Listings

Two Story Jewel Nestled in Foothill Meadows

November 1, 2011 By martinlevy Leave a Comment

8833 Canyon Oak Drive, Windsor - 4/3 - $524,000.

When the guest list gets a little too big, or ‘those days’ occur when your long lost cousin Jim from Florida and the entire group show up for the family event, it’s great to have lots of space. And this four bedroom, three bath, two-story jewel, located in the Foothill Meadows subdivision, is not lacking for room. In fact, the great room is so large, the kids could play indoor soccer until they run out of energy and fall asleep (although we don’t recommend it).

The immaculate landscape with a large outdoor heated and covered patio might make the choice to spend your time indoors or outdoors a bit challenging. Yet, when the family and friends chaos dies down, you might be tempted to relax by the wood-burning fireplace and read a book under the custom addition glass atrium. And what goes better in Windsor than a fine glass of Chardonnay, or Pinot and with some mouth-watering hoers d’ oeuvres? But, it’s not all about play here on Canyon Oak.

The large bonus room/office might just be perfect for planning your new Fortune 500 endeavor, or at least turning it into a man or woman cave. Oh, back to cousin Jim and his brood. Impress your long lost family members and get your inner Guy Fieri on in the exquisite chef-quality kitchen, featuring top quality appliances from Bosch and Frigidaire. Just be careful though, if your chef skills are too good, you just might have the neighbors knocking at your door. But, don’t just take our word for what you’ll experience here. Find the full listing here:http://www.martinlevy.com/Listing.aspx?oid=18332&ot=213

Martin A. Levy, Realtor® Century 21 North Bay Alliance – Results are our way of life.Licensed since 1977, Martin A. Levy has sold over $1.5 Billion worth of real estate and is approaching 5,000 career sales. He has maintained a lofty Top Ten position in the nation for the past 25 years ranking as high as Number 1 in Northern California and Number 2 nationally. Surpassing sales records in both dollar volume and number of sales year after year, Martin has been recognized as one of the highest-producing real estate professionals in the United States, selling an average of over 100 properties per year. Martin can be reached at 707.303.3333 or martin@martinlevy.com. Visit his website at www.martinlevy.com.

Filed Under: For Buyers, General, Internet Listings, Listings Tagged With: Four Bedrooms, Home for Sale, Northern California, Real Estate, Three Baths

Open Houses 7/24: Space- The Final Frontier

July 23, 2011 By martinlevy Leave a Comment

8833 Canyon Oak Drive, Windsor -$649,000

Sunday, July 24, 1-4PM

Get an Inspection to Avoid Buying a Lemon

May 7, 2011 By martinlevy Leave a Comment

Image via Wikipedia

You have found the home that you think is perfect. You know you are in love with it. You are so ready to close the deal.

But wait!

Before you close the deal you really need to make sure you aren’t picking a lemon. Now it’s time to get a home inspector involved. Back in the day it was not heard of in the home market to have a home inspection. If a person loved the house, like you do, he or she depended on that good feeling and what the real estate agent said. Now the process is different. Most real estate purchase contracts give you the right to order one or more professional inspections before you close.

Foreclosure—What’s True and What’s Not

May 3, 2011 By martinlevy Leave a Comment

Half million dollar house in Salinas, Californ...

Foreclosure

With so many people going into foreclosure in these past few years, a lot of misinformation, fraud, rumors, speculation, conjecture and ignorance have latched onto people like grass burrs. What is true and what is not?

One of the nation’s largest home loan investors, Freddy Mac, initially charged with expanding opportunities for home ownership, is now focusing on the needs of people to become financial stable again. Freddy Mac is also working on myth busting, to help people know the truth. It offers “Top Foreclosure Myths” and the truth behind what is and isn’t true.

Choosing Not to Get an Inspection

April 25, 2011 By martinlevy Leave a Comment

Image by thinkpanama via Flickr

Back in the day people didn’t use home inspectors before they purchased their home. Then when they found out all the problems that hadn’t been obvious, they were stuck.

In an article by Marcie Geffner entitled “Goodbye Inspection, Hello Trouble,” dated Jan. 2, 2011 in the Official Site of the National Association of Realtors, Marcie talks about one of the strange things that happens in a hot real estate market, like in San Francisco, considered one of the nation’s hot real estate markets.

