Thursday, April 18, 2019
The Dangers of Overpricing Your Home to Sell
By Christine Schlittenhart, Vista Realty Group
When the average seller sits down to interview real estate agents, it's easy to get caught up in the excitement over choosing a sales price. More money means more financial opportunities for the homeowner. Perhaps it means the seller can afford to buy a more expensive home, help pay for her child's college education or take that greatly overdue vacation. Unfortunately, uninformed sellers often choose the listing agent who suggests the highest list price, which is the worst mistake a seller can make.
The truth is it doesn't really matter how much money you think your home is worth. The person whose opinion matters is the buyer who makes an offer. Pricing homes is part art and part science. It involves comparing similar properties, making adjustments for the differences among them, tracking market movements and taking stock of present inventory, all in an attempt to come up with a range of value, an educated opinion. This method is the same way an appraiser evaluates a home. And no two appraisals are ever exactly the same; however, they are generally close to each other. In other words, there is no hard and fast price tag to slap on your home. It's only an educated guess and the market will dictate the price.
Homes sell at a price a buyer is willing to pay and a seller is willing to accept. If a home is priced too low, priced under the competition, the seller should receive multiple offers to drive up the price to market value. So, there is little danger in pricing a home too low. The danger lies in pricing it too high and selecting an agent solely on opinion of value.
Remember to take the emotion out of the equation, and look at selling your home as a business opportunity. The right time to sell your home is when you need it sold!!
When the average seller sits down to interview real estate agents, it's easy to get caught up in the excitement over choosing a sales price. More money means more financial opportunities for the homeowner. Perhaps it means the seller can afford to buy a more expensive home, help pay for her child's college education or take that greatly overdue vacation. Unfortunately, uninformed sellers often choose the listing agent who suggests the highest list price, which is the worst mistake a seller can make.
The truth is it doesn't really matter how much money you think your home is worth. The person whose opinion matters is the buyer who makes an offer. Pricing homes is part art and part science. It involves comparing similar properties, making adjustments for the differences among them, tracking market movements and taking stock of present inventory, all in an attempt to come up with a range of value, an educated opinion. This method is the same way an appraiser evaluates a home. And no two appraisals are ever exactly the same; however, they are generally close to each other. In other words, there is no hard and fast price tag to slap on your home. It's only an educated guess and the market will dictate the price.
Homes sell at a price a buyer is willing to pay and a seller is willing to accept. If a home is priced too low, priced under the competition, the seller should receive multiple offers to drive up the price to market value. So, there is little danger in pricing a home too low. The danger lies in pricing it too high and selecting an agent solely on opinion of value.
Remember to take the emotion out of the equation, and look at selling your home as a business opportunity. The right time to sell your home is when you need it sold!!
Foothill Communities May Lose Fire Station and Paramedics
The foothills communities of Meadow Vista, Weimar, Applegate, Heather Glen, Clipper Gap, Eden Valley and Sleepy Hollow are in grave danger of losing one of their two staffed fire stations and associated paramedic services. Support for a mail-in ballot in the May 7 special election, MEASURE A, is essential to maintaining the emergency support services that our communities need.
These communities now receive fire protection and advanced life support services from the Placer Hills Fire Protection District, which is the first responder agency for fire protection and emergency medical and rescue response for 12,500 residents in a 35-square mile area. They respond to 1200 emergency calls each year, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, from two stations: one in Meadow Vista and one in Weimar. Response time is 5 to 7 minutes.
The fire district has operated at a deficit for the past 5 to 6 years, using reserves intended for capital assets and equipment to make up the shortfall from what the district receives from our property taxes and two voter-approved special taxes. These reserves will be depleted in 1 to 2 years. The fire district's share of our property taxes was set at 1970's levels following Proposition 13, before our stations were built and when we had a volunteer fire department. The two voter-approved special taxes amount to $134 per parcel per year. The State provides NO funding for our fire district. The fire prevention fee imposed by the State Legislature -- the State Responsibility Fee of $152.33 or $117.33, depending on where you live -- went entirely to the State. It has now been suspended. The County has said fire districts must turn to their communities for support through special taxes, do not look to the County for assistance. Our fire district has taken many steps to reduce costs or share costs with other districts. This, alone, is not enough.
Although the five-member Board of Directors for the fire district will decide if one of our two stations will close, the retired Fire Chief, the current Fire Chief and a number of citizens who have studied the issue, including the author, have concluded that without additional funding, one of our two staffed fire stations will close and we will lose our paramedics.
Closure of either of our two stations will adversely affect response times. Even if the station closest to your residence stays open, firefighters or paramedics may be on a call in the area nearest the closed station when you call for help. Our fire district estimates that response times will increase to 12 minutes or more. When response times increase, the ability to save lives is diminished. For each minute a heart attack victim goes without life support, the chance of survival drops by 10%. A response of 12 minutes compared to the current 5 to 7 minutes means the chance of survival goes down by 50 to 70%.
In this era of catastrophic wildfires, insurance companies are increasingly reluctant to continue to insure homes and businesses in wildland urban interface areas like ours. If one of our fire stations is closed, the rating system used by insurance companies will reflect this reduction in fire protection, resulting in premium increases at the least and policy cancellations at the worst.
