Hardwood Flooring

One of the largest impacts you can create in a house is the flooring that you put in. The three main options are carpet, tile and wood, but in each category there are a tremendous number of options. This comparison will focus on the four main groups of hardwood flooring: unfinished, prefinished, engineered and laminate.

Unfinshed hardwood is a solid piece of wood that is stapled or glued to the subfloor. It has to be finished after it has been installed. Prefinished is solid wood also but has already been finished in a factory. Engineered is similar to plywood and each plank is made from multiple 'plys' of wood glued together with the top 'ply' being actual hardwood. It is prefinished in a factory as well. Laminate is a synthetic material that is created to (sometimes well, sometimes poorly) imitate wood.

To compare them I'll use the characteristics Price, Finished Look, Feel, Durability and Installation. Note that Engineered and Laminate floors were created as a lower cost option to imitate solid wood, so comparisons of Look and Feel are in Unfinished and Prefinished's favor.

• Price: Prefinished and unfinished are the most expensive. There is a lot of variation by wood species with the oaks usually the most economical and the international woods costing the most. Unfinished may cost less at a store but when you add in the extra finishing costs, in many cases the costs come out to the same or even more than prefinished. It is my preference to go with Prefinished or Engineered when budget allows to avoid the mess of the finishing process.
  
  Prices are from $6/sf to $20/sf. The average is about $8 to $12/sf. Engineereds run from $4/sf to $12/sf and laminates are $3/sf to $8/sf. Prices include labor.

• Finished Look: Unfinished (after it is finished of course), Prefinished and Engineered wood provide the most premium look and are what people usually think of when they think hardwood. You really can't tell the difference between a Prefinished and Engineered floor if they are both 3/4" thick. Unfinished wood gets sanded down so removes any of the seams between the boards, seams that show up in Prefinished floors.
  Laminate can look really close to real wood if you choose from the higher end options. However in most cases each 'plank' or piece is the width of 3 to 5 "boards" so the end seams look like three boards all end in the same place.

• Feel: With the exception of the seams between boards Unfinished and Prefinished feel very good and about the same. When walking on them the floor is solid with no movement. If using a 3/4" or similar thickness Engineered floor the feel will also be the same. Dropping to a thinner plank and/or not gluing the floor down (called "floating") will cause more movement when walking. Laminate does not feel like wood, but if installed properly can feel pretty solid. In many cases the laminates I've seen that are floating have too much movement, so I'm a strong supporter of gluing it down.

• Durability: Finally a category where Laminate can be on top! Being a synthetic material Laminate is very scratch resistant when compared to wood. I'm not saying you can't scratch it, but it holds up well to walking traffic and pets much better than real wood. The other materials will hold up about the same, although Prefinished and Engineered claim to have a harder finish than wood finished on site. I haven't seen any evidence of this in houses I've been through.
  
  I'll say too that although Laminate is more scratch resistant over time the joints and seams weaken more than solid wood, so it's not as permanent of a floor.

• Installation: Laminate again wins here as most are snap-and-click, where you just put to pieces together and then snap together. Plus each plank is the equivalent width of 3 to 5 boards so you're laying it 3 to 5 times faster based just on this.
  
  Some Engineered wood is snap-and-click, others are tongue and groove (T&G) like solid wood is. Engineered snap-and-click installs just like Laminate, but again takes more time as each plank is only one board width. Engineered T&G installs just like solid wood. Depending on whether the subfloor is concrete (most homes built after the 1950s) or wood (2nd floors and homes build 1950s or before) will dictate how you install it. If you are on wood you can staple it straight to the subfloor. If concrete you can usually glue it down.

As you can see there are a lot of differences and a lot of similarities too. If I were deciding on what type for a project of my own, I'd first think about what would look good in the house and what would be appropriate for the house given the other homes in the neighborhood. Then I'd look at HomeDepot/Lowes or a flooring store and see what fit into my budget. I'd get some samples and bring them home to see how I liked them.

I couldn't cover everything in this entry so if you have any questions please let me know. billconover@america-lending.com

Bill Conover
America Lending

What is Earnest Money

When making an offer on a house you'll have to decide on the amount of earnest money to give the seller. The purpose of earnest money is so that the seller has some protection that a buyer won't back out of the contract. For if a buyer backed out of a contract the seller would keep the earnest money. There are some protections for buyers too.

