If you’re a current property owner or want to buy one of our new San Joaquin Valley homes, you most likely know of the need for homeowners insurance. The coverage protects your investment. Besides, no lender will issue a mortgage unless you have an adequate policy. But you may assume certain things about insurance based on your research that are incorrect. Watch out for the following common “gotchas” when shopping for a policy.
Destroyed items will be completely replaced.
You might think that if an item you own is totally destroyed, your insurance will pay you to replace it. Isn’t that the entire point of coverage? Unfortunately, most standard policies only pay for the value of the item at the time of the loss. For example, if your four-year-old lawnmower is destroyed by a fire, you will get the value of the used lawn mower, which will most likely not be enough to buy a newer version of the same model.
Seasons are always changing, even though it still feels like summer in much of California, and it’s time to change your home’s seasonal décor. Autumn brings up extra emotion; it is a season of change, when the air gets a little crisper, football is on television and we start to think about delicious baked goods and lots of family time.
Walk into a Hobby Lobby or a Michaels or any grocery store and you will be visually bombarded with an array of autumn leaves, scarecrows, hay bales, and dinnerware to match. You could fill carts upon carts with trinkets to remind you that it is in fact, autumn, despite the high temperatures. Decorating for the season can be extraordinarily fun and doesn’t have to consume an entire Saturday, or too much of your discretionary spending money. For those who love the season, but don’t have many resources to put toward it here are some simple DYI decorating tips for the fall.
Research shows that the average American spends 87 percent of their time in enclosed buildings and 6 percent of their time in enclosed vehicles. That’s a total of 93 percent of your life spent inside.
There are a number of reasons why this is unhealthy — for body, mind, and spirit. Studies show that hanging out in nature can actually offer relief for everything from stress to depression. Here are a few more reasons to spending time outdoors:
Getting outside makes exercise easier. Research conducted at the University of Essex showed that the color green, such as that found on trees, grass and other plants in nature, makes exercise feel easier. Plus, other research showed that those who exercise outside are more eager to return for a future workout than those who stick to the gym.
Shake off the Doldrums
All of that fresh air is a quick way to kick your brain into high gear. Ditch the caffeine and stick to a walk in the park. Some studies say that 20 minutes outside can wake you up just as much as one cup of coffee can.
Fall is such a fun time. The school year promises field trips, football games and fundraisers. The trees change color, adorning communities in bright new shades of scarlet, gold and copper. The harvest gets going with the wine crush, and apples, pumpkins and gourds are set out along country roads. Many communities host fun fall activities to celebrate the last long rays of summer and plan the holiday revels of winter. California’s Central Valley is filled with fun this time of year.
As we ease into autumn winds down, it’s time to make sure your home in the San Joaquin Valley is ready for what comes next. Here are a few ideas to make the transition from summer to fall and winter smooth and easy.
Inside your home…
BRING NATURE IN
Yes, the summer flowers have faded. But it’s good to remember that autumn has a lot to offer your décor, including gourds in every shape and size, corn husks and acorns. Fill a wooden bowl or willow basket with nuts or pine cones. Or make a chili pepper garland to drape over the mantle.
For additional fall decorating ideas (crafted with dollar store materials) visit debbiedoos.com.
It’s easy enough to see what you’re getting with San Joaquin Valley Homes. You’ll find lots of information on our website, can email or phone agents if you have questions, and check out models when you visit our neighborhoods.
As much as you will enjoy your new home, you’ll also enjoy the surrounding area and its multitude of cultural events. Despite the Central Valley’s well-deserved reputation for being a farming powerhouse for the country, it’s not all tractor-pulls when the locals get together. You may be surprised at the breath and depth of annual events available to you and your family.
Whether you are looking to purchase a home right away or you will not be ready to buy one for several years, now is the time to start preparing your finances. Consider these five tips:
Build Strong Credit
Your credit score will affect your mortgage rate. A low score will make it hard and sometimes impossible to buy a home. Checking your credit score can help you to see if you need to improve and where you need to improve. You should pay off past-due bills, establish credit accounts such as credit cards or other loans you are making regular payments on, and make sure your balances on your accounts reach no more than 30 percent of your credit limits.
Checking your credit report can also reveal mistakes. Correcting them will improve your credit score. But start now as it can take several months to fix inaccuracies.
TULARE, Calif. – September 3, 2015 – San Joaquin Valley Homes (SJV Homes) will break ground this month on the first phase of Palo Verde, a 110-acre community at Mooney Boulevard and Seminole Avenue in Tulare that will eventually offer 350 lots. SJV Homes will build 53 single-story homes with five floor plans ranging between 1,574 and 2,250 square feet at Sedona @ Palo Verde.
The $90 million development is the eighth project that SJV Homes has developed in a joint venture with Presidio Residential Capital, a San Diego-based real estate investment company.
Protecting your community’s clean water supply – and the environment in general – is an excellent way to maintain the high quality of your new home by San Joaquin Valley Homes.
An easy way to have a healthy home is to choose environmentally safe cleaning supplies. Standard cleaning supplies often contain harsh chemicals that can be toxic to biological organisms. Packaging also presents problems, as most cleaning supplies are contained in plastics that don’t degrade or break down. The chemicals and plastics can stay in the environment for years, causing acute (immediate onset) or chronic (ongoing) damage over generations.
