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Real Estate

Would You Buy A Haunted House?

Halloween, Fantasy, Tale, Dark, Night, Creepy, Darkness

Picture courtesy of Pixabay

October 31, 2018

Home buyers may be so anxious to find a home that they aren’t even spooked if it’s rumored to be haunted. A new survey says one in three consumers say they’re willing to take a chance on a haunted home, but there needs to be something to sweeten the deal for them, according to realtor.com®’s annual Haunted Real Estate Report, based on responses from more than 1,000 Americans. However, 18 percent said a home that is haunted wouldn’t affect their purchase decision at all.

“In a competitive market, it’s harder for prospective buyers to be extremely selective,” says Danielle Hale, realtor.com®’s chief economist. “If a house is commensurately priced, or has desirable features, the fact that it may be haunted seems to matter less. This report shows that, for those looking for a good deal, a lower price, better neighborhood, or larger kitchen can balance out a few spooky happenings.”

To Buy or Not?

Realtor.com® researchers asked respondents to decide between purchasing a haunted or non-haunted home. Responses fell within these three categories:

  • I’ll buy, but sweeten the deal: A third of respondents said they needed an incentive to buy a haunted house. They could be enticed by a lower sales price, larger kitchen, or better neighborhood.
  • I’ll buy, nothing else required: Eighteen percent of respondents said they’d buy a home believed to be haunted without any additional enticements. Nearly a quarter of consumers between the ages of 35 to 54 said they aren’t spooked by a haunted home.
  • No way am I buying: Forty-nine percent said there is no price low enough, no kitchen large enough to make them want to buy a haunted house. Older generations appear to be the most reluctant to move into a haunted house, according to the survey. Sixty-one percent of consumers over the age of 55 said they would never buy a haunted house compared to 41 percent of millennials or Gen Xers who said they wouldn’t.

Haunted homes are not uncommon in real estate. Nearly two in five consumers surveyed say they have lived in a haunted—or possibly haunted—house. Forty-four percent of respondents say they either suspected it or were fully aware it was haunted before moving in. What makes a home haunted house? Respondents said hearing strange noises (54%), odd feelings in certain rooms (45%), and erratic pet behavior (34%).

Source: Realtor.com®

Help keep this blog going Contact today John J ODell, Broker, RE 0066941 for all your real estate needs

    Real Estate

    Four Things You Don’t Want To Put In Your Garage

    You’ve got lots of stuff, and the garage is a super-convenient place to put it. But putting these items out there could be hazardous—for them, or for you

    Source Realtor.com

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    Email John for all your real estate needs today

      Real Estate

      Three California housing issues to watch in 2018

      Related image

       

      Source: The Los Angeles Times

      Rising rents and home prices forced California’s housing crisis to the front of Gov. Jerry Brown’s and lawmakers’ agenda in 2017.

      Legislators passed the most comprehensive package of housing bills in recent memory designed to increase spending on low-income development and encourage more construction in general.

      But the bills, according to independent analyses, won’t do much to make housing cheaper in the state.Expect more focus on housing issues at the Capitol and on your statewide ballot in 2018.

      Here are three to watch.

      1. A rent control battle

      2. The future of Proposition 13

      3. How lawmakers will follow up on this year’s housing efforts.

      Read the full story

      John J. ODell Broker
      ODell Realty
      BRE 00669941

      Contact us today

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      nevada county fair

      Nevada County Fair Competition Handbook Now Available

      Fair entry Mechanical Bear
      Fair entry Mechanical Bear

       

      Book includes all the information you need to enter exhibits in this year’s Fair

       

      The Nevada County Fair’s Competition Handbook, which includes all the information you need to enter exhibits in this year’s Fair, is now available. If you can make it, bake it, grow it or show it, there is a category for you – and it can be found in the Competition Handbook!

      Why not showcase a child’s artwork project from school, a cooking skill, or a special collection? Try baking cookies, entering a photo, creating a produce character, making the Ugliest Decorated Cake, writing a poem, entering the Pet Look-A-Like photo contest, or making a bookmark. This year, we have some fun new categories like button art, plastic utensil art, decorated cake pops, beach art, and a decorated reusable grocery bag.

      Fair Entry Seahorse
      Fair Entry Seahorse

      There are also special contests like the Seafaring Squash Mobile Races, Daily Special Food Contests, 4-H Still Exhibits, and an exhibit video contest. With hundreds of categories available for children and adults, the Competition Handbook has something for everyone.

      Copies of the free handbook are available at the Fairgrounds’ Office, Chamber of Commerce offices, post offices, county libraries, Raley’s, SPD, Ben Franklin, Foothill Mercantile, and other local businesses, as well as online at NevadaCountyFair.com.  

