Home sweet (first) home - Community Shoppers, Inc.

JANESVILLE
2 MESSENGER ■ Sunday, July 27, 2008
communityshoppers.com
NEWS
INBRIEF
JANESVILLE
■ School board approves
two new members:
The Janesville School
Board on Tuesday voted
6-0 to approve Greg
Ardrey and Peter
Severson to fill vacant
seats; Commissioner Bill
Sodemann abstained.
The men replace former
board members Amy
Rashkin and Dennis
Vechinsky, both of whom
resigned earlier this summer.
Ardrey and
Severson will serve until
April, when voters will
choose replacements to
serve full three-year
terms. A committee
selected Ardrey and
Severson from a field of
10 candidates;
Sodemann said he
abstained because he
believes the committee
should have allowed the
full board to hear from
several candidates.
■ Telephone scam reported:
Several local residents
reported being the target
of a telephone scam
last week. Residents
received an automated
message asking them to
call an Iowa phone number
to reactivate a suspended
Blackhawk
Community Credit Union
member card. Those
who called the number
were asked to enter personal
information. Both
BCCU members and
nonmembers reported
receiving the calls. Once
the scam was reported
to police, the message
shifted its target to
members of a Michiganbased
credit union. “This
shift, along with the fact
that both members and
nonmembers were contacted,
clearly shows
there was no credit
union security breach,”
said BCCU CEO Bob
Carmichael. “More likely,
the thieves got a hold of
some type of phone list,
and decided to use
Blackhawk Community
Credit Union as their target
of choice.”
Carmichael said it wasn’t
clear how many residents
called the number
and provided information.
BCCU officials said
the credit union never
would use automated
phone calls to discuss
an account problem or
ask for personal information.
EVANSVILLE
■ New day for trash,
recycling pickup:
Beginning next week, city
residents will have their
trash and recyclables
picked up on Tuesdays,
rather than Wednesdays.
The new pick-up date
begins Aug. 5. Veolia
Environmental Services,
the company that serves
Evansville, said the
change will help keep
costs down and maintain
efficiency. For more
information, call city hall
at (608) 882-2266.
■ MARKET
Continued from page 1
like Ashley Huber and Matt
Dooley have more time to find the
perfect house.
The Janesville couple rejected
several houses in need of repairs
until they found one within their
price range that was move-in
ready.
“It’s a challenge deciding what
you’re actually going to go with,”
said Dooley, who added that he
and Huber look forward to building
equity. “I’d rather own a
house than pay for rent; it’s
throwing money away.”
Ryan and Rianne Graves, who
recently purchased a home in
Darien, spent nearly a year looking
at available properties.
“We got excited at the potential
of the houses we could have,”
Ryan Graves said. “From there, it
became kind of a fun adventure,
getting the opportunity to look at
these houses.”
The couple also recognized that
buying a house is the first step
toward financial security.
“Home ownership is historically
the No. 1 wealth generator in our
country,” said John Ramstad,
director of housing for
Community Action of Rock and
Walworth Counties.
But, Ramstad added, potential
buyers should beware that what
appears to be a good deal actually
may be a pratfall.
“The only caution is for people
to be careful about buying properties
that look awfully cheap on
paper, but are such because there
is significant work that is
required or significant infrastructure
improvements that need to
happen,” he said. “It’s the longterm
affordability of the house
that’s the most important.”
For example, buying a house
that needs a new roof or furnace
■ CONSTRUCTION
Continued from page 1
drop in custom-built home construction
in the past two years, though a
growing number of people are
choosing to renovate their existing
homes.
“There are people still mulling
around, wondering what they
should or should not do,” he said.
Wellnitz blames the economy, rising
gas prices and upcoming presidential
election year for the
decrease in demand.
Ad here
MARKET UPS AND DOWNS
Sales of existing homes, as well as new housing starts and
residential building permits, have declined in the city of
Janesville in the past several years. Here’s how the market
has performed:
SALES OF EXISTING HOMES*
2002: 1,050 homes ($117,590 average)
2003: 1,345 homes ($120,078)
2004: 1,298 homes ($125,539)
2005: 1,158 homes ($132,162)
2006: 1,134 homes ($138,633)
NEW HOUSING UNITS*
2002: 424
2003: 330
2004: 506
2005: 381
2006: 241
10-year average: 366
RESIDENTIAL BUILDING PERMITS ISSUED*
2002: 279
2003: 276
2004: 329
2005: 295
2006: 231
10-year average: 269
* Data from 2007 not yet available.
could end in foreclosure.
“In the long run, you might lose
the house because the maintenance
costs are too great for you
to sustain it,” Ramstad said.
