Tag

buyers

Apr 14
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Multiple Offers? How to get yours accepted…

By | Buyers, Sellers | No Comments

Embracing young couple who have just bought a houseYou found that great home and of course you’re not the only one. For a while now we have more buyers than sellers in Sonoma County. This means that there are usually multiple offers on well priced properties. How do you make your offer stand out? Besides working with a reputable realtor there is more that you can do.

First of all: make sure your offer makes sense. If a home is priced at $450,000 and you are willing to pay $475,000 for it, make sure you are able to do this. Should you need a mortgage, make sure that either the property will appraise at that value (submit the offer with an overview of comparable sales) or show that you are able to come up with the difference in case the appraisal comes out at $450,000. Your lender can help you with this.

Next: Share your story. Write a nice letter about yourself, dutch-wooden-shoes.jpgyour family and why you like the house that much, if you can, add a picture. Recently one of my clients had to pick from 10 offers, one had a letter and a picture of the family in Disneyland. Since my clients love Disneyland, this picture caught their attention and when she read the letter, they wanted this family to get the house. There was a another offer that stood out money wise, that offer is now in second position in case the first family won’t be able to complete the sale. The same was the case for one of my other sales, it made the sellers feel good about the choice they had made.

I know for some of you this doesn’t make sense and it does not always work, yet it won’t hurt either.

Had to share this with you,

Mirjam

Mar 18
0

Carbonmonoxide Detectors… It’s the law.

By | Around the house, Buyers, Sellers | No Comments

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAPer July 1 2011 all homeowners in California, must comply with the Carbon Monoxide Poisoning Prevention Act of 2010. This means that every home must have a Carbon Monoxide Alarm. The reason for this law is because carbon monoxide poisoning is the leading cause of accidental deaths in the United States. Carbon monoxide is an odorless gas produced whenever any fuel is burnedCO-detector. It can enter the home from sources as seemingly innocent as a gas stove, furnace, or wood stove, usually due to leakage, back drafting, or poor venting.

Do you have one installed in your home? Unless you are renting a home chances are that were not even aware of this legal obligation. It’s not unusual that home owners buy and install one when they are selling. Reason: it is part of the required seller disclosures and when a property is appraised (when a buyer needs a mortgage) this is one of the items an appraiser looks for.

But as a general rule, it is good to have one installed. According to California Safe Homes website, only 54% of the CA residents have a CO alarm. I am planning to do this the coming week;)

Mirjam

Feb 10
0

Power Outages and the Location of your Home

By | Buyers, RE Investing, Sellers, Sonoma County info | No Comments

Have you ever noticed that if there is a major power Street with Powerlines outages, some neighborhoods seem to be without power longer than others? And sometimes a neighborhood   close to an urban area might be longer out of power than other areas. I noticed in our area, parts of Fulton and the Russian River area tend to be out of power longer than the direct surrounding area.

Coming from the Netherlands where all power lines are in the ground moving to an area with power lines above ground was something to get used to. They are part of a street view,  sometimes blocking a view or going over part of a property, affecting the desirability of a property. Power lines above ground are more vulnerable to outages during storm or Powerlines blocking a viewwhen a trees falls on a power line or a pole holding the power line is hit by a car. Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, Pa., have concluded that the average U.S. electrical utility customer experiences 214 minutes of power outage each year. The research also indicates that the U.S. ranks towards the bottom among developed nations in terms of reliability of electricity service. The last Superbowl had a 30 minute power outage.

Super-Bowl-2013With that said, to a certain extent one can predict whether a neighborhood will have shorter or longer power outages in case of a major power outage. The PG&E website gives some good guidelines: “First hazardous situations, such as downed wires. After that the focus is the largest number of customers and on repairs that will restore service to critical facilities such as hospitals, water pumping stations and police and fire departments.

Should you desire to do so, you can make this part of your due diligence before you decide to move to a certain neighborhood or area. If you know upfront that the neighborhood you decide to move to is always the last one the power is restored, invest in a good generator or an other alternative power source.

Mirjam

Jan 20
0

Vacant Home Insurance – not your regular home owners insurance

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

I am surprised how many people believe that a home needs to be vacant in order to be able to sell it. Especially in the Netherlands, the majority of the homes that are for sale are vacant. When we sold our home when we moved to the California we had already moved here but had a tenant in the home for a little bit. We always felt it is better for a home to be lived in. In Sonoma, on average about 30% of the homes that are for sale are not occupied.

Besides the importance of staging a home and giving itHouse on Fire the appearance that it is occupied, it is of an even greater importance to inform your insurance agent that you no longer live in the home. The normal home owners insurance does not cover a vacant home. Vacant homes have a higher risk as to damage and burglary, thus the policy is more expensive. Yet that is a small price to pay in case something happens.

Erin Temple from Vantreo Insurance mentioned that not all insurance companies offer coverage for vacant homes, this is depending on company, location and situation.

Forest fire- house on fireI know, insurance is not something that is on our minds on a daily basis (for sure not on mine) and yet it is so important. I have come to the conclusion that a knowledgeable insurance agent is key in having the proper amount of coverage. Someone who explains what is covered and what is not covered in language that is easy to understand while making sure there are no gaps in the policy. BTW, I can highly recommend Erin, please feel free to contact her with any questions/inquiries.

Last week the property of one of my friends Burglarparents was burglarized. The burglars took the kerosine heather and the wood stove, besides a lot of other things. Apparently since the heaters were permanently attached to the house, they were not insured, it was in the small print in the policy. Both are very expensive to replace, a hard pill to swallow when you receive the bad news that certain things are not covered. That is why it’s a good idea to review your plans with your insurance agent BEFORE a loss happens.

Mirjam