Nathan Blair's Utah Homes & Real Estate Blog

The Spring Home & Garden Festival starts today at the South Towne Expo Center

2008-03-06T18:29:08Z

Today is the first day of the 60th Annual Salt Lake Tribune Spring Home & Garden Festival at the South Towne Expo Center.

Now that the weather is warming up just a little and the sun is coming out more often, people start to think about what needs to be done around the house and yard. That’s where the Home & Garden show comes in.

If you go, you’ll find aisle after aisle of the latest trends in home improvement. Everybody at a booth will be eager to tell you about the next best thing and why theirs is it. If you are looking for ideas, this will be a great opportunity to soak in all the information that these vendors are waiting to give out to the public.

After you’ve seen all the stuff, there will also be seminars to teach you where to start and what to do with all of it. National experts will be available to teach these seminars and answer your questions - “Dr. Gadget” Dave Dettman will be there to show you the latest home technology, Brooks Utley of HGTV’s ‘Design to Sell’ will be hosting workshops on how to do-it-yourself, and Anne-Marie Barton will offer her tips on home decor. There will be others that I’m not listing here, so you’ll just have to go to find out.

If you are not the seminar type, just go to get some ideas. If it’s in or around the home, it will be there. Whether it be flooring, paint, new furniture, window coverings, countertops, kitchen and bathroom stuff, you’ll find something about it.

The show starts at 2:00 pm today (March 6th), and goes until 6:00 pm on Sunday. The cost is $9 for adults, unless you buy your ticket on the website, and then it is $7. Admission for kids is $5 or free if they are under 6 years. Here is a link to the main website of the show, where you can find more specifics on what seminars are when, and other stuff like that.

Utah is third for population growth

2007-12-27T18:10:31Z

Love it or hate it, Utah is now the third fastest growing state in the nation.

If you hate it, the good news is that Utah still ranks 34th in terms of population compared with other states. If you love it, then you are either in real estate or maybe you just like crowds.

Utah increased 65,795 from last year, a 2.6 percent change. I'm no statistician, but that seems even a little low. I would have thought the numbers to be higher, but that's me. Maybe it just feels like more when you are on I-15 every day.

Who got the number one fastest growth rank? Nevada, with Arizona in second.

Read it for yourself.

Your home deserves Obeo

2007-12-27T18:09:05Z

If you are trying to sell your home in this market, you already know that you need every competitive advantage that you can get. It's not enough for your home to look good, it has to be near perfect. It also has to show very well online, as that is where most buyers will begin their search - especially with it being too cold to go on the home tours we like so much in the summer.

In my opinion, there is only one place to go when you need your house marketed online. That place is Obeo. When your agent is going through their plan to market your house, make sure that they have a relationship with Obeo and can have them out to your home immediately to get your home's website set up.

Have a look for yourself. First imagine that you are online browsing for homes and you stumble upon your own home. What do you see? Three or four pictures? Or do you see an entire site dedicated to your home, with professional quality photos and virtual tours? If you are a buyer, your eye will skip right to the Obeo home.

But wait, there's more.

Obeo now has some really neat features on their site that allow buyers to get a much more hands on experience with the home. Their SpaceDesigner feature allows you to see the floor plan of the home and to rearrange furniture to fit your tastes. Their StyleDesigner feature is even cooler, as it allows you to change the color of different interior parts of the house so you can imagine what it would look like when you move in and change it to your liking. Both these features allow you to expand the pictures to full screen, making your home much more visually appealing that the home with four tiny photos.

Go to their website and have a look for yourself. If you have your home listed and you don't have it online with Obeo, your agent needs some talking to.

One more thing, a little off the subject of Obeo. I wrote earlier how you need every advantage you can get in this market. Well, this absolutely includes making your house immaculate before you have your photos and tour done. Your home must look like it's not lived in. People understand that you live there, but in their mind, they've already moved in. For this reason, they can't tolerate your personal stuff and especially your personal DIRTY stuff. You need to make it disappear somehow.

Anyway, have fun on Obeo's site. It's really neat stuff, and I think you'll agree that your home deserves Obeo.

