Latest / Connor with Honor: AI, Real Estate and Real Life / Santa Clarita home experts the unexpected cost of home ownership
Transcript
- 0:00SPEAKER_00: Good day everybody, Santa Clarita Home Experts and Santa Clarita HomeExperts.com.
- 0:04SPEAKER_00: Of course, this is your host, Connor McIver, the host with almost the most, I would say.
- 0:10SPEAKER_00: Let's go ahead and get into December 2nd, 2021, with regard to real estate here in Santa Clarita Valley.
- 0:17SPEAKER_00: One of the things that I will talk about is where we just breached into December.
- 0:21SPEAKER_00: Once that happens, typically the market really slows down.
- 0:25SPEAKER_00: Slows down a lot more than it has in the last couple months as we were starting to get into, and you started to see people advertising for the Halloween holiday, and then of course, uh I don't even know if that's a holiday, but Halloween, and then we get into the Thanksgiving holiday, and of course, to some that's not a holiday either, and then Christmas and the same thing.
- 0:44SPEAKER_00: But as we get into this typical general holiday season, most of the real estate action out there does slow down quite a bit, and that hasn't changed this year from last.
- 0:53SPEAKER_00: I do believe with inflation and COVID and these new variants and all these other items, people are feeling a little bit more pressured.
- 1:00SPEAKER_00: We've actually seen here in Santa Crita Valley some other issues come up where you have particular bonds and different landscaping companies, things that are associated with homeownership, fees going up, and that's creating a little bit of a bind on those homeowners.
- 1:18SPEAKER_00: And in some cases, it could increase those taxes that they're paying.
- 1:22SPEAKER_00: And that being the case, it could actually cause people, those folks, to maybe want to sell faster than normally they would, and then probably at a much lower price expectation point than they had in the past.
- 1:37SPEAKER_00: That's a problem.
- 1:38SPEAKER_00: And I know that's going to create havoc on a lot of people.
- 1:41SPEAKER_00: We will see more of that coming up.
- 1:43SPEAKER_00: You want more information about that?
- 1:45SPEAKER_00: Call me personally and I'll give you some intel as to exactly where that is.
- 1:49SPEAKER_00: But right now, the jury still seems to be out on the final decisions in that process.
- 1:54SPEAKER_00: But again, you buy something, you have a particular tax base, then all of a sudden your fees go up$8,000 to$10,000 a year.
- 2:02SPEAKER_00: That's a problem and it could create an issue that could be a life killer for some or at least a livelihood killer for some, I should say.
- 2:10SPEAKER_00: Now let's move into the real estate inventory now.
- 2:13SPEAKER_00: With less than 300 units on the market for sale, that is going to cross all systems.
- 2:18SPEAKER_00: You have single-family residences, townhomes, and condominiums.
- 2:21SPEAKER_00: That's it.
- 2:22SPEAKER_00: That's all the active inventory out there.
- 2:24SPEAKER_00: One of the things that I talk about a lot is safety when surfing online, and you need to be careful as to where you give up your personal information, but you're probably already being tracked anyway.
- 2:34SPEAKER_00: And you probably have seen this when you enter some information into one of the online systems, and then all of a sudden you start seeing things show up in your social media accounts if you're one of those people that frequent those types of locations.
- 2:47SPEAKER_00: Again, not that they're bad, but some people have their opinion.
- 2:50SPEAKER_00: But again, they get there and all of a sudden, after they get done looking on one of the real estate syndication websites, they pop over to Instagram or Facebook, and all of a sudden they're being plagued with residential real estate resales.
- 3:04SPEAKER_00: They're being plagued by people saying, hey, contact me.
- 3:06SPEAKER_00: I have the insider's track to real estate, so on and so forth.
- 3:09SPEAKER_00: What I try to do as Santa Cruz Home Experts is give my buyers and sellers something they can use.
- 3:15SPEAKER_00: So that's going to breach us into today's topic, which is going to be the unexpected cost and things that people don't think about when it comes to purchasing real estate.
- 3:25SPEAKER_00: In the Santa Crita Valley, like everywhere else, you have to pay property taxes.
