Elena Zimina's Real Estate

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...

Mortgage rates :  Week ending 8/17/2017 (Source: Freddie Mac) 30 year fixed: 3.89% fees/points: 0.4% 15-year fixed: 3.16% fees/points: 0.4%

Realtor.com Introduces "My Home" To Help Homeowners Manage Their Home Like an Investment Realtor.com announced the release of My Home, a new feature on  realtor.com ’s desktop and mobile site, which empowers homeowners to manage their home as an investment.  With My Home,  realtor.com  provides homeowners with easily accessible tools and information needed to have a complete, all-in-one view of their home value, equity, financing options, neighborhood activity and trends, as well as home improvement projects that add value to their home.   As part of My Home,  realtor.com  is introducing an enhanced home value estimate for homeowners that utilizes lender-grade valuation models to provide a better estimate of what a home is worth today and in the future. When an owner first enters My Home the dashboard provides an estimate of mortgage payments and equity, assuming a 20 percent down at the time of purchase. An owner can then update My Home with the...

FAST FACTS Calif. median home price: November 2016: California: $501,710 Calif. highest median home price by region/county: San Francisco, $1,360,500 Calif. lowest median home price by region/county: Siskiyou, $183,000 Calif. Pending Home Sales Index : Statewide pending home sales increased in December on a seasonally adjusted basis, with the Pending Home Sales Index (PHSI)* rising 1.9 percent from 115.8 from December 2015 to 118.1 in December 2016. Calif. Traditional Housing Affordability Index : Third Quarter 2016: 31 percent Mortgage rates : Week ending 1/19/2017 (Source: Freddie Mac) 30 year fixed: 4.09% fees/points: 0.5% 15-year fixed: 3.34% fees/points: 0.4%