Romance & Real Estate: How Does Your Housing Situation Affect Your Love Life?

Are homeowners regarded as “marriage material” more so than noncommittal renters? Are people more interested in potential mates if they live alone? Just how bad is your love life impacted if you live with your parents? When it comes to dating and housing, what’s hot and what’s not?

Owners vs. Renters 

Believe it or not, owning a home is not a major deal breaker (or maker for that matter) when it comes to dating. Nearly two-thirds (63%) of single U.S. adults said that homeowners had no significant “home advantage” in terms of attracting dates. Only 28% of those surveyed said they’d prefer someone who owned a home. So you can’t really use the fact that you’re a renter as an excuse for why you can’t find a date. Well, perhaps guys can use that more as an excuse than the ladies: While just 19% of men say that they have a preference for dating homeowners, 36% of women prefer dates who own property.

Homeownership = Marriage Material?
Buying a home does prove that you are capable of commitment. But for the most part, owning a home is not viewed as a sign that you’re ready, or even interested, in marriage. In the survey, 43% of single U.S. adults said that homeownership is not an indication of a person’s desire to get married or be in a serious, long-term committed relationship. However, young people are more likely to view homeowners as capable of committing to a partner. A higher percentage of millennial’s equate homeownership to stability and commitment. Baby Boomers, by contrast, are generally past the stage of first-time homeownership, so it matters less to them in terms of viewing the commitment potential of a new partner.

Lose the Roommate
A majority of those surveyed (62%) say they’d rather date someone who lives alone. Location matters too: When comparing the preferences of men and women, Trulia found that more men would rather date someone who lives alone in a big city. On the flip side, more women would go for a date with someone who lives solo in a house in the ‘burbs.

Shacking Up to Save
Nearly 25 million adults live at home with their parents because they’re unemployed or underemployed; they’re trying to pay off student loans or save money to buy a place, or for any number of other reasons. While calling mom and dad your “roommates” may be a smart financial move, it’s the kiss of death for a healthy dating life. Trulia’s survey found that only 5% of unmarried adults would be open to dating someone who lived with their parents.

Everyone Loves Master Bathrooms
Trulia posed the question: “If you were in the market for your first home today, what home amenities would make you fall in love with a home?” The results show that, for the most part, men and women largely want the same things. The top amenity for both sexes is a master bathroom, followed by a walk-in closet. More women (72%) are infatuated with a walk-in closet than men (55%), but there are apparently plenty of males in need of closet space, as well as a gourmet kitchen—No. 3 on the list of most-desired home amenities for both sexes.

Information derived from TIME Magazine and Trulia. 

4 Reasons to Buy a Home in 2016

By Layla Book,

Yes, it is the new year and I know that buying a house for 2016 was a resolution.  Here are 4 home buying reasons to make sure 2016 is a productive year for your in real estate:

Thanks Realtor.com team!

1. Interest rates are still low

Even though they may increase at any moment, its still a fact that interest rates are at record lows. A 30-year fixed rate is around 4%. You can talk to Layla Book so she can get you in touch with the best lenders.

2. Rents have skyrocketed

As a future homeowner, you will not have to worry about rents increases. According to the 2015 Rent.com Rental Market Report, 88% of property managers raised their rent in the past 12 months, and an 8% hike is predicted for 2016. In some parts of LA it makes more sense and is even cheaper to pay a monthly mortgage than paying rent. Plus you are building equity.

3. Home prices are stabilizing

For the first time in years, prices are stabilizing, restoring a level playing field that helps buyers drive a harder bargain with sellers, even in heated markets. This is called a cooling period. You as a buyer should capitalize on this.

4. You are going to get a BIG tax break

Tax laws continue to favor homeowners, so you’re not just buying a place to live—you’re getting a tax break! Unless your loan is more than $1 million, you can deduct all the monthly interest you are paying on that loan. Homeowners may also deduct certain home-related expenses and home property taxes.

For further info on the first steps to home purchasing contact Layla Book, MBA. You won’t find a more hard working and determined Realtor. She is committed to the best service. Contact Layla at 310.435.9876 or email at laylazbook@gmail.com

 

 

 

Pocket Listing – Excellent Investment Opportunity

Listing Bedrooms: 6 | Listing Bathrooms: 4 | Listing Square Footage: 3231 |

 An Excellent Investment Opportunity in the Growing Community of Glendale   This well-maintained and charming 4-unit building (two-1/1 units and two- 2/1 units) has prospered under a seasoned owner with long-term tenants. Situated in a beautiful tree-lined street in a highly desirable residential neighborhood with great freeway access to the 134, 5 and 2 and close proximity to the Americana, the Glendale Galleria, theaters, many restaurants, the Brand Library, museums, LA Zoo, parks & Glendale City College, this property has it all.    

