Sacramento Numbers

Over at Sacramento Land(ing) there is a good summary of the Sacramento Housing market from the November 28th California Association of Realtor Report on how the State market performed in October. To read the full report, follow this link to the C.A.R. website.

My Newsletter

We are getting ready to send out the December Newsletter and it looks like it will be a pretty good edition. Check out the November issue and if you would like to be added to our mailing list, please fill out this form or send me an email. We try to keep the Newsletter light and fun plus we are planning some special giveaways for subscribers in the coming months. Sign up and be eligible!

After the holiday weekend I have been very busy with two of my buyers and it looks like several of my listings have been getting a good deal of showings. I had a very interesting offer on one of my listings last week that I want to share so stay tuned.

Getting ready for the holidays

If you are like me there will be more time in front of the computer than in a shopping mall. Shopping on the internet works well for us since so many of our gifts are for family and friends who live in Alaska. Over the long Thanksgiving weekend I discovered a few good sites to check your favorite online store for deals and coupons. Here is one of the best, CurrentCodes.com.

Turns out that Thanksgiving weekend was a busy time for buyers in the Sacramento and Roseville areas. Several of my listing had multiple showings on Saturday and Sunday. I like that kind of Christmas shopping too!

Leftover

I hope your Thanksgiving was everything you wanted it to be. Ours was exactly what I needed, a quiet day with my family with no trips and only a few fun phone calls. I am hoping for more of the same today!

I took a look at HousingTracker this morning and confirmed that inventory in our Sacramento area is continuing to decline. The inventory for November 20 stood at 15,430 down 200 homes from a week earlier and down 6.8 percent in the last month and 15 percent from three months ago. The reported median asking price of $414,900 is down 1.1 percent in the past month and 3.3 percent from three months ago.

Now that we have officially moved into the holiday season I expect to see the decline in inventory accelerate fewer homes come on the market and sellers consider taking their homes off the market until next year.

If you are searching for a new home consider using my new home search page at jalone.com. I think it is pretty cool and would love to hear your comments.

October in Rocklin and Realtor Rant response

During October there were 64 sales in the two Rocklin zip code areas. This is down from last year by 33.3 percent in the 95677 area and 22.2 percent in 95765. During September there were 69 sales.

The median prices paid in Rocklin were also down. In the 95677 area they were off 12.5 percent from last October to $420,000. The good news is the median increased from 399,000 in September which is a good indication of the care one should give in looking at numbers where there is not a great deal of activity. In the 95765 area the median price was $426,000 down 15.5 percent from last year and down form $467,000 in September.

If you read my Realtor Rant column at Rocklin & Roseville Today you may want to take a look at Realtor Rant Response. I received some thoughtful comments from one of my buyers that I want to share.

October in Rocklin and Realtor Rant reponse

During October there were 64 sales in the two Rocklin zip code areas. This is down from last year by 33.3 percent in the 95677 area and 22.2 percent in 95765. During September there were 69 sales.

The median prices paid in Rocklin were also down. In the 95677 area they were off 12.5 percent from last October to $420,000. The good news is the median increased from 399,000 in September which is a good indication of the care one should give in looking at numbers where there is not a great deal of activity. In the 95765 area the median price was $426,000 down 15.5 percent from last year and down form $467,000 in September.

If you read my Realtor Rant column at Rocklin & Roseville Today you may want to take a look at Realtor Rant Response. I received some thoughtful comments from one of my buyers that I want to share.

October Results for Roseville

We have been looking at county and state numbers for the past week so I thought I’d look at activity and sales closer to home. Today I will report on Roseville and save Rocklin, Lincoln and Granite Bay for later in the week.

As you may recall, a year ago we were seeing significant declines in sales activity from 2004 so I thought as we moved deeper into 2006 the numbers would not reflect such steep drops in activity. The total October sales reported in the three Roseville Zip codes, 95661, 95678 and 95747, was 125. This is down almost 24 percent from 2006.

