Blast from the Past – Vintage Appliances Add Unique Twist in Today’s Kitchens
By Jamie Knodel
July 24, 2010 — Long before granite and stainless steel dominated kitchens, chrome mixed with high-gloss, playful color was the look. These kitchens and their appliances of years past have droves of fans. The owners of vintage appliances are a proud lot, quick to show off a refrigerator’s special features, discuss the steps they take to keep a stove shiny or share a charming story about a previous owner.
Many aren’t afraid to fiddle with this or that part to get their equipment back in prime working order, and the ones who leave repairs to the experts have had little trouble finding a professional to get their appliances humming once more.
While all of the vintage appliances we found are in older homes, there are plenty of collectors who put vintage appliances or reproductions in new construction.
Meet three homeowners who live with appliances that have sailed past the half-century mark.
A red showstopper: 1950s-era Chambers high-back stove
The proud owners: Van and Elsa Moushegian of northwest Dallas
Its colorful past: When the Moushegians bought their house, the seller was sure to tell them about how, when he was a boy, his father gave his mother the stove to mark a special occasion. The seller had moved the stove to a couple of other houses throughout the years, but didn’t have a spot for it in his next home, so it stayed and became the Moushegians’.
Bells and whistles: Instead of four burners, the stove has three. In the place where the fourth would go is a deep well, which works like a built-in slow cooker.
“I’ll do tamales or beans in there,” Elsa says. “I can put them in before I go to bed and cook them overnight or start cooking them before I go to work in the morning.”
There’s also a broiler and griddle. The oven has a retained-heat cooking option that the Moushegians rave about. After preheating the oven at a very high heat, such as 500°F, they’ll put a roast or some other type of meat in and keep it on for about 20 minutes before turning it off. The meat stays in the oven and the door stays shut for several hours. “Steam comes out when you open the oven,” Van says. “Because it’s so well-insulated, it all comes out steaming and super tender.”
Up and running: “The real beauty of the stove is the way that it’s so easy to clean—it all comes apart easily,” Van says.
Sticking with vintage: “The first time I saw it, I thought it was just decoration. I didn’t realize it would still work,” Elsa says. Once she started cooking on it, it was love. “It cooks better, and I’m happier with this stove than I was my previous modern one.”
Pretty in pink: 1956 or ’57 General Electric refrigerator and oven
The proud owners: Lee and Melissa Higginbotham of northwest Dallas
Its colorful past: Lee Higginbotham inherited the pink appliances when he bought the 1957 house from a friend’s grandmother in the ’80s. It was a model home when the neighborhood was first developed. The pink sets the tone of entire kitchen; Melissa’s mother, an artist, painted the cabinets to complement the pastel appliances.
Bells and whistles: “It was the latest and greatest that 1957 had to offer,” Lee Higginbotham says. The refrigerator features a foot pedal beneath the door that opens the door for cooks who have their hands full. The pastel appliance, complete with turquoise lining, has a copper lazy Susan for shelves, and the shelf height is adjustable.
Up and running: Though the oven is 30-50 degrees off and its clock no longer works, the Higginbothams have learned to adjust. The fridge, which Lee’s partial to, has required only normal maintenance, he says. That includes defrosting it every so often and cleaning the back coils.
Sticking with vintage: Lee says he’ll cry when the fridge no longer works. He keeps an even older fridge, which isn’t running, in case he needs to mine it for parts for his beloved pink GE.
History’s in the bag: 1950s-era Electrolux pull canister vacuum and 1954 O’Keefe & Merritt stove
The proud owners: Mitchell and Kristen Kauffman of Lakewood, Texas
Its colorful past: The 500 series stove, which is white with yellow knobs and handles, was in the 1920s East Dallas bungalow when the Kauffmans moved in 15 years ago. The vacuum’s been in the family since Kristen’s grandmother owned it.
