According to a recent
report released by Harvard’s Joint Center for Housing Studies, 43 million households in the United States were housed in rental homes by early 2013, the highest rate in a decade.
Renters
often experience the conundrum of wanting to spruce up the pad, yet
simultaneously feeling reluctant to sink loads of money into something
they’ll ultimately walk away from. They may want a fresh new look but
aren’t about to redo the cabinetry or remodel the porch.
If you find yourself similarly torn, here are 5 easy, inexpensive improvements that can help to rejuvenate your rental:
1) Lights: One
of the brightest ideas I’ve ever had was to install dimmer switches in
the dining room, living room, kitchen, and bedroom lights in my
apartment. Good lighting is so important, yet not high on a landlord’s
list. It’s easy, and you’ll notice an immediate upgrade in your quality
of life. If you are feeling particularly ambitious, consider changing
any ghastly fixtures that may have come with the rental. Again, lighting
is key!
2) Doors: One simple way to dress up your
house is to replace any old, tired looking doors. If that’s forbidden by
the management, consider wallpapering a door or two.
A little wallpaper can go a long way.
3) Tile: The experts at
Apartment Therapy suggest using wall tiles, “like the
FASTBO from IKEA” to cover unsightly kitchen tile. It can be applied for temporary wall use with sticky-backed velcro.
4) Hardware: Knobs, tie-back, handles: Go through your rental and determine if a hardware makeover is in order.
Anthropologie has a great selection of charming accoutrements that may make you love your home anew.
5) Everywhere: It’s all in the details! You can a
dd a little moulding to your walls or ceiling to give a bland rental some character. Millwork is a bit of a time investment, but it can be done.
Watch this video for an idea of what you may be getting yourself into.
Of
course, make sure to check your lease and clear any major changes with
the landlord. You don’t want to lose that security deposit!
Do you have any tips for fixing up a rental unit? Tell us in the comments or in a blog post.
Friday, October 31, 2014
Thursday, October 30, 2014
Google seals massive Sunnyvale, Redwood City deals
Google Inc. has cemented a pair of massive real
estate deals in Sunnyvale and Redwood City that boost the company's
Silicon Valley footprint by 2.8 million square feet – about the size of
the Empire State Building and enough room for more than 10,000 workers.
Even by Google standards, the latest transactions are blockbusters: In one deal, Google has agreed to lease all of Jay Paul Co.'s Moffett Place, a 1.9 million square foot office campus currently under construction in Sunnyvale. It's a contender for the largest office lease ever signed in Silicon Valley and perhaps the state of California.
In a separate but no less notable deal, Mountain View-based Google completed the purchase of six buildings from Blackstone Group and Starwood Capital totaling about 934,000 square feet at Redwood City's Pacific Shores office park. It's Google's first entry into that city and a potential game changer for that commercial real estate market.
"Google is obviously a very strong company and they are in hyper growth mode," said Amber Schiada, director of research for real estate services firm JLL.
Google confirmed the closing of both deals — both of which I previously reported were in the works — but declined to comment further. Blackstone didn't return inquiries. Jay Paul's longtime broker Phil Mahoney of Newmark Cornish & Carey, said Moffett Place is off the market.
Google's expansion on the Peninsula has been the biggest real estate story since the 2008 Great Recession as the world's biggest Web-search advertising company has bought and leased building after building, radiating out from its Mountain View headquarters. Its real estate growth dwarfs even that of Cisco Systems Inc.'s expansion during the 1990s.
Terms of the latest deals were not disclosed, but sources estimated the Redwood City sale at around $625 per square foot, or $583.75 million. That would make it perhaps Google's single largest real estate acquisition by footprint and dollar amount ever in Silicon Valley. In an Oct. 23 filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Google said it completed a purchase of land and office buildings for $585 million this month.
"I welcome them to our city and I look forward to working with them," said Redwood City Mayor Jeffrey Gee in an interview this afternoon. "For a long time I would go around and say, 'Redwood City is one of the best kept secrets in the Bay Area. With Google and everything going on, we're not a secret anymore.'"
Aside from sheer size, the deals are notable for several reasons. First, they showcase Google's incredibly ambitious growth plans as the company enters new business sectors such as wearable computing, self-driving cars and robotics — all of which could be huge space users on their own.
Google has not even moved into much of the space it has leased or bought over the last several years. Yet the company continues to bank more elbow room for future expansion, suggesting it is thinking far down the line in terms of its space needs. Google counted 55,030 employees globally as of Sept. 30, according to its most recent quarterly report, up 18 percent — or 8,600 Googlers — from a year ago.
