8 minute read
Introduction and index
Welcome to spring and thank you for picking up a copy or reading the e-edition of our Spring House & Home Showcase. In years past we have published a Spring and Fall House & Home Showcase, but like most things, 2020 was a bit different for us here at Sonoma West Publishers.
In this publication you will read about the surprising market trends in real estate due to COVID-19, how to make bathrooms safer for the family, choices for long-term care and a variety of tips for senior security to home office ideas. We will share with you backyard and pool ideas with beautiful photos from around Sonoma County. We have a great checklist for the ultimate virtual dinner party and a Bloody Mary recipe that is sure to be a hit. As you look through, please also take note of the advertisers in this publication. These are local businesses that support local journalism, many of them are family-owned and operated. Please use your local dollars to support these community businesses. Our hope is that when the 2021 Fall House & Home Showcase is published, Sonoma County will be a much safer place to breathe with masks off.
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SAVE THE DATE: Sonoma West Publishers will be hosting a Virtual House & Home event Thursday, April 29, from 5-6 p.m. Please stay tuned for more exciting details.
What’s Inside
Introduction and index . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Pandemic housing sales . . . . . . . . . . 5, 6 Making bathrooms safer . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Long-term care . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Senior security tips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Home renovation tips . . . . . . . . . . . 10, 11 Home office essentials . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 Tips of the Trade . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13, 16 Spring garden prep . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 Raised garden beds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 Virtual dinner party . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 Food & Drink Recipes . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 Gardening from a wheelchair . . . . . . 20 Swimming pool landscaping . . . . . . . 21
Six ways to make your bathrooms safer Page 7
Home office essentials to streamline your work week Page 12
How to throw the ultimate virtual dinner party Page 18
Cover Photo: This country property is over 6 acres within Healdsburg's city limits. Built in the 1890s, this gem has retained its bucolic charm as the city has grown around it. Currently operated as the Belle de Jour Inn. Photo Provided by: Healdsburg Sotheby’s International
House & Home
April 2021
A special supplement to the April 1, 2021 edition of:
POSTMASTER: This mailing is made under Periodical Class Permit 238-460 USPS. Periodicals Class postage paid at Healdsburg, CA. 95448. Send address changes to: Sonoma West Publishers, PO Box 518, Healdsburg, CA. 95448
Staff Writers: Rollie Atkinson, Heather Bailey, Camille Escovedo, Katherine Minkiewicz, Zoë Strickland Consultants: Local Design Company Production: Maci Martell, Jim Schaefer
Advertising & Sales: Teresa Mangiapani, Cherie Kelsay, Laura Tew Office & Administration: Jan Todd Circulation: Cherie Kelsay
All contents are copyrighted by ©Sonoma West Publishers, Inc. PO Box 518, Healdsburg, CA 95448
Low mortgage rates, high demand for rural properties part of unprecedented story
By Rollie Atkinson Sonoma West Staff
Ayear ago this month, as Sonoma County was closing down most parts of its economy to “crush the curve” of the coronavirus cases, no one tried to predict what the impacts would be on the regional housing and property market. Like most other businesses, local real estate offices were mandated to be closed to the public and clients. For a period of time, real estate agents were not allowed to tour or show properties. Homeowners were left to wonder, without any prior examples, what a virus pandemic might mean to home values, or when regular market activity might return.
Now looking back over the past 12 months, it’s a good bet no one expected 2020 to be a record year of sales in both volume and median property values. But that’s what happened and the answers to why are still emerging as the same positive trends continue as the first quarter of 2021 is ending.
The year 2020 was full of mixed market dynamics. Commercial properties fell out of demand as businesses switched to work-at-home patterns and almost all relocation and expansion plans by local businesses were put on hold. Mortgage and other interest rates dropped and stayed at record lows. For some reason rent prices dropped slightly while housing sales prices climbed steadily.
One factor that has not budged is housing affordability, as Sonoma County and the Bay Area remain some of the most expensive and exclusive markets in the country. Property listing inventories never increased enough to create a “buyer’s market.” But what properties that did get listed continued to fetch multiple bids and strong prices.
In Sonoma County for 2020, there were 4,861 residential properties sold, according to a database managed by Rick Laws, a Compass regional vice president. That total represented a 10% increase over the previous year. At the end of 2020, in December, the median Sonoma County home price was $720,000. A year earlier in December 2019, that
Photo Healdsburg Sotheby’s International This property is located at 16276 Healdsburg Ave. in Healdsburg.There is a lovingly restored main house with two bedrooms and two bathrooms. In addition, there are six guest suites in two separate buildings. The grandest of those suites is above the recently constructed garage/barn.
See Housing Page 6
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median home price was $635,000.
One unexpected market factor driven by the COVID-19 pandemic has been the increased demand for properties in semi-rural Sonoma County by people exiting the more urban and populated areas of the Bay Area. Because thousands of workers will not be returning to the San Francisco high rises or Silicon Valley tech campuses, these people are looking for better scenery, no commuting and a changed lifestyle that is more country than city.
Exact numbers of these escaping city dwellers is unknown, but local real estate agents have many anecdotes to share. “That long-term revaluation of where people want to live will continue yet for a time,” last year’s president of the North Bay Association of Realtors, Carol Lexa, was quoted as saying at the end of 2020. “I think the intensity is easing. It’s no longer an emergency response that we saw pretty much throughout 2020.”
Across some of Sonoma County’s neighborhood markets, Healdsburg continued to have the highest median prices, driven by highend properties above $1.3 million. Sonoma Coast properties held high median prices ($950,000); Sebastopol’s properties had a median price of $800,000, and family-friendly Windsor’s median was at $665,000.
Cloverdale continued to be one of the county’s smaller markets with a smaller inventory, but steady values. At the end of 2020 the median home price in the county’s most northern community was $607,475.
The year 2020 was not just good for low mortgages and high sales prices for homes. Local hardware and home improvement stores continue to do gangbusters business. This is because many people are spending more time on home improvement projects around their house and property — and they are finding the extra time to do them.
Also, landscaping and nursery supply stores continue to do great business for all the same reasons. If outdoor gardens and property projects begin to slow, it will be because of a drought threat and not the coronavirus.
While the COVID-19 pandemic continues to be very harsh on our local hospitality, restaurant and retail sectors, local trades and craftsmen such as plumbers, electricians and remodel contractors have kept busy work schedules, with reports of many backlogs.
For anyone chancing a look ahead another 12 months at the local housing market and wishing to make a bold prediction, good luck as everyone remains in unprecedented times. Whoever thought future housing prices might be dictated by how soon everyone gets a COVID-19 vaccination?
Families are spending more time on home improvement projects.
SOLD SOLD SOLD
1633 TRIMBLE LANE CLOVERDALE 26806 OAK KNOLL TER CLOVERDALE 484 S. FOOTHILL BLVD CLOVERDALE
