Getting Your Home Ready to Sell During & After the Holidays

Top Reasons to Buy a Home

My House Didn't Sell So What’s Next?

San Jose Broker

Capri sells homes in the San Jose Bay Area, Stockton, Tracy, Central Valley and Sacramento as the broker and owner of Citi One Realty . Specializing in home remodeling, staging, and selling of homes for over 21 years. Make repairs, or just sell it as-is? This is the question that is on the minds of many homeowners in today's market. Within the past few years home buyers have become more attracted to homes that are in a turn key position, and ready to move into. Because of today's current events, inflation and rising interest rates home owners will need to make their homes more competitive in presentation and price in order to attract more potential home buyers. This may sound like a daunting task, but with the right real estate professional to guide you through the process its pretty simple and easy. In today's market it doesn't matter where you live from San Jose Evergreen, Silver Creek, Willow Glen, The Almaden Valley, Saratoga, Los Altos, Cambrian, Tracy or the Stockton real estate market. Following these tried and tested steps will help you achieve a faster sale and higher sales price. While a few sellers decide to not update or stage their home; many homeowners do for a faster sale, so it's important in these markets to get your home ready in order to beat your competition. Not doing anything at all example, painting, cleaning, or listing your property above market value will only help your neighbor's home sell faster. You don't need to spend a lot of money to get your home ready, but keep in mind that first impression is everything; and home buyers whether they know this or not are looking for an "emotional" experience when they walk into your home. Knowing how to prepare your home in order to trigger all the right emotions of a home buyer is key, and this process begins several weeks or even months before show time! The majority of the buyers in your market will see your home right when it's listed. What this means is that homes only get a small 14 day window to receive the best and highest offers; so it's imperative that you get it right from the very beginning. It's important to have the right set of professional eyes to walk through your home with you and show you what work is needed, and what's not. We'll walk through your home with you and place you on the right path so that you reach your goals. I've always said that we prepare for big events like a special birthday party to show off our homes to our guests, we prepare our homes for holiday celebrations, we even spend months to prepare for a wedding celebration. Why not invest a little time and resources to prepare for what is usually the largest sale or investment of our lives?  When done correctly, repairs, possible minor remodeling IF needed, and some staging will help your home to sell faster, at a higher price, and make the process of selling of your home more seamless and pleasant. That's of course only if it's priced right! Reach out to us to receive your free no obligation home assessment to make sure your home is correctly positioned and ready to receive the most money possible! We're here to help. Click here to... Give us a cal l! 408-828-1809/925-434-8684

What Does Higher Interest Rates Mean for Buyers and Sellers?

San Jose’s single family housing market suggests that San Jose is in a strong sellers market.

Great Tips For San Jose Home Buyers & First Time Home Buyers!