Bells and whistles: The maker of the vintage vacuum, Electrolux, keeps up with the Kauffmans and calls to schedule regular in-home tune-ups and to sell replacement bags. The Electrolux folks have replaced the vacuum’s retractable cord.
The stove, with a couple of storage drawers, electrical outlets and a lamp on the high back, also features a griddle. There’s also a “grillevator,” which lets you adjust how close you want your broiler pan to the flame. Under each burner is a crumb tray that slides out from the front for easy cleanup.
Up and running: “The inner workings of a stove haven’t changed much in the last 50 years,” Mitchell says. Anything that has gone wrong with the stove has been easy to fix.
Sticking with vintage: Vintage goes with the look of the Kauffmans’ bungalow, and while there have been plenty of updates, they like the way their vintage appliances fit in. “At the end of the day, you’re just cooking over a flame,” says Mitchell, a restaurateur. “There’s not much difference cooking over a flame coming out of a Viking vs. a flame coming out of my O’Keefe & Merritt.”
(c) 2010, The Dallas Morning News.
Thursday, July 29, 2010
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
A Potential Cure for the Appraisal Blues
A potential cure for the appraisal blues
By Ken Harney
WASHINGTON - Picture this: You've signed a contract to sell your house. Your buyers say they've nailed down the right mortgage. All is well. But then the appraisal comes in low - $25,000 to $50,000 under what was agreed in the contract.
The lender insists on cutting the mortgage amount to reflect the lower appraised value. You refuse to negotiate anywhere near the price indicated by the appraisal, and suddenly - poof! The whole deal is off. You, the buyers and the realty agents involved are all left sputtering over the appraisal that scuttled the transaction.
This scenario is not unusual in many markets across the country, say homebuilders, realty agents and appraisers. One little-publicized reason why: Lenders unilaterally may be lowering the numbers on the appraisals submitted to them in order to avoid accusations that the loans they sell to giant investors Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac are based on inflated appraisals - even slightly inflated. Such value inflations can expose lenders to dreaded "buyback" demands, forcing them to repurchase loans at huge costs.
The vice chairman of the National Association of Realtors' Appraisal Committee, Frank K. Gregoire of St. Petersburg, Fla., says it's a widespread problem - large numbers of legitimate home sales "sabotaged by lenders and underwriters arbitrarily reducing the value estimate" provided by the appraiser.
Typically, Gregoire says, the lender orders a low-cost electronic valuation - based on publicly available statistical data with no on-site inspections - to review the accuracy of what was submitted by the appraiser. If there's a discrepancy between what the computer says and the appraiser's report, the lender's underwriters sometimes simply cut the number - even if this means knocking the real estate transaction off track. Or they demand an immediate explanation from the appraiser.
But all this may be about to change. Effective Sept. 1, Fannie Mae is prohibiting lenders who sell it loans from changing appraisers' numbers. In guidance issued June 30, Fannie Mae said lenders must contact appraisers to "resolve" any disagreements about the valuation. If that's not possible, they should order a second appraisal - not just chop the value supporting the real estate contract.
Appraisers applauded the new rule. "This is huge," said Gary Crabtree, president of Affiliated Appraisers of Bakersfield, Calif., and a member of the national government relations committee of the Appraisal Institute, an industry group. Pat Turner, an appraiser in Richmond, Va., said Fannie's new requirement "is great news for consumers" because loan underwriters hundreds of miles from the property "no longer will be able to change the appraiser's valuation" simply because they pulled a lower number off a computer.
Turner said these electronic models "are often inaccurate," and provide no information on property condition. He said an appraisal completed recently in Virginia was challenged by a review company based in California using a proprietary electronic valuation system. The reviewer wanted to know why Turner hadn't used a specific property in the area as a "comparable" in doing his appraisal on the house. Turner checked out the suggested "comp," and it turned out to be a vacant lot, worth far less than the house - not a true comp "by any stretch of the imagination."