The transactions also alter the marketplace dynamics in two cities by taking available space off the table. Schiada noted that Moffett Place was the largest speculatively built project under construction in Silicon Valley. In Redwood City's Pacific Shores, which is more than 90 percent leased, I'm told Google will honor all current tenants' leases for now, but will evaluate moving into spaces as they become available in the years ahead.
"A big question is what does this leave for tenants," Schiada said, speaking specifically about the Moffett Place deal. "It also increases rates, because the supply becomes more limited."
Still, that could actually be a good thing for tenants down the line by pushing developers to build more product, she added.
"This deal essentially eliminates a significant portion of new development, which could prompt more developers to move forward," she said.
Office space vacancy in Silicon Valley decreased to 14.1 percent in the third quarter, down from 15.4 percent a year earlier, JLL research showed. That's down from a recession-era peak of 26.4 percent in 2009. Researchers concur that Google is playing a substantive role in soaking up supply.
Jim Beeger, a veteran broker with Colliers International, said in the short term, the Sunnyvale deal could also push tenants back into the market.
The transaction could "cause tenants of all sizes to realize they should have more of a sense of urgency in their search for a new site," he said. "Moffett Place will be difficult to replicate, and those who lingered no longer have this option."
Sethena Leiker, senior analyst for Cushman & Wakefield's Silicon Valley office, agreed.
"There's not a lot of spec development coming," she said. "If you want to take any new space, you're going to have to take something that's proposed."
One result, Beeger said, could be a "trickle-down effect" of growing tenants moving to other areas of Santa Clara County that have available sites.
Score for Sunnyvale
Google's lease at Moffett Place is a huge win for San Francisco-based Jay Paul Co., if one that's not entirely unexpected. Jay Paul already leased 949,000 square feet to Google in Sunnyvale at a nearby campus called Technology Corners, making Google a natural prospect for the new development.
And while Google has not yet started moving into Technology Corners, the company has also been growing elsewhere in Sunnyvale this year, snapping up the old Juniper Networks headquarters (424,000 square feet) and former head office of Palm Computing Inc. (285,000 square feet). And it's rumored that a fund, CBRE Global Investors, that's buying up land all around Sunnyvale's Moffett Park business district is actually acting on behalf of Google.
Yet landing Google wasn't guaranteed when Jay Paul started building Moffett Place earlier this year on spec. Other major tech tenants were also making offers on the property, according to sources. The rent Google is paying isn't known, but Jay Paul was asking $3.75 per square foot on a triple-net basis, or not including utilities, taxes and fees.
Moffett Place is located on 55 acres near the intersection of Highway 237 and N. Mathilda Ave. Currently, the first phase is under construction with three buildings totaling about 900,000 square feet. Google is still a couple of years away from moving in there. In addition to the office buildings, the DES Architects + Engineers-designed project includes an amenities building with outdoor pool and a living roof — which Jay Paul calls the "high garden" — on top of a parking garage.
Redwood City action
In Redwood City, Google picks a up a major chunk one of Silicon Valley's marquee office campuses. The 10-building, 1.7-million-square-foot project was built by Jay Paul Co. in the early 2000s and gained notice for its sleek design and swanky amenities including pools, a rock-climbing wall, day spa and baseball diamonds. The company is taking Blackstone and Starwood's buildings at 1200, 1300, 1600, 1700, 1800 and 1900 Seaport Blvd.
Starwood bought the campus in 2006 for about $833 million, and immediately sold two buildings to Shorenstein, the San Francisco-based landlord. Blackstone came into the picture after acquiring the junior debt on the property a couple of years ago. Informatica also acquired two buildings out of the 10 in 2012 for $525 per square foot. Google's acquisition this week is only for the six Blackstone/Starwood buildings.
As I reported earlier this month, a new owner could build even more office space at Pacific Shores. New zoning approved about a year ago could allow total build-out of up to 3 million square feet.
Google — which like many expanding tech companies is focused on reducing its car and shuttle trips as traffic worsens during the current boom — may have been attracted to the project partly for its water transit possibilities beyond freeways.
Pacific Shores is a half mile from the Port of Redwood City, where a Google pilot project earlier this year tested running ferries from San Francisco and Alameda to the port.
Mayor Gee said the city would be happy to work with Google on such a plan, should the search company decide to go in that direction.