Opportunity zones have become a very lucrative and popular investment tool for investors all over the country because it allows investors to defer their capital gains tax. They are becoming more and more popular in San Jose, California. Qualified Opportunity funds have attracted an estimated $75 billion dollars in new capital in just two years and are expected to attract much more. Before we go into more detail, let's go over the big question that’s buzzing around. What are Opportunity Zones? How can they benefit a new or a savvy investor, or help the community? Created by a bipartisan Congress through The 2017 Jobs act this new investment tool is a unique opportunity that helps and gives investors an incentive to invest their capital into low income neighborhoods and areas that usually are overlooked and even forgotten. The program allows investors to defer their capital gains and even avoid paying capital gains on their new investments if their investments are placed into a Qualified Opportunity Fund, and invested in a census tract that is labeled as an Opportunity Zone. Let’s go into more detail. An OZ is like a 1031 on steroids. With a 1031 exchange investors have only 6 months to reinvest their capital from the sale of real estate into a like kind property in order to avoid paying tax on their capital gains. However, with an OZ the capital can come from the sale of stock, a business, or real estate and it doesn’t have to be reinvested into a like kind property as long as it is reinvested into an OZ within 6 months from the sale. This program does have requirements in order to receive the tax benefit. One of the requirements is that the capital has to be invested into a neighborhood that has been zoned by the governor as an Opportunity Zone. There are 36,000 census tracts across the country, out of them 25% have been designated as Opportunity Zones. When the bill was created Congress did not want to have to decide which areas would be labeled an OZ, so they decided to give the governors of each state that responsibility in order to make sure that the intent of the bill is fulfilled since local governors and mayors know their communities and neighborhoods more than anyone else. This program works best when local mayors and the governor work with the community, philanthropy and developers, and when local laws, development and permit policies are created and in line to support Opportunity Zones. This legislation allows the nation's private capital to go directly into the areas and communities that need it most. Creating new jobs and opportunities for so many people that have not seen any of the recovery and growth that has been mentioned and talked about on the news since the recession of 2008. In fact most of the recovery that has occurred in the nation comes from three states: New York, California and Florida and areas within these states that are medium to high income. HOW TO CREATE A QUALIFIED OPPORTUNITY FUND You can start your own Qualified Opportunity Fund if you have a Corp, Partnership, or LLC, however because of the required funds that will have to be invested into your new building or investment it may be more lucrative and make better since to just find an Opportunity fund to invest your capital into since they have more experience and knowledge with OZ’s. 100% of the price of the investment will need to be invested into the building for improvements minus the cost of the land within 30 months of the purchase. In order to know the land value you can always check with the local property tax assessor in order to find out what the recent assessed value of the land is. So for an example if you purchase a property for $1 million dollars and the land value is $200,000 you would need to make $800,000 in improvements. In order to make such a substantial improvement into some properties you would likely need to demolish and build a whole new building. Today there are 30,000,000 Americans living in low income neighborhoods. Many of these low income neighborhoods around the country are getting a new makeover, and communities are seeing hope with this new program because developers are coming in and developing entire blocks with beautiful condominiums, town homes, hotels, businesses, and retail facilities, and medical and office facilities. Finally a straight line has been drawn that connects these economically distressed communities with potentially over a trillion dollars of US capital investments. These communities are also receiving new employment opportunities with all the new development that is happening because of the OZ. The big question is why would investors want to invest their capital into areas that have been known in the past as high risk? What exactly is the benefit for the investor? Those investors that are pulling their capital from the stock market today during the Covid-19 era will have to pay tax on the capital gains of the stock, and during the Covid trillions of capital has been sold and need to be reinvested somehow by these investors. Many are looking at real estate because of its lucrativeness. Especially in areas like San Jose where you can enjoy rent and future equity from your new investment. If you invest into an OZ for 5 years you get to defer your capital gains tax, and only have to pay tax on 90% of your invested capital gains (ex. The money you pulled from your stock), and you don’t even have to pay it until the year 2026. Those who hold their investment in an OZ for an extra 2 years, a total of 7 years get to only pay 85% of their original capital gain when they decide to sell it. The big benefit is here: if you keep your OZ investment for a total of 10 years and you make all the required improvements which we discussed earlier, and are fully compliant You will pay NO CAPITAL GAINS when you decide to sell. So the way this works is let's say you sell some stock and receive 1 million in capital gains. You then purchase a building for 1 million dollars with the capital gains you received from the sale of your stock. You hold the new investment for 10 years (and made the required improvements) and decide to sell. The property has appreciated by 2 million dollars, so you get 3 million dollars from the sale. You will only have to pay capital gains tax for the original money you invested into the property since you never paid any capital gains on that money. Your original invested capital was only 1 million, so you will pay tax only on 85% of the original $1 million which means you’ll pay taxes on $850,000. So you receive $3 million from the sale but you will only pay capital gains tax for $850,000 of it. That’s sweet! WHERE TO FIND OPPORTUNITY ZONES IN SAN JOSE? To find out exactly where real estate opportunity zones are in residential San Jose you can find out by looking online as the state provides a map of all approved census tracts. Several census tracts in downtown San Jose have been selected as Opportunity Zones, and many have the potential to become very lucrative investments because of Google’s planned 60 acre campus to be built nearby, PLUS more new and upcoming plans are being filed by developers. In fact there are already Qualified Opportunity Funds that are working with the City of San Jose’s planning department to develop some of downtown San Jose Opportunity Zones. There are also some areas selected near Monterey Rd and Curtner Ave, Alma Ave, from Monterey Rd and Old Tully Rd. Also near HWY 680 and the McGlaughlin exit, and the Story Rd exit off HWY 101. PROS AND CONS We’ve gone over many of the pros in investing into this unique and new government incentive. The program was created in 2017 but didn’t start getting a lot of traction until 2018. While there are several benefits noted by investors, some investors feel that because they have to invest the actual value of the property into the property in order to capture their deferred benefit, they would likely need to increase rents in order to recapture expenses. Which would drive out the actual people that the program is designed to help, and they don’t want to push anyone out of the community. So it is believed that this criteria needs to be adjusted. WHO CAN HAVE A QUALIFIED OPPORTUNITY FUND? Anyone can have a Qualified Opportunity Fund. You will need to create an LLC (if using an LLC it must be treated as a Corp for tax purposes), Partnership, or Corp for your Qualified Opportunity Fund, unless you already have a qualifying entity you would like to designate as your QOF. The next step is to self certify your LLC, PARTNERSHIP, OR CORP as a Qualified Opportunity Fund using the IRS tax form 8996 . This will be done when you file your income taxes, so your accountant can attach form 8996 to your tax returns. Keep in mind that 90% of your QOF assets must be in an Opportunity Zone. There are many requirements that need to be met so that you don’t get penalized and miss out on capturing your deferred benefit. Since for the time being your QOF is self governed it is so important that you have a team of professionals in place to help you. I believe you'll need a “team of four to keep it "FAAR ”! Fund manager, Attorney, Accountant, Real Estate Agent. 1.) Fund Manager will make sure that all the T’s are crossed and the I's are dotted with your Qualified Opportunity Fund so that your fund stays in compliance. It’s very important that they are closely involved. 2.) Attorney to keep you current as new rules and regulations roll out. 3.) Accountant to make sure your fund properly self certifies and does everything to be compliant and ensures that your savings are being allocated and used properly. 4.) You'll need a Real Estate Agent familiar with Opportunity Zones in San Jose to make sure that you're making good and sound investments that make sense from an investor’s standpoint and you’re getting a good return on your investment. Of course the deferred benefits you’ll receive from having an OZ are phenomenal, but it only makes sense if you're making a good investment. Also, your realtor will make sure that the investment does not defeat the main purpose of the law which is revitalizing these economic distressed areas because you don’t want to displace or drive anyone out of the neighborhood. Feel free to reach out to us for more information and for a free list of residential and commercial properties for sale in Opportunity Zones in San Jose and Northern California. What's my home's worth? Looking for a top realtor in San Jose? Capri Ndikum is a top San Jose Real Estate agent & broker/owner of Citi One Realty located in San Jose, CA with over 21 years of real estate experience. The American Institute of Real Estate Professionals listed Capri Ndikum as the 10 Best Real Estate Agents in California. Give us a call!

