A new study takes a look at the value of higher education by exploring the rate of return from four-year universities and community colleges. As you’d expect, a degree from Stanford will pay for itself. But for low and moderate income students, San José State and De Anza College are viable options. The Mercury News has more.
At a recent economic seminar with the Silicon Valley Association of Realtors (SILVAR), we learned about changes to real estate law beginning January 1st. We’ll have a full update next week, but in the meantime, let’s focus on four new policies…
Under current law, you’re allowed to build an ADU (aka Accessory Dwelling Unit) based on your lot size and zoning regulations in your particular city. Starting in the coming year, you’ll be able to sell an ADU with your lender’s consent and other additional restrictions. Even better, the limit for small real estate claims will jump from $10,000 to $12,050!
Starting next year, the environmental hazard information you receive from realtors will have new additions about sea level rise, wildfires, and climate change. Also, if a home has been owned for less than 18 months and has a major renovation, the seller not only has to disclose the changes they made and contacts of subcontractors but also the status of all permits.
According to an annual survey from the National Retail Federation, 200.4 million people did some shopping from Thanksgiving Day through Cyber Monday. That’s nearly 4 million more than last year and 18 million more than expected. Most of the increase was among online shoppers, who totaled 134.2 million. But Small Business Saturday drew a majority of retail activity ($59M) to brick-and-mortar stores. Get more numbers from the NRF report.
Procrastinators rejoice! The IRS and State Franchise Tax Board announced yesterday that they would extend the deadline — again — for most Californians to file their 2022 income taxes. You may recall that the deadline was already pushed back to in response to the deadly winter storms. The new deadline is Thursday, Nov. 16, for businesses and residents in 55 of 58 counties. The Chronicle has what you need to know.
When personal finance company WalletHub recently compared 1,300 American cities with populations between 25,000 and 100,000 based on affordability, economics, health, education, safety, and other indicators, Los Altos and Palo Alto ended up in the 95th percentile, just behind Livermore as the highest-ranked California small cities. See the full list here.