Mt. Rushmore, Lehi Utah style

2007-12-27T18:07:38Z

If you are like me and you've never seen Mount Rushmore in person, don't fret - now you don't have to travel any farther than Lehi, Utah to see it. Granted, it's not the REAL Mount Rushmore, but it's a pretty good replica with a small twist. If you look closely, you will notice slight presidential smiles on the finished product.

I'm talking about the Liberty Land amusement park in Lehi. I drive I-15 southbound a few times a week, and I can't help but look at the monument every time I pass it. It looks to be a sort of tunnel that a little roller coaster passes through. I haven't stepped out to see the site, but that's what it looks like from the freeway.

This park is going to be family and America oriented. It will have red, white, and blue everywhere, a Lady Liberty replica, hot dogs and apple pie, etc. I've also heard that the owners are going to place American historical facts randomly throughout the park, like on the miniature golf course.

I personally think this is a wonderful idea. With me, if it's related to American history, it gets a thumbs up, but this is even better because these people are trying to educate our young with things that they will enjoy doing. This is so much better than fun just for the fun of it. Who knew that we could learn while having fun too?

"Life Elevated" found on Utah's new license plates

2007-12-27T18:06:09Z

Ok, maybe everybody knew this but me, but Utahans are now driving around with newly designed license plates. I just started noticing them about a month ago, so maybe there are some out there who still have not seen them. If that's the case, here's what I've seen.

The new plates still have the old "Greatest Snow on Earth" slogan, but they no longer say "Ski! Utah". Instead you have just the word Utah up at the top with petroglyphs in the background of the title, and a picture of a skier in the middle center. You can also see powder tracks running down the middle of the plate. The color up top behind the title is reddish orange and the rest is white and light blue.

The other one is just like the old centennial plate except the title font is different, and instead of "Centennial" at the bottom, it says "Life Elevated".

The new slogan is where I could see some people running into an issue with these new plates. I've heard many people say that they don't care for "Life Elevated". I personally like it, on or off the plate, but we may hear some complaining for a while.

So if you haven't seen them already, keep an eye out and I'm sure you will soon. Drop us a line to tell us if you like or dislike them.

You'll love the Ballet West production of Nutcracker

2007-11-26T14:40:52Z

Now that Thanksgiving has passed, most people are rushing right into the Christmas season celebration. The music is turned on, the lights lit up, and the decorations taken out of storage. But what's better than those things, are the family traditions that we have established over the years and are now eagerly awaiting.

One tradition that my family has done for many years is seeing Ballet West's production of The Nutcracker. I'm very biased so of course I would recommend this to everyone, but putting the bias aside, it's a very fun and memorable production.

To the men reading this, yes you will see other men in tight leotards, but as long as you don't bring the binoculars, you'll be fine. I only have to bring that up because the leotard thing is something than men always mention. If you can look past that, and the prancing, and focus on the production and the fun your family is having, you might get hooked just as my family has. The artists are extremely talented and never disappoint. The costumes are equally as fine, and Capitol Theater is always a great place to go, no matter what you are seeing.

You can visit the website here and book tickets through Arttix. We always see the show on Christmas Eve, but there are many more all through December.

Mortgage lawsuits coming?

2007-11-21T13:12:30Z

You may have heard about the House Bill that would allow mortgage holders to sue Wall Street for relief from mortgages that they're not able to repay. The New York Times covered the story here. Reading this article reminded me of a conversation I had with a mortgage broker friend of mine a few days ago.

We were talking about the current state of the mortgage industry and we agreed on two points. 1) Predatory lending does exist and it has trapped a lot of people, and 2) Some consumers share in the blame for being financially irresponsible. It's the second point that I'd like to discuss.

First of all, like I said above, there is no doubt that there were and are some shady people in the mortgage industry and any kind of reform for them would be welcome. Those who put money ahead of serving their clients are sadly all too common. But there are two sides to every deal. The broker on one end of the table and the consumer on the other. Each has responsibilities in the loan acquisition process and each should be held accountable for their actions.

