Caravati's Inc.

GOING GREEN?
Are you interested in the Green movement? One of the easiest ways to improve the environment is to re-use or recycle materials. What a better thing to do than to re-use old building supplies? Caravati's Inc. offers almost every part of an older home, most of which were salvaged from old homes, not remanufactured. Old building materials were made with quality in mind, so please, take the extra time to clean up some old parts and reuse them. The environment will thank you!

As Richmond, Virginia's oldest supplier of architectural salvage, Caravati's Inc. has been dedicated to serving the customer in every aspect of old house restoration, remodeling, and repair since 1939. They offer a wealth of salvaged house parts ranging from the simplest of rough cut heart pine lumber to the intricate decor of a Queen Anne Victorian home. Caravati's operates a forty thousand square foot warehouse in the historic Manchester district of Richmond, VA. and has three exterior lots filled with salvage such as old brick, cobblestone, marble, and granite curbing. Caravati's caters to the homeowner, contractors, designers, artists and the everyday passerby.

http://caravatis.com/

Sweat Equity: What You Need to Know

Q. SWEAT EQUITY - What does it mean?
A. If your home was ever considered a place to just hang your hat, reconsider the thought carefully. It is the greatest asset you can have as few things in life acquire equity. So you have to think of how to improve it's value, what to do, when to do it and when not to.

First off, when you hire someone, lets say at $40 per hour and you have a job that pays $30 an hour; it does not make sense to do the work yourself. Now if this statement sounds strange, think about this. The guy or gal that is performing the work is paying for insurances that you would not. Do not carry the types of insurances that they do is asking for trouble.
The worse part is that they more likely know more than you. To top it off, they have the tools. No offense to the experienced homeowner but there are just some tools that you cannot afford to buy for a one time use and call it a "good investment". Renting tools is always the best option but when it gets right down to it, can you afford the time to do this, get the materials and still do as good as they can for under $40 per hour? Didn't think so.

Secondly, are you really honest with yourself? Have you ever said I can do that in x amount of time only to find out it took many more hours to get it done and maybe it was not done right? It is the good old theory of "I can do that, for less money and it will be the best." Ok, so who is going to repair the bad parts if it needs to get done right? It makes that $40 per hour look pretty good.,
You have a girlfriend, boyfriend, wife, husband, and family; do they enjoy spending time with you, and you with them? Do you plan weekend outings, trips, quality time together, and school night activities? Well it is time to say goodbye to it all if the project is over your head to begin with. You better get a large calendar as the evenings and weekends may be gone for quite some time. It will drain you of spare time, that golfing you enjoy, that TV show you are addicted to or just make you so tired that you cannot perform well at your normal job. This is what I call Imagination Gone Wild.

I have always gotten a laugh out of the "sweat equity" statements. When this first came about, it was the best marketing tool around to get more potential homeowners to build their new home, maybe that nice addition or some interior improvements that required a professional to start it off and then you finish it. You probably heard the stories, "we will build the foundation and rough frame it, and you can do the rest, trust me." Yeah, right! The words echoed in your head at night, the next day you go buy that dream package and then it hits you, "what I thought I was saving is not saving anymore" unless you were absolutely honest with yourself. This seems to be the one major flaw with everyone, lack of honesty within us.
Maybe you should have asked some more questions to yourself? You know that Imagination Gone Wild stuff. The questions should have been:

Do I have the tools and know how to use them?
Do I know how things went together so I can take it apart?,
Can I totally envision what I want for an end product?
Do I really have the time to do this and sustain my 40-hour a week job?
Do I really know my own limitations?
For those that are so lucky, they can save money-doing things themselves. It is a heavy commitment and burden on the entire family. The sweat equity game is in the mind of the beholder. If you can believe it and are honest with yourself, do it. If not, reconsider your options.

To make sweat equity really work for you and not against you, you really need to understand the scope of the project. This means reading blueprints, if applicable, how to schedule the job, knowing what goes first, why and when to order things and when to install them and avoid the one step forward and two step back routine. What you do as a game plan should be followed. Once you start a project, you cannot go back and start over or you will be losing money! If you need to hire someone professional to do part if not all of it, then do not hesitate. It is going to be money well spent as we are talking about an investment that should have return at time of sale.

Advice: A good Do-it-Yourself project is one that you "honestly" can do it all yourself. Simple answer but hard for most to accept.

Habitat: From sweat equity to housing equity
Saturday, September 20
By Nancy H. McLaughlin
Staff Writer

GREENSBORO — Habitat for Humanity of Greater Greensboro just turned over a ceremonial check for more than $300,000 to the Greensboro City Council, representing this year’s property taxes for 260 homes purchased with the nonprofit’s help.

Habitat was founded on the belief that “all God’s children” should have a place to live.

The money, recently paid to the tax office by the nonprofit from escrow accounts on the homes, did not include about 50 Habitat houses whose mortgages with the nonprofit builder have been paid off. Those are paid by the individual homeowners.

“When a lot of the economic news we’re hearing … is causing anxiety, there are some things that we are doing that continue to work in our community,” said Winston McGregor, president and executive director of the nonprofit builder.

“This check also provides a tremendous, tangible example of how the city’s funding for this work is an investment that is returned to our community in many ways.”

Habitat by other numbers:

$50,000: Average cost to build in materials and labor. Doesn’t include land, which can range from $10,000 to $25,000 . Homeowners pay off only the first mortgage loan of about $70,000. Habitat and the city of Greensboro hold second and third mortgages on each home (the difference between the first mortgage and appraised sales price ), which are forgiven over the life of the loan.

This protects homeowners from predatory lenders and eliminates any incentive to sell the home for a cash windfall.

$18,000 to $30,000: Typical family income range for Greensboro Habitat homeowners.

The majority of homeowners build up home equity, which can be borrowed against for sending their children to college or taking out a small-business loan.

“That’s wealth building for the working class,” McGregor said.

10: Number of applicants out of which one might qualify. It’s not about a credit score but how much debt the family might be juggling. Current Habitat homeowners work a variety of jobs, including as medical technicians, call-center representatives and in retail and restaurants.

$450: Typical mortgage, including property taxes, insurance and principal.

320: The nonprofit is now constructing house No. 320. And that includes two recently finished homes and three under construction on Byers Road, near Lee’s Chapel Road; just-finished homes on Meadow Street and Mayfair Street in the Rosewood neighborhood off Summit Avenue; and in the Glenwood neighborhood.

Once focused on subdivisions, Habitat houses are now scattered throughout the city.

300: Hours of sweat equity required in working on the buyer’s home, on other homes and in training, such as credit counseling.

260: “There’s kind of a simple visual and concept that people have about Habitat — that’s volunteers and hard-working families who work together to build up people’s lives,” McGregor said.

But the check is representative of more, she says.

“Habitat is a builder; we’re a banker — we’re collecting 260 mortgages payments every month; we’re in essence a Realtor, finding buyers and training those buyers; and then we’re a retail operation, running the Habitat Restore store on High Point Road,” McGregor said.


http://www.news-record.com/content/2008/09/19/article/habitat_from_sweat_equity_to_housing_equity

SWEAT EQUITY

IMG 's Resource Center for the hands on approach to buying and renovating homes. Helpful hint for finding, buying and completing homes with cost effective, efficient materials. Finance tips, Historic preservation advantages and disadvantages. Salvage tips, and many many more.