Green Real Estate Appraiser

Seven Home Organizing Tips

Posted on January 23, 2014 | Leave a comment

You don’t have to be a hoarder to feel overwhelmed by the prospect of an organised home. For most of us, an environment where every paper is in its place is nothing more than an elusive fantasy.

How to get organised? “Start somewhere,” said Los Angeles organising consultant Kim Anker-Paddon. “It doesn’t matter where. I usually start with something that is bothering the client but is not so big that it’s overwhelming.”

Acknowledging that organised living takes commitment, time and loads of effort (and in some cases, finances), Anker-Paddon shared some simple tips on how to get organised in 2014:

1. Bring less into your house. I encourage people to raise the bar on what they buy and what they keep. Most of the people I work with have a lot of stuff. Instead of just liking something, keep the things you love that add to your life in some way. Once things are in the house, it’s harder to get rid of stuff. Donate things to the best charity possible rather than sell them, unless you are really good at it. A lot of times you just don’t get much money for your things. And if your goal is to get organised, it’s best to get the stuff out of the house.

2. Know exactly where you will put what you’re bringing into the house. Think about it before you acquire the object. Many clients can’t find what they are looking for so they go out and buy it again.

San Diego: Property Tax Hike for 2014

Posted on January 22, 2014 | Leave a comment

Low inflation will mean a very small increase in property valuations and corresponding tax bills for most San Diego County owners, according to county assessor Ernest Dronenburg Jr.

Values will go up 0.45 percent for the December 2014 and April 2015 property tax bills, he said, less than a quarter of the increase imposed last year. The rate is tied to the consumer price index. Taxes will rise accordingly, although in some places, new voter-approved bonds will increase the bottom line further.

“Gasoline is a such a significant part of (inflation rate) and it’s been dropping — and that’s one of the reasons this dropped,” Dronenburg said.

Under the voter-approved 1978 Proposition 13 tax reform measure, annual property tax increases are tied to the inflation rate but they can rise no more than 2 percent annually. The rate has gone up less than 2 percent seven times in the past 30 years and actually declined once in 2011 during a brief spate of deflation. The 2014 increase will be the smallest increase on record.

The change will be reflected in the assessed valuation as of Jan. 1, 2014, and tax bills mailed out in September.

For a home assessed at $400,000 last year and carrying an average tax bill of $4,400, including special assessments and voter-approved bond repayments, the new value would increase $1,816 and the corresponding tax increase would amount to $20.09. If the increase had been at the maximum 2 percent level, the value would have increased $8,000 and the tax bill would have gone up $88.

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Federal Spending Bill Delays Some Flood Insurance Rate Increases

Posted on January 21, 2014 | Leave a comment

Homeowners worried that new federal flood maps will send their flood insurance premiums skyrocketing would get some short-term relief under a provision tucked into a massive government-wide funding bill.

But other changes to the federal flood insurance program, including higher premiums on businesses, vacation homes and frequently flooded properties will remain in place, as well as a new rule blocking homeowners from passing insurance subsidies on to the people who buy their homes.

How will this affect the value of your home? Contact the real estate appraisers at www.scappraisals.com; they have certified FEMA inspectors on staff.

The provision is authored by Louisiana lawmakers and political rivals – Democrat Sen. Mary Landrieu and GOP Rep. Bill Cassidy – and comes as the Senate is poised to debate much broader relief to homeowners facing higher premiums. Cassidy is running for the GOP nod to take on Landrieu this year.

The move comes as the government is beginning to implement a significant overhaul of the much-criticized program. That overhaul passed in 2012 with sweeping support from both liberals and tea party conservatives but has caused a panic in places like Staten Island, N.Y., and the New Jersey coast and in flood-prone areas of Louisiana, Mississippi and Florida, where higher rates threaten to push some people out of their homes.

The practical effect of the Cassidy-Landrieu provision is relatively limited and can be added to the spending bill only because it does not increase the budget deficit. It blocks the Federal Emergency Management Agency from increasing premiums on people whose homes are not currently considered to be in a flood zone but are deemed to be flood prone under new FEMA maps.

FEMA has already agreed to delay the higher premiums in response to criticism that the new flood maps didn’t take into account longstanding locally built levees and other flood mitigation steps and that the premium increases are in many cases unaffordable.

Disclaimer: for information and entertainment purposes only

Seven Home Organizing Tips

San Diego: Property Tax Hike for 2014

Federal Spending Bill Delays Some Flood Insurance Rate Increases

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