I can't make the blanket statement that every consumer is to blame. But the fact is that many people went into negotiations with one thing on their mind - what will my monthly payment be NOW. With some research, shopping, and education, many could have saved themselves from the trouble they now face. Too many are quick to blame the mortgage broker that drew them into a deal, and too few admit that they got into a home when they shouldn't have. They knew they couldn't afford it but the payment was great at the time. The broker told them that the rate would reset but they did it anyway because they wanted that home.

We can't change the past but we can do something about the future. We now know that it's absolutely necessary to be familiar with all sides of a deal before we get into it. If you are thinking about buying a home, educate yourself first as to what you know you can afford. When you go in to talk about mortgages, ask questions until you understand every little detail. It's an exciting process and you just want to get into the house, but make absolutely sure that you know the deal inside and out.

If you got taken by an unethical broker, agent, or whatever, I'm very sorry. But you can learn from the past and make sure that you are equipped with extensive knowledge the next time you make a deal.

In honor of Thanksgiving

2007-11-21T13:11:01Z

In honor of Thanksgiving, I'm linking this post to a nice little article on how Thanksgiving became a national holiday. When holidays come around, I usually make it a point to remind myself of why we are doing what we're doing. So follow this link and share your new found wisdom with the family you will see this Thanksgiving.

Reuse - The second of the three R's

2007-11-21T13:09:57Z

Since it seems that being environmentally responsible is the thing these days, I'll address it as the topic for today's post. Actually my reasoning for addressing this issue is much more than because it's 'in'. I believe that every one of us has the responsibility to be good stewards for our earth, to ensure that we continue to have a clean and healthy place to live for ourselves and our descendants. Today, I read a wonderful article on Bankrate about the sometimes neglected second of the three R's - Reuse. We are good at reducing and even better at recycling, but how often do we reuse? This article argues that we shy away from it because we would be looked down upon. People would think that we were cheap and couldn't afford new things. Contrary to this view, just because we reuse something, doesn't mean it has to look old, trashy, or worn out. In our homes, where we usually want to keep up to date with the latest styles and colors, we can become guilty of throwing all of our old belongings out to make room for the new. It's ok if we want to update, but we need to give thought about what we do with the old stuff. I just visited an antique store here in town that would love to get its hands on some of the household items that people throw away. If there's not a store like that near you, then see if you can sell your things on ebay or at a garage sale. If the item is still quality, refurbish it and make it look new, or update it's colors to make it fit in. With so many options, just throwing things in the trash should be the last one.

Homebuyer History

2007-11-21T13:08:34Z

I'm really big into any kind of history, so today I'd like to share an interesting piece of homebuyer history that I came across in a newspaper article. There are many homeowners out there who have had adjustable mortgage rates rise drastically, then having to resort to refinances to get them out of trouble. Well it so happens that in the early 20th century, Americans went through a similar sort of thing only with them it was the lump sum that they were expected to pay a few years into their loan. Of course they didn't have it so refinancing was their way out. That's my summary; here's the full article. My history professors always were big on applying history to our time and learning from it. So how to I apply this to us? Oh I don't know; to look on the bright side, maybe just by saying that people have experienced tough times before and lived to tell the tale, and so shall we.

Financial education is the key according to Robert Kiyosaki

2007-11-15T13:59:19Z

I usually pay attention to what Robert Kiyosaki has to say, and it was no different this time when I saw that he gave a short interview to Bankrate.com.

Kiyosaki is loved by many and discredited by others, but I don't think anyone could argue with what he has to say in this article: education is the key to financial success. I don't think it matters what you invest in, be it real estate, stocks, bonds, or whatever else, education is key to success in any situation. Kiyosaki answers a few questions on what he thinks of the real estate market, how retirees will fare, and where we should put our money, but he always revisits his theme that we must be responsible and knowledgeable in whatever we choose to do.

