San Fernando Valley Real Estate Podcast with Scott Himelstein

Looking to buy a home? Get a Full Home Search   Looking to sell your home?  Free Home Price Evaluation Fourth of July is just around the corner, which means we’re already in peak grilling season! Today I have the pleasure of being joined by Courtland Miller, owner/chef at the Main Kitchen Cafe to help us review what not to do when grilling and barbecuing. Don’t put the sauce on the meat first. If you’re going to marinate your meat, do it the night before. When you take your meat out of the refrigerator, let it sit out so it’s not too cold and it cooks evenly all the way through. Be sure to wipe away any excess marinade. If it’s too wet when it hits the grill, the extra sugar and oil in that marinade will catch fire and char your food with an unsavory taste. Don’t cook on a high heat setting. Make sure that your grill is on high when you turn it on and when you season it. Before you lay your meats on, however, lower the heat so that the temperature sits between 300 and 350 degrees. A high temperature can burn the meat and cause it to cook unevenly on each side before flipping it over. And don’t assume barbecuing heat time and grilling heat time are the same. Whereas grilling utilizes higher heats to sear each side of the meat and lock in the juices, barbecuing goes low and slow for a more tenderizing process. “ Never cook meat on a high heat setting. ” Don’t prod or poke the meat. Seems obvious, but we’ve all done this one before. Prodding or poking the meat while it’s cooking can release the juices and render the finished product drier than it should be. Don’t poke holes in it like it’s a baked potato. Let it rest! Too often people see the meat come off the grill and start slicing. All that does is let the juices and flavors out. Instead, let it rest for 10-15 minutes. A good idea would be to cover it with aluminum foil to allow the juices to evenly distribute throughout the meat. Have a safe, happy, and satiating Fourth of July! If you’re looking for some great venues to catch all the fireworks, check out Timeout.com and the LA Times. If you have any real estate questions, be sure to call us or shoot us an email.  

Looking to buy a home? Get a Full Home Search   Looking to sell your home?  Free Home Price Evaluation It's hard to believe that we're almost at the end of May already. So far this year the Porter Ranch market has gone up in value and inventory remains very low. It's low all over Southern California. In 91236, only 76 homes are for sale out of 11,209 single-family units! Low inventory and low rates - hovering around 3.625% - are fueling the market. In open houses, we're seeing big groups come through, across the board in all price ranges. “ The Porter Ranch market has gone up in value. ” One thing we're seeing is that sales are down 15% to 25% in certain neighborhoods. A lot of it has to do with the fact that not many people are actually selling. Through April though, the amount of closed escrow is almost identical to 2015. We've only got 1.5 months of inventory available right now. A healthy market would have four or five months. We don't expect much of a change this summer. Please give us a call with any real estate questions! We'd love to work with you. 

Looking to buy a home? Get a Full Home Search   Looking to sell your home?  Free Home Price Evaluation If you’re thinking about listing your Porter Ranch home, you should get a termite inspection, and you should do it before you even list. Most sellers wait until after they’ve sold their home to get this inspection, and more often than not, sellers are sorry they didn't do it earlier. “ You should get a termite inspection before you list ” There are three main reasons why: You need to know exactly where you stand before negotiating the sale price. If you wait until your home is in escrow to get the inspection and find out your home needs thousands of dollars in treatments and repairs, it’s really too late to go back to the bargaining table and ask for a higher price to cover the cost. If there’s nothing wrong, you have nothing to worry about.Getting stuck with a rotten wood patio or deck. With the inspection done ahead of time, you’ll know whether or not they need to be replaced. If they’re shot, you can then decide whether to replace or scrap it. In fact, most wooden decks and patios add little to no value to your home. Quite often they are shrugged off as unimportant until it’s too late and the buyer insists that a new one is built.It should be done before painting or replacing your roof. It’s a shame to spend the money upgrading your curb appeal with paint or a new roof only to find out that you’re going to have to spend thousands more dollars to correct termite damage, fungus or dry rot - especially considering a termite report costs less than $100. If you have any questions about termite reports and inspections or any other real estate questions, give us a call or send us an email! Thanks again for watching our video blog.

