This episode of Fix It Radio tackled two big issues that matter to Colorado homeowners right now: how to think through watering and irrigation during a dry spring, and what really impacts your home’s value when it comes time to sell. The first half of the show focused on current water concerns across the Front Range, with discussion around local watering restrictions, drip systems for trees and shrubs, irrigation startup timing, and the reality that homeowners need to know their own city, water district, HOA, or well system rules before turning sprinklers loose.
SPEAKER 11 :
Walter? Upstairs! Are you alright?
SPEAKER 09 :
In the floor behind the chair.
SPEAKER 08 :
This is America.
SPEAKER 01 :
Does everybody know what time it is? Fix It Radio!
SPEAKER 03 :
And it’s that time. Fix It Radio, KLZ 560. Thanks for joining us this morning. Myself, Larry Unger. Good morning, Larry. Good morning, guys. Beautiful day outside today. If you guys haven’t been out and about, you need to get out because it is absolutely gorgeous.
SPEAKER 10 :
It is perfect.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yeah. It’s going to be nice and warm today, so we’ll talk about some things along those lines, of course. Text line 307-282-22. You can text us a question. We’ll answer it on air. 307-282-22. Main line 303. 403-477-5600. 303-477-5600. Any questions you’ve got, there’s lots of things going on now that we’re really into the… Well, spring started yesterday, officially, although in Colorado here we didn’t have much of a winter, so…
SPEAKER 10 :
Yeah, no kidding.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yeah, it’s been it’s been a little tight, which for some of you, for a lot of you, actually, in fact, probably everybody. It’s going to be unless we get some really, you know, torrential rain and, you know, we end up, you know, heading into the which can happen. Let’s head into the early part of summer. What is trying to get out there with rain? With more moisture, it’s going to be a long summer of water restrictions and things along those lines. So we’ll talk about some of those things today. And again, where will we end up? I honestly do not know. Charlie Grimes, of course, our engineer today, but already most cities, from what I’ve been reading, and I don’t know every city out there, but what I’ve been reading is the majority of cities already have some sort of a water restriction. Some are asking you not to water at all until… uh later in the month Denver’s saying at least two more weeks yeah so some are some yeah some are even saying you know we won’t see anything until at least the middle of April or so so again you need to check your local you know area and what what restrictions you may or may not have and all of that before you really start doing much along those lines now again that that is to You know, each of you is on your own as far as all that is concerned. And I can tell you that, again, unless we get some sort of, you know, torrential rain or something along those lines, it’s going to be a dicey summer.
SPEAKER 10 :
It is, and it also brings up the fact that when you start fertilizing for the early spring here, different fertilizers will react to the warmer temperatures and the less water. Deciding what kind of fertilizer you want to use.
SPEAKER 03 :
Fertilizer. Also, some of you, you know, where you’re looking at doing, you know, any kind of, you know, zero escaping or maybe changing a few things around. There’s even different types of, as you guys all know, different shrubs and bushes and so on. Some are a lot more drought resistant than others. others in other words they don’t require near as much moisture as as uh you know other types of plants and bushes so again we’ll we will monitor this like we always do and see what’s going on when it comes to you know moisture and again i i am by no means an alarmist and not telling any of you what to do or not do as far as all of that’s concerned we could again we could still end up with some really nice moisture as we roll through you know april and even may i mean i’ve seen it you know I’ve seen it be – well, we’ve had summers recently even where there wasn’t much of a spring. We really went kind of in, you know, from winter right into summer because the spring months were extremely wet as far as, you know, rain and even some snow and such. And, you know, we’re not out of the woods and all that yet. Now, what’s it look like in the forecast now? Well, looking pretty decent as far as all of that is concerned as far as not having, you know, snow and things along those lines. But, you know, again – I have seen, you know, in my years of living here, I’ve been here my whole life, and I have seen us catch up quickly with, you know, with enough rain and things along those lines. In fact, I’ve seen it go the other direction. Yes. Whereby, you know, we can have flooding and things along those lines. So, again, where are we going to end up, folks, when it’s all said and done? Honestly, I really don’t know. Do I look at this as any kind of – you know climate change global warming is it you know is it the fault of mankind that you know we’re in this no i’ve been a caller in my whole life i have seen cycles like this from when i was you know a young man young boy uh all the way through and you know doing the type of work that we actually do in my business yeah i you know what we have seen it all and it’s not the first time we’ve had uh this type of a winter slash now kind of heading into spring and again like i said a moment ago I’ve seen it reverse course and go the other direction and then hear everybody complain about how gray it is and how wet it is. Again, it can do anything and any number of things until we head down the stretch in the summer.
SPEAKER 10 :
I’m with you, John. I grew up here myself, and I’ve seen everything that you said.
