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Homes that have attributes such as a steam oven, quartz finishes or even hurricane shutters/windows, typically sell for a higher price than the average home, according to data from Zillow. And homes that have a characteristics such as a doorbell camera or even a fenced-in backyard typically sold between three to five days faster than a home without those added items.
“Multifunctional homes that offer retreat spaces and features for outdoor entertaining are particularly appealing to postpandemic buyers, who expect their homes to be a place where they can work and play,” the report from Zillow noted.
And as the spring-buying season takes off, sellers should use every opportunity they have to get their home sold quickly as there is still buyer demand for homes in South Florida, said Alex Platt, with the Platt Group at Compass in Boca Raton. “Although homes are sitting on the market slightly longer than they have been in the past, the updated homes that are priced right are selling quickly,” Platt said.
Here are the features that help a home sell faster, according to Zillow.
n Doorbell camera: 5.1 days faster
n Open shelving: 3.5 days faster
n Heat pump: 3 days faster
n Fenced backyard: 2.9 days faster
n Mid-century design: 2.8
days faster
n Hardwood floors: 2.4 days faster
n Walkability to nearby areas: 2.4 days faster
n Shiplap: 2.3 days faster
n Gas furnace: 2.3 days faster
“Buyers are also looking for homes with newer roofs and full storm protection (hurricane windows or storm shutters).
Storm protection has become
more important than it was in the past, as insurance prices change depending on the level of storm protection the home has,” Platt added.
Homes that had features like a steam oven got a 5.3% more than a house that didn’t have it, while professional appliances had a 3.6% price premium, and hurricane shutters had a 2.3% price premium.
“When showing homes, we find that buyers always make a comment when a home has additional security features like cameras and ask if they come with the home. Another feature is outdoor living space, such as a covered patio or outdoor
kitchen/built-in BBQ,” Platt said. “Buyers like envisioning how they can live in the home, and in Florida, comfortable outdoor space is important.”
And particular to South
THE WASHINGTON POST
Fifteen years ago, Cathy Haynes started R-A-G Thyme Gardening in New Boston, N.H., on the premise that others hated weeding as much as her mother did. Now, she and her husband – along with a crew of 15 – maintain, design and install gardens for about 180 customers with yards ranging from a quarter acre to several acres, and they have a wait list. “There’s work out there for us to have twice as many employees,” she says. “But it’s just too many people to handle.”
Some 18 million Americans took up gardening during the pandemic, according to a 2021 survey by the National Gardening Association. Amateur gardeners
planted flower, vegetable and pollinator gardens; new homeowners tackled overgrown yards; and longtime homeowners replaced lawns with planting beds. Now that life has returned to something resembling normal, though, many people no longer have the time to maintain those gardens.
Enter professional gardeners, who fill a niche between businesses that plant and service gardens in expensive Zip codes, and landscapers who offer garden maintenance along with a host of other services.
“Fine gardening companies only take care of the gardens they planted,” said Bill Haynes, president of R-A-G (Rent-AGardener) Thyme Gardening. “Landscapers want to get in and out as fast as possible.” Profes-
sional gardening services, on the other hand, design and install new gardens, restore old ones and offer maintenance services such as watering, deadheading, dividing perennials and manual weeding.
“Planting a garden is one thing, maintaining it is quite another,” says Tina Yi, owner of Blue Cabin Gardens, Ringwood, N.J. “Even a small garden requires a lot of work.”
If you find yourself over- or underwhelmed by your gardens, it might be time to call in a service. Read on for tips on how to find – and get the most out of –a professional gardener.
Most gardeners weed by
hand (rather than using chemicals), deadhead spent flowers, water and feed plants, treat and prevent infestations, edge, mulch, plant annuals and prune beyond shaping a shrub into a ball or cone.
Gardeners typically offer weekly, biweekly, monthly and seasonal arrangements. R-A-G Thyme Gardening accounts include spring and fall cleanups plus a one-time summer visit; twice-monthly maintenance for small gardens; and weekly plans for large yards with several gardens. It depends on a customer’s budget and penchant for tidiness, says Cathy Haynes. “To us, it’s about the look. We’ll go in there and make it look neat, clean and pristine.”
