Fun Facts About Halloween

Did You Know?

1. Because the movie Halloween (1978) was on such a tight budget, they had to use the cheapest mask they could find for the character Michael Meyers, which turned out to be a William Shatner Star Trek mask. Shatner initially didn’t know the mask was in his likeness, but when he found out years later, he said he was honored.

2. The first Jack O’Lanterns were actually made from turnips.

3. Halloween is the second highest grossing commercial holiday after Christmas. 

Frightful Halloween Decor

Decorating your home for Halloween doesn’t have to be scary (unless, of course, you want it to be). Here are some great tips from Realtor.com

Front Yard

Pumpkins and mums add a classic seasonal touch with minimal effort. They can welcome guests at the foot of a driveway, line a walkway to the front door or gather around a tree. The tree itself could sport eyes, cut from felt and held aloft with environmentally friendly adhesives.

Front Door

Classy or ghastly? The options run amok. Amazon sells bloody on paper, but why not make your own? A roll of kids’ mural paper from any craft store, some red acrylic paint, a bit of soap for those dirty feet afterward, and before you can say “wrap the body in a rug,” there are telltale prints leading to your door.

Or stick with simple. Hang a witch’s hat on the front door as you would a wreath. Sit the kids down with scissors, black felt and a stencil, and create a colony of bats. Paint Chinese paper lanterns like jack-o’-lanterns and hang them from the eaves — no scooping innards or tossing rotting (gourd) flesh.

Living Room

Tossing a sheet with eye holes over a kid’s head and calling them a ghost may be a cliched holiday cop-out, but the same idea can feel almost fresh on furniture. White sheets covering the furniture can lend an air of mystery to a room, as guests (or inhabitants) ponder what goes on underneath. And don’t underestimate the power of low light. If your circuits are on dimmers, you’re ahead of the game, but even candlelight or a well-placed dim bulb can throw unexpectedly fun shadows.

Fireplace

Burn the evidence — but not all of it. Dirt piled where the logs go can host fake bones peeking through. Perhaps there’s mulch left from summer planting? Put it to good use. While it is possible to make your own plaster bone mold and how about a handful of red glass votives in the fireplace can add a ghoulish air.

Dining Room

For a creeptastic look, think red and black. Yard-sale candlesticks, the more dented the better, covered in high-gloss black spray paint can hold red candles. They’ll give off an eerie glow atop a red tablecloth. Sprinkle plastic bugs around the plates and drape gauze or cheesecloth between the candles and across the table. Watch your guests shudder.

David Demangos

David@AwesomeSanDiegoRealEstate.com

www.AwesomeSanDiegoRealEstate.com

Our Team goes to Extremes to Fulfill your Real Estate Dreams!

10 Star Service in a 5 Star World...

Most People Open to Buying a Haunted House

More than half of home buyers are open to buying a haunted house, according to realtor.com’s 2013 Haunted Housing Report. Also, 35 percent of the nearly 1,400 people who took the survey say they have lived in a haunted home. 

Today realtor.com released the results of its Haunted Housing Report, which ran on realtor.com from Sept. 25 to Oct. 1 and explored consumer sentiments around haunted real estate. Survey results reveal consumer thresholds for purchasing haunted houses for sale, past experiences with spooky homes, popular “warning signs” of a haunted home, expected discounts when buying haunted houses for sale and intolerable scary occurrences.

“When purchasing a home, buyers want to know what they are getting into and that includes anything potentially spooky,” said Alison Schwartz, vice president of corporate communications for Move Inc., which operates realtor.com. “Our data reveals that while the majority of consumers are open to purchasing a haunted home, many buyers conduct research on a home’s history to be aware of any weird incidences. Additionally, realtor.com data finds that while some respondents are willing to purchase a haunted home at a discounted price, many say levitating objects, ghost sightings and objects moving from one place to another would deter them from purchasing a home.”

Who do you know looking for a haunted house, I'm not scared! Contact:

David Demangos
858.232.8410

www.AwesomeSanDiegoRealEstate.com
Our Team goes to Extremes to Fulfill your Real Estate Dreams!

Home Buyer Optimism is Way Up

Home buyer optimism is way up! In a sign of an improving housing market, California home buyers are more optimistic about the housing market now than they were three years ago, according to the CALIFORNIA ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS®

More home buyers this year believe that home prices will rise, with 25 percent saying prices will rise in one year; 41 percent saying they will rise in five years; and nearly three-fourths of buyers (73 percent) believing home prices will rise in 10 years. This compares to only eight percent, 35 percent, and 60 percent, respectively, in 2009, when the question was first asked.

The survey also found that the mortgage interest deduction is extremely important to home buyers across all income levels and age groups, with 79 percent of all home buyers saying that the mortgage interest and property tax deductions are “extremely important” in their decision to purchase a home. When broken out by income levels, the findings were similar across all income levels, with 80 percent of those earning less than $100,000 annually; 78 percent earning between $100,000-$199,999, and 81 percent earning more than $200,000 annually saying the deductions were “extremely important” in their buying decision, respectively.