Fannie Mae's new guidelines also attempt to clarify other issues that have arisen during the past year, including the widespread use of inexperienced appraisers who are unfamiliar with local market conditions. Realtors, builders and mortgage brokers have complained to Congress that rules adopted by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in 2009 encouraged lenders to use "appraisal management" companies to value properties.
Those companies, in turn, often pay appraisers deeply discounted fees - half off traditional prevailing rates in some cases - and require them to complete their assignments far faster than normal turnaround times. Critics have charged that low-budget appraisers working for management companies frequently travel long distances to do their valuations, have minimal access to local realty data, and make excessive use of foreclosures and short sales as comparables - thereby depressing the values of non-distressed sales in the area.
Fannie's letter attempts to clarify its "appraiser selection" standards. Tops on the list: Appraisers should be experienced, "have the requisite knowledge" about local market conditions, plus access to all local data sources. Fannie also emphasized that the demonstrated experience of an appraiser should always trump fees or turnaround times - a clear swipe at management companies who literally bid out their work on the latter two criteria.
Asked whether Freddie Mac plans to issue similar rules on appraisal quality standards, a spokesman said "we're definitely looking at it."
• Write to Ken Harney at P.O. Box 15281, Chevy Chase, MD 20815 or via e-mail at kenharney@earthlink.net.
© 2010, Washington Post Writers Group
By Ken Harney
WASHINGTON - Picture this: You've signed a contract to sell your house. Your buyers say they've nailed down the right mortgage. All is well. But then the appraisal comes in low - $25,000 to $50,000 under what was agreed in the contract.
The lender insists on cutting the mortgage amount to reflect the lower appraised value. You refuse to negotiate anywhere near the price indicated by the appraisal, and suddenly - poof! The whole deal is off. You, the buyers and the realty agents involved are all left sputtering over the appraisal that scuttled the transaction.
This scenario is not unusual in many markets across the country, say homebuilders, realty agents and appraisers. One little-publicized reason why: Lenders unilaterally may be lowering the numbers on the appraisals submitted to them in order to avoid accusations that the loans they sell to giant investors Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac are based on inflated appraisals - even slightly inflated. Such value inflations can expose lenders to dreaded "buyback" demands, forcing them to repurchase loans at huge costs.
The vice chairman of the National Association of Realtors' Appraisal Committee, Frank K. Gregoire of St. Petersburg, Fla., says it's a widespread problem - large numbers of legitimate home sales "sabotaged by lenders and underwriters arbitrarily reducing the value estimate" provided by the appraiser.
Typically, Gregoire says, the lender orders a low-cost electronic valuation - based on publicly available statistical data with no on-site inspections - to review the accuracy of what was submitted by the appraiser. If there's a discrepancy between what the computer says and the appraiser's report, the lender's underwriters sometimes simply cut the number - even if this means knocking the real estate transaction off track. Or they demand an immediate explanation from the appraiser.
But all this may be about to change. Effective Sept. 1, Fannie Mae is prohibiting lenders who sell it loans from changing appraisers' numbers. In guidance issued June 30, Fannie Mae said lenders must contact appraisers to "resolve" any disagreements about the valuation. If that's not possible, they should order a second appraisal - not just chop the value supporting the real estate contract.
Appraisers applauded the new rule. "This is huge," said Gary Crabtree, president of Affiliated Appraisers of Bakersfield, Calif., and a member of the national government relations committee of the Appraisal Institute, an industry group. Pat Turner, an appraiser in Richmond, Va., said Fannie's new requirement "is great news for consumers" because loan underwriters hundreds of miles from the property "no longer will be able to change the appraiser's valuation" simply because they pulled a lower number off a computer.
Turner said these electronic models "are often inaccurate," and provide no information on property condition. He said an appraisal completed recently in Virginia was challenged by a review company based in California using a proprietary electronic valuation system. The reviewer wanted to know why Turner hadn't used a specific property in the area as a "comparable" in doing his appraisal on the house. Turner checked out the suggested "comp," and it turned out to be a vacant lot, worth far less than the house - not a true comp "by any stretch of the imagination."