Of course, a home’s physical
condition is just one piece of the
home-buying puzzle.
“There’s a lot of factors to look
at, like resale value,” said Huber,
who plans to close on her first
home Wednesday.
Taking a homeownership class
may help potential buyers see the
“We believe it’s going to pick up;
we have full faith in it,” he said,
adding that he believes business
will rebound in 2009.
Sharon Bauer, co-owner of Bauer
Custom Homes in Burlington,
agreed.
“It can’t stay like this forever,”
she said.
But for now, buyers are exercising
restraint.
“They’re just being cautious,”
Bauer said. “Those that are getting
into a custom home are generally
trying to sell a home of their own,
and that seems to be giving people
problems.”
72408
Sarah Zeller/staff
Janesville real estate agent
Verna Saladino says the
local market for existing
homes remains strong for
first-time homebuyers.
big picture.
“It’s a good way to assess how
ready you are to take on that
responsibility, since they go over
all sorts of aspects of how to buy
a home,” Ramstad said. “If you
haven’t owned a home or it’s been
a while, it’s a very valuable
course and a chance to think
through a lot of the factors you
should be considering before you
make that commitment.”
Anyone in the market for a new
home — not just first-time buyers
The market is floundering so
much that a nonprofit agency that
secures low-interest, no-risk mortgages
and helps people build newconstruction
homes is in danger of
closing its doors.
The Burlington-based
Southeastern Wisconsin Housing
Corporation builds groups of homes
and trims costs by having future
homeowners, under the supervision
of a professional, complete much of
the construction.
“So many people are running
scared because of the economy,”
said SEWHC Executive Director
Arturo Gonzales. “As long as they
1506 Creston Park Drive, Janesville, WI 53545
(608) 752-0777
Online: www.communityshoppers.com
Circulation: 30,663 (March 31, 2005)
President . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Sidney H. Bliss
Vice president/GM . . . . . . . Dan Pyfer
Managing editor . . . . . . . . . Bruce Heisel
Associate editor . . . . . . . . . Eric Kuznacic
Senior editor . . . . . . . . . . . Lynn Greene
Circulation manager . . . . . . Ken Curtis
DIGEST
and those with shaky credit histories
— is under far greater
scrutiny by mortgage lenders
than they may have a few years
ago.
Because of the so-called “credit
crunch” — caused by lenders who
doled out subprime loans to people
who might not qualify for traditional
mortgages, then went
belly-up when those loans went
into foreclosure — more buyers
are using government-sponsored
loans, like those through the
Federal Housing Administration
or the U.S. Department of
Agriculture.
“There’s a lot of hope right now
for FHA, because that’s the only
place where you have any sort of
high loan-to-value product still
available,” said Yuri Rashkin,
owner of Service First Mortgage
in Janesville. “Now, everybody
starts with FHA. It used to be a
very underutilized product —
now it’s the first step.”
That sea change has some worried.
“I think that it’s just unsustainable,”
Rashkin said. “We can’t be
relying on government programs
if we are to continue to be a (consumer-based)
economy where people
buy and sell houses. There
just has to be some more flexibility
in the system.”
The upside of the credit crunch
is that homebuyers now must live
within their means.
“They should figure out pretty
precisely what they’re able to
spend for a home,” including
property taxes and insurance,
Rashkin said, “and be realistic.”
That’s exactly what the Graves
family did, even though they
were approved for a larger mortgage
than the one they secured.
“We weren’t comfortable with
that financially,” Ryan Graves
said. “As far as first-time homebuyer
advice is concerned, staying
in your comfort zone is your
best bet.”
make the minimum payment
according to their income, they’ll
never lose their house.”
The organization, which has built
nearly 1,500 homes in Walworth,
Rock, Racine and Kenosha counties
since 1971, is looking for qualified
families who want to build a home.
If the organization is unable to
find five eligible families by the end
of the summer, Gonzales said the
program’s funding will not be
renewed.
“Everyone in this country has a
right to own their own home,” he
said. “Work on your credit, get it
cleaned up, and we will help you.”
A
Publication
OFFICE HOURS:
Monday-Friday: 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Saturday: 8 a.m. to noon
DEADLINES:
Display ads: 5 p.m. Wednesday
Classifieds: noon Thursday
Deadlines are advanced one working day
during holiday weeks. The Messenger
reserves the right to reject or edit any
advertisement at any time. The Messenger
is published by CSI Media, LLC, of
Delavan, Wis., which also publishes the
Stateline News, Stateline Shopping News,
Shopper Advertiser and Walworth County
Sunday