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Open House

Putting Homes Up for Auction; Sunscreen Smarts; Pool Safety

Aired July 14, 2007 - 09:31   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

GERRI WILLIS, HOST: Hello. I'm Gerri Willis, and this is OPEN HOUSE, the show that saves you money.
Coming up, how you can beat the heat and stay safe in the sun and in the pool. And find out if all those infomercial products, well, are they worth the money?

But first, good news if you're looking to buy a home. Bad news if you're a seller. The National Association of Realtors now says the slump in home sales and prices could last well into next year.

Now, they say to expect the price of new and existing homes to show very little gain in 2008. If you're selling, that means less return for your investment. If you're buying, you could be in for quite a bargain.

With times tough for sellers, inventory is rising, but some homeowners and builders, they're finding creative ways to sell properties. Their unconventional strategy, putting homes up for auction.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: $370,000, $370,000, $365,000, $366,000. With you at $66,000 -- $366,000...

WILLIS (voice over): Meet Jack Gavin. His bid, $375,000. But will it land him his first apartment? Let's rewind.

JACK GAVIN, BIDDING ON AN APARTMENT: Decent closet space.

WILLIS: Jack's been looking for an apartment for the past year, but with real estate prices booming in the New York metro market, he, like many others, felt priced out, until he walked into this apartment complex.

GAVIN: I'd love to live here. It's a beautiful place. It has all the amenities that I'm looking for. So hopefully, I'll be successful today.

WILLIS: Jack thinks he may get a deal on an apartment through a less conventional way of buying, a real estate auction.

GAVIN: I was a little bit hesitant, because auctions, it's like, OK, is there something wrong with the building?

ERIK KAISER, CEO, REMI COMPANIES: People automatically are attaching the word "auction" to some sort of financial difficulty, and in this case, it's not.

WILLIS: Erik Kaiser, the builder and brains of this venture, is putting 40 units up for auction, each with a minimum bid averaging about 60 percent below the listing price.

KAISER: What better way than to broadcast to the world, here, public, decide on the price.

WILLIS: Selling residential real estate this way is a trend that's catching on. Nationally, auctions were up 12.5 percent last year, generating $16 billion, according to the National Auctioneers Association. So what does that mean for the buyer?

MIKE LARSON, ANALYST, MONEYANDMARKETS.COM: Well, I'm seeing a couple different markets that are having true auctions right now. As a bidder or a buyer, you're looking at maybe paying 75 to 85 percent of the previous listing or asking price. So you are able to find bargains in many markets via the auction process.

WILLIS: But before you think you can walk away with a steal, you'd better read the fine print. As Jack found out just an hour before the auction of the original 40 units, now only 16 were being offered. And there was another surprise for bidders, and not of the good kind.

GAVIN: It went from 40 units to 16, and then out of those 16, they actually only did the nine.

WILLIS: That's right. The auction was called off after only nine units were sold. Again, it was all in the fine print. It says the seller has the right to modify or cancel the auction at any time. But there were a few successful buyers.

BRUCE SNYDER, WON BID ON APARTMENT: We bought a two bedroom, two bath, 1,242 square feet unit that's on the corner, and it has a great view.

WILLIS: But Jack wasn't one of them.

GAVIN: I thought I might be able to get one the way the prices were going, but each of the units that I was interested in just kind of crept up a little bit out of what I said I was going to spend on it.

WILLIS: To Erik Kaiser, the auction was a success, even though many potential buyers were unhappy with the number of units offered.

KAISER: They might think it's unfair, but, you know, this is a marketing event, and we wanted to bring this to the world. And we did. And they're here, they came, and they still have an opportunity to buy.

WILLIS: And that's what Jack did. He followed up the next day and bought a one-bedroom apartment in the same complex for $370,000, only $1,000 above the lowest priced one-bedroom unit sold at the auction.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WILLIS: All right. Before you shout out your first bid on a property, here's some tips.

First off, compare. Find out how much money similar homes in the area have sold for in the past 90 days. Now, you can get a ballpark estimate from Web sites like housevalues.com and zillow.com.

Then inspect the property with a licensed contractor if you can. It's the only way to get a good sense of any damage or trouble spots in the home.

