Dawn Rivera’s Fremont & East Bay Real Estate Blog

Home prices have moderated, interest rates are reasonable, supply is abundant-and then there’s that $8,000 tax credit. Yes, it’s a great time to buy your first house.

If you do, you’ll have to furnish it, and that can be a challenge, especially if you have put much of your disposable income into a down payment. But you’re a grown-up now, and your first real home is no place for that grungy old futon or bookcases constructed with bricks and boards. It deserves better.

So what’s the best way to go about furnishing your new home? We’ve asked a variety of experts for their ideas on what to do after your offer has been accepted. Here are their ideas:

“Before you get carried away, take some time to determine what you have, what you need and what you want,” says Milwaukee-area interior designer Susan Michalek of Desumi Design Inc. “Deal with what you need first. That should be your highest priority.”

Wanda M. Colon, a designer who can be seen as host of TLC’s “Home Made Simple” and HGTV’s “24-Hour Design,” suggests that any assessment should include the amount of money you have to spend.

“It’s easy to overspend or make impulse purchases if you don’t have a budget,” she says. If you watch what you spend and stay within your limits, “as a bonus you might have money left over to purchase some extra goodies.”

Evaluate each room, says interior designer Jane Klein, and figure out how you plan to live in the house, considering: “Where you will spend most of your time, what you will do in each room? Will you want a table in the family room for work space, for example, or a comfortable chair and good lighting in the bedroom for relaxing and reading?

“Also think about the size of each room and the appropriate scale for the furniture,” Klein says. “You might fall in love with a sectional, but the reality is that it might not fit in a small room.”

Go Shopping.

If you’re shopping with your significant other, have some discussions about what you like and don’t like, and what you think works well together and with the style of your home.

“You don’t have to choose strictly contemporary or strictly traditional,” Steinhafel says. “More likely the choice will be made based on whether you are going for a casual or more formal look.”

But remember that while an “eclectic” look works, that doesn’t mean anything goes. There should be some continuity or unifying elements so that the result isn’t a hodgepodge.

“Don’t buy everything in one place,” she says. “This allows you to compare styles and prices.”

As you peruse what’s available, take pictures of what you like, Klein says. “If you think it might work, take a picture, at stores, consignment shops, wherever you go. Then look at the pictures when you get home to remind you of the choices and to see which pieces work together.”

Get to Work

It’s easier to paint a house when it’s empty and to refinish or replace flooring or knock down walls when you’re not living there. So if there’s work to be done, allow time for that after closing but before you move in.

Make Major Purchases

At minimum you will need: a good mattress and box spring and a bed or headboard to give the room a polished look; a quality sofa and chairs; a console unit for the television; and a table and chairs for dining (either for the kitchen or dining room).

Bette Kahn, spokeswoman for Crate & Barrel and CB2 stores, says microfibers are a good fabric choice for sofas because they’re so durable.

She suggests going with neutrals for big pieces, “but if that’s too basic, they can always be made more interesting with pops of color through pillows, which can be changed.”

“Make sure the frame of your sofa or chairs is high quality,” says Kahn, adding that if the piece wears out or looks outdated, it can be slip-covered or reupholstered if necessary.

If you buy high-quality pieces, you can build a room around them for years to come.

Fill in Creatively

After you’ve found the big pieces that serve as the foundation for a room, it’s time to fill in with smaller pieces. This is where you can have some fun, save money and add a touch of personal style.

Consignment stores, estate sales, resale shops and even Grandma’s attic are great places to find furniture, especially if you’re willing to fix it up.

For example, if you’ve purchased a bed but need a dresser or two, you might be able to find used pieces with similar lines. You can refinish or paint the dressers to match (assuming they aren’t valuable antiques, in which case the original finish should be preserved) and change the hardware for a coordinated look.

Area rugs, artwork and accent pieces are fun to shop for and also add personality to a room.

It probably took awhile to find the right house. It stands to reason it won’t be furnished in a week, a month or perhaps even a year.

“Many purchases can be put off, especially the decorative pieces,” Kahn says. “Besides, you’ll have more fun collecting those as you go through life.”

Colon warns first-time homeowners to take their time. “Don’t impulse-buy and end up feeling stuck because you acted too hastily,” she says.

Klein says: “Give yourself a little time. When you make a decision, use your head and your heart. Look at different options, ask lots of questions.

“When you see it, you’ll know if it’s right.”

Been out looking for an entry-level single family home in Hayward, CA? If your answer is yes, then you’ll have experienced first hand the craziness that’s become reality in the current Hayward, CA market. No matter which property you choose to visit, chances are there are folks there already, and, as you leave, odds are very good that others are pulling up behind you.