"One of the things that's always a challenge with new forms of transportation is, is there enough there there," he said. "With Google, that potentially brings the there there."
The changes Google is bringing to Silicon Valley's commercial real estate scene, its transportation system and its market for technology talent are a local reflection of the company's global dominance in Web search advertising, which subsidizes all its other business and tech forays.
Google is sitting on a horde of $61.2 billion in cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities as of Sept. 30, according to an Oct. 23 filing with the Securities Exchange Commission. While the company's earnings for the most recent quarter disappointed, sending the shares down when they were reported Oct. 16, the stock has bumped higher since then.
Today the shares fell $4.93, just less than one percent, to $539.05 at 8:23 a.m. West Coast. That gives the company a market capitalization of $365.5 billion.
Even by Google standards, the latest transactions are blockbusters: In one deal, Google has agreed to lease all of Jay Paul Co.'s Moffett Place, a 1.9 million square foot office campus currently under construction in Sunnyvale. It's a contender for the largest office lease ever signed in Silicon Valley and perhaps the state of California.
In a separate but no less notable deal, Mountain View-based Google completed the purchase of six buildings from Blackstone Group and Starwood Capital totaling about 934,000 square feet at Redwood City's Pacific Shores office park. It's Google's first entry into that city and a potential game changer for that commercial real estate market.
"Google is obviously a very strong company and they are in hyper growth mode," said Amber Schiada, director of research for real estate services firm JLL.
Google confirmed the closing of both deals — both of which I previously reported were in the works — but declined to comment further. Blackstone didn't return inquiries. Jay Paul's longtime broker Phil Mahoney of Newmark Cornish & Carey, said Moffett Place is off the market.
Google's expansion on the Peninsula has been the biggest real estate story since the 2008 Great Recession as the world's biggest Web-search advertising company has bought and leased building after building, radiating out from its Mountain View headquarters. Its real estate growth dwarfs even that of Cisco Systems Inc.'s expansion during the 1990s.
Terms of the latest deals were not disclosed, but sources estimated the Redwood City sale at around $625 per square foot, or $583.75 million. That would make it perhaps Google's single largest real estate acquisition by footprint and dollar amount ever in Silicon Valley. In an Oct. 23 filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Google said it completed a purchase of land and office buildings for $585 million this month.
"I welcome them to our city and I look forward to working with them," said Redwood City Mayor Jeffrey Gee in an interview this afternoon. "For a long time I would go around and say, 'Redwood City is one of the best kept secrets in the Bay Area. With Google and everything going on, we're not a secret anymore.'"
Aside from sheer size, the deals are notable for several reasons. First, they showcase Google's incredibly ambitious growth plans as the company enters new business sectors such as wearable computing, self-driving cars and robotics — all of which could be huge space users on their own.
Google has not even moved into much of the space it has leased or bought over the last several years. Yet the company continues to bank more elbow room for future expansion, suggesting it is thinking far down the line in terms of its space needs. Google counted 55,030 employees globally as of Sept. 30, according to its most recent quarterly report, up 18 percent — or 8,600 Googlers — from a year ago.
The transactions also alter the marketplace dynamics in two cities by taking available space off the table. Schiada noted that Moffett Place was the largest speculatively built project under construction in Silicon Valley. In Redwood City's Pacific Shores, which is more than 90 percent leased, I'm told Google will honor all current tenants' leases for now, but will evaluate moving into spaces as they become available in the years ahead.
"A big question is what does this leave for tenants," Schiada said, speaking specifically about the Moffett Place deal. "It also increases rates, because the supply becomes more limited."
Still, that could actually be a good thing for tenants down the line by pushing developers to build more product, she added.
"This deal essentially eliminates a significant portion of new development, which could prompt more developers to move forward," she said.
Office space vacancy in Silicon Valley decreased to 14.1 percent in the third quarter, down from 15.4 percent a year earlier, JLL research showed. That's down from a recession-era peak of 26.4 percent in 2009. Researchers concur that Google is playing a substantive role in soaking up supply.
Jim Beeger, a veteran broker with Colliers International, said in the short term, the Sunnyvale deal could also push tenants back into the market.
The transaction could "cause tenants of all sizes to realize they should have more of a sense of urgency in their search for a new site," he said. "Moffett Place will be difficult to replicate, and those who lingered no longer have this option."
Sethena Leiker, senior analyst for Cushman & Wakefield's Silicon Valley office, agreed.
