Randy Mack | Realtor | 707.696.6272

    Heidi Faulkner | Realtor | 707.480.4098

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Level Up Your Home

 

Home decorating and remodeling trends are alluring to us all. Residential improvement fills our minds with enticing projects and grandiose ideas of what we can do ourselves in our spare lockdown time! Luckily the start of a new year is one of the most popular times for every magazine and news outlet to share what’s trending! Here is a summary of what we found this month.

Suzanne Tucker Quote

Front porch with chairs
Photo 167204043 © Evgeny Lashchenov | Dreamstime.com

 

Social Front Yards
Social Distance catch-ups are much more pleasant if an “In an effort to maximize your property and feel more connected to neighbors, social front yards will continue to be a priority,” Tilly Design’s forecast notes. Look out for porch swings, more oversized porches, and bistro-style seating in your neighbors front yard!

 

Outdoor kitchen and entertaining space
Photo 100963029 © Danny Raustadt | Dreamstime.com

 

Amped-up Indoor-Outdoor living spaces.
Highlighting a more natural flow between inside and outside living continues to trend high on homeowners’ wish lists. Large sliding or folding glass doors, drop-down screens on the porch, outdoor heating lamps, and outdoor fire pits are all likely must have’s in 2021.

 

Multi-Seasonal View

Intensifying seasonal views.
There is nothing like looking outside, only to see a few leaves on a tree. Homeowners are improving their views year-round by adding outside focal points that combine evergreens, perennials, and ornamental grasses to showcase greenery all year round.

Residential raised garden beds
Photo 73365904 © Irina88w | Dreamstime.com

 

Gardening spots.
Similar to the wave of sourdough starters during the pandemic, many people are returning to the simple life and growing gardens for enjoyment and food production. “Even in small areas, vertical outdoor gardens can not only serve as a great hobby but also as a statement piece, Tilly Design’s report notes. Veggies, fruit, and herb gardens are in high demand.”

 

She Shed
Photo 190675424 © Brinja Schmidt | Dreamstime.com

 

Prefabricated flex sheds
The “she shed” on tilt. Once used to store garden tools and boxes of memorabilia, sheds are now utilized as accessory dwelling units for returning grown children, renters, or quiet work-from-home quarters.

 

Family zoom on TV
Photo 46361881 © Andrey Popov | Dreamstime.com

 

Video conferencing living rooms.
Modern times have created the need for dedicated zoom space! With so many meetings, classes, weddings, showers, and even funerals happening virtually, seeing and hearing everyone on a small screen is challenging. Homeowners are now adjusting their home entertainment centers to double as a home video conferencing hub.

Warmer color palettes.
We always like to keep up-to-date on the latest paint colors; 2021 is no different! Homeowners are moving away from grays to a warmer, cleaner palette such as Sherwin-Williams’ “Shoji White,” “Sea Salt,” “Breathless,” or “Unfussy Beige.”

Finishing up our trendy home tour, you must check out the latest in custom appliance trends and high-end finishes making their way into 2021 homes. These can be found in Barbara Ballinger from Realtor Magazine’s latest article, A Myriad of Home Trends to Gain Momentum in 2021.

Posted in: Blog, Gardening,HomeBuying,SebastopolProperty,SonomaCounty,WeekendHome, Home, Home Maintenance, Home Trends, Renovation Tagged: #agent, #artisansothebys, #homebuyer, #homeownership, #luxuryhome, #luxuryrealestate, #mack-faulknerrealestate, #mackandfaulkner, #realestate, #realestateagent, #realestatemarket, #realtor, #sebastopolagent, #sebastopolrealesate, #sonomacountyrealestate, #sothebysrealestate

House Design May Change Due to a Single Word

There’s news in the world of house design—for a change!

Those who keep in touch with the house design innovations that Sebastopol buyers are currently favoring know one thing is for certain: they don’t change overnight. True innovations are rare.

Fads occasionally come and go (remember “industrial décor” and barn door sliders?)—but by definition, fads don’t wind up making much of a dent in how most Sebastopol homes are built or remodeled. That’s a good thing: overexuberant style-chasing can be expensive to correct once a clever style has come and gone.

We bring this up because it looks as if there are a couple of interconnected house design ideas that look like they might be durable—and if so, Sebastopol home buyers and sellers will want to be aware of them.

First is a house design feature that’s gradually been working its way up in popularity: the ground floor master bedroom. A recent article in The Wall Street Journal pointed to the demographics that make this a house design winner. They call it “main-floor master bedroom”—but whatever you call it, the logic is irrefutable. As the number of America’s seniors grows, the practicality of easy access grows with it, gradually shifting from convenience to necessity.


The associated and more consequential design news is summed up in one word: flex. A flex room or area is one that has no designated purpose, but which can be configured and later re-configured to accommodate changing needs and lifestyles. Flex rooms are usually sited off the entry hall, near the main living space, generally close to a bathroom (“so they can easily morph into bedrooms”). They have ample electric wiring so they can become home offices or media centers. Or anything else, not yet anticipated.

