Velox Realty - Your Real Estate Information Blog
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Philips Newest LED Innovation
So as you know one of my most common household energy tips is switching to LED bulbs, but along with this there are some draw backs, lots of out of pocket costs and dimmer cooler light. Well Philips has just come up with a break through technology called TLED. They use a combo of 2 blue and 1 red LED that is then run through a green phosphor. This gets the warm light that you find in multi color LED lights but with the energy savings of phosphor LEDs but with even higher energy efficiency.
Philips is claiming that they can get 100 watt equivalent from just 7.4 watts with a color range of around 3000K. This would be fantastic news for the people that have been holding out for a warmer light from their new technology bulbs and would also finally put and end to those terrible green and purple florescent bulbs that plague offices and rec rooms.
For more information on how you can embrace energy saving tech in your home or find a new home that is more energy efficient give Peter Reiter a call at 801-829-7355 or just click one of the links below.
For more information visit our website at http://velox-realty.com or drop us a line anytime [email protected] or call
Salt Lake is Zagat?s #2 Up and Coming Food City
Having lived in Salt Lake all of my life, but also traveling extensively my #1 complaint about the city has always been food. I?ve seen some of my favorite long running restaurants close down and some great up and comers on the scene quickly get boarded up. I had almost resigned myself to food just never catching on here for whatever reason, that is until about 3 years ago.
With a host of great new places and an increase in downtown night life I started to see hope and so has Zagat. I was excited to see that the newly emerging restaurant scene is finally getting some recognition and hopefully this will spur its growth. As you know I have long promised to start doing reviews of local bright spots on this site as I feel community is such an important part of real estate, and don?t worry I will. But I was glad they highlighted two of my favorite spots, Pago and Forage. Pago is great addition to 9th and 9th and Forage is in my opinion the first really great restaurant in Salt Lake.
Which also means this is the perfect time for you to start heading downtown, with tons of great houses in up and coming areas and awesome new condos it?s time to start thinking downtown again. If you want to start looking at places give Peter Reiter a call at 801-829-7355 or just click the link below.
For more information visit our website at http://velox-realty.com or drop us a line anytime [email protected] or call
New Photos for The 1900 E House Remodel
We have some exciting new pictures of the installed appliances over at the 1900 E remodel that we are working on. Head over to our facebook page to check out the rest.
For more information visit our website at http://velox-realty.com or drop us a line anytime [email protected] or call
Your Favorite TV House Plans
Here?s a fun little item that I saw over at Slate.com recently, interior designer Inaki Aliste Lizerralde has taken some of the most iconic tv shows of the past few decades and done these amazing floor plans of their homes. From the Simpson?s to Friends you can finally make sense of where your favorite scenes were taking place. Personally I found the Simpsons? to be the most interesting as I always had a hard time figuring out how that house went together.
If your ready to move into your own fantasy house or our just tired of fantasizing about owning and home and want that place of your own, give Peter Reiter a call anytime. It?s 801-829-7355.
For more information visit our website at http://velox-realty.com or drop us a line anytime [email protected] or call
Velox Realty Group Has Moved
Hi everyone, we along with the rest of the Keller Williams Salt Lake office have moved to our new location in the heart of Sugarhouse. Our fantastic new offices are now located at 2121 South McCelland #201, down in the old Granite Furniture building. They look amazing and we are super excited for the new location. Come stop by and say hi!
For more information visit our website at http://velox-realty.com or drop us a line anytime [email protected] or call
Table Top Fireplace
Although in Salt Lake most people live in houses with fireplaces there are still a ton of you that live in apartments or in condos that don?t have that little luxury. And if you?ve ever looked into it, well installing a fireplace is a ton of money. Even re-doing an old or outdated fireplace can be very expensive.
Well the other day I stumbled across this little wonder over at amazon.com 
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003CLYMY4/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B003CLYMY4&linkCode=as2&tag=natdee-20 A tabletop glass enclosed fireplace. It has a great modern style made of tempered glass and stainless. It uses liquid ethanol which is cheap and easy to find and best of all puts out real fire almost anywhere.
This is a great solution for your fireplace needs when your space just isn?t right for a fire place.
For more information visit our website at http://velox-realty.com or drop us a line anytime [email protected] or call
Google Now Widgets
This is about a month old but I just got around to it last week. If any of you out there use a modern android phone you probably use google now. It?s google?s answer to siri and in my opinion is a lot better implemented. I find it absolutely fantastic, it knows what I want and when I want it, pretty much is one step ahead of me an knows what I?m going to ask before I do.