If this blog post is the first time you've been introduced to this guy, I suggest you go out and pick up some of his reading. You should start with 'Rich Dad Poor Dad' and then go from there depending on what your interests are. In the article he mentions a book that he co-wrote with Donald Trump called 'Why We Want You To Be Rich', which I haven't read yet but will probably be picking up soon. You may or may not like his ideas, but you never know until you read.

The Not So Big House

2007-11-15T13:57:43Z

I wrote a post a while back about my thoughts on the American McMansion. I received a few responses from people who felt the same way about them, but one response in particular intrigued me. David Helm told me about a book called "The Not So Big House", and that it might interest me since I was writing an anti-McMansion blog post.

Well I think the word about this book should be spread. The book is written by Sarah Susanka, an architect. That alone should tell you that economic considerations are not the focal point of this book. Rather, The Not So Big House is about quality over quantity. Anybody who has paid attention knows that quantity, in the form of McMansion housing, has all but taken over home building in America. Unused, impractical space in a home is ridiculously common in builder's floor plans these days, but that is where Susanka's book comes in.

The gist of the book is not that you should live in a small house. It's that you should utilize space wisely, create more livable space, and do so on a scale more fit for your family as opposed to a small village. You do not have to sacrifice style or comfort either. What you will find are spaces that you might call 'cozy', or 'warm', rather that 'vastly spacious', or 'magnificently scaled'. If you prefer the latter terms, this book probably is not for you.

You do not have to have deep pockets to follow Susanka's advice. Some of the book covers people who obviously spent a lot of money, but that's not the rule. Anyone can apply these principles in building their own home. If you've already built, read it still and I'm sure you'll get some good ideas on how to modify your space.

Deal on collector's coins

2007-11-15T13:56:10Z

If you like collecting coins, or even if you just want to get in on an offer that probably won't come around again, I have news for you.

Right now there's a different piece of great news for Utah residents and national residents. For those residing in Utah, and only today and tomorrow, you will be able to get your hands on new uncirculated Utah quarters for their face value plus and $11 handling fee. This is an outstanding deal because uncirculated coins tend to appreciate in value and are highly prized by coin collectors. You can buy as many rolls as you like and for every roll you buy, you get one free quarter.

For national residents, including Utahans, there is another great offer going on for U.S. Government Presidential Dollar coins. During the day today, tomorrow and the next day, you can get the first four coins in the series for free when you pay a framing fee of $28! It's a steal! Of course if you want to fill up the entire frame you will have to buy the rest of the set which I believe is $18 per month for I can't remember how many months. I think it was nine. When you get your free ones in the mail, you can decide if you want the rest.

These are very attractive dollar coins and if you call in after the 72 hours, you're out of luck. So hurry and call in and be sure to request some coins from the Denver mint and some from the Philadelphia mint because they appreciate differently!

Utah residents should call 1-800-924-7914 for the Utah quarters.
For the presidential dollars, there are four numbers based on timezones:

Eastern: 1-800-236-6545

Central: 1-800-240-5764

Mountain: 1-800-924-2177

Pacific: 1-800-918-2195

Update on this blog post:
It appears that upon closer review, the Utah quarters deal wasn't as good as it seemed. The article in the newspaper made you believe that you couldn't find these quarters anywhere else, buy they are actually the same uncirculated coins you can get at your local bank or credit union. The Deseret Morning News had this to say about it.

Aspen, Utah?

2007-11-14T00:26:54Z

It looks like Utah might get another town and ski resort at the same time. A real estate developer named Dean Sellers has just submitted incorporation papers for a brand new Utah town called Aspen.

According to Sellers, Aspen would have a ski resort comparable in quality to Deer Valley, a golf course, high end retail and commercial developments, and some residential living as well. It sounds like the idea is to make it as ritzy as possible to attract as much money as possible. You can bet that many people will have strong opinions about that.

In fact, I looked at most of the comments written in response to an article on this topic in the Deseret News, and judging from that, opposition is strong among Heber locals. Those who commented may just be the vocal ones for all I know, but they were very vocal. Then again, there were lots of comments from people who welcome the idea, saying that anything that brings tax money into the state is only a good thing. I agree that that would be a plus. This Aspen plan would surely bring in a load of out of state dollars.

