Elena Zimina's Real Estate

With each passing day, the number of structures destroyed by the Camp Fire rises. The fire is easily the most   destructive in California's history, unleashing a housing crisis of untold proportions. In the short-term, rents could spike, while over the longer term   high costs could make any efforts to rebuild the devastated town of Paradise a pricy endeavor. Cal Fire estimates show that at least 17,148 buildings have been swallowed by the Camp Fire’s flames. That’s nearly 4,000 more than the rest of the 5  most destractive California fires combined. There are tens of thousands of climate refugees living in temporary arrangements ranging from families’ and friends’ spare rooms and couches to hotels to shelters to tent cities in a Wal-Mart parking lot in Chico, located about 15 miles from the areas hardest hit by the Camp Fire. Rains are on the way  this week, which could send people in search of more firm shelter.  There is nothing ...

Over the last four years, Los Angeles house flippers have netted profits well in excess of $100,000, according to a new report from LendingHome. That high total shows why quick buying and selling is popular with many local real estate investors. Over a quarter of all flips in the state of California are undertaken in Los Angeles County, according to the report.  The report finds that, from 2014 to 2017, house flippers—who buy properties with the express purpose of fixing them up and re-selling them—sold 39,042 homes. The median sale price in those transactions was $140,000 higher than the last price paid, the ninth-highest total in all 58 California counties. That doesn’t take into account the amount flippers spend on repairs and renovation projects before selling properties though, so it’s likely that true profit is less than $140,000.  Eric Sussman, adjunct professor of real estate and accounting at UCLA, tells Curbed that LA’s wide range of sale prices makes ...

The real estate closing process is when you sign the legal documents that make a house your home. Are you about to close on a new home, or have you found a home to buy? If so, your real estate agent has likely dropped the word “closing” in a recent conversation. Mostly, closings are straightforward affairs. This article will step you through a typical closing process, up to and including signing day. It covers what you might expect, from the moment your offer is accepted to the moment you get the keys to your castle. Your real estate agent will typically perform most of the following steps, although the order may vary. Ask your agent which steps will be part of your closing to complete the transaction. Your agent should also help you with any steps you will need to complete. Typical Steps in a Closing Process Hire a real estate attorney (your state may or may not require you to engage a lawyer) Open an escrow account Complete the title search and/or buy title insurance Soli...

Having overnight guests for the holidays? Even if you’re up to your eyeballs in family, work, and holiday chores, with a bit of thought and planning you’ll be ready for holiday guests and they’ll feel right at home! Here are some tips for making your guests feel welcome and comfortable. 1. Clean and Declutter Declutter your home as much as possible, paying extra attention to guest bedroom, kitchen, and bathrooms. Include these on your checklist: Clean your fridge. Add arrangements of fresh flowers or greenery in your guest room and living areas. Even if you’re not interested in holiday decorating, these help make your home feel more inviting and festive. 2. Create a Comfy Bed Designate a place for your guests to sleep. Whether it’s a guest room, kid’s room, office, or even a pull-out couch or air mattress in the living room, be sure to check off these to-dos: Make the bed as comfortable and inviting as possible, regardless of the type of bed your guests will use. Inves...

Have you been struggling with your personal budget? Whether you're hoping to save money for a down payment on a home purchase, pay off bills, or simply have a little more money left over for when the next payday rolls around, the following budgeting apps can help. Mint:  Intuit's free Mint app is a powerful tool that's essentially an all-in-one resource for tracking your spending, creating a budget, and identifying problem habits. Mint has already existed for a few years and easily integrates with QuickBooks and TurboTax, which makes Mint the leading financial app available. PocketGuard:  If your problem is overspending, PocketGuard can help. This app categorizes and organizes your monthly bills, expenses, and subscriptions into easy-to-read graphs and tabs. Using PocketGuard can take the guesswork out of your finances. Wally:  Wally is another great app that helps you understand where your money goes. Use the app to balance income and expenses and set financ...

