Historic 920 D Street is an extraordinary Victorian home with all the bells and whistles of a classic vintage property of style, grace and stature, not to mention a ballroom and party-size formal dining room, spacious, leafy grounds, pool, carriage house and large, modern kitchen.
Positioned in the heart of West Petaluma's heritage home neighborhood, this grand, old house (circa 1880) has been a beacon of warmth and holiday season hospitality for generations of the extensive Bihn Family for more than half a century. Click here to read more on this preview sneak peek before this gorgeous, character home is officially on the market this fall.
And now for something new..... check out West Petaluma Living - and if you like what you see, subscribe for free via email, as with Southern Sonoma Country Life.
Since visiting the prototype, eco-friendly Pop-Up House in the depths of Chileno Valley for a Petaluma Magazine feature, this Spring, I'd been itching for a return visit to share here at Southern Sonoma Country Life.
Now that the fall issue of my favorite (hometown) magazine is on the shelves at Copperfields, Petaluma Market and on the coffee tables of friends and neighbors, artist and entrepreneur Hally Thacher's well-time open house this drizzly fall weekend was perfecting timing for me to make the return trek some three, rambling miles way off the beaten track, inland from scenic Chileno Valley.
Designed to forward-thinking home buyers in the green market for an affordable option as an refreshing alternative to the more traditionally modular, manufactured home. Visit this stylish, state of the art, Northern Californian showcase from Thacher's exciting Houseport collection online .
Alternatively, take a drive out West from Petaluma this Friday or Saturday, September 24th or 25th, or October 1st or 2nd 11 am to 4 pm. 2010 from 11am to 4pm when the Pop Up House will be open to visitors who have rsvp'd .
Southern SoCo Life's in-house real estate guy, Timo Rivetti of Keller Williams, Petaluma is prepped to discuss your individual pop-up housing needs.
It's not very often that a home in the classic, heritage D Street neighborhood of West Side Petaluma hits the market without a whole host of the ultimate 'honey-do's' hidden away behind a lofty price tag.
But every once in a while a move-in masterpiece offers a highly desirable slice of the ultimate Southern Sonoma County living for a savvy home hunter to snap up.
Been on the hunt for a magnificent move? Don't miss this bright and beautiful 2,785 sq ft D Street Petaluma Colonial Gem with a bonus 640 Sq Ft modern Legal Living Unit on a spacious 11,325 Lot.
This gorgeous and immaculately remodeled and maintained main home comprises of four bedrooms, sensational, magazine-shoot quality master suite bath (4 additional bathrooms), classic spiral staircase, solid oak hardwood floors, vintage period details, recent remodeled, state-of-the-art kitchen, elegant foyer, formal dining room, sweeping English garden with room for pool, new driveway, front & rear landscaping all in walking distance to the bustling Theatre District, farmer's markets and schools.
Take a virtual tour! New to the market this month (August 2010), contact Timo Rivetti for more information or to arrange a viewing.
Thanks to the Department of Housing and Urban Development's February 1st about turn on its stringent 90-day 'no-flip' rule on foreclosed properties, real estate investors on the look-out for distressed properties priced at below market value are now able to flip a purchase.
Better still, it could well be a win-win for buyers in the market for affordable, newly renovated homes. For first-time and budget buyers tapping into the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) insured financing will now have access to a wider range of homes in hard-hit neighborhoods ripe for a return to better days.
Though real estate experts have concerns that investors flipping distressed properties will look to cash buyers and those using more conventional loans, the year-long program, designed to stabilize home values and improve heavily foreclosed communities does have some strict rules and regulations in place to prevent predatory practices of inflated pricing.
For instance, all real estate transactions in this category are required to be at arm's-length, in that there must be no identity of interest between buyer and seller or any other party involved in the purchase and sale.
Extra documentation to justify a significant price increase is mandatory in circumstances in which the home sales price is 20% or more above the seller's initial purchase cost.