Gardeners also offer design services and installation. “People
are getting away from the same foundational plants used over and over with no gardens,” says Yi. “We’re at a point where homeowners are willing to try new things.” Like most professional gardeners, she also does containers and window boxes.
Despite the booming market, gardeners can be hard to come by. “There aren’t a lot of people who do this,” says Yi, who holds a horticultural certificate from the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. “If I’m working in front of someone’s home, people will come by and talk.”
Most R-A-G Thyme customers come via word of mouth, or when See Gardner, Page 8
Q: We own a rental house in Suisun City. Last week the tenants crashed their car into the redwood fence that runs next to the driveway and garage. The fence is more than 150 feet long, goes past the garage and serves as the side-yard fence for the back yard.
The fence is old, like 20 years old, but still had a few years of life in it. If just the section of fence that was damaged by the tenants is replaced, we’ll have the brand-new wood in a couple of sec tions with weathered wood in the rest of the fence, which will look horrible. So, my question is, are the tenants respon sible for replacing the entire fence? And if they are, do they have to pay for a new fence or do they get to prorate it somehow since the fence is old to begin with? How do we figure this out?
A: I get fence questions all the time but this one is rather unique. So well done.
Probably the best example I can point to is what happens when you get into a fender bender in the Costco parking lot.
Let’s say you’re driving your brandnew Tesla, trying to get a parking spot as close to the front door as possible, and somebody comes screaming out of a parking space and hits the side-rear of your car. Of course, they’re driving a Hummer, which is big enough and heavy enough to bend the entire frame of your car. The insurance company says the car’s totaled.
How much does the Hummer’s insurance have to pay?
Since your car is brand new, chances are it’s worth what you paid for it, so the Hummer owes you the full price of the car. Congrats.
But let’s say you were driving your 1996 Toyota Corolla with 245,000 miles on it. Does the Hummer owe you the price of a new Corolla? Does it owe you what you originally paid for the car in 1996?
OK, spoiler alert; Hummer owes you today’s value of a 1996 Toyota Corolla
with a quarter million miles on it. In other words, enough for a nice meal for four at McDonald's.
Now, let’s say your brand-new Tesla wasn’t totaled. It was just severely “dinged.”
There will need to be extensive repairs and new paint on
You could argue that an expensive new car that has had to be patched and painted isn’t the same as a pristine new car (even if the repair isn’t visible to the naked eye). And you’d have a point. But not a point the insurance company would
You’d get enough money to patch and paint. In other words, to repair the damage to the point that the car is substantially, if not exactly, as it was before
You see where we’re heading with
Theoretically, your tenants are responsible for fixing just the damaged part of the fence. And, theoretically, they could argue that since the fence has maybe used up 80% of its lifespan, they’d only have to pay you 20% of the actual cost of repairing it.
At first glance, none of this sounds fair.
You were happy driving your 1996 Corolla. You had wheels and they are long paid for. Now you don’t have wheels and, given the current cost of cars, may have to take out a third mortgage on your home to buy a new one. But you’d have a new car. So there’s that.
Same with the fence.
That old portion of the fence worked fine for you. But maybe, someday in the near future, when you have to replace the whole fence there will be some sections that will be so new you’ll save a few bucks just replacing the old portion.
Tim Jones is a real estate attorney in Fairfield. If you have any real estate questions you would like to have answered in this column, you can send an email to AllThingsRealEstate@ TJones-Law.com.
We love CALHFA because, over the years, it has consistently been a great first-time homebuyer program for people with good credit and stable income but are lacking the 3% to 5% down payment required to buy a house in California. Many of these families do NOT have gift funds from parents and have $5,000 to $10,000 in cash but just cannot quite produce the full $25,000 required to buy a $550,000 starter home. CALHFA is still helping our buyers with incomes up to $215,000 today
with 3% to 3.5% down payments, thank goodness, but the Dream for All program sold out in 11 business days.
