Salt Lake City Area Real Estate Podcast with Jodie Osofsky

I want to spread the word as much as possible about a great organization here in Salt Lake City that is helping our most vulnerable people: kids.

I’m excited to be joined today by Lynda Smart Brown, the CEO/President of KidsEat! here in Salt Lake City. To me, she is simply an angel for what she does. She steps up to help the alarming number of children in our backyard who don't have enough to eat.

Did you know that there are 55,000 children in the Salt Lake Valley that qualify for a free lunch from the state every day? Lynda figures that at least half of those kids could benefit from food on the weekend and their numbers are proving that to be true.

What they do is pretty simple. They take backpacks and fill them up with seven balanced meals consisting of everything from fruit cups to graham crackers to macaroni and cheese. They then take these backpacks and distribute them to places like The Boys and Girls Club and elementary schools.

This is such an important organization.

Even with all the work Lynda has done, she still hasn’t been able to feed all of these hungry kids. She needs our help to do this. I’m a big believer in this cause, and I’m proud to support it.

They go through a whopping $4,000 per month in food and distribute anywhere from 100 to 150 backpacks. If you’d like to support KidsEat!, you can do so right on their website. Whether you can donate time, money, or food, just know that you are helping to give a lot of these kids what so many of us take for granted.

KidsEat! also has a charity golf tournament coming up on September 15th at Murray Parkway. You don’t need to be an expert player by any means. They are looking for more female golfers in particular, but everyone is welcome to attend.

If you have any questions for us about KidsEat! or anything about real estate, give us a call or send us an email. We would love to hear from you.

Today we’re continuing to talk about the bathroom remodel process.

To do so, I met up with Ross Jorgensen of Rosco Construction—who is helping a friend of ours remodel three bathrooms, including a full bath, a guest bath, and a half bath.

Protecting certain features in the room is important, he told me, since he and his team will be coming in and out of the rooms with heavy equipment.

Protecting certain features in the room is important.

After they tear out the things that must be removed, they will need to adjust the plumbing. Since granite is being installed, they must also rip out all of the sheet rock in preparation.

Now, the particular home they’re working on does have downstairs bathrooms so the remodeling will not impede the homeowners, but there are cases where remodeling makes all of a home’s bathrooms totally inaccessible.

Ross says people should be mindful of instances like this, since the entire process takes between three to five weeks.

Next time, we’ll show you what everything looks like once it’s been torn up.

If you have any other questions or want more information, feel free to give me a call or send me an email. I look forward to hearing from you soon.

Today marks the starting point of a new video series about the process of a basic bathroom remodel. To start, I wanted to focus on the color selection process here at Arizona Tile.

In the video above, I'm standing in the slab yard’s granite section to pick out a countertop slab for my friend Kiku. We need to pick out some granite for the counters in three different bathrooms.

There's an immense selection of granite, marble, and quartz here at the amazing showroom at Arizona Tile.

Our friend and contractor Ross Jorgensen from Rosco Construction sent us here for the first of many tasks in this remodel job. We're here to pick out tile for the bathrooms in addition to the countertops.

As you can see in our video, there's an immense selection of granite here at the amazing showroom at Arizona Tile. They also have marble and quartz slabs. The best part is that their prices are very competitive as well.

Stay tuned for our next video where we'll tackle another step in this bathroom remodel. In the meantime, give me a call if you have any questions about remodeling or you need a reference for a great contractor or vendor. We're always happy to help!

We are excited to be joined today by our friend Derek Nielson with Lighting Specialists to talk a little bit about what they do and how they help new and existing homeowners alike with their lighting needs.

You might be tempted to go to a big box store like Home Depot or Lowe’s, but there are certain advantages that come with working with someone like Derek that you won’t get there.

Their customer service is second to none.

The first is the selection. Everything is high quality, and the selection is unmatched. Their pricing is another advantage because most of the time, they can get you a better deal on a lamp or lighting fixture than you would get at a big box store.

Finally, their customer service is second to none. Derek, or one of his coworkers, will ask questions and listen to your answers to determine exactly what your needs are. They are very patient, and definitely in it for the long haul. I just got a new fixture for my dining room here, and Derek was very patient with me.

If you have any questions for Derek or anyone else at Lighting Specialists, give them a call at (801) 566-1324 or visit their website here.

If you have any real estate questions or needs, you can always give us a call or send us an email. We look forward to hearing from you.

After many years of talking about carbon monoxide detectors in homes, I actually had a potential carbon monoxide problem in my own home recently and panicked and didn’t know what to do.

One of my kids turned on a stove burner to boil water and didn’t realize the flame didn’t light. I was in a different part of the house at the time, so before I smelled the gas, it had already been leaking into most of my house for a good 10 minutes.

All it took for me was a little Googling to solve this problem but if this kind of thing happens to you and catches you off guard, here’s what you need to do to keep everyone in your house safe.

Taking care of these tasks can mean the difference between tragedy and near-tragedy.

First, open all of the windows regardless of how cold it is. Then shut off all the gas appliances. After that, check everyone in the home for signs of carbon monoxide poisoning. Symptoms include lack of consciousness, vomiting, or nausea. If none of those symptoms are present, evacuate the house and allow the home to air out. You can call the fire department and have them check the home for leaks if you’re not sure where yours is coming from. If this happens during winter, make sure you turn the furnace off.