Flex rooms used to be called “bonus rooms”—but that might be selling the innovative element short. To us, the term “bonus room” has always seemed like a luxury afterthought; a non-necessity. “Flex room” sounds active and dynamic—and valuable. In fact, the essence of the idea may be more of a marketing insight than design innovation. Whichever it is, it’s something Sebastpol sellers can appreciate for its practicality: potential buyers will tend to project their own needs into the space. As a house planner put it to the Journal, “When you name it ‘dining room,’ buyers will never get that out of their mind.”

In a wider sense, the “flex” idea is a reflection of 21st-century reality. At this point, we all understand that change is the most predictable element of our future. Having built-in flexibility in a home’s design is one way to assure that it stays in style—and also a way to ensure its lasting resale value. Maximizing that is our specialty—so be sure to keep our number handy!

Posted in: HomeDecorating,SellingYourHome, Renovation Tagged: #buyerslist, #flexroom, #mackandfaulkner, #musthaves, #realestate, #sebastopol, #sebastopolagent, #Sebastopolrealestate, #sonomacounty, #sonomacountyrealestate

Latest Remodeling Spending Projections: More Reliable

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Sometimes the experts who project trends in residential housing and real estate find that they have to correct their predictions. Once the final statistics are in, if they consistently reveal errors as wide of the mark as 50%, it’s just embarrassing. Such was recently the case with Harvard’s LIRA remodeling project—and for those of us who represent buyers and sellers in the Sonoma County home market, the resulting revisions were meaningful.

Harvard’s Joint Center for Housing Studies’ statistical barometer for home improvement activity is known as “LIRA”—its Leading Indicator of Remodeling Activity. And as their research analyst Abbe Will wrote recently, it had become evident that “the quality and reliability of the LIRA’s benchmark data series declined markedly.”

When your benchmarks are no longer meaningful, there is only one thing to do: it’s called “re-benchmarking.” In this case, it caused JCHS to overhaul the very activities that it was attempting to measure. Instead of just projecting home improvement spending alone, the new “re-benchmarked” LIRA is broader. It adds maintenance and repair spending to remodeling activity.

What do the new findings augur for Sonoma County’s home market prospects? First good news: it looks as if the new projections should be much more reliable. And the graphs reveal a strong surge in national remodeling spending—not only for the remainder of this year, but for well into 2017. When remodeling spending is strong, real estate values (and prices) rise, too. For homeowners, the addition of the right kind of improvements is one way to bump up the value prospective buyers see a property.

One feature that our area’s luxury homes share is a well-planned, open kitchen. Where that is precluded by structural elements, one work-around is the addition of new appliances with a contemporary look. Stainless steel ovens and refrigerators have a way of creating a “luxury home feeling”—even when the spaces they occupy are relatively modest.

Another feature that signals opulence is at least one luxury bathroom. Spa-style baths can go far in that direction—and the resulting photography can add major eye-appeal to a listing. More modest improvements like changing out faucets for brushed nickel or other metal finishes (not gold, please!) can make outsized differences. Add fluffy new towels, and perhaps a scented candle—and the formerly so-so bathroom can become a mind-changer.

With LIRA’s home improvement activity projected to strengthen more than 8% this year—and promising further acceleration into next (to nearly $325 billion!)—it demonstrates the faith that consumers across the nation have in the growing value of their home investments. If you are evaluating the merits of various possible improvements for your home, we hope you won’t hesitate to give us a call. We would be glad to offer some incisive feedback on the preferences we have discovered with today’s Sonoma County buyers!       

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Posted in: Renovation Tagged: #sonomacountyrealestate,#leadingindicatorofremodelingactivity,#harvardhousingstudy

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Randy Mack and Heidi Faulkner
Artisan Sotheby's International Realty
6984 McKinley Street
Sebastopol CA 95472
(707) 696-6272
(707) 480-4098
Fax: (707) 824-0587
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About Us

We are proud to have aligned ourselves with Artisan Sotheby’s International Realty an inspirational brand based on heritage, tradition and expertise. We are setting new standards by refining the art of residential brokerage with a practiced eye of identifying the unique value of a property. We offer a deep commitment to excellent service and have a passion for unparalleled quality. Unique homes require skillful marketing through our local expertise and Sotheby’s International Realty interconnected global network of offices that are dedicated to the extraordinary.

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I wish to express my satisfaction and confidence in your ability to find an ideal home for anyone that I would refer to you. My own experience in purchasing and selling a home with you allowed me to witness the fact that you are truly an expert in your field, handling all aspects of residential real estate transactions. From the beginning, your market analysis to the final stages of negotiations, your calm manner and clear explanation kept me knowing I was in the best of hands.

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Contact Us

Randy Mack - Realtor CA BRE#01252462
randy@mack-faulkner.com

(707) 696-6272
6984 McKinley Street
Sebastopol, CA 95472



Heidi Faulkner - Realtor CA BRE#01227446
Heidi@mack-faulkner.com

(707) 480-4098
6984 McKinley Street
Sebastopol, CA 95472



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