type of wood for another is still use of a natural resource that otherwise could have been spared,” Ms. Qudosi wrote. And last fall, an article on the Web site GreenBlizzard.com, “Cozy Winter Fires — Carbon Impact,” called wood-burning fires “a direct pollutant to you, your family and your community.”

Organizations like the American Lung Association are issuing warnings as well: the group recommends that consumers avoid wood fires altogether, citing research that names wood stoves and fireplaces as major contributors to particulate-matter air pollution in much of the United States.

Wood smoke contains some of the same particulates as cigarette smoke, said Dr. Norman H. Edelman, the chief medical officer for the American Lung Association, as well as known carcinogens like aldehydes; it has also been linked to respiratory problems in young children.

“We now know from lots of studies that wood smoke is very, very irritating,” Dr. Edelman said. “It contains a lot of irritating gases and it also contains damaging particulate matter. It’s probably not good for anybody, and it’s especially bad for anybody who has a chronic respiratory problem.” So the association strongly advises people not to use the traditional fireplace, he said.

Certainly, there are many who consider this eco-overkill. In Greek mythology, fire is a gift from the divine, stolen from Zeus by Prometheus and handed over to shivering humanity. What could be more natural than sitting around a crackling fire on a winter night, at a campsite in the Berkshires or in a Brooklyn brownstone?

But growing concerns about the air pollution and health problems caused by smoke from wood fires are prompting a number of areas across the country to pass laws regulating them.

“A lot of municipalities are taking action,” said Ms. Bailey, adding that the weather-based measures called burn bans are perhaps the most widespread restriction. When the weather is cold and the air is still, or pollution is high, the Bay Area in California, Puget Sound, Wash., Denver and Albuquerque are among the places with restrictions on residential wood-burning. These measures can be mandatory or voluntary, and can become more restrictive as air quality declines. So far, most of the wood-burning regulations tend to be out West. A few examples: Idaho offers tax incentives to people who replace uncertified wood stoves with “greener” ones; San Joaquin County in California forbids selling a home unless its wood stove is replaced with an E.P.A.-certified one; and Palo Alto and other municipalities in California prohibit wood-burning fireplaces or stoves in new construction.

Perhaps not coincidentally, sales of wood-burning appliances dropped to 235,000 in 2009 from 800,000 in 1999, according to the Hearth, Patio and Barbecue Association. And the Brick Industry Association, which promotes brick construction, reports that roughly 35,000 masonry fireplaces were installed in the United States in 2009, compared to 80,000 in 2005. Certainly those numbers reflect the economic slowdown, but they may also be affected by growing ambivalence to wood fires.

n any case, most fireplaces are used far too infrequently to cause any real damage to the environment, said Stephen Sears, the vice president of marketing and member services for the Brick Industry Association, voicing an opinion shared by some. In the East, he wrote in an e-mail, air pollution is at its worst in the summer, and in the West the regulations are an overreaction: “Because it is not realistic to test each unique masonry fireplace in a laboratory” to evaluate its emissions, he noted, “it is easier for some municipalities to arbitrarily limit” the use of all wood-burning fireplaces.

Karen Soucy, an associate publisher at a nonprofit environmental magazine, isn’t swayed by that argument. She refuses to enter a home where wood has been burned, even infrequently.

Ms. Soucy, 46, blames fumes from a wood fire for sending her to the emergency room 25 years ago with a severe asthma attack. She had been staying at a friend’s house in Stowe, Vt., for about a day, she said, when her lungs seized up. She was taken to a hospital in an ambulance, and got two shots of adrenalin; the doctors blamed her friend’s cat.

“It was only later, working with a team of allergy doctors and pulmonologists, did we determine the culprit to be the wood-burning fumes from the various fireplaces,” Ms. Soucy said.

Now her husband scouts out any place they go in advance, to be sure it’s free of fireplaces, and she passes up countless dinners and parties. “I’m the one who feels guilty for always being the one to decline invitations or for making people go out of their way to clean their home,” she said. Even then, she added, “the smell lingers on everything.”

FOR those who still want to build a fire, there are several ways to make it more environmentally friendly, experts say, including using an energy-efficient wood or pellet stove certified by the Environmental Protection Agency or retrofitting a fireplace with an insert (a device, usually made of iron or steel, that fits into the mouth of a fireplace and enables it to heat more efficiently).