The entry-level market for detached single family homes in Hayward, CA has gone plain nuts.

Nuts might be good for squirrels but last time I checked, those cute, furry-tailed rodents don’t qualify as first-time home buyers. What’s all the fuss? I’ll explain the issues and implications at the end of this post, however, let me first set the stage.

Single family homes 1,200 square feet and smaller are flying off the market like pancakes off the grill during a lumberjack festival. Inventory is WAY down and sales are WAY up. In fact, in an unprecedented market maneuver, pending sales numbers are actually out pacing the supply of existing homes for sale. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to realize that something is up and to agree that things can’t continue this way for long.

So where are we headed? Does this mean we’re at the bottom of this particular market? You tell me. It would appear that prices have stabilized and have been on a plateau for quite a while. There is a mere difference of $4,000.00 between the average sold price from November, 2008 until April, 2009. However, list prices are headed back up – a sure indicator that at least one group believes the market has turned – sellers.

As I’ve stated in other posts, the bottom of the market cannot be officially called until both Average Sales Prices AND Average Square Foot Prices are either flat or climbing.

While not yet perfectly level, the numbers are looking very, very good. We may not be at the absolute bottom, but we’re so close that if I was in a submarine, I’d be sounding the collision alarm and looking for something secure to hang on to.

Lastly we have Months of Inventory. A quick search on Google reveals many pundits stating that approximately 6 months of inventory indicates a level market. More inventory reveals a Buyer’s Market, less precludes a Seller’s Market. Anyone thinking we are still in Buyer’s Market in this category is simply in denial. True, we’ve not seen prices pounding back upward, but, from personal experience, I can tell you that almost every home in this group is ending up with multiple offers and is selling for over asking price. And here is a part of the rub – most of these homes go on the market with artificially low prices for the specific purpose of securing multiple offers and driving the prices back up again.

Here are 3 Critical Facts you need to know about this market:

1. We are running out of inventory at the bottom of the market.

There are a few reasons for this:

There was a hold on foreclosures from late 2008 until April 01, 2009. Although foreclosures are back on track, new properties have not yet hit the market in any kind of significant volume. That may change any moment.
Unprecedented numbers of buyers are hitting the market because of record low mortgage rates, rock bottom prices and good, old fashioned “spring fever.”
The $8,000.00 tax credit and its impending deadline are pushing buyers to cash in before it is too late. Even the confusion about whether or not the credit can be used for the down payment is fueling frenzies in some quarters.

2. Many homes are going pending that ARE NOT actually closing.

Because of the shrinking inventory, many buyers are starting to write on short sales – buyers that would’ve historically avoided them a brief 3-4 months ago. Once in contract, short sales show up as pendings, but take so long to close they actually mess up the pending numbers (that is the only way more homes can go pending than are actually on the market!). The success rate of short sales is somewhere between 10-20%, and they can take up to 9 months to close. To add to the confusion, many buyers submit an offer on a short sale, it gets marked pending, then those very same buyers go get offers accepted on OTHER short sales as well. While those escrows are slowly stewing in their short-sale crock pots, those same buyers actually go out and manage to get an REO into escrow! One buyer – three escrows? You betcha! You gotta know two of those escrows are NOT going to close, thus adding to the overall confusion in the current market.

3. Current list prices are artificially low.

Banks and their listing agents have figured out the “list low – sell high” strategy and are whipping it into an art form. Low ball offers on REOs are WAY gone unless it’s a dog of a property and has been sitting on the market an awfully long time. If you see something out there priced way too low to be real, guess what …

Lastly, remember that short sale listing agents are also pricing way below market value just to get you through the front door. Problem is, there is absolutely NO guarantee that the bank will actually sign off on the “list price” or your subsequent lower offer.

I believe this situation will be temporary.

We cannot continue to have more homes go pending than are actually coming on the market – this is supply and demand economics 101. Something has to give. I believe it will be supply: in my opinion, we are going to see a resurgence of foreclosed homes into the market in the near future that will level the playing field. Many of these will be existing short sales that have been sitting out there a long time. And in some cases, short sale homes, once foreclosed, will go back on the market at a higher price than their list prices as short sales. This is simply because they were priced far too low to begin so as to attract visitors and offers.

Bottom line: I personally do not believe homes at the bottom will go down much more in value, if at all. I believe homes in the upper end will be the ones taking the hit. And I also am going to predict that by mid-summer, we should be back to at least 3 months of inventory.

