Local, local, local

If the three most important items in real estate are location, location and location then when looking at a real estate market the three most important elements are local, local and local. How does what is happening at a statewide level in California tell you much about Sacramento, your community or neighborhood? August sales of homes are down 28 percent in California, should we be worried in Sacramento, Roseville or Rocklin? Check out my latest article, “Location” which discusses the latest news on the California market including how our Sacramento area compares and maybe even a glimpse of a positive future for local homeowners.

I have also published it over at Rocklin & Roseville Today as my weekly column, Julie Jalone Local Real Estate.

Beautiful Days – Tough Times

Well at least in our home, over the past week or so we have been sharing and battling a nasty end of summer cold. It came on fast and then lingers. I am hopeful by the end of this week we will be back to full strength and have some energy to enjoy these spectacular fall days. After heat of summer these upper 70/lower 80 degree days and cool evenings are a great reminder that we live in a wonderful place.

I wrote about a new listing on Friday and then ended up having some problems with my website so if you followed the link I provided and only were able to see the virtual slide show; here is the link to the listing page for Cargill Way. I tried an experiment, embedding the slide show on the page vs. just giving it a link. It didn’t work and for a while, when we were trying to correct the problem, it looked like the entire site was lost. Got it all back and working now!

We had a couple of showings over the weekend and I am expecting to see an offer on one of my listings later today so maybe these nice days are getting a few more buyers out on the streets.

Adorable

As you can imagine, I have listed a number of homes and visited thousands more, but not often do I see a home that is truly adorable. The house I listed today falls into the adorable category! The sellers are a young couple that took a subdivision model home with lots of upgrades to the next level. It is one of those homes that you feel you could just move right in and enjoy. As slow as this market is right now I think, if we can get some showings, this one will sell quickly. Take a look at Cargill Way – Roseville and let me know what you think.

By the way, the last report from HousingTracker essentially showed inventory and median asking price flat from the previous week. It is good that inventory is not going up but shows the increase in foreclosure activity is keeping it high. Perhaps the drop in interest rate will flush out what some are calling “pent-up demand.”

Dark before the dawn?

During these dark days of real estate in the Sacramento area it is easy to feel like we may never see any positive reports again. This week the SacBee reported that in the Capital region during the month of August, for every two sales a homeowner lost their home to foreclosure. Check out my latest article, “Foreclosures and the future” and find out more about our local market and where it may go in the future. I also posted the article over at Rocklin & Roseville Today in my weekly column.

Could it be?

Inventory in the Sacramento area actually has declined in each of the past two weeks. Could this be the long awaited start in our seasonal decline in homes on the market? Check out my column,” Another False Start?” over at Rocklin & Roseville Today.

Patriot Day

Today is Patriot Day and is designated in memory of the nearly three thousand who died in the September 11, 2001 attacks. The name, Patriot Day, does not seem to have caught on yet, most of us still refer to it as “September 11^th” or “Nine-Eleven.” Today is a time to pause and remember, stand with courage….one nation, one spirit.

Open House Sunday and more

I am doing two open houses today! Both in Rocklin, first at my Willard Way listing from Noon to 2:00 PM and then as soon as I can get to Tanus Circle (2:00 PM) to 5:00 PM. These are both attractive homes in nice neighborhoods and I am hopeful of having some good traffic as they are both ready to sell!

I just picked up a new listing in Yuba City on Oregon Way. It is my second “short sale” listing and I think it is a great house and priced very aggressively.

By the way, I still have a few copies of my September Newsletter, let me know if you would like to have one mailed to you. They are written to be light, fun and not full of real estate stuff. You can get that here on the website.

Finally, we are moving into the last week for buying the Discount “Entertainment Book” to support Sierra Elementary School. You can get one here at a discounted rate and some of the money goes to the Sierra PTC.

Which dog is 77 this month?

We just mailed out the September issue of my Newsletter and it is pretty good with snippets about Patriot Day, a famous dog’s 77^th birthday and “Indian Summer”. We printed a few extra so drop me a note if you would like to receive a FREE copy.

Well, as I have been saying for the past few weeks, the Sacramento real estate market generally slows to a crawl the last two weeks of August and through the Labor Day weekend. I just checked the inventory level over at HousingTracker and for the week ending September 3 there was virtually no change from the previous week. We were down 6 homes to 18, 838. We should get a good idea of what September will bring with the report on September 10. Traditionally, the inventory has peaked for the year and is starting down as we move into the fall months but with the increased foreclosure activity we may see a different pattern this year.

Have a great weekend and if you are out and about on Sunday, stop by my Tanus Circle listing in Rocklin and say hello.

Quiet Labor Day Weekend

The last two weeks of August and through the Labor Day weekend has historically been a slow time in the Sacramento and Roseville real estate market. Most of us are getting a last minute summer holiday and starting to make the transition from summer to fall, even if the weather has been unbearably hot the past week.

I expect we will see some increased activity starting next week although I am beginning to think buying a house is not getting much positive reinforcement from friends and family as it has in the past. I overheard the following comment the other day from a mother talking to her daughter and son-in-law when they were telling her they were actively looking to buy their first home. Mom said. “Are you sure you want to buy now, I think you should wait and see if the prices come down more.”

It is hard to argue that prices will start going up and you should buy now! But I do believe there are some wonderful homes on the market now at very attractive prices and they are selling. If you are in a position where you want to buy a home and know you will be living in it for five or more years, you should be looking for your special home that you can start enjoying. Buy a house because you want to live in it not as a speculative investment.

By the way, my son’s elementary school is selling the Entertainment Book (Discounts Galore!) as a fundraiser. I sent out a few emails with links where you can buy one for the Sacramento area or your own area. They sell at Costco for $45 but you can buy it from our PTC for $40.00. Based on my review, it looks pretty easy to get your money back and more pretty quickly. Safeway has $20 off and there are lots of restaurant and store discounts too. Great deal if you keep it in your car! Check it out here.