Chic vs. Geek: Title Insurance

Buying a home can be a risky endeavor, and that’s before you close the deal! Can investing in title insurance help you avoid a sticky situation? Let’s take a look…

CHIC (PEARL)

You may find after you purchase the property that someone else has a claim to all or a share of the title. Or perhaps you learn that a neighbor or your HOA have an easement that allows them to use your land — and limit your use of it! Title insurance can safeguard you against these surprises and give you some peace of mind that you’re the sole proprietor of the property.

GEEK (KEVIN)

One of the more common stumbling blocks with taking over the title on a home is finding out that the property is not up to code or has unpermitted improvements. Sorting this out could cost you time and money and headaches dealing with the assessor’s office and your local tax collector. So don’t cut corners on your home purchase. Invest in title insurance!

Chic vs. Geek: Brown is the New Green

Due to the ongoing drought, the Santa Clara Valley Water District has restricted homeowners to watering their lawns no more than two times a week. So what can you do to maintain your curb appeal?

CHIC (PEARL)

There’s never been a better time to rethink and renew your yard and gardens with succulents, cacti, and other plants built to withstand the West Coast heat with a minimal amount of maintenance – and water. But don’t dig up your lovely lawn without a plan! Contact us for tips and referrals to quality landscaping professionals.

GEEK (KEVIN)

If years of shrinking reservoirs and rising water rates haven’t convinced you to convert your lawn to hearty native plants, I don’t know what else will. So the best advice I can offer is to invest in reseeding your lawn with bermuda, fescue, or another type of drought-tolerant grass. Here’s a helpful review of the options.

Chic vs. Geek: Are you ready for a Deep Energy Retrofit?

With Earth Day approaching, you might consider doing a Deep Energy Retrofit (DER) of your home to improve efficiency. But it doesn’t come cheap!

CHIC (PEARL)

When you’re looking into a DER, the best place to start is with a Home Energy Rating System (HERS) audit. That’s when a professional energy auditor visits your house to test for air leaks and run other tests to determine your home’s energy efficiency. Based on that report, you can target the most wasteful features of your house for upgrades and get the most bang for your buck.

GEEK (KEVIN)

Doing a DER on a budget can help inspire you to think outside the box and get a little creative. There are tons of tax incentives and government programs to assist with financing the project, and a little research and extra leg work can point you to contractors who make energy efficiency pencil out as part of their mission to protect our environment and build a more sustainable world.

Chic vs. Geek: It’s go time!

The deadline to file your 2021 federal income tax return is less than one week away on Monday, April 18th. Are you ready?

CHIC (PEARL)

Buying a home is a huge investment, but it also comes with tax benefits for the homeowner. Did you know? The IRS offers a number of deductions and credits to both first-time homebuyers and longtime owners, such as mortgage interest deductions and credits for renewable energy upgrades like solar panels. Check out this list of available opportunities compiled by Investopedia.

GEEK (KEVIN)

If you want to take advantage of tax breaks, you have to be prepared to itemize your return, which could involve hiring a professional accountant. So the first thing you want to do is make sure you’d get a much better deal itemizing rather than taking the standard deduction. If it doesn’t pencil out, why spend all that time and energy when you could be relaxing all weekend?

Chic vs. Geek: Responding to Buyer Love Letters

We’ve talked about the pros and cons of sending “love” letters to sellers to highlight all the reasons you’re the perfect buyer for their home. But what are the do’s and don'ts for a seller who receives one?

CHIC (PEARL)

While they may seem harmless, buyer “love” letters can get a seller in trouble because they often include personal information that could reveal characteristics of the buyer like race, religion, or familial status. Why is that a problem? That information could create a conscious or unconscious bias in the seller’s decision to accept or reject an offer, which would violate fair housing laws.

GEEK (KEVIN)

At the end of the day, your decision to accept or reject an offer has to be based on objective standards, like the offer amount or the ability to pay in cash. We always let sellers know up front that we will never deliver buyer love letters, and we advise them to document the basic facts of every offer they receive and their objective reasons for saying yes or no to every prospective buyer.