Giveaway Time!

The Redsign Team is excited to announce that we will be giving away two tickets to the Salt Lake Parade of Homes! This year’s parade will run from July 29 through August 14th and features two different home categories; traditional homes and builder models. The show will feature 27 custom built homes constructed by Utah builders (including the Up House built by Bangerter Homes) and 15 model homes.

The homes featured will range in style and size and are scattered throughout the valley rather than just being in one smaller area or neighborhood as in years past. The price tag on the homes will range from $164,900 to over a million dollars.

The Parade of Homes is a great way to shop for the perfect Utah builder if you are hoping to build a new home soon, or even just to get design ideas for your future or current home. If nothing else it makes for a fun afternoon to spend with your family.

Now, on to the giveaway! You can enter the contest two times. Your first entry is made by leaving a comment on this post telling us a real estate topic you would like to learn more about. Your second entry is earned by “liking”  Redsign.com on facebook. Once you do that come back and leave a second comment letting us know you are a facebook fan. The contest will close Monday August 1 at Midnight. We will use a random number generator to choose which commenter wins the tickets and notify them on Tuesday morning. Be sure to leave your email address in your first comment so that we can contact you if you win! Good luck and spread the word!

It has been a great month for unique home listings in Utah. First there was the UP house in Herriman, and now the Ogden mansion of world famous gun maker John Browning is listed.

The red sandstone home was built in 1900  and while there have been some minor modifications over the years the home maintains its historic style and flare, it is even listed on the National Register of Historic Sites.  Over the years since Browning and his family lived in the home it has served as a residence for the local YWCA, a legal office and currently as a private residence.

The home has actually been zoned and approved for use as a Bed and Breakfast and work on the home has been completed with that idea in mind. The house boasts 8 bedrooms and presently has 2 full baths, 2 half baths and three more full baths roughed in. The original kitchen in the home has been converted to a semi-commercial kitchen for bed and breakfast use. Two of the bedrooms boast beautiful fireplaces with original arts and crafts tile hearths and surrounds, heavy oak mantels, and the original ornate wrought iron gates and covers.

The home is within walking distance to Ogden’s historic 25th street with lots of historical buildings, shops, restaurants and museums, one such museum is even dedicated to John Browning, his history and his guns.

Just a few blocks away is the Solomon Center, where you can enjoy surfing, rock climbing, movie watching, dining, shopping and even indoor skydiving! We recently drove to Ogden to experience the indoor skydiving and it was well worth the drive! World class ski resorts are also just minutes away from this historic mansion.

Whether you are interested in owning this piece of history for yourself as a private residence or are considering making a business venture and converting the home to a bed and breakfast, bookstore, spa, or office building, it’s a steal, listed at just  $350,000. If you are interested in this home, or have questions about Utah real estate, please don’t hesitate to contact us!

Credit Scores

A good credit score just isn’t what it used to be. A few years ago a score over 620 was “good enough”, but that increased to about 680 in 2008, then jumped to 740 in 2010. It used to be that any score over 700 was received enthusiastically by credit experts. In today’s economy, however, rate adjustments begin kicking in at 740, with every 20-point drop kicking in another adjustment.

We all know that if you are delinquent on your mortgage that your credit score will suffer, but the question is – how much? And will the decline really be enough to make that big of a difference in what your credit score can do for you?

Fair Isaac, the developer of FICO scores, recently revealed some estimates of point-score declines following mortgage delinquency problems.

Here is the average hit your credit will take:

If you are:

30 days late : 40-110 point decrease

90 days late: 70-135 point decrease

Foreclosure, short sale or deed-in-lieu: 85-160 point decrease

Bankruptcy: 130-240 point decrease

Of course there are many variables that would affect how much your individual score would drop, but this gives you a general idea. The more accounts that you have means that if you miss one payment on one account the point deduction would be less than if you just had one or two accounts and miss a payment.

If you are considering buying Utah real estate or refinancing your home and your credit score needs some love take comfort in knowing that virtually everyone can raise their scores by at least 10-20 points (sometimes significantly more) in 30 days.

Here are some tips from bankrate.com of what to do if you have good credit, but not good enough credit.

1. Find out what might have gone wrong. Be aware of your credit score and understand what it means to your loan rates. Ask your loan officer to do a credit analysis on your behalf to analyze your credit reports and look for errors or omissions that have artificially lowered your score.

2. Correct any inaccuracies. While you can improve your score on your own, credit agencies offer services to mortgage brokers to help consumers raise their credit scores if there has been an inaccuracy or if there is proof of a discrepancy.

3. Decrease the percentage of available credit used. You can do this by paying down balances or increasing credit limits. Ideally you would keep your balance as close to zero as possible, and definitely below 30% of your credit limit.