Keep your eye on this one, although it may be some 25 years before the city is fully built out.

2005 HGTV Dream Home is up for sale

2007-11-09T17:16:32Z

Do you remember the name Don Cruz? If you watch HGTV, you probably do. Don and his family were the winners of the 2005 HGTV Dream Home Contest, which gave them ownership of a gorgeous estate in Tyler, Texas, just east of Dallas. You probably also know that since his winning, Don's story unfolded not like the fairytale he had hoped, but rather a nightmare he never expected. I'll let you read the story for yourself, but in a few words, Don's family found themselves swamped with taxes, unable to afford the expenses of a multi-million dollar mansion.

Fast forward to today and Don's mansion is up for sale, but not in the usual way. Actually a company based right here in American Fork, Utah, named Grandshare, is marketing the property as fractional real estate. Fractional real estate is where the property is divided into fractions and buyers can buy those fractions at a cost well below the home's selling price. In this case, the Tyler Texas mansion's price tag is about $2.5 million, so buyers are being offered quarter ownership at about $600,000. That translates into each buyer being able to occupy the home about every fourth week of the year, so you won't be able to live in it as your primary residence. It's meant to be a second or vacation home. And since it is a vacation home, Grandshare takes care of the scheduling and the management.

Judging by the pictures I've seen, the place looks beautiful; an ideal vacation home. The picture up in the corner of this post is the main exterior of the property, and below are a few others.

If you're interested in this opportunity, or you know someone who might be, give me a call.

Hot sauce and more hot sauce!

2007-11-09T12:43:31Z

If you are a regular reader of this blog, you know that many times I write about non-real estate related things. Well this post is definitely not real estate related but it's fun so I'm writing it anyway.

I'm a hot sauce lover and today I was searching online for a certain hot sauce. I stumbled upon two things that interested me, one of which I really need to share with everybody out there who shares my love.

The first one is not so interesting to anybody buy myself, but I learned that there is a famous hot sauce brand with my name on it. It seems Blair hot sauces makes a very spicy product. I haven't tried it yet, but now I would like to get my hands on some.

But to the more important news, there is a GREAT hot sauce blog that I came to that has just about everything you might want to know about hot sauce. I browsed through some of the recipes and boy do they look good! There's also links to some good food sites and plenty of other good information under their main menu. There are various contributors to the site, so it pays to check in often as each one has their own preferences.

If you love hot sauces as much as I do, you must visit this site. You'll discover that there's a whole little hot sauce world out there that you might not know anything about. Enjoy!

Becker is new Salt Lake City mayor

2007-11-07T19:02:41Z

Well hopefully everyone got out and voted yesterday. Headlining the papers today is that Ralph Becker won the race for Salt Lake City mayor, well ahead of rival Dave Buhler.

Since this is a real estate blog and I am in the real estate profession, I thought I would go back to Ralph Becker's website and review the plans and visions he has to improve the city in terms of what might be important to real estate. I looked particularly at 'Neighborhoods', 'Downtown', and 'Transportation'.

I encourage you to read for yourself, but I think the city will be a better place if he can implement everything that he would like to. We need our capital city to shine so that we can attract more people and improve the quality of life for those who already live here. I like post election time because we can put aside the rivalries and focus on changing the city through positive action. We're doing ok, but our city could be so much better.

So take a look at your new mayor, re-familiarize yourself with the issues at hand, and take part.

Has your child got the 'affluenza'?

2007-11-06T16:47:51Z

Today I read a wonderful article that every parent and future parent should read. If you haven't had the experience yourself, then no doubt you've been shopping around Thanksgiving and Christmas time and seen children crying, yelling, scratching, etc., because their parents will not get them that one toy that they HAVE to have. Well I've just learned that there is a name for this sort of behavior - affluenza.

The term affluenza is used to describe how our children are growing up in a world where they are constantly bombarded with consumerism. It's not only manifest in advertiser's commercials or on billboards, but on the TV shows our kids watch. The article gives examples like "The Simple Life" or "My Super Sweet 16", but there are plenty more. Think of the way we and our children are subjected to the excesses of celebrities and sports figures on TV shows where they proudly parade their possessions. Or consider that many kids would rather watch reality shows about spoiled rich kids in Orange County than read a book about poverty in the Bronx.

