Carmichael CA Realtor| Davis CA Realtor| Craig Diez

Craig Diez - Diez & Sigg Properties

2019’s Housing Market Is Likely to Be Stronger Than We Thought

by Leave a Comment

Clare Trepasso writing for Realtor.com has insight on what will be a great housing market for the rest of 2019.

Despite a real estate slowdown gripping the nation, this year’s housing market is expected to be busier than realtor.com® economists originally predicted late last year. That means more home sales—and higher prices—are on the way.

The anticipated uptick in activity is due to lower mortgage rates, which make homes more affordable for buyers. The economic team expected rates to climb to 5.5% in 2019, but instead, they have hovered around 4%. (They were 4.17% on 30-year, fixed-rate mortgages as of April 18, according to Freddie Mac data.) Economists say rates are now likely to rise a little to 4.5%, still well below what buyers were dreading.

However, it’ll be nothing like the feeding frenzy of recent years.

“It’s still going to be a lukewarm year for the housing market,” says Chief Economist Danielle Hale of realtor.com. “We’re going to see higher prices and slightly higher home sales than we expected. But home sales are still going to decline slightly as a result of the housing slowdown. There’s a gap between what sellers are looking for and buyers are hoping to pay.”

 While a single percentage point difference may not seem that significant, it can add more than $100 to the monthly loan payment on a median-priced home of $300,000. (This assumes buyers put 20% down.) That can translate into tens of thousands of dollars over the life of a 30-year loan.

The downside for buyers—and upside for sellers—is that prices are expected to rise more than Hale’s team originally forecast, going up 2.9% in 2019 instead of 2.2%. That’s because the swelling ranks of buyers motivated by those lower mortgage rates will increase demand—and therefore prices.

Click here for the full article

How to Keep Your Home Clean When you Have Pets

by 1 Comment

Jaymi Naciri writing for Realty Times gives us the tips we need to keep our home clean with pets.

Hairballs, tracked-in mud, and accidents, oh my! Picking up after a pet (or three if you live in our house!) is no joke. So how do you enjoy your place and keep it looking spiffy when you have pets, during this and every other season?

Unless you want to live in something resembling a pig sty, you have to be smart about your pet-cleaning tools and techniques.

Spring for the good vacuum

If you have pets that shed, you know the value of a good vacuum. But if you’ve been getting by on less, and dealing with vacuums that don’t have enough suction or just aren’t intended for pet hair removal, it’s time to trade up.

Pet Life Today likes the Shark Rotator Powered Lift-Away TruePet Upright Vacuum, which it calls a “versatile upright vacuum easily converts into a canister unit to provide a powerful clean for your entire home.” This one came out on top after their study of dozens of vacuums thanks to its “power, versatility and efficient removal of pet hair. The ability to convert this vacuum from an upright to a canister or handheld makes it the perfect all-round choice for cleaning every area of your home. The reasonable price and high amount of positive feedback from Amazon users is another reason this vacuum takes our top position.” This vacuum is available for $263.99.

Personally, we’re partial to the Dyson V8 Animal vacuum. It gets up all the hair, it has tons of attachments and do-dads, and is also cordless, which makes it super versatile. The potential downsides: it’s pricey, at $399, and it has a small canister, which means you have to dump it out more often.

Stock up on lint rollers

We can’t decide if this giant-size, pet-themed lint roller is genius or ridiculous, but we’re definitely intrigued. We have regular-sized lint rollers stashed all over our house because they’re the greatest for removing dog hair from upholstery, rugs, bedding, and clothes. The 10-inch width of this one is enticing, and the pole sounds like a back-saver, frankly.

But the price seems a bit steep. At $21.99, we predict the 25 sheets will last us a day or two. Refills are as low as $10.49 and come with 50 sheets, but that still doesn’t compare to the five-roll (95 sheets each) combo pack for $10.79. So the real question is: How much is a pole worth?

Go for indoor-outdoor rugs

“They’ve come a long way since you last saw them in your grandparents’ basement. There are lots of stylish versions out there, and they’re available in a variety of color schemes,” said Architectural Digest. “Put a small one in front of each door—sort of like an indoor doormat—to catch any dirt and water your pet may drag in. I also recommend placing one under the sofa, dining room table, and any other place your pet likes to lounge. These rugs don’t let anything soak in, and they wipe clean with a damp rag.