SPEAKER 03 :
Again, and I’m not by any means trying to be an alarmist by any means at all. Erie said that they would shut off the water. Uh, for folks, if they use their sprinklers in March, that is governmental reach. Absolutely. Yes, that is absolutely it. And somebody, the same text message says, apparently water, water that you’re buying is now our privilege. Yeah. The way that most of these municipalities look at things, that’s exactly right. And, And I had a long conversation with an individual last night when it comes to water and different things, and I get the fact that it’s especially potable water where you’re drinking it and so on. I get there’s a lot of effort that goes into making that water clean enough to drink and so on and what have you. I understand all that. On the same token, my comment back was, why is it then that water is the only thing we buy? that we get penalized the more of you know the more you buy the more penalized you get for buying it it’s one of the few commodities quote unquote that i know of whereby the more you buy the more expensive it gets typically when you buy more of something it gets less expensive not more expensive there’s an exception to that in regards to power and water utilities of course which Because they’re not controlled by the free market, which they’re not. Those are typically government entities that are controlling both of those, and I get it. There’s the PUC that handles the utility sides of things, and water is mostly done by local municipalities or, you know, water, what do I want to say there? Yeah, because there’s water companies, I guess, is what I’m trying to say, that provide water. and so on uh and i got a text message in that streaming is not working i apologize we we do not control all of that so we we will put some notes out and let people know that that streaming is not working and it specifically saying on our app, I apologize. We will do what we can to try to fix that, although that’s not really in our power to do. And those of you that are listening from other parts of the country, number one, thank you for doing that. We do appreciate that greatly. And I don’t take what I just said lightly. We will do what we can to try to fix that. But that’s not, I mean, it really isn’t in our control. That’s done by, yeah, those are all third-party providers that help us with the streaming aspects of things. So I apologize. Now, Going back to – and I talked about this last week. Remember, we had some – okay, so the website is working, klzradio.com. So those of you that would normally stream us on the app, you could go to your computer or maybe even go through your phone on the KLZ radio website. Go to our website and use it that way, and you could stream it through that way is what Charlie just told me in my ear. So those of you that normally listen to us – outside of our area and you listen to us through the you know through an app or through the computer end of things try that and see how that works and we’ll do our best to try to put some notes out on the other so and charlie and charlie just checked our app here is working fine so those of you that are maybe in different parts of the country just maybe try to reload your app and see if that works because right now it is currently working so you you guys yeah Yeah, you guys could try that. You could try even deleting your app, reloading it, see if that helps, because currently here it’s working. So those of you that are outside of our area, give that a whirl. By the way, that’s just kind of a future reference. If you ever have a problem, not just with us, but with any of the streaming-type apps where things aren’t working, yeah, always a good idea. Just delete the app and reload it and see if things don’t work well then and see what happens. But, yeah, right now… And somebody just said, now it is working. So there you go. No, not a bother at all. We like to know when those things aren’t working and do our best to try to fix that for you. Okay, I said last week that, you know, you could go ahead and fire up, you know, irrigation and do all that. And then, of course, we had a nice cold weekend. But, again, wasn’t cold enough to where you really had any major issues doing that. Some of you may have gotten things fired up last weekend. If you didn’t, yes, you for sure can now because I don’t see anything coming down the pike that would hinder you from doing so. Now, again, like I said, even the text message we got talking about Erie and so on, now that doesn’t keep you from turning things on. What they’re saying is if they find out you’re watering, then you might have other things that they come and do. And, again, that is for each one of you individually in your area. area and you’re going to have to be the ones to figure all that out because there are so many across all of the listening audience that we have. There is no way that I could physically go through and tell you what each one of the municipalities and water companies, probably the best way for me to say it. And the reason I say that is, for example, I’m in an area where I don’t get my water through the local city. It actually comes through an actual water company. So different parts of the area do that differently. So you may be buying, you may have well, you may be doing that on your own. You may have water coming from a local municipality, your city that you live in. In other cases, you may be getting water from someplace else. It just depends on where you’re at and how that structure was done initially and so on. But even some of you that are on well, depending upon what the water table does and all of that, you could even be affected by what we’re going through right now with this lack of moisture through the winter.
SPEAKER 10 :
I have an unlogical thought in my head is if area is going to shut off the water because you’re watering your grass, it also shuts the water off to your house.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yeah, I don’t know how they would do that. I have no idea how that would work.
SPEAKER 10 :
That was just a blank thought in my head. I don’t know how you can shut that off.
SPEAKER 03 :
Other than coming and shutting things off at the backflow, and I don’t know. I mean, that’s just a ball valve, so you could turn it right back on. I don’t know. That’s a new one on me. So I have no idea how they’re, you know. I do know this, that a lot of those cities, Erie especially, yeah, they’ll police it, guarantee you. They will have people out looking and policing and checking. And remember, if you’re green and everybody else isn’t,
SPEAKER 10 :
Exactly.
SPEAKER 03 :
They’re going to wonder why yours is.
SPEAKER 10 :
If you’re not unwell, they’re going to.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yeah, they’re going to wonder why you’re green and no one else is.
SPEAKER 10 :
And possibly they could find you or ticket you.