Our CALHFA representative told us on March 28, one day after the Dream for All program parameters were released, that its $300 million would help 2,300 homebuyers with 20% down payments and they expected it to last at least three months. After our rep told me the homes could be converted to a rental in the future,
See Porter, Page 11
Fabulous views of the 6th green and fair way of the Green Valley Country Club, and Twin Sisters mountains. This exquisitely renovated estate has been completely redone from top to bottom. Behind the beautiful stone wall is an inviting front patio leading to the entry. Brandnew kitchen features a beautiful Wolf range, Sub-Zero refrigerator, dual Cove dishwashers, quartz/granite countertops, custom cabinets, butler’s pantr y, and simply stunning, climate-controlled glass walled wine storage. Porcelain tiled flooring throughout the main living areas. Two primary suites, heated bathroom floor, jetted tub, steam shower, and floating cabinets with under lighting. Other improvements include level 5 drywall, remote controlled shades, automated skylights, multi zone AC, custom windows & doors. The back courtyard can be accessed through 12x15 retractable doors. Enjoy the views, custom stone & wrought iron fencing, and a complete outdoor kitchen with its own pizza oven. The 4-car tandem garage is sure to impress any auto enthusiast. 3BR/3BA, 3635 sf on 1/3 acre.
Offered at $2,997,700
You’re probably not imagining it: That fluorescent overhead light really could be putting you on high alert. And it’s probably no coincidence that you feel relaxed while sitting next to the amber glow of the table lamp in your living room.
While most of us recognize that having proper lighting at home is important for practical reasons – for instance, to avoid a kitchen mishap or a makeup
catastrophe – there is growing research that shows the right kinds of light are also essential to human well-being.
“Lighting does have a significant effect on people’s psychological state as well as how they think and behave,” says Sally Augustin, an environmental and design psychologist in Chicago.
“Given the kinds of animals we are, we do need light. It’s what keeps our minds and bodies in the best possible shape.”
Exposure to natural light and
certain types of artificial light helps your body maintain its circadian rhythm – the internal clock that regulates key functions such as sleep-wake patterns, hormone release, blood pressure and body temperature fluctuations.
The takeaway: The qualities and sources of the lighting inside our homes matter greatly, impacting myriad aspects of our state of mind, such as how irritable or productive we feel.
See Lighting, Page 10
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From Page 3
someone sees an employee working at a property or driving one of the company’s trucks. “One time someone chased us down right into our driveway,” Bill Haynes said.
Find out who plants and maintains local public gardens, or ask neighbors with impressive gardens who maintains them.
Check community sustainability, gardening and native plant Facebook groups for recommendations. If you’re creating or maintaining a pollinator garden, native plant landscapers and nurseries often offer maintenance in addition to design and install services.
Search online for “selfemployed professional gardeners in my area.” In the search results, there might be a
gardener or two mixed in with traditional landscapers. You may also come across names in the growing field of garden coaches. But a little research showed that most of these professionals are consultants offering gardening education and advice, not maintenance services.
Depending on where you live and the gardener’s level of expertise, expect to pay about $50 an hour for maintenance.
R-A-G Thyme Gardening charges $50 an hour per worker, and sends a minimum of two gardeners for a minimum of two hours to a property. As with most gardeners, they will visit a property and provide an estimate.
Determine your top maintenance needs. Do you want a
perfectly manicured garden or a freshened-up look? Do you want the garden watered while you’re away for part of the summer, then serviced upon your return? Is there room in the budget for annuals? If so, what colors would you like to see?
Beyond basic maintenance, point out your concerns. Does the garden flood after a heavy rain? Is one plant spreading beyond the bed? Is there a weedy section of lawn that could be replaced with a perennial garden? Is there a memorial tree that needs attention?
Ask how many hours it will take, and don’t be surprised if it’s more than you thought. “Gardening takes much more time than average landscaper work,” said Bill Haynes.
Now’s not the time to get chatty.
