Before any Home purchase buyers review and digest the copious amount of paperwork generated by the seller to try to fully explain what is currently known about the home they are selling. When going over Home Inspections there are invariably issues that are highlighted in the reports. Regularly I am asked what the costs for repair and replacement of some of these items are. As anyone who has purchased a home knows, the costs for fixing “what’s wrong with the house” does not come in the disclosure packet, only what needs fixing! Here I have consulted an article written by Chris Deziel explaining the approximate costs for repairing double paned windows.  Either due to age or seal failure glass can become cloudy or show condensation.

“After years of exposure to rain, sun and condensation, and if you want more sunlight in the house, it may be worth the expense of replacing it. You’ll probably want to know what that expense is before you go ahead with the project, however, and that depends on several factors. They include the size of the pane, the kind of glass you want to use and the style of your window.

The base price for float glass, which is clear window glass, is about $12 per square foot in 2013, and the price increases with every feature you add. Tinting adds from $5 to $7 per square foot, tempering adds about $2. Double pane glass is priced separately. If you add the cost of the glazing compound and caulk, the cost to replace a 2-by-2-foot pane of glass would range from about $60 for a clear pane to about $100 for a tinted pane of tempered glass. Don’t forget to allow money for paint if you have to make repairs to the frame. Labor costs vary, so get several quotes before you hire a contractor. In all, you should probably expect to pay between $300 to $700 if you choose not to do the job yourself.”

Now if you would like to replace the windows yourself. He provides a step by step process in his article published in SF Gate.

Photo by Susan Gilmore.

Faced with low housing inventory,  homeowners are choosing to remodel their existing homes in numbers that  reached over $130 billion in 2013. As reported by Kris Hudson in the Wall St Journal, this is a 3% increase over last year with a prediction to become a 5% increase in 2014 as reflected by the pending home construction permits issued. One of the facilitators for the increase in remodeling is the once again available Home Equity Loan which almost disappeared after 2007. Property values have increased in some areas of the Bay Area by over 25% in the last year which increases the equity required by lending institutions to issue this loans.  Economically speaking the increase in remodeling is welcomed by the contractors, architects, designers and suppliers by keeping their industry strong in these uncertain times. Tempered with the memory of the last housing market downturn, all parties appear to be cautiously optimistic that the return on the “re-investment” in their home is a better financial choice than facing the low inventory housing market which includes overbidding, multiple offers and asks the proverbial question, “Do we sell before we buy?”

If you are thinking of remodeling but don’t know where to begin, call me for a list of professionals that I have worked with, lenders and contractors.