Finally, we are thinking about the resources that we are using and the environmental quality of our Marin homes. Green building is a buzzword in Marin and across the country. You can read a explanation of green building on Wikipedia. Here is what Green Building means: Thoughtful use of resources including water and energy. Reuse of building materials, like lumber. Healthy interior Continue Reading
Keeping Your Property Taxes Low – Senior Exemptions
How Senior Homeowners Can Lower Their Property Taxes When you sell your home and buy another home anywhere in California, Proposition 19 allows homeowners 55 or older to save on property taxes. You can continue to pay the amount of your existing property taxes if you sell your home and buy a replacement house of equal or less value. If your replacement home has a higher value, you can still save Continue Reading
Madeline Schaider Again Voted as Best in Marin!
Madeline Schaider was voted the Best Realtor and the Best Real Estate Office in Marin for 2023, for the 4th year. The Marin Independent Journal Readers' Choice award recognized Madeline's effectiveness and dedication to her clients for 34 years. Thanks Marin! We owe this recognition to our many clients and friends who believe in us. Thanks to all! What it takes to be an exceptional Continue Reading
Living Near Water in Marin: Risks and Solutions
Is Your Marin Home in a Flood Zone? In Marin, heavy rains and runoff into our creeks can cause flooding in nearby neighborhoods. If the bay tides are high, the streams drain slower and flooding can be more severe. Areas that are prone to flooding in Marin are areas along creeks and low areas along the bay. There have been only a few years of serious flooding in Marin. However, the increase in Continue Reading
Selling Your Marin Home: Effective Marketing
Advertise where your buyers are looking Most buyers first see your house on the internet. Print advertising, important a decade ago, is of minor importance. You can see that the Marin Independent Journal has perhaps four pages of real estate ads on Sunday, where there used to be a dozen. The glossy, free real estate magazines are gone. Some monthly publications, like Marin Magazine, have Continue Reading
Selling Your Marin Home: Smart Pricing
Smart Pricing results in a higher final sale price Correct pricing provides a quick and stress-free sale. We work with you to set your price based on: Comparable sales in your neighborhood The condition of your house The upgrades that you have made The location in your neighborhood The profiles of your potential buyers The number of competing listings on the market The Continue Reading
Living with Redwoods in Marin
The coastal canyons on Mount Tamalpais are home to verdant redwood forests. The mild Mediterranean climate and the summer fog in Marin County are ideal for these majestic trees. Many homeowners live with and protect their redwood trees, the remnants of ancient forests. A Little History of California Redwoods The coastal redwood, Sequoia semperviens, grows well from south of Monterey to Continue Reading
Selling your Marin Home: Make the Best First Impression
You have only one chance to make the best first impression Most buyers see your home for the first time on the Internet. If you make a good first impression through attractive photos, they visit in person. When they enter the house, the first impression starts on the street and continues through the first rooms. To excite buyers, it is important to communicate the “WOW” factor immediately. Continue Reading
Affordable Alternatives to Single Family Homes in Marin
If you are a first-time home buyer or are otherwise limited by your budget, you may have affordable alternatives to a single family home in Marin County: condos and town houses. Before you reject the possibility, consider the important advantages. The average price of a single family house in Marin over the last year was $1,628,000. This "average" house had three bedrooms and 2 3/4 baths Continue Reading
Saving the Oak Trees of Marin County
Vintage oak trees are dramatic and beautiful complements to many Marin County homes. Millions of these trees, plus California bay, Douglas fir, and redwoods are under attack and have been killed by Sudden Oak Death (SOD). I found in the the Marin Independent Journal (Saving oak trees from SOD) a hopeful cure and preventative for your trees. The method, proposed by William Binzen Continue Reading