Ms. Brown’s and Mr. Arpels’s solution was to install an energy-efficient wood stove in one of the three fireplaces at their farm in Chatham, N.Y. The surrounding countryside is filled with downed trees that would decompose anyway, said Ms. Brown, 38. And Mr. Arpels, 41, gets some exercise from splitting the logs.

“Basically we’re not transporting things using oil from across the world to our house,” she added. “We think this is pretty good, environmentally.”

Wickham Boyle, 60, a writer and consultant for nonprofit arts organizations, installed a soapstone stove in her Hudson Valley house after a saleswoman explained that it had a catalytic combustor that converts smoke into water and carbon dioxide. Guests sometimes ask her if she feels guilty about burning wood, she said, but she recites a laundry list of the stove’s high-efficiency features, explaining to them that the environmental impact is negligible due to the combustor, and that she mainly uses fallen wood cleared from her land or other properties nearby.

Not everyone can afford such a stove, which can cost upward of $2,000, including installation (Ms. Boyle paid $3,000 for hers).

Converting a wood-burning fireplace to gas can be just as expensive, and while electric fireboxes are cheaper — just a few hundred dollars — most consider them a poor substitute for a real fire, since there is no flame. So some people are simply using their fireplaces less often, or not at all.

Sally Treadwell, a 51-year-old public relations executive in Boone, N.C., said nothing makes her happier than building a fire on a cold winter night. But most of the time she doesn’t, she said, because she feels too guilty about the damage it may do to the environment.

“We’re in the Appalachian Mountains, and I know what pollution does to us all,” Ms. Treadwell said. “I very definitely limit fires. I’d have one every single winter night if I didn’t have some guilt.”

When she does build a fire, she should use only seasoned dry wood, according to the E.P.A. Web site, because it burns hotter and releases less smoke. And the firewood for sale at the corner deli — or even the wood supplied by a delivery service — might not be seasoned, even if it is advertised as such, said David R. Brown, a public health toxicologist in Connecticut. To ensure that the wood is dry, he added, it should be stored for at least six months before being burned.

There is also the fire-building technique to consider. Most people don’t realize that the fire should be kept hot (with high, visible flames) for the first 20 minutes, Mr. Brown said, so that the chimney will heat up and the smoke will disperse; otherwise, the smoke tends to drift into the house, causing an increased health hazard.

Even the greenest of the green, though, sometimes throw caution to the winds when it comes to wood fires. Sue Duncan, a 52-year-old landscaper in Austin, Tex., uses native drought-tolerant plants in her landscaping work and hasn’t thrown away an aluminum can since 1974, she said. She has installed a programmable thermostat and fluorescent lighting in her 1,600-square-foot house and has a rainwater collection system out back.

But somehow, she still hasn’t gotten around to retrofitting her fireplace. Every time she builds a fire, it causes “inner conflict,” she said. “It’s a guilty pleasure.”

View original article: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/20/garden/20fire.html?pagewanted=2&_r=1

An Apartment in a Viennese Police Station

Every so often I remember to read the New York Times real estate section...

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By JOEL WEICKGENANT
Published: January 19, 2011

VIENNA NIVES WIDAUER, a visual artist, has an apartment in one of the safest buildings in Vienna — a police station. “I don’t have to lock the doors,” Ms. Widauer, 45, said.

But the building, a pale brick 19th-century mansion with tall windows, has a troubled history.

In World War II, it was seized from its Jewish owners by the Nazis. When the house was returned to the rightful owners after the war, they no longer wanted to live in Austria.

The house remains in the family — the current owners are the granddaughter and grandson of the couple who left Europe — but the building is leased by the state. One apartment (Ms. Widauer’s) is set aside as a residence; the rest is rented to the police department.

Ms. Widauer found her apartment 15 years ago, she said, when she moved here from Switzerland; she pays 2,000 euros (about $2,700) a month for her space, which takes up half of the third level. The other half is soon to be converted to a forensics storage facility.

After years of changing the décor and function of the 2,700-square-foot apartment’s eight rooms, Ms. Widauer decided it was time to give the space a real face-lift. Enlisting the help of fellow artists and friends to keep the costs down, she spent about five months refinishing the original herringbone wood floors, renovating the bathroom and kitchen, and replacing old insulation and pipes. (Ms. Widauer and her landlords, who live in South Africa, split the cost of about 40,000 euros, or just over $54,000.)

“The floors are not perfect now, but you cannot imagine how they looked” in June 2009, when she began the work, she said, adding that she didn’t mind the imperfections because they reveal the house’s character.

