Your Valuable Home

Great question. Please join us as Your Valuable Home addresses the question and what it takes to revitalize a town from two different perspectives: The view of the professional planners and pros of related disciplines who make up The Placemakers Guild. Then on 5/13, singer, songwriter, and author, Dar Williams, joins the conversation and shares some of the wonderous transformations she’s experienced in cities and towns across America. It’s all in her book What I Foundin a Thousand Towns: A Traveling Musicians Guide to Rebuilding AmericasCommunities-One Coffee Shop, Dog Run, and Open-Mike Night at a Time. Available at Amazon, of course.

In our Replay today, Kevin explains to a homeowner how windows should be replaced to avoid causing damage to the surrounding stucco. The Horror Story today comes from Ann, a residential landlord, who reports on an alarming development at one of the HOA-run communities where she has a rental property….a $500 annual assessment against investor owners of properties in the community. In the feature, we welcome back, Scott Abernathy, a valued Your Valuable Home contributor. Scott is president of his own property management company in Murfreesboro Tennessee, PMI Property Management, President of the National Association of Residential Property Managers (NARPM), lecturer, and author of multiple books, including his latest, KINGPIN LANDLORD: Unlocking the Secrets to Real Estate Investing. Scott shares his wisdom on HOA assessments to absentee landlords and other matters of importance to residential real estate investors. Scott believes, as we do, that residential real estate is the way to wealth for the wise. We’ll keep tabs on the HOA assessment issue.

In the Replay today, we discuss what it takes to make for a successful siding andwindow installation – and the difference it can make in the appearance of a home. In the Horror Story, Kevin reports on a basement remodel that included a kitchen and an electrical nightmare lurking behind the walls. In our Featured interview, we address the surge in multigenerational living brought on by Covid and the need for financial support and/or care for aging family members. Donna Butts, Executive Director of the DC non-profit Generations United, reports on that organization’s recently released survey of multigenerational homes, and our own Kevin Kennedy and his family are applauded for their multigenerational lifestyle.

In our Replay today, we talk about wrapping up Leslie’s remodel to benefit her aging mom. This complex job included a kitchen in the basement, a chair lift, and the removal of a load-bearing wall.Our Horror Story deals with the DONTs of window installation in a stucco application.In our Featured segment, two executives from GAF, the company that set the standard for asphalt shingles in 1933 serve up Roofing 101 and explain how homeowners from Texas to New England could have avoided water damage caused by ice damming.

In our Replay today, we talk with Bob about his move to his fiancé’s smallhouse and an innovative way to remake existing space for two work-at-home people. One bay of the exiting garage became a bar. The 400-square foot upstairs of the garage became Bob’s space. Maureen calls itthe “doghouse.” If you’re leaning toward improving vs moving, you’ll wantto hear this. In our Horror Story, you’ll learn what can happen to a housewhere the pan in the upstairs shower didn’t extend far enough up the wall.Call it the great shower pan debacle. And in our Featured segment, gaininsights from Dr. Jessica Lautz, vice president of demographics andbehavioral insights for the National Association of Realtors, about whypeople are leaving American cities for suburbs and small towns and movingfrom one state to another. The patterns are different from a year or two ago,creating a seller’s market and inventory shortage. Dr. Lautz breaks downall the reasons why this is happening and why it may continue. If you’rethinking of moving or buying a rental property, this interview providesinvaluable perspective.