The one draw back is that I would forget to check on it. Well now they have a widget for it so you can have all that relevant information right on your phone?s desktop. http://www.engadget.com/2013/02/13/google-now-updated-with-support-for-widgets-added-information-s/ It?s fantastic. I know this isn?t really real estate related, but I find it really useful for keeping up on my business and hope it makes your life a little easier out there.
If you have any real estate questions or are looking to get into the market head over to our website http://velox-realty.com for tons of great information or give us a call at 801-829-7355.
Buying 50% Cheaper Than Renting In Utah
According to Trulia?s new stats buying is now 50% cheaper than renting in Salt Lake. This comes with some caveats of course including loan rate, tax bracket and how long you intend to live there. They also don?t take into account some items including cost of ownership and the inability to move quickly and transaction costs, so it?s not quite as good as it seams.
As always I urge my clients not to buy unless they plan on owning for at least 7 years, when you take all the factors into account it?s very rarely a good idea to buy if you intend to move sooner than that. But this is good news for people looking to transition from renting to buying.
We are also seeing quickly rising prices in the market which I think could be another bubble forming,although I?ll get more into that in another post. If you are looking to move from renting to buying this is probably a good time. As far as the rental market goes, there are still very good returns for apartment owners out there.
Blogger Labels: Utah,Trulia,Salt,Lake,ownership,rental,ownersIf you are looking to get into the market please give us a call at 801-829-7355 and we?ll get you into a home that works for you at a great deal. Or if you are an investment buyer we can help you adapt your portfolio for the changing market and maximize your income as we?ve done for all our clients.
Where Real Estate and Video Games Cross
I remember as a kid being fascinated by the game Sim City, I would go over to my friend?s house and play it all the time, a few years later I bought the sequel Sim City 2000. Maybe this was foreshadowing my future career. It was about the only game that I can think of that had to do with city planning and real estate.
Although it?s far from accurate in how it depicts the actual real estate market or even how a city is planned I still find it very interesting that there is a game out there that has to do with a subject matter that I bet most people probably don?t find very interesting.
Well, there is a new version of the game that is being released today and I thought I would take a quick break and put up this review of it. Real estate doesn?t have to be serious all the time, so if you are interested in city planning and real estate but only on your computer, maybe check this out.
And if you are interested in actual real estate, give me a call Peter Reiter @ 801-829-7355.
This Month In Real Estate
January Housing Starts
Here are the new January 2013 housing starts from Shadow Government Statistics, if you are not familiar with that site they use adjusted numbers to better reflect actual government statistics, such as CPI that has hasn?t been altered, etc.
Starts are now 61% off of the bubble high in 2006 and still considerably under the 2000 level, which is a more sustainable level in my opinion. Even so the drastic rise over last year is not a good sign and reflects another possible bubble. Just because starts are below what was once a sustainable level does not mean that a bubble can?t for prior to reaching that level and cause another drop off.
I would be very concerned about this segment of the market right now, although there may be some short term gains to be made in the the new housing arena sustained growth over the next 3-5 years could be fraught with quick rises and the big drop offs. If you are marginally in this market I would consider staying out until a longer term trend forms and if you are a builder to be very cautious about the current upswing.
Blogger Labels: January,Starts,Statistics,trend,builderIf you would like more advice like this about the market either as a home buyer or an investor we are here to help. Give us a call at 801-829-7355 or email [email protected]
Give IKEA That Custom Touch
This website has been around for a while but I only stumbled on it a few days ago http://www.ikeahackers.net/ is a great blog with user submitted custom IKEA projects. By now I think almost all of us have been to an IKEA at least once, it?s a great idea. Inexpensive furniture with a simple, modern Scandinavian aesthetic. The problem is a lot of the things they have just aren?t quite right or quite what you?re looking for.
That?s where IKEA hackers comes in. They approach IKEA like Lego, between the thousands of pieces available in the store there?s a good chance with a little mixing and matching and some outside of the box thinking you can probably get exactly what you need.
From creating custom closets, to modifying shelving to custom making a trundle bed there are tons of great creative ideas. One of my favorites was using 4 magazine holders to make a coffee table. If you?re an IKEA fan or just looking for a custom project that can be done on the cheap I think it?s definitely worth checking out, plus with frequent updates you can always come back for new ideas or submit your own.
For this and other great real estate advice head over to our website at http://velox-realty.com or if you?re ready to head into the market give us a call at 801-829-SELL (7355) anytime.
Blogger Labels: IKEA,Custom,Inexpensive,furniture,websiteVelox Realty Group on Youtube
Hi everyone, big announcement today, we are going to be launching a youtube channel in March! We will be doing a variety of things on it from discussing current real estate issues to answering clients? questions. We haven?t finalized our plans yet but hope this will be a beneficial new avenue for getting information out to our clients along with the blog and the website.
