Category Archives: Real Estate

San Diego – here’s why millennials aren’t settling here

Posted on November 30, 2016 | Leave a comment

San Diego is beautiful, but if you’re a young person without a lot of cash, North Carolina doesn’t look half bad.

Despite hip locales, craft beer and a bike lanes, San Diego County had one of the smaller millennial population increases in the nation from 2005 to 2015, said a study from Apartment List Rentonomics released Tuesday.

The study looked at 345 metros using U.S. Census data and found the secret to attracting America’s largest population — wage growth and affordability.

Of the 50 largest metro areas, Houston had one of the biggest millennial population increases. In the decade studied, the Texas city saw its median income, adjusted for inflation, increase 8.4 percent while its millennial population increased 17.4 percent.

Largest millennial population growth from 2005-2015

Based on the 50 largest metro areas

1. Charlotte (30.7%)

2. Houston (17.4%)

3. Austin (16.4%)

4. Seattle (15.3%)

5. Omaha (14.3%)

6. Nashville (13.8%)

7. Indianapolis (12.5%)

8. Tulsa (11%)

9. Orlando (10.5%)

10. Columbus (9.7%)

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Reality TV Remodeling shows – Chicago experts discuss TV magic

Posted on November 25, 2016 | Leave a comment

It doesn’t take a Ph.D. to point out that entertainment doesn’t always imitate life.

Just as one might argue Bravo paints housewives the world over as, well, prickly, HGTV can make realty agents, contractors and interior designers look like time-defying, cost-erasing wizards, capable of finding cheap homes and cranking out remodels lickety-split.

Need to know if the remodel will add value to your home – contact the appraisers at www.scappraisals.com for your home value questions.

So we passed them the mic. Here are the myths real estate and design experts encounter, and the truths homebuyers and sellers should keep in mind.

Pray for patience, and put away the hard hat.

A 5-year-old can do the math: It takes longer than approximately 40 minutes to find, renovate and decorate a house. But some consumers do believe a bathroom or kitchen remodel can be carried out in a fantastically quick timespan.

David Roberts, owner of Roberts Architects and Construction in Evanston, has heard prospective clients sing this tune: “Well, a bathroom remodel might take a week, because when we see it on TV, you know, the carpenter shows up, they take the old stuff out, the tile guy comes the next day, he puts the new tile in, and then the next day the plumber comes in and hooks up the toilet and the lovely new sink and shower, and then we put some glass doors in the shower and some light fixtures and by Friday it’s all done.”

That simply ain’t so.

An extensive bathroom remodel, Roberts said, one where you toss the old tiles, tear out the tub, install a shower and rework the plumbing, can take six weeks to eight weeks. Involved kitchen remodels — moving the sink to the island, resizing windows, rearranging appliances — also take a couple of months.

San Diego – Rent or Buy

Posted on November 14, 2016 | Leave a comment

Right now it is cheaper in the long run to buy a home than rent in San Diego County, but the cost benefits aren’t as high compared to much of the nation.

It is about 32 percent cheaper to buy than rent in San Diego, said Trulia’s Rent vs. Buy study released Thursday. Buyers in 85 of the nation’s largest metros, however, see more of a benefit, including Boston, Salt Lake City, New York, Atlanta, Philadelphia and Detroit.

While San Diego’s rents are high, the gap between home prices and leasing isn’t as extreme as in other cities. For instance, in West Palm Beach, Fla., the median home price is $241,509 and monthly rent is $1,950 — making buying a home there 53 percent cheaper than renting.

Consumers gain the least from buying in Honolulu, where the $629,606 median home price and $2,500 monthly rent make it only 17 percent cheaper to get a home of your own.