The “2007 Profile of Buyers’ Home Feature Preferences” was released by the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS® which shows that the number of buyers expressing a desire for oversized garages grew 16 percentage points since NAR’s last survey of buyer preferences in 2004.  About 57 percent of home buyers surveyed now say they want an oversized garage.  Buyers who purchased homes without big garages, 56 percent said they would have paid more for an oversized garage, compared to only 6 percent in the 2004 survey.

What were buyers who bought homes in 2006 shopping for?

• Air Conditioning: Three out of every four respondents ranked this as “very important.”
• Master bedroom walk-in closet: 53 percent of buyers rated this as an important feature in a home.
• Hardwood floors and granite countertops
• Cable/satellite TV-ready
• Energy efficiency: 65 percent of new-home buyers said energy efficient home features are very important compared to 39 percent for buyers of existing homes.

Regional preferences were also identified in the survey.  Two-thirds of buyers in the West want oversize garages (66 percent), followed by central air conditioning at 59 percent.

According to the survey, nearly six out of 10 recent home buyers took on remodeling or home improvement projects within three months of their purchase.  Close to half of home buyers who remodeled or made improvements updated their kitchen, and nearly half remodeled or improved their bathroom.

New-home owners spent a median of $4,350 on home improvement or remodeling projects undertaken within three months of purchase.

Property Rights Initiative: A statewide ballot initiative is being proposed to provide eminent domain reform in California.  The property rights initiative is titled the “California Property Owners and Farmland Protection Act.”  The initiative will focus exclusively on eminent domain reform, and will not provide regulatory takings reforms, as was included in Proposition 90.

The key provisions of the initiative include:

• Private property may not be taken by eminent domain for private use under any circumstances (e.g., to build a shopping center, auto mall, or industrial park).
• Property may be taken by eminent domain only for public use (e.g., highways, parks, or schools).
• Property may not be taken by government for the same use (e.g., residential housing cannot be used for government housing).
• Family farms and open space are protected from seizures by government for the purpose of selling the natural resources.
• If a public agency takes property under false pretenses, or abandons its plans, the property must be offered for sale to the original owner at the original price, and the property tax would be assessed at the value of the property when it was originally condemned.
• If farms or business owners are evicted by eminent domain, they would be entitled to compensation for temporary business losses, relocation expenses, business reestablishment costs, and other reasonable expenses.
• Government may not set the price at which property owners sell or lease their property.  However, tenants who live in rent-regulated communities will continue to receive the benefit of those regulations as long as they live in their residences. If the initiative qualifies, it will appear on the June 2008 ballot. (Riverside County Property Owners Association)

A new application, which requires downloading Realtor.com Mobile lets users search for properties by city, state, zip code, price range, and number of bedrooms or bathrooms. Real estate practitioners and consumers can use Windows Mobile-equipped cell phones and PDAs to search for homes on Realtor.com