The plan is for one show once a week that is now more than 10 minutes and very focused on a current real estate issue. We will get back to you over the next month with more information.
Blogger Labels: Youtube,March,information1900 E Remodel Pics
We?ve just uploaded a bunch of new pictures of the 1900 E house remodel to our Facebook page, head here to check them out http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151528288944101.506488.127610204100&type=1&l=169603e914
If you are looking to purchase a home to remodel it or need your current home spruced up a bit before you put it on the market let us know. We have helped many clients not just with their purchase and sale but also with these kinds of jobs that go along with it, it?s just one of the services that helps us stand out from the crowed.
Email or call Peter Reiter at [email protected] or 801-829-7355
Blogger Labels: Remodel,Pics,FacebookHow to Remodel A Kitchen
The Kitchn http://www.thekitchn.com/kitchen-before-after-a-1980s-kitchen-gets-a-chef-caliber-makeover?184670 had a great post today on kitchen remodels. Often times when someone buys a house the kitchen is dated and becomes a major problem to the sale. Today it seems that the whole household revolves around and centers on the kitchen and so a new, functional, good looking kitchen is more important than ever.
It?s very hard for buyers to imagine that a 30 year old kitchen has the possibility to be updated to anything that they would like, but this article shows what you can do with a good design and the right amount of imagination. Often you can get a great deal on a home that needs a major update like this allowing the buyer to use the extra money to make a kitchen just how they want it. This is of course an expensive and time consuming remodel project, but for the right buyer in the right house it can make a ton of sense.
We will of course be continuing our remodel series and I am always here to help my clients find properties like this one that they can make their own. Drop us a line anytime at [email protected] or 801-829-7355
Blogger Labels: Remodel,Kitchen,makeover,imaginationVelox Realty's Remodel Project
This is just a quick announcement about a new project that we will doing on the site and also on our Facebook page. We are currently working on a couple remodel projects for clients. One is a single family home and the other is a medium sized apartment building. We are going to start putting up pictures and short commentaries on the projects to help all of you out there in the internets with your own remodel projects, give you ideas and maybe help you out where you are stuck. We also help manage remodel projects for our clients both for new purchases as well as to get a place ready for sale. Over the years we have dealt with a lot of purchases with the intention of fixing a place up and are happy to help you along with this project. If you are looking at a fixer upper or are getting ready to sell and would like a little help getting ready before putting it on the market, give us a call. We are here to help get you ready to maximize your sales potential.
The Best Snow Blower for Utah?s Winter
Everyone that lives in northern Utah knows that we get a bit of snow from time to time. This year has been especially bad, my front yard looks like Tony Montana?s desk at the end of Scarface. I live in the foothills so it?s exceptionally bad up here. With temps 2-3 degrees colder than the valley floor it translates to a few inches more of snow per storm, which really adds up.
And for our clients further north and up in the Park City area it makes down at my house look like nothing. So what do you do about it? Well if you live in Dallas owning a shovel works fine, but trying to shovel yourself out in Utah is a sure recipe for a ruined back and a heart attack.
So let?s talk snow blowers. There are essentially 2 types, 1 and 2 stage models. 1 stage are the classic model with the little blade in front that both pulls the snow in and blows it out. Frankly we just get too much snow here for those to do much. So what?s the deal with 2 stage? 2 stage as I?m sure you?ve all figured out use 2 mechanism for moving the snow, the front blade to break up and pull the snow in and then a second propeller that sits in the shoot to blow the snow out. This is way more affective for both heavy and high quantity snow fall.
For years I had a smaller 2 stage Craftman snow blower. It did fine for smaller storms but would get clogged with heavy or wet snow like when you get down by the gutter. This year we upgraded to the Ariens 208cc model. With an engine bigger than some dirt bikes and all metal construction this is the first blower that really has taken care of these big valley snows we?ve been getting.
The other nice feature that this model has is a reverse gear so when you get too deep you don?t have to drag it out but can use the engine going backwards as well as forwards. Now I?m not sponsored by Ariens and I?m sure there are other great brands out there, but this one has been fantastic for me. More generally I would suggest 200cc or bigger engine if you are in the foothills and at least a 136cc for the valley. 2 stage and probably a 20? or bigger scoop so you don?t have to do the sidewalk twice. The reverse gear is always a plus too.
Blogger Labels: Blower,Utah,Winter,Craftman,Ariens,Whatever brand or model you choose, good luck out there this winter. Stay safe and healthy while dealing with the snow! If you have any questions about the real estate market here in Salt Lake or are sick of the snow and want to move down from Park City or want more snow and are interested in heading up to the mountains for your next purchase give us a call anytime.