So how to respond to all of this?

Be a wise buyer. Cooler heads always prevail and make the money in markets like this while those who respond with panic end up losers every time. Set a limit and stick to it – it may be a while before you land a house, but with careful work and due diligence, you will find one that you can finally call “home.”

If your buying a home, you’ll probably be signing up for homeowner’s insurance as well. In fact, many lenders will require that you purchase a homeowner’s policy before your mortgage can be approved.

Most homeowner’s insurance policiesnincludenboth property and liability coverage. The property section covers damage to your possessions, home, garage or other structures on your property. It also covers offsite housing if you must move out of your house while repairs are being made. Personal property coverage will usually pay 50% of replacement value, although there may be a limit on such items as jewelry.

Most lenders require that you have Insurance (which is typically based on market value) before you close. Because the market value is a broad figure that doesn’t take specific features into account, chances are it’s much less than what your actual costs would be. Market value is based on such factors as the age and condition of your home, and the value of comparable homes in your area.

If you have any questions about the real estate industry, call me. As your real estate professional, I would be happy to help you with all of your real estate needs.

Buying a home is one of the biggest investments you’ll ever make. you want to protect yourself and your investment during the purchase transaction with title insurance.  If you own the land that the house is on, you have a strong right to the property.  But if others have rights to it through liens, unpaid taxes or minning rights, they are also part owners of the property.  Even if you know nothing about these risks, as the homeowner you are still vunerable to such claims on your property.  Title Insurance, which protects against claims on your real estate by others, requires that certian risks be eliminated before the policy takes effect.  It then covers hidden risks thereafter.  If you have to go to court in regard to your property the title insurance company will pay for your legal counsel  If you lose your rights you should be protected up to the amount of the policy.  The cost of title insurance is usually less than five percent of the cost of your home, but be aware that the coverage may not be automatic.  Make sure you discuss a title insurance policy with your loan agent.  When you are ready to buy a home, call me, as your real estate professional I’ll be happy to help you through the process.

The latest survey by the Pew Research Center finds that 20% of all homeowners-or 30% of mortgage holders-say that if they had to sell their home right now, it would sell for less than they owe. And homeowners who feel underwater on their mortgages report considerably more financial strain that those who do not.

Roughly 6 in 10 (61%) of those who say they are underwater on their mortgage are white, 12% are black and 18% are Hispanic. By comparison, 84% of mortgage holders who say their home would sell for at least the value of their mortgage are white, 6% are black and 6% are Hispanic.

Nearly a quarter (23%) of those who owe more than the current value of their home are under 30 years old, compared with just 10% of those who think they would at least break even if they had to sell today. Those who feel that they are underwater on their mortgage are also much more likely to have children under 18 living in the home than are mortgage holders who don’t feel that way (64% compared with 47%). Those who say their home is paid for tend to be older: 43% are 65 or older and 33% are ages 50 to 64. Consequently, relatively few (19%) say they have children younger than 18.

Overall, homeowners offer mixed ratings of their own personal finances. Nearly half (46%) say they are in excellent or good shape financially, and about the same number (52%) say they are in only fair or poor shape.

Among those who feel that their home would now sell for less than they owe on their mortgage, however, ratings of personal finances are considerably less positive. More than six-in-ten (63%) offer a negative assessment of their personal financial situation, while only 36% say they are in excellent or good shape. In contrast, a majority (54%) of mortgage holders who feel they would at least break even if they had to sell today say they are in excellent or good financial shape.

Mortgage holders who are underwater also are more likely to be suffering financially in other ways. They are more likely to have had trouble getting or paying for healthcare for themselves or their family (32% vs. 16% of those who are not underwater) and to report having been laid off (21% vs. 13%).

Nearly all (98%) of those who say their home would sell for less than they owe on their mortgage report having made reductions in spending or changes in their saving or investment patterns lately, as do most (86%) of those who say their homes would sell for more than the value of their mortgage. However, on any given cutback item- outside of adjusting retirement plans- those who are upside-down on their mortgages are at least 15 points more likely than those who are not to report cutting back. For example, 63% of mortgage holders who say they owe more than the value of their home report having delayed or canceled plans to make a major purchase for their household, compared with just 38% of those who do not owe more than the value of their home.

Although a substantial minority (19%) of those who feel underwater on their mortgages cite declining real estate values as their top personal financial worry, this concern runs a distant second to worries about the job situation. Nearly half — 47% — of those who feel upside-down cite jobs as their top concern.

