Julie's Social Networking Sites - Round 2

In my last post I mentioned Twitter and promised to list a few more. There must be someone other than Michael that will sign up and add me as a friend? Oh well, some to the things we try are for fun anyway. Here are a couple of other social network sites I am using:

• Flickr Photos: Julie’s Real Estate Photos and Michel’s Photos
• Squidoo: Julie’s Lens (This one is fun and when I have more time would like to play with it more)
• Real Estate Voices: Search for Julie Jalone (This is a site where you can post news and other stories)
• MyBlogLog: JulieJ BlogLog - This is a site where bloggers can find each other - they have some fun widgets but I have found “real estate blogging” is not very popular. For traffic I should blog about the life, sex partners and death of Anna Nicole Smith. You have to be a member to use it but it is free so give it a try, you will find some great blogs.
  

I have a few others I’ll save for another post. If you visit any of the sites above, please leave me a message. If you have others you think we would enjoy, I would love to hear about them. The web is a very interesting place and continues to grow and maintain our interest.

In the News

We had nice mention in a recent industry news outlet, Inman News. They wrote a three part story about Realtors using some of the social network sites. We are in part three, Industry experiments with social networking sites: Social media and real estate. I was with clients when the reported called so he talked with Michael who was perfect since he does a lot of the planning and work for our web presence. One of the sites he talked about that we are trying is Twitter. Take a look at it and if you join make sure you add me as a friend. You can see my Twitter home page here.

Over the next few days I’ll list some of the other websites we are using and thinking about using.

Sacramento Real Estate

I did get a chance to look at some of the results for the Sacramento real estate market for last month and completed my review, “Where are we going?” Over the next few days I will look closer to home and examine the Roseville and Rocklin communities.

Where will it go?

Inventory of is edging up in the Sacramento area. As of March 26, according to the website HousingTracker, the number of homes on the market in Sacramento increased by 390 to 14,163. This represents a 5.9 percent increase in the past month and 4.5 percent growth over where we were three months ago. The good news is the median asking price is remaining at or near $400,000 with the most recent numbers down from the previous week to $395,950. We are clearly in the spring selling season and as long as we don’t see any significant price erosion I think we will continue to see offers being made and contracts closing.

Over at Sacramento Real Estate Statistics the author is a bit more pessimistic or optimistic depending on how you want to Sacramento real estate market to perform. He had this to say:

Looks like the spring selling season has officially begun, and it's off to a
fast start. Late March 2007 inventory is higher than mid-May 2006 levels. Both
Agent Bubble and I predict inventory could top 20,000 listings this summer. (At
this rate of increase, we will hit that number by late June or early July. One
week doesn’t make a trend, however.)

Please note that although both of the sites above report on inventory levels, each use different data sources and geographic areas to develop their numbers so they are not directly comparable.

My occasional rant...

…got long enough today that I used it for my column over at Rocklin & Roseville Today, “It shouldn’t be this difficult.” Remember it is Friday, the weather is wonderful and spring is calling my name.
Overall it has been a good week and I suspect with the nice weather holding a bit longer we will see some buyers out this weekend. We have a serious buyer up in Yuba City who we are hoping will make an offer on the MyForSaleSign subject property. In addition we had another showing so the place is starting to get some action. The latest update for my reality real estate series is here.

Big Squeeze

“…tightening of loan and underwriting standards now underway is likely to push demand for homes down 15 percent this year,” according to analysts who follow the stocks of major home builders for Banc of America Securities LLC. Read the full story, “Tighter lending standards…” by Matt Carter at the Inman News website. This is a nice follow up article to my post earlier this week about changing credit standards and how they may impact our Sacramento real estate market.

Happy first day of Spring!

Spring Blooms

Our great weather has plants and trees’ blooming like it is spring and according to HousingTracker inventory is growing like we are in the middle of the spring selling season. For the week ending March 19, inventory was 13,773, up 313 available homes from the week before and up 4.5 percent in the past month. Increases in inventory are historically traditional as we move into the spring selling season. The level of inventory is higher than it was last year at this time and I attribute that to the nice weather compared to last year when we weren’t sure it would ever stop raining. As we don’t follow the pattern of 2006 where we reached record levels of homes on the market in August when we had over 18,000 homes on the market I think we will see some stabilization in prices. HousingTracker reported a slight tic down in the median asking price from $400,000 where it has been for the past four weeks to $399,000.

The great weather of the past few weeks had brought the buyers out. Houses are being shown, open houses are getting traffic and offers are being made. Now we need to see some of these contracts close!

The Kitchen and more

Saturday was my wedding anniversary and my husband, Michael, attempted to surprise me with a dinner at The Kitchen. He is good at lots of things but surprises are not one of them! This was our third trip to The Kitchen and like the previous two visit it was wonderful.

If you have never been to The Kitchen, put it on your list of things to do. Although they occasionally have cancelations it is always best to make your plans to go several months in advance. Last night Noah was the Master Chef and did a wonderful job of making every quest feel welcome and special. The food and presentation was wonderful. If you go with four of less people I love sitting at the bar where you can see and be part of all the action.

Seems like many restaurants these days are picking simple dishes and doing them spectacularly well. A steak at Ruth Chris’s is a good example, it tastes great but we can all have a steak at home. At the Kitchen, the sheer number of ingredients they use in each dish creates a complexity of flavors you don’t get every day. Last night my favorite was the first course, a spectacular asparagus soup. Here is how they described it, “A Bisque of Young Asparagus with ‘Biscuits, Gravy and Bacon’, Honey-Blood Orange Glazed Pork, Goat Butter and Salt Cured Octopus” The octopus was actually made into bacon, crisp, crunch and an explosion of taste! Check out their website, The Kitchen, for the complete menu, a description of their offerings and for reservations.