"There's not a lot of spec development coming," she said. "If you want to take any new space, you're going to have to take something that's proposed."
One result, Beeger said, could be a "trickle-down effect" of growing tenants moving to other areas of Santa Clara County that have available sites.
Score for Sunnyvale
Google's lease at Moffett Place is a huge win for San Francisco-based Jay Paul Co., if one that's not entirely unexpected. Jay Paul already leased 949,000 square feet to Google in Sunnyvale at a nearby campus called Technology Corners, making Google a natural prospect for the new development.
And while Google has not yet started moving into Technology Corners, the company has also been growing elsewhere in Sunnyvale this year, snapping up the old Juniper Networks headquarters (424,000 square feet) and former head office of Palm Computing Inc. (285,000 square feet). And it's rumored that a fund, CBRE Global Investors, that's buying up land all around Sunnyvale's Moffett Park business district is actually acting on behalf of Google.
Yet landing Google wasn't guaranteed when Jay Paul started building Moffett Place earlier this year on spec. Other major tech tenants were also making offers on the property, according to sources. The rent Google is paying isn't known, but Jay Paul was asking $3.75 per square foot on a triple-net basis, or not including utilities, taxes and fees.
Moffett Place is located on 55 acres near the intersection of Highway 237 and N. Mathilda Ave. Currently, the first phase is under construction with three buildings totaling about 900,000 square feet. Google is still a couple of years away from moving in there. In addition to the office buildings, the DES Architects + Engineers-designed project includes an amenities building with outdoor pool and a living roof — which Jay Paul calls the "high garden" — on top of a parking garage.
Redwood City action
In Redwood City, Google picks a up a major chunk one of Silicon Valley's marquee office campuses. The 10-building, 1.7-million-square-foot project was built by Jay Paul Co. in the early 2000s and gained notice for its sleek design and swanky amenities including pools, a rock-climbing wall, day spa and baseball diamonds. The company is taking Blackstone and Starwood's buildings at 1200, 1300, 1600, 1700, 1800 and 1900 Seaport Blvd.
Starwood bought the campus in 2006 for about $833 million, and immediately sold two buildings to Shorenstein, the San Francisco-based landlord. Blackstone came into the picture after acquiring the junior debt on the property a couple of years ago. Informatica also acquired two buildings out of the 10 in 2012 for $525 per square foot. Google's acquisition this week is only for the six Blackstone/Starwood buildings.
As I reported earlier this month, a new owner could build even more office space at Pacific Shores. New zoning approved about a year ago could allow total build-out of up to 3 million square feet.
Google — which like many expanding tech companies is focused on reducing its car and shuttle trips as traffic worsens during the current boom — may have been attracted to the project partly for its water transit possibilities beyond freeways.
Pacific Shores is a half mile from the Port of Redwood City, where a Google pilot project earlier this year tested running ferries from San Francisco and Alameda to the port.
Mayor Gee said the city would be happy to work with Google on such a plan, should the search company decide to go in that direction.
"One of the things that's always a challenge with new forms of transportation is, is there enough there there," he said. "With Google, that potentially brings the there there."
The changes Google is bringing to Silicon Valley's commercial real estate scene, its transportation system and its market for technology talent are a local reflection of the company's global dominance in Web search advertising, which subsidizes all its other business and tech forays.
Google is sitting on a horde of $61.2 billion in cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities as of Sept. 30, according to an Oct. 23 filing with the Securities Exchange Commission. While the company's earnings for the most recent quarter disappointed, sending the shares down when they were reported Oct. 16, the stock has bumped higher since then.
Today the shares fell $4.93, just less than one percent, to $539.05 at 8:23 a.m. West Coast. That gives the company a market capitalization of $365.5 billion.
Tuesday, October 28, 2014
The Ultimate Question: Rent or Buy?
The biggest benefit of buying a home is longevity — chances are,
you’ll be in the same abode 10 or 20 years later. Unfortunately, that’s
also one of buying’s biggest inconveniences.
Renting is a good idea for someone who thinks they might be moving in the near future, but in the long-term, it’s still more expensive than owning a home.
The New York Times constructed a calculator to determine whether renting or owning a home would be more expensive. According to the calculator, if you can find a place to rent for less than $961 a month, you’re better off renting. But it’s a tough call, at least in financial terms, when the average rent is $1,083.
How can you figure out which is right for you? It’s largely a question of how long you’re planning to stick around.
Renting is a good idea for someone who thinks they might be moving in the near future, but in the long-term, it’s still more expensive than owning a home.