The gardener most likely has additional appointments, and can only devote so much time to the estimate. Stick to the topic so you don’t return indoors only to realize you didn’t cover everything.
A gardener can relocate and divide plants, turn over last year’s mulch, and renew mature shrubs by properly pruning them over several seasons.
Gardeners can also make over a poorly planted new garden, enliven a low-luster one and restore a neglected one to its former glory. “One of our favorite things is bringing a garden back to what it was while incorporating what the new customer wants,” says Bill Haynes.
From Page 2
Florida, having a pool in a home also gives a seller an advantage, according to Platt. About 60% of homes that sold in Palm Beach County in the past 90 days had a pool.
To calculate what features of a home will help it sell for more or faster, Zillow compared the final sales prices of homes listed and the time they spent on the market, as well as whether they had certain features listed in the home description.
There are some caveats as experts warn that adding these features may not offer the return on investment that potential home sellers might expect, but for sellers who already have these features in the home, highlighting them could get them more money or a faster sale.
TOTAL SALES: 6
LOWEST AMOUNT: $560,000
HIGHEST AMOUNT: $990,000
MEDIAN AMOUNT: $678,000
AVERAGE AMOUNT: $702,500
465 East 5th Street - $560,000
03-09-23 [2 Bdrms - 1201 SqFt - 1998
YrBlt], Previous Sale: 03-18-22, $704,000
187 East B Street - $739,000
03-09-23 [3 Bdrms - 1656 SqFt - 1981
YrBlt], Previous Sale: 12-08-08, $445,000
159 Banbury Court - $700,000
03-10-23 [4 Bdrms - 1454 SqFt - 1972 YrBlt],
Previous Sale: 12-01-04, $485,000
434 Brentwood Drive - $656,000
03-10-23 [3 Bdrms - 1365 SqFt - 1977 YrBlt]
311 Dale Court - $990,000
03-08-23 [4 Bdrms - 2112 SqFt - 1981 YrBlt],
Previous Sale: 10-19-16, $686,000
1221 Grove Circle - $570,000
03-07-23 [2 Bdrms - 1402 SqFt - 1979
YrBlt], Previous Sale: 11-30-17, $460,000
TOTAL SALES: 2
LOWEST AMOUNT: $585,000
HIGHEST AMOUNT: $836,000
MEDIAN AMOUNT: $710,500
AVERAGE AMOUNT: $710,500
1230 Columbia Drive - $585,000
03-06-23 [3 Bdrms - 2094 SqFt - 2018
YrBlt], Previous Sale: 10-29-18, $478,000
745 Fig Tree Lane - $836,000
03-10-23, Previous Sale: 02-09-21,
$4,572,000
TOTAL SALES: 18
LOWEST AMOUNT: $349,000
HIGHEST AMOUNT: $1,150,000
MEDIAN AMOUNT: $613,000
AVERAGE AMOUNT: $617,389
1056 Birch Court - $660,000
03-06-23 [4 Bdrms - 1947 SqFt - 1986 YrBlt],
Previous Sale: 08-03-20, $499,000
5120 Carriage Court - $750,000
03-10-23 [5 Bdrms - 2270 SqFt - 1983 YrBlt],
Previous Sale: 01-31-02, $300,000
510 Diamond Creek Court - $610,000
03-07-23 [3 Bdrms - 1328 SqFt - 2002
YrBlt], Previous Sale: 02-22-18, $445,000
1146 Heron Court - $455,000
03-06-23 [4 Bdrms - 1608 SqFt - 1971 YrBlt]
2130 Kingfisher Way - $530,000
03-08-23 [3 Bdrms - 1438 SqFt - 1971 YrBlt]
