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Ask George & Chuck: Questions from Consumers

When it comes to restoring, what room adds the most value?

Question: I live in the beautiful, historic, seaside town of Ipswich, Massachusetts. There are many historic homes as well as newer homes in the mix. We will be moving in 1-2 years and have done renovations to our 1860s Colonial. The big question is, in the interest of time and money, do I or do I not renovate the old 70s style kitchen?

I put in new appliances, so these are fine. We are redoing the floor as hardwood, but should I spend money on cabinets and countertops if the buyers are interested in the 6-Bed, 3-Bath home and want to add their "own style" of kitchen? Also, I would only do a 'value kitchen' ($10K Home Depot) at this point because we spent money on other pressing repairs/renovations.

Other homes in the area, for comps, have designer kitchens and others do not. If I should renovate, how much is the minimum because someone may just want to redo it? Historic homes are a 'unique' category and I want real expert advice not just Home Depot or eager Realtor advice.

Answer: If we understood your question, you essentially asked if we think it's a good idea to redo the kitchen and if so, whether to do an expensive or inexpensive kitchen redo. If you do decide to do it, we vote to do the expensive one. Kitchens are a great selling point for old houses, just as bathrooms are, when they are up to date. The house gets to keep the old charm, but have the new upgrades. My co-author did it, and has never regretted it.

May we also suggest choosing your favorite search engine -- we used Google.com -- and enter the words "national+historical+trust" (without the quotes). Google returned 42,900,000 in 0.04 seconds.

The first listing that was returned on Google comes with high praise, the National Trust for Historic Preservation. There are quite a few State and Local Preservation Contacts listed in Massachusetts. A thorough examination of the National Trust website plus contacts with Local Preservation folks should provide you with the types of expert advisers you seek.

Question: We represent through a Power of Attorney (POA), my husband's mother. My husband's parents have been out of the country 1-2 years and just got divorced last month. We have the US house listed and we consulted with a lawyer about selling.

However, there are credit cards in the dad's name only, which are way overdue and will never get paid. They were charged after the mom had already left the US.

At what point can the credit card company attach a lien on the house? Can they attach a lien since the house is jointly owned but the credit card is singly owned? I do not have a POA over that side of things so I don't know how to find out what's going on. I want to protect the mom's proceeds from the sale. Any advice is greatly appreciated. Our lawyer just said hurry and sell before they attach, so all I do is worry!!

Answer: We recommend that you get a title commitment immediately. However, you also need professional, legal advice from an attorney who represents you in exercising your rights and responsibilities under the Power of Attorney.

The credit card company may be able to attach a viable lien to the property with the exception of a $15,000 Homestead exemption available to the owners in Missouri. A Title company should be able to determine if there are any existing liens on the property. However, it is possible that if property is held by tenancy by the entirety it may be exempt from the debts owed by one spouse.

Question: My husband and I are getting a divorce. We jointly own a condo in New Jersey. He will not allow me to use this property, but has allowed his 32 year old son to live there rent free without my knowledge. In addition, my husband is president of the condominium association and has refused to notify me of meetings or minutes to the meeting.

Finally, he had the condo appraised, but neglected to have the appraiser see the inside of the condo. As a result, his appraisal was $550,000 while my appraiser did a thorough job and gave market value at $890,000. Do I have any recourse to protect my rights to this property?

Answer: Your recourse is to hire a good Lawyer who specializes in divorce. Your husband may be hiding additional community property and/or causing its value to be understated. His son will probably resent your intrusion into his rent-free living arrangements, but at 32 years of age -- absent any condition that would preclude it, it is about time for him to suck it up and start paying rent.

Question: I live in Long Island, New York. I've been trying to find an answer regarding why the taxes are the same for a condo as they are for a private house. I know that condos are considered private property, but I don't even have a backyard, and the taxes on a private home in my town are the same amount. Also, we maintain our own roads as well.

I'm trying to find out who to contact or if there have been any similar cases that you have heard of. Is this a County or State issue? No one seems to know.

Answer: It is basically a county issue but it is based upon New York State statutes. Property Taxes are based upon the appraised value at which a property is assessed. Please visit the Nassau County, New York site, where you will find all the information you seek under the Assessment Information section. Also, you can enter the Nassau County Department of Assessment here, and once on that site you can select "Property Search" to locate your property records, or even ask your question to Harvey B. Levinson, Chairman of the Nassau County Board of Assessors.
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