And, of course, make sure the auctioneer is reputable. You can check them out at the local Better Business Bureau.

And finally, auctions can be exciting. Avoid the temptation to bid more than you can afford.

Coming up OPEN HOUSE, the dog days of summer can be dangerous if you don't use sunscreen. We'll tell you how to get the best for your money.

And then, forget the iPhone. I'll show you some alternatives for less.

And everything you need to know about pool safety that won't cost you a bundle.

But first, your "Tip of the Day".

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WILLIS (voice over): Hot temperatures in the hot sun can mean dehydration. Drink plenty of fluids, at least eight eight-ounce servings a day. Sports drinks like Gatorade and Powerade can encourage more liquid consumption because they taste better. An added benefit, they contain sodium and electrolytes.

Stay away from caffeinated beverages and alcohol, as both can actually bring on dehydration. Avoid carbonated beverages as well, as they may cause you to feel fuller faster, and therefore drink less liquid.

That's your Tip of the Day".

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WILLIS: That's right. It was hot out there this week. From New York to Washington, to southern California, even Oregon and Washington, temperatures were well above normal, I don't have to tell you. And the combination of hot temperatures and hot sun, they mean one thing, sunburn and possibly skin cancer.

Jamie Kopf Hirsch with Consumer Reports is here to show us which sunscreens give you the best value for your skin and for your dollar.

Now, Jamie, I don't have to tell you, as a consumer you walk into the store and you see all these choices, and it is so hard to pick one out that you think is really going to protect you. The devil's in the details.

Describe to us what SPF is. What does that mean? UVA, UVB?

JAMIE KOPF HIRSCH, CONSUMER REPORTS: OK. Well, basically, there's two kinds of ultraviolet radiation that you get from the sun. There's UVA and there's UVB. You've probably heard these terms.

So, UVA rays are the ones that cause skin aging and, over time, wrinkles.

WILLIS: OK.

HIRSCH: UVB rays are the ones that actually cause sunburn. Those are the ones that make you turn red and get a sunburn and peel and all of that. Now, both of them contribute to skin cancer.

Now, SPF incorporates only a product protection against UVB. It does not account for UVA. So when you see that number, it's only referring to how much protection you're getting from UVB.

WILLIS: So that's not the whole answer. That's interesting.

OK. You tested 19 sunscreens at Consumer Reports. Let's talk about first the best buy, the best value for families out there who are looking for total protection.

HIRSCH: Great. Well, the reason that we did this test was to find out which products also shielded out UVA. So what we found was that there were a handful that did an excellent job of shielding out both rays.

Now, this one we called a Consumer Reports "Best Buy," which means that it did a great job of protecting against both types of harmful rays, and it costs only 60 cents an ounce, which is a mere eighth of what some of the other ones cost, or less.

WILLIS: Sixty cents an ounce? That's awesome.

HIRSCH: Yes.

WILLIS: That's a great value. So if you have a big family, that's definitely what you want to do.

HIRSCH: Definitely, yes.

WILLIS: All right. What was best overall?

HIRSCH: OK. Well, our best rated overall was this Neutrogena that you see right here. This is a 45, and this scored tops of all 19 that we tested. It's waterproof and it did a great job of protecting against both types of radiation.

WILLIS: How much an ounce?

HIRSCH: A little over $4.00 an ounce.

WILLIS: So, Jamie, show me how much sunscreen you should actually use.

HIRSCH: OK. Well, research shows that most people use less than half the amount of sunscreen that they actually need.

We recommend two to three tablespoons for an adult body.

WILLIS: Holy cow.

HIRSCH: Now, you're going to want to reapply that every two hours.

WILLIS: Oh my gosh.

HIRSCH: Or after swimming.

WILLIS: Reapplied every two hours? Are you kidding?

HIRSCH: Or sweating heavily. It's also about the amount in a shot glass. That should be -- that's about -- that's about maybe a little more.

WILLIS: That is a whole lot of sunscreen.

HIRSCH: It should be about an ounce. So it's also the amount in a shot glass.

WILLIS: Did you actually just have your staff just sit in the sun with a lot of different lotions? I mean, how does that work?

HIRSCH: Human volunteers and also synthetic skin in the lab.