If you don’t like the look or feel of indoor-outdoor rugs, look for something with a short weave. Hair will be much easier to get up if it can’t get stuck in the fibers.

Get a black light

If your pet does have an accident here and there (or even more often), a black light can help you pinpoint the urine so so you eliminate the stain and odor. “There could be urine or other waste stains your pet could be leaving around the house that you do not know about,” said Of Life + Lisa. “Once every week, conduct a sweep through of your rooms with a black light to find and eliminate these hidden stains.”

So why does this work? “Urine glows under a black light primarily because it contains the element phosphorus,” said ThoughtCo. “Cat urine, in particular, glows very brightly under ultraviolet light.”

Click here for the full article

The Property Brothers Reveal One Question Home Buyers Rarely Ask, but Should

by Leave a Comment

Lisa Johnson Mandell writing for Realtor.com gets some good home advice from the property brothers.

“Property Brothers” stars Jonathan and Drew Scott have met a lot of interesting clients, but a hunky firefighter who starred as Mr. February on a “Red Hot Firefighters” calendar? That may be a first!

“It was for charity,” Matt says with a laugh in the episode titled “Growing Boys, Grander House.”

Matt and his wife, Nicole, have three young boys—two of whom are twins—and suddenly the 1,200-square-foot starter home in Canada they bought six years ago feels more than a little cramped. Especially since it has three bedrooms and only one small bathroom.

Jonathan thinks he can rip the dated ’50s home apart and build it back up again for $70,000. If he can swing it, Drew estimates that their home can be sold for close to $800,000, rather than about $650,000 as is.

Meanwhile, the burning question for Drew is whether or not he can find them a new home with more bathrooms in a neighborhood that’s not too far from friends and family, on their budget of $925,000. It seems like a big ask, but if the Scott twins couldn’t stand the heat, they wouldn’t be in the kitchen.

Along the way, they come up with some smart advice for the buyer and seller in all of us. Take a look!

Give your kitchen island or peninsula an overhang for seating

When Jonathan and Drew walk into the family’s kitchen, they find a peninsula. But there isn’t really room to pull up a chair, because of the shelves below. Drew immediately resolves the situation by kicking out the shelves—now there’s plenty of space for his knees.

Color the kitchen

“I don’t want to do just a white kitchen,” Jonathan tells Nicole as he officially starts the renovation. “Now we’re seeing a lot more color trending.”

He advises using soft, subtle green undertones. But Nicole is not good with that—she prefers all white and neutral.

“Trust me,” he says. “We’re seeing greens and blues—that’s what’s trending.”

He promises her he’ll come up with something buyers will love, and he does—deeply dark blue lower cabinets with white, marbled quartz countertops. It is divine!

Click here for the full article

Is It Time for a Laundry Room Makeover?

by Leave a Comment

Adam Beasley of Lazy Guy DIY poses the answers to improving your laundry room look.

Basements are out of sight and out of mind a lot of times. It’s easy to let the space get away from you.  There’s not enough light, little organization and a whole lot of monsters hiding in the deep, dark corners.  We let our basement get the best of us. So, we decided to partner with The Home Depot to take back our neglected space and turn it into a place that we enjoyed spending time in with a laundry room renovation.

We had water damage from old gutters and an overall bad habit of piling stuff in corners that had to be addressed.  (Check out how we fixed the water damage and prepped the space prior to the update) When our decades old washing machine started to smell like it was burning, we knew it was time for a change. We wanted to go with something with high efficiency and high capacity since we just increased to a family of four.

Our old laundry set up did not have a single surface to fold laundry on.  We addressed it a few ways.  First, we added a butcher block workbench top by Edsal over the top of our new washer and dryer.  It’s a perfect fit,  durable and gives us a designated folding space that would combat the all too common “lost a sock between the washer & dryer” epidemic.  Plus we added these great teal Macklin metal baskets to capture the rest.

Next we brought in two Gladiator workbenches and the Gladiator free standing garage cabinet (with wheel kit) in white. The hardwood top and the white metal legs flowed perfectly with our lighter colored theme. Most importantly, it would hold up to the water we’d inevitably get in the basement.

Lastly, to make our lives a little easier, we picked up two of these bottomless Seville canvas laundry hampers. Now we can shuttle our laundry from washer to dryer without losing a sock or two along the way!

Click here for full article

Craig Diez

916-425-5884|Contact Craig