Cincinnati Frank Lloyd Wright Home up For Sale For First Time Ever
Zillow.com is reporting that a FLW designed home is up for sale in Cincinnati for the first time ever. http://www.zillowblog.com/2013-02-06/frank-lloyd-wright-home-in-cincinnati-hits-market-for-first-time-ever/
Listed for $1,788,000 this 3,100 square foot home built by Wright?s grandson in 1955 was built from original plans that his grandfather had designed before his death. Done in the later Usonian style this is a really spectacular house. I have mentioned in the past that I did lots of architectural history in college and although this doesn?t have anything to do with Salt Lake real estate I like to provide these fun little articles on architectural gems around the country.
If you like classic modern homes or great architecture and would like to find a place here in Salt Lake or sell your architectural masterpiece give us a call or email anytime.
Blogger Labels: Cincinnati,Frank,Lloyd,Sale,Usonian,gems,architectureHow to Change A Shower Head
Before I left to go to Europe I announced that on my return I would be greatly expanding the content of this blog from simply being about the real estate market to cover broader aspects of owning property here on the Wasatch Front and so today we are going to be touching a little on one of the many tasks that home owners face. This is not a major fix up or remodel project but anyone who owns a home will at some point need to switch out one of their shower heads, just like I had to this weekend.
There are lots of reasons you might want to change shower heads: worn out old one, new design, save water and changing a shower head can be a very in expensive way to freshen up a bathroom and make taking that daily shower a little more enjoyable or spruce the bathroom up for a sale. I was changing out my old shower head because it had simply worn out and I was sick of a mix of random spray in my face and dribbles of water every morning.
I?ve included some pictures to help explain things as I go, the first thing to do is grab a pair of pliers, water pump work great but are probably overkill, I just used a pair of slip joint. Now find the connecter on your old shower head, twist counter clockwise and that thing should come right off.
Once that is off you can get your new shower head.
I went with a Delta model with a mounted shower head as well as a handle unit. It was inexpensive and adds a lot of versatility and a high end look the bathroom. I also bought a roll of thread tape which should be right by the shower heads at your local hardware or big box store, some shower heads come with a little roll so check to make sure you need it.
The next step is putting on the tape. The thread tape creates a seal around the shower head threads so you don?t have any leaks, you need to wrap it on clockwise and after you?re done it should look like this:
Next step is to grab your shower head and screw it on to the pipe. Tighten by hand and then if instructed use the pliers to get it on there real good so there aren?t any leaks. Make sure you don?t over tighten and break it, but you should be fine. I put a rag around the shower head so the pliers didn?t leave any marks on the metal.
At this point with some shower heads you might be done, in this case I had to connect the head to the faucet attachment here just the same way as before, a little clock work twisting and ta da:
Now to attack the wand:
And finally turn it on to make sure there are no leaks:
And you?re done! If you have water coming out of where it?s not supposed to just dry everything off with a towel and tighten the connection down a little more.
This is a great and inexpensive little fix it up that really spruces up a bathroom and you can easily do yourself. Hope this helps you enjoy your house more and as always please call or email us anytime with all your real estate needs.
Blogger Labels: Shower,Head,tasks,bathroom,sale,faucet,attachmentIlluminating the New Light bulb Laws
January 1st of last year the new federal regulations on light bulbs take affect, this is one of those perfectly political issues, in that it doesn?t really have much affect on either side of the issue but causes a lot of people to get very upset. From the government?s side the new regulations increase 100 watt equivalent bulb efficiency by 30%. Only 10% of all residential power in the US is from lighting and since 100 watt bulbs only make up a small percentage of the total lighting, other wattages or people that have already switched to CFL or LED bulbs, experts believe that this will reduce power consumption in the residential sector by less than 1%, a meaningless amount. From peoples perspective, although changing bulbs will affect your daily lives, LEDs are more expensive in the short term and CFLs just look like garbage these are really minor inconveniences. So like I said, this is a minor issue that has inflamed lots of people for obvious reasons.
As of the 1st of this year we have seen the efficiency standard move down to 75 watt bulbs, which are much more widely used and as of this time next year 60 watt and 40 watt will also fall under the new standard. This only affects ?standard? bulbs, heavy duty, appliance, colored and 3 way will not have to change. This will also only cover the E26/E27 socket, your standard screw in socket and A19 shaped bulbs, the pear shape lamp bulb you are used to. MR16 plugs, the small can bulbs you see in newer homes and stores, they fit 3 and 4 inch cans as well as older PAR-30 and PAR-38 can bulbs are not affected, although most of these bulbs have already transitioned over to halogen years ago.