Ms. Widauer gave an architect several pieces of her artwork in exchange for creating the steel-framed, insulated door that closes off the living room from the dining area, which is in a glass-walled conservatory and gets very cold during the winter. She also bought a used Speckstein fireplace that radiates heat throughout the apartment; combined with the upgraded insulation, it has reduced her heating costs by 20 percent, she said.

Sometimes people ask her what it’s like living with the police, Ms. Widauer said. She tells them it has been anything but difficult: she has a good relationship with the officers, though she doesn’t see them often. In fact, there has been only one situation in which the living arrangement gave her pause.

“Three years ago, there was a terrible murder in the neighborhood,” she said, and the perpetrator came to turn himself in at about 2:30 a.m.

“I came home at roughly the same hour,” she added. “I’m really happy I didn’t meet him.”

A bit of a scare — but no reason to start locking the doors.

View original article: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/20/greathomesanddestinations/20location.html

Charlton Cottage Update

Speaking of 521 E. Charlton, demo inside the house has begun and the ceilings are out. You'll recall that the rafters will be exposed throughout the house. It looks 100% better already and we'll even take out the construction debris from the floor with a good offer.

9 Great Kitchen Cabinet Upgrades

I have cabinets on the brain right now. I have two people who wish to build cabinets for 521 E. Charlton as well as a design I drew on Ikea.com that I've priced out and I may be designing a kitchen for myself shortly. We shall see.

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By: The Editors of This Old House, This Old House online
Kitchens are more than just where you prepare your meals. Nowadays, the kitchen is a command center, dining area, and the one room in the home where families spend the most time together. If you're looking for a way to spruce up the space, and an overhaul isn't in the budget, try one of these easy kitchen cabinet upgrades. You can brighten the room with a coat of cabinet paint, add handy storage features like a pull-out shelf or a free-standing island, or even build a window seat with stock cabinets—all with our help! Here are 9 of our top kitchen cabinet upgrades, along with step-by-step instructions chock full of pro tips, shopping lists, and tools lists to help you get the job done right.

Continue reading at: http://www.thisoldhouse.com/toh/photos/0,,20406173,00.html?xid=kbnewsletter-110120-kitchen-cabinets

Onward and Upward

This is from this past weekend at 528 E. Duffy. I went by today and it looks like we should have the second floor framed by the end of this week.

America's most overvalued - and undervalued - cities

There are quite a few value indexes when it comes to ranking real estate in various cities. One constant always seems to be that Las Vegas is still overvalued.

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By Les Christie, staff writer
January 16, 2011: 7:24 AM ET


NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- Can a housing market simultaneously be the most undervalued in the nation and one of the worst housing buys? It can if it's Las Vegas.

Sin City recently drew a rating of "Frankly Dangerous" -- the worst possible -- from Local Market Monitor, a North Carolina-based firm that provides investors with analysis on local conditions. The only other city to get that kind of thrashing was Orlando, Fla.

Nationally, the great majority of housing markets are now fairly valued, according to Local Market Monitor. Eight markets are overpriced, and 15 are underpriced. That contrasts with the boom years: In mid-2006, 37 of the biggest markets were overpriced, six under and 57 fairly valued.

Las Vegas received a paltry rating even though median home prices there are less $145,000, which is more than half of what they cost at the peak of the bubble and nearly 30% less than what Local Market Monitor calculates would be an "equilibrium price," or fair market value.

The equilibrium price is based on economic and population growth, construction costs, vacancies, household income and interest rates with an "X Factor" thrown in. That's a value company founder Ingo Winzer comes up with based on 20 years of market data.
Vegas home prices on the skids until 2032

The X Factor is a mathematical constant, unique for each metro area, that represents the premium or discount that buyers have paid for local homes in the past. It captures the tendency for buyers to pay more for homes in what they consider more desirable locations.

A city like San Diego, for example, with its enviable weather and ocean-side location, commands more of a buyer's premium than does, say, Buffalo, N.Y.

The factors that make Las Vegas's rating so negative mostly revolve around issues of employment, according to Carolyn Beggs, COO of Local Market Monitor. "Las Vegas has a high concentration of jobs in sectors such as manufacturing and construction, which are considered volatile," she said.

She contrasts that with the Stockton, Calif., housing market, where home prices are nearly 20% under the equilibrium price, but which the company rates as an average risk. "Stockton has a higher concentration of jobs in healthcare, education and government," Beggs said.

