Tuesday, February 28, 2017

Sooooooo, How Do Your Feel About Wallpaper?

When I lived in West Los Angeles, we remodeled our home and extended our kitchen. Well, we did a helluva lot more, but for this, it's about the kitchen.

I wanted something a bit french country so we put up the most lovely wallpaper with little flowers on vines. Pale of color so as not to be to obnoxious when seen by others. I loved it. Saw some pictures of it recently, and thought OMG!!! What was I thinking? HaHaHa!

When I first moved to Valencia the home we purchased had some wallpaper.....which we painstakingly removed as fast as possible. That and some hideous wood covered walls!

Surprisingly, some wallpaper is making a comeback. I suppose it's always been around, for the right room, in the right house.  For me, no one could pay me to put in wallpaper. But, I've taken it down so maybe that's why I'd never put it up again.

These rooms struck me enough to share with you. Some I liked, some not so much. But, none changed my "heels in the ground" about ever going wallpaper again!


Hope the bathroom was bigger than it looked in this picture!


This one I actually really liked!


Sweet for a childs room, right?


Um, yeah, no. That's a serious yeah, no for me.

Friday, February 24, 2017

Dang, We Are Getting OLD!

Husband and I were chatting the other day. Something about life expectancy. Way back in the day it was about 60. Now it definitely seems to be at least 80. This is of course barring any major illness'. Husband read something about all of us making it beyond 100! Sheesh, I don't know if I want to live that long....I'm decrepit enough already at under 60! LOL, not really, I'm doing fairly well.

But, reading another housing article this morning does remind me that we need to be preparing for the aging population and we're no where near ready. In the next 20 years the 65+ population is expected to grow from 48 million to 79 million. That's close to doubling.

Working with some clients right now. Multi-generational family. Trying hard to find a single story or at least a good size full bed/bath situation downstairs that matches their search criteria. They are my age but we are looking out for their future.

Consider how long you will be in a home. Consider if you will have your adult children with you. Consider if you will have your parents with you. Consider if you will be able to walk up and down stairs. Consider if you want separation between the generations, if you're all living under one roof.

All these things are considerations as we age. For ourselves, our children, our parents.


Tuesday, February 21, 2017

Home Loan Rates Today February 21st of 2017

I was going to blog about the articles I keep reading that we will be at 5.5% interest rates by 2019 for home loans. But, received this from one of my lenders so figured I'd share current info along with the knowledge that they are definitely going UP! And, a reminder that we have had rates below 5% for only 83 months in the last 50 years...yes in FIFTY years!



  • 30-year fixed conventional loan - 4.250% (4.311 APR). Loan amounts up to $424,100.00 = $2086.32 (This rate is .125% lower with 25% or more down!)
  • 15-year fixed conventional loan - 3.500% (3.606 APR). Loan amounts up to $424,100.00 = $3031.82 (This rate is .125% lower with 25% or more down!)
  • 5/1 ARM - Fixed for 5 years and then becomes variable - 3.625% -  (3.735 APR) Loan amounts up to $424,100.00 = $1934.11
  • 7/1 ARM - Fixed for 7 years and then becomes variable - 3.750% - (3.861 APR) Loan amounts up to $424,100.00 = $1964.07
  • 10/1 ARM - Fixed for 10 years and then becomes variable - 4.000% - (3.986 APR) Loan amounts up to $424,100.00 = $1994.28
  • 30-year fixed FHA loan - 3.750% (4.797 APR). Loan amounts up to $424,100.00 = 1998.44 + $305.66 PMI = $2304.10
  • 30-year fixed VA loan - 3.750% (3.989 APR). Loan amounts up to $424,100.00 = $1964.07
  • 30-year fixed Jumbo loan - 4.375% (4.388 APR). Loan amounts up to $3,000,000.00 = $14,978.56

Friday, February 17, 2017

Just When I Finally Re-Painted My Home....Well, Most of It Anyways!

I loved my sage green when I bought my current home almost 6 years ago. Just finally got very sick of it last year and painted to the greige color that was all the rage. I absolutely love it. Painted in the main living areas and hall, including the hall bathroom.

Did not, however, paint the bedrooms and master bath. The plan was to change out the carpet in those rooms and paint at that time.

In my last home I had a red wall in guest bathroom & a couple purple, well more lilac really, in the master bed and bath. I still have purple towels from that color combo.

So, much to my joy, I read the Houzz article about 2017 top colors!



And, likely, much to my husbands chagrin....we shall be picking carpet and paint colors this year!

Tuesday, February 14, 2017

Santa Clarita Valley Home Sales February 14, 2017

Happy Valentine's Day Blog Readers!

Just a quickie to keep you informed about home sales activity.

Acton to the East, Newhall to the South, Stevenson Ranch/Westridge to the West, and Castaic to the North. All communities in between that I search when people say they are interested in Santa Clarita Valley!

Currently we have 472 homes active for sale.
We have 516 under contract, aka, in escrow.
Sold in the last 30 days amounts to 221.


I'm working on getting new listings. I'm working with 7 buyers. I'm working on helping people in & out of homes.

If you have further questions about Southern California Housing Market, just pop me an e-mail ~ Lauren@KeepYourWitz.com, I'll help in any way I can!


Tuesday, February 7, 2017

Buyers Are Out There Looking

I've got several buyers right now. All looking for the perfect home. All reasonable in their home search. Alllllllll ready to buy.

I look back year over year, particularly the last few, and I am reminded that January/February are always like this. I've got buyers but not enough sellers.

Buyers troll the internet, I troll the MLS, bother my associates for upcoming listings, some even check sites for the 'coming soon' that are posted, and I call the agent noted. Had some success with this one last weekend....well sorta.....property was yucky!


Some even troll the streets, well actually a lot do, to see signs up that aren't on the internet anywhere....and I call the agent to see how fast we can get in.

So, instead of all this buyer action trolling for homes, how about a few of my seller readers jump the Spring gun and lets get you on the market....now!

Friday, February 3, 2017

Ugh, How Do I Not Talk Politics?

I get news feed about Real Estate every day. From many different sites, so I don't miss anything. Local news, national news, mortgage news, anything about Real Estate I can get my hands on.

I'm so tired of politics filling those news feeds! And, I don't discuss my political opinions with anyone publicly. Nope, no way, no how.

But, I will say uh huh, yep, I hear ya....over & over again....if someone I'm with starts talking politics and then I'll change the subject...even if I have to say......'Squirrel!'


(Cutie-patootie)

Topic of this post? I have no idea how the new president is truly going to affect housing. And, neither do you.

I'd expect a continued normalization of our local market....I'd expect. I expect our interest rates will creep up a bit more this year.....yep, I expect. I expect our inventory to climb again in the next couple of months. I expect to continue to close about 300 homes per month in little Santa Clarita Valley. I expect these things will happen based upon my 15 years experience and what I've been watching for those same last 15 years in the housing market.

But, I don't know for sure. And, unfortunately, neither do you.

You want to sell your home? Let's sell it. You want to buy a home? Let's buy one. You want to 'play' the Real Estate market? Go right ahead. I'll help you with that too. But I won't determine when the time is right for you on any of these scenarios. Only you can do that, yep, only you. You decide if politics is going to help you decide that as well.