- 3:31SPEAKER_00: In the Santa Crita Valley, we do have uh uh property tax or special assessments called Melaruse.
- 3:38SPEAKER_00: And that happens to be an extra tax that's in place on specific residential real estate.
- 3:46SPEAKER_00: Not all of it.
- 3:46SPEAKER_00: So you have the older houses out here and those that were built prior to the uh the late 80s, early 90s, you're going to see that those properties aren't going to have the Melaruz and special assessment taxes.
- 4:02SPEAKER_00: And what do they pay for?
- 4:03SPEAKER_00: Well, those extra taxes on top of the normal Los Angeles County approximate tax base of 1.25%.
- 4:11SPEAKER_00: That's what LA County is.
- 4:12SPEAKER_00: Santa Clarita is in LA County.
- 4:15SPEAKER_00: Besides that, these are extra taxes on top of that.
- 4:17SPEAKER_00: How much can they be?
- 4:18SPEAKER_00: Well, we see some areas out here.
- 4:20SPEAKER_00: They're pretty up there.
- 4:22SPEAKER_00: You can pay an additional 1.25%, maybe a little bit more in some areas.
- 4:26SPEAKER_00: So now you're at 2.5% when it comes to taxes.
- 4:30SPEAKER_00: And that's going to correspond to the price you bought the house for if there are no reassessments or anything like that done.
- 4:37SPEAKER_00: Now, if the market collapses, that reassessment would work in your favor if you bothered to ask the county or the tax assessor to do a reassessment on your residence.
- 4:49SPEAKER_00: It's always good to do if it goes the other way.
- 4:51SPEAKER_00: If let's say you bought your house for 300 grand, they might take it upon themselves to conduct their own assessment and then increase your taxes if now it's worth$600 or$700,000.
- 5:01SPEAKER_00: It does happen.
- 5:02SPEAKER_00: So don't believe you're locked in.
- 5:03SPEAKER_00: Just be careful and know what's going on in the local real estate realm, business world, that sort of thing.
- 5:09SPEAKER_00: It really does help.
- 5:10SPEAKER_00: I mean, it is your investment.
- 5:12SPEAKER_00: You are a homeowner or potentially going to be a homeowner.
- 5:15SPEAKER_00: So a lot of people that we have actually pay strict attention to their checking account and savings account statements, right?
- 5:22SPEAKER_00: They always get these, they get updates by email.
- 5:24SPEAKER_00: Maybe they're still hooked on paper and they're getting their updates monthly in a statement.
- 5:28SPEAKER_00: You also want the same kind of thing produced for you with regard to your residents.
- 5:32SPEAKER_00: Instead of being surprised that the three neighbors on your left side all went to foreclosure at the same time, or are all selling their houses short of what they owe because there's some kind of a life-changing event that has occurred, or maybe they see the writing on the wall, or they see the market changing, or they've been impacted by some increase in some special assessment.
- 5:51SPEAKER_00: What I would say is this just make sure that you kind of know what's going on.
- 5:55SPEAKER_00: We have that resource as well.
- 5:56SPEAKER_00: Santa Clarita Home Experts.com, hit me up, and I'll basically help you monitor what's going on in your neighborhood on your street.
- 6:03SPEAKER_00: Now back to this unexpected expenses on residential real estate, besides the Melarus and regular tax basis.
- 6:11SPEAKER_00: These are things that a lot of people don't consider when they're buying.
- 6:13SPEAKER_00: One of the things is going to be what's your electricity bill going to look like.
- 6:17SPEAKER_00: Now, sometimes the houses are going to have solar.
- 6:19SPEAKER_00: We start to see solar being a big thing out here in Santa Clita Valley more than it has been ever.
- 6:25SPEAKER_00: And there's a lot of incentives.
- 6:27SPEAKER_00: I would throw caution to the wind with solar as well.
- 6:29SPEAKER_00: I mean, I want to save the environment just like the next guy, but when they come and they pitch you on the solar, make sure you have them explain everything, and everything they explain should be placed in writing.
- 6:41SPEAKER_00: If they provide for you something, some piece of information, some phrase or some sentence or some word that's a catalyst for you to say, oh my gosh, I'll take it, I'll take it.
- 6:51SPEAKER_00: I want solar right now.