SPEAKER 03 :
Possibly, yes. That way. Maybe. Yes. And again, this is something where you guys have to figure this out on your own in your own local area and then go from there. So but yes, you can get your sprinklers turned. And remember, in most of the cities, even will allow you to still run your drip and do some things along those lines to keep your trees and shrubs and so on. And they’re going to need that, especially with the dry winter that we’ve had. You’re going to need to make sure that your drip is working and you’ve got water running into your trees and shrubs and things along those lines. So if you haven’t done that, I would highly suggest you do that. We’re going to be almost 90 degrees today, a little cooler tomorrow, back up warm again as we get into the first part of the week. So, yes, your trees and bushes and so on, and a lot of them are already starting to uh butt out leaf out i’ve got a lot of trees on my property that are already fully out leaves bloom done handled i mean all of that so it is as i even look across i was looking out the window a little bit ago before we started charlie’s like you talking to something like nope i’m just looking out the window just just looking at all the different things that are going on in the golf course down here below us and it’s getting pretty green because they’ve got different ability to water than most do but yeah trees are starting to leave out a lot of the bushes are and so on and and again depending upon how things end up this year water wise you may want to change some things around landscaping wise those are things that we definitely will be monitoring and if we need to we’ll bring some different folk in some experts even to help you with here’s what you could plant and and handle things a little differently to be a little bit more uh drought tolerant so well all that being said got more to talk about as soon as we come back keep texting i got several to read here in a 307-200-8222, 307-200-8222. And again, you can call our main line, 303-477-5600, 303-477-5600. We’ll be right back. Fix It Radio, KLZ 560.
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SPEAKER 03 :
Okay, we are back. Fix It Radio, KLZ 560. Thanks for joining us. Myself, Larry Unger, and I’ve gotten several text messages in from folks on the whole, what will these cities potentially do when it comes to your water? And I’ve got several of you that have messaged in that don’t be surprised if they don’t come out and just shut your water off completely as a way to give you sort of a quote-unquote wake-up call. So… Folks, I have no idea. I’m not going to tell you what to do or not do along those lines. I’m just relaying what some of these messages are that are coming in. And what I do know is most of these municipalities, especially, they have got a lot more power than you think they probably do as far as that is concerned. And my wife actually a message and said, yeah, and then the Karens will be on full alert to see who’s doing something they’re not supposed to. So, again, you guys do whatever you want to do when it comes to all of these restrictions and so on, and you can figure it out from there. And, again, that is completely on your end. I’m not going to tell you what to do or not to.
SPEAKER 10 :
Well, and even if your neighborhood is an HOA, that’s a whole different ballgame in itself because they have different restrictions than the cities do.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yep. Again, this is going to be on all of you. You’ve got to know what you’re doing, where you’re at, how it’s going to work, and so on. And you make that determination. Because here’s where I’m going with this. I think you’re going to see these restrictions probably even get worse soon. not better unless we have a really wet spring and we get some things filled back up you know water wise i’m afraid that and i again i’ve lived this area my whole life i have seen summers whereby we had similar situations where they only let you water one day a week yes and you larry you know what i’m absolutely you’ve been through this as well i’ve seen it before yes So, again, be careful on you do what you do. I’m just going to say it that way. You do what you do, you decide, and then you guys can take it from there. But, yes, I would still at least get things turned on. You need to make sure you’ve got your drip working for all of your shrubs and trees and so on. And I don’t know what kind of restrictions they will have on if you take a garden hose and you go water some of your bushes and things along those lines. I don’t know. I do know, again, in years past where I’ve seen it be like this, They even curtailed you washing your car in the driveway and all sorts of things. So my point is, don’t be surprised if we don’t get a lot of moisture this spring. If it continues on like we’ve been, I guarantee you, you’ll see them enact things along those lines where you have to go to a car wash to wash your car. You can’t wash it in the driveway and things along those lines and everything. They will get way more restrictive than it even is right now. So, and frankly, there’s, I mean, I remember years, folks, just, again, this is why I know this is not, you know, climate change per se, like you’re going to see a lot of folks out there claiming. I remember years where people were painting their grass because they still wanted green grass. And there were companies that made money painting the grass just because if you wanted it to look green, that was the only way you could get it to look green is you literally painted the grass green.
SPEAKER 10 :
Yep.
SPEAKER 03 :
So it hasn’t been that long ago that we’ve had to do some of those things. So for those maybe new to our area where you’re thinking, is this normal? I don’t want to say it’s normal. I mean, it just depends on the year. We’ve had years where it can be really, really wet. We have all sorts of moisture. Things are great. And then we can have years just like we’ve had this year, and we can have everything in between. So those of you that have lived here for any length of time know exactly what I’m talking about along those lines. And you… Again, you and your area, you determine what you need to do, and you know where you’re at and what you can and can’t get by with and so on. And some of you that lived here as long as I and Larry have, even Charlie has, you’ve seen all of the same things that we’ve seen, and you know exactly what to do in your particular area. Those of you that are new to the area, yeah, definitely. Talk with your neighbors. Yeah, I was just going to say, yeah, that’s a whole other deal. All right, I’ve got an article here. It’s for a lot of folks that are looking at, you know, maybe you want to think about moving or upgrading. I had one of my kids call me yesterday, and they’re thinking about moving and buying a different house and doing some different things along those lines, and so just giving them some ideas. advice on things. And I thought, well, it’d be a good topic to actually talk about today. And what I mean by that is there are certain things you can and can’t do to your house that can either increase or decrease its value. So I thought we’d talk about some of those things today. And one other thing I was going to mention, had a nice conversation with a lady, and I won’t give any names out yet. We’ll get all that dialed in first. But we are going to have a really nice partnership with a person that we have talked in numerous times in the past about how do you organize yourself? How do you get things cleaned out? Some of you that are inheriting different things and homes going through the things like I went through with, my parents over the last couple years we will now have some professional help that you will be able to call on and there’s not too many of these companies out there that will actually come through and help you with that whole process I had to do mine myself because I didn’t know of anybody that would even do those sorts of things and Again, there’s not a lot of those out there. We’ll have one. We’ll talk about that here in the coming weeks. And for a lot of you listening, it should be a huge aid to you, especially for some of you where you start inheriting different things or you just want to get yourself ready and dialed in and get some stuff organized and cleaned out. And what I’ll say about that is that other third party – maybe that’s the best way for me to say that – having them look at things differently than you are will assist you in knowing what do you get rid of, what do you keep, what do you sell, et cetera. So we’ll go through some of that here in the coming weeks, and I just want to give you a little heads up on that. So we will have a very nice partnership here in the not-too-distant future that we’ll relay with all of you guys so you’ve actually got the ability to call on somebody to help you with that. So things that would, in this case, decrease sales. Property value. Now, this first one, this is tough because in some cases, you may not know it’s going to be this way when you first move in, and that’s having bad neighbors.