 

Two traditional side-by-side buildings on a corner lot All have bright and roomy settings  3,231 sq. feet total and 7,058 sq. feet  Separate laundry room for more income Located in a highly desirable area of Glendale  No rent control and current rents are below area market Two- 1/1 units and two- 2/1 units Two units are occupied by Section 8 tenants Comfortable living space and ideal floor plans for all four units One parking spot is designated per unit with more to spare . Offered at $1.2M

For more info or for similar properties, please contact Layla Book at laylazbook@gmail.com or 310.435.9876

LAYLA BOOK, MBA

REALTOR ^®

PLG ESTATES

Cell: 310.435.9876

Office: 310.788.0700

DRE# 01908557

Tax and Home Records Checklist: What to Keep and For How Long

Special thanks to the houselogic team!

Unless you’re living in the 123-room Spelling Manor, you probably don’t have space to store massive amounts of tax and insurance paperwork, warranties, and repair receipts related to your home. But you’ll definitely want your paperwork at hand if you have to prove you deserved a tax deduction, file an insurance claim, or figure out if your busted oven is still under warranty.

Except for tax paperwork, there’s no official guideline governing exactly how long you have to keep most home-related documents. Lucky for you, we considered the situations in which you might need documents and came up with a handy “How Long to Keep It” home records checklist.

First, a little background on IRS rules, which informed some of our charts:

• The IRS says you should keep tax returns and the paperwork supporting them for at least three years after you file the return — the amount of time the IRS has to audit you. So that’s how long we advise in our charts.

• Check with your state about state income tax, though. Some make you keep tax records a really long time: In Ohio, it’s 10 years.

• The IRS can also ask for records up to six years after a filing if they suspect someone failed to report 25% or more of his gross income. And the agency never closes the door on an audit if it suspects fraud. Just sayin’.

HOME SALE RECORDS
Document	How Long to Keep It
Home sale closing documents, including HUD-1 settlement sheet	As long as you own the property + 3 years
Deed to the house	As long as you own the property
Builder’s warranty or service contract for new home	Until the warranty period ends
Community/condo association covenants, codes, restrictions (CC&Rs)	As long as you own the property
Receipts for capital improvements	As long as you own the property + 3 years
Section 1031 (like-kind exchange) sale records for both your old and new properties, including HUD-1 settlement sheet	As long as you own the property + 3 years
Mortgage payoff statements (certificate of satisfaction or lien release)	Forever, just in case a lender says, “Hey, you still owe money.”

Why you need these docs: You use home sale closing documents, receipts for capital improvements, and like-kind exchange records to calculate and document your profit (gain) when you sell your home. Your deed and mortgage payoff statements prove you own your home and have paid off your mortgage, respectively. Your builder’s warranty or contract is important if you file a claim. And sooner or later you’ll need to check the CC&R rules in your condo or community association.

ANNUAL TAX DEDUCTIONS
Document	How Long to Keep It
Property tax payment (tax bill + canceled check or bank statement showing check was cashed)	3 years after the due date of the return showing the deduction
Year-end mortgage statements	3 years after the due date of the return showing the deduction
PMI payment (monthly bills + canceled check or bank statements showing check was cashed)	3 years after the due date of the return showing the deduction
Residential energy tax credit* receipts	3 years after the due date of the return on which the credit is claimed (including carryforwards**)

Why you need these docs: To document you’re eligible for a deduction or tax credit.

*Energy tax credits for alternative energy sources; credit expires at the end of 2016.

**Tax credits that you carry forward from one year to a future year, such as when you don’t have enough tax liability to offset the entire amount of the credit. (You can’t deduct more than you earn.) Only certain tax credits can be carried forward. Check with your tax pro about your particular circumstances.

INSURANCE AND WARRANTIES
Document	How Long to Keep It
Home repair receipts	Until warranty expires
Inventory of household possessions	Forever (Remember to make updates.)
Homeowners insurance policies	Until you receive the next year’s policy
Service contracts and warranties	As long as you have the item being warrantied

Why you need these docs: To file a claim or see what your policy or warranty covers.