Both Las Vegas and Orlando have a glut of homes for sale, thanks to years of overbuilding during the housing bubble. They're also two of the hardest hit foreclosure cities and have suffered outsized price declines, with Vegas values down 52% from their peak and Orlando 39%.

Most crucially, the economies of both cities have a heavy reliance on development, which has taken a huge hit in both places.

The most overvalued area right now is the Long Island, N.Y., counties of Nassau and Suffolk, which are suburbs of New York City. The current average home value there of about $418,000 is 26% higher than the equilibrium value of $318,000.

Even so, Local Market Monitor still gives it a "Typical Risks/Rewards," rating, an average score. One particular positive factor there is a bright economic picture with unemployment at only 6.9% and some job growth expected this year.

Other overpriced markets include Los Angeles and Portland, Ore., both overvalued by 24%, and Santa Ana, Calif., 23%.

Akron, Ohio, is the second most undervalued market at -22% followed by Cleveland and Warren, Mich., at -21%. To top of page

View original article: http://money.cnn.com/2011/01/10/real_estate/overvalued_housing_markets/index.htm

Keller Williams Savannah 2010 Stats

Our Keller Williams Savannah office had its kickoff party on Tuesday and the numbers are staggering. First, Keller Williams has been profitable 66 straight months. Think of another business, much less a real estate company in a historically bad market, who could say that. We now have 13.94% of Savannah’s market share. Our next competitor has 9.26% and third place has 7.52%. So we’re crushing the competition. Check out these numbers:

• Closed listing units increased 18.8%
• Closed listing volume increased 23.5%
• Closed buyer units increased 9.7%
• Closed buyer volume increased 22.8%
• Total closed units increased 14.5%
• Total closed volume increased 23.17%

Bad market? Not for Keller Williams. Oh, and our office paid out $150,000 in profit share in 2010. That’s money that went back to our agents. Any other companies do that?

How to Create a Vintage-Style Bathroom

This Old House had a nice breakdown of a cottage-style bathroom. I may borrow some ideas for 521 E. Charlton.

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By: Jessica Dodell-Feder, This Old House magazine

There's nothing like an oversize tub to turn a bathroom into a spa-like retreat. In this space, a black-painted soaker on a platform of oak planks literally takes center stage. And it's no wonder: The tub's rolled rim and claw feet set the tone for the entire room, lending it a classic, cozy look. Nickel sconces, a Louis XVI–style chair, and a pedestal sink add to the vintage charm, as do nostalgic accessories, including antique apothecary jars and illustrations that suggest a Victorian-era fascination with the natural sciences. Storage comes courtesy of simple open shelves made from the same marble as the backsplash. Tongue-and-groove walls, painted a dusky turquoise, complete the setup. Read on to learn how to create a similar space in your home.

Continue reading at: http://www.thisoldhouse.com/toh/photos/0,,20454510,00.html?xid=kbnewsletter-110113-new-vintage

Savannah home sales jump in December

Some good news on the local front. Savannah has shown decreasing inventory for 9 straight months, which will help prices rebound. We’re also seeing out-of-state buyers, which has been an important part of our market in Historic Downtown Savannah.

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Realtors cautiously optimistic heading into New Year
Posted: January 12, 2011 - 3:18am | Updated: January 12, 2011 - 5:34pm

By Adam Van Brimmer

Finally, a glimmer of what a local housing recovery looks like.

December saw an unexpected uptick in home-buying activity, Savannah Multi-List Corporation statistics show. The 305 sales in the Savannah area, which includes Chatham, Bryan and Effingham counties, marked a six-month high.

Another 466 homes were under contract as of Tuesday, promising a rarity: A strong January.

The December sales numbers paralleled those of December 2009 when the extension and expansion of the federal homebuyer tax credit drove sales. That credit expired in April 2010.

"There are going to continue to be some problems, but you are starting to see the turn now," said Monica Spillane, president of the Savannah Area Board of Realtors. "I'm encouraged by that."

Even more encouraging than the sales and pending sales of single-family homes, townhouses and condos locally was the continued contraction of supply.

The inventory of homes for sale fell to pre-recession levels and is down 14 percent from mid-2010 levels. Pushing the inventory down was a drop in new listings, which fell for the ninth consecutive month.

Realtor optimism is tempered by concerns over what those in the industry call "shadow inventory." Shadow inventory includes homes owners who would like to sell but haven't listed, because of market conditions as well as those in foreclosure or that have been repossessed but not yet listed.