For typical residential contracts in Texas there are two buyer protections that are most often used 1) the financing addendum and 2) the option period. The financing addendum allows a buyer who has tried but cannot obtain financing to cancel the contract during a specified time period and still receive their earnest money back. The financing addendum period is typically between 12 and 21 days and is negotiable.

The option period is a more powerful buyer protection in that a buyer can back out during the option period for any reason at all. It is during this time that a home inspection is done to make sure the buyer can back out if they find something unacceptable with the house. But again, they can back out for any reason, it doesn't have to be inspection related. Option periods are usually 5 to 12 days and is negotiable too. Both the finanding addendum and option period are optional items in the contract.

There are a few other buyer protections that allow a buyer to back out, usually after getting some additional information about the property. Information such as Survey, Title Policy, Sellers Disclosure and Appraisal.

All contracts are different so it's always best to talk with your Realtor so you fully understand the contract and how these different time periods affect each other. If you have any questions, I'm happy to answer them. Please email me at billconover@america-lending.com.

July Market Stats

Save on electricity

As we're going through one of the hottest summers on record, keeping the AC cool and the electric bills under control is on everyone's mind. Here are 7 cheap and easy tips to make your house more energy efficient.

1. Weatherstrip your doors and windows. Check your exterior doors for any air leaks. Or during the day check for light coming in around the jamb. You can block up these areas with easy to use peel-and-stick rubber weatherstripping. Be sure to get an approximate measurement of the hole to be filled as it's sold in different widths.
2. Check your attic vents. If you have fixed vents that don't move, make sure they are clear of debris. If you have the rotating, or "whirlybird" kind, check them when there is a breeze to make sure that they are operating properly. If they don't move, have someone inspect or you can check them out yourself. Usually if they're not moving it's because of rust so bring some WD40 up with you.
3. Use ceiling fans. If you have them, use them. They keep the air circulated so your AC unit doesn't have to run as long.
4. Turn lights off. Your lights, especially halogen, give off a large amount of heat. If you don't need the lights on in one part of the house, turn them off. It'll save you on the energy to keep the light on and on keeping the house cool.
5. Use blinds and drapes. Blocking some of the sunlight during the day from coming right into your house can help a lot toward keeping your AC running to a minimum.

These tips are all easy to do and should really help to lower your cooling costs. Let me know if you have any questions.

Condos vs Houses

A big question that always comes up when starting a home search is whether to buy a condo or a house. There are some obvious differences between them but I will discuss here some of the not so obvious differences and why it may be best to buy one or the other.

It's important to realize that when comparing condos to houses, in a given area the condos that are available are very different from the homes that are available. So it's not so much a decision of whether you want a house with a yard or a condo with a pool, but about what area you what to live in and what your budget allows.

Typically a condo will be priced lower (or much lower) than the surrounding homes so will allow a buyer to purchase in a more desireable location. Condos are great options for those with a limited budget and who want to live in a certain neighborhood.

As condos usually come in the 1, 2 or 3 bedroom sizes, buyers that don't want or need a lot of space will find a good fit in condos. Less empty rooms means less to take care of and less to heat and cool.

And of course there is the maintenance issue. Much of a house's maintenance is on the outside exposed to the elements. The same is true for a condo building, but it is the HOA's responsibility to take care of it. This means less work for condo owners and less money too.

So to sum up the condo 'pros': better location, pay only for useable space, and low maintenance.

Houses have a lot of pros too. The biggest is that house buyers will own the land their house is on. They are mostly free (subject to zoning rules, etc) to do what they like with it. With that comes a lot of freedom. Want to re landscape the back yard? Do it. Add on to the house? No problem.

This also allows house owners to substancially increase the value of their home. Condos owners can of course increase their value through finish out details, but house owners are able to do that and much more like adding squarefootage and landscaping.

Another thing to think about is the amount of storage a house has. Most houses will have a garage and many owners keep their vehicles outside and use this just for storage. Bikes, grills, canoes, luggage, pet supplies and recreational items are all easier stored if you have a garage. I will note that some condos do have garages as well and there is a premium for them.

These are just a few of the differences, but ones that sometimes aren't realized until further into the house hunt. Hope this helped!

June Market Stats