4. Move things around. If one income can be used to qualify for a loan, transfer accounts to “park” the debt in the other party’s name.

5. Get a rapid rescore. This is the best way to find out quickly if an attempt to improve your score was successful. This can be done through your lender and a rescoring company. The process can take about a week but can get your loan process back on track.

We love to help our clients get the best possible interest rates for their loans or refinanced loans. If you are considering a home purchase or refinance, please contact us so we can help you analyze what you can do to secure the best possible loan for your home.

It’s been nearly four years since the marketing director of Garbett Homes, Rene Oehlerking, pitched the idea of building green homes to the company’s president, Bryson Garbett. Oehlerking saw green building as a strategic way to stand out among Utah home builders, while satisfying a growing need and desire for clients to live a greener lifestyle. Taking the idea a step farther Garbett Homes decided not only to become Utah’s premier green builder, but also to build homes that were affordable and even targeted for first time home buyers.

The company’s first majorly green development in South Jordan was the Solaris Collection. A group of town homes priced sub $200,000 that employ the latest solar and geothermal technology.

What is geothermal technology, you ask? Well, about six feet under ground the earth stays a constant and comfortable temperature – between 50-60 degrees all year round. By burying water pipes and running the fluid through a heat exchanger, you can produce ambient air which will warm you in the winter and cool you in the summer. Of course that is the lay mans description of Geothermal technology, but you get the basic idea. The result is an extremely energy efficient system to keep our homes comfortable at a fraction of the cost of typical air conditioners and furnaces.

In fact even in the most extreme weather conditions Garbett’s geothermal powered units yield monthly utility bills of less than $20! The properties also use high tech air exchange filters, low-flow faucets, and eliminate air leakage through enhanced insulation.

Garbett homes is also preparing to break ground on its Terra Sol development. This 59 unit single family home community is being billed as the “greenest community in the state”. The development is being built at 3545 S 300 E on 6.5 acres. The home prices will start at $200,000 and feature small yards, thermal solar systems similar to those found in the Solaris Development.

Utah’s Green Real Estate Experts

If you have questions about Garbett Homes’ energy efficient homes, or would simply like to learn more about what you can do to make your existing home more energy efficient, please don’t hesitate to contact us. We would be happy to share our knowledge and expertise with you and explore whether purchasing one of Garbett’s green homes is the right decision for you and your family. We’d be happy to take you on a tour of Garbett’s green learning center where we can show you the technology that makes Garbett homes the most energy efficient homes in Utah.

Busy Month!

One thing I really missed about Utah while I was living in Texas was July. That sounds a little strange to say, of course we still had July in Texas, but July in Utah is just different. For the rest of the country they celebrate the 4th of July and then the party is over. In Utah the entire month of July feels like a party, sandwiched between the major celebrations of the 4th and the 24th there are literally dozens of city celebrations that occur. You could probably attend a free concert, movie, parade, activity, etc. sponsored by a city every day of the month.

This week Draper is celebrating its annual “Draper Days”. While the celebration is already in full swing, the real party starts on Friday night. Friday night at Draper Park (12500 S 1300 E )there will be a pair of concerts starting at 7PM. First the Broadway Dolls (a 60s celebration) followed by the Sounds of Summer Band Playing Tribute to Neil Diamond starting at 8:30PM.

Then Saturday morning the party will start at 6:30AM with a 5k, pancake breakfast, parade and will end at 10:30PM with a fireworks show. The whole day will be filled with activities, most of them free, at the park – be sure to catch the “Haystack Dive” that starts at 4PM where the kids can dive through bales of hay to find candy, coins and other prizes!

Draper Real Estate

Draper is a fast growing suburban city with all the heart of a small town. It is a great place to raise a family, invest in a home, or to locate or start a business. With a population that is young, educated, and upwardly mobile Draper is expected to experience tremendous growth in population and business in coming years.

Draper has a rich pioneer heritage. Settled in 1849 by Ebenezer Brown, who brought his cattle to graze in the tall grass in the unsettled area known as South Willow Creek. The next spring Ebenezer brought his wife Phoebe and their large family and together raised and fattened cattle to sell to immigrants heading to California. The Browns continued to invite friends and family to join them in the area, and by the end of 1852 twenty families called the area home.

Today Draper boasts one of the most beautiful settings of any city along the Wasatch front. Situated conveniently straddling Salt Lake County and Utah County. The city offers a diverse array of home settings from typical suburban subdivisions to high quality townhomes to agricultural lots and mountain living.

With Draper home prices at record lows there has never been a better time to consider making your dream of owning a home in Draper a reality! If you would like to discuss Draper real estate or Utah real estate in general, please feel free to contact us. The Draper Days celebration provides a great opportunity for you to visit Draper and get a real feel for the community and city.