766 Leesburg Court - $640,000
03-10-23 [3 Bdrms - 1795 SqFt - 2005 YrBlt],
Previous Sale: 04-17-15, $405,000
1161 Mahogany Court - $669,000
03-10-23 [4 Bdrms - 2569 SqFt - 1990 YrBlt],
Previous Sale: 04-13-22, $262,500
643 Parisio Circle - $788,000
03-10-23 [4 Bdrms - 2610 SqFt - 2004 YrBlt],
Previous Sale: 10-13-16, $549,000
225 Pennsylvania Avenue #D2 - $349,000
03-10-23 [3 Bdrms - 1084 SqFt - 1986 YrBlt],
Previous Sale: 03-17-20, $270,000
2561 Shorey Way - $616,000
03-10-23 [4 Bdrms - 1920 SqFt - 2002
YrBlt], Previous Sale: 10-07-22, $652,000
1098 Skywest Court - $1,150,000
03-09-23 [3 Bdrms - 2709 SqFt - 1999
YrBlt], Previous Sale: 06-22-21, $1,100,000
4135 Spanish Bay Drive - $765,000
03-10-23 [3 Bdrms - 2449 SqFt - 2004
YrBlt], Previous Sale: 06-23-20, $652,500 119 Stephen Street - $465,000
03-10-23 [3 Bdrms - 1078 SqFt - 1959 YrBlt], Previous Sale: 01-19-21, $405,000
1362 Stewart Drive - $780,000 03-06-23 [4 Bdrms - 2655 SqFt - 2010
YrBlt], Previous Sale: 05-23-16, $555,000 224 East Tennessee Street - $546,000
03-08-23 [5 Bdrms - 1985 SqFt - 1952
YrBlt], Previous
03-07-23 [2 Bdrms - 1050 SqFt
These are the local homes sold recently, provided by California Resource of Lodi. The company can be reached at 209.365.6663 or CalResource@aol.com.
03-09-23 [5 Bdrms - 3575 SqFt - 1998
YrBlt], Previous Sale: 05-09-01, $420,000
266 Stonyford Drive - $547,000
03-07-23 [4 Bdrms - 1402 SqFt - 1971 YrBlt],
Previous Sale: 04-05-19, $400,000
309 Stonyford Drive - $510,000
03-07-23 [3 Bdrms - 1080 SqFt - 1971 YrBlt],
Previous Sale: 08-24-04, $315,000
366 Trinity Drive - $425,000
03-08-23 [3 Bdrms - 1293 SqFt - 1964 YrBlt]
201 Wrentham Drive - $730,000
03-08-23 [5 Bdrms - 2286 SqFt - 1990
YrBlt], Previous Sale: 00/1992, $238,000
- 2008
YrBlt], Previous Sale: 01-17-08, $723,500
307 Epic Street - $690,000
03-06-23 [5 Bdrms - 2219 SqFt - 2016
YrBlt], Previous Sale: 08-18-16, $543,000
130 Kodiak Drive - $660,000
03-06-23 [4 Bdrms - 2502 SqFt - 2017 YrBlt], Previous Sale: 02-13-17, $519,500
280 Magnolia Avenue - $535,000
03-07-23 [3 Bdrms - 1057 SqFt - 1953
YrBlt], Previous Sale: 08-30-10, $172,000
128 Maple Street - $267,000
03-08-23 [3 Bdrms - 1040 SqFt - 1948 YrBlt]
342 Mono Drive - $400,000
03-10-23 [4 Bdrms - 1402 SqFt - 1964 YrBlt],
Previous Sale: 02-02-12, $145,000
148 Randall Avenue - $565,000
03-10-23 [3 Bdrms - 1374 SqFt - 1975 YrBlt],
Previous Sale: 12-27-22, $402,000
361 Spindrift Way - $553,500
03-06-23 [3 Bdrms - 1296 SqFt - 1973
YrBlt], Previous Sale: 07-26-17, $385,000
913 Stillspring Court - $800,000
TOTAL SALES: 23
LOWEST AMOUNT: $290,000
HIGHEST AMOUNT: $835,000
MEDIAN AMOUNT: $595,000
AVERAGE AMOUNT: $575,826
324 Amber Avenue - $535,000
03-09-23 [3 Bdrms - 1556 SqFt - 1979
YrBlt], Previous Sale: 03-10-16, $340,000
9424 Berkshire Lane - $750,000
See Transactions, Page 10
From Page 7
Here are strategies to consider when devising a lighting plan for your own space.
