Real estate articles that are really just lists are now being called “listicles”—and there are certainly plenty of them around. The other day one appeared that just had to be read: Bankrate’s “7 things that could turn off homebuyers.”The actual listicle may not have been the product of much real research into houses for sale, but it was amusing. In the best social media tradition, I’d like to add a few thoughts in order to come up with a modified/improved “7 things” (for starters, there are 9):9 Things Bound to Offend Nicasio Homebuyers       Monkeys.       All right, that first requires an explanation. It headed up the Bankrate list, with a picture of a rhesus macaque clinging to a balcony railing. I’d have to agree that monkeys freewheeling around a Nicasio house for sale might drive ... 12/08/2016

You don’t have to be beyond your 40s to begin plotting a direction for your retirement years. Most younger Novato residents know this full well but (truth be told) do precious little about it. For most of us, we’re all so busy tending to career and daily living concerns that most of the time it seems like self-indulgent wool-gathering to go daydreaming about retirement plans. Besides—who has extra cash to be doing more than the bare minimum about financing retirement? It’s so far off in the future…That may be the 21st-century reality for most Novato adults who aren’t close to retirement age, but in fact, some of the real estate decisions we make early on can set the stage for satisfaction in later years. That’s one of the takeaways from the brains at Age Wave, a think tank who consult o... 12/08/2016

If you listen to the Chairman of the Index Committee at Standard & Poors-Dow Jones, the nation’s housing market has reached an important milestone—one likely to be appreciated by real estate holders—Stinson Beach homeowners and investors included.The gentleman in the spotlight is David Blitzer, who is the head man when it comes to the S&P Case-Shiller Index, the most widely-respected measure of housing activity.Mr. Blitzer’s comments were aimed at the latest report, released last Tuesday. It covered three-month price averages for the quarter ending in September. They notched a 5.5% higher average residential price over the previous year.Now at this point, Stinson Beach real estate observers might wonder what is so newsworthy about yet another appreciation in residential real estate pric... 12/08/2016

If you were one of the brave Nicasio real estate investors who decided a few years back that the real estate meltdown was an awfully good buying opportunity, congratulations on being able to resist any naysayers. The fact that real estate has always lived up to its name (“real”) is easy to forget when prices have hit the basement—especially when the surrounding economic news is dire.Those were days when Nicasio fixer-upper opportunities were available for shockingly low asking prices—and before long, the shockingly low asking prices began to look normal and reasonable. “Bank owned homes” became a hugely popular search term as foreclosure numbers skyrocketed. It’s hard to recall the way it really felt, but any buying into that real estate market seemed like a swashbuckling act of raw cou... 11/17/2016

If you weren’t among those who were surprised by last week’s election outcome, you were among very few. Opinion leaders in every corner of the media are still scrambling to explain why their prognostications had been so wide of the mark. When your job is to help people understand the fine points of current events, it’s just plain embarrassing when you get the big picture 180 degrees wrong!For both Novato homeowners who will be considering putting up a ‘For Sale’ sign within the next year or so—as well as for potential Novato  real estate buyers they will need to attract—any shift in the currents in Washington are very likely to affect the market conditions they’ll encounter. There are three areas that can have profound impacts on the strength or weakness of residential home sales:      ... 11/17/2016

 Diana Olick is a well-known industry writer. Anyone with an interest in Marin County real estate can usually find something of value when she comes up with a new entry in her CNBC column (the one with the pun-worthy title, “Realty Check”). This month she commented on the rising housing market across the nation and its repercussions in terms of homeowner equity.The piece points out that in the U.S., home equity has doubled over the last five years!It’s hardly news that home values have been steadily on the rise—that’s been a trend long seen in the asking prices in California and our Marin County listings. But the idea of homeowner equity actually doubling could be hard to believe.That’s a claim that sounds a like quite an exaggeration…until you stop to think about what is actually being... 11/17/2016

The Leasing Team at Foundation Rentals and Relocation just LEASED another property in Novato  for $4,500.  Thanks to everyone for a great transaction.  For any questions about Novato  property management or buying or selling investment properties in Novato , call Broker Christopher Barrow at (415) 637-8934! 08/04/2016

