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Sonoma County info

Nov 06
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Earthquake Fault Zones and due diligence…

By | Buyers, Disclosures, Sonoma County info | No Comments

fault_types.pngLooking for the perfect home in the perfect neighborhood? There is a little secret I need to share: there is no such thing as the perfect home/perfect place … Ouch… The home might be a great match, the neighborhood might be just perfect but what about natural hazards? WHAT??? one might say…

220px-de_dijk_tussen_kesteren_en_opheusden_tijdens_extreem_hoogwater_van_de_neder_rijn_344320s.jpgYes, Natural Hazards…We are talking about Earthquakes, Flooding, Fires etc. These Hazards are different depending on an area. Living in the Netherlands and about 50% of the Netherlands below sea level, flooding is an important one. Living in Sonoma County, you can live right on an Earthquake Fault zone and in a High Fire Hazard zone (think for instance of Fountaingrove).

This does not mean that these neighborhoods or areas are unfit to live. It means that one has to be aware of these Hazards before the final decision to buy a home,the 3rd party Hazard Report is a report a seller has to provide to a buyer. It is part of the statutory disclosures a seller and their Real Estate agents has to provide. 

There are many 3rd party Hazard Disclosure companies to choose from, one is Property ID. Personally I like their reports since they are easy to read and understand. It is important to go over all the disclosures provided.

Example: living in an earth quake zone means that there are more stringent building codes. This might affect you when remodeling an older home: all of a sudden there are extra requirements adding up to the costs of remodeling. However, these more stringent building codes are for your protection: the likelyhood of your home to withstand an earthquake…

These Natural Hazards also affect your Home Owners Insurance: living in an area with higher risks to be affected by natural disasters results in higher premiums. Recently I sold a home right on the coast of Albion: magnificent location. Small detail: most insurance providers were not willing to insure the property. That is by the way why a good insurance agent/broker is key: my favorite insurance agent, Erin Temple of Vantreo Insurance, was able to find a good insurance company who was willing to insure the property for a reasonable rate… Also lenders require a property to be adequately insured by the way. This is important when buying and refinancing a property.

Moral of the story, is doesn’t matter where you live, it is important to be aware of all material facts affecting the property you decide to buy.

Mirjam

Oct 23
0

Banks not supporting Energy Independence Program

By | Around the house, Buyers, Disclosures, Sellers, Sonoma County info | No Comments

As Kermit in Sesame street sang: ‘It’s not easy being green’

new_kermit.pngSonoma County in general has been promoting lowering our dependence on fossil fuels for a while now. Not only in big things but also in small things like using the old fashioned clothes line for drying clothes. That’s how I grew up in the Netherlands.

A great program that was developed a few years ago is the Sonoma County Energy Independence program (SCEIP

With SCEIP, a home owner can apply for a loan against the property for energy efficient upgrades: Windows, water heater, furnace, solar panels etc. It is a loan against the property, to be paid back in 15 years via property taxes. The current interest rate is 7%. The idea was to encourage home owners to make older homes more energy efficient. And that when a home owner does the upgrades, sells the home that the next home owner can not only benefit from the savings but also help paying for it. Great idea…

However, lenders do not see the loan as part of  assessments on the property taxes. With property taxes generally one also pays for the school, fire department, road bonds… For instance the road bond used to build Fountain Grove Park way is being paid for by home owners as part of the property taxes. Some homeowners have paid it of. When a home is for sale in Fountain Grove it is part of the seller disclosures and a prospective buyer will also see it when he received a copy of the property tax bill.

Now we see homes coming on the market that have the energy efficient upgrades. When the first home went into escrow, it was interesting to see that the lender who was chosen to provide the mortgage for the buyer, did not accept the SCEIP assessment on the property and required that is was paid of before close of escrow. Reason: they see it as an other loan against the property, thus the SCEIP lien will become senior to theirs when they new loan gets recorded. This means that in case of default, they are not in first position and thus responsible for the SCEIP lien in case they foreclose on the property. Also the government loan programs FAFH – Fannie Freddie, do not recognize the program and require the SCEIP assessment to be paid of before they will put a loan on the property…

Extra note, the above is also the case when a home owner wants to refinance his/her property to take advantage of the current historic low interest rates…

Sonoma County is protesting this and has taken FHFA to court.The latest update is on the website.

While the above should not stop a home owner from taking advantage of this program, it is good to be aware of the above developments. AND when you buy a home ALWAYS read the preliminary title report as well as the copy of the tax bill.

Have a most wonderful day!

Mirjam

Sep 25
0

Title Insurance: a Scam?

By | Buyers, Disclosures, Economy, Investing in Real Estate, Sellers, Short Sale, Sonoma County info, Visit WineCountry, Wine Tasting | No Comments

When you buy a home and use a mortgage you pay for at least 3 insurance policies: Home Owners Insurance, Home Owners Title Insurance and Lenders Title Insurance. For an average home in Sonoma County, Title Insurance is around $1,800 for both policies. That is a lot of Peet’s Latte’s or paint, or carpet… And if you pay cash for a home, you can opt not to buy Title Insurance. A smart decision?

