All Forum Posts by: Ann Howell

Thanks for the input, everyone. We are planning to protest the increase. So far, the only useful information we have found is an article that said that general housing prices in Birmingham went up at 4%last year. 

Any suggestions from Birmingham folks?

We have a property in Birmingham (actually Center Point; Jefferson County) and just got a tax appraisal bill that valued the house 18% higher than last year. I've read some news that says that Jefferson County is using a new appraisal method and many values went way up. We want to protest the increase, and we have experience protesting tax appraisals. But we are not finding many good comps on Zillow to build our case. Any recommendations of other places to find comps? Or other news sources that talk about the actual increase of home values for Jefferson County? Other ideas?

We bought two Memphis properties through Memphis Invest.  They offer a truly turnkey experience and I can recommend them.  We bought our properties a few years ago, so I am not sure what the current selling prices are.  I suspect that all of the turnkey providers are getting more pricey, since the real estate market seems overly expensive right now. 

We have purchased 4 turnkey properties from three different providers.  One provider was horrible - you can search for the story on BP if you want the details.  The other two providers were good to work with.  My biggest piece of advice is to use a completely independent home inspector - that person is one of your advocates.  We had a contract on another property with a fourth turnkey provider until the inspection came back with some serious mold, rot and radon issues with property that was supposedly turnkey.

Our personal home was hit hard by Harvey (almost 7 feet of water for two weeks).  We are evaluating what we'll do next.  One possibility is doing a tear down and new build.  I would appreciate any recommendations for builders in Houston who specialize in elevated (3-4 feet) new home builds.  We are in a higher end neighborhood where the houses are almost 50 years old - need to stay in style of neighborhood.

Hi all - Our personal home flooded during Harvey and was made worse by dam releases.  We had 7 feet of water in the house for 2 weeks.  It is likely that we will have to raise the house as we re-build.  I would appreciate any recommendations you have for specialists who do house raising.  Any tips would be appreciated as well.

It has been quite an adventure.  Our home still has about 6 feet of water in it, because they are still releasing water from the dam.  They are supposed to be slowing the release down, so we are hopeful the water will recede soon!

Water Taxi and Mandatory Evacuation...It's Not Over Yet. Surviving Hurricane Harvey Dispatch #4. https://medium.com/@annwhowell/water-taxi-and-mandatory-evacuation-its-not-over-yet-3d721dfb108d?source=linkShare-6c47df2e725a-1504542460