SPEAKER 10 :
Yes.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yeah, bad neighbors can decrease your property value immensely. As I was just talking about even the water situation, the Karens of the world in some cases can literally devalue a property. Neighbors where they don’t keep their own property up and they let their – property get degraded and so on. And this is where, as much as a lot of us do not like homeowners association, HOAs, they unfortunately were established years ago, decades ago, to sort of correct that problem. In other words, you couldn’t have – you get bad neighbors in all sorts of ways, but everybody had to be consistent in how they did the upkeep of their home. You couldn’t have some guy painting his house bright pink and doing things along those lines because HOAs wouldn’t allow that. That’s where a lot of them got started is because people wanted more consistency. They wanted to keep their property values up. Now, unfortunately, with HOAs, once they get started, it’s sort of like a church committee. They never go away. In fact, in a lot of cases, they get bigger and stronger. And depending upon who the HOA board president and treasurer and secretary and all that is, they can become nothing but a big, huge nuisance. And they don’t even do what they’re – they go overboard. They do what their original – calling was but they get so overboard that now it just becomes miserable to actually live in that particular area and i do think there’s a happy median there where hoas can do a really good job keep a neighborhood looking well help with the property values because the last thing you want is bad neighbors now one thing this says and this is something you could do before you move into an area A, drive around and look and see does everybody take care of their place or not. That’s the first thing that’s easy to do. How are things looking? How do the rest of the neighbors take care of their things and so on? In fact, one of the things that I’ve been known to do, and again, I’m weird, I know, but this is just me. I have been known to go to a particular area, go find a house that you maybe are interested in looking at, pull a few houses away, roll all the windows down, turn the car off, and just sit and listen for a little bit. And here’s where I’m going with this. You can hear all sorts of things. Is there traffic in the distance? Is there a bunch of dogs barking? Are there people screaming and yelling? And all of those sorts of things you can kind of, and I get it. That’s only a snapshot in time, but I’ve been known to go back to neighborhoods several different times and do what I just said, different times of the day even, to where you kind of know, okay, I’m going to pull in and rush our traffic, for example, or I’m going to go in there in the middle of the afternoon, or I’m going to go through there on a Saturday or a Sunday afternoon. Yes, I have been known to do that, to determine that. And Charlie just said go at night. Another great example. Yes, go at night. Listen, there’s a bunch of house parties going on, things along those lines. So, yes, that is one thing you can do before you move into a particular area to determine what is this area like in all of those different times I just mentioned. It’s an easy way to determine am I going to end up with good neighbors or am I going to end up with bad neighbors? Because these are things that you’re not going to get from the seller. Well, and you don’t pick your neighbors. No, you do not pick your neighbors. Now, I also know you could move in. All the neighbors are great. And all of a sudden, two or three of them rotate in or out. And now you have bad neighbors. There’s not much you can do along those lines, folks. That’s the luck of the draw, I hate to say. I’m sorry. Those are things that just happen. And at that point in time, you’ve got to determine, are you going to stay, leave, go somewhere else? What are you going to do? That’s completely up to you. And everybody has a different definition of what a bad neighbor is, by the way. Some would consider somebody not having the greenest of lawns being a bad neighbor. I’ve also heard people where somebody doesn’t keep their weeds down and they start creeping over into your yard and they think that’s a bad neighbor. Now, I’m not saying that’s a good neighbor because I think being a good neighbor is taking care of your stuff, including your lawn and all of that. But let’s just say that that person is really good in everything else. They’re quiet. They keep to themselves. Maybe they just don’t do the best on their lawn. Is that really considered a bad neighbor, or is that somebody that just doesn’t know how to take care of things, and maybe you need to go, you know, in a really nice way, say, hey, can I help you out with some things, you know, yard-wise? I’m more than happy to, you know, give you some instructions or help you out or, you know, even… depending upon the size of it, go take care of it for them. I mean, there’s all sorts of things you can do along those lines to try to assist, and that’s where I’m saying I don’t know if that’s necessarily a bad neighbor. It just depends on the circumstances and the relationship you have and so on. But, yes, bad neighbors can lower your property value, so it’s something to really keep an eye on. This next one’s interesting, because I think this is true. Poor exterior paint quality. Yeah, that’s gonna devalue your house. In fact, it’s one of the first, it’s that old first impressions. When somebody first drives up and they’re looking at your house, How does it look? Is it nice? Is it put together? Is it, you know, is it as neat as a pin? I guess you could say, is everything all dialed in or can people see that? Oh man. Yeah. There’s some paint flaking off all around the front door. The front door itself doesn’t look great or, or, or I can go down the list of things.
