The investment- and vacation-home markets in Napa Valley, St.Helena & Calistoga have been among the first to show signs of real estate resurgence, according to the people who keep track of such things (as usual, the National Association of Realtors® is one). A second home can be a vehicle to generate investment income.Or it might be the fulfillment of a long-held dream. St. Helena just passed a law to legalize short term rentals this past March 2012. Read more here. [Read more…]

The Napa Wine Auction weekend starting on May 31, 2012 –June 3, 2012 is the kickoff season event in the Napa Valley.

With the sights of spring bring out the beautiful vineyard landscapes in the Napa Valley. The spring home buying season looks bright. If activity in St Helena, Napa & Calistoga is sustained near present levels, existing-home sales will see their best performance in five years. Now is the time to list your home as sales in St Helena, Calistoga and Napa are selling quickly. There is a limited inventory right now so finally it’s a seller’s market again. Home prices are coming back up in the valley. [Read more…]

Q: What should I watch out for when making an offer on a tenant occupied property?

A: I assume that you intend to take title to the house with the tenant still in possession of the premises, in which case you would become the tenant’s landlord. If this is the case then, in addition to all of the normal inspections that a buyer makes to determine the condition of the property, you must also determine the condition of the tenancy. First of all you should have made your offer using a standard form residential income property purchase agreement or a regular residential purchase agreement with a “Tenant in Possession” addendum (most agents will have access to these documents through the California Association of Realtors). [Read more…]

This article from Bloomberg has this title, “Housing Declared Bottoming in U.S. After Six-Year Slump.”
Here is a quote from the article, ““The crash is over,” Mark Zandi, chief economist for Moody’s Analytics Inc… “Home sales — both new and existing — and housing starts are now off the bottom.”

Here is the link to the article: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-04-25/housing-declared-bottoming-in-u-s-.html

While this may be a blanket statement for the entire country, we don’t think it applies to the Napa Valley because we have already “bottomed” in some segments of our market. This blanket statement might not apply to areas of the country that have not yet hit bottom. There are also numerous price segments within the real estate market where you live that might be better than others. [Read more…]