- 6:53SPEAKER_00: Make sure that when they do that, they put that in writing.
- 6:57SPEAKER_00: And if they're telling you they're going to give you a cream-filled cake every Wednesday for buying the solar from them, you're going to want to get that in writing.
- 7:04SPEAKER_00: So you're going to want to make sure that the cat puts down in writing officially, emailing it to you, hopefully.
- 7:10SPEAKER_00: Basically, I promise Connor McIver a cream-filled cake every Wednesday if he buys this particular solar system from me for the rest of his life.
- 7:17SPEAKER_00: Great.
- 7:17SPEAKER_00: So I want to get that in writing.
- 7:19SPEAKER_00: That's with any service provider, that's with anybody that's quoting you and wanting you to spend money, whether it's for a service or for a product, if you can, but definitely when it comes to solar, the maintenance of that system is going to cost money.
- 7:34SPEAKER_00: You're going to want to make sure that guarantee is in place.
- 7:37SPEAKER_00: You're going to want to find out how long the solar's, those panels are going to be good for.
- 7:42SPEAKER_00: Then you're going to want to find out what that production looks like at 10 years of ownership, 15 years of ownership.
- 7:47SPEAKER_00: And then what's required and what kind of degradation or what kind of services, the declination on the system itself, what is going to end up happening after you own it for 20 years, 25 years, what is that production going to look like when it comes to the solar?
- 8:03SPEAKER_00: And then what kind of maintenance is going to be either included or something you have to pay for?
- 8:08SPEAKER_00: So that's an unknown expense at the time you're purchasing.
- 8:11SPEAKER_00: If there is no solar, it's regular electricity, it would be kind of cool before you spend the money on buying the house to find out what their electricity bill is.
- 8:19SPEAKER_00: Maybe it's super high.
- 8:21SPEAKER_00: Maybe it's super high because their windows are dilapidated or old.
- 8:26SPEAKER_00: Maybe the house isn't sealed very well.
- 8:28SPEAKER_00: Maybe it's an older home.
- 8:29SPEAKER_00: Maybe the air conditioning unit itself isn't working great.
- 8:32SPEAKER_00: Now, home inspectors should probably bring that out.
- 8:36SPEAKER_00: But hey, asking during your investigations and your discovery period on the residence, hey, what's that electricity bill look like?
- 8:42SPEAKER_00: What's your gas bill look like?
- 8:43SPEAKER_00: That's another big unknown because that kind of brings us into gas bills kind of uh normality, 100, 150.
- 8:50SPEAKER_00: I mean, it just depends how many people are showering, what kind of hot water heater it is.
- 8:54SPEAKER_00: But the big expense with relation to gas is gonna be a pool heater.
- 8:59SPEAKER_00: So does it have a pool if it does?
- 9:01SPEAKER_00: Is there a heater?
- 9:02SPEAKER_00: Yes.
- 9:02SPEAKER_00: And is there a hot tub?
- 9:04SPEAKER_00: Yes, for those special diets, of course.
- 9:06SPEAKER_00: But what's that cost?
- 9:08SPEAKER_00: What's that gonna look like?
- 9:09SPEAKER_00: So you would ask, hey, listen, if I wanted the pool up to 90 degrees, the whole thing, not just the hot tub section, what is that what does that cost?
- 9:17SPEAKER_00: Have you ever done that?
- 9:18SPEAKER_00: And you know, see what they'll say.
- 9:20SPEAKER_00: They might not commit to anything.
- 9:21SPEAKER_00: They might say, oh, we never even turned on the pool heater.
- 9:24SPEAKER_00: We love to jump in the Arctic freezing waters because it's great for our health.
- 9:28SPEAKER_00: Well, whatever that is, at least you get it in writing and know that there's an unknown when you go in, so you're not shocked.
- 9:34SPEAKER_00: But at least you did ask.
- 9:35SPEAKER_00: I would find out that as well.
- 9:37SPEAKER_00: And if they're running that heater on that pool, you know, three or four times a month before the weekends, they should be able to supply you and say, listen, it's cost an extra 300 bucks a month to be able to heat this pool.
