The smart home is the new internet of things. It’s full of objects that can serve you better by communicating with each other or directly with you through apps on your smart phone. In the ideal version of the wired future, all of our appliances and gadgets will talk to each other seamlessly.
What could living in a smart home look like? Picture something like this:
Continue reading 8 Smart Home Trends that Can Save You MoneyWant to make better use of your outdoor space without spending a lot of money? Try these three simple tricks. They can make all the difference between using your backyard and just looking at it.
Romantic lighting can really add drama and whimsy to an otherwise dull outdoor space. Try stringing lights over a patio for a look that recalls street cafes and romantic restaurant patios.
Continue reading A Better Backyard
You can’t avoid paying taxes, and we all need to pay our fair share. However, paying your fair share shouldn’t place an unjust burden on you. As a homeowner, your tax burden is doubled because you pay both income and property taxes. To decrease that burden and boost your tax savings, take advantage of these homeowner tax deductions. As a result, you can use your tax savings to go on a vacation, increase your child’s college fund, build upon your retirement fund, or complete another home improvement project.
Despite existing-home sales dropping last November, the national real estate market is primed for expansion in 2016. Here’s why. Better weather in many parts of the country resulted in an increase in single-family and multifamily home construction. Also, the population of millennial homebuyers is expected to grow in 2016. This means increased demand to help the housing market see positive gains. With unemployment steadily decreasing, orders for new durable goods increasing 3 percent, inflation staying level, and income beginning to grow, the Fed decided to raise interest rates. The rate increase signals that our economy is getting stronger. So, don’t let the drop in existing-home sales in November fool you. With a stronger economy, home sellers can expect eager home buyers in 2016.
Insurance and homeowners go together like peanut butter and jelly. Lenders require fire insurance at a minimum for homes with a mortgage, but many owners opt for more comprehensive coverage with a homeowner’s policy.
However, comprehensive doesn’t mean that everything is covered. Filing a claim is not the time to learn that you don’t have the right coverage. Are you covered? Here are some topics you should discuss with your insurance agent to get a better understanding of your policy and whether some adjustments might be in order.
Continue reading Are You Covered?
These values come from the 2015 Cost vs. Value Report published by Remodeling magazine and show statistics for the Pacific states.
Continue reading Home Improvements That Pay OffIt’s been hot, hot, hot in California! And it’s not just the weather. Our real estate markets have been hot too. California had over half of the twenty hottest U.S. markets according to the National Association of Realtors®.
San Diego is right in there, placing seventh on the list. If you look at October’s list, you’ll see we’ve moved up to sixth place.
Every month I tell you inventory is still low. This is not only the case for San Diego County and North County, but also for most of California. What’s keeping people from selling their homes? The CALIFORNIA ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS® (C.A.R.) recently surveyed Californians and found some interesting answers why homeowners aren’t selling.
This month’s San Diego County Housing Market Report shows continued price gains and tight inventory in the North County and San Diego County real estate markets.
Those continued price gains and our shortage of homes for sale are making news. Zillow ranked San Diego as one of three markets with the biggest decrease in supply of for-sale homes in July, and our markets are making realtor.com’s “hot” lists nationwide.
Take a look at the North County and San Diego County summaries below, or click on the links for a detailed view of July’s statistics.
Continue reading San Diego County Housing Market Report August 2015
The North County and San Diego real estate markets are still hot, hot, hot! Even though we are no longer experiencing the extraordinary, twenty to twenty-five percent annual price increases we saw in 2012 and 2013, our market is still sizzling, and everyone is talking about it.
After hitting twelfth place in June, San Diego moved up to number eight in realtor.com®’s July 2015 list of the 20 hottest markets in the country. In these medium to large-sized housing markets, listings on realtor.com® are viewed as much as three times more often than they are compared to the national average. In addition to viewings, they rate the hotness of these markets by how fast listings in these cities are selling. The median market time in San Diego County in July was just 17 days.
Continue reading Hot, Hot, Hot!