These images give children false ideas about work and money. If not checked and taught, they grow up not understanding that they don't need everything that they see or read about. This is where the parent's responsibility to teach is very important. The article outlines some good ways to explain to kids what reality is like. I especially like the point about teaching children that the nature of the media is manipulative; they need to learn media literacy to be able to detect when they're being sold to. There's a lot of other great points too.

So maybe the next time your child starts to act overly entitled, tell them that you'll take them to get their affluenza shot if they're not careful.

Unique restaurant idea: One World Cafe

2007-11-05T21:09:36Z

How I haven't heard of this, I'm not really sure, but today I read about a unique restaurant in Salt Lake City called One World Cafe. It sounds like this place goes against everything that you might think of as typical restaurant behavior.

If you go and eat there, don't expect a check at the end of your meal. That's because YOU decide what to pay for your meal. You tell them what size portion you want (you won't want to leave half your meal on the plate when you're done), and then you pay what you think is fair. This means that there's rarely any wasted food, and that you only eat what you want and nothing more.

If you're wondering how they stay in business, you'll be pleased to know that many customers pay MORE than what they feel their meal was worth. In addition, if someone volunteers their time for an hour, they will receive a voucher for a free meal.

One World Cafe's vision statement is as follows:

* We are dedicated to eliminating world hunger.

* We are dedicated to serving organic unprocessed food.

* We are dedicated to feeding and including all members of our community.

* We are dedicated to eliminating waste in the food industry.

* We believe that we can trust our customers to be inspired, honest and fair in their exchange of money and/or work for the fresh, gourmet, organic food we prepare both mindfully and in a heartfelt way each day.

* We will keep believing ...

Social networking or going out socially?

2007-11-02T13:59:30Z

Social networking has been all over the news lately. There's some interesting reading out there about Opensocial, Facebook's advertising plans, and so on. It seems that as social networking is turning into big business, so are many more people turning to social networking.

But is it really the best thing for us as communicators? I freely admit that I am a member of Myspace and Facebook, yet I've wondered to myself if I'm really becoming closer to my friends or farther away. It's certainly easier to stay in contact with those you can't see personally. I always know what they're doing, what their new likes and dislikes are, and where they're living. The benefits for business people can't be questioned either, as a social network can expand all across the world and introduce you to people that you never would have known otherwise. Those things are great and all, but the old fashion in me says that this trend could damage our people and our language skills if we don't keep them polished.

Whether this is reality or just my perception, the reader will have to decide. But I do think that as long as we place more importance on our physical social networks (the people we have to talk to person to person), than our online networks, we will be doing alright. There just is no substitute for good company and conversation.

I enjoy reading The Phoenix Real Estate Guy's blog, and I think he said it best here in his post.

The Federal Reserve decision broken down

2007-11-01T13:01:37Z

To some, the action recently taken by the Federal Reserve can be a little confusing. It's clear that they cut some interest rate, but what does that mean exactly? More importantly, what does it mean for you the consumer. Will your mortgage rate change? Will other rates such as on credit cards or CD's change?

I've written before about how much I enjoy the e-mail updates that Bankrate.com sends to me, and today they've again broken down a potentially confusing subject into easy to understand terms. If you are shopping for a mortgage or thinking about refinancing, you'll want to pay close attention. Considering that we are in a buyer's market, now may be a good time for you to enter into negotiations on a home.

You'll read about the decision to cut the rate, what it means, who wins and who loses, and smart strategies. Make sure to look at the table of contents in the upper right hand part of the screen for the complete story. Also be sure to bookmark the page; it's great information. Here's the link.

Bingham High School football team looking for a repeat

2007-10-31T19:14:14Z

As a Bingham High School alumnus, I actually have something to cheer about for a second year in a row. The Bingham football team has found itself in the playoffs again and preparing to face the Darts of Davis this Friday.