The New York Times constructed a calculator to determine whether renting or owning a home would be more expensive. According to the calculator, if you can find a place to rent for less than $961 a month, you’re better off renting. But it’s a tough call, at least in financial terms, when the average rent is $1,083.
How can you figure out which is right for you? It’s largely a question of how long you’re planning to stick around.
- How long you will stay: Time magazine says that any amount of time less than five to seven years could cost you.
- How stable your job is: not only because you might want to move for your job, but also because many mortgages require steady employment.
- How much is it worth (besides dollars): Neil Irwin at the New York Times pointed out that if you own a home, you don’t have to worry that the landlord will sell or raise rents without your knowledge.
Friday, October 24, 2014
Realtor.com® Survey: Men, Women Dig on Digs Differently
So, you’ve got it bad for “the one” – you know, the one that keeps
you awake at night fantasizing about the day when you can be together.
Wait a second. We aren’t talking about that one – we’re referring to a different kind of love affair: a “home crush.” If you’ve found yourself swooning over a house you just can’t get out of your head, you’re not alone.
In a new realtor.com® survey, 69 percent of the 1,000 people who responded said they have had a ‘home crush’ – a home they liked so much that they were drawn back to looking at it more than once online or in person.
“We conducted the survey to see how searching for ‘the one’ in real estate correlates to searching for ‘the one’ in love, and we found that they are very similar,” said Barbara O’Connor, chief marketing officer at realtor.com®. “Buyers have to evaluate crushes based on turn-ons and turn-offs and whether the home is in their league, so they often find themselves spending a good amount of time checking out their crush online.”
But what do you do when you’re pining for that perfect dwelling? Just as in romance, men and women respond to their home crushes quite differently, the survey found. Women were more likely than men to have a crush on a home that was out of their league financially, while men moved from one home crush to another more frequently than women.
Men and women tend to fall for the same things when it comes to houses, though. Of those surveyed, 54 percent of women and 46 percent of men said they tended to fall in love with outdoor living spaces. Women also swooned for open floor plans and appliances and fixtures, while men’s hearts raced over a good garage and curb appeal.
“Whether it’s love or real estate, having a short list of deal breakers is critical for finding ‘the one’ to help buyers weed through the crushes to find the home of their dreams,” said Leslie Piper, consumer housing specialist at realtor.com®.
Majority of all surveyed consumers report having a home crush:
Of the women included in the survey:
Wait a second. We aren’t talking about that one – we’re referring to a different kind of love affair: a “home crush.” If you’ve found yourself swooning over a house you just can’t get out of your head, you’re not alone.
In a new realtor.com® survey, 69 percent of the 1,000 people who responded said they have had a ‘home crush’ – a home they liked so much that they were drawn back to looking at it more than once online or in person.
“We conducted the survey to see how searching for ‘the one’ in real estate correlates to searching for ‘the one’ in love, and we found that they are very similar,” said Barbara O’Connor, chief marketing officer at realtor.com®. “Buyers have to evaluate crushes based on turn-ons and turn-offs and whether the home is in their league, so they often find themselves spending a good amount of time checking out their crush online.”
But what do you do when you’re pining for that perfect dwelling? Just as in romance, men and women respond to their home crushes quite differently, the survey found. Women were more likely than men to have a crush on a home that was out of their league financially, while men moved from one home crush to another more frequently than women.
Men and women tend to fall for the same things when it comes to houses, though. Of those surveyed, 54 percent of women and 46 percent of men said they tended to fall in love with outdoor living spaces. Women also swooned for open floor plans and appliances and fixtures, while men’s hearts raced over a good garage and curb appeal.
“Whether it’s love or real estate, having a short list of deal breakers is critical for finding ‘the one’ to help buyers weed through the crushes to find the home of their dreams,” said Leslie Piper, consumer housing specialist at realtor.com®.
