Marin Real Estate Pulse » Marin Communities

Great Reasons to Live in Marin County

warren — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 20:56:18 +0000

Marin County is known for its outstanding quality of life. To those of us that live here that means the vast amount of usable Open Space and public parks. We also enjoy clean ocean air from the Pacific Ocean which is just over Mt. Tamalpais. Most of our population is considerate to the environment which means we recycle as much as possible and you will find an unusually high percentage of Hybrid cars.

Our schools are some of the best in California and likely rank among the top in the United States as well. Combine that with low unemployment, proximity to beaches, San Francisco, the Wine County, culture, and great shopping and you can see why this is a great place to live.

If you would like to learn more about Marin, or Marin County Real Estate contact life-long resident and Real Estate Broker, Warren Carreiro at 415-846-7286 or warren@RealtyOfMarin.com .

Novato Housing Market is Hot

warren — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 20:54:29 +0000

Monday, June 01, 2009

The Novato housing market is on fire, the inventory can’t keep up with buyers. At least that is the case for single family homes priced between $400,000 and $500,000. For those that don’t know that is the lower end in Marin County.

A majority of those homes are receiving multiple offers. When agents outside the area visit Marin they tell us our market is booming. The newspapers give a different impression, one that says real estate is still in a slump, and it is for most of the country and many areas of Marin.

What is it about Novato that is drawing all the buyers? Well for one, Novato got hit on prices much more than most other towns. Just a year or two the $400,000 homes were selling for close to $700,000. Novato has a history of pricing volatility both up and down. One January just a few years ago prices increased 10%. Then late last year it seemed you could not price your home low enough to attract buyers.

Today there are 26 single family homes priced between four and five hundred thousand and 20 of those homes are in escrow. That is 77% in escrow which is defined as a strong sellers market. The buyers of those homes are typically investors or first time homeowners.

While Novato may be enjoying its hay day the high priced homes in Marin are taking price reductions daily. There just are not that many buyers willing to spend a couple of million for a home.

Warren Carreiro, Broker

New San Rafael Fire Vegetation Ordinance

warren — Fri, 02 Nov 2007 18:18:17 +0000

San Rafael has created a fire ordinance that may cost taxpayers and homeowners well over $25,000,000. We did not vote on this and good chance you didn’t see it coming but the law is here now.This ordinance bothers me on several levels. Yes, we have recently seen Southern California burn and it could happen here; however, San Rafael is the only city in Marin to enact such a plan. Aren’t Mill Valley, Ross, Kentfield, and Fairfax more vulnerable? How much is this going to cost homeowner and taxpayers? Yes, taxpayers are responsible for clearing that portion of city owned property that goes beyond the owner’s property line to within 100 feet of the structure. This means a larger budget for the city; more employees and we all know that means more power. Cities like that.

I certainly don’t remember the Marin Indecent Journal or the City of San Rafael going out of there way to inform the public the were enacting a law which would affect over ten thousand homes. The cost to San Rafael homeowner could exceed $25,000,000. There is no provision for people on fixed incomes. I have no doubt that in the future we will be reading a story in the IJ about some old couple that have lived in the same home for 50 years and is forced to sell because they cannot afford to comply with the fire ordinance. Funny thing is this is not a “tax” does not require voter approval, what will they think of next.

This is a short summary of how the plan will affect you:

WITHIN 100 FEET OF ALL STRUCTURES:

1. Trim the limbs of trees up 10 feet from the ground.

a. Only trim limbs 3 inches or less in diameter.

2. Cut grasses to 3 inches in height above the ground.

3. Remove or cut all combustible vegetation such as, and not limited to, broom, gorse and other highly non-native plants (see attached list of required removals)

a. In areas on a slope, check with an arborist or nursery about the replacement of vegetation that is fire resistant and produces roots to prevent erosion if they are removed.