“Natural light is like a magic medicine – it improves mood, mental performance, and the ability to get along with people,” says Augustin. But “you need to be careful about glare,” she adds, which makes your eyes work harder and can lead to strain and fatigue. If your home doesn’t get much natural light, you can still achieve an ideal level of daytime brightness with full-spectrum lightbulbs, says Kati Peditto, a psychologist in Denver and director of the Human Experience Lab at architecture firm
Perkins and Will. These bulbs replicate natural sunlight, and can be found at hardware stores, grocery stores and online. “Full spectrum lighting includes visible and invisible forms of light [such as infrared and ultraviolet], and it has a daylight-mimicking effect that lowers stress and boosts alertness,” she says.
In general, Augustin recommends using cool lights high in the room (such as in overhead lighting) and warm lights lower (in table or floor lamps), for optimal functionality and mood. When you’re lightbulb shopping, look for labels indicating coolness (such as “white,” “cool white” or “daylight”) or warmth (“soft white,” or “warm white”).
“You can create zones in your home with light, using pools of light for different
activities,” says Augustin, whose firm Design With Science uses principles from neuroscience to create spaces that foster positive mental states. Try task-based bright lighting in your kitchen – with under-cabinet lights, for example – to enhance safety while avoiding eyestrain, or a golden-hued bulb in an office desk lamp to spur creativity.
In the bathroom, “color quality matters because we judge how we look by looking in the mirror,” says Jennifer Veitch, an environmental psychologist in Ottawa and principal research officer at the National Research Council of Canada. The light needs to be bright enough (at least 60 watts, depending on the size of your bathroom and what the fixture can handle) so you can clearly see yourself but warm enough in tone so your skin doesn’t take on an odd hue.
From Page 9
Drive - $425,500
03-06-23 [3 Bdrms - 1640 SqFt
- 1951 YrBlt]
134 Wendy Street - $415,000
03-08-23 [4 Bdrms - 1230 SqFt
- 1960 YrBlt], Previous Sale: 08-07-14, $206,000
113 Yardarm Court - $673,000
03-07-23 [4 Bdrms - 2539 SqFt
- 1988 YrBlt]
From Page 5
no monthly payment was required on the equityshare second mortgage for 30 years and there was no maximum sales price, I told the CALHFA rep that the program would sell out in a month and her response was, “we certainly hope not.”
Our friends at CALHFA underestimated Realtor and lender talent, huge buyer demand, and the financial intelligence of our millennials, especially those young people along the coast from San Diego to San Francisco. Many people under 30 years old jumped on the free lunch and purchased a 1,000-square-foot home for $1 million, cashed in
$100,000 in crypto, took the $200,000 loan from the state and obtained a $700,000 first mortgage loan at a rate of 6.125%.
This $200,000 loan saved these smart kids $1,260 per month. If they are truly smart, they will invest the $1,260 in their Charles Schwab or Robinhood accounts monthly and at 10% compounded will have $2.6 million to pay off the $600,000 they will owe to California if the $1 million house triples in value and is worth $3 million in 30 years, when they are 55 or 60 years old.
Demand remains high in Solano County and if anyone was considering selling a house, now is the time to do it after market values are up 40% from just four years ago. It is a seller’s market again in the first-time homebuyer
price range.
A great example is local Realtor Marjorie Traywick’s listing at 612 Tiburon Lane in Vacaville, at $515,000 on April 3. The buyers and all the real estate agents were told that offers would be reviewed on April 11 at 6 p.m. Nineteen offers came in; the Dream came through for one, and 18 are still dreaming and waiting for you to list your house.
Jim Porter, NMLS No. 276412, is the branch manager and senior loan adviser of Solano Mortgage, NMLS No. 1515497, a division of American Pacific Mortgage Corporation, NMLS No. 1850, licensed in California by the Department of Financial Protection and Innovation under the CRMLA / Equal Housing Opportunity.