Median prices were also down for October when compared to the same month in 2005. In zip code 95661 the reported median price was $428,250 off 10.4 percent from last year’s results but up from Septembers results of $427,000. The decline in price per square foot was -8.3 percent down to $239. The 95678 area of Roseville reported a median price of $370,000 which is 11.9 percent lower than last year and down $10,000 from September. Again the median price per square foot was not off by as much, 9.6 percent to $234.

The last Roseville zip code area, 95747 performed the best. This area in West Roseville had the most sales with 53 and the highest median price at $456,000. The sold homes in this area did have a decline in median price but compared to the other two zip code area the decline at 6.6 percent was the lowest. Compared to September, the October median price was up 1.9 percent. The median price per square foot declined 9 percent to $231.

There is nothing encouraging when looking at October 2006 results compared to last October but when you factor in what has happened over the past month it seems to indicate the big changes may be behind us. I expect as we move into the holiday season we will see reduced sales volume.

Mark is home!

For those of you have been following my husband’s son in Iraq I am very happy to report that he safely returned to Texas late Thursday evening. Although he was very tired from the long travel days you could hear the happiness in his voice. It looks like my Mark in Iraq page is coming to an end and Michael and I want to thank those of you that took the time to read our updates and send emails about Mark. It has been a very long year and having him out of Iraq is a wonderful way to start this holiday season. As happy as we are that Mark is home we won’t forget the Soldiers still there.
If you want to send an email to Mark he can be reached at mailto:mark@jalone.com

Realtor Rant

My usually upbeat and optimistic manner gave way to some well deserved rant time! Although I have yet to complete my article on a place for emotions in the real estate market I did write a column for Rocklin & Roseville Today that more than anything allowed me to vent off some of my own emotions in regards to recent offers I received on behalf of two clients. If you are interested take a look at Realtor Rant.

New Reports on Sacramento Real Estate

There were articles in the Bee the past two days that are worth reading if you are interested in our local real estate market.

“A cold October for home prices” is the monthly article by Jim Wasswerman about the sales and median prices for some of our local communities. It reports Placer County had the largest decline in median price with a drop of 13.3 percent from October 2005. Real estate agents, home builders and other analysts have attributed falling median prices to increasing sales of less expensive condos and small-lot homes, a binge of home builder discounts and greater sales activity at the cheaper end of the resale home market.

The article published in the Bee yesterday, “Housing outlook called sluggish” is a report on an economist from the California Association of Realtors meeting with local agents. He said the Sacramento area's residential real estate market is likely to remain sluggish for another year, with a "very good chance" of turning the corner in 2008. He also indicated a healthy economy and stable interest rates should prevent any chaotic downturn in coming months.

When reading these articles keep in mind there is always a pullback during the last quarter of the year. Sellers do withdraw their homes from the market as they prepare for the holidays and that even more so this year because of the large supply of inventory.

The other item to remember is that median sales prices in Placer, El Dorado, and Yolo counties actually increased in October from the previous month. While I don’t believe a one month increase is a trend it could be signaling, as I have said before, some stabilization in the market.

Introducing Kelly Baker

During the past month Kelly Baker has joined my team as our office manager. Some of you may have already talked to her and know how much she helps me meet and exceed the client service standards we have set. Kelly is a home town girl but spent the past few years in Texas working for two large real estate teams. She brings a great deal of knowledge and experience to our group and we are very happy to have her.

Kelly will be working with existing clients as well as supporting me in making sure that each transaction is completed in a timely and accurate manner. In today complex world there are many tasks and lots of paperwork to be done to move a sale from the initial agreement to a successfully closed escrow. Kelly is a master at this!

Check out the new picture of Kelly and me at www.jalone.com/id59.html.

Is it wise to buy now?

The risk of buying now is home prices may decline. The economist for the National Association of Realtors recently said we will “"probably see prices dip temporarily below year-ago levels as the market works through a build up in housing inventory."