Bingham has had another great season, suffering only one loss to Jordan, and is looking like a strong candidate for the championship. I was in attendance at last years outstanding championship game against Alta to watch nervously as Alta's running game almost proved Bingham's undoing. The threat is there again this year, so should these two teams meet for the second time, look for another nail-biter. First Bingham has to beat Davis, so I won't make any predictions yet.

Can't sell your home? Try this method (maybe)

2007-10-31T17:54:10Z

You've heard of home sellers offering vacations, cash incentives, etc. if someone will purchase their home, right? Well did you hear the one about the Pennsylvania couple who is offering themselves?

This is a new one to me, but you just never know what ideas people will come up with to sell their home. This particular couple is saying that if someone comes in and buys their home (they're asking about $400,000), they will give the buyer all of that money back plus $100,000. Wow!

But wait, if I understand right, the catch is that the buyer has to wait until both sellers die before they get the money back. In addition to that, if the buyer agrees to take care of seller couple in their retirement years, they will inherit their retirement home. That brings the inheritance up to about $500,000. The buyers do have to agree to one thing: when the couple dies, they have to be shown to have died of natural causes or else the deal is off. At first I wondered at this stipulation but then I thought a little more deviously and the reasoning became clear.

Is this the direction the market is headed? They say a changing market brings changing methods of doing business and after reading this story, they're absolutely right!

See the video on CNN

It's about time: Cheesecake Factory comes to Utah

2007-10-30T18:04:10Z

Out of courtesy to my wife, I have to announce to those who may not have heard the buzz, that The Cheesecake Factory is opening its Salt Lake City restaurant on Thursday. She's been waiting for this for a long time.

She took me to eat there when we were in San Diego last month and I must admit that it wasn't too bad. I especially liked the atmosphere, the food was good, and of course I'd be hard pressed to find their cheesecake's equal. I think I got the stuffed chicken tortillas, which were very good, and my wife got the tasty miso salmon. I've tried many a salmon and this one is right up there at the top of my list.

I remember last year there was a big story in the news that The Cheesecake Factory and Crate and Barrel would not come to Utah because we didn't have a population with at least 35% college graduates. I don't know if the numbers went up, but I'm glad that at least one of them decided to come to Utah anyway. With the amount of people that go out to eat in this state, I think a establishing a reputable restaurant is a pretty safe bet.

Building a home? Know what you are getting into

2007-10-29T13:24:06Z

Homebuilders come in all shapes and sizes. You may know of "custom", cookie-cutter, small, large, luxury, or any other number of labels to attach to certain builders. Every buyer is different and therefore will choose a builder based on their specific needs. But may I suggest one common characteristic that your builder should and must have before they earn your business: a strong track record of outstanding customer service.
Lately I've heard story after story from friends who have had horrible experiences with their builders. Not unforeseen disaster experiences but experiences that could have been avoided by great customer service. I understand it's a tough market but they must understand that these horror stories spread like wildfire and can slowly tarnish reputations.
Here are a few suggestions that may help if you are considering or already are building a home.

1) Thoroughly understand what your base price is plus what your upgrades will add to that cost. You do not want to be like the couple I know of whose builder basically dropped off the face of the earth and then at closing told them that they owed $200,000 more than they were expecting. Constant communication and more importantly, documentation of what your costs will be is very important. Your agent should take care of this, but make sure you have an agent that's on your side and not the builder's.

2) Find out what the builder will do if something goes wrong. Will they send someone out to take care of it? Will they tell you that you're one your own? This may require that you speak to some people who have dealt with them before. Many people claim that the larger more established builders are better in this respect than the smaller ones. That may depend on how many people you talk to, but I think there's some truth to it.

3) This goes along with number two, but ask neighbors who already live there and used your builder. Ask them if their building process went seamlessly. If they had problems, did the builder take care of it promptly? Was he nice about it or did he act like you were putting him out?

Thankfully, many builders to a great job and they take care of their clients. Just make sure you know your stuff or have an agent that knows theirs in case you build with someone who doesn't.