INVESTMENT (LANDLORD) REAL ESTATE DEDUCTIONS
Document	How Long to Keep It
Appraisal or valuation used to calculate depreciation	As long as you own the property + 3 years
Receipts for capital expenses, such as an addition or improvements	As long as you own the property + 3 years
Receipts for repairs and other expenses	3 years after the due date of the return showing the deduction
Landlord’s insurance payment receipt (canceled check or bank statement showing check was cashed)	3 years after the due date showing the deduction
Landlord’s insurance policy	Until you receive the next year’s policy
Partnership or LLC agreements for real estate investments	As long as the partnership or LLC exists + 7 years
Landlord insurance receipts (canceled check or bank statement showing check was cashed)	3 years after you deduct the expense

Why you need these docs: For the most part, to prove your eligibility to deduct the expense. You’ll also need receipts for capital expenditures to calculate your gain or loss when you sell the property. Landlord’s insurance and partnership agreements are important references.

MISCELLANEOUS RECORDS
Document	How Long to Keep It
Wills and property trusts	Until updated
Date-of-death home value record for inherited home, and any rules for heirs’ use of home	As long as you own the home + 3 years
Original owners’ purchase documents (sales contract, deed) for home given to you as a gift	As long as you own the home + 3 year
Divorce decree with home sale clause	As long as you or spouse owns the home + 3 years
Employment records for live-in help (W-2s, W-4s, pay and benefits statements)	4 years after you make (or owe) payroll tax payments

Why you need these docs: Most are needed to calculate capital gains when you sell. Employment records help prove deductions.

Organizing Your Home Records

Because paper, such as receipts, fades with time and takes up space, consider scanning and storing your documents on a flash drive, an external hard drive, or a cloud-based remote server. Even better, save your documents to at least two of these places.

Digital copies are OK with the IRS as long as they’re identical to the originals and contain all the accurate information that was in the original receipts. You must be able to produce a hard copy if the IRS asks for one.

Tip: Tax season and year’s end are good times to purge files and toss what you no longer need; that’s often when the spirit of organization moves us.

When you do finally toss out your home-related paperwork, use a shredder. Throwing away intact documents with personal financial information puts you at risk for identity theft.

This article isn’t intended to be relied upon as tax or legal advice applicable to particular transactions or circumstances. Consult a tax professional for such advice! I’m just a Realtor 🙂

Why It’s Cheaper to Buy a House in the Winter

By Layla Book,

Home prices can vary because buyers are unusually idiosyncratic—some people will fall for a house just because it has a walk-in closet, an extra bathroom, or a breakfast nook. These idiosyncrasies cause two different buyers to place wildly different values on the same house, which can produce some surprisingly rapid fluctuations in price. Special thanks to The Atlantic team!

Making sense of the story:

• There are seasonal differences in home prices.  For example, the cost of a home is higher in the summer than in the winter.  These seasonal shifts are well documented—most housing indexes provide “seasonally adjusted” prices—but many models of the housing market have failed to account for them.

• The reason for the difference?  In the summer, there are many houses for sale, people find their ‘ideal house’ quickly, and they are willing to pay a higher price.  While it’s true that homes generally cost less in the winter, that’s also when there are fewer out there to choose from—and thus when it’s harder to find a perfect fit.

• Because there is this critical mass that prefers searching in the summer, sellers list their houses for sale in the summer.  And because there are more houses for sale, buyers also then prefer to search in the summer.

•  People who move into new homes during the summer are often more satisfied with their purchases: They tend to live in those homes longer and spend a lot less money on remodeling. But, for those rare few who aren’t as picky about a house as everyone else, it makes sense to buy in the winter, when the pickings are slimmer but the prices are too.

Contact Layla Book for more info 310.435.9876 or layla.z.book@gmail.com

Nine Reasons to Buy a House Now

By Layla Book,

Buying a house is like having a baby: there’s no absolute perfect time to do either.

The down payment-interest rate-economic factors-qualification quadrangle can be so confusing. Rising rates, loosening requirements, down payment options, buyer’s markets, seller’s markets – what does it all mean to you if you want to buy a home? The truth is that while the banks might have a magical formula to determine your mortgage-worthiness, determining if the time is right really comes down to three main questions:

Do you want to buy a home?
Are you financially prepared?
Is your credit where it needs to be?

If yes, then go for it. Here are nine reasons to do it now.

1. Prices are good. According to the latest S&P/Case-Shiller report, home prices are still gaining, but have slowed. “The 10-City Composite gained 5.5% year-over-year and the 20-City 5.6%, both down from the 6.7% reported for July,” they said. “The National Index gained 5.1% annually in August compared to 5.6% in July.” This is good news if you were afraid that big price gains would put homeownership out of reach and also bodes well for your long-term equity once you purchase.

