Category

Dutch stuff

Oct 07
0

Natural and Man Made Hazards… Natural disasters

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

In 1953 there was major flooding in Netherlands: in the night of January 31 many dykes in the provinces of Zeeland, Zuid Holland and Noord Holland broke due to the combination of a spring tide and a northwesterly storm. Your first reaction might be ofcourse, about 50% of the country is below sea level… And you are right, Netherlands depends on the protection of dykes. The ‘watersnood of 1953’ caused a change in the priority (tax dollars) given to the maintenance of  dykes and water ways.

Now living in Sonoma County… part of the 3rd party Hazard Disclosure is whether a property is located in a flood zone. There are Special Flood Hazard Areas, areas of potential flooding, coastal flood areas, areas contained by flood control measures -dams- and more… Hmm sounds familiar ;)… It’s not that bad, parts of Sonoma County are more prone to flooding than others. When the Russian River floods it’s  due to extreme weather, the last time was about 7 years ago.

There are maps available showing where high risk flood zones are. When you buy a property and one of the requirements to get a mortgage is to have flood insurance, that’s a pretty clear sign too… There is a special form for this.

You insurance broker takes care of flood insurance btw. I just checked with Erin Temple of Vantreo Insurance.

Always read all the reports you receive when you purchase a property and before you remove your inspection contingencies. Then you know the risks of the location/property you are buying and have the choice to accept these or not. A good Realtor will go over the reports too, however it is the buyer’s responsibility to read and go over all the information given… Yes it’s a lot, but not doing your homework and have to find out afterwards is worse…

By the way: I love living in Sonoma County. It is a great place to live.

Mirjam

Jul 15
0

Showers… with a Dutch perspective…

By | Around the house, Dutch stuff | One Comment

Let’s start with a stereotype: when you live in the Netherlands, the perception is that everything is bigger and better in USA. So when we moved to CA about 15 years ago that was one of my preconceived ideas… yes, I confess. When we walked through the house we wanted to rent there were some surprises… The bathrooms: the vanity sink was about 3 times smaller than the ones we had in our house in Netherlands – LOL. And when I opened the shower door I found a shower head as in the first picture. Now your reaction is probably: yeah and… My first reaction was: how am I going to clean the shower???? And hubby wouldn’t even fit underneath the shower head… BTW: the shower head I was talking about was position lower than the one in the picture

Then we went to the hardware store and found a solution :

 

However, a much better solution is this: a shower head on a rail, you can put it higher for taller people, lower for shorter people or take it of to clean the shower/bath tub …

Mirjam

May 27
0

Location, Location, Location: Historic neighborhoods

By | Buyers, Disclosures, Dutch stuff, Sellers, Sonoma County info | No Comments

Living in the Netherlands, it is not unusual to live in a home built in 1700’s, thus about 500 years old. Think about Leiden, Zwolle and even for instance Zwartsluis. World wide you will find many historic neighborhoods, great places to live. As to Santa Rosa I am talking about the older part generally quite often referred to as the JC area.

Before buying a home in an older, historic neighborhood, it’s good to know how this affects the home owner. For the Netherlands, there is an organization for historic monuments, ‘Monumenten Zorg’. The goal is to preserve these properties that have historic value. Take the city of Leiden. Should you buy one of these homes, it’s not unusual to have your remodeling project limited on the outside as well as the inside. A new kitchen? Need a permit. Change of color on the outside and even sometimes the inside? Need a permit. Sidenote: this is extreme, even for Netherlands: it usually affects only the outside, then it’s called a “beschermd Stadsgezicht” -> Protected City Image (that’s the best I can come up with as to translation)

This is not the same for every neighborhood, take for instance the JC area in Santa Rosa, only the outside of a home is considered. The Cultural Heritage Board reviews proposed alterations for historic homes. A good resource is the Processing Review Procedures for Owners of Historic Properties.  Currently there are 8 designated Preservation Districts in Santa Rosa: Burbank Gardens, Cherry Street, McDonald, Olive Park, Railroad Square, Ridgeway, St. Rose and West End.

Bottomline… it’s prudent to do your homework before buying a home. Your local realtor is a great source of information.

Mirjam

 

Jul 04
0

House For Sale – Your Privacy and Safety

By | Buyers, Dutch stuff, Privacy and Safety, Sellers, Sonoma County info | No Comments

Some time ago I posted a blog about Google and your Privacy.

Selling a home means that a property becomes a showcase, strangers walk through and see how a person lives. Where I come from (northern part of 449_klein.jpgNetherlands), privacy is important. People don’t open up their homes that easy, homes used to have a room to visit with visitors (voorkamer or parlour). A front door opens into a hallway with a door towards the family room: someone at the front door cannot see inside the house. Funda.nl is a great website to check real estate in Netherlands by the way.

When selling a property, safety and privacy become more and more important. Reason for this blog posting:

Last week my dear friend Diana had a nightmare: the house she is currently renting is being sold. She was worried that some ‘weird’ Realtor would use the lockbox to come in at night. This is a valid concern. If you do not know about the  Lockbox system we use in Sonibox.jpgoma County, a reason to worry. What Diane did not know: the Supra Lockboxes that are used to give Realtors access can be programmed to have timed access. This means that Realtors showing a property only have access to the key in the Lockbox when they are within the times that are programmed in the Lockbox: usually between 9 am and 7 pm.I am not the listing agent for that property and when Diane told me about her nightmare, I realized that the Realtor hired by the owner (she rents the place) had not shared with her this valuable information. Now Diane can sleep again at night: the lockbox on her front door has a timed access, no ‘weird’ real estate agent can come in a odd hours.  Other interesting tidbit: the moment an agent shows one of my listings, within a few minutes I receive an email showing the time and the name of the agent showing the property.

Lesson learned: the next time I do share my extensive marketing plan with a person who wants to sell his/her house, I will put even more emphasis on this small but oh so important feature of the lockbox system we use here in Sonoma County.

Your safety and your privacy is important, especially when selling a property.

Mirjam