The Leasing Team at Foundation Rentals and Relocation just LEASED another property inNovato for $5,895. Thanks to everyone for a great transaction. Forany questions about Novato property management or buying or selling investmentproperties in Novato , call Broker Christopher Barrow at (415) 637­8934! 07/06/2016

Any idea that’s worth a darn can stand up to scrutiny, so when the real estate industry’s leading periodical, Realtor.com, first posted the “I Hate the Open-Plan Kitchen” article, it wouldn’t have been a dereliction of duty for home design aficionados to go ahead and read it. That’s true even if (like me­­­ and the majority of Marin home buyers) you appreciate open-plan kitchens for all the entertaining and family-gathering features they foster.You may not be head-over-heels in love with open-plan kitchens­­­--but hating them? It made the article definitely worth a read… The author, Audrey Brashich, explained the origin of her enmity. It all bubbled up as she contemplated the remodel of a hopelessly out-of-style (“think yellow oak cabinets paired with linoleum countertops”) kitchen. Her... 06/27/2016

If you’ve been house hunting for the Marin County home you know is out there—the one that will fit your needs, is situated in a suitable neighborhood, and fits your budget—when you home in on a likely candidate, try not to fall in love with it (at least not right away). House hunting is a nesting exercise: part logic, part emotion. Nothing will change that. But problems can result when emotions take over early on in the process. It’s human nature to rush past what seem to be pesky little details as you near the finish line. If, later, “pesky” turns into “horrendous,” it can usually be traced to a rush to judgement born of emotion. The most productive attitude is one of patience—energized by optimism but tempered with cool judgement. When you have faith that you will find what you’ve bee... 06/13/2016

A mega-proportion of serious Marin County house hunters ultimately decide it makes the most sense to team up with a real estate professional to get the job done. Marin County buyers may begin the process of finding and buying their next home on their own, checking through the online listings or driving target neighborhoods to check out the “For Sale” signs—but the NAR® reports that 9 out of 10 of U.S. buyers will eventually use a real estate agent in their search process.The most obvious motivation for that is because the buyer’s agent’s fee is paid from the seller’s proceeds. That alone could explain a 90% level of popularity. When you can benefit from a professional’s services at no cost to yourself, Marin County house hunters would have to think long and hard to come up with what the... 06/06/2016

When you set about selling your Marin County house, it’s good to adopt the kind of determined mindset that’s served you well in other pursuits. That’s all well and fine, so long as you keep in mind that when it comes to selling a house, in addition to being a serious business undertaking, it is one that also weighs in with a significant emotional component. Not just for the prospective buyers—but also for you, the seller. And that reality is at the basis of the first of these five major No-Nos that can foul up otherwise flawless efforts toward selling a house in Novato:            Getting emotionally over-involved. Since almost everyone who is selling a house that they have lived in for years is somewhat tied to the place, you can’t expect to be robotically disconnected from its sale. B... 05/30/2016

Thoughtful Novato investors find themselves in an increasingly uncertain environment. Although the official cost of living numbers indicate that inflation isn’t much of an issue, few Marin residents who mind the family budget are convinced. Even if that were currently the case, even fewer think it a situation that will last indefinitely. At the same time, dollars banked in savings accounts earn next to nothing. And at this point, many feel that trusting in the stock market requires nerves of steel. Last week, The Wall Street Journal was reporting that even the biggest hedge fund managers, convened in Las Vegas for their annual SALT get-together, were displaying “decided pessimism.” Unnerved by their inability to guarantee future value to their clients caused a “mood that was anything bu... 05/16/2016

Sometimes life throws curves your way. It can put you into situations you never intended—which may be hard to explain. That’s how it is with me and the tax collector.As we recently experienced, there’s nothing like Tax Day to bring home the reality of just how many dollars are diverted into government coffers. Instead of quietly resting in our Marin bank accounts where they belong, great bunches of our dollars are dispatched to the tax collector, thinning the ranks of their fellows in the bank. They’ll be left to face the future alone. I’d be tempted to paint a picture of our remaining cash left shivering in the dark—but that might be overly dramatic. Let’s just say there would be a lot more of it were it not for April 15.As usual, this past April 15 again forced us to put it all on pap... 05/02/2016