2. Rates are low. “Imagine paying over 18% interest on a 30-year fixed mortgage. It’s almost unthinkable. But that was the reality for home buyers in October 1981 — a year when the average rate was almost 17%,” said Yahoo Finance. “The average rate has been 5.18% since the start of this country’s history,” making today’s rates, which hover around historic lows at 4%, sound even better.

3. Loan requirements are softening. They’re not approaching the look-the-other-way-and-stamp-it-approved levels that led to the market crash, but the overly tough restrictions that followed have loosened. “Major lenders are making adjustments,” said The Street. “Wells Fargo has lowered the minimum FICO score for borrowers applying for loans insured by the Federal Housing Administration to 600 from 640.” They also count JPMorgan Chase’s lowered loan-to-value “standards in certain markets for both jumbos and conforming mortgages.” For buyers that can mean an easier road to loan approval, even without a ton of money upfront and perfect credit.

4. FHA loans make it even easier for first-time buyers. If your credit is less than stellar and you don’t have a large down payment, an FHA loan can get you in the door. Credit scores can be as low as 620 to qualify and only 3.5% down is required. Whether you’ve never bought before or have been out of the market for a few years, an FHA loan can be your answer.

5. Fewer buyers around the holidays means less competition for you and more negotiating power. “Sellers who are actively looking to sell their homes during the holiday months — namely, October through December — are serious about shedding the weight of their residences,” said US News. “This often works in favor of savvy buyers looking to get a deal on discounted homes. Having less competition on the buyer’s side can mean lower prices on homes, in addition to fewer counter-offers to compete against.”

6. Rates are predicted to rise. “The Mortgage Bankers Association expects the average rate on a 30-year, fixed rate mortgage to rise slowly to 5.1 percent by the end of 2015,” said the Washington Post. If you want to take advantage of low rates, now is the time.

7. Pent-up demand could zap affordability. “The housing market is about to get even more competitive,” said Yahoo. “The pent-up demand of younger professionals, who moved back in with their parents during the recession, is about to explode. This eager subset of buyers will create some steep competition for homes, especially if they have been saving up to make larger down payments or high ticket offers. If the current homes on the market have more potential buyers, bidding wars develop, and the purchase prices are driven up.

8. “Buying is cheaper than renting in most markets,” said Housingwire. With a little knowledge of loan options and low down payment programs, you can easily flip the switch from renter to homeowner.

9. Because you want to buy a home. There really is no more compelling reason than that. You want it. So make it happen

Special thanks to the Realty Times Team

LAYLA BOOK, MBA

REALTOR ^®

PLG ESTATES

Cell: 310.435.9876

Office: 310.788.0700

BLOG: FINDYOURHOMELA

Under $1M in Beverlywood!

By Layla Book,

Have you been looking constantly for the right price and the right house? Here is a great option! Located in the Beverlywood vicinity, this 3 bed, 2 bath, 1624 sq ft house may be it!

Great Curb Appeal

Perfect for a Sukkah!

Inviting living room

Gorgeous, large, updated kitchen

Remodeled bathrooms with high end fixtures

For more info or for a private showing please contact Layla Book, 310-435-9876 or layla.z.book@gmail.com

 

Repurchasing a Home After a Short Sale, Foreclosure or Bankruptcy

By Layla Book,

Boomerang buyers are former homeowners who have gone through a short sale, foreclosure, or bankruptcy in the past few years and are saving up for a down payment to purchase a home again. Check out the results below from a recent study from AfterForeclosure.com

It is very important to know the 2014 repurchase timelines, so you know when you can repurchase again using Conventional, FHA or VA financing after suffering either a Short Sale, Foreclosure or Bankruptcy. Contact me for a detailed timeline

Please pass this on to anyone who suffered a financial hardship in the past, so they know when they can repurchase again.

Layla Book

310.435.9876 or layla.z.book@gmail.com

 

Great Valued Home! Lots of Potential!

By Layla Book,

Huge lot, over 10,700 sq. ft, with pool. Currently has 3 beds and 3 baths. Central Beverly Hills location. Lots of potential! Great value.

For a private tour of this home or many other homes I can suggest, please contact me:

Layla Book

310-435-9876

layla.z.book@gmail.com

Listing Provided by Courtesy of Sally Forster Jones

Short Sale Condo: Prime Beverly Hills Location

By Layla Book,

This 3 Bed 3 Bath condo is in a prime-location of Beverly Hills. Great Floor plan. Amazing Value. Private patio. Feels like a home.

For more info or for similar properties please contact Layla Book at layla.z.book@gmail.com, 310-435-9876, or leave a comment here.