Workers You Can Trust: Jeremy's Preferred Vendors

As we come on the Summer season, repair and improvement work on homes tends to increase dramatically.  I have been busy already this last week ordering fix up on rentals.  For those of you looking for some good vendors, here is who I use:

Trusted Home Service Providers

If you have any question about who is the best fit for the job, contact me and I can let you know.  Happy rehabbing!

Green Homes: Scalable Self-Sufficiency?

While visiting family in Idaho I noticed an interesting curiosity at the end of my parent's street.  One of their neighbors has a conspicuous wind turbine dominating the landscape of their back yard.  As I roamed around the neighborhood, I noticed another unique feature.  The owner had built solar panels into the south exterior wall of his home.

When discussing the uniqueness of this home with my parents, they indicated that the whole neighborhood has a culture of self-sufficiency.  For instance, most of the homeowners in the subdivision also cultivate honey bees and large gardens.   

I tried to do some research online but I couldn't come up easily with a price tag for all this equipment.  As far as the energy use goes, I am curious if the turbine and solar panels simply reduce the bill or if they actually put electricity back into the grid.  The home is sizable so it would be interesting to find out.  Also, given the cost, would this be affordable to the average homeowner?

The other caveat would be concerns about zoning.  Putting a turbine on your property makes sense when you have 2.5 acres like this homeowner.  However, smaller lots would likely bump into zoning issues related to proximity and height restrictions.

So, the question for the green energy do-it-yourself marketplace is what kind of products are available to an urban homeowner looking to subsidize their power bill?  And, are the cost-benefits the same as a larger scale array like in the neighbor's home on my parent's block?        

It would be interesting to find out.

Ogden Redevelopment: Ogden Temple, IRS Building, Hilton Hotel and More...

While driving around this morning, I thought I would take the opportunity to snap some photos of some redevelopment projects currently underway in Downtown Ogden.

The New Ogden Temple

The Ogden Temple continues to plod along.  There have been some delays as more prep work is done to clear the way for underground parking at the site.  Water table issues stopped work for a while so engineers could retool and budgets could be realigned.  However, construction on the main edifice has begun to show.  Here you can see the new concrete boxes being framed and poured just east to the main framework of the old structure.

The Ogden Hilton

Crews just recently were able to "dry-in" the structure and are now at work putting on the exterior finishes.  This new building is located at the corner of 23rd Street and Washington Blvd.

The New IRS Building

This new structure has been under construction for some time.  The builders are behind schedule but the interior is currently being finished so the project should be completed soon.  The structure will compliment other IRS facilities located on the block.

Pioneer (4th Ward) Chapel Restoration

Several years ago Boyd K. Packer came to our Chapel for a Stake Conference.  When he walked through the church he told our Stake President: "Don't you let anyone touch this building." To see what he was talking about, watch this video of the interior.  The church is now making seismic upgrades to the building similar to those made to Ogden High School.  Hopefully, the structure will last for generations to come.

Developer Deliverance: Changes to Development Rules

I am currently on the Hill working on Legislative issues.  One of the committees I sit on is called the Political Subdivisions committee.  It sounds like a bland name but it deals with all kinds of fun issues that address our democratic system and the function of "subdivisions" (i.e. cities and counties) of the State. 

Today we heard a bill in committee by a Representative from Kaysville.  Under current law, cities and counties have the right to change the specifications required on asphalt depth, street width, curb width, and other infrastructure specifications as they see fit.  Unfortunately, this poses a problem when a developer purchases land, begins development and then has the city change the specifications mid-stream.e

The bill we heard today eliminates this as a possibility and fixes the specifications that are required for a development when the development starts.   You would think that this was the law already.  It is not.  Due to the length of time it takes to complete developments, some contractors were running into issues with this. 

Fortunately, it passed out of our committee unanimously and will go to the House floor for a vote.  This should create a more predictable environment for developers and cities to work together.

High Density Smart Growth: The Utah Pioneer Solution

A colleague of mine forwarded a brilliant and insightful .pdf from the APA Conference last year.  I thought I would share it with you.


APA Oct 2010 Strong Roots Sustainable Communities
It makes for a quick read, but it emphasizes the importance of smart planning and harkens back to the "Plat of Zion" of the early days of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. A fun read for sure.

Safer Neighborhoods: Ogden's Proposed Gated Community

Recently I have been made aware of efforts to make Ogden's neighborhoods feel safer.  One of these efforts includes a proposal to create a unique gated community in Downtown.  Here is a map of that neighborhood:

Basically, the proposal includes gating Eccles, Van Buren, and Brinker Avenues at 20th Street and also at 19th Street and Jackson Ave.  The four gates would  enclose a community of approximately 150 homes, most of which were built in the 1940's. 

The idea is to create an environment that would allow home owners to feel safer but also create an environment that makes it more difficult and less opportunistic for criminals. 

Interestingly, crime is not necessarily higher in this neighborhood than the surrounding area but rather the geography and street layout provide a unique opportunity to create a gated community with the least amount of infrastructure expenditures.  It will also be interesting to see how this kind of project will affect crime statistics once it is completed.

The project is still in the research stage so it will be interested to report on this again as community buy-in gets underway and plans are presented for approval. 

Watch for a report on this again in the future.

Suburban Development Doomed - Where To Now?

I was on Youtube and found this video from 2008:



It's been three years. Do you think things have gotten any better since then?  Here is the chart on new construction nationally (courtesy of CalculatedRisk):

Well, I will euphemistically say that new construction sales are "under performing".  Locally, Utah has better demographics and there is new construction occurring due to population growth. But, local builders have not altogether avoided the trend you see in the above chart.  If you ask them how things are going they take a deep breath and say "ok".  The deep breath says more than their words.

The market right now is rewarding the resale and reuse of existing homes over the creation of new ones.  Here is another chart that shows that dynamic:
 

The money in real estate right now is in rehabbing existing homes.  The new construction supply hangover we experienced in 2008 is mostly mopped up but new construction is anemic and will be for the foreseeable future.  Investors can capitalize on this market dynamic by fixing existing homes and reselling them for a profit.  The speculative game of betting on new construction won't be back for a decade.