- 9:47SPEAKER_00: During the winter months and the summer, we really don't because it keeps a particular temperature.
- 9:52SPEAKER_00: You'll find out about that.
- 9:54SPEAKER_00: Now, besides the pool, you got maintenance on that, right?
- 9:56SPEAKER_00: You have potentially people want to embark on doing the chemicals and the cleaning and everything themselves.
- 10:03SPEAKER_00: That's cool, but is that something you're really going to want to spend your time on?
- 10:08SPEAKER_00: Maybe.
- 10:08SPEAKER_00: Maybe you have kids that you want to get out there and teach them, teach them the values of taking care of things that they own and they invest in, and that's gonna be your life lesson to them, that's fine.
- 10:19SPEAKER_00: But at the end of the day, if you are gonna fall back and say, you know what, I'm too busy this month or these next six months, or I have this thing I gotta do or that thing, or family event, or God forbid something bad happened, and you can't attend to it anymore, you leave that pool without maintenance for not very long during the summer, that thing's gonna algae up quick.
- 10:39SPEAKER_00: So getting an idea on what it costs to have somebody come out weekly and service that pool is important.
- 10:46SPEAKER_00: And of course, 80 bucks, 150 bucks, 200 bucks, whatever it may be, but at least you know going in, hey, this is what's available in my area.
- 10:53SPEAKER_00: These are the pool people that typically service most of the residences and swimming pools in the area, and this is what they charge, and this is what's included.
- 11:00SPEAKER_00: Now, when you're talking to a pool guy, you also want to, or a girl, you also want a person, you also want to find out if in fact there's any extra charges besides the monthly rate.
- 11:13SPEAKER_00: And I had a couple cats come to a residence I used to own with a pool, and they gave the spiel that besides the regular monthly, every year there's a couple hundred bucks due for some kind of maintenance, some kind of filter changing or whatever it may be.
- 11:32SPEAKER_00: Then I've had other people come out and quote the same types of things, yet that monthly fee is what's gonna happen every month and there are no extras.
- 11:41SPEAKER_00: Something to consider, but you want to get that number before you commit to purchasing the residence.
- 11:47SPEAKER_00: You want to find out what that looks like.
- 11:48SPEAKER_00: Now, of course, your home inspections and everything.
- 11:50SPEAKER_00: If you're a seller, you're gonna be offloading the property.
- 11:52SPEAKER_00: That buyer's gonna have home inspections too.
- 11:54SPEAKER_00: They're gonna be investigating and looking at that equipment.
- 11:56SPEAKER_00: Hopefully, they'll hire somebody that's actually a real pool person to come out and give an idea where that equipment is, what it looks like.
- 12:04SPEAKER_00: So that's the pool.
- 12:05SPEAKER_00: Big trees, right?
- 12:06SPEAKER_00: You go out to a property, oh my gosh, I love the house.
- 12:08SPEAKER_00: This is the one we want.
- 12:10SPEAKER_00: Come on, Becca, let's do it, baby.
- 12:12SPEAKER_00: Well, you got this, uh, you got these big massive oak trees there.
- 12:15SPEAKER_00: Can't get rid of them.
- 12:15SPEAKER_00: There's uh local ordinances against that.
- 12:17SPEAKER_00: Certain plants you can if you live in a homeowner's controlled uh homeowner association area.
- 12:22SPEAKER_00: There might be other things you can't do either without getting their permission.
- 12:25SPEAKER_00: So if there's a big, massive mulberry tree, and let's say that's not protected, maybe the HOA isn't gonna let you pull it down if it's in public view.
- 12:33SPEAKER_00: You need to check on these things.
- 12:35SPEAKER_00: That's gonna be why it's imperative you make these phone calls to the homeowners association before you sign on the line which is dotted, and find out if there's any rules in there that are gonna prohibit you from living comfortably, and maybe without fines and penalties and having to maybe uh give away pets.
- 12:53SPEAKER_00: And that's the other thing, pets, right?
- 12:55SPEAKER_00: Okay, so you you know what your pet costs.
- 12:56SPEAKER_00: You have a pet.
- 12:57SPEAKER_00: Maybe you have too many pets.
- 12:58SPEAKER_00: There are certain homeowners' associations out here that limit the number and size of animals.