SPEAKER 10 :
Well, and the other thing I think you might want to consider is just bringing a third party to look at your house.
SPEAKER 03 :
Great idea. And just have them look and see what you don’t see. By the way, a lot of really what I consider good realtors, and there’s some really good ones, and there’s some what I consider to be nothing more than order takers. A good realtor will do what Larry just said. They will literally walk up to your house and say, okay, we’re going to put this thing on the market. We need to do boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. Here’s a list of things we need to get taken care of. If we’re going to really maximize the sale and have a quick turnaround and so on, here’s some basic things we need to get done with the home. That’s what a really good realtor, by the way, will do.
SPEAKER 10 :
Well, if you can’t get them to get past the outside of the house, if you can’t get them inside, you’re not going to sell it. So, yeah, the appearance of your property from the street standpoint is your number one concern.
SPEAKER 03 :
Somebody else just said, too, if there’s a neighborhood school in that particular neighborhood you’re looking to move into, want to see the traffic at the start, at the end of the day. In other words, when schools in and out, what’s the demographics look like and so on. Absolutely great idea, by the way. I hadn’t thought about that one as well. And a lot of neighborhoods will have a school either. nearby. In some cases, you may be really close to the school. What’s the traffic like on those particular days? Does it get all backed up? Does that affect you getting in and out of your property? All those sorts of things can come into play as well. And then, of course, just the noise. Now, here’s the other nice thing about schools is typically they’re not there all the time. They have days off and summers off and so on and your own kids typically have the ability to go and use some of the playground equipment and so on if there’s a school nearby because most of the time that stuff is open so it’s not always a bad thing but to this particular textures point see who’s coming and going what’s it look like what’s the traffic like uh is it is it more of a nuisance than it is anything else um Somebody also say, when you buy modern-day trailer parks like Highlands Ranch, that’s where the HOAs come from. Yeah, and I’m probably not reading that particular text message right. But, yeah, that’s exactly right. When you go into a lot of the modern neighborhoods, there is not going to be a new neighborhood that goes in that doesn’t have an HOA. I mean, I don’t care if you move into a neighborhood where there’s 20 homes. There will most likely be some sort of an HOA. And some of that, just so you know, some of that is done by demand of the county or the city, by the way. Because they don’t want to have to manage that. They want it managed itself. So in a lot of cases, the developer will be forced to making sure that they’ve got set in place. This is how this will work. Here’s how our initial HOA will work and so on. And that’s one of the cells, quote unquote, they have going into the city or the county to even get that neighborhood put in. So that’s something else to remember. In a lot of cases, they are almost done by, quote unquote, default. So anyways. Going back to the poor exterior paint, yeah, even color. That’s something else that you have to be careful of. Don’t be trendy with your colors. What I mean by that is, and there’s experts in this area. You can go look at all sorts of different websites, videos, and so on. Use colors on your house. And again, in some cases, you’re dictated by your HOA anyways. But if not, use colors that are not trendy, that are not in or out of style, things that will look good. good for years and years and years to come like i said a moment ago last thing you want to do is paint your house hot pink because the next guy coming in is probably not going to like hot pink very true i’ve seen houses and i know there’s a lot of you know sports fans bronco fans and so on i’ve seen the old you know let’s paint the house bronco orange and blue and all of that and it’s like yeah okay that’s great and i’m sure you love that but what if the next guy coming in doesn’t
SPEAKER 10 :
If your neighbor happens to be a different sports fan?
SPEAKER 03 :
Anything. I mean, keep in mind, you know, typically speaking, and I’m one where, you know, everything is for sale. If it’s the right price, it’s for sale. And I want to make sure things are sellable at any point in time, meaning you keep up on these things. And no, the last thing I’m going to do is ever paint my house Bronco, you know, blue and orange. Just not going to do it. To me, that’s just not a good idea. Deferred maintenance, and this goes back to the comment a moment ago, that if you look to sell your house and you get a realtor to come out and check things out, and by the way, it doesn’t have to be a realtor. Larry’s point a moment ago. Anybody that’s got a good eye for detail could help you with these things. Have somebody come out and say, hey, I’m thinking about selling my house. You’ve got a good eye for detail. Why don’t you come by and go? kind of do a walk around a walk through my house and tell me what you’ve been be very openly you know open and honest with me and tell me if you were looking at my house to buy it what are the things I need to take care of exactly and and again just make sure it’s somebody that isn’t going to sugarcoat anything they’re going to be extremely honest with you as to what needs to happen and have them do a complete walk through your home and and in out all of that and make sure that they’re again somebody that has a really good eye for detail that will even notice things like yeah you know everything looks really good but man that front porch railing could use a new coat of paint or man that welcome mat you know i i get it either get rid of it or put a new one in i mean little things like that is what even buyers will notice and that’s what you want to go ahead and get taken care of before you put the house on the market
SPEAKER 10 :
Garage doors is another B. Garage doors.
