Green Real Estate Appraiser

House Hunting – 8 Things to Ask About the Neighborhood

Posted on June 29, 2014 | Leave a comment

Check all the statements that are true for you.

1. My house scores high on the walkability scale. To find your home’s walkability score, go to walkscore.com and type in your address. Any score over 70 is very walkable. Give yourself credit for any address that gets a score over 50. Whether members of your household can walk to at least one, if not many of their daily activities, such as work, school, church, or the market, plays a big role in how much unintentional exercise they get, according to a walkability report from Smart Growth America that ranks America’s 30 largest metros.

2. My neighborhood has sidewalks, a park, bike lanes, or bike or jogging trails. Those who live in communities that support walking, cycling and outdoor recreation are far more likely to be physically active, according to the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, a national nonprofit that works to improve the health of Americans.

3. I live within a mile of a supermarket that sells fresh produce. Having a fresh-food supermarket nearby is associated with a lower rate of obesity, while living close to a convenience store, which usually doesn’t sell fresh produce, has been linked to higher rates of obesity.

4. My town has a weekly farmer’s market that I can get to in five minutes. Studies show that communities that support a farmer’s market, which also provides easy access to healthy produce, are healthier.

5. The number of sit-down restaurants within a five-mile radius of my home either equals or exceeds the number of fast-food restaurants.

disclaimer: for information and entertainment purposes only

Concerns Persist – Will San Diego Have Blackouts this This Summer?

Posted on June 27, 2014 | Leave a comment

Managers of California’s electric grid issued a note of caution to San Diego-area utility customers Thursday in anticipation of peak summer power demands.

State officials and utility executives confirmed that Southern California is well prepared for peak electricity demands that come with a surge in air conditioning. The San Diego area, however, continues to be singled out as a point of vulnerability if critical power plants or transmission lines were to fail unexpectedly.

“SDG&E expects our region to have adequate supplies for the summer, despite the forecast of warmer-than-normal temperatures,” said Steven Davis, president of SDG&E, at a news conference in San Diego. “Having said that, we may very well have tight conditions this summer that necessitate the need to call for energy conservation from our customers.”

A rash of San Diego County wildfires in May highlighted environmental threats to the grid. Fires and even thick smoke can incapacitate transmission lines and sustained, widespread heatwaves can reduce the amount of available power imports that San Diego and California rely on to meet peak demands.

Disclaimer for information and entertainment purposes only

What Season Should You List Your Home?

Posted on June 27, 2014 | Leave a comment

It’s common knowledge verging on holy writ in real estate: Spring is the absolute best time of the year to sell a house.

Right?

But is there hard statistical evidence that listing your house in April, May or June — flowers blooming, birds chirping, lawns greened up after a tough winter — actually nets you a higher price or a shorter time from listing to sale?

Yes, but it’s not as clear-cut as you might imagine. There are important nuances in the data. Reviews of realty industry and academic studies suggest that while sales totals generally are highest in May and June, they actually reflect listings, contracts and buyer searches that occur earlier in the year.

A study of 1.1 million home listings between 2011 and 2013 in 19 major markets by the national realty brokerage firm Redfin found that, contrary to popular impressions, houses put on the market in winter — defined as Dec. 21 through March 21 — had a nine-percentage-point greater probability of selling within 180 days and at a smaller discount to the initial list price than houses put on the market during the spring months (March 22 through June 21). The advantage jumped to 10 percentage points over summer listings (June 22 through Sept. 20.) Winter listers ultimately sold for prices 1.2 percentage points higher than homes listed during any other season.

Though there were geographic differences, researchers found that even in areas with harsh winters, there were statistical advantages for listers. In Chicago there was a 13-percentage-point advantage in selling time for listings initiated in late December through mid-March compared with listings in the summer.

Disclaimer: for information and entertainment purposes only

House Hunting – 8 Things to Ask About the Neighborhood

Concerns Persist – Will San Diego Have Blackouts this This Summer?

What Season Should You List Your Home?

Follow Blog