Majority of all surveyed consumers report having a home crush:
- 69 percent of those surveyed said they have had a house crush
- 31 percent said they have not had a crush on a house
Of the women included in the survey:
- 41 percent revealed that their home crush is out of their price range
- 59 percent reported that their home crush is in their price range
- 30 percent indicated their home crush is out of their price range
- 70 percent shared that their home crush is in their price range
How often men and women establish a new crush on a home:
Of the women included in the survey:
- 29 percent indicated they cultivate a new house crush weekly
- 26 percent believe they develop a new house crush monthly
- 17 percent reported that they develop a new crush on a house quarterly
- 36 percent indicated they find a new house crush weekly
- 19 percent shared that they establish a new house crush monthly
- 15 percent revealed that they develop a new crush on a house quarterly
Top attributes that make consumers fall in real estate love:
Of the women included in the survey:- 54 percent reported that outdoor living spaces make them fall in real estate love
- 42 percent shared open floor plans
- 29 percent swoon for curb appeal
- 29 percent revealed updated appliances and fixtures
- 46 percent indicated outdoor living spaces make them fall in real estate love
- 40 percentage swoon for garages
- 35 percent reported curb appeal
- 30 percent revealed open floor plans
3 Reasons Fall is the Best Season to Buy or Sell a Home
Spring has long been considered the best time of year for real estate, but home purchases also pick up during fall,
according to an ERA Real Estate Survey.
The survey found that 40 percent of brokers and sales professionals
attribute a new focus on real estate to the end of the vacation season.
They also asked their brokers why:
1. Home for the Holidays: “As vacations wind down after Labor Day and people become more focused, the desire to be in a new home for the holidays is a historically strong driver of fall home sales,” said Charlie Young, president and CEO of ERA Real Estate.
2. Back-to-School Mentality: As Labor Day passes and kids go back to school, home buyers get down to business. The official end of summer also means the end of vacation season for many people, which means they’re refreshed and ready to refocus.
3. Tax Benefits: 10 percent of survey respondents found that their buyers want to have access to homeowner’s tax benefits before the new year. Homeowners can claim mortgage interest, residential energy efficiency and casualty losses, among other pay-backs.
Take advantage of the season by checking out Zillow’s listings and Open Houses near you.
1. Home for the Holidays: “As vacations wind down after Labor Day and people become more focused, the desire to be in a new home for the holidays is a historically strong driver of fall home sales,” said Charlie Young, president and CEO of ERA Real Estate.
2. Back-to-School Mentality: As Labor Day passes and kids go back to school, home buyers get down to business. The official end of summer also means the end of vacation season for many people, which means they’re refreshed and ready to refocus.
3. Tax Benefits: 10 percent of survey respondents found that their buyers want to have access to homeowner’s tax benefits before the new year. Homeowners can claim mortgage interest, residential energy efficiency and casualty losses, among other pay-backs.
Take advantage of the season by checking out Zillow’s listings and Open Houses near you.
Tuesday, October 21, 2014
Confidence is Key: Home Ownership Seems More Attainable
Country Financial, an insurance company from Bloomington, IL, found
that 89 percent of Americans still think buying a home is essential to
the American dream.
According to their COUNTRY Financial Security Index survey, more people believe home ownership is achievable. Only 41 percent of survey responders saw home ownership as attainable in 2013, while 64 percent now believe they could own a home.
Still, some people see more financial barriers than possibilities for home ownership. Fourteen percent of responders said their credit score was too low; 13 percent said they lacked the money for a down payment; and 12 percent were impeded by the price of homes in their area.
“Younger Americans are more likely to reject the idea of home ownership. Yet, the financial challenges of buying a home can affect those of any age,” said Joe Buhrmann, manager of financial security support at Country Financial.
However, Zillow found that 82 percent of Millennials felt confident that they’d be able to afford to buy a home someday.
According to their COUNTRY Financial Security Index survey, more people believe home ownership is achievable. Only 41 percent of survey responders saw home ownership as attainable in 2013, while 64 percent now believe they could own a home.
Still, some people see more financial barriers than possibilities for home ownership. Fourteen percent of responders said their credit score was too low; 13 percent said they lacked the money for a down payment; and 12 percent were impeded by the price of homes in their area.
“Younger Americans are more likely to reject the idea of home ownership. Yet, the financial challenges of buying a home can affect those of any age,” said Joe Buhrmann, manager of financial security support at Country Financial.
However, Zillow found that 82 percent of Millennials felt confident that they’d be able to afford to buy a home someday.
Monday, October 20, 2014
Why Fall May be a Good Time to Sell Your Home
| The
Bay Area housing market has been strong this year. There have been
stories of crowded open houses, multiple offers on some listings, and
even bidding wars on specific properties that push prices skyward. Now
that fall has arrived, some homeowners may believe that they have missed
their window of opportunity to sell and that they should wait until
next spring. Don’t be fooled; this may actually be a very good time to
sell your home.
