This Week in Real Estate - 8-28-2015 - One Year Later

The How is the market?

This by far is the most common question I am asked regarding real estate. This week, with the anniversary of the South Napa Quake, the question was how is the market compared to a year ago? Have we recovered for that?

In all honesty, the earthquake had only a minimal impact on the market. Real Estate has been chugging along since 2012 and that event provided only a minor speedbump in the trend.

I love a few good charts so here we go.

First question is always about price. We have been seeing prices increase in both terms of median price and price per square foot for years when looked at as a Year over Year comparisons.

Second question comes to inventory.

We had a glimmer of hope earlier this year that inventory might be improving, but that was quickly swallowed up by the demand from buyers. We are still struggling to get a good supply of inventory (if you are thinking of selling … call me for my 100% list price GUARANTEE)

-Kris

Home Tip of the week.

Have you been watching the stock market this week?

To say it has been a little volatile would be an understatement. But when it comes to investing, unless you are a day trader, we tend to forget that the market has been doing incredibly well for the last 7+ years.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average is up from the 10000 threshold hit in 2010. The DJIA surpassed the previous high of approximately 14,000 (pre-recession) in January of 2013.

But these events of the past two weeks have reminded me of the great advice I get from Mark Richmond at LPL Financial.

Here is Mark’s tip for getting your financial house in order. You can contact Mark at 707.603.2663 or m.richmond@lpl.com for a review of your financial home as well.

Getting your house in order applies to more than your home; it applies to your physical, mental and fiscal well-being.  For most of us today our lives run at an incredible pace: kids, school, work, social obligations and the upkeep and maintenance of our home and finances.  Most of the experts agree that if you want to accomplish tasks without fail, make them habits.  A habit is something you accomplish after repeating an activity 12-times in succession.  An easy way to make sure that you accomplish home and financial maintenance is to build routines or habits.

MAKE IT A HABIT

Create a 12-month calendar of your financial and home maintenance chores.  For your home it will include things like gutter maintenance, carpet care, setting your clocks for each time change and changing furnace and water filters and seasonal cleaning.  For your finances it is reviewing your savings and retirement plans annually, budgeting your monthly expenses and tax liabilities.  January tends to be a good month to budget for the year.  Budget both the necessities and more discretionary items like vacations and automobiles.  For your home, make sure your gutters are not full and that your weather stripping is holding – they both have a few more months of abuse to endure.  April tends to be a good time to look at your tax and savings habits.  You’ve just digested your annual visit with the IRS (aka filed your tax return) and so can evaluate where your retirement plan is taking you and increase (or not) your 401(k) or IRA contributions to provide you with tax and retirement relief.  March and April are also the traditional “Spring Cleaning” months and the month you set your clock forward (March 9th, 2014).  Change your heater, water and air conditioner filters.

May and June are gardening and outdoor improvement months in preparation for the summer and are also a great months to think about your educational savings plan for your children and grandchildren.  October tends to be a good month to prepare for winter by changing your heater and water filters and making sure you will maximize your tax deductions for the year and have adequately prepared for any tax liabilities.  Review and reforecast your budget too as the holidays are just around the corner.  Cut out unnecessary expenses (the 10,000+ Cable TV channels you now pay for but rarely watch) and any other unwanted services or unread subscriptions that may have accumulated over the year.

By making these tasks a habit you will better maintain your home and personal finances.  For more information and helpful hints, please subscribe to our firm’s online newsletter by emailing mark.richmond@napavalleyfinancial.com and placing “Newsletter” in the subject line.