Looking to buy a home? Get a Full Home Search   Looking to sell your home?  Free Home Price Evaluation Today I want to address a major issues affecting our entire real estate market in Southern California and the nation as a whole. Why aren’t there enough homes available? “ Low inventory has become a nationwide trend. ” We have mentioned many times that for a neutral market in the SFV, we need at least 7,000 homes available for sale. We currently have a total of 2,400 homes, and it has been this way since December. There are a few reasons for this massive decline in inventory. Interest rates are incredibly low, and they are still under 4%. Buyers have taken advantage of this and have bought up many homes.Small time investors and institutional investors are also gobbling up homes right now. This inventory is being rented out and they’re making a lot of money, so it simply doesn’t make sense for them to sell these properties. We have a sustained low interest rate environment. This means that many people have refinanced or locked in ultra low rates. This means that it is unlikely for these homes to come onto the market anytime soon. There aren’t a lot of places for the move up-buyer or for the downsizing buyer to move. This means that they’re staying in their current homes until the market improves for buyers. The recession has caused a lot of stunted development over the past few years. Not as many new homes have been built, and this has put pressure on our inventory levels. Population growth and job growth in Southern California have increased the amount of people who need housing, and this is putting extra stress on the availability of homes. The supply of homes in the entire United States is 8.6% below what it was last year. This has also caused home values to increase by 4.2%. Low inventory and high demand will inevitably push prices higher in Southern California. If you need help navigating this difficult market, then you know who to turn to for help!

Looking to buy a home? Get a Full Home Search   Looking to sell your home?  Free Home Price Evaluation Today we are happy to be joined by Zachary Schneiderman of Schneiderman Insurance, who is here to talk to us today about some of the common myths and misconceptions of earthquake insurance. As we all know, we live in earthquake country, and in light of all the recent earthquakes we’ve seen over the past few weeks, we thought this would be a good topic to discuss. There is a lot of misinformation out there when it comes to earthquake insurance, but it’s an important item to have if you’re a homeowner in the area. If you don’t carry earthquake insurance and your house is affected, you are going to be responsible for 100% of the costs, and may even have to take a loan out from FEMA. Now, if you have a 10-15% deductible that earthquake insurance typically has, that’s all you will have to borrow. When you’re looking at making a loan payment after an earthquake, it’s a lot better to only have to pay 10-15% back over time than 100%. If you can afford it, it makes a lot of sense to have. One thing that’s important to note is the recent changes that have come to the California Earthquake Authority. This organization started after the 1994 earthquake, but they haven’t made a lot of changes to their coverages and options since then. In addition to the 10% and 15% deductible options they had in the past, they have added 5%, 20%, and even 25% deductibles as well.  Another thing they did was raise their limits. In 1994, $25,000 in loss of use coverage was a lot, but not so much anymore. Their loss of use coverage goes all the way up to $200,000 today. Another important thing to note is that if you have certain items like a pool house or detached garage, the California Earthquake Authority does not cover that and you’ll need to get coverage from an outside company. Thank you to Zachary for joining us today. If you have any questions for him, feel free to give him a call at (818)322-4744. If you have any other questions for us, we are always available to chat via phone or email. We look forward to hearing from you!

Looking to buy a home? Get a Full Home Search   Looking to sell your home?  Free Home Price Evaluation Everyone has been asking me about the gas leak that has been affecting our community. Since December, we’ve gotten hundreds of inquiries into what to expect with our real estate market due to the gas leak. Since December 15th, we have had 59 closed escrows in the zip code of 91326. Of these closed properties, the list to sale price ratio was 98.1%. That’s pretty good, considering the conditions that have arisen as of late. Overall, the real estate market has actually improved since last year. At our last two open houses in Renaldi, we have had nearly 70 interested buyers at each showing. This might be due to low inventory, rising interest rates, or improved affordability. Simply put, this gas leak has not put a dent in our local market. We’re still in a very desirable area with some of the best schools in the state and the country. Low interest rates are also driving a lot of buyers to our doorstep. If you want to sell your home, visit www.your91326.com for a free home evaluation. We look forward to hearing from you!

