Top 10 Reasons to Buy a Novato Home . . .

Below are 10 rock-solid reasons to buy a Novato home right now: 1) The widening of Highway 101, now in its final stage, is on target for a Q1 2009 completion. Because of the current construction efforts, traffic going south on HWY 101 can be bad. Traffic delays are expected to be reduced dramatically (by as much as 20 minutes from Novato to San Francisco — and this is 20 minutes off the pre-construction commute time when traffic was less of a problem). I think this factor alone will propel prices upwards once work is done. A 30-35 minute commute to San Francisco is fantastic. 2) Excellent Schools. Marin has many great schools and school districts. Novato is no exception. When its schools are compared to the rest of Marin County, the test scores are very similar. Although Novato’s schools don’t have the "reputation" of some of Marin’s other towns, Novato schools have some very high test scores. In fact, the highest scoring elementary school in all of Marin this year was Rancho Elementary in Novato (higher even than the scores of Bacich Elementary in Kentfield and Ross Elementary in Ross). 3) Shopping and retail stores. Novato has it all–from an expanded Costco and monster Target, to Sephora. It has a charming downtown with dozens of small boutique shops on Grant Street. Trader Joe’s opened this year. Whole Foods is set to open early next year (just a block or two from Trader Joe’s). 4) A relaxed and non-judgmental environment. 5) More "bang for your buck" housing options. There is a good mix of newer housing (ranging in prices from the $600’s to $2 million) and starter homes (there are even homes currently priced under $500K). And there is value in Novato like you won’t find anywhere else in Marin. And many neighborhoods filled with young families, activities, trails, wide streets, etc. — places such as Hamilton Field, Pointe Marin, Rush Creek, San Marin, Partridge Knoll, Loma Verde, the Fruit Loop, and more. 6) Tax base transfers. As more and more Marin homeowners enter retirement age, many are and will continue to downsize from their big and expensive homes into something more modest. Novato is the obvious location to downsize for those wishing to transfer their tax base because prices are relatively low, there is a large hospital in town, there is lots of senior friendly housing within walking distance to shopping, etc., and there is a large College of Marin campus with all sorts of offerings. Novato is also home to the Margaret Todd Senior Center. For more information on Propositions 60 & 90 (which permit homeowners who are 55 and older to transfer their Prop. 13 tax base, call Kyle at (415) 350-9440. 7) Restaurants. Novato is home to an increasing number of fantastic restaurants, including top-notch steakhouses, California cuisine, Italian, Mexican, sushi, Chinese, and family oriented rotisseries. Like chain food? Plenty of that too. 8) Vast expanses of open space. Most neighborhoods are adjacent to open space for hiking, biking, etc. From many homes, you can simply walk out your back yard into open space. 9) A proactive and responsive city government. Plans are currently underway to expand the revitalization efforts of the downtwon area, including Grant Avenue. It is expected that over $20 million may be applied to these efforts, further beautifying Novato’s "Main Street" and attracting additional retailers and consumers to the area. 10) The "secret" is out and people are talking. Increasing numbers of people from Southern and Central Marin are moving to Novato.