THE OKLAHOMAN | NEWSOK.COM
REAL ESTATE
SATURDAY, APRIL 23, 2011
3F
Owners turn to remodeling projects BY SANDRA M. JONES Chicago Tribune
CHICAGO — After several years of perusing real estate listings and spending Sunday afternoons at open houses, Denise Majeski decided to stay put and fix up her 25-year-old Gurnee, Ill., home. As the housing market languished even as the economy improved, Majeski determined the financially prudent course would be to fix up the house a little at a time, starting with replacing the windows and renovating the bathrooms. “Initially we were thinking about moving,” Majeski, 55, said. “But that would require a mortgage and additional amounts of money. We can do a home improvement at a pace that we can afford.” It is a choice more homeowners are making these days and one that is lifting the fortunes of the long-suffering home improvement industry. Seasonal hiring at Lowe’s Cos., the nation’s No. 2 home improvement retailer, is up 15 percent this spring as homeowners, feeling more secure in their jobs, tackle maintenance projects delayed during the recession. Midwest re-
Lauren Hill, left, and her boyfriend, John Fogarty, make their way to the checkout counter at a Home Depot in Chicago. MCCLATCHY-TRIBUNE PHOTO
gional chain Menard Inc. is expanding again. It plans to build 12 stores this year, up from four in 2010. And Home Depot Inc., the largest home improvement retailer, reported in February its first annual sales increase since 2006,
before the housing market crashed. The home improvement business is stabilizing despite the continued weakness of the housing market, Home Depot Chief Executive Frank Blake said at the time. “People are doing what
Homeowners drained by inspection concerns DEAR BARRY: We just moved into the completion of the sale? Given these our home and are finding many undisuncertainties, this problem should be closed defects. Just to give a few examviewed with thanksgiving for its relaples, our kitchen sink is tively minor nature. clogged. When our home If the light fixtures in inspector checked it, he your basement are not ran the water for about operative, this should Barry two seconds, but it takes have been discovered about 15 seconds for the during a home inspection. Stone water to back up. He also Make sure that the bulbs didn’t disclose the baseare OK and that there are ment lights that don’t no tripped breakers or INSPECTOR’S IN THE HOUSE blown fuses. If the lights work or the hot and cold water connections that still do not work, ask your are backwards at the master shower. home inspector to take another look and Shouldn’t our home inspector and the to discuss whether this was overlooked sellers have disclosed these problems? during the inspection. Scott With regard to the reversed hot and DEAR SCOTT: Many of the questions cold at the shower faucet, plumbing I receive involve defects that were not standards specify hot water on the left disclosed to homebuyers. These probside and cold on the right. Most home lems range from plumbing to roofing, inspectors routinely check for this, but electrical to drainage, foundations to some probably do not. Those who overfireplaces, from everything possible to look this aspect of faucet plumbing are anything imaginable. But the essential not performing thorough inspections. issue is always the same: “I relied upon Fortunately, this condition can be simply the expertise of a home inspector and and inexpensively repaired in most (but the honesty of a seller, but now I find not all) cases. Again, ask your home undisclosed problems and don’t know inspector to take a look. what to do.” In your case, fortunately, All of these defects should have been the faulty surprises are relatively minor listed in the sellers’ disclosure statein nature. So let’s begin with the slow ment. Unfortunately, seller disclosures sink drain. are typically incomplete, but this is usuHome inspectors operate and inspect ally not deliberate. People grow accusplumbing fixtures at sinks, tubs, showtomed to the imperfections in their own ers and so on. They check for damage, homes and cease to think of them as deterioration, faulty installation, subproblems. When asked to list all known standard materials and functional dedefects, a slow drain or a reversed showfects. This includes observing whether er faucet simply doesn’t come to mind. drains are reasonably operative or conThis, however, does not absolve sellers gested. Two seconds is obviously not from the legal responsibility to divulge enough time to determine that a drain is such conditions to buyers. Therefore, flowing freely. On the other hand, the the sellers, as well as the home inspecinspector might argue that he ran the tor, should be notified when you discovfaucet for more than two seconds; but er significant defects after buying a then, who was using a stopwatch at the home. time? And who can say whether the To write to Barry Stone, please visit him on the web at drain congestion existed on the day of www.housedetective.com. the inspection or developed in the weeks ACTION COAST PUBLISHING or months between the inspection and
Jack Nicholson lists 70-acre property in Malibu for sale BY LAUREN BEALE
in “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” (1975), “Terms of Endearment” (1983) and “As Good as It Gets” (1997). During Nicholson’s lengthy career the A Malibu property owned by actor Jack Nicholson is on the market at $4.25 mil- actor also has played lawyer George Hanson in “Easy Rider” (1969) lion, according to the Multiple and maniacal villain Jack Listing Service. Torrance in “The Shining” The 70-acre site includes a (1980). ranch-style main house, a A representative for Nicaretaker home, a tennis cholson did not respond to court, a cabana, a putting green, a swimming pool and a requests for comment about grotto-style spa. the sale of the property. The single-story main Public records show that home, built in 1966, has Nicholson bought the Malibu mountain and ocean views retreat in 1977 and owns muland is zoned for equestrian tiple properties in Los Anuse. geles and Ventura counties. Jack Nicholson The home’s 2,313 square feet The actor’s real estate of living space include three bedrooms, holdings also include an estate in Beverly two bathrooms and maid’s quarters. Hills. Nicholson, 73, won Oscars for his roles MCCLATCHY-TRIBUNE INFORMATION SERVICES Los Angeles Times
it takes to be happy where they are,” said Jack Horst, retail strategist at Kurt Salmon, a consulting firm. “They are more likely doing maintenance and replacement than big fundamental changes.” A few buckets of paint,
brighter lighting and some new door handles are enough to make Rebecca and Bill Klies happy in their new home. The couple, in their 30s, bought their first condo last October in a short sale — in which a lender allows a homeown-
er to sell a property for less than the amount owed on the mortgage. Now, the Klieses spend weekends at Home Depot and Lowe’s getting ideas on how to fix up their West Loop loft without spending a fortune. They’ve swapped out light fixtures, recaulked the shower, put up new towel racks, installed a ceiling fan in the bedroom, bought new light switch plates, painted several rooms and touched up the molding. “These are simple little fixes that make a big difference overall,” said Rebecca Klies. At the same time, home improvement stores are getting an extra sales boost as homeowners dig out from a winter of record snowfalls and lengthy cold spells. The severe weather has left shingles, gutters and downspouts in need of repair and lawns littered with broken shrubs and damaged trees. “These are the have-todo projects,” said Jim Kane, president of Home Depot’s northern division. “We’ve just come through a tough winter, and the winter has just taken its toll on all those things.” MCCLATCHY-TRIBUNE INFORMATION SERVICES