A combination of continued demand from serious buyers, a lack of available inventory in many of our markets, ongoing relocations into the Bay Area, and a warm, cozy feeling from homes over the holidays all add up as good reasons for why autumn may be a better time to list a home than most people realize. Consider all of the following:
Embrace the holiday season and use appropriate decor. Keep decorations in tune with the holiday that’s approaching. Doing so can help potential buyers see themselves and their families enjoying the same holidays in your home. But be careful not to overdo it. It’s also important to price your home properly. Your REALTOR® can help you determine the appropriate price – based upon recent comparable home sales in your area and the anticipated inventory of available homes. Pricing your home correctly can increase the chances of getting a good offer faster. Finally, it’s more important than ever to work with an experienced real estate professional. Look for an agent that has a solid track record in your community and can provide you with good advice on how best to prepare and market your home during the fall season. While fall is not traditionally seen as the best time to sell a home, as explained above, there are a lot of advantages to listing your home now – especially at a time when others might shy away from selling. With a few simple steps, you just may find that selling your home this fall may be the best move you’ll ever make. |
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| ©2014 Coldwell Banker Real Estate LLC. All Rights Reserved. Coldwell Banker® is a registered trademark licensed to Coldwell Banker Real Estate LLC. An Equal Opportunity Company. Equal Housing Opportunity. Each Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage Office Is Owned by a Subsidiary of NRT LLC. If your property is listed with a real estate broker, please disregard. It is not our intention to solicit the offerings of other real estate brokers. We are happy to work with them and cooperate fully. CalBRE License #01908304 | |
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Friday, October 17, 2014
3 Reasons to Consider a Smaller Home
The U.S. real estate market is seeing a growing trend of
super small houses. While you might not be ready to go below 600 square feet, here are three reasons why bigger is not always better:
- Lower Payments: Fewer of your assets are tied up in your house, which lets you diversify financially. A smaller home usually means lower costs, even outside of the mortgage. Your taxes will also drop.
- Energy Costs: It costs less to heat, light, and run a small home than it does to heat a big one. Smaller houses may also be easier to sell in the future, as energy costs continue to rise.
- Cleaning, Maintenance, and Improvement Projects: These are all less expensive and less time-consuming in a small house. Imagine repainting a kitchen that’s 200 square feet kitchen versus a kitchen that’s 70 square feet.
Tuesday, October 14, 2014
How To Keep Your Trick-Or-Treaters Safe This Halloween
Information courtesy of the American Red Cross:
With Halloween right around the corner, the American Red Cross would like everyone to stay safe when they don their costumes and go out to Trick-or-Treat.Halloween’s greatest hazards aren’t vampires and villains, but falls, costume mishaps and traffic accidents, so the Red Cross is offering the following tips to help make this Halloween safe:
• Look for flame-resistant costumes.
• Plan the Trick-or-Treat route and make sure adults know where children are going. A parent or responsible adult should accompany young children as they make their way around the neighborhood.
• Make sure the Trick-or-Treaters have a flashlight. Add reflective tape to costumes and Trick-or-Treat bags. Have everyone wear light-colored clothing in order to be seen.
• Visit only the homes that have a porch light on. Accept treats at the door – never go inside.
• Instead of masks, which can cover the eyes and make it hard to see, consider using face paint.
• Walk only on the sidewalks, not in the street. If no sidewalk is available, walk at the edge of the roadway, facing traffic. Look both ways before crossing the street and cross only at the corner. Don’t cut across yards or use alleys. Don’t cross between parked cars.
• Be cautious around pets and any other animals.
WELCOMING GHOSTS AND GOBLINS If someone is welcoming Trick-or-Treaters at their home, they should make sure the outdoor light is on. Other safety steps include:
• Sweep leaves from the sidewalks and steps.
• Clear the porch or front yard of any obstacles that a child could trip over.
• Restrain any household pets.
• Use a glow stick instead of a candle in the jack-o-lantern to avoid a fire hazard.
LEARN WHAT TO DO People can download the free American Red Cross First Aid App. Users receive instant access to expert advice for everyday emergencies whenever and wherever they need it. Features of the app include:
• Step-by-step instructions on how to handle the most common first aid situations;
• Videos and animations that make the skills easy to learn;
• Safety and preparedness tips; and
• Quizzes that users can take to earn badges which they can share with their friends on social media.
People can find all of the Red Cross apps in the Apple App Store or the Google Play Store by searching for American Red Cross or by going to redcross.org/mobileapps.