Fannie Mae's new guidelines also attempt to clarify other issues that have arisen during the past year, including the widespread use of inexperienced appraisers who are unfamiliar with local market conditions. Realtors, builders and mortgage brokers have complained to Congress that rules adopted by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in 2009 encouraged lenders to use "appraisal management" companies to value properties.
Those companies, in turn, often pay appraisers deeply discounted fees - half off traditional prevailing rates in some cases - and require them to complete their assignments far faster than normal turnaround times. Critics have charged that low-budget appraisers working for management companies frequently travel long distances to do their valuations, have minimal access to local realty data, and make excessive use of foreclosures and short sales as comparables - thereby depressing the values of non-distressed sales in the area.
Fannie's letter attempts to clarify its "appraiser selection" standards. Tops on the list: Appraisers should be experienced, "have the requisite knowledge" about local market conditions, plus access to all local data sources. Fannie also emphasized that the demonstrated experience of an appraiser should always trump fees or turnaround times - a clear swipe at management companies who literally bid out their work on the latter two criteria.
Asked whether Freddie Mac plans to issue similar rules on appraisal quality standards, a spokesman said "we're definitely looking at it."
• Write to Ken Harney at P.O. Box 15281, Chevy Chase, MD 20815 or via e-mail at kenharney@earthlink.net.
© 2010, Washington Post Writers Group
Thursday, July 15, 2010
What Was the Real Impact of the Housing Tax Credit?
Home buyer tax credit fails as a turbocharger for Savannah market
By Adam Van Brimmer, Savannah Morning News, Ga.
Hindsight reflects poorly on Version 2.0 of the federal homebuyer tax credit.
The credit -- established Nov. 6, 2009, and redeemable for up to $8,000 off the income taxes of first-time homebuyers and $6,500 for eligible repeat buyers -- failed as a turbocharger for the local housing market.
The credit expired April 30, although buyers with homes under contract as of that date have until Sept. 30 to close and occupy the new residence.
All but a few of those deals are complete. And the numbers lead local real estate professionals to use words like "bust," "flop," and "disappointment" to describe the credit's impact.
Sales of single-family homes, modulars, townhouses and condos through the first six months of 2010 were flat compared with the same period in 2009, when only first-time buyers were eligible. And many of those buyers waited until late summer and early fall to take advantage of that initial program.
But proponents of the credit point to what the statistics and hindsight fail to show: How much worse the housing market might have been without the incentives.
Treading water is better than drowning, they say, and if the credit kept the market afloat, then it was far from a failure.
Labels like success and failure aside, the credit's impact -- and the factors behind it -- demonstrate housing's economic complexity.
A sensible idea
Extending and expanding the tax credit seemed logical last fall.
The initial program for first-time buyers carried the market in 2009. First-timers accounted for as much as 70 percent of home purchases nationwide last year.
Locally, the percentage of first-time buyers was lower, but not by much. Exact figures are not available, but financing data for local sales reveals more than 50 percent of purchases made last year were secured using FHA and VA loans, which require little money down and are the loans of choice among first-time buyers.
Extending the credit for those predominantly young buyers meant more new blood for the market -- vital considering the number of homeowners who lost their houses to foreclosure and became renters last year. The more first-timers buying now, the earlier they will shop for bigger or better houses and aid the market down the road.
Plus, a good percentage of first-timer buyers purchased newly constructed homes, helping homebuilders weather the recession.
Expanding the credit to include repeat or "move-up" buyers would further stimulate the housing market, proponents claimed, especially in higher-priced neighborhoods. The first-time buyers gobbled up houses priced under $200,000 -- the so-called "starter homes" -- but the initial tax credit did little to boost activity outside that price point.
Offering a $6,500 incentive to current homeowners would expand the credit's impact to include the higher-priced addresses, the thinking went. Young families are always looking to trade in their two-bedroom for a three- or four-bedroom or move into a better school district.