If you’re a first-time home-buyer, you may be under the impression that lenders decide to issue you mortgages based solely on your down payment and whether your income allows you to afford the monthly cost. While those factors are important, financial institutions also want to know how reliable you are with your payments and how you manage your financial obligations. They gain that knowledge by studying your credit report.
Their View
Mortgage lenders look at your tri-merged credit profile, which combines the information from the three major credit bureaus: TransUnion, Equifax, and Experian. It includes credit scores. Most lenders look at the middle score to determine your terms and rates.
As summer comes to an end, kids are getting ready to head back to school for another year of learning and growing. It’s an exciting, and sometimes stressful, season for parents and children alike. Groggy mornings full of tension due to unfinished homework, searching for missing shoes and backpacks and rushing to gobble a few bites of breakfast before the bus comes make for a tough day. After school there are a plethora of distractions from siblings, the television and video games.
All these things take their toll on the family and make the school year seem longer than it is. It doesn’t have to be that way, though, here are five things you can do in your Central Valley home to keep everything running smoothly.
When you move to your new home in The Central Valley, it’s a good idea to take some time out for celebration. You’ve just made a life-altering decision for yourself and your family. What better way to celebrate it than by throwing a housewarming party? This is a good way to get to know your neighbors and to get together with friends and family whom you haven’t seen in a while (probably because you’ve been so busy with the process of buying the home).
A lot of people tend to skip this because they think it will be too much work. You just spent all this time choosing and buying a home, and you’ve also had to put a lot of energy into moving. Do you really want to take the trouble of cooking and decorating just so you can have some guests over? Here are a few reasons why you might want to have a housewarming party and effortless, elegant ways to host one:
Buying a home is part of the American dream and can be a good investment. This is particularly true in this recovering market, where homes for sale in the Central Valley have already risen in price by an average of up to 60 percent in the past two years.
The Facts on Prices
The cities where San Joaquin Valley Homes builds are showing strong fundamentals in the housing market. Check out these hard real-life numbers compiled by real estate authority Zillow.
In Hanford, median home values have risen by 3.4 percent in the past year to $163,200. The forecast for the coming year is a 2.9 percent rise.
Lemoore shows a 2.5 percent change to a median $179,600 with a predicted increase of 3.2 percent.
Visalia‘s values have spiked by 7.6 percent to a median $190,200. Prices there are predicted to grow by 6.6 percent.
Tulare‘s values have also jumped by 9.7 percent to a median $156,900. Next year’s increase is forecast at 7.3 percent.
Corcoran shows the biggest jumps of all at 11.4 percent to $110,500. Predictions for next year are at a more modest although still respectable 5.9 percent.
Based on these numbers, your property purchase should increase in value, which is the hallmark of any good investment
BAKERSFIELD, CA–(Marketwired – Jul 30, 2015) – San Joaquin Valley Homes has broken ground on Tuscany, three communities totaling 212 single-family homes on 66.5 acres in northwest Bakersfield, Calif., with a combined value of approximately $65 million. Homes are being built by SJV Homes on 53 lots in the community.
This will be the seventh project that SJV Homes has developed in a joint venture with Presidio Residential Capital, a San Diego-based real estate investment company, which acquired 116 lots at Tuscany last year in collaboration with Cornerstone Communities.
Moving into a new house is often both an exciting and stressful experience. Whether you are moving across town or across the country, making sure the details of your move go smoothly can help relieve some of the stress. As a top new home builder in the Central Valley, we want you to not only love your new home but to have an enjoyable moving experience. Here are four tips to make your moving experience go smoother.
Do Not Procrastinate Preparing for the Move
Although it might be several weeks or even months before you are moving, start preparing for your move now. Go through items and get rid of things you no longer want or need. In this way, you will not be packing knickknacks or clothes and moving them to your new home only to end up selling or donating them later. Plus, the less you have to pack, the easier it is to unpack.
Finding a place to store items in your new California home can be a struggle if you do not utilize your given storage space appropriately. Oftentimes, garages become the home’s major storage space, but if you do not use the space effectively, your garage can rapidly become a disorganized mess where you cannot find what you need when you need it. To get you off on the right foot, we want to provide you with four tips to get your new garage in order right away so you can avoid the mess which might otherwise quickly develop.
Face it, moving is stressful. So everybody in the family will be delighted when you decorate your newly built home with elements that create a soft landing for them.
Here are some tips for decorating with soft elements:
SOFT TEXTURES
Walls are hard, but you can soften the look by what you choose to hang on them.
Like a soft picture board, also known as a French memo board. You can easily make this yourself with a few inexpensive supplies. Katharine Dally has a great tutorial on eHow – “How to Make a Picture Board with Ribbon” that will help you get started.
If you’ve been waiting, now’s the time to come out to Hartley Grove, San Joaquin Valley Homes’ new-home community in Hanford. With over half of the neighborhood already sold, Hartley Grove has proven to be popular with buyers. This latest release of homesites is on a cul-de-sac street and includes some extra large lots.
At Hartley Grove, buyers can choose their plan and their homesite. “Buyer’s like the choices they have here at Hartley Grove. That’s a real part of why this neighborhood is so popular,” says Melani Trelut, the home specialist at Hartley Grove.