Market improvement could prompt would-be sellers to put a "for sale" sign in the yard. Foreclosures, meanwhile, have yet to abate in the Savannah area.

"Unfortunately, foreclosures are not over," Spillane said. "But in terms of shadow inventory, I don't think there are many of those out there, here, as in other parts of the country."


Active buyers

Credit the U.S. Army and real estate investors for driving December's sales volume.

More than 20 percent of the homes bought in the month were financed by Veteran's Administration loans. Another 23 percent were bought with cash, traditionally the purview of house-flippers and landlords.

The jump in military sales is not surprising considering the Army's Third Infantry Division, based out of Fort Stewart, returned from a year-long deployment to Afghanistan in late 2010.

Plus, those soldiers remain eligible for the federal homebuyer tax credit, worth $8,000 to first-time buyers and $6,500 to those who have owned another home within the last three years.

Given the military influence, December sales were predictably strong in West Chatham and Southside Savannah - areas in close proximity to Interstate 95 and the base. The Pooler/Berwick/U.S. 17 South neighborhoods saw their second best sales month of 2010.

Close to half - 42 percent - of the VA purchases were on new construction homes, good news for home builders.

As for investor activity, the end of the year typically sees an uptick in purchases because of tax reasons. Interestingly, investor activity in December was not as focused on distressed properties as in previous months.

Optimism on the islands

The coastal regions appeared to be building momentum going into the New Year.

The Islands/Beach area of multi-list statistics - Tybee, Wilmington, Whitemarsh, Talahi, Oatland and Dutch islands as well as Isle of Hope and Isle of Armstrong - saw the most sales since April at the highest average price since June.

Prices climbed despite close to 40 percent of those sales being on foreclosure and repossessed homes.

The activity on distressed properties bodes well for the spring, Realtors said, because it takes those homes out of the inventory and will firm up prices.

"The islands held their own, relatively, for most of (2010)," said Re/Max Savannah's Cheryl Klein. "Where sellers have been taking a beating is on price, and it's encouraging to them and for the market to see that pop up."

Skidaway Island real estate agents share that optimism. The island had 12 sales in December, the most since August.

But it's the renewed interest from out-of-town buyers, particularly retirees from the Northeast and New England, that has Realtors encouraged.

Bill Houghton, president of The Landings Company, credited a number of factors, such as impending bad weather in the Northeast, pent-up demand, the November election results, continued low interest rates and depressed values, for the uptick in activity.

"New England, New York, Washington, D.C., their prices and sales have increased," said Bob Diamond of Skidaway Island Properties. "Once they sell their house up there or even just get it under contract, they start to look down here. As activity increases up north, so will ours."

View original article: http://savannahnow.com/news/2011-01-12/local-home-sales-jump-december

A defining moment for green roofs in Savannah

This is very encouraging news to have a local standard for green roofs. It's something I've had on the radar for a while and while it wouldn't make sense for any of our current projects, there's certainly opportunities for it in the future. There's a house that I've had my eye on (not giving the address, thank you very much) which, if I did buy, I would definitely consider a green roof, provided, of course, the cost is not prohibited.

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Posted: January 12, 2011 - 3:18am | Updated: January 12, 2011 - 7:17am

By Mary Landers

Already known for its lush canopy of trees, Savannah is poised to nurture a previously overlooked garden space: Rooftops.

City Council will vote Thursday on a green roof ordinance that standardizes the design, installation and maintenance of roofs covered or partially covered with plants. The practice, widely accepted in Europe and more recently popular in Chicago (where City Hall sports a green roof) and Portland, Ore., is making steady inroads in Atlanta. Along with their aesthetics, green roofs can reduce heating and cooling bills, decrease stormwater runoff, improve that runoff water's quality and decrease a city's heat island effect.

Savannah is contemplating the ordinance in part because it already gave builders a reason to try green roofs. When City Council amended the Historic District Ordinance in late 2009, changes included an incentive in which incorporating a green roof into a building could qualify the structure for an additional story of height.

But city staffers saw a catch: Green roofs weren't well defined enough in the ordinance to make sure they'd thrive.

"We were concerned that a permanent incentive for something could be a fleeting amenity," said Pete Shonka, head of the development services department.

The ordinance would give detailed requirements for green roofs and provide for fines of up to $1,000 a day if they're not properly installed or maintained.

Even before the incentive was in place several local attempts at green roofs failed, most notably at the downtown Frog Town development and the southside Abercorn Commons shopping center.

