Why do Realtors have pictures on their cards?

This is a question all realtors get frequently asked and until now I have not had an answer that made me feel good. Check out my latest article, “Why do we have photos on our cards?” and find out what others are saying and why I have decided to keep my picture on my business card.

Discovery Kingdom

Over the past weekend we spent some time at Six Flags Discovery Kingdom in Vallejo. They have changed the park and the name from Marine World. It kind of reminds me of the park back in the days that it was Marine World Africa USA which I think is what they called it back in the days when it was in San Mateo.

The changes are very positive, with more exhibits, shows, food concessions and a better family feeling. I didn’t see any roving gangs of teenagers like the last time we were there and although still expensive there is a better selection of food and they are spread out more around the park. A minor disappointment was the water ski/boat show is no longer being done. We saw the dolphin show which was great, the killer whale show which was a bit lackluster but always fascinating to see a mammal that big. We had some young children in our group so we tended to stay in the kids areas. The new Thomas the Tank Engine exhibit was well done but designed for the youngest of children. Mikie who has long been an enthusiast but now past the target age was delighted to see Thomas pulling Annie and Clarabelle but the wait and length of the ride were disappointing.

All in all, we had a great day and had fun sharing the adventure with our friends and we will go back. By the way, you can now park at the Marriott across the street for a few dollars more than the Six Flags parking lot and avoid the long walk to your car. At the end of the day you will be very glad the car is close!

Welcome to Summer!

I know the weather the past week or so has been summer like but today is the first full day of summer and the longest day of the year. We will have more sunlight today than any other day of the year. We hardly notice it here in California but up in Alaska, where I grew up, it was always a great celebration with lots of parties and events to mark the occasion.

If you are following my reality real estate series, MyForSaleSign, I posted a new article today, Competition in Yuba City: How does our listing compare? Randi and Tony have been the best clients, keeping their great condo/townhouse in show condition week after week. We just lowered the price and I wanted to take a look, from a buyers perspective, at the other homes that compare our listing.

Annoyed

I enjoy helping people with real estate and I mean it when I say some of the services I provide are free and with no obligation. After this a recent experience I want to add a modifier, free with no obligation as long as you are honest.

Last week I received an inquiry from my Free Market Valuation page. It was from person who has a home about 30 miles from me. He said he was just completing a major remodel and trying to decide a selling price. I did some initial work and sent him some information. This lead to a more extensive exchange and he made it clear he was not sure about selling but would be using the information I provided to help him make that decision. After another round of emails and a call we had a pretty good idea of the price range but with so much remodeling I volunteered to visit the property and take a tour. Again, he reminded me he had not made a final decision to sell.

We set a time and I drove the 30 miles to see the house and meet my internet contact. When I arrived I was greeted by another Realtor’s sign planted in the front yard and a lock box on the door. Turns out my contact is a “fix and flip” guy and has an investor who is an agent. All he wants for me is to confirm the selling price the other agent set. For those of you who are thinking, why didn’t she check MLS, I did and, although there is a sign, it is not currently listed with MLS.

Be honest with me if you want my help.

A look at Placer County and New Listing

Looking a bit closer at the recent SacBee story, “Home sales seek bottom” we see that Placer County real estate may be looking harder for the bottom than some of the other local areas that make up the greater Sacramento real estate market. The median sales price for existing homes sold in May dropped $10,750 from April to $437,750. This is off 9.6 percent from a year ago. This is the largest one year price decline in the four major counties, Placer, Sacramento, El Dorado and Yolo. The good news in Placer County is sales volume. Including condos there were 512 closed escrows in May. This is up sharply from 378 in April and is on par with May 2006 when there was 516 closed escrows.

Hopefully we will continue to see buyers out looking, especially in Rocklin where I have a new listing. Check out this great 4 bedroom, 3 bath home off of 3^rd Street on Willard Way. It is a great home, with loads of extras and ready for a new family. With almost 1,900 square feet of living area you won’t find anything this nice priced below $200 per square foot.

Not a great May

The Sacramento Bee had their monthly synopsis of the local real estate market in the business section this morning. Jim Wasserman’s article, “Home sales seek bottom” was not one of his most succinct efforts. I had to go back a read it a couple of time to make much sense. I think he was trying to cover too much in too large an area.

Overall the May results we generally not very positive unless you live in Yolo County where the median price was up 2.1 percent from last year. In the other seven counties reported on, including Sacramento and Placer the median prices continued their year over year decline. The most positive news for May that sales of existing homes was up, as expected, from April in all except El Dorado County.