SPEAKER 03 :
Are they operating properly? Do they look good? Do they need a coat of paint? If they’ve got glass in them, are the windows clean? Things along those lines. In fact, one more thing about selling your house that I can’t tell you how many houses over the years I’ve looked at. if you don’t want to clean the windows, that’s fine, but hire a company to come out and wash the windows before you put it on the market. Nothing worse than walking through a house that’s on the market and the windows are filthy dirty. To me, that’s just some of the easy things you can do to make things look good. It’s like detailing your car before you go to sell it. The better it looks, the better chance you have of selling it. It kind of comes back to this whole deferred maintenance. And some of that can be, by the way, everything from Is there anything on the outside of the house that needs taken care of? Do you have a HVAC system that’s on the fritz? Do you have a roof that’s got a little bit of a leak in it? I mean, on and on we go. And by the way, most of these things we just talked about, we have sponsors and affiliates that we can have you get in touch with and fix a lot of these things if needed. So, again, at the end of the day, don’t let those things go. And I’m one where this maintenance stuff should be done on an ongoing basis so you don’t ever have some big, huge surprise that all of a sudden, oh, man, I got this laundry list of things I have to do to even put my house on the market. you could even have a roofer come out and take a look at your roof and do an inspection on it he’ll do it on no cost dave hart will come out and do that for you absolutely roof savers of colorado they’re on our website larry is right david have no problem coming out and looking at your roof and in dave’s case especially on a sale he can a lot of cases do the roof max treatment adds as years and years of life to the roof that can be put in as a part of the sale and the showing aspect of things as well. So, again, that’s something else that you should be looking at and doing as well. And, again, we’ve got a lot of partners that can help you with different aspects of this. But point being, have somebody that’s really got a good eye for detail come out, walk through your complete house, inside, outside, and tell you what are some of the things you need to do. And, by the way, some of it might be you need a full declutter. In some cases, it may be, hey, you’ve got way too much stuff in here, furniture. The other thing, too, and I’ve talked about this in the past, but take all of your personal, if you’re really serious about selling your house, you’re getting ready to put it on the market, go through the house and all personal photos go. Don’t have any personal photos up at all. There are several reasons why. I’m not going to get into all of the details why, but trust me, no one wants to see your personal family photos. Take those down. Take them off the wall. Do something else with them. Hang another picture up if you want to, but take all of your family photos and things like that down.
SPEAKER 10 :
Well, if you take them down, it opens the house.
SPEAKER 03 :
Opens the house, and it depersonalizes it. Yes. A lot of times, keep in mind, there’s a lot of psychology involved in sales and things like that. And when you have a lot of personal photos and things like that that are around the house, the first thing somebody, when they’re walking in, is, oh, I’m buying somebody else’s things. And they are. I get that. But psychologically, you don’t want them thinking that way. You want them thinking, hey, I’m going to come into a clean slate. This will be my place.
SPEAKER 11 :
Right.
SPEAKER 03 :
So you want that to be nice and friendly and open, and you don’t want a lot of personalization is what I’m trying to get at with the house. That even includes family photos and things like that. All right, got more to talk about. Text line is lit up. You can continue to text us questions and comments, 307-200-8222. You can call us directly as well, add to the conversation, 303-477-5600. Fix-It Radio, KLZ 560.
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SPEAKER 1 :
Thank you.
SPEAKER 03 :
Okay, we are back. Fix It Radio, KLZ 560. Thanks for joining us today. Myself, Larry Unger. And I got a text message in, too, on the whole, you know, listening in the neighborhood and all of that. And great tips from a lot of you texting. And one other tip along those lines where I mentioned, you know, go in, roll the windows down, hang out for a little bit, and just see what you listen to different things, different times of the day, and so on. Especially, this came in from a texter, especially if you’re near a highway.
SPEAKER 10 :
Yes.
SPEAKER 03 :
I mean, noises, especially from highways, can travel a long, long distance. I mean, several miles they can travel. And depending upon how the wind blows, that’s something else to think about is, you know, typically what’s the wind – Normally, our wind comes from the west or sometimes from the north, but it depends. Sometimes it can blow different directions, and as the wind blows, that sound will change because it’s carrying that sound. So, again, that’s a great tip. If that’s, again, you’re thinking about going into a particular neighborhood and you’re doing what I just said, that’s another thing to think about, especially if you’re near a highway. Now, I will say this. It’s really hard. um to get a long distance away from highways and roads anywhere along the whole front range area we have got enough roads and highways and even some of our city streets that have a you know in some cases a 45 mile an hour speed limit but they drive 60 because they do you’re darn near on a highway at that point so again listen for you know traffic and noise and some people are a lot more how should I say the sensitive to noises and so on and some people like to sleep with the windows open at night rather than the air conditioning being on again it just depends on you and your your flavor of what you like and so on and dislike so again make sure nothing worse than moving in some place and finding these things out after the fact you need to be doing your due diligence on the front side because again no one’s going to do this for you nope you you have to do this stuff on on your own but back to some of the deferred maintenance and all that yes find somebody that will walk through your home with you have a you know either have them or you have a notepad and be writing things down or you could even be videoing it and you know go back through and listen to the video but another set of eyes looking at things that you look at daily.
SPEAKER 10 :
Exactly.
SPEAKER 03 :
Where you’re like, okay, yeah, I know I need to get that taken care of. Okay, well, then take care of it.
SPEAKER 10 :
Well, even if you look at it and say, well, that doesn’t look bad to me. Well, it may not look bad to you.