It was likely poor soil that contributed to those failures, said Laura Walker, environmental administrator for the water and sewer bureau. Green roofs can be tricky to get started, said Walker, who researched the ordinance along with Shonka. They've developed an educational guide for citizens interested in green roofs.

Bill Hodgins, environmental administrator for the city's stormwater department, is interested in green roofs because they could help builders meet new stormwater regulations expected in 2012, he said. Those regulations will require that new developments (or redevelopments) with footprints larger than 5,000 square feet keep the first 2 inches of a rainfall contained on their own property.

Hodgins set up a demonstration green roof outside his office at Laurel Grove Cemetery North. Using a commercially available modular tray system, he planted several species of sedum, a succulent plant, in the brick ruins of the cemetery's hothouses, where flowers for nearby graves once grew. The sedum's fat leaves grow close to the ground, creating a carpet-like effect. A gravel path down the middle provides access for weeding and irrigation, though these plants are drought tolerant and haven't required much watering.

The demonstration roof provides easy access because it's not actually on a roof - no climbing or ladders are required to take a look. But plants from the same lot are also thriving in a similar system atop the bathrooms on Ellis Square, Hodgins said.

View original article here: http://savannahnow.com/news/2011-01-12/defining-moment-green-roofs-savannah

Blogger Matthew Allan is a specialist in Savannah Real Estate, focusing on Savannah's downtown historic districts, including the Landmark Historic District, Victorian Historic District, Thomas Square Historic District, Starland Historic District, Baldwin Park, and Ardsley Park Historic District.

The March of Progress

The foundation is complete at 528 E. Duffy. For those of you fascinated by foundations, this particular type requires the plumbers to do some rough in at the same time the concrete is being poured. Note the white PVC drain lines. At 414 E. Duffy we used a slightly different foundation system, but as there's very little difference in the finished product, we thought we'd try this to see how it compared. One difference with this slab is that there is no flooring system. In other words, for hardwood floors a subfloor needs to be glued down then solid hardwood floors would then be nailed into the sleeper system subfloor. You could also do engineered floors simply by gluing them directly to the slab. Next we'll start framing.

Over on 521 E. Charlton the back yard has been cleared for the parking.

BEFORE:














AFTER:















The backyard has now been leveled for the parking. This also gives us a place to put our dumpster. We'll be moving inside as soon as the permits are finalized.

An Idea from Ikea

I spent Christmas week in Atlanta attempting to relax (naturally, work crept in). We did make a stop at Ikea, naturally, for ideas and a few odds and ends (may I recommend the Expedit bookcase at $39 http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/60135299). While I didn't see this kitchen in the store, it's featured in the catalog and it has some appeal to me.

Ikea Kitchen:





























The kitchens at 313 E. Park and 528 E. Duffy are not dissimilar in layout, but have full cabinets in the front of the kitchen, whereas this kitchen has more of a open bar effect. I kind of like how it opens the space even further and it also seems a little easier to eat at, as well as being a great prep space. There's no lack of storage space because of the walk in pantry. I'd be curious to hear any thoughts on which option you would prefer in your kitchen. Keep in mind that there is a powder room in the rear of our kitchens and somehow a variation of the Ikea kitchen would need to incorporate space for the powder room.

313 E. Park Kitchen:

Project(s) Update

The good news is the foundation is being poured at 528 E. Duffy Street. You may or may not find the attached photos interesting, but it's all we have at the moment. Faithful readers will remember 313 E. Park Avenue which was always meant to be 528 E. Duffy's sister project. It was tied up due to some closing issues with the seller, but it looks like we should finally be able to start next week.















One project that, unfortunately, we won't be starting is 102 W. 31st Street. This came into play while we waited for the closing issues on 313 E. Park. Unfortunately, after we put it under contract we found out it had it's own closing issues (see my earlier post about title issues). Apparently these title issues will be protracted as it appears the quiet title action that the seller paid an attorney to perform was not properly recorded in the public records. The seller's not too happy about that and I wouldn't be either. If you pay someone to do a job and find out years later that they didn't do it correctly, that would be annoying, especially if it prevents you from selling your property. As for me, I still think it's a great property and we hope to build on it if the title issues can ever be rectified.

510 E. Waldburg is waiting for permits. There is a slight snag at the permitting department (notice how there is a number of "slight snags" happening at this particular time) but we expect to begin next week.















At 521 E. Charlton we'll be clearing and leveling the yard to create the off street parking this week.