Category

Sellers

Dec 23
0

Living Trusts and Your Home – Are you properly insured?

By | Buyers, Insurance, Sellers, Sonoma County info | No Comments

Buying, selling, owning Real Estate affects many aspects of our life. Every time when someone asks: what does a Realtor do? I always say: that depends on the situation. When helping a home owner with a short sale, there is a lot of financial documentation to be taken care of. Other times marketing the property to the right niche of buyers needs a lot of attention. It all depends on the local Real Estate market and the personal situation.

Recently my insurance agent Erin Temple with Vantreo Insurance mentioned an important ‘detail’ with regards to trusts. Many home owners use qualified personal residence trusts (QPRTs), other forms of trusts and limited liability companies (LLCs) as vehicles to reduce tax liability and/or provide other legal protection of assets.

However a ‘trust’ as well as an LLC  are different legal entities and as thus should be named in the insurance policy. Say for instance the home owners/casualty insurance names Mr. and Mrs Smith as the insured, yet the home is for instance put in a trust, the trust is the legal owner of the property, not Mr. and Mrs. Smith. In case something happens, this might be a good reason to deny a claim.

Mathew Sweiffler, a local Financial Planner -who I can highly recommend btw- forwarded an interesting article about the subject.

There are so many details that are extremely important, I highly recommend you check your insurance policy to make sure have the appropriate coverage BEFORE something happens. Both Erin and Mathew are great resources if you have more questions.

Mirjam

 

 

Oct 28
0

US House prices vs Bonds…

By | Buyers, Financial news, Sellers, Sonoma County info | No Comments

The moment someone buys a home, that is the moment inflation on housing expenses stops. While rents go up, your mortgage payment remains the same  (in case of a 30 year fixed), for the coming 30 years. During the time that your mortgage payments stay the same, home prices fluctuate. However, over the long haul home prices do go up. If you doubt my statement, ask your parents/grandparents how much they paid

for their home way back when. When we lived in Leerdam (Netherlands), we lived in an older home, built in 1927, these homes initially sold for 27 guilders. At the time we bought it, you couldn’t even buy a washing machine for this amount 😉 Conclusion: Buying home is also a great long term investment vehicle.

But it is always good to diversify. Recently I spoke with Matt Schweifler, a great local financial planner about this subject. He mentioned an other ‘safe’ great investment vehicle: bonds. When you buy a bond you receive interest every year and you have a guaranteed return of your investment at maturity date of the bond. Between the moment of purchase and the moment of maturity, the value of the bond will fluctuate, but at the end there is the guaranteed return on investment…

What do these 2 have in common? The value of your home, matters only when you either buy or sell. In case the home values in your area go up, this is great, but realistically this only matters when you decide to sell. The same is the case when you buy a bond, between the date you buy it and the date you sell, the value may go up, may go down but that only matters in case you decide to sell before the maturity date.

BTW. How much time did you spend on planning your last vacation? How much time do you spend each year planning your retirement? While Real Estate is a great investment vehicle, you really need other investment vehicles too…

Mirjam

 

Jun 03
0

Move to a Larger Home in 2012?

By | Economy, RE by the numbers, Sellers, Sonoma County info | No Comments

I have noticed that many homeowners would like to move but somehow don’t feel right now is the right time. This slideshow is a presentation showing that now is a great time to move to a larger home. It shows a comparison what it would mean financial if you would have move to a larger home in 2006 vs 2012. Since home prices have come down so much.  it might not feel moving up is a smart move. The numbers show differently. This is a test and I am looking forward to see whether you can follow the numbers without explanation. It is a Youtube movie. Don’t respond via comments but respond via email plse.

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