Are you looking to relocate to a smaller place when you retire? Downsizing is the perfect way for seniors to make their life a little easier and start an exciting new chapter in the process. Getting started with a move in your golden years can be stress-free if you know the right steps to take. If you are thinking of downsizing your home but are not sure where to start, use this handy guide to help make your move a little easier.            

The Facts: 5+ Years of Uninte...

Looking back on the nearly 8 years since the “Great Recession” officially came to a close, California appears to be much improved:
• We added back all of the 1.3 million lost jobs plus an additional 1.3 million on top of those;
• Unemployment has dipped below 5% for the first time in more than a decade;
• The stock market is near all-time highs across most major indices;
• Interest rates remain near historic lows for mortgages;
• The state government is currently running a budget surplus, even if it rests on a narrow b...

For quite some time now, granite has been the preferred material for homeowners who are upgrading their counters, and for good reason.  Granite is one of the most durable materials you can choose for a countertop, and it comes in a myriad of colors & patterns. It is stain and heat resistant, so it continues to look as good in the years to come as it did when it was first installed; these countertops can take a lot of wear and tear. Granite is an indigenous rock, found abundantly around the globe, so while it is more ex...

It’s a no-brainer: Picture the same fancy house with a) shabby furnishings and then with b) gorgeous furnishings. Which version do you think is more likely to catch your interest, make you salivate with envy and hurry up to make a great offer if the house is for sale? Yes, “b” is the right answer. If it was yours, sorry, you don’t win anything because it was just too easy.

There is no magic (or is there?) about staging a home: if it looks spectacular (and the price is palatable), it sells the house. It pays to be pret...

Summer. Vacation time. Finally. How nice it is to wake up with the birds singing rather than with the alarm clock. Time to relax, recharge and enjoy days without deadlines, crises and long meetings. Sounds wonderful. Question: is there a perfect recipe for a nice/quiet vacation? No. There is no one-fits-all-type vacation.

Some adventurous minds like to hop from one place to the next, from one hotel to another, pack & unpack, refill the gas tank or catch another flight every so many days. Some are not quite so keen on...

If you think that, everything being equal, young people share the same dreams and explore the same real estate opportunities regardless where they live on the planet Earth, think again. Maybe the only thing they have in common is belonging to the same age group.

It is a big world out-there and population is distributed in between too many age groups, so I will limit the comparison to only millennials (18 to 35-year-old) and only from the 2 most powerful countries: the US and China. Hold on to your seats. The differenc...

How do you choose a Realtor? What are you looking for when selecting the agent you are willing to trust with the marketing of your home or the search for the next one?

Do you actually make your pick based on relevant findings about the individual and his/her firm?... Or do you follow your heart and intuitions?... Or do you just play Russian roulette, shake hands with the first agent who comes around, cross your fingers and hope for the best?

Interestingly enough, most buyers and sellers are rather spontaneous about m...

If you are on a tight budget for your family Summer vacation and you have not booked your trip overseas just yet, it might save you a good chunk of dollars by checking cost of living stats around the world.

If you are a luxury market aficionado and like to study the horizon, three years deep into the future, you’ll be happy to learn that exceptional residential properties will very likely remain a hot commodity.

Since 1872, California law has provided that landowners are mutually bound to maintain shared monuments, fences and boundaries. In 2014, the legislature amended the California Civil Code section 841, commonly known as the “Good Neighbor Fence Act,” to provide much more guidance with regard to landowners’ responsibilities in constructing and maintaining common fences.