About the American Red Cross:
The American Red Cross shelters, feeds and provides emotional support to victims of disasters; supplies about 40 percent of the nation’s blood; teaches skills that save lives; provides international humanitarian aid; and supports military members and their families. The Red Cross is a not-for-profit organization that depends on volunteers and the generosity of the American public to perform its mission. For more information, please visit redcross.org or visit us on Twitter at @RedCross.
Friday, October 10, 2014
San Carlos Residents Encouraged to Get Flu Shot Early with Early Flu Season Upon Us
The following is a news release from the San Mateo County Health System:
Flu season is unpredictable and this year, flu season came early. San Mateo County health officials urge everyone six months and older to get vaccinated early this year.
“A flu shot early in the season increases your chances of staying healthy,” said Dr. Scott Morrow, San Mateo County Health Officer. “The flu vaccine is safe and can prevent flu-related illness, hospitalization and even death. It’s the best defense against the flu.”
Flu vaccine is now widely available throughout the county, and because the vaccine takes two weeks to become fully effective, residents should get a flu shot as soon as possible.
While everyone six months and older should get vaccinated, it is especially important that pregnant women, children younger than five, adults 65 and older, and those with chronic medical conditions, such as heart disease, asthma, and diabetes, all get vaccinated.
Healthy people should also get a flu shot to avoid getting sick and to protect others by staying healthy. The flu is not fun for anyone but it’s important to remember that the flu can be very serious. In fact, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), an average of 24,000 people die each year in the U.S. due to complications from the flu and another 200,000 are hospitalized.
People are encouraged to contact their health care provider to get their flu shot. The vaccine is also available at pharmacies, retail stores, and offered by some employers. For people who do not have a health care provider or insurance, the Health System and community organizations offer free flu vaccine at clinics throughout the county. No appointment is necessary for these clinics, and no I.D. is required. For more information on where to get your flu shot, visit www.smchealth.org/flu.
For more information about the flu, and for a schedule of community vaccine clinics in San Mateo County, visit www.smchealth.org/flu , or call the flu hotline at (650) 573-3927.
Flu season is unpredictable and this year, flu season came early. San Mateo County health officials urge everyone six months and older to get vaccinated early this year.
“A flu shot early in the season increases your chances of staying healthy,” said Dr. Scott Morrow, San Mateo County Health Officer. “The flu vaccine is safe and can prevent flu-related illness, hospitalization and even death. It’s the best defense against the flu.”
Flu vaccine is now widely available throughout the county, and because the vaccine takes two weeks to become fully effective, residents should get a flu shot as soon as possible.
While everyone six months and older should get vaccinated, it is especially important that pregnant women, children younger than five, adults 65 and older, and those with chronic medical conditions, such as heart disease, asthma, and diabetes, all get vaccinated.
Healthy people should also get a flu shot to avoid getting sick and to protect others by staying healthy. The flu is not fun for anyone but it’s important to remember that the flu can be very serious. In fact, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), an average of 24,000 people die each year in the U.S. due to complications from the flu and another 200,000 are hospitalized.
People are encouraged to contact their health care provider to get their flu shot. The vaccine is also available at pharmacies, retail stores, and offered by some employers. For people who do not have a health care provider or insurance, the Health System and community organizations offer free flu vaccine at clinics throughout the county. No appointment is necessary for these clinics, and no I.D. is required. For more information on where to get your flu shot, visit www.smchealth.org/flu.
For more information about the flu, and for a schedule of community vaccine clinics in San Mateo County, visit www.smchealth.org/flu , or call the flu hotline at (650) 573-3927.
Friday, October 3, 2014
Introducing "Shape San Carlos" Open Town Hall
9/11/2014
Shape San Carlos is
a new community engagement tool, developed by Berkeley-based Peak
Democracy as Open Town Hall, to increase transparency and encourage the
community to participate more regularly in civic governance. As a
bonus, a robust Cloud storage solution allows for the archiving of maps,
plans and other large public documents related to a topic, making the
online discourse even more dynamic.Members join by registering for Shape San Carlos on the City's website. Participants are then able to engage in moderated discussions with both City staff and other citizens on topics presented by the City. Comments and feedback are reviewed regularly by City staff and moderated by Peak Democracy to ensure that standards of respect and civility are upheld.
The platform allows the City to gather a broad range of perspectives from residents, facilitate a more informed dialogue and generate greater community participation. Topics will range from soliciting ideas for park improvements to gathering public comment on City budget priorities and more.
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