Taking care of a few simple things can mean the difference between tragedy and near-tragedy. Lastly, remember to have up-to-date smoke and carbon monoxide detectors in your home.

If you have any questions about carbon monoxide safety, don’t hesitate to reach out to me. I’d be happy to speak with you.

It’s that time of year again. Spring is in full swing, summer is on the way, and most of us will be visiting a farmer’s market here in the upcoming weekends.

I don’t know about you, but I couldn’t be more excited. I always love going out in the community, visiting with local farmers and small business owners, and getting some delicious produce in the process. If there are any urban farmers out there that need some space to grow their veggies, I’ve got plenty of space out here in Sandy!

What’s your favorite thing about the farmer’s market?

What are your favorite things about the farmer’s market? Let me know in the comment section below. I love picking out fresh tomatoes, and anything with garlic in it instantly has my attention.

There are a ton of different markets around here. There’s the Wheeler Farm market, the giant downtown market, and the Park City Park Silly Market in the summer. The Park Silly Market is one of my favorites because we just head up their with our dogs and enjoy all the art, food, and drinks they have to offer.

So get out there and let me know what some of your best farmer’s market finds were. If you have any real estate questions or needs in the meantime, don’t hesitate to give me a call or send me an email. I look forward to hearing from you soon.

Mother’s Day is May 14th, so you might be wondering where you should take your mom for brunch.

Many people already have a favorite spot, but I wanted to let you know about a great place for brunch if you’re looking to switch it up this year.

Kimi’s Chop and Oyster House is great anytime, but it’s especially wonderful for Mother’s Day brunch.

Kimi’s Chop and Oyster House is great anytime, but it’s especially wonderful for Mother’s Day brunch. Click here to make sure you get a reservation and let me know what you thought!

As always, if you have any questions about buying or selling a home in our market, feel free to give me a call or send me an email. I’m always happy to help. 

As some of you may know, I have a real affinity for Elon Musk and the ingenuity he brings to the table. From space travel to automaking to energy management, he’s doing a lot of great things to improve our world.

The latest and greatest comes with the bringing of his Tesla solar roof to market, and there’s some new information about it that we are very, very excited to share with you.

Recently, Tesla merged with SolarCity, another one of Musk’s companies that manufactures solar panels. With the merger, it is predicted that the cost of installing this solar roof will be less than installing a traditional roof. That is amazing! If you need a roof replacement, how great would it be to save a little money and get a solar roof?

These roofs will be cheaper to install than traditional ones.

On top of that, the roof will eventually pay for itself in energy savings alone. There will be four different shingle options when this product comes to market: textured glass, smooth glass, French slate, and Tuscan tile. They will be manufactured in the U.S. as well! We will be sure to keep you updated on who will be installing these in our area and when. 

If you have any questions about this solar roof technology or any other questions about Utah real estate, give me a call or send me an email. I look forward to hearing from you.

How did our Wasatch Front market do in 2016? What should the rest of 2017 look like?

Last year, there were 13,600 single-family home sales, which was a 1.3% increase from the year before. There were 4,300 condo/townhome/twin home sales, which was a 12% increase. The median sales price for single-family homes increased 8.1% to $295,000, while the median sales price for condos, townhomes, and twin homes increased 7% to $203,000. The median days on market was only 13 days—less than two weeks!

In 2016, we had the highest number of sales in the last 10 years. This has led a lot of people to wonder if we’re on the verge of another bubble. You can rest easy, though. There are no indications another recession is imminent because all the factors that caused the last one aren’t there now.

For the first time in 40 years, demand has exceeded supply.

However, for the first time in 40 years in our market, demand for housing has exceeded the supply. This has presented a list of challenges, such as affordability for housing, a shortage of well-qualified trades for builders, zoning and municipality changes and fees, land cost, rising rents, sustainable housing, and basic supply and demand.

You’ll likely hear about these things on the local news now and again, and us Realtors are working hard to solve them and work with politicians to protect your personal property rights.

All in all, 2017 will be a really strong year for home sales and home values. Interest rates should rise a little bit, but that shouldn’t affect the overall market.

Whether you’re a buyer or a seller, if you’re on the fence about entering the market, I’d love to sit down and review the details of your situation with you. I look forward to hearing from you!

The theme for 2016 was “The year of the refinance” with interest rates being so low. Now, people are saying that 2017 is going to be the year of the buyer. Things are certainly shaping up that way, here’s how.

For starters, we all know millennials are getting into the market and purchasing homes at a much higher rate than they have in the past. There are a few interesting statistics to note, including the fact that the national average rent rose from $950 a month to $1,040 a month in 2016 alone. That’s nearly 10%!

Buying a home protects you from continually rising interest rates.

The odds are that when investors are buying properties, now with higher rates, they are passing those costs along to the renters. Renters may think it’s smart to wait to buy until rates go down, but the truth is you’ll still be paying those higher rates in the form of higher rent.

If you rented last year, how much equity did you earn? The answer is none. Purchasing a home is an investment that’s nearly always appreciating in value. A 30-year fixed rate stays the exact same over the life of the loan, save for some taxes and insurance.

If you have any questions for us or you’re thinking about buying a home in 2017, don’t hesitate to give us a call or send us an email. We would love to hear from you.