Just a feeling and Welcome Kelly Baker!

I can’t point to anything concrete but I am getting the feeling we are starting to get some increased activity in the Sacramento real estate market. I have been contacted by several potential buyers in the past week who all seem serious about wanting to buy now. I have made one offer and hope to be making another later this week. In addition, we have had a few more showings of some of our listing this past week. This is not a big turnaround but maybe a spike of activity before we move into the holidays.

Congratulations to Kelly Baker, who has obtained her real estate license and this past week has joined the MagnumOne Realty team. Kelly was our administrative assistant last year and we are delighted she has taken the next step in her real estate career and joined MagnumOne. For a new agent and Realtor, Kelly has a tremendous amount of experience in working with clients and making sure all the details of a transaction are completed. I know she will be a great addition to our team. Welcome Kelly!

Two forward, one back

We had a great introduction of our new company, MagnumOne Realty at the Fall Carnival for Mikie’s school. We raffled off a holiday inflatable yard decoration and gave out trick ‘r treat bags to the kids. Had lots of questions about the new company and overall a very positive response. The Carnival was a huge success, even though we had to move it from Friday last week to Monday because of rain. I think everyone had a good time and we raised some money for the school Parent Teachers Club. I think we may have picked up a listing too!

This morning as I was preparing to head out the door to meet with a prospective new agent for our team, I received a very flattering invitation to speak at the next meeting of the Sacramento chapter of American Women in Radio and Television who want to learn more about the “State of Real Estate.” That is pretty exciting, and yes a bit scary, as I don’t have any experience speaking before large groups and like most people hate the idea!

So that appears to be two nice forward steps for my business, when I learned one of our short sale transaction we have worked so hard on the past two months is in serious trouble. For several reasons we had to go back to the lender and ask them to discount their payoff even more than they had previously approved. According to our contact there, it is not looking good but there has been no final decision. Some parts of this business are much harder than they should be!

Going Down….

Since the week of August 27, according to HousingTracker, inventory has dropped from 18,844 to 18,007 for the week ending October 15. Although not falling as much as some of us would like to see it is clear we have reached our peak high for the year and should see declining inventory until we get into the March/April timeframe of 2008. The drop in the past seven weeks is 837 homes or 4.4 percent.

During the same period the median asking price has continued to fall. At August 27 it stood at $375,000 for homes in the Sacramento area. As of October 15 it had fallen, $16,000 to $359,000 at 4.3 percent decline. In the past month, alone, according to HousingTracker, the median price has declined 2.9 percent. This compares to a three month number of 7.7 percent and a six month number of 10.2 percent.

Normally we would expect to see a slowing of the falling prices as inventory declines, however; with the increasing number of foreclosures and short sales combined with the tightening mortgage loan requirements it may be some time before we see prices firm up.

This has been a busy and fun week at our new company, MagnumOne Realty. We are working on our new website, changing out “For Sale” signs, ordering business cards and generally just getting our name out there. On Friday evening we will be sponsoring a raffle at the Fall Carnival for Mikie’s elementary school. If you have some free time and are in the area, stop by, it is really a nice family event.

MagnumOne Realty

I am delighted to announce my association with MagnumOne Realty. Over the past two years I have come to understand and fully appreciate the ability to customize and deliver individual service to my clients. For me and my business, client service is the key ingredient for success. Although some of the resources of large brokerages are impressive, with today’s technology, I believe the level of service I want to be known for can be better delivered in smaller environment.

For the above reasons and with the help of Vivian Lawrence, I have taken the next step in my real estate career. I am very excited about MagnumOne and what we will be able to do for our clients. Keep an eye on my website and over the next few days I will add more details about our new company and services we will be offering.

Amador Wine Country

Yesterday, I hosted Randi & Tony, our MyForSaleSign clients and four of their friends to a wine tour in Amador County. We had a nice stretch limousine so no one had to worry about directions or driving, some great weather and overall a fun day. The wineries in Amador are fun to visit, not as crowded or pretentious as Napa and you still occasionally find an owner or winemaker pouring. The only negative of the day was it passed too quickly and when it was time to leave we had missed two of the wineries we had intended to visit.

If you want to see more photos of or wine trip follow this link to our Amador Wine County photos on Flickr.

When is being affordable bad?

According to the California Association of Realtors (C.A.R.), in their 2008 Housing Market forecast, the areas of the state where homes are more affordable will be the markets who will perform the worst in 2008. This appears to be due to the large number of new homes built in these areas, including Sacramento, in the past few years. Read my weekly column over at Rocklin & Roseville Today, “Will 2008 be better?” for more details.

Slow Going

Although we finally have started to see plateau and even slight decreases in the inventory of homes for sale in the Sacrament area the median asking price is falling faster than the number of homes. The number of homes for sale has decreased by about 100 in the past month and stood at 18,394 according to HousingTracker. This is a decrease of 444 homes from the inventory level at the beginning of the month. During this same time we have seen the median asking price fall from $375,000 to $364,500 or 2.8 percent.

The laws of supply and demand would dictate as we start to see inventory decline we should see a strengthening or increase in price. In this “new market” where we are working our way through the foreclosures and mortgage loan crisis all bets are off. Long term, the affordability and desirability of the Sacramento area will bring the real estate market back into equilibrium but for the rest of this year and the for most of next year the going will be rough on sellers.

Speaking of sellers, I do have some nice listings right now, check out my two listings in Rocklin, Willard Way and Tanus Circle.

Good News for Mortgage Debt Relief

With the growing number of homeowners having difficulty making mortgage payments and faced with homes that are now not worth as much as they owe we are seeing an increase it short sales. This is where a homeowner attempts to sell the home and then convince the lender to take less than they are owed. We just received approval from a lender to move forward on one of my listings. What you may not know about these arrangements is that the homeowner must pay taxes on the amount of debt forgiven just like it was income.

Last week the House Ways and Means committee approved a bill that would relieve taxpayers of the liability due to mortgage relief. Not a law yet, but it appears to be moving through the legislative process and should be finalized soon and be retroactive to January 1, 2007.

A summary of H.R. 3648 is available at the Ways and Means Committee site.