Understanding Closing Costs

April 16, 2011 By martinlevy Leave a Comment

Image by Let Ideas Compete via Flickr

Is this the first time you are buying a home of your own? Do you know that the price you agreed to on the house is not all you will have to pay to close? Here are some of the other costs that you need to factor in. Some of these you will be able to choose a vendor and lower the cost. Others are what they are.

The good news is that your lender and real estate agent will be able to give you a “good-faith estimate” of your expected settlement costs so you are not taken by surprise.

How Do You Get the Home of Your Dreams?

April 9, 2011 By martinlevy Leave a Comment

Image via Wikipedia

Drive around in any subdivision and you will see homes on sale.

They may be fixer-uppers or look great on the outside. You are interested, but you aren’t exactly sure what you want. Before you take up a realtor’s time, you and who you will be sharing the space with need to sit down and think about what you would like.

What Happens When Foreclosure Happens?

April 7, 2011 By martinlevy Leave a Comment

There is no winner in a foreclosure.

The downturn in the economy may be easing, but it might be too late for some homeowners. There have been thousands of foreclosures in the US in the last few years. Many people still own their homes, but are struggling to avoid foreclosure.

Do you know the complete impact of defaulting on your loan? Can you prevent this?

Stunning Estate in Santa Rosa

February 24, 2011 By martinlevy 1 Comment

This absolutely beautiful South West Santa Rosa estate features a 2300 sf 3 bedroom 2 bath main house WITH an 840 square foot 2 bedroom 1 bath second unit on 4.86 acres that are fenced for cattle or horses.

Finding Your New Home Online

February 15, 2011 By martinlevy Leave a Comment

With job markets sending people far and wide searching for a new job, buying that new home has become less a matter of taking your time and more a matter of doing as much as searching as you can before even setting foot in the new town or state. On many occasions only one spouse is able to travel to the new city and has only a limited amount of time to take care of the new job introductions and searching for a home for an absent partner.

At the very worst, one person moves to the new city to begin work while the other stays in the old town as they work together over the internet and phone looking for the new house and also while selling the old one.

In an article at AOL Real Estate.com, How to Find a New Home Online, by Kathy McDonald, Aug. 9, 2010, one woman stated, “My heart would start pounding every morning when I opened my inbox. Lesley Suter, a Los Angeles-based editor, spent more than a year searching for an affordable new home to buy. She received email from her real estate agent and also looked through six bookmarks from MLS to Zillow throughout the day looking for new homes for sale.

With many Internet sites focused on real estate and homes for sale as well as many real estate agents on websites, finding a new home for sale online has never been easier. Real-world searches still have to be done, those open houses, walking or driving through neighborhoods and such. But there is a wealth of information, statistics and even virtual tours to help you search for that home without leaving the comfort of your office chair.

With all this information available to everyone leading to information overload in some cases, people need to do their home work and cross-reference listings. Programs like Mapquest can help you decide if the site is one you are interested in or not.

Here is some information to help you find your home online.

Finding a real estate agent is easy, but you need to interview several of them to find the person that you are most comfortable with. Determining compatibility is easier if you know what sort of home you want to buy. What do you have to have, what would you like to have and what is it that you know you do not want? You can use several different services to help you find the real estate agents that specifically sell in certain price ranges, location and other criteria.

The online open house never closes.

All major real estate brokerage firms have websites that showcase their listing. They allow potential homebuyers to search by location, price range and more. Also search YouTube for new homes for sale. Don’t be surprised to find dozens of online virtual walk-throughs. These digital open houses let buyers get an almost-full picture of a property; and like the Internet, these open houses are open 24/7.

Major Internet sites are good sources of information. On Zillow you can actually plug in an address and get a benchmark value for a property, including estimated taxes and a mortgage payment calculator. You can find homes that are foreclosed on any agent’s site. Check mine to see what we have available, but remember that you are buying a foreclosed home from a bank, so the closing process tends to be more complicated.

Remember that no matter what kind of home you are looking for, the search can take months. However, this is a better way of finding a home than doing it in a big hurry. Lesley Suter finally found her new home online, after being outbid for 18 other homes.

Zillow

Filed Under: General, Home Search, Internet Listings, Listings, Real Estate