Why Is Now A Good Time To Sell Real Estate? 2020 has indeed been an interesting and strange year. The San Jose real estate market was hit the hardest in Northern California in March of this year. With Santa Clara County and Governor Newson calling a state of emergency. Many home buyers and home owners alike delayed, canceled and put off their dreams while the stay in place order was and still is in effect in many regions of the state. As California is slowly starting to get back into normalcy homeowners and home buyers in San Jose and the rest of the state of California are trying to decide if now is a good time to buy or sell their San Jose real estate. San Jose is in the heart of Silicon Valley with a robust economy that is unique in its own nature. There was already a shortage of houses for sale in San Jose, Willow Glen, Los Gatos, and the South Bay Area prior to Covid-19. With so many home buyers wanting to move to San Jose, CA because of the city’s high rated schools like Silver Creek High School, Los Gatos High School in Los Gatos, Evergreen College in Silver Creek San Jose, and also because there’s just so many activities for the family to enjoy like great parks, restaurants, museums, and shopping at the well renowned Valley Fair Mall in San Jose, Santa Clara. There’s also Santa Ana Row which is renown for it’s high class and elegant boutique shops, classy restaurants and evening entertainment. San Jose Real Estate The South Bay is nestled and surrounded by beautiful green hills and mountain belts which makes it hard for home builders to expand and develop new housing for San Jose residents and new comers. This is one of the reasons why there is such a great supply and demand situation in San Jose and the rest of the South Bay. Another contribution to the supply and demand issue is that San Jose is the heart of the technology world. Many of the millennials here have great employment from high tech companies like Apple, Facebook, Microsoft, you name it and it’s here! There are just so many more able and qualified home buyers than there are houses for sale in San Jose. So with that being said, there has always been a housing shortage in San Jose, and now with the Covid-19 Corona Virus the housing supply is even more scarce. More home buyers living in apartment complexes in the city are also entering into the San Jose real estate market and moving into houses for sale in San Jose, Gilroy, Morgan Hill and Los Gatos in order to distance themselves from the public providing to them a feel or sense of safety and security from the Covid-19. This is why the year of 2020 is a very unique and complex year for San Jose real estate for many reasons. Buying or selling your home in San Jose this year has its advantages, and it’s disadvantages. But, first let's go over all the advantages to buying San Jose Real Estate during the Covid-19 the Corona Virus era. The Covid-19 Corona Virus has created its own new economy, it’s own advantages, and disadvantages. As humans, we all want to feel safe and secure, we all want to protect ourselves, and our families from the pandemic. We all have similar reactions and ways of responding when there is a pandemic, and when everyone is reacting the same way at the same time a climate is created. This new climate is creating both disadvantages and advantages for some depending on where you are standing. During the pandemic home buyers and sellers were staying indoors until recently. The stay in place order has laxed and the summer weather has warmed up and stimulated an all excitement in the air for home buyers that had been home shopping online. Many people who hadn’t left their bay area homes are now getting back to their normal lives and visiting houses for sale in San Jose for the first time. So many San Jose home buyers and families stayed indoors for several months this year which is the longest time they have ever had to stay inside of their homes. On the other side of the San Jose real estate spectrum are the home owners. Home owners are wary of the current environment and many are not selling their homes yet. Many homeowners in San Jose cannot vacate their homes and actually need to first sell their current home before they can move out, and they are saying that they are not ready to allow the public to enter into their occupied homes. Buyer’s alike are more willing to take a tour of a vacant home with their San Jose real estate agent, than tour a home that is still occupied. The two combined situations are creating an even deeper housing shortage in San Jose, the South bay and even the East bay area including real estate in Stockton and Patterson. Home buyers that are looking to buy in the South Bay and the East Bay suburbs of Dublin, Danville, Livermore and Pleasanton are in general viewing just the empty and vacant houses for sale to avoid any chances of getting exposed to Covid-19. So if you are a homeowner thinking about selling your San Jose Real Estate what do you do? Is now a good time? Because of the greater housing shortage and lack of homes for sale in San Jose home values are ever increasing. Low interest rates are also a big factor that is driving home buyers and many first time home buyers into the San Jose real estate market. There are so many driving forces that have come together in the new 2020 Corona Virus era that if you own a home in San Jose’s Silicon Valley now is actually a great time to sell!