The Kitchen is expensive but it is a true culinary event and with the demonstration kitchen format it is a full evening of entertainment and fun. Besides you won’t need to eat the next day or at least, like me, only want a cheese sandwich after all the wonderful rich food.

Check out my latest real estate news article, “The train to Equityville.” You can see it here on our website or in my column today at Rocklin & Roseville Today. I also have some happenings on my reality real estate series, MyForSaleSign

Lyon and Trendgraphix News

As a Realtor with Lyon Real Estate, we each have a website on the GoLyon domain. Mine is jjalone.golyon.com. The amount of information I can add to this site is limited and one of the reasons I maintain the Jalone.com site, but some of the tools and resources are pretty good. You can easily view my listings, sign up to use the exclusive Lyon tool “Sherlock Willie to find the perfect home, see some of the pricing trends we have access to through TrendGraphix, and get up to date real estate news. In addition there is a great real estate glossary as well as local school reports.

Speaking of Trendgraphix their latest press release, “Are Increased Pendings a Sign of a Better Market?” has some insights on what is happening in the Sacramento real estate market. It also includes the activity levels for real estate in Sacramento during the month of February. To read the full press release, click here

On the Run

Another weekend has just slipped by and now it is busy Monday trying to get everything on track and a few other items. I did publish a reality real estate article, Curb Appeal, on the MyForSaleSign page. Randi and Tony are doing a great job of maintaining their Yuba City condo/townhome while it has been on the market.

I found or Michael found a new toy this morning, Twitter. It is a one blog where you can only post very short entries and it designed to keep your friends informed of where or what you are doing. It looks like fun so; if you have a few minutes check my page, JulieJ or Michael’s. I also added one of their widgets here so my quick posts can be seen. Add me as a friend, my page looks lonely!

Random Thoughts

I was doing my normal web surfing this week and came upon a cool real estate blog that finds and posts celebrity real estate listings. Some are clearly more interesting than others and most of the houses are fun to look at so I thought I’d pass the link along, Celebrity Listings.

I have been having some fun this past week helping a client negotiate a purchase of a home that is owned by the “bank.” In this particular situation the banks agent has asked us to negotiate verbally with him. When I give him our offer he evidently plugs it into a protected web page. Someone at the bank reviews the offer and then, as it has been all week, makes a counter. It is quick, with at least two of our counters responded to within hours. We got their latest counter on Friday and responded with another offer later in the day. I thought we might hear back from them before end of business but that did not happen so I suspect it will be Monday before we have the answer or counter. If we are able to reach an agreement the contract will be created and all parties will sign, at least that is the plan!

Inventory in the greater Sacramento area, according to HousingTracker, is up 3.6 percent in the past month but in the latest week, ending March 5 they show a decline of 170 available homes and the median asking price still at $400,000. Last year we saw inventory from this time grow to over 18,000 homes on the market. I do anticipate inventory to increase as we move into the spring selling season but do not believe we will see the same level of growth as we did last year. This year we appear to have more buyers.

Weekend Ahead

Yes, it is Friday and the end of a long week for many but Saturdays and Sundays are not always days of rest for me. This weekend I am holding an open house for Randi and Tony in Yuba City and if you are in the area, please stop by and say hello. For more information on the open house and directions, click here.

Looks like my Washington DC family are going to be moving to California soon. The great house we found for them in the Folsom area is moving along through the escrow period and with some final negotiations with the seller done we should be closing next week.

My listing in North Highlands closed last week and I have to admit it was a pleasure working on that transaction. My “seller” lived in the house for more than 50-years and raised a family there. Today another young family is there starting their journey and although they may not live in the home as long, you can tell they love the place as much as the original owner and are so excited to have their own home. The money from the sale will support my client in here new retirement surroundings. Sometimes being in this business has it very satisfying moments.

Signs of Spring

As we enter March there is clearly an increased level of activity in the Sacramento real estate market including the Roseville and Rocklin area where I live. I am seeing agent cars parked in front of listing meaning they are inside with clients, my listing are getting showings, open houses are getting visitors and I have been out with several buyers looking for the perfect home. All this is a good sign that this spring will be good time for both buyers and sellers.

In some other news we have a winner of our Disco Night drawing for a brand new 2GB iPod Nano. For those of you who receive my hard copy newsletter you know we occasionally have a drawing or contest for a nice prize. This time we opened it up the parents of Mikie’s elementary school as part of their annual auction fundraiser. The winner is Shelly Boxx, one of the volunteers who worked so hard to make the auction a success. Congratulations Shelly and a big thank you to all of you who entered. Keep an eye on my newsletter for the next contest and prize.

National Television for You?

This afternoon I was contacted by a production company working for a National television network. They found my reality real estate series, My For Sale Sign, and felt I would be good a participant in a show they will be filming in the Sacramento area. We now need a family of four who are looking to buy a home in the $350 to $550,000 range, ideally in the Rocklin-Roseville area, and are willing to spend three days of shooting time in mid-march. For additional details see my News Flash page at jalone.com or email me immediately at mailto:Julie Jalone

Busy Friday

Inventory in the greater Sacramento real estate market is edging up but we have been seeing some stability in the median asking price. According to HousingTracker, during the past four weeks ending February 26 available houses for sale grew by 527 to 13,372, a 4.1 percent increase. During this same time the median asking price has remained virtually constant at $400,000.

For those of you following my reality real estate series, My For Sale Sign, I posted my third article, “Hanging in There” which is exactly what my sellers, Randi and Tony are doing as they wait for the buyer we want to find.