Last week I had an interesting conversation with Stewart Title, thanks to Jessica Smith, our Title rep. BTW, this was in preparation a presentation for the YPN Morning Buzz group They shared some interesting facts about Title Insurance. Side note : Title Insurance came into place because of inadequate US land record laws. When we moved from Netherlands to California, some friends where making jokes about us moving to the Wild West. When Paul started talking it made me smile, had to think of that.

• When the economy is bad there are more scams with Title/ownership. – One ‘popular’ scam in the Sacramento area has to do with home owners in distress who are upside down, not able to pay their mortgage. There is a company that promises to ‘take care of it’. In order to do this they have to take title to the house ;). This is how:  a ‘fake’ document is recorded, showing that a new private lender has taken over the mortgage. This ‘private lender’ receives the money at closing . The ‘real’ lender receives nothing and eventually will foreclose on the property… Think about the innocent buyer, busf_transamerica_.jpgying this property without Title Insurance… will loose that house. An innocent buyer buying the house with Title Insurance can go back to the Title Company for help…

• Every one knows the Trans America Building in San Francisco… Remember these beautiful Redwood trees next to it? Well that is because of an overlooked PG&E easement that was right underneath the footprint of the building. Apparently when about to start breaking ground, the company hired to do that knew about the PG&E easement and suggested it would not be smart to start digging because of the PG&E lines… Long story short:  The Title Company who had insured the property/loan had missed that easement, they ended up buying the strip of land that is now a small park and paid to have the PG&E easement go around the Trans America Building… Next time you walk to that park, realized that that was paid for by a local Title Company…

There were more interesting stories about easements, deeds and scams. Bottom line when you buy property, always pay for Title Insurance. Chances something goes wrong are not that high but when there is a problem, it is extremely expensive.

Have a great weekend, it’s grape harvest time in Sonoma County, a lot of wineries have great events this special time of year.

Mirjam

Aug 14
0

Foreclosures… how are we doing in Sonoma County?

By | Sonoma County info | No Comments

Foreclosures… it might feel that every home sold must be a foreclosure. But all real estate is local and despite what you may think we have a pretty consistent real estate market in Sonoma County. About 50% of the sales are regular sales -YES- and the other 50% is sort of equally divided by REO (foreclosures) and Short Sales. In the stat below, the ‘sold bank’ also includes short sales. This is not totally correct since a short sale is not a bank owned sale, but that’s how this company, (Terradatum) decided to call it.

screen-shot-2011-08-14-at-72408-am.png

And what does this mean for you?

That the market in Sonoma County is not as bad as you think it is, that it is a great time to sell and move up and most of all that it is a great time to make the move you have been wanting to do for so long. We do not have a whole lot of inventory, right now I would like to see about 500 more homes on the market in Sonoma County…

And as a bonus: THE MORTGAGE INTEREST RATES ARE STILL AT HISTORIC LOWS!!! This won’t last that long, take advantage of of. Should you need a referral to a great lender, just call me: 707-486-2638. Depending on your plans I have a few great people I work with and consistently do an excellent job.

Enjoy the weekend, it’s a great time to do that hike and enjoy the outdoors, Sonoma County is beautiful!

Mirjam

Jul 31
0

Adverse possession… a home for $16?

By | Buyers, Sellers, Short Sale, Sonoma County info | One Comment

My dear friend Gini sent an interesting link to a video about a man claiming an abandoned home trying to acquire title through adverse possession. An interesting concept. In Netherlands, the adverse possession of property is called ‘Kraken‘ it started in the sixties in big cities as a protest against empty properties while there was a housing shortage. It still happens mainly in the cities. Right now it is still legal to move into a home that has been empty for more than a year. This however is not done with the goal of permanent possession. Usually the city gets involved, they can even decide to donate a property to a non profit organization.

Also California has laws as to adverse possession. It appears that the time for adverse possession is 5 years and there are quite a bit of stipulations before one can claim a property.  I am not an attorney and I would recommend to seek legal council before starting the process of adverse possession like paying taxes etc.  This is needed to eventually claim adverse possession. It is not the wild west anymore although sometimes it might feel like it ;)))

For now, a surer way is to buy a house. Right now owning is cheaper than renting. If you count all the money you need to pay taxes on a property to claim adverse possession while you are still not sure whether an owner might claim the property, you might as well use this money to buy a property. Interest rates are at historic lows and there are still  great mortgage products available allowing you to buy with a minimal down payment. For instance, large parts of Sonoma County qualify for  USDA loans. I am currently working with a first time home buyer buying a small home with a nice yard in Windsor. He will be using a USDA loan, his total housing 21104547.jpgexpense will be around $1,100 a month, and that is before his tax write offs. This program has income limitations, it is great for first time home buyers. Darren Seliga with Seliga financial in Santa Rosa is very familiar with this loan product, you can call him at :707-577-8737.

Mirjam de Rijk