4. Trim tree limbs to a minimum of 10 feet away from the outlet of chimneys for 360 degrees.

5. Remove dead trees.

6. Remove all dead vegetation.

7. Trim all vegetation so each plant has separation of twice the height of the tallest of the adjacent plant.

8. Remove or chip all cut vegetation.

9. Maintain roof and deck areas free of combustible vegetation.

ADJACENT TO THE STRUCTURE:

1. Remove combustible vegetation from under structural overhangs, including decks.

2. Remove all “gasoline plants” (Junipers and Bamboo) within 15 feet of your structure.

a. Replace with fire resistant plants to achieve the desired ornamental planting should you desire.

3. Remove all “gasoline plants” (Junipers and Bamboo) from between 15 feet and 100 feet from your structure by 2011.

a. Replace with fire resistive plants to achieve the desired ornamental planting should you desire.

4. Distance woodpiles a minimum of 2 times the height of the woodpile away from any component of the structure on the property.

ADJACENT TO ROADWAYS:

1. Trim and maintain vegetation to within 10 feet of roadways as required for defensible space.

2. Trim trees so they do not hang lower than 13’6″ above the roadway

City of San Rafael details are here and a short overview of the program is here.

This link shows the addresses of homes within the city defined high fire zone so click here to find out if this affects you.

Let’s take a look at the cost of this ordnance to homeowners and/or lessors’. The number of structures affected is over ten thousand and the cost to each over varies significantly, so let’s look at a few sample estimates:

Average Cost #Structures Total Cost

$1,000 10,000 $10,000,000

$2,500 10,000 $25,000,000

$5,000 10,000 $50,000,000

$10,000 10,000 $100,000,000

It would not surprise me to see $2,500 or higher as the average cost, after all how many homes have trees that will need to be trimmed or Junipers that need to be removed and replaced with something new? Also, that cost does not include annual maintenance.

What are your thoughts is the city okay enacting this without a vote (I don’t mean legally but ethically)? Does the decrease in fire danger justify spending any amount of money? If other cities get to vote on a flood tax why can’t we vote on a “fire” tax? The City of San Rafael seems pretty fast to put there hands in our pocket. We are one of the few cities that have a transfer tax on real estate sales and we just had a whopping increase in our sales tax. Don’t get me going on the sales tax, it is automatically adjusted upward just based on inflation without any extra percent added on.

Warren Carreiro

warren@RealtyOfMarin.com

Remember How Greenbrae Looked?

warren — Tue, 09 Oct 2007 01:39:47 +0000

This picture was taken from where the current Fire Department in Greenbrae is located near Bon Air. The Fire Department was there but the patch of water I was sailing in is now filled in with land, has homes, a park and a road.

Longs Drug Store in Bon Air Shopping Center was not built yet. There was a drug store at the other end of the mall, currently Wells Fargo is taking that space.

Just to the right of the picture was a “yacht club” if you want to call it that. It was nothing more than a locked-in fenced area where we could keep the small sail boats. We would have formal races on the weekends. What do kids do today?

By the way, that is me in the sail boat. If you have an old photo you would like to share send it to me.

Warren Carreiro

warren@RealtyOfMarin.com

http://www.realtyofmarin.com/

Marin Neighborhood Information

warren — Fri, 20 Apr 2007 14:24:59 +0000

Monday, February 26th, 2007 in Blog, Marin Schools, Marin Communities, Events

February 26, 2007
You can learn about school information, local attractions, neighborhood amenities, demographics, FAQs, recent home sales and much more with a new service I offer on my Web site. It’s easy: you can do it all from the link below. Click on the link and simply choose the community you’d like to discover more about!
http://www.themarinrealtor.com/neighborhoods.html

Warren Carreiro
415-846-7286
Warren@TheMarinRealtor.com

The Most Expensive Homes in Marin

warren — Wed, 01 Nov 2006 23:50:46 +0000

In the last five years, the most expensive home sold in the Marin MLS was $10,000,000, located in Tiburon.� There currently are twelve homes listed ranging in price from $10,000,000 to $27,000,000.� This does not include an expired listing for $35,000,000.� To be sure, these are extraordinary homes, however, if the past is an indication of the future these will not be easy to sell.� Using the rule of thumb of 1 � %, the annual property tax on the $27,000,000 home will be $337,500.� If you had to ask, you probably can not afford it!

Warren Carreiro

415-846-7286