An expanded credit would do for the market what shifting from second gear into third does for a car.
Bumps in the road
Yet the tax credit's ability to accelerate the local housing market depended on the navigation of several obstacles.
-- Labor market growth. Unemployment needed to shrink and employed Americans had to feel more secure in their jobs. Job insecurity is synonymous with financial uncertainty. Few make six-figure purchases when wondering from where their next paycheck may come.
-- Increased demand. For move-up buyers to move up, most needed first to sell the homes they currently owned.
-- Continued first-time buyer interest. First-timers would buy the homes the would-be repeat buyers were selling and keep the homebuilders busy and the market growing.
The Savannah area fell short on all fronts. Unemployment remained above eight percent. Would-be repeat buyers struggled to sell without significantly cutting their prices, and lower prices meant less equity to invest in an upgrade.
As for the first-timers, their numbers dropped precipitously. FHA/VA-backed purchases were down 24 percent in the first six months of 2010 versus 2009.
Many local real estate professionals believe the reason for the drop was the initial tax credit, which was scheduled to expire Nov. 30 until the government extended it, coaxed many spring 2010 buyers to purchase early to ensure themselves of the $8,000 bonus.
Lingering effects
The focus now shifts to the credit's impact on the Savannah market post-deadline.
Just as the initial credit borrowed first-time buyers from spring 2010, the expanded credit may have stolen move-up buyers from the second half of this year.
The number of pending deals has dropped since the credit's contract deadline on April 30. But there are extenuating circumstances that could help the market maintain its current levels and possibly even grow:
-- Mortgage rates: Stock market uncertainty has led to heavy investment in the bond markets, which in turn have kept mortgage interest rates down. Interest rates are tied to bond yields, and the higher the demand for bonds, the lower the yields.
The average 30-year fixed rate currently stands at 4.62 percent after hitting record lows last week. Each tenth of a point change in interest rate equates to thousands of dollars over the life of a loan.
For example, a borrower would pay about $17,000 less in interest on a $200,000 loan at 4.6 percent than he would on the same loan at 5 percent.
-- Home prices: Sluggish sales have kept prices in check as well. The overall average sales price for the first six months is unchanged from a year ago, although prices are down significantly in several Savannah neighborhoods.
Single-family homes on the Southside are down 10 percent, West Chatham has seen a 3 percent decrease, and Skidaway Island is off by 9 percent.
And overall, prices are down more than 10 percent from where they were through the first six months of 2008, which marked the eve of the housing slump locally.
Local real estate professionals agree a housing recovery here goes deeper than a tax credit. A strengthening economy and all that comes with it -- more jobs, more retiring baby boomers, more tourism and ports activity -- will be the spark for the housing market.
By Adam Van Brimmer, Savannah Morning News, Ga.
Hindsight reflects poorly on Version 2.0 of the federal homebuyer tax credit.
The credit -- established Nov. 6, 2009, and redeemable for up to $8,000 off the income taxes of first-time homebuyers and $6,500 for eligible repeat buyers -- failed as a turbocharger for the local housing market.
The credit expired April 30, although buyers with homes under contract as of that date have until Sept. 30 to close and occupy the new residence.
All but a few of those deals are complete. And the numbers lead local real estate professionals to use words like "bust," "flop," and "disappointment" to describe the credit's impact.
Sales of single-family homes, modulars, townhouses and condos through the first six months of 2010 were flat compared with the same period in 2009, when only first-time buyers were eligible. And many of those buyers waited until late summer and early fall to take advantage of that initial program.
But proponents of the credit point to what the statistics and hindsight fail to show: How much worse the housing market might have been without the incentives.
Treading water is better than drowning, they say, and if the credit kept the market afloat, then it was far from a failure.
Labels like success and failure aside, the credit's impact -- and the factors behind it -- demonstrate housing's economic complexity.