      It’s easy to enter! Look through the book, pick your favorite categories, and follow the simple steps for completing the entry forms. You can even enter online at NevadaCountyFair.com.   Most categories are free to enter, and you can enter online or at the Fair office. The deadline for submitting entry forms and online entries is July 21 at 4 pm.

      The 2017 Nevada County Fair is August 9 – 13, and the Fair them is “Sea You at the Fair!” For more information, visit NevadaCountyFair.com or call (530) 273-6217.

       

      For all your real estate needs
      Please contact 
      John J. O’Dell 
      ODell Realty
      BRE 00669941

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      Real Estate

      The Best Seasons to Sell a Home

      Photo courtesy of http://www.dailymail.co.uk/
      Photo courtesy of http://www.dailymail.co.uk/

       

       

      Spring is traditionally considered the best season to list a home, but it doesn’t inch out the other seasons by much, according to a new analysis by the real estate brokerage Redfin.

      Check out our last report from Redfin’s seasonality study

      Redfin’s research team analyzed 7 million homes listed from 2010 through 2014 to gauge how important the season is in listing a home. It examined how many of the homes went under contract within 30 days and how often they sold for more than their list price.

      Here’s how the seasons stacked up:

      • 39% of the homes listed in the spring (between March 21 and June 20) in the past five years went under contract within 30 days, and 15 percent sold for more than the list price.
      • 38% of homes listed in the winter (Dec. 21 – March 20) sold within 30 days and 14 percent sold for more than the list price.
      • 36% of homes listed in the summer (June 21 – Sept. 20) were under contract within 30 days and 12 percent sold above the list price.
      • 34% of homes listed in the fall (Sept. 21 – Dec. 20) went under contract within 30 days and 11 percent sold at a premium.

      “Just as buyer demand follows a seasonal pattern, so do home prices,” says Nela Richardson, Redfin’s chief economist. “Over the past five years prices have increased by an average of 3 percent month over month in the spring and ticked down by about 1 percent each month during the fall. To get the best of both worlds, sellers need be informed on both local buyer demand and recent sale prices in their neighborhoods before deciding when to list their homes and for what price.”
      Live in Nevada County? Call or email today
      for a your free home market anaylsis

      John J. O’Dell Realtor® GRI
      O’Dell Realty
      (530) 263-1091
      Email John

      BRE#00669941

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      Real Estate

      How the Shutdown is Affecting Real Estate

      Tommy Ironic on Flicker
      Tommy Ironic on Flicker

      The government shutdown is starting to cripple the real estate business just as it was starting a comeback.  You might ask how this is happening, well,  here are just some of the reasons.

      1. FHA and VA loans are being delayed because of lack of staff
      2. USDA loans which are for low income borrowers, have ground to a complete halt.
      3. IRS is down, so FHA and conventional loans cannot verify tax documents, delaying or killing loans.

      All this means that real estate deals are being put on hold, or in some cases, just falling apart. There is a real good chance if this idiotic shutdown continues that interest rates will climb. A one percent increase in the interest rate and shutdown could mean a decline in 450,000 home sales. Welcome to another depression, thanks some die hard conservatives.

      John J. O’Dell
      Real Estate Broker
      Civil Engineer
      General Contractor

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      Real Estate

      Home Buyers Grow Frustrated by Low Inventories

      Photo Credit: http://www.chriahcorp.com/
      Photo Credit: http://www.chriahcorp.com/

      Low inventories of homes for-sale are becoming troubling to home buyers, Inman News reports. Almost every major market in the U.S. has posted double-digit decreases in for-sale listings.

      “The buyers tend to become a little frustrated as they are seeing homes that they want to ‘think about’ and before they can even get home to discuss it there are already multiple offers on the property,” Sheri Moritz, a real estate broker with Keller Williams’ Wake Home Team in Raleigh, N.C., told Inman News. In Raleigh, inventories have fallen 21 percent in the past year, according to Realtor.com data.

      “I counsel buyers to be patient, and not get discouraged, that it may take extra time to find the suitable property,” adds Tom Avent, broker-owner at Tom Avent Real Estate in Fresno, Calif., which has posted a 43.1 percent drop in inventories in the past year. “I have also seen some buyers give up looking, frustrated with low inventory and losing out in multiple-offer bidding.”

      Multiple bid situations are a common occurrence in many markets. But surveys show that home buyers lose their enthusiasm when faced with competition for a property, according to a recent survey by Redfin. Seven in 10 of home buyers surveyed reported that they’ve faced competition on at least one of their offers recently, but  31 percent say they would back off when faced with a multiple offer situation for a home, according to the Redfin survey.

      Charles Roberts, a director at the Denver Board of REALTORS® and co-owner of Your Castle Real Estate, says that “urgency” is the new landscape greeting home buyers.