- 13:03SPEAKER_00: So that's something else to consider and look at.
- 13:05SPEAKER_00: Back to the landscape, though, and these trees.
- 13:07SPEAKER_00: Well, the trees you're gonna want to investigate it, of course.
- 13:09SPEAKER_00: You're gonna want to find out what that's gonna cost to trim every year if they're palm trees.
- 13:14SPEAKER_00: Palm trees have a tendency to attract particular types of vermin.
- 13:19SPEAKER_00: And if they're overgrown, those vermin are gonna be packed in those leaves up there.
- 13:23SPEAKER_00: So that's something to look at.
- 13:24SPEAKER_00: What's that what's that figure look like every year?
- 13:26SPEAKER_00: Maybe call a local tree company and say, hey, listen, if I want yearly services on these palm trees, here are some pictures.
- 13:33SPEAKER_00: What's that gonna look like?
- 13:34SPEAKER_00: And they can give you an idea.
- 13:36SPEAKER_00: And then if you have other trees there, that's again something else you're gonna want to investigate.
- 13:40SPEAKER_00: Just the regular garden stuff, you know, mowing a lawn, I don't know, 70, 80, 100 bucks a month.
- 13:45SPEAKER_00: It depends.
- 13:45SPEAKER_00: Usually they come out every week, they'll trim everything and keep everything nice and tidy.
- 13:49SPEAKER_00: That could also be something you want to do yourself, pride of homeowner homeownership, but maybe you're not good at it.
- 13:55SPEAKER_00: Maybe you have more money than time.
- 13:57SPEAKER_00: And that's hard to find these days, but maybe you do, and if that's the case, then you want to at least find out what those charges are going to be.
- 14:04SPEAKER_00: If that particular homeowner does it themselves, ooh, then you can maybe, as you're on the street, maybe because you're going to be doing your investigation.
- 14:13SPEAKER_00: Usually when people buy residential real estate, they just don't visit the property once.
- 14:18SPEAKER_00: They go back again and again and again.
- 14:20SPEAKER_00: The question would be: maybe you're on that same street.
- 14:23SPEAKER_00: Maybe the people that you're buying the house from do the lawn themselves, but you look across the street, and there's some folks over there that are have been hired by the other owner across the street to get to keep their lawn in order.
- 14:34SPEAKER_00: Maybe you go over there and say, hey, I'm Connor.
- 14:35SPEAKER_00: Listen, I'm buying the house over here.
- 14:37SPEAKER_00: Would you mind uh telling me what you charge me per month to maintain my lawn and bushes and the whole nine yards?
- 14:43SPEAKER_00: And then with that, find out is there sprinkler maintenance included?
- 14:47SPEAKER_00: So let's say, and this happens a lot, even with the newer systems, you're gonna break a sprinkler head or something's gonna bust out there.
- 14:55SPEAKER_00: Is that going to include them coming out and fixing it?
- 14:58SPEAKER_00: And then how available are they?
- 15:00SPEAKER_00: Are they actually available to come out and get it done right away?
- 15:02SPEAKER_00: Is this something that you're gonna have to wait for?
- 15:05SPEAKER_00: You know, especially if you have one of these things that popped and it's blowing water all over the side of your house.
- 15:10SPEAKER_00: There can be a lot, a lot of water lost.
- 15:14SPEAKER_00: And the way that we don't seem to have rain anymore out here in Santa Clarita, that's gonna affect, that's gonna affect that cost as well.
- 15:20SPEAKER_00: Find that out.
- 15:21SPEAKER_00: Uh back to the swimming pool, real quick.
- 15:23SPEAKER_00: Also find out if you are gonna do some kind of pool maintenance, what's that fee gonna look like if you happen to need to drain that pool to re-plaster it or get something like that done?
- 15:31SPEAKER_00: That's that's a lot of money.
- 15:33SPEAKER_00: Not just for the replaster plastering, which depending on the size, could go upwards of 20 grand or more.
- 15:39SPEAKER_00: Besides re-plastering, what's it look like at the water company when you're getting rid of 20,000, 30,000, 40,000, 50,000 gallons of water and then filling it again?