A sensible idea
Extending and expanding the tax credit seemed logical last fall.
The initial program for first-time buyers carried the market in 2009. First-timers accounted for as much as 70 percent of home purchases nationwide last year.
Locally, the percentage of first-time buyers was lower, but not by much. Exact figures are not available, but financing data for local sales reveals more than 50 percent of purchases made last year were secured using FHA and VA loans, which require little money down and are the loans of choice among first-time buyers.
Extending the credit for those predominantly young buyers meant more new blood for the market -- vital considering the number of homeowners who lost their houses to foreclosure and became renters last year. The more first-timers buying now, the earlier they will shop for bigger or better houses and aid the market down the road.
Plus, a good percentage of first-timer buyers purchased newly constructed homes, helping homebuilders weather the recession.
Expanding the credit to include repeat or "move-up" buyers would further stimulate the housing market, proponents claimed, especially in higher-priced neighborhoods. The first-time buyers gobbled up houses priced under $200,000 -- the so-called "starter homes" -- but the initial tax credit did little to boost activity outside that price point.
Offering a $6,500 incentive to current homeowners would expand the credit's impact to include the higher-priced addresses, the thinking went. Young families are always looking to trade in their two-bedroom for a three- or four-bedroom or move into a better school district.
An expanded credit would do for the market what shifting from second gear into third does for a car.
Bumps in the road
Yet the tax credit's ability to accelerate the local housing market depended on the navigation of several obstacles.
-- Labor market growth. Unemployment needed to shrink and employed Americans had to feel more secure in their jobs. Job insecurity is synonymous with financial uncertainty. Few make six-figure purchases when wondering from where their next paycheck may come.
-- Increased demand. For move-up buyers to move up, most needed first to sell the homes they currently owned.
-- Continued first-time buyer interest. First-timers would buy the homes the would-be repeat buyers were selling and keep the homebuilders busy and the market growing.
The Savannah area fell short on all fronts. Unemployment remained above eight percent. Would-be repeat buyers struggled to sell without significantly cutting their prices, and lower prices meant less equity to invest in an upgrade.
As for the first-timers, their numbers dropped precipitously. FHA/VA-backed purchases were down 24 percent in the first six months of 2010 versus 2009.
Many local real estate professionals believe the reason for the drop was the initial tax credit, which was scheduled to expire Nov. 30 until the government extended it, coaxed many spring 2010 buyers to purchase early to ensure themselves of the $8,000 bonus.
Lingering effects
The focus now shifts to the credit's impact on the Savannah market post-deadline.
Just as the initial credit borrowed first-time buyers from spring 2010, the expanded credit may have stolen move-up buyers from the second half of this year.
The number of pending deals has dropped since the credit's contract deadline on April 30. But there are extenuating circumstances that could help the market maintain its current levels and possibly even grow:
-- Mortgage rates: Stock market uncertainty has led to heavy investment in the bond markets, which in turn have kept mortgage interest rates down. Interest rates are tied to bond yields, and the higher the demand for bonds, the lower the yields.
The average 30-year fixed rate currently stands at 4.62 percent after hitting record lows last week. Each tenth of a point change in interest rate equates to thousands of dollars over the life of a loan.
For example, a borrower would pay about $17,000 less in interest on a $200,000 loan at 4.6 percent than he would on the same loan at 5 percent.
-- Home prices: Sluggish sales have kept prices in check as well. The overall average sales price for the first six months is unchanged from a year ago, although prices are down significantly in several Savannah neighborhoods.
Single-family homes on the Southside are down 10 percent, West Chatham has seen a 3 percent decrease, and Skidaway Island is off by 9 percent.
And overall, prices are down more than 10 percent from where they were through the first six months of 2008, which marked the eve of the housing slump locally.
Local real estate professionals agree a housing recovery here goes deeper than a tax credit. A strengthening economy and all that comes with it -- more jobs, more retiring baby boomers, more tourism and ports activity -- will be the spark for the housing market.
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