Selling your Marin County home is the kind of major undertaking that has so many facets just deciding where to start can delay liftoff. Since there is no actual “right” place to begin, like other mammoth projects, just digging in anywhere will do. The happy truth is that when you’re selling a home, once momentum gets going, the rest of the pieces tend to fall into place.To get the ball rolling, here is a pre-sale checklist of major activities that selling your Marin County home will entail. To get started, pick any one:         Nagging problem elimination. Very few of us attend to every home maintenance problem as they gradually develop. If there were a reliable poll on the subject, I’d guess that 95% of Marin homeowners have at least a two or three areas that we’ve learned to live with... 04/25/2016

A few weeks ago, two pieces of incoming information crossed my screen—items that related to the possible direction in which Novato home loan interest rates might be heading. The first came from a big national listing aggregator. It seems that once this outfit gets the idea that you are interested in homes in Novato, they conclude that it’s your wish to establish an ongoing relationship. They then display all the energy and persistence a large corporation can muster to share their meditations about this and that. They will continue to email you with regularity until you call a halt.Along with other communications, they sometimes send attention-grabbing questions to everybody on their list—then share the answers from the “community” (that is, everyone who hasn’t begged off yet). Last week... 04/19/2016

Not since Johnny Depp put his French countryside village up for sale have Novato real estate investors had an out-of-town real estate opportunity like the one that grabbed national headlines last week. As markdowns go, it was remarkable. But there were…issues…This deal was described by Fortune magazine as “a 640-acre desert town that comes with a casino, a 10-room motel, restaurant, post office, and an airstrip.” Fortune apparently missed the mobile home park and convenience store that CNN Money noticed. Originally put up for sale in 2010 for $17 million, Marin investors should appreciate that its newly marked down asking price is just $8 million. Although some potential buyers’ enthusiasm might be dampened by the Google Maps satellite view of the township which shows it to be pretty mu... 04/18/2016

They’re aimed at the Frustrating Five: spring cleaning tasks that Novato homeowners tend to put off and/or ignore more than the others. Since spring is the most agreeable time of year to tackle household maintenance (even the vexing ones), here’s a list to contemplate—along with some widely accepted strategies for taking them head-on:          Kitchen cabinets gradually build up grease—and getting rid of it is one of those jobs we don’t tend to tackle on a regular basis. The first of the top 5 spring cleaning tips is the easiest: that grease is no challenge if you remember to keep a single-purpose product on hand. Marin hardware stores and supermarkets stock them: just look for the household cleaning bottles that have “Dirt and Grease” somewhere on the label.            Dirty windows ar... 04/18/2016

By now, our Novato long-time house flipping veterans have seen it all: raging real estate bubble, over-the-cliff market freefall, energetic bounce-back, and now, the current, more rational market’s steady appreciation.House flipping experts prosper when they succeed in improving an undervalued Marin property quickly and inexpensively, and then “flip” it expeditiously. The key is to add value that is appreciated by the buying public. The Marin County’s long-term house flipping successes are the opposite of those who opt for skin-deep, purely cosmetic changes. Except in the most extreme sellers’market conditions, buyers are too perceptive to reward cover-up tactics. Novato house flippers with staying power are usually the veterans who can spot quality beneath neglect. They also tend to ha... 04/18/2016

Modern life is said to have gotten immeasurably richer as labor-saving devices have empowered households and workplaces from one end of Novato to the other.Richer, yes; simpler, surely not!Today’s Marin County householder’s typical day likely involves juggling multiple destinations: shop for dinner, get kids to lessons or practices, drop off packages and pick up dry cleaning—or several hundred other possibilities that modern mobile Americans integrate into their daily lives. We don’t give it a thought.Not to mention what happens when your profession isn’t tied to one location.When it comes to buying and selling Marin homes, the freedom brought by 21st century mobility makes selective house hunting much more efficient. But all the accompanying lifestyle changes have introduced complicati... 04/18/2016