While a plurality of mortgage holders who do not feel upside-down also mention jobs (38%), the second most cited concern among this group is problems in the financial markets (30%); only 11% of mortgage holders who are not underwater say their biggest concern is declining real estate values.

January 10, 2009-As homeowners recommit to their current house in the economic and housing downturn, they’re looking for ways to find more space to make the most of what they have.

"People are saying, ‘We’re here for a while, so what can we do to make this place more usable and give us space?’" says Laura VanSickle who with her husband, Eric, owns Closets by Design in Charlotte, N.C.

The recession has been bringing people to her doors, VanSickle says, as homeowners look for ways to make their cluttered homes feel roomier.

But finding more space is often harder than installing a few bookshelves or cleaning out a closet. We asked area storage and organization experts for their best tricks to adding more square footage to your home without adding a room.

1. Think up. There’s often plenty of space up high in closets and pantries for another row of shelves — and often we don’t fill the ones that are already there.

"We’re really good at maximizing the horizontal space, but we forget about the vertical space," says Carson Tate, founder of the Charlotte organizational services company Living Simply. She recommends using the backs of doors to store items like shoes or accessories, and even the roof of a garage can be fitted with shelves to keep Christmas decorations or rarely used items such as car-top carriers.

2. Try to get some items off the ground if possible to free up floor space and make your rooms seem bigger. Would a lighted wall sconce work, instead of a table with a lamp on it? Do you need an entire bookcase, or would a few wall-mounted shelves suffice? In an office, install shelves 12 to 18 inches below the ceiling and line the walls with books. Add a small ladder and it’ll have a library feel. And wall-mounting a flat-screen TV eliminates the need for a big media center.

3. Have a bonus room? Put every inch to use. "They’re big, odd-shaped rooms and you don’t know what to do with them," Laura VanSickle says. The trick, she says, is to carve them up into smaller spaces. Buy a wrap-around desk and fill it with office supplies to become your kids’ homework corner. Use low shelves to create a nook for toys, and another nook for video games and all the gaming accessories. "It’s amazing how you can squeeze a lot of use into a room," VanSickle says.

4. Transform your guest room into an office, exercise room or living area by adding a Murphy bed. Murphy beds flip up for vertical storage inside a cabinet, and are ideal space savers because they are just 18 to 20 inches deep — in some cases even allowing your bed to transform into a wall of bookshelves.

Today’s Murphy beds are far more comfortable and easy to use than those of decades past, and much prettier, too. Now, Murphy beds accept regular mattresses and can be flipped open or closed easily with one hand. One Charlotte-area Murphy bed retailer, Buy Bye Beds, sells Murphy beds starting at $1,599, including the mattress. The company also sells cabinets that contain fold-away "drop tables" ideal for crafting, sewing or other projects that you don’t need out every minute.

Murphy beds are making a comeback in urban settings — Buy Bye Beds has been hired by developers to install them in some condominiums in uptown Charlotte, says owner London Scialdoni.

5. In kids’ rooms, don’t toss toys into giant toy bins, but instead give them low bookshelves with small containers for different types of toys. Says Tate of Living Simply: Don’t stack books on a bookshelf, because young kids often have trouble inching one book out and putting it back correctly. Instead, place a stack of books in a large square basket where they can be flipped through.

6. Choose furniture wisely. Skirted tables are perfect for stashing almost anything, and can be placed in almost any room of the house. A bench with a hinged lid is perfect for the foot of a bed or under a window, and is nice for storing linens, towels or clothes. Use long, flat storage boxes to keep items under beds or buy a set of ready-made steel bed risers to hike the bed up and allow for more storage. Leather storage ottomans do double duty in family rooms as seating or storage.

7. Got a small, useless space? Fill it in with cabinets. Master bathrooms tend to be huge in newer homes, and open walls are ripe for an extra cabinet to store necessities such as medicines, towels, linens or bath supplies, VanSickle says. One client asked her to create a built-in vanity in the corner of an odd-shaped closet.

8. Install a hanging bar in your attic. It’s the perfect place to hang tablecloths that are used only a few times a year, Tate says. Buy a canvas bag at a storage or discount store, toss in some cedar chips and hang the linens. "They’re out of the way and they stay nice and crisp and fresh."

9. Create more space in your closet. Tate recommends having just one kind of hanger in your closet, as it makes clothes easier to see. Her choice: the slimline hanger (www.slimlinehangers.com). The hangers are slim, so they take up little space, and they’re covered with a velvet-like material that won’t allow your clothes to slip off. They’re strong, so they won’t bend even under the weight of a winter coat, she says.