- 15:49SPEAKER_00: What's that work?
- 15:51SPEAKER_00: How does that, what does that cost?
- 15:52SPEAKER_00: And are you gonna get hit with a$5,000 bill on your next, you know, water bill?
- 15:57SPEAKER_00: These are all costs that you need to explore.
- 15:59SPEAKER_00: If you have any questions, call me.
- 16:01SPEAKER_00: I walk my buyers and sellers through both of these items.
- 16:04SPEAKER_00: If you happen to be a seller, I basically inform you how the buyers are gonna be looking at the property and what things to get ready for.
- 16:11SPEAKER_00: So you're not surprised.
- 16:12SPEAKER_00: Oh, I hate surprise.
- 16:14SPEAKER_00: My dad used to say that all the time.
- 16:15SPEAKER_00: I hate surprises.
- 16:16SPEAKER_00: He loves stress, I think, but he hated surprises.
- 16:18SPEAKER_00: On the other side, for the buyers out here, that's another great education for them to have when I speak with them about purchasing residential real estate.
- 16:26SPEAKER_00: These are the things to look for, and these are the things to consider.
- 16:29SPEAKER_00: I mean, if I'm buying a condominium, I kind of want to understand how that parking works.
- 16:34SPEAKER_00: Do I get a garage?
- 16:36SPEAKER_00: Okay.
- 16:36SPEAKER_00: So I'm looking for a garage.
- 16:37SPEAKER_00: How's where's the garage situated?
- 16:39SPEAKER_00: Am I a uh, you know, a 19-year-old single female, and I have to now negotiate in the darkness after I park my car in public access areas that could maybe pose a threat?
- 16:53SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
- 16:53SPEAKER_00: I would think like that.
- 16:54SPEAKER_00: I would ask, I would say, hey, how's this?
- 16:56SPEAKER_00: What does this look like?
- 16:57SPEAKER_00: Is there a way to get out of parking without me having to go through these dark corridors and go around all these corners?
- 17:03SPEAKER_00: Not that there's, you know, bad places in the world, but you know, there's bad places in the world.
- 17:07SPEAKER_00: So you definitely need to watch out for that.
- 17:10SPEAKER_00: Questions asked.
- 17:11SPEAKER_00: What's the homeowner association do?
- 17:13SPEAKER_00: And if somebody's giving you info, even me, follow that up.
- 17:16SPEAKER_00: If Connor says he's gonna give you a cheesecake every Thursday at 9 p.m.
- 17:21SPEAKER_00: if you use me to buy a house, make sure I put that in writing that every Thursday you're gonna get a cheesecake for me if you buy a house or sell a house through me.
- 17:29SPEAKER_00: You want to make sure that gets in writing.
- 17:30SPEAKER_00: Now, I haven't made that promise.
- 17:31SPEAKER_00: I guess it'd have to be one heck of a house.
- 17:33SPEAKER_00: But uh, I don't know.
- 17:34SPEAKER_00: You know, the market is a little slow, so maybe, maybe not a whole cheesecake, maybe just a couple bites.
- 17:39SPEAKER_00: We'll have to work on that.
- 17:41SPEAKER_00: That's been your real estate update.
- 17:43SPEAKER_00: I'm Connor McIver, Santa Clarita HomeExperts.com.
- 17:47SPEAKER_00: When you get there, um you'll find me.
- 17:50SPEAKER_00: And you can research Connor with Honor, Connor McIver, N-A C I V O R.
- 17:54SPEAKER_00: You'll see all the information that you need online, and then call me, follow up, so we can have a discussion and I can help you through the entire process.
- 18:04SPEAKER_00: It is a pleasure.
- 18:06SPEAKER_00: I do appreciate your time, your patience, and listening to this show.
- 18:09SPEAKER_00: Please share it.
- 18:10SPEAKER_00: This will be uploaded to different uh podcast networks, iTunes, Amazon, the whine yards.
- 18:15SPEAKER_00: When you're ready, I'm here, and I hope to help you very soon.
- 18:20SPEAKER_00: Thank you so much for listening.
- 18:21SPEAKER_00: I am Connor with honor.
- 18:23SPEAKER_00: Over now.