The other aspect of this law, which I actually find to be the most useful for consumers is the new lighting facts panel on the back of all light bulb boxes. It looks a lot like what you find on food packaging for nutritional information.
I?ve long told people that wattage is not useful for understanding how much light you are getting and I don?t think the traditional CFL and LED of wattage equivalent is very useful. With the new packaging you have brightness in lumens, a measurement of the amount of light something puts off so you can easily compare one bulb to another even if they are a different standard of bulb i.e. halogen to LED. Also the life of the bulb and the color will be on there and an estimate of the cost of use. Color is great because for a long time bulbs have used color descriptors like daylight, warm, natural all meaning different things for different companies, not you can see if it?s 2700K 3400K or 6000K for example.
While I have lots of misgivings about this new law I think there are some good aspects of it that will make it much easier for consumers to understand what they are getting in their lighting and as every real estate agent knows, lighting is everything! A small change in the amount and quality of lighting can completely change a room or a house for the better.
I hope this helps you navigate the new lighting rules and regulations. If you have any questions about this or any other real estate need you may have please email or call me anytime.
Blogger Labels: bulb,Laws,government,efficiency,consumption,perspective,LEDs,CFLs,garbage,appliance,socket,lamp,aspect,panel,food,information,measurement,Also,life,cost,Color,example,misgivings,estate,agent,halogen,wattageBack From Europe
Hi everyone, I?m back from my trip to Europe with some exciting new ideas and will be back to both blogging daily as well as helping all of my great clients fulfill their real estate needs. Get ready for some exciting new things in the next few weeks and some implementations of new ideas.
It was a great trip but I?m happy to get back and get started on an exciting new year in the real estate business here in Salt Lake! It?s been a hard winter I hear, but things are warming up a bit and the market has continued to be strong.
Thanks
Peter and the Velox Realty Team!
Commercial Interest Rates
We have new interest rates out this week for commercial loans, these are brought to you by BMC Capital www.bmccapital.com
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Lockitron?Lock Your Door From Anywhere
As you know from reading this blog I am interested in new technologies that can improve your home owning experience. One area that hasn?t seen a lot of changes over the years is the door lock. Locks have been on doors for thousands of years now and they pretty much work the same way, you use a key to extend a bolt of some kind to keep the door closed.
The problem is, what if you aren?t around and want to open the door, say for a friend or family member. Or you leave the house and think you?ve forgotten to lock the door and don?t have time to go back, or you?re in the shower and want to let someone in without coming downstairs?
Well https://lockitron.com is a new company with a very interesting device that sits on your lock and uses wireless communication to lock and unlock your door. Either by linking up to your wi-fi network or using NFC it can be activated anywhere in the world or simply unlock when your phone gets close, so no more putting down the groceries to unlock the door.
There are still some security concerns, hacking, spoofing NFC etc. and it only works on one style of deadbolt, but this is definitely an interesting step forward in home automation and lock technology. They are taking pre-orders right now for May delivery next year so I haven?t been able to see them work in person, but after thousands of years it?s exciting to see some interesting new innovations in lock technology.
Solar AC All In One
I?ve discussed using solar to increase your home energy savings and for taking advantage of new technology to increase your home?s value before. Up until now solar has been a rather expensive and impractical way to lower your power bills. With high capital expenditure and lots of equipment needed to attach it to your existing home electrical system there haven?t been many practical uses for it for most home owners.
This may have changed with this new system from Lennox. What makes this interesting is that each panel uses it?s own inverter, what they are calling a micro-inverter so that you don?t need to buy an expensive inverter for the entire system that has to be upgraded when the number of panels are increased. The other major innovation is that the heat pump/AC is solar ready, no upgrades are needed to hook it up to the system. This means that you can start off by only running your HVAC system off the solar and then expanding later if you want to convert the rest of your home to solar, so your initial expenses are much lower.
If you are looking for a system to get started the heating/cooling equipment plus 2 panels to run it, which is the minimum to fully run the HVAC equipment will run about $10,000 only slightly more than a conventional high efficiency furnace and AC, which run about $7,000-8,500. With annual savings of around $2,500 for the average home this system will pay for itself in under 2 years for most, much less than the 10 year recoup we saw with the old systems. Add on top of that federal tax incentives for solar systems and for the first time ever solar is starting to make sense for your average home owner.
For this and other energy saving tips visit our website http://velox-realty.com and feel free to contact us about any and all of your real estate needs.
This Month In Real Estate June 2012