Cal Fire does not represent a solution. Cal Fire's primary responsibility is forested and vegetative areas controlled by the State, not structure fires in nearby communities.. A majority of firefighters battling catastrophic fires in California are from local agencies like the Placer Hills Fire Protection District. Cal Fire does not serve the residents of the Placer Hills communities with advanced life support paramedic services, only EMTs.
A ballot measure, MEASURE A, will be on a mail-in only ballot that residents of Meadow Vista, Weimar, Applegate, Heather Glen, Clipper Gap, Eden Valley and Sleepy Hollow will receive in the first week of April. Ballots must be returned by May 7, 2019. If approved, MEASURE A imposes an annual tax of $185 per parcel “to maintain current fire station staffing, to ensure firefighters are available to respond to all emergencies, to keep property insurance rates manageable, and to adequately train and equip firefighters.” These are the words of Placer County Counsel's Impartial Analysis included with the ballot measure.
Funds raised by this special tax CANNOT be diverted to the State or County. Strict accountability provisions ensure all funds will be used locally, only for fire protection and paramedic services.
I expect that an increase in my property tax of $185 per year (or viewed another way, $68 more than I was paying for the State-imposed fire prevention fee which has now been suspended) is but a fraction of what my homeowner's insurance cost will go up when my insurance company accounts for the loss of our local fire station. I also believe it is a vital investment in having a prompt response to a 911 call.
I urge you to get informed, talk to your friends and neighbors about this issue, make sure you are registered to vote (deadline is April 22, 2019) and please join me in voting YES ON MEASURE A.
(Wes Moody is a Registered Professional Engineer and retired President and CEO of a subsidiary of Edison International. He has served as a Board Member and President of several non profit organizations, including one that has raised several million dollars for public schools in Southern California. He and his wife are residents of Meadow Vista)
Monday, February 4, 2019
Recipe: Fresh Strawberry Upside Down Cake
INGREDIENTS:
2 ½ cups crushed FRESH strawberries
1 (6 oz) strawberry flavored Jello gelatin
3 cups miniature marshmallows
1 (18 oz) package yellow cake mix
(batter prepared as directed on cake mix)
DIRECTIONS:
1. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Spread crushed strawberries on the bottom of a 9x13 pan.
3. Evenly sprinkle dry Jello gelatin onto strawberries.
4. Evenly top with mini marshmallows.
5. Prepare cake mix as directed on package.
6. Pour cake mix evenly over marshmallows
7. Bake for about 40-50 minutes, until toothpick comes out clean.
8. Cool in pan for 15 minutes. Run a knife around the sides to loosen, turn upside down onto serving plate.
Store cake in refrigerator. Serves 12.
3 Common Estate Planning Mistakes
1. Assessing and Documenting Your Plan. Everyone has an estate plan, whether you have created it or not. If you don't create your own estate plan the state will do it for you. If you haven't documented your wishes property passes at death based on intestacy. You may not be happy with the plan the state has for you or the cost to have your assets transferred (see #2 below). A common misconception is that if you are married all of your property will automatically pass to your spouse. This is not so. In California if you have any separate property (in most cases property acquired prior to marriage, by gift or inheritance) that separate property will not go 100% to your spouse. In a married couple separate property is split between your spouse and your children or other heirs. The division is based on the number of children, or other heirs, you have. For example if you have one child the property is split 50/50 but if you have 2 or more children it is split to your spouse and the remaining 1/3 to your spose and to your children.
2. Not figuring out the most advantageous plan. If property passes based on intestacy or a will the process that the property passes through is called probate. Probate has three main disadvantages. It is costly, it is time consuming and it is public. In California if your property is valued at $150,000 or more, if you don't have a trust, and instead have a will or nothing, your family must open probate with the county court before property can be distributed. Most probate cases take approximately 8 months to a year to distribute property, although it can take even longer. The process is public and anyone can pull the court paperwork. Additionally probate is costly. The cost of probate under California statutory code is based on the gross value of the property in the estate (not the net) which means outstanding balances on your largest assets aren't taken into consideration. In contrast, a revocable trust can alleviate probate process. There is no public record of who receives what in a trust and the process can be streamlined. In most probate situations that we see the estate spends tens of thousands more in the probate process versus creating and maintaining a revocable trust.
3. Improperly documenting your wishes. Do it yourself wills and trusts set individuals and families up for disaster. Whenever I see a hand drafted will, or a do it yourself (google search/fill in the blank) document I know that almost invariably there are quite a few issues and sorting those issues out will cost a great deal of money. Whether it is a question of the true intent of the deceased's wishes (many wills seem like they make sense to the drafter but when the family, attorney or court go to interpret there are conflicting provisions and ambiguity), gifting large sums of money to minor children or failing to consider tax savings I have yet to see a hand drafted will that didn't have major issues. When there are questions those questions are resolved in a courtroom which costs the estate a great sum of money.
Everyone has an estate plan but it is up to you to make it what you want and have it done in manner that allows your family to follow your wishes.
This article should not be construed as legal advice. If you have questions about which is best for you contact an attorney that can assist you to make that decision.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)