While interest rates on 30-year fixed loans are a fraction of what they were 30 years ago, a recent spike has average rates up 50% since December and nearly double the all-time low of January 2021.
This could be explained as a reaction to inflation, but it’s hard to ignore the trends…
As any of our clients would tell you, Kevin (aka “The Geek”) takes a hands-on approach to the work of finding your ideal home. And more often than not, that work extends beyond the final sale to making sure the house — and yard — is everything you want it to be. But sometimes I worry that he’s having too much fun, like when he recently cleared this big tree!
There is nothing on this earth that compares with the power of holding a chainsaw in your hands as it cuts through a thick dead stump of wood. Why wait around for a landscape contractor on a calendar when you can get some early prep work done and have fun while you do it? Pearl does her best to remind me to be careful, and I try to listen… most of the time.
Beginning today, the annual observance of Ramadan is regarded as one of the Five Pillars of Islam and lasts until May 1. It is celebrated by Muslims around the world as a month of fasting, prayer, reflection, and community.
As urban dwellers, we’ve learned to love and appreciate parks, trails, and opportunities to get outside and enjoy nature. That’s why we’re constantly looking for ways to protect open spaces while still finding ways to build adequate housing for our growing population. And in some cases, it’s a costly endeavor that has a direct impact on housing costs.
As you can see from this chart, while a county like San Francisco only preserves about 5,900 acres of open space, that represents almost 20% of their available land, exponentially increasing the price of the remaining real estate. On the flip side, Sonoma County preserves a whopping 171K acres of open space, but that’s just 17% of its abundant available land.
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.
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.