Unfortunately for allergy sufferers, having indoor pets and dealing with ongoing symptoms go hand in hand. Maybe you've gotten used to the itchy eyes, stuffy nose, sneezing, and dermatitis, but it doesn't make it any easier. Regardless, you certainly aren't alone. Pet dander is one of the most common indoor allergens, and according to the latest U.S. pet demographics, 84.6 million households have pets. If you love your pet and seek relief from persistent allergy symptoms, the key is proper management. Create an Allergy-Free Bedroom.  No matter how much your pet cries or claws at the closed bedroom door, having an allergy-free bedroom is essential for anyone with ongoing symptoms. You can create an allergy-free zone practically anywhere in the home, but the bedroom is often the easiest to keep off limits to your pets. An allergy-free bedroom helps you sleep better at night, and you're more likely to wake up without stuffy sinuses. Aside from keeping the door closed...

No doubt with fall weather upon us, you’re pulling out your coats, boots, and sweaters to prepare for the cooler months ahead, but is your home ready? Here are five easy hacks for prepping your property for the cold weather.   Inspect your insulation If your insulation needs work, your house will leak warmth and the rest of your heating efforts will be moot. Take a look at your insulation for any necessary improvements; it may be worth looking into a qualified assessor. This will cost a small fee but could be invaluable when keeping your home warm this winter. Seal gaps and cracks Plan an afternoon to scour your home for any cracks and gaps. For a fairly inexpensive price, you can purchase gap filler from your local hardware store and cover any areas you see where heat may escape. It may even be worth purchasing draft stoppers for roughly ten dollars a piece, to help prevent drafts from coming in through back entrances.   Use your windows wisely A great deal of h...

Halloween is all fun and games until a trick-or-treater trip, knocks over your jack-o-lantern, and sets your front porch on fire.  Fortunately, most homeowners insurance policies cover these common Halloween home mishaps: Halloween Home Horrors T ricksters damage your home.  Standard homeowners policies cover vandalism, such as dents in your siding caused by eggs thrown at your home, when repair costs exceed your deductible. Candles or decorations cause a fire.  A fire started by a Halloween candle or a string of holiday lights will be covered. If the fire makes your home unlivable, your homeowner's policy will pay your living expenses while you wait for repairs. A trick-or-treater gets hurt on your property.  Injuries to trick-or-treaters or your party guests are covered by the homeowner liability portion of your policy. The injured person files a claim with your insurer. You crash your car into a telephone pole to ...

LOS ANGELES (Oct. 11) – A combination of high home prices and eroding affordability is expected to cut into housing demand and contribute to a weaker housing market in 2019, and 2018 home sales will register lower for the first time in four years, according to a housing and economic forecast released today by the California Assosiations of Realtor.   C.A.R.’s “2019 California Housing Market Forecast” sees a modest decline in existing single-family home sales of 3.3 percent next year to reach 396,800 units, down from the projected 2018 sales figure of 410,460. The 2018 figure is 3.2 percent lower compared with the 424,100 paces of homes sold in 2017. “While home prices are predicted to temper next year, interest rates will likely rise and compound housing affordability issues,” said C.A.R. President Steve White. “Would-be buyers who are concerned that home prices may have peaked will wait on the sidelines until they have more clarity on where the housing market is headed. ...

Both  candidates for governor  agree that the cost of housing in California, to rent and own, is too dang high. They concur that the skyrocketing homeless population is a travesty. And they want to help the 1 in 5 Californians who live in poverty. But that’s pretty much all they agree on when it comes to how to make California more affordable. Gavin Newsom,  as has been he won't during two decades in public office, is a man with a plan. Fifteen of them, the Democrat says, that will address California’s housing and homelessness problems. John Cox,  as has been he won't during his two decades of trying to be elected to office, is a man with a critique. The GOP candidate says “all of these plans don’t mean a thing if we can’t change a lot of these laws that are driving housing costs through the roof.” As for specifics on how he’d do that, Cox said, “We’ll talk about that after I’m elected governor.” Until then, here are some areas where the candidates are tryi...