When broken out by age group, the deductions were equally important to Generation Y, Generation X, and baby boomers, with 76 percent, 82 percent, and 80 percent indicating that mortgage interest and property tax deductions were “extremely important,” respectively, when deciding to buy a home.

“It’s clear that home buyers at all income levels and ages value the tax deductions associated with purchasing a home,” said C.A.R. President Don Faught. “The mortgage interest deduction plays an important role in buyers’ monthly budgeting. Without this tax advantage, housing affordability would be negatively impacted and potentially price out many would-be buyers.”

Who do you know looking to buy in San Diego? Contact:

David Demangos

David@AwesomeSanDiegoRealEstate.com

www.AwesomeSanDiegoRealEstate.com

Our Team goes to Extremes to Fulfill your Real Estate Dreams!

10 Star Service in a 5 Star World...

Keep on gardening during Fall?
 
Although summer blooms have faded, there’s no reason not to have color throughout the fall. If you’re looking to plant something now, there are several options from pansies and mums to kale and ornamental grasses. Check with your local garden center or nursery to see which varieties are best for your region. If you have cool-season grass, an application of slow-release organic fertilizer will provide your lawn with the strength it needs to make it through winter. Yes, the weather has cooled and your grass is no longer suffering in the same way it did over the summer, but it still needs a good drink weekly to keep it moist. Keep mowing as well but lower the mowing height a bit (to about 2 inches) so you are cutting the grass a little shorter than usual. Do this until you notice growth has stopped, and the lawn has reached dormancy.

If you need a great gardener in San Diego, reach out and I will refer one your way.

David Demangos

David@AwesomeSanDiegoRealEstate.com

www.AwesomeSanDiegoRealEstate.com

Our Team goes to Extremes to Fulfill your Real Estate Dreams!

October Fire Safety Month

October is "Fire Safety Month", so this is the perfect time to make sure your home and family are safe. New homes are now required to be constructed with an interconnected alarm system but with Kidde’s radio-connected alarm, owners of homes built before 1993 can enjoy the same safety benefits. And, smoke detectors are essential. Regardless of whether they are hardwired, interconnected or battery-powered, you should have smoke detectors on every level of your home, particularly in the kitchen, hallways near bedrooms and basement. 

Purchasing a fire extinguisher is one of the best investments a homeowner can make. Should you ever need to use it, just remember the acronym PASS: Pull the pin to release the handle, aim the extinguisher at the base of the fire, squeeze the trigger, and sweep the discharge stream at the base of the fire. 

David Demangos

David@AwesomeSanDiegoRealEstate.com

www.AwesomeSanDiegoRealEstate.com

Our Team goes to Extremes to Fulfill your Real Estate Dreams!

Housing Recovery Picks Up Steam Despite Persistent Headwinds

October 3, 2013 - With home prices and household formations rising and household balance sheets healing, the ongoing housing recovery is expected to gain momentum next year even as several challenges remain, according to economists who participated in yesterday’s National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) Fall 2013 Construction Forecast Webinar.

“The cards are in play for a decent and fairly strong recovery in 2014 and particularly in 2015,” said NAHB Chief Economist David Crowe. “From the standpoint of GDP growth, housing has been a plus, growing at two, three and four times the rate of the rest of the economy in recent quarters.”
Helping to spur the housing rebound was a double-digit increase in home prices over the past year, driven in part by tight inventories of new and existing homes for sale and gradual gains in employment.

“We expect to see price increases moderate in the next few years as we see additional inventory on the market and investors back away as the bargains disappear,” said Crowe.

ASKING HOME PRICES SLOW DOWN IN HOTTEST HOUSING MARKETS

TRULIA REPORTS ASKING HOME PRICES SLOW DOWN IN HOTTEST HOUSING MARKETS

Despite Jumping 11.5 Percent Year-over-Year Nationally, Asking Prices Are Slowing in 68 of the 100 Major U.S. Metros Including Oakland, Sacramento, Orange County, and Los Angeles

SAN FRANCISCO, October 3, 2013 – Trulia, Inc. (NYSE: TRLA), a leading online marketplace for home buyers, sellers, renters, and real estate professionals, today released the latest findings from the Trulia Price Monitor and the Trulia Rent Monitor. These indices are the earliest leading indicators available of trends in home prices and rents. Based on for-sale homes and rentals listed on Trulia, the monitors take into account changes in the mix of listed homes and reflect trends in prices and rents for similar homes in similar neighborhoods through September 30, 2013. For the full report and methodology, see here.
Asking Home Prices Slowing down Despite Rising in September
Nationally, asking home prices rose 3.0 percent quarter-over-quarter (Q-o-Q) in September – the smallest Q-o-Q change since February. However, the downward trend is harder to spot in the more volatile monthly changes and smoothed out yearly changes. Asking prices rose 2.0 percent month-over-month (M-o-M) and 11.5 percent year-over-year (Y-o-Y), but year-over-year changes should start to shrink in the coming months. At the metro level, 89 of the 100 largest metros had Q-o-Q price increases in September, down from 97 in June.