One of the more brilliant quotes in the article included, Anthony Graham, from my own brokerage, Lyon Real Estate, who said, “I think we’re really starting to see a little more hesitance on the part of the seller to put their home on the market.” Really, Anthony, do you think so?

Find me a short sale

As the Sacramento real estate market is experiencing increased foreclosure activity I am getting more questions about short sales and at least an email a week asking me to help locate them. It seems that almost everyone has heard a story where someone bought a house for 50 percent of its value by taking advantage of a short sale. What is a short sale and are they something we should all be looking for? Check out my latest article, “Short Sales: Road to Riches?” on my real estate news page at jalone.com or in my weekly column at Rocklin & Roseville Today.

What are other agents saying?

I thought it would be interesting to check on a few other local agents as see what they are saying about our local Sacramento real estate market. Here is what they are saying:

• In the short term expect to see a level of stabilization within the overall real estate market in California for the next three/four months. Ed Fitch
• With summer, optomisum(sic), growth and renewal are in the air. Buyers are out looking and buying all the great properties that are on the market right now. Tammy Gallentine
• Know this, things will get better. Land is scarce, the prices of raw commodities are high, permits are difficult to come by, and environmental hurdles will continue to restrict building. Your home will be an excellent investment over the long term. Hang in there! Jimmy Castro
• It is still an awesome market for buyers and homes are still selling if priced right! What an awesome summer it is going to be. Randy Hawley
• Real Estate market is good in Sacramento area. As looking at the increasing inventory of houses for sale and the average time a house stays on the market before selling, it seems like the housing market is buyer's market. Jack Dhaliwal
• The month of May saw the real estate market continue to mprove(sic). Michelle Dinh and Julie Dinh Cooper

Okay, real estate agents are not the best spellers and tend to be optimistic when writing advertisements. I found all of the above quotes at Realty Times.

By the way, looking for a new home or a place to have some horses, check out our Current Listings.

All Summer Long!

Been kind of an up and down week around here. Busy with some client issues, in particular trying to recover a deposit, setting up an escrow and doing some general research for an investor who is interested in buying in our area.

Over the past week I have been contacted by two investors who feel like now is the time to buy in our market. Neither on lives here, both are in other parts of California and have said the believe now is the time to look at Sacramento real estate. During the past month, a home in my neighborhood was sold and now rented by an investor so maybe all of this is a sign. Or at least an indication that there are buyers out there who believe the Sacramento real estate market has stabilized.

I checked and see that available inventory is continuing to creep up with over 17,000 home on the market in the greater Sacramento area. As more houses come on the market there is downward pressure on pricing and according to the latest report at HousingTracker, the median asking price slipped a bit from where it has been over the past several weeks.

On a happy note, today is the last day of school for Mikie and his 1^st grade classmates here in the Roseville/Rocklin area. The last few weeks have been busy for all of us as school was wrapping up so I know it is more than just Mikie looking forward to a summer break! Do you remember how good it felt on the last day of class and knowing you had an entire summer to play?

Dump to Doll House

Check out the latest the first of three articles on our experience in turning a dump into a doll house at my reality real estate page, MyForSaleSign or on my weekly column at Roseville & Rocklin Today.

Still more to do

Another week is slipping by and although I feel like I was busy, in the end I can’t say I accomplished as much as I had hoped. For one I didn’t get a new column posted over at Rocklin & Roseville Today and I wanted to write another piece for MyForSaleSign. What we did accomplish is getting the June Newsletter published, still in the final printing so if you are not on my mailing list and would like to be, let me know by email or filling out this short form.

During the week we have added another 350+ homes to the available inventory here in the Sacramento real estate market. As I mentioned earlier in the week, there does not seem to be any reason we will not exceed the record high of homes on the market later this summer. I continue to be surprised that asking prices continue to resist the kind of drops we saw last year as inventory was building. Right now, according to HousingTracker we have 16,967 homes on the market with a stable median asking price of $399,000. I have a great listing out in Natomas and we just lowered the price from $511,350 to $499,000 in hopes of increasing showing activity. It is a great house on Beretania Way and if you or anyone you know is looking for a nice home, I would be happy to arrange a showing.

Speaking of showings, if you are out and about in the Yuba City area tomorrow, stop by and say hello. I will be holding Randi’s condo/townhome open from 1 to 4 PM.

Have a great Friday and weekend