Real Estate Insights

March 2025

A quick 6 minute read

Electrification Mandates Coming Soon

Building codes change from time to time, usually for either technology or safety reasons. That fire resistant wonder, asbestos? That terrific paint durability additive, lead? That ungrounded knob-and-tube wiring? All no longer allowed per building codes. Yet we still see them regularly. Why? Because code changes only tend to be addressed when related permitted work is being done on a house (or when insurance companies refuse to provide coverage unless updates are made, but that is a different topic).

One upcoming mandate to be aware of is that the sale of gas water heaters will be banned starting January 1, 2027, and the sale of gas furnaces will be banned on January 1, 2029. This mandate is coming from the Bay Area Air Quality Management District and carries the weight of law.

Now that you've had a chance to sigh in despair, there are a few positives associated with this change (in addition to breathing cleaner air!). First, assuming you go with a heat pump-based technology, your monthly heating/cooling energy costs are likely to decrease, possibly on the order of 50%. Secondly, depending on timing, location and other factors, you might be able to take advantage of tax incentives and rebates to help bring down the cost. Finally, if you have been itching to add A/C to your home, this may be the opportunity you have been waiting for.

The good news is that these changes are still almost 2 years away. At this point, my advice is to start educating yourself on heat pumps and mini splits so that when the time comes, replacing that water heater or furnace is a welcome upgrade to your home.

Bazaar, Scary and Creepy

Things We Have Seen

We tour a lot of homes. Some are gorgeous, some are quaint and charming, and some are just strange. Here is a top 10 list of some of the bazaar, scary and creepy things we have seen in our 25 years as Realtors.

10. A picture is worth 1000 words, but one listing left us speechless. Every photo on the MLS featured a bikini clad woman posing somewhere in every shot. Interesting staging to say the least.

9. Proving that one size does fit all, during the recession many bank-owned properties had signs on the front door indicating the home had been "winterized." I guess you can never be too safe when it comes to frozen pipes in the Bay Area!

8. We often volunteer to dispose of the odd item(s) that a seller can't or doesn't want to move (e.g. cleaning supplies). One client took this offer to the next level when they loaded their pickup truck with only the items they wanted and left the rest for us (pic above). One huge dumpster, five guys and a long day later and the house was cleared. No treasures and very little worth salvaging (if you are curious).

7. Wearing booties to protect the flooring is a common practice in our business. One memorable wreck of a home featured heavily worn floors and stained orange shag carpet...and a sign by the front door saying, "Please wear booties." At least our shoes were protected!

6. Skylights are wonderful. They offer terrific natural light without compromising privacy...unless they are in a first floor bathroom that is positioned directly below a second floor balcony. In that case the skylight is a window. Yikes!

5. Speaking of bathrooms, a clear glass door doesn't provide a lot of privacy. Not sure a view of the throne adds to the overall ambiance of a room. Just sayin'.

4. Continuing the bathroom theme, we toured a brand new home where the luxurious primary bathroom had double sinks, a spacious shower, and a large soaking tub. The toilet? It was in a tiny separate room across the hall (sink not included).

3. Topping the creepy list, long ago we toured a home with a 2-way mirror in one of the bathrooms. Enough said.

2. Ever visited the Haunted Mansion at Disneyland? Remember the stretching room? We once toured a home where the house had been added onto with the birth of each child. No halls here - you had to go through one bedroom to get to the next bedroom, and so on. Oh, and the ceiling height got lower with each added bedroom. And the floor sloped down until it was below grade and moist. Even the shortest Realtors were ducking by the last bedroom.

1. During the 1950s and 1960s, many people across the United States installed fallout shelters. Every few years we come across a property with a fallout shelter - generally a short cylinder about the size and shape of a gasoline tanker truck. Inevitably, they started leaking long ago and now feature peeling paint (likely lead-based), a strong musty smell, and an off the charts creep factor. The Haunted Mansion at Disneyland is far less spooky!

If you came across something bazaar at an open house, we'd love to hear about it!

Local Market Trends

We have access to a tremendous amount of real estate data, most of which is way more current than you read in the press. If you want to take a deeper dive into the latest numbers, start here:

San Mateo County Real Estate Report

Santa Clara County Real Estate Report

Links not working? Email jbarman@compass.com and I will send you a PDF of the same info.

Want to see the data for a specific city? Let us know and we will gladly forward that along!

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Luxury Property Collection

Looking for a luxury property or even a brief escape from reality? Flip through our online magazine, Compass Luxury, for some of the most exclusive listings in the United States and around the world.

Please feel free to forward this newsletter to friends and family - and remember, we are never too busy for your referrals!

Janie and John Barman

DRE #01270223 & #01281597

Realtors®

M: 650.759.1182

jbarman@compass.com

JanieandJohn.co