WILLIS: Well, Jamie, thank you so much for your help today. I really appreciate it.

HIRSCH: Sure.

WILLIS: You can put a price on sunscreen, but you can't put a price on the safety of your children, especially around the pool. Nearly 300 kids die every year in pool accidents. And the thing is, it's totally preventable.

I caught up with Marian Sieber of the Consumer Product Safety Commission to talk about layers of protection.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MARYANNE MCGERTY-SIEBER, U.S. CONSUMER PRODUCT SAFETY COMMISSION: The first thing is, whenever you have a pool installed or you move into a house that has a pool, you want to make sure that you have a fence. The fence we recommend at the CPSC should be at least four feet high. As far as the gate is concerned, we recommend that it's self-closing and self-latching.

WILLIS: Like that.

MCGERTY-SIEBER: Exactly. Never want to prop the gate open. WILLIS: Well, let's look at one of the alarms you can put on this gate so that your child will be safe. Now, this is a popular one, and they're really not that hard to install, right?

MCGERTY-SIEBER: Exactly.

WILLIS: You say if a kid goes missing even seconds, you've got to run out right away and look in the pool first. Why is that?

MCGERTY-SIEBER: Well, statistically, what we have found in drownings or near drownings is that a child was seen less than five minutes ago. And be it whether it's in the house, eating lunch.

WILLIS: That's heartbreaking.

MCGERTY-SIEBER: Exactly. So, if you have a pool of any size, an in- ground pool, an above-ground pool, a wading pool, an inflatable pool, any type of wood (ph) in the backyard of any height, check the pool first. Minutes, it matters the most.

WILLIS: OK. So if you have a phone, you want a phone by the pool.

MCGERTY-SIEBER: We don't have the excuse of having to run in and get the phone. Everyone either has a cell phone or a cordless phone. So you want to leave that phone there.

WILLIS: So let's talk a little bit about what you want to teach your children.

MCGERTY-SIEBER: What we talk about for younger children is putting on the inflatable protection, the Swimmies, sometimes the floats. But really they're meant to help you, the parent, the grandparent, whoever is watching the child.

WILLIS: It's not a total solution.

MCGERTY-SIEBER: No. They're not drown-proof.

WILLIS: You go in the house. You think, if there's a problem, I'll hear a scream. But you may not.

MCGERTY-SIEBER: And that is the biggest misconception in terms of the drownings that we have found is, well, you know what? I can leave them here. I can run in the house, can get lunch together, because even if something happens, it would be loud, there's lots of splashing. And that's not the case. It is very quiet, and it happens very quickly, which is something that, you know, as a parent you don't realize.

WILLIS: Well, at the end of the day, too, like, look at all this wonderful stuff we have in the pool. But you really need to get that out.

MCGERTY-SIEBER: What happens is the child is attracted to the toys. So that's what they're gunning for. That's what they're heading for. They're seeing the toys in the pool. WILLIS: And they end up falling into the water.

MCGERTY-SIEBER: Exactly.

WILLIS: So another solution is just a tiny little alarm that you can put right on your child. Kind of fun to wear.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Does it make a loud noise?

WILLIS: It does make a loud noise if you go into the water.

So you want to go? Test it out. Let's see. Go jump in the water.

Go. Yeah! Good job.

So this is the base for the alarm. And obviously, you want to have this with you at all times.

MCGERTY-SIEBER: It's much like a baby alarm.

WILLIS: And it's connected both to the gate and to the little turtle we saw on the little boy's wrist.

MCGERTY-SIEBER: Exactly.

WILLIS: Layers of protection. It's not one solution. It's many. You have to have several solution to the problem.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WILLIS: Time now for the list.

Check with your local government about fence height regulations. The CPSC recommends your fence be at least four feet high. And make sure there are no footholds or handholds a child can use to climb.

Remove all toys from the pool when the swim time is over. This way there won't be anything to lure your kid to jump into the pool.

Get your child swimming lessons early on. This way they won't panic if they find themselves in the water.

And last, get some lessons yourself. Take a CPR course offered by the American Red Cross. You can never have too many layers of protection.

And straight ahead on OPEN HOUSE, sick of the iPhone? I'll show you some alternatives that could save you cash.