Californians utilizing FHA insured loans must have fully documentable income and demonstrate that they can make the monthly payments on a new mortgage. Most buyers will have to come up with a minimum of 3.5 % in downpayment and the purchase property must be owner occupied.
Thinking of investing in a distressed property to flip within the new 90-day period? In the market in Sonoma County for a recently refurbished starter home? Call Southern Sonoma Country Life's (Sponsor) real estate broker associate Timo Rivetti at 707 477 8397.
Los Angeles Times columnist Meghan Daum's funny, revealing and illuminating "Life Would be Perfect If I Lived in That House" - published by Knopf and available in hardback for all manner of fantasy-home-seekers anonymous types, puts the American dream into perspective.
"Few sentiments are at once as honest and as absurd as the one that moves us to declare: Life would be perfect if I lived in that house," writes Daum in the telling of her self-described, impassioned pursuit of the ultimate in "domestic integrity" - an ideal match of place to the person we all think we should be.
Haven't you flicked through your favorite home and garden or chic, urban interior design magazine in the dentists' waiting room and had an 'aha' moment when the kitchen of your wildest domestic-themed dreams appears at the random turn of a page? Ripped it out, even? I know I have.
Raised on "Little House on the Prairie", sidetracked by an early infatuation with peeling, pre-war Manhattan apartments, seduced by screen doors and porches and Nebraskan farms and brought back to reality by affordability options in Silver Lake, Southern Cal, Daum's insightful and amusing probing into her obsessions on the primal, domestic front mirror those of several generations of Americans (and I dare say, our counterparts elsewhere in the world), who share her: "perpetual curiosity" towards the potential for happiness at the final destination of the mover's truck.
Mortgage interest rates that hit historical lows this past year are unlikely to inch back up to much more than 6% by the end of 2010.
Though, according to real estate industry experts, this month's affordable 5% will be hard to maintain for too much longer as the U.S. economy continues its gradual recovery.
"Despite the Federal Reserve's retreat from purchasing mortgage-backed securities last month, rates have been kept down due to private investors filling the void," says Resident Real Estate Pro - Southern Sonoma Country Life's (Sponsor) Timo Rivetti.
"The country's elevated budget deficit coupled with a recovering economy have helped to keep interest rates down for an extended period of time," says Rivetti, who believes that continual growth within the U.S. economy will most likely bring interest rates up to the 6% mark by the end of this year.
"With a massive slowing down of home price inflation across the country, I would not expect to see the demand for credit pushing up interest rates to any higher than 7% in the next couple of years," says Rivetti.
"Here in Sonoma County prices have stabilized in the starter home and mid-size home market and agents are seeing a return of the multiple offer scenario on appropriately priced properties. If you are considering buying a home in the region within the next 12 months, now is the time to take advantage of those rock-bottom interest rates."
Rivetti recommends pre-approval for a mortgage loan before a client dips his or her feet into the current market. "Non-contingent real estate buyers stand the best chance of snapping up a competitively priced home," he says. "Savvy buyers know that this climate of affordability won't last forever."
"Also please understand that the lender's underwriter is the most critical person in the real estate transaction today. Without the 'underwriters' approval NO LOAN gets approved. That is why today's buyer needs a local lender that has a PROVEN track record and an experienced agent to guide through the escrow".
Petaluma's People's Choice Best Realtor for 2009, Rivetti transitioned to Keller Williams' new International Real Estate brokerage as a launching partner at 1383 N McDowell Blvd, Petaluma, CA 94952 from downtown REMAX Marina Realty this Spring. Though still in the process of a full web site conversion, Southern Sonoma Country Life posts appear on the top broker associate's site daily, offering home buyers and sellers a colorful slice of SoCo Living at its best!
Excellent
examples of Julia Morgan’s post-Victorian era architectural legacy include this
elegant New England Federal-style Colonial residence at tree-lined, 15 Brown
Court, Petaluma, California.
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