Your home has been on the market over 5 months and finally you get an offer you can live with. You have budgeted down to the last penny and are taking bottom dollar...a dollar less and you just can't afford to sell. This scenario is taking place every day in Southern California, Sellers that either bought at the top of the market or have already spent their equity by way of a second or a home equity line trying to get out of their homes without resorting to a short pay or worse, foreclosure are being slammed by the failing real estate market. Well, the government now wants to add to your problems by way of California legislation AB 2678 (Núñez) and Los Angeles County's Sidewalk repair program both of which are being rigorously fought by local and state Realtors.
AB 2678 will require ALL residential and commercial properties to have an energy audit at point-of-sale. So now when you sell your home you will have to among other things, replace the toilets with low flow, strap the hot water heater, put on a gas shut off valve, put smoke detectors in every bedroom and every hallway leading to a bedroom, put protective film over any sliding glass doors that aren't shatter proof and if Los Angeles has its way, repair any broken sidewalks in front of your home (see below). The cost of the just the audit is about $400 and if your house fails well that could set you back thousands. Don't get me wrong I'm all for anything green but could the timing be worse?
Program C.F.05-1853 is the point of sale sidewalk repair program - the city makes you repair the broken sidewalk in front of your home and pay for it when the home sells unless the damage was created by a city owned tree.
Feel free to let me know how you feel about this and visit my website for more information on Studio City Real Estate
No comments:
Post a Comment