And infomercials, well, they're everywhere. But what works and what's a waste of money? I'll check it out for you.

But first, your mortgage numbers.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WILLIS: From the hot sun to hot property, 700,000 iPhones were sold just in the first week. Now, you may think spending $500 or $600 on a cell phone/iPod is crazy. Well, I wanted to know if we could find some of the same features for cheaper and maybe even better quality, because, after all, the choice is yours.

Sascha Segan is a mobile analyst for "PC Magazine". He's here to show us some alternatives to the iPhone.

But let's talk about the iPhone first. It's all about the features with this thing, right? I mean, it's just beautiful. I couldn't even keep this on the set because the crew just kept walking off with it. It's so attractive.

SASCHA SEGAN, "PC MAGAZINE": It's really all about the interface with the iPhone. It's a new way of interacting with the phone.

It's so touchable, and the icons and interface are so usable that that's really what's drawing people to the iPhone. But if you look at other phones on the market, you can find the same features, but not the fancy interface on lower-priced phones.

WILLIS: Well, OK. Let's talk about some of that.

You know, I have heard that the iPhone is not for business people. Is there a good phone that's better for business people who are sending e-mails, working hard all day? I think you've got a BlackBerry we want to talk about.

SEGAN: Absolutely. The BlackBerry Curve is the latest BlackBerry from those guys. It's on AT&T.

It will only cost you $200, not $600, and it hooks up to all of those great BlackBerry e-mail systems, so you can get your push e-mail. It also supports music and video just like the iPhone.

WILLIS: Awesome.

OK. We've got a big surprise for everybody out there, because we have a phone that's not even on the market right now.

Tell me about the Motorola Q 9.

SEGAN: The Motorola Q 9 is the -- press the red button, and it will go back to the main screen.

WILLIS: This one?

SEGAN: Yes.

The Motorola Q 9 is the latest thing from Motorola. It runs Windows Mobile, so it can hook up to all sorts of windows music stores like Napster or Yahoo Music, and it also hooks up to Microsoft corporate systems.

WILLIS: Awesome.

OK. I want to talk about the Helio Ocean. This is what the stars have, right? Tell me what's so cool about this phone.

SEGAN: The HELIO Ocean and is really neat. It has two key pads.

If you slide it up, there's an ordinary phone keypad. And if you slide it down and sideways, there's a full texting keypad. And it has great instant messaging, text messaging, and e-mail functions for people who just always want to be messaging their friends.

WILLIS: And did you say GPS? Does it have GPS?

SEGAN: Yes. It has -- the iPhone has Google Maps. Well, the Ocean does even better. It has Google Maps with GPS. It knows where you are.

WILLIS: Awesome. OK.

Now, you say something very interesting. You say you don't even have to pay for a new phone if you want to get some of the, you know, functionality of the iPhone.

What do you do?

SEGAN: Well, with a lot of mainstream phones -- for instance, this AT&T Motorola RAZR, which we have here, you can download free software. For instance, something called Nutsy (ph), which lets you get your iTunes, or MobileCast, or flurry, which lets you get your e- mail, that -- those are free programs that will give your ordinary phone a lot of the same features as the iPhone. You can find reviews of them and tips on our Web site, pcmag.com.

WILLIS: Sascha, thank you so much for your help today. I appreciate it.

SEGAN: It's great to be here. Thanks.

WILLIS: As always, if you have an idea for a "Weekend Project," send us an e-mail to openhouse@cnn.com. And if you want to check out this "Weekend Project" again, check out our Web site, cnn.com/openhouse.

But wait. There's more.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANNOUNCER: Call right now and we'll double your order. Buy one, get one free.

ANNOUNCER: Have your credit card ready and call toll free.

ANNOUNCER: You get everything for only $19.95.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WILLIS: All right. A bargain, or is it? Infomercial products, we put them to the test. That's coming up next.

But first, in this time of extreme heat, find a getaway with a double- digit temperature in this week's "Local Lowdown".

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WILLIS (voice over): Chill out during the hot summer days of July. Head to the cooler of the 50 states. It will be about 65 degrees in Seattle, 63 in San Francisco, where you can take a walk down Lombard Street, across the Golden Gate Bridge, or cruise around town on the cable car. Or visit Washington State's capital, Olympia, where it should be 63 degrees as well.

