Tag

disclosures Sonoma County

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

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

 

May 13
0

Location Wanted: Rural, Views, Surrounded by Nature – the Boonies!

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

Looking for that perfect home in Sonoma County? Depending on what you are looking for, changes are it is not connected to a sewer system but has it’s own waste water system, called a septic system. About 25% of all properties have their own septic system. Without going into details as to upcoming and ongoing changes in the requirements for septic systems -see this link- it is important to know whether the property you are buying or selling has a working septic system. It is one of the inspections to do when purchasing a property with a septic system.

Over the years I have had several situations where either sellers would refuse to do a septic system before putting their home on the market, or buyers not seeing the need to do a septic inspection. Let’s just say that the buyer who initially wanted to waive that inspection was really glad afterwards. The system had some problems which would have cause failure in the future. On a recent transaction, the seller had to put in a sew septic tank since the septic inspection brought to light that the wall in the tank had a hole in it. Luckily the seller was a contractor who had the resources to do this quickly.

Before moving to Santa Rosa, I had never lived on a property with a septic system. My grandparent had a farm in Netherlands, they had a septic system but quite frankly I never knew much about that. The house we live in right now is depending on a septic system for waste water. It’s not scary, it part of living in a more rural part of Sonoma County and I think it a great way to recycle 😉 Sidenote: click here if you like to learn more about septic systems.

Currently I am working to put a property on the market in Franz Valley, a small home on 9 acres. It’s on a beautiful location, there are 2 ponds on the property and yes, the house is on a septic system. We are doing a septic inspection before putting the home on the market, a local company, BDK septic services, will first pump the tank and then inspect the system.

Bottom line, for buyers and sellers: do the proper inspections before buying or selling property, you will be glad you did;)

Mirjam

Apr 01
0

Disclosures – my neighbor is an …

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

Buyers beware! That used to be the case and to some degree it still is. When buying or selling real estate, disclosures are an important part of the transaction. The paperwork might feel overwhelming yet, finding things out after you bought the property, realizing you didn’t read the disclosures is worse. Or, as a seller not disclosing important material facts is a major cause of ongoing law suits. When I started out in real estate, one of the first transactions came with an interesting disclosure.  The TDS mentioned that about every 10-14 days, the police ‘visited’ a home across the street due to domestic issues. Deal breaker? No… my client contacted some neighbors and asked them how bad it was. All together it was something that was not a reason for him not to buy the house. Had he found out after close of escrow… the situation would have been different… Stuff like this is a ongoing reason for law suits.

That’s why we have disclosures, these are different per state/county.  In CA, sellers have to fill out statutory disclosures –The TDS is only one of them.

Sidenote: a buyer can not refuse or waive these disclosures required by law, you can find this in California Civil Code section 1103 (d). This means that ignorance is not bliss, so the waiver or refusal of these disclosures is void and not a valid reason to sue.

One other important disclosure is the Natural Hazards Disclosure, in CA a seller is required to provide this, this is done by providing a NHD report. One of these providers is for instance Property ID, there are others, personally I like this one since it’s easy to read and understand and very comprehensive. There are other reliable sources for this report.

These reports inform a buyer about natural hazards like flood zones, high fire hazard areas, landslide areas, protected species etc etc. All these important to know before you buy a property, it might affect insurance rates/policies, or possibilities to build a pool to name just 2.

When I moved to California, the family asked why we would move to an area prone to earthquakes. Our response was that 60% of Netherlands is below sea level, we simply exchanged natural hazards;) However, every so often, the Russian Rover causes flooding too 😉

Bottom line: always work with a real estate agent familiar with the local area and the local mandatory/required/custom disclosures and laws.

Mirjam

Feb 05
0

Insurance Scam?… or???

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

As we all know, news sells because it’s catchy and the person writing the headline for a story is usually not the journalist writing the story. With that said, last week one of my buyer clients asked me whether I new about the new Insurance Scam: banks placing forced insurance on properties. Example of a recent article about BofA accused of doing this.

Without going into great detail as to what exactly happened, there is something to keep in mind: Your lender has an interest in your property. When you signed your mortgage documents, you also promised to always keep your property properly insured. If not, the lender reserves the write to put insurance in place. That by itself is a fair warning, if you were the lender, you would want to make sure that there is money to rebuilt a house in case it burns down. Inherent to this, the lender’s first priority is their interest, not yours, so the insurance put in place is first covering the house, not your stuff etc. And they might have affiliations -which are disclosed when you signed the documents- who they will use. Since you are paying for this, they do not shop around for the best rates/coverage.

With that said, a lot of homeowners do not open all the mail they receive from their lender, some of it is advertizing, some of it is real. Word to the wise: ALWAYS open ALL the mail you receive from your lender. They will warn you when they feel the need to place insurance on your property so you can take action. AND also make sure that your lender is always mentioned as a beneficiary on your insurance policy. That is one of the reasons a lender wants to see proof of insurance when you purchase or refinance your home.

I talked to my insurance agent, Erin Temple of Vantreo Insurance about this and she confirmed that it happens quite a bit, main reason homeowners not opening their mail. She used even an example of a person who bought a home and told her ‘the title company just got me a policy’.

Insurance is important, depending on where you live, some coverages are more important than others: right now there is a 15 year record cold in Netherlands, good to have insurance coverage for this, in Sonoma County we have other priorities like high fire hazards or pools. Your insurance agent is aware of local hazards and will advise accordingly, locally I find Erin a great resource for all my questions/concerns.

Mirjam