If that is the case waiting to buy until the market bottoms out could be a smart move. If you have a good rental situation, waiting is a viable option but it is very difficult to time the market. We will only know that prices have reached their low only when they have started back up.

Buying for the short term is risky in the current market. At the same time this could be a good time to buy for if you plan to stay in the home for a longer period of time. This is truer if the house, features or location is not readily available.

Other good reasons to buy now is the reduced competition from other buyers making it easier to negotiate with sellers and interest rates are still at historical lows.

I build my business by creating relationships and the last thing I want to do is encourage my clients to do something that will make them unhappy. I have several clients who have nice rentals and have decided to wait and look again next year. They don’t feel comfortable buying at this time and I respect their feelings. I also have several buyers who are anxious to buy and we are out looking and making some great deals.

Veterans Day

Although I am very busy with real estate right now we have been staying very close to what has been happening in Iraq and what our Soldiers are going through. My husband’s son, Mark is should be leaving Iraq tomorrow. He is serving with the 4th Infantry Division and is completing his third tour in Iraq. For us this Veterans Day has some extra meaning.

Take a look at my column, “Veterans Day – 2006,” at Rocklin & Roseville Today, I have printed a touching letter from a Wife who lost her husband in Iraq this year. Her words help remind us all how much or Soldiers sacrifice for our freedom. Regardless of how you feel about the war in Iraq, our troops deserve our support.
If you are interested in learning more about SSG Mark Jalone, check out my Mark in Iraq page at jalone.com

The days go by

Today, I finally got around to posting a copy of my monthly newsletter for November. We have been publishing it every month since May 2004. It is a fun and rewarding activity for us. We recently surveyed many of the people we send it to and got back some very nice comments. Well, we did get one that the recipient “throws it in the garbage every month.” We took her off the mailing list!

Thank you very much if you participated in our survey, your Starbucks’ gift card should soon be on the way. For those of you who didn’t we have sent out a written version and I hope you will respond. If you would like to participate and have not received a survey let me know by sending an email to me at juliej@jalone.com.

We have a couple of open houses this Sunday so check out my front page for the details and if you are out and about, stop by and say hello. I will be in Folsom on Sunday from 1 to 5 PM at our Kerslake Circle listing and our office manager, Kelly Baker will be holding our Greywood Circle listing in Roseville open on Sunday from 2 to 4 PM.

It's that time of year

Each year as soon as we start thinking about turkey dinners, mistletoe and reindeers the thoughts of moving during the holidays drive sellers from the market and the number of homes available declines. With Christmas starting to show up in stores and commercials the number of homes coming on the market is declining.

According to HousingTracker.com the decline in homes for sale in our Sacramento area, has been 7 percent in the past month. As of November 6 they reported 15,799 homes on the market, down almost 600 homes in the past week or a one week decline of 3.6 percent.

Clearly the traditional end of the year decline in homes on the market has started and I believe is masking a more gradual decline from the rapid build up of inventory we experienced the past year. Come the end of January or even as we move into early spring in 2007 I do not believe we will see inventory grow to the level we have today.

If you have a few minutes check out my new listing in Folsom, it is in the Broadstone community and would be a perfect home for a young family.

Don’t forget to vote today!

Could it be November?

We had a wonderful Halloween with plenty of trick r’ treating! There was even a mystery trick on our block….now who would have done that!

I cannot believe we are now into November but the rain and grey skies of the past few days sort of brings it home quickly as does the Christmas items in the stores.

We continue to see inventory declining but during the last week or so the number of buyers out there seems to have decreased. I am working with several buyers and they all seem to be taking their time including two who have now made decisions to wait until 2007 to move forward. I guess they have not seen the new National Association Realtor ads saying this is the best time to buy!

I have a new listing in Folsom that is a really nice house and should have some good photos and a webpage for it soon. In the meantime take a look at my Fairway listing and if you are out and about this weekend stop by on Sunday and say hello. I will be there from 2 to 4 PM.