SPEAKER 03 :
it could look bad to somebody else correct correct so great tip uh do that as you as you as you can and again these are things where if you’re thinking about selling your home or somebody just want hey i just want to do this because i want to make sure you know like john said i want to make sure that i’m ready for a sale at any given time and i want to make sure that i’m dialed in and i’m noticing everything that needs to be taken care of and i can tell you one thing just I did some of this last summer. New paint can transform all sorts of things. Yes, it can. It makes a huge, huge difference. And I cannot tell you the transformation change. I have a metal barn. and i’ve been wanting to paint it for a long long long time was going to always do it myself finally broke down and and my wife got involved and and we got bids and different things and finally found somebody that could that could paint the barn and do things along those lines and oh my word it was night and day i i can’t believe the transformation how much better it looked when i was done i should have done it years and years and years ago when you showed me the pictures and It’s night and day. So, folks, I’m here to tell you that a new cone of paint on a lot of things can make, and it just makes a world of difference. So if you’ve been putting some of that stuff off, I can tell you right now, don’t. It makes it, literally, it’s night and day when it’s all said and done. One other thing in my notes here, and by the way, there’s an article from Family Handyman, is neighborhood foreclosures. Yeah, if you’re in an area where, you know, things have happened and times are tough or whatever, and there’s not a ton of these going on in the front range, you know, Colorado area. But, again, our signal goes all over the country. Some of you have listened through the app and so on, as we learned this morning, even with the app itself in some cases not working like it should be at times, which I think now everything’s got several messages along those lines and everything’s back up working properly and so on. But you guys that live in other areas, this is something to really think about also is, Are you moving into an area whereby there’s a lot of foreclosures and things like that? Now, that might be a real opportunity for you, and with everything, it’ll cycle. And if you’re willing to toughen that out, okay, it might be a really great deal there. Same thing for where you live now, though. Are there a lot of these happening? And if that’s the case, that can be a devaluation of your current property because, again, the way things work with appraisals and so on is they use comps, sales, and so on of similar homes to determine what your home value is. And those definitely can hurt your value. So that’s something else to really consider. Stay up on here. Here’s something that’s that’s interesting. And I I really hadn’t thought much about this. But this is again, this is a great tip. Proximity to certain facilities and businesses, for example, is there not just a school nearby, but is it a bad school? In other words, is it a school for troubled kids and things like that? Is it near a strip club? Is it near a homeless shelter? Here’s one that’s interesting I hadn’t thought of. Is it near a cemetery? Now, some people don’t care anything about a cemetery. Some care a lot. To me personally, it wouldn’t matter to me one way or the other. I could live at the cemetery. It doesn’t matter. That doesn’t bother me one bit at all, day, night. It doesn’t make a hill of beans bit of difference to me. But some people get really, really sort of bothered by – a cemetery. The other one is a funeral home. Some people really get weird about being near a cemetery or a funeral home itself. The next one is, of course, a power plant. Yeah, and by the way, the thing about a power plant that folks forget is they’re noisy. The plant itself can be noisy, and even the transmission lines coming out of the plant will get noisy on certain days where it’s humid or rainy or snowy even. Yeah, those things will sing right along. And that’s the other thing, too, just overhead power lines in general. How far away are you from them? I had a house one time that, in fact, before the house I live in now, And we weren’t under the lines. But the lines were visible. And on certain days, you could hear them. And I will tell you that, yes, we had some people that looked. And the person that finally bought it could have cared less like me. It didn’t matter to him one way or the other. But I did have people looking at it that they were freaked out by the power lines. Even though they weren’t directly overhead, they were several hundred yards away. Didn’t matter. They didn’t like them. And that was a problem for that particular buyer for that particular house.
SPEAKER 10 :
There’s still people perceive that the power plants are going to turn you green. You’ll start glowing at night.
SPEAKER 03 :
Oh, yeah. Larry’s right. There are people that really don’t like that. So it’s, again, something to think about with either the house you own now or a house you’re looking to buy, how close to some of those things. Is it? Is it also close to a shooting range? Some of that anymore. They’re so quiet that I don’t think that one is as big of a deal as it used to be. The next one on here, which I thought this one’s interesting, hospital. And at first you’re like, well, why would that be a negative? Because there’s a lot of activity going on all hours of the night at the hospital. Sirens, things along those lines. Yeah, I could see where that one would be a deterrent or a property, have an impact on property values because there’s things going on there all of the time.
SPEAKER 10 :
24-7, absolutely.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yeah, so that one I hadn’t thought about. So that’s another one to kind of look at. And on top of that, what other type of businesses may be nearby where they’ve got 24-7 operations and there’s people coming and going all the time, and you may not think much about it, but the next buyer might not like that. So, again, I’m always one, and this is a conversation I had with one of my sons yesterday, was, okay, if you’re looking at homes, Do a lot of the things that I just mentioned. I’ve walked through all of that. But then on top of that, be thinking about, okay, it may not bother you, but what about the next person you sell to? Because I don’t believe in forever homes. Some of you always ask me, are you in your forever home? I never will be. I don’t know what that even is. I mean, I’ve been in my house now quite some time. But if the right person came along with the right offer, would I sell? Yeah. Yeah. Definitely. Absolutely would. I have no problem doing that.
SPEAKER 10 :
Well, you’re a little bit different for your generation than most in your generation.
