Buying a Home is still a Good Deal

It feels good to have had some milder summer weather the past few days. I hope you have all been able to get back outside and enjoy it. It is hard to believe that July is gone and tomorrow will be August. For us school starts on the 21st and Mikie is starting soccer practice next week. The days and months seem to be moving too quickly!

I have been working with buyers and sellers this past month and have to tell you I wish there were more buyers out there as things have been pretty slow in the Rocklin/Roseville area. Check out my column at Rocklin & Roseville Today, “Buying a Home is still a Good Deal.” If you have the right reasons to buy a home and know you will live there for several years the current market allows buyers time to find the perfect home, negotiate a fair price and get a loan at a reasonably low interest rate.

Could it be...?

It may be the past two weeks of scorching weather but the increase in available inventory is slowing. This week HousingTracker is reporting the increase in the week ending July 28 is only 74 homes in Sacramento. The MLS twenty four hour report of a much larger area than actually shows more homes moving to pending, sold, inactive or expired than coming on to the market.

With the start of more normal weather around here it will be interesting to see if what we are seeing today is the start of a new downward trend in available homes for sale.

I have an open house this Sunday, July 30, at my Twelve Bridges listing. It is a large beautiful home in a great neighborhood. If you are out and about in Lincoln between 2 and 4 PM please stop by, say hello and take a look.

Real Estate Potpourri

Rates edged down a bit with the 30-year fixed at 6.23 percent.

Placer County inventory of homes for sale increased to 3,416 as of July 24, up from 3,263 on July 1.

Mike Lyon of Lyon Real Estate says only one in seven homes in El Dorado, Placer and Sacramento counties is priced to sell.

The National Association of REALTORS reported June was the third straight month of slower sales nationally. The annual rate of 6.62 million in June compared with a 6.71 million pace in May and the pace of sales is now 9 percent lower than levels posted this time last year.

Realtors are using all sorts of terms to describe the changing real estate market. Today, NAR released its home sales numbers and said the market was "down modestly". We have also heard: "balanced, modulated, stable, level, cyclically corrected, even, buyers' opportunity, still healthy, temperamental, ready-for-you...."Of course, no one wants to say, it is a declining market.

What code words have you heard to add to our changing real estate market lexicon?

June Real Estate Analysis for Greater Sacramento

Well we have seen the first year over year declines in median price in the Greater Sacramento area. Check out my June analysis of the market.

It is Sunday, my son’s 7th birthday. We have been having a lot of fun with his birthday this year! I am also doing an open house at my Greywood listing so stop by and say hello between 11 AM and 2 PM.

We Have a Winner!

The June Newsletter Trivia contest has a winner! Thank you to everyone who entered, we thought the questions were tough but our readers proved they know where to find the answers. As result we had to draw the winner from among those that got all three questions correct. The winner of the brand new iPod Nano with a value of $160 was Jenny Saxman. Congratulations Jenny! Jenny was excited to hear the news and has wanted an iPod for some time. She is getting ready to go on vacation so will be able to listen to tunes on her new iPod. Keep an eye on the newsletter; we will have more contests in the future.

Take a look at my column at Rocklin & Roseville Today, “Not This Year.” I am seeing signs the national markets is stabilizing but feel our local market will take longer to reach any level of equilibrium between buyers and sellers.

Price Reductions

With the current real estate market slowing, stalling, falling (you pick) and inventory of homes for sale increasing about the only effective thing sellers can do move their property is reduce the price. With the reductions there are now sites that monitor the reductions. The one I looked at today, ZipRealty Price Reduction Index tracks the percentage of homes with price reductions compared to total listings. In their national review a number of our local communities are ranked near the top. Roseville shows that 49.3 percent of all listings have had at least one price reduction. The only community with a higher percentage is Newton, MA. Ranked third is Folsom with 47.9. Others in the top fifteen include Natomas at number nine with 41.8 percent and Citrus Heights with 40.2 percent at number twelve.

With increasing inventory, creeping up interest rates and buyers who are taking their time it is a difficult time to sell your home. Sure, fixing your home, adding curb appeal and being ready for every showing is vital element of selling but having your home priced correctly is the current key to selling. Being in a market with a high percentage of price reductions, I think it is important to reevaluate the pricing at least monthly during your listing period. Setting the initial price is important but matching the market as it evolves and changes will keep your home active.

Updates

We are starting to catch up after being gone so long! This morning Michael finished and posted the Shockwave photo slide show for my 1320 Crystal Hollow Court listing in Twelve Bridges. I think it is very good and if you have a few minutes it is worth taking a look at. You can see it by clicking here.

If you want to see a great home in one of Rocklin’s nicest neighborhoods I am holding an open house at my Fairway Drive listing on Sunday. Come by 5306 Fairway and say hello.

We are in the final days before we pick the winner of the June Newsletter Trivia Contest. If you have not entered go to my website and take a look. We have a brand new iPod to give away and it could be yours!

CAR Report and Alaska Update

According to the California Association of Realtors (CAR) the median price of a home in the State increased 8 percent in May and sales decreased by 21.1 percent compared to the same period a year ago.

“This is the first time since November 2001 that the median price did not increase by double digits, reflecting the return to the more balanced market that we have anticipated,” said CAR President Vince Malta.

The median price of an existing, single-family detached home in California during May 2006 was $564,430, an 8 percent increase over the revised $522,530 median for May 2005, C.A.R. reported. The May 2006 median price increased 0.5 percent compared with April’s revised $561,750 median price.

Other items of interest reported by CAR include:

• Inventory of single family detached homes for sale was 5.9 months in May compared to 2.7 months a year ago.
  
• Mortgage interest rates for a 30-year fixed averaged 6.6 percent during May compared to 5.72 percent in May 2005.
  
• The median number of days it took to sell a single-family home was 44 days in May 2006, compared with 27 days for the same period a year ago.
  

Looking at Sacramento, CAR reported a median sales price of $382,570 for the month of May which is an increase of 2.2 percent from April and a increase of .7 percent from a year ago. Sales volume was up 10.1 percent from April but down 22.4 percent from May 2005.

The full story can be found on the CAR website at: May 06 sales/price report.

Alaska Update: We celebrated the fourth with family and friends here in Anchorage and even got some errands done. Today we have to accomplish a great deal so we can be ready to head back to Homer tomorrow for the wedding and be ready to fly home when we get back to Anchorage on Sunday.

Independence Day!

I finally got time to update my column at Rocklin & Roseville Today. Take a look at it here, “May Numbers: A Closer Look.”

Well, as we move into our last week here in Alaska and have returned from our first trip to Homer, I can say we are having a good time but starting to think how good it will to be home and not dig in a suitcase anymore!

Homer was a blast and I feel bad that time and too many things to do prevented a normal posting of updates. We stayed close to Kevyn and Dave at a neighbor’s cabin. It was cute and had a spectacular view. Lynn and Ken joined us for the last few days and we went on a halibut charter that was awesome.

Have a great July 4th …. Happy Independence Day!!!

Check out the Alaska photos on my website at www.jalone.com