PERSONAL BUSINESS: Interest Rates And Your Estate. Even small changes can affect what you'll pass along to your heirs, so bear these tips in mind when shopping for trusts. As everyone knows, the ups and downs of interest rates can have a significant impact on the price of your home, the value of your investments, and what you pay for loans. But rates can also play a big role in estate planning. Indeed, when it comes to many popular types of trusts and other estate-planning techniques, even small moves in interest rates can make a big difference in what you'll be able to pass along to your heirs -- or what you'll have to fork over to Uncle Sam. Click here to read more.
Area financial planners host phone forum Thursday. It's nearly a month into the New Year, and individuals who resolved to get their finances in order have likely already met a challenge or two. There's hope and help: Five members of the Financial Planning Association of San Joaquin Valley will field questions from the public during a two-hour call-in Thursday. The phone forum, from 6 to 8 p.m., is in advance of the sixth annual Planning Pays Off, a half-day of personal finance presentations and workshops to be held Feb. 4 at University of the Pacific. Click here to read more.
A Wealth of $1-Million Homes. California's real estate boom has made the onetime stratospheric price commonplace. Million-dollar homes were once a sign of real affluence. Now, at least in California, they are getting to be a dime a dozen. Nearly 49,000 homes in the state sold for at least $1 million last year — a 47% increase from 2004, according to data released Tuesday by DataQuick Information Systems, a La Jolla-based real estate research firm. The real news is that $1-million homes are becoming more commonplace in areas not known for lifestyles of the rich and famous. Indeed, if you sold a home in California last year, there was a 1 in 13 chance that it went for at least $1 million, according to DataQuick. Your chances in 2004: 1 in 20. The total of homes fetching $1 million or more last year was nearly four times the number in 2002, according to DataQuick. Only a few years ago, $1 million bought you an "estate" property, one with ample square footage on a large lot in an exclusive neighborhood. Not anymore. The median-sized million-dollar home last year was 2,480 square feet with four bedrooms and three bathrooms, DataQuick found. The million-dollar-home trend is pushing even farther inland into non-resort communities in Riverside and San Bernardino counties. Several new million-dollar-home markets emerged there last year, thanks to sales of newly built large homes on big lots. The city of Norco, known for its horsy set and ever-present smell of manure, had 55 sales of $1 million or more, up from six the year before, DataQuick said. Even condominiums in California are breaching the $1-million mark. There were 2,902 condo sales in the million-dollar category last year, up 73% from the year before, DataQuick said. Most were sold in West Los Angeles, San Diego and San Francisco. Officially, the most expensive confirmed purchase last year was a 13,636-square-foot, six-bedroom, 12-bathroom La Jolla house on six acres, which went for $23.5 million in September, DataQuick said. Unofficially, however, some homes sold for much more. The super-rich sometimes pay cash, and sometimes their prices aren't officially recorded. The Beverly Hills mansion that was once the home of oil tycoon Marvin Davis reportedly sold for $42 million last year. Currently, there are close to 200 California homes for sale listed at $8 million or above, according to Ultimate Homes magazine. At the top of the list is a Malibu beach pad on seven acres with an ocean view. The asking price: $65 million. Click here to read more.
Homeowners sue over missing square footage. More lawsuits over California builder's size mistake. More homeowners have sued builder JTS Communities of Sacramento, Calif., alleging that the square footage of their homes is smaller than the sales brochure indicated -- as many as 168 feet smaller, to be exact. This case, filed as a class action, is the third suit filed against JTS over the difference between the square footage advertised in the company's marketing materials and the actual square footage of buyers' homes. JTS has acknowledged there were discrepancies of up to 168 square feet involving just under 200 homes built between 1998 and 2004. But the company contends that it has not intentionally misled anyone, that no one has been harmed financially and that all home buyers signed sales contracts stating the square footage advertised in marketing material was an estimate. Click here to read more.
~Tina Jan~
Coldwell Banker Kivett-Teeters
1655 E. Sixth St.
Beaumont, CA 92223
Work: 951-845-5520 Ext. 105
Fax: 951-845-4916
Cell: 909-446-2666
Toll-Free: 1-877-TINAJAN
tina.jan@coldwellbanker.com
www.tinajan.com
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