Where is the honor?
Julie Jalone is an experienced professional Realtor serving the needs of buyers and sellers of residential real estate in the Greater Sacramento area including Placer, El Dorado, Yuba and Yolo Counties. This blog is a place for her to post her thoughts about the market, buying and selling homes, and real estate in general.
Our mail box is stuffed, again! Especially this time of year when the junk mail is accompanied by every imaginable catalog such as Victoria Secret, Harry and David, Red Envelope, Fairytale Brownies, and the list goes on and on. Some of these are merchants I have used and like but I didn't ask for and don’t need their catalogs. Did you know the paper used to produce catalogs annually is equivalent to 8 million trees?
It has been a few weeks since I have reported on how inventory of homes on the market. The number of homes currently on the market has been declining for the past two months but not at a very fast rate. As of November 19, according to HousingTracker, we had 17,444 homes on the market in the Sacramento area. That is a decline of over 1,000 homes from the high in September and is down 2.3 percent from a month ago but is still 13 percent higher than it was a year ago.
As many as 40 percent of the 14,000 homeowners who lost their houses in California’s forest fires last month are discovering they don’t have enough insurance to rebuild, according to the California Department of Insurance.Although California state officials have tried to raise home owner awareness of coverage limits, several nationwide studies suggest that homeowners tend to ignore risk and don’t understand that insurance policies don’t guarantee replacement costs.
We have all heard it and most of us have said it, this is a buyer’s market. There are thousands of homes on the market, asking prices continue to decline and the number of active buyers is small. All of this should combine to make buying a breeze for homebuyers. My latest client buyers, Joe and Laura, found just the opposite. Check out my latest article and column at Rocklin & Roseville Today, “No Breeze for Buyers!” for the full story. I have also published the article on my Real Estate News page at jalone.com.
With the war in
For my family, today we say thank you to my husband Michael who served in the US Army in Vietnam and his son, Mark who is an active duty soldier who has served three tours in Iraq and proudly wears the Purple Heart which is the most recognized and respected medal awarded to members of the US armed forces. The medal was created by George Washington as the “Badge of Military Merit” it was renamed on his 200th birthday on February 22, 1932.
If you would like to send a message to Mark, send me an email and I will pass it along.
With the war in
For my family, today we say thank you to my husband Michael who served in the US Army in Vietnam and his son, Mark who is an active duty soldier who has served three tours in Iraq and proudly wears the Purple Heart which is the most recognized and respected medal awarded to members of the US armed forces. The medal was created by George Washington as the “Badge of Military Merit” it was renamed on his 200th birthday on February 22, 1932.
If you would like to send a message to Mark, send me an email and I will pass it along.
From the online NAR magazine: How do you fix a troubled housing market? Forbes.com asked that question of a broad range of housing experts, including CEOs of real estate firms, real estate practitioners, economists from lending institutions, and research directors at analytics firms. Here are five of their best suggestions.
1. Restore investor faith. "Mortgage fraud, by both borrowers and insiders, must be identified and prosecuted in order for faith to be restored in the market," says Anthony Sanders, professor of real estate finance at
2. Expand Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the Federal Housing Administration loans. "Our local banks and community banks have done a great job providing funding. (FHA) should be there as a supplemental for people who have good credit," says Congressman Lincoln Davis (D-Tenn.)
3. Cut construction and prices. "The market will only hit bottom after builders cut construction and sellers slash prices," says Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody's Economy.com. "The longer builders and sellers hold on, the longer the market will struggle."
4. Bring back non-agency loans. "The dramatic seizing of the mortgage-credit markets caused the elimination of almost any loan that wasn't backed by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac," says Bob Walters, chief economist at Quicken Loans. The revival of non-agency loans "will add much-needed mortgage funding to potential home buyers and folks looking to refinance."
5. Buyers and sellers get real. Nelson Gonzalez, senior vice president of Esslinger, Wooten Maxwell, REALTORS® , believes that once buyers realize that they're not going to convince a seller to accept a rock-bottom price, fluidity and activity can return to the market. "There is much pent-up demand," he says, "and buyers have been sitting on their hands for some time now."
There is another foreclosure auction coming to town and this weekend is the “Open House” for over 200 properties that will, check that, may be sold at auction on November 18th. Check out may latest column at Rocklin & Roseville Today, “Foreclosure Auction” for the details and my warning to be careful.
It amazes me, with all the bargains in today’s market and homes that go for weeks without a showing, this weekend some of these auction properties may get as many as 50 potential buyers through them. The allure of huge discounts appears too much for some of us. The unfortunate truth is that most of these homes will be sold at current market price or above!
If you are interested in the foreclosure auction and would like me to help select, value, bid and close the transaction call me at 916 276-6883 or send me an email. I like a good auction!