Rising costs threaten millions with ‘housing instability,’ Harvard report says Source: The Orange County Register With incomes falling woefully behind galloping rents and home prices, more and more Americans are “cost burdened” — that is, paying more than the recommended 30 percent of their earnings on housing. Those were among the findings of a new Harvard report on the “State of the Nation’s Housing.” The Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies released its 30th-anniversary edition Tuesday, June 19. Making sense of the story Almost a third of U.S. households — 38 million — were cost burdened in 2016, up from 31.5 million in 2001. And almost half of all renters — 21 million — were cost burdened in 2016. That’s a dramatic change from a half-century ago. In the 1960’s, 24 percent of renters were cost-burdened, vs. 48 percent in 2016. That’s because housing costs have soared, even after adjusting for inflation, while incomes failed to keep up.  The median U.S. ren...

President Trump Signs Dodd-Frank Rollback  President Trump recently signed into law the  Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief, and Consumer Protection Act , rolling back some provisions of the Dodd-Frank Act. While many of the provisions are related to rolling back requirements for small and medium banks, some will have a more direct impact on REALTORS®. REALTORS® may find the following provisions of interest:  TRID Relief: The Act removes the three-day waiting period required under TILA-RESPA mortgage disclosure when the creditor extends a second offer of credit with a lower APR.   Mortgage Licensing: Registered/licensed loan originators are given temporary authority to act under the SAFE Mortgage Licensing Act when changing employers.   Renters’ Protection: The Protecting Tenants at Foreclosure Act (sunset in 2014) is permanently restored.   PACE Loans: Real property retrofit (Property Assessed Clean Energy) (PACE) loans are now subject t...

Finding the Green to Go Green By Sherri Butterfield WRITER AND EDITOR The changes needed to make your home and yard green or greener can be expensive, but help is available in the form of renovation mortgages, home energy upgrade financing, product rebates, federal income tax credits, and—in some instances—reductions in municipal permit fees. You’ve probably thought about going green—or greener.  Whether your goal is to reduce the burden of your monthly utility bills, increase the value of your home, or save the planet, the obstacles are twofold: (1) summoning the will to tackle the project and (2) finding the money to pay for it. There are many good reasons for going green—or greener—and many good ways to get there, but you have to begin someplace. If you are wondering where that place is, you may want to recall the instructions that the King of Hearts gave to the White Rabbit in Lewis Carroll’s tale of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, “Begin at the beginning and go o...

Source: Business Insider  The value of the nation’s housing stock grew by 6.5 percent to $31.8 trillion this year — with Los Angeles and New York City far outpacing the rest of the country’s top-valued metro markets and Miami landing at No. 4. The Los Angeles market’s $2.7 trillion valuation topped that any other metro across the country after growing 5.7 percent over the past year. That’s a smidgen higher than New York City’s $2.6 trillion valuation, up 7.9 percent from last year. A and NYC were the only two markets worth more than $1 trillion, with Washington ($996.7 billion), Miami ($865.2 billion) and Chicago ($821.3 billion) rounding out the top five. San Jose saw the largest percentage growth — 13.5 percent — of the nation’s top 10 markets, while Columbus, Ohio’s 15.1 percent growth was the highest of the top 35 markets. The nation’s yearly growth is the highest since 2013, according to a Zillow report cited by Bloomberg. The $31.8 billion figure is 1.5 times the nation’s Gr...

Rent control, property taxes and taller apartment buildings: California considers major housing bills in 2018 Source: The Mercury News The state’s housing crisis is back on the agenda as California lawmakers return to work after a month-long recess. Proposals floated on the first week of the year would bring major changes to laws governing property taxes, rent control, and local zoning rules. Senate Democrats are also proposing a workaround for the recent GOP tax overhaul, which set a $10,000 cap on state and local tax deductions. Making sense of the story Deduction cap: A bill introduced Thursday would allow Californians to instead donate to the state, receiving a dollar-for-dollar tax credit, so they can — in theory — deduct the full amount from their federal taxes. There is no cap on deductions for charitable contributions. Rent control fight: Should California repeal a landmark 1995 law that keeps local rent control ordinances in check? The law, known as Costa Hawki...