SPEAKER 03 :
I know.
SPEAKER 10 :
But the younger generation, three to five years, they’re moving.
SPEAKER 03 :
Correct. And again, you know, is it nice to find a place that you can stay in and it’s got everything you need and so on? Absolutely. There’s not taking anything away from that. But what I’m saying is I don’t look at anything being a forever home. So I’m always in the back of my mind thinking, okay, how is this going to work for the potential next buyer? That’s how I view things and look at things is, you know, how is this going to work for the, you know, potentially for the next buyer that would be moving in? And that’s how I view and look at things. So, yeah. An unsightly yard, I talked about that a little bit earlier. Not only for you, but those that are around you, of course. That’s that whole curb appeal sides of things. What do things look like when people first move into, or first pull up, I should say, or they’re looking to move into your neighborhood? What do they look at? What do they see? This one’s interesting, too. The address suffix. It may sound crazy, but your address suffix could increase your property value up to 36%. Suffixes associated with lower property values include street, drive, and avenue. I had no idea. So research shows that boulevard, place, and road addresses are the most expensive. Those that are associated with lower property values, of course, are street, drive, and avenue. I don’t know how much of that’s really true. That may have a lot to do with a particular area. I don’t think around here, truthfully, I don’t think that… Maybe psychologically there’s something going on there, but I don’t know. I still think it comes down to the location itself. Where’s the house? What kind of views does it have here in Colorado especially? What direction does it face? All of that. Now… For those of you that are maybe new to the area, maybe you’re even just renting and you don’t even own a house yet, but you’re looking at that. Here’s a piece of advice. Don’t buy a house that faces north. Don’t buy a house that faces north. Now, along those same lines, if you’re somebody that likes to enjoy your backyard and you’re moving into an area where you’re not going to have a lot of trees and shade and so on, especially if it’s a newer home that you’re going to have to wait for things to mature out. I also would not have my back patio facing west. Because in the summertime, that sun in the evenings will be so blazing hot, you’ll never use the back patio at night. You might use it in the mornings.
SPEAKER 10 :
Right.
SPEAKER 03 :
And if you’re a morning person, great. But if you’re going to do any kind of evening get-togethers, picnic, have people over, have a little picnic, things like that, party, get-together, barbecue, whatever, it’s so blazing hot at night. If you don’t have any kind of shade, trees, and so on, that’s tough. Now, I actually have one that my backyard is facing west. although I’m in an older home that was built in the mid-70s, actually early 70s. 74 is when my house was built, and a lot of the trees and shrubs went in there, so I’ve got plenty of shade and cover and things in the afternoons where it’s not as big of a deal. Now, I will say this. Even with all of that, it can still get pretty toasty on that west side at night, even at my house where I’ve got a lot of that mature landscaping and so on. That’s the downside of having a backyard face west. Now, I’m not saying that’s a deal killer, but you really have to be careful, especially in a new neighborhood where you’re not going to have those mature trees and such. Now you’re thinking about, okay, what other things can I do? Pergolas, umbrellas, anything along those lines whereby you’re able to get some shade in to make things not so hot. Because believe me, I have one of these homes. They can get really, really hot in the afternoons and evenings. Gary, go ahead.
SPEAKER 09 :
Oh, hi, John. How are you? Good, Gary. I’ve got a question about selling real estate. Sure. I own a condo. It’s close to Cheesman Park. It’s, you know, the eighth floor of an eight-story building, and it faces west. Beautiful view. Great. And it hasn’t been updated since, like, I don’t know, 1976. Okay. But, you know… I’m thinking if I were to sell it, I could invest $50,000, $100,000 in it and increase the price. Or what I’m thinking about is, leaving it as is because the person who buys it might want to fix it up differently than I would.
SPEAKER 03 :
Been down that path, and here’s what I’ll tell you, Gary. Good luck with that because people have, what I’m learning, people have no vision. You’ll find that that buyer you’re looking for that has the vision to come in, buy it, flip it, do it themselves, make things work for them, that’s about 1% of the buying population, and I’m not exaggerating. Most people have no vision to do that, so unfortunately, you’re going to be forced to fixing it up and doing it in a neutral way where it’s applicable to most anybody that would come along, and you’re going to have to do it that way. Been there, done that with my folks’ house. So unfortunately, Gary, people have no vision now.
SPEAKER 09 :
Okay, well, that’s helpful. I didn’t have experience.
SPEAKER 03 :
I tried that for six months with my folks’ house, and yeah, it doesn’t work. You have to go through and do the flip yourself.
SPEAKER 09 :
Okay, it doesn’t make practical sense, but if you’ve had that experience, I believe you.
SPEAKER 03 :
Gary, I appreciate it very much. And yes, I do. I went through that just recently. And unfortunately, and I’m not exaggerating, people just don’t have the vision they used to have to do what Gary was just asking. All right, we’ll have more on this next week. I’ll add a few more things probably to this next week and give you some more tips as well. And enjoy the rest of your day, folks. Fix It Radio, KLZ 560.
SPEAKER 04 :
The views and opinions expressed on KLZ 560 are those of the speaker, commentators, hosts, their guests, and callers. They are not necessarily the views and opinions of Crawford Broadcasting or KLZ management, employees, associates, or advertisers. KLZ 560 is a Crawford Broadcasting God and country station.