      “Gone are the days of looking at 50 homes and taking months to make a decision,” Roberts told Inman News. “If there’s a good property on the market, buyers need to act quickly, and yes, sometimes bid above asking price. The educated, thoughtful clients are getting great deals with astoundingly low interest rates. The clients that are still insisting on putting offers at 80 cents on the dollar are getting shut out of the market. They either learn that that strategy doesn’t work anymore or they keep on renting. Our job as real estate agents is to teach them what the market looks like and guide them in their decision-making.”

      Source: “Low Inventories Thwarting Buyers,” Inman News (Oct. 1, 2012)

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      For all your real estate needs
      Email or call today:

      John J. O’Dell Realtor® GRI
      Civil Engineer
      General Contractor
      (530) 263-1091
      Email jodell@nevadacounty.com

      DRE#00669941

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      Real Estate

      As Home Rents Head Higher, Owning Regains its Appeal

      Scotts Flat Lake April 13, 2012 early morning from my deck Photo by John J. O'Dell
      Scotts Flat Lake April 13, 2012 early morning from my deck Photo by John J. O'Dell

      Rising rents, coupled with slumping home prices and interest rates near record-lows, are boosting demand for homes at entry-level prices.

      Making sense of the story

      • Increased buying activity from investors and second-home purchases may be factors behind the recent pickup in home sales, but real estate agents say they are fielding more calls from anxious tenants complaining about rising rents.
      • Average apartment rents rose by 2.7 percent last year, while the national vacancy rate dropped below 5 percent for the first time since 2001, according to a quarterly survey released Wednesday by REIS Inc., a real estate research firm.
      • The largest rent increases came in San Francisco and San Jose, Calif., which saw increases of 5.9 percent and 4.9 percent, respectively.  Such increases are one reason why industry analysts believe 2012 will be the first year since 2005 when the share of apartment renters that moves out to buy a house increases from the previous year.
      • Historically, the cost to rent an apartment has been about 10 percent lower than the after-tax cost of owning a home.  That rental discount began to fall in 2010 and disappeared entirely last year, according to analysts at Deutsche Bank who track housing costs. By the end of 2011, the bank’s research found that the cost to rent an apartment was about 15 percent higher than the cost to own a home.
      • It isn’t always easy for home buyers to make it to the closing table though. Lending and appraisal standards remain tight, keeping many would-be buyers out of the market.  And aspiring buyers are competing with savvy investors who have turned buying and reselling foreclosed homes into a business.

      Read the full story  

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      Ready to buy or sell?
      For all your real estate needs call

      John J. O’Dell
      Broker/Owner
      O’Dell Real Estate
      (530) 263-1091
      jodell@nevadacounty.com

      DRE# 00996641

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      Bits & Pieces

      January’s Funniest Video 2012

      1 Comment

      httpv://youtu.be/h3bWsanTsps

      When I run out of things to write, I search the internet for something that is funny and fun to watch. This video has had about 4,200,000 views.

      I’m always looking for contributors to this website.  If you have something to share that’s not controversial, just drop me a line.

       

      Thanks

      John J. O’Dell
      Real Estate Broker
      O’Dell Realty
      (530) 263-1091
      Email jodell@nevadacounty.com

      DRE #00669941

      Real Estate

      State Responsibility Area “Fire Prevention Fee” Now Law

      The State of California will collect an annual “fire prevention fee” from property owners in wildland areas where the state has responsibility for providing fire protection. A fee of one hundred fifty dollars ($150) will be charged on each structure intended for human habitation in this State Responsibility Area (“SRA”), commencing with the 2011-2012 fiscal year.

      The fee is established in Assembly Bill 29 by Bob Blumenfield (D-Van Nuys), which was signed by Governor Jerry Brown on July 7, 2011 (as ABX1 29).

      Not a “firefighting fee”The bill is very clear about the fee’s intended purpose. The moneys collected will create an “SRA Fire Prevention Fund”, which will be used for specified “fire prevention” activities that will benefit the owners within the SRA who are required to pay the fee. The bill does not earmark any portion of the fee for firefighting services.

      Examples of specified fire prevention activities include grants to municipalities to fund public education programs in the SRA, grants to qualified conservation groups and nonprofit organizations for fire prevention projects in the SRA such as brush clearance, and CalFire services in the SRA such as defensible space compliance inspections and fire severity and fire hazard mapping.

      The law is being challenged by opponents who see it as diverting CalFire’s funding to fire prevention and away from the department’s critical firefighting budget. Republican lawmakers and local fire officials are contesting the law, some calling the fee a double tax on SRA property owners already taxed for fire protection services, and are seeking its repeal. The Governor, in his signing letter, has already called for the language to be revised to ensure that revenues projected from the fee are realized.

      State Modifies SRA Fire Prevention Fee

      Continue reading State Responsibility Area “Fire Prevention Fee” Now Law →