Chic vs. Geek: Designing Happy

These days, we're spending more time in our homes. Here’s how you can use interior design elements to elevate your happiness.

CHIC (PEARL)

For me, a happy home is a comforting home. That’s why I prefer to keep things cozy with soft elements like plush pillows and fuzzy blankets that invite you to relax. Calming colors can also help to amplify the tranquility of your space. Speaking of space, your living room is typically the top spot for unwinding and the room where the most happy is needed. Lean in to relaxation by decorating your living room with items that make you happy, such as family photos, favorite books, or cherished mementos.

GEEK (KEVIN)

Nothing gets in the way of my pursuit of happiness like clutter. It adds unnecessary stress to your life, so it makes sense that organization would be a key component of a happy home. If you’re the type that can’t help but collect a lot of clutter, I suggest incorporating a lot of closed storage elements to help you easily hide it from the world. Speaking of the world, the happiest homes are often styled in the vibe of popular locales and terrain like rustic, mediterranean, and mountain regions.

Trivia Follow-Up

This house in Los Altos was listed at $4.198M, and we had five offers. We asked you to guess the winning offer, and the closest without going over was… Kyung! We’ll connect with you via email to get you a $20 Amazon gift card. Thanks to everyone who submitted a guess.

So what was the winning offer? $4.7M — more than half a million dollars over the listing price! We were very happy to get our clients a big return on this home. And we wish the new owners well!

Number Talk: Cycling up over the years

When thinking about a real estate market as diverse as the Bay Area, where home prices, neighborhood characteristics, and appreciation percentages vary widely, it’s helpful to look at trends from a higher level.

This chart provides a simplified look at the market for higher-tier homes since 1984, and it’s clear that prices continue to rise over time despite a regular cycle of bubbles and busts.

Chic vs. Geek: Are home inspections worth it?

In a hot real estate market, competition forces buyers to bid on homes without having them fully inspected. But can you trust a seller’s inspection report?

CHIC (PEARL)

We see a lot of buyers around the Bay Area waiving a home inspection to make their offer more enticing to the seller. This is a huge risk, not only because the home could have serious problems lurking under the surface, but because the buyer could end up footing the bill for their own pre-inspection to “do the due diligence” – and still not end up winning the bidding war. In my opinion, it’s worth the risk to have some peace of mind and get an inspection done first — even if you miss out on a property.

GEEK (KEVIN)

A home seller’s goal should always be to get the highest price possible as quickly as possible. A buyer’s goal should be to get the lowest price possible and make sure they’re not buying a lemon. In this perpetual tug-of-war, there’s really no way the buyer can 100% trust what the seller says about the home, even if they provide their own inspection report. But it’s important to remember that the same applies for the seller if the buyer comes in with a low offer based on their own pre-inspection.

Diwali Gratitude

Diwali is a five-day festival of lights that traditionally symbolizes the spiritual victory of light over darkness, good over evil, and knowledge over ignorance. We wish our Hindu, Jain, Sikh, and Buddhist friends and neighbors a Happy Diwali!