Feeling the need to head north? Alaska has Juneau, Anchorage, and Fairbanks, averaging about 59 degrees in July.

That's your "Local Lowdown".

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WILLIS: Two hundred and fifty thousand minutes of infomercials on TV each month. Two hundred and fifty thousand. Folks are watching and buying and buying and buying to the tune of $91 billion a year.

But now some of these products don't live up to their claims. So before you dial or log on, Sharon Franke from "Good Housekeeping" is here to show us which products really work and which are simply a waste of money.

You have got great stuff here. Let's dive in.

I want to start with the Vidalia Chop Wizard. This is it right here. Really fun. Tell me about this product. Is it worth the money?

SHARON FRANKE, "GOOD HOUSEKEEPING": This is one product that's worth the money. It's $20, and it got five stars. And it cuts very precisely, much more precisely than almost anyone could cut with a knife.

WILLIS: Let's try it out here. Wow. Hey, it works.

FRANKE: It works.

WILLIS: Good stuff. And my eyes aren't tearing up, which is a good thing.

Let's go to the Contour Twist Pillow. You expect me to carry this on to an airplane? Do you think that's -- it's sort of big.

FRANKE: Well, this got four stars, too, and it might really be worth it if you have a problem with your neck. But you might want to leave it at home and just use it on the couch. And you can use it on any part of your body. It twists -- it twists around, so you can wrap it around your elbow, if you have a sore elbow, around your neck, around your knee.

WILLIS: Oh, OK.

All right. Let's talk about the Stickup Bulb. Now, everybody wants to know about this because everybody's seen this on TV. I guess you just take this little stick-em off...

FRANKE: Exactly.

WILLIS: ... put it on the wall.

FRANKE: Be careful.

WILLIS: Why?

FRANKE: The only thing we didn't like about it is, when you stick it up on the wall, it can pull the wall off with it when you take it off.

WILLIS: Yes. OK.

FRANKE: But hopefully, you won't have that problem.

WILLIS: But the light works, right?

FRANKE: The light does work. It gives you light in a corner, someplace where it's really hard to have an electric outlet and hard to have light. You're not going to light up the whole room, but definitely a corner of your closet. You'll find those red shoes you're looking for.

FRANKE: OK.

Well, how about Ear Lifts? I think this is interesting. Tell us how this works and what it's for.

FRANKE: This was the biggest surprise to us. They're just little adhesive disks, and you pull them off, put them behind your ears if you have pierced ears. And it helps to take some of the weight of the earring off of your ear.

So it prevents those long holes or just redness or irritation, especially if you're wearing those big earrings that are really popular. So four stars and a big surprise.

WILLIS: All right. My next favorite thing is Tater Mitts. This is kind of creepy.

OK. These things, you're supposed to be able to peel a potato just using these mits. All right. I'm going to try this out while you talk about the product.

FRANKE: Well, this product got one star, and that's because you can see it really doesn't work unless you boil the potatoes first.

WILLIS: If I had time to boil the potatoes, I mean...

FRANKE: You could peel it.

WILLIS: Right. FRANKE: And they don't tell you that on the infomercial. You don't learn that until you actually buy the product and read the instructions. And really, who wants to take 15 minutes to boil potatoes, drain them, chill them, and then clean up the pot before you peel the potatoes?

WILLIS: All right.

I do want to talk about My Lil' Reminder really quickly, if we can here. So this is just something you put on your key chain, right? Does it work?

FRANKE: It works, but it only gives you 20 seconds of recording time. So it's just about enough time to say, I'm parked in G-6, or my son wants the red blazer. It doesn't give you enough time to give complicated directions.

WILLIS: Sharon Franke, thank you so much for being with us today.

FRANKE: A pleasure to meet you.

WILLIS: A really great job. And fabulous products. That was fun.

FRANKE: Thank you.

WILLIS: As always, we thank you for spending part of your Saturday with us. OPEN HOUSE will be back next week right here on CNN. And you can catch us on Headline News every Saturday and Sunday at 3:30 p.m. Eastern Time.

Don't go anywhere. Your top stories are next in the "CNN NEWSROOM".

Have a great weekend.

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