Looking to buy a home? Get a Full Home Search    Looking to sell your home?  Free Home Price Evaluation Today I have my tax expert with me to discuss some questions you might want to ask your local tax professional about capital gains in investment properties. Craig Thomas of the Thomas Tax Group is here to discuss some of these important questions.  The first thing he always asks his clients is why they want to sell their rental properties. A typical answer is that they need the money. However, there are many other ways to find money, so he always recommends that they look at other options before selling. He also hears from a lot of his clients that they are tired of their rental properties, and he always suggests a 1031 Exchange, which allows you to trade for another rental of similar or higher value. You can defer your capital gain until you get out of the rental business. He also hears from people that they simply want to get out of the rental business. He reminds them that they will have to pay a capital gains tax to pay on their net gain from rentals. He usually suggests budgeting 30% of those net gains for taxes. The 1031 Exchange is a great option for those that don’t want to pay a tax on capital gains. Craig suggests hiring a 1031 Exchange Accommodator to ensure that everything goes according to plan. Hopefully this was valuable for you. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to ask me!

Looking to buy a home? Get a Full Home Search   Looking to sell your home?  Free Home Price Evaluation I think that people often feel open houses are a thing of the past. Before the Internet came around, it was a great way to draw attention to a property. So, why do we still use open houses to sell properties? We are big believers in open houses, and this is because if they are marketed well, we can often find buyers that are seriously interested. People use so much search criteria when they go online that your home may not even show up in their results. They may never even see your home otherwise! Sundays are typically when open houses take place, and real estate agents aren’t always available at those times. In an open house you can allow anywhere from 20-100 people to come and see your property. This eliminates the need for many different showings. Over 80% of our listings sold in 2015 because a buyer came to an open house. This is how we know that our open houses are working. We would love to help you sell your home in Porter Ranch! Don’t hesitate to contact us.

Looking to buy a home? Get a full Home Search   Looking to sell your home?  Free Home Price Evaluation What are the hidden costs in a home purchase? Once you've had your offer accepted, there are additional fees you are responsible for. First, there are home inspections. A lot of buyers forget about the fact that they are expected to pay for the home inspection out-of-pocket. Sometimes there are additional auxiliary inspections, such as main sewer line or chimney inspections. All told, inspections can run from $1,000 to $2,000, so make sure you have that money in your savings account. These inspections are not mandatory, but we highly recommend having them done. A home inspection can save you tens of thousands of dollars in repairs down the line. Buyers also need money for home maintenance upon close of escrow. Home maintenance includes cleaning, yard care, or pressure washing, just to name a few. These can add up quickly. In fact, the National Association of Realtors estimates that American homeowners pay an average of $3,500 a year to outsource home maintenance. Of course, it's cheaper to do it yourself, but you will still need some money. We recommend that our clients ask the seller how much gardening or pool services cost so you can factor it into your monthly payments.  When buying a home, don't forget about utilities.  When you buy a home, ask the seller for a copy of the last two utility bills. If you can, get the bills for peak months in the summer and winter so you can plan ahead. Finally, there are HOA and escrow fees that are the buyer's responsibility. As you can see, there are a lot of other costs to take into account when purchasing a home. If you have any questions about today's video or real estate in general, give us a call or send us an email. We would be happy to help you!

Looking to buy a home? Get a full Home Search   Looking to sell your home?  Free Home Price Evaluation Now is a great time to become a move-up buyer. Here's why. According to the National Association of Realtors, Generation Y and Millennials are 34% of the entire buyer pool. People between 35 and 49 years old, aka Generation X, make up 27% of the buyer pool. People between ages 50 and 68 make up 29% of buyers while buyers aged 69 years and up are 10% of the market. Overall, 88% of recent buyers financed their home purchases. When you look at Generation Y, 97% of buyers financed their home. The Silent Generation, or buyers aged 69 and older, only saw 61% finance home purchases. When it comes to a home purchase, the National Association of Realtors says that younger buyers finance larger shares. The typical Generation Y down payment is 7% while the Generation X down payment is 10% and the Silent Generation down payment is usually 22%. Buyers have a variety of sources for a down payment on a home. Younger buyers typically draw from savings, while older buyers use proceeds from the sale of a previous home. Younger buyers are more likely to use a gift or loan from a friend for their down payment. What does this all mean? Since we're seeing a large group of Millennials buying homes, it makes sense for you to move up into a new property. 2015 was the first year where we saw a lot of contingent sales go through without any issues. Sellers are beginning to accept contingencies easier than in years past. If you're a move-up buyer looking for something bigger, this is the time to buy. Interest rates are low right now, but they are expected to rise in 2016. With so many Millennials looking for their first homes, now is a good time to sell yours and move up into your dream house. If you have any questions, give me a call or send me an email. I would be happy to help you!