Welcome Stephanie

This has been a crazy real estate week and I have several new topics to blog about but today I want to officially welcome Stephanie McLaughlin to our MagnumOne Realty family. Some of you may remember “MyForSaleSign” feature when I chronicled the selling of a Yuba City home for Randi and Tony. The agent on the other side of the transaction was Stephanie and I was so impressed with her skill and customer service philosophy I stayed in touch with her and have now convinced her to join MagnumOne Realty. Not only does she bring the focus on client service but she provides us with a solid presence in Sutter and Yuba counties.

“For me, real estate sales is the most exciting and rewarding career,” says Stephanie. “It's all about helping people find that perfect home where they can create memories, establish an equity investment or even raise a family. In order to help my clients accomplish the experience of home ownership, I strive to be detail-oriented, technologically proficient, consistent in my follow-through, assertive in my actions, and always honest. My goal is to provide you unparalleled superior service.”

We are very happy to have Stephanie at MagnumOne Realty because she is the kind of agent we want to grow our business with. To learn more about Stephanie, see Stephanie McLaughlin at jalone.com or visit her Lake Plumas Real Estate page.

Golf Country

One of our agents at MagnumOne Realty has a new listing in Loomis. I have always said living in this area makes you close to everything but as a non-golfer I had never thought of this area as “Golf Country.” What I learned from the seller of this beautiful home on 2.3 acres is that from his house in Loomis there are eleven golf courses within 10 miles and believe it or not there are more than 30 courses within a 35-minute drive. With this house you don’t even need to drive as the property is big enough to safely hit wedges, pitch, chip and you can putt on your own private putting green.

If you or someone you know is looking to enjoy the county life and be “close to it all” this home is nestled among some mature shade trees and gives the feeling of seclusion with being “remote” give me a call and we can arrange a private showing. You will not be disappointed! For more information and pictured visit my website at http://www.jalone.com/ and the Golf Country Estate page

New Day Same Buyer

I have been wrestling with a situation I have not experienced before. Some of the buyers we are currently helping find new homes are the same ones we helped buy a home when the market was peaking back in the summer of 2005. The difference today is they want to buy a smaller more affordable home in the same community they live in and one where the loan to value ratio is not upside down. There objective is buy a new home before their credit is destroyed by walking away from their existing home. Check out my column, “Who gets hurt?” at Rocklin and Roseville Today or over at Sacramento Today if you are interested in learning more.

Great New Listing

As you may have noticed from my lack of posts this past week I have been a bit swamped. As much as I enjoy helping homeowners who are experiencing difficulty and need to get out from under their mortgage debt, the process of short sales is long, tedious and requires a good deal of effort. We have been making some good progress and it looks likely we will get another positive response from a lender in the next few days. Then we go through the normal escrow period and closing dance. I know there are some who feel Realtor’s drive around, look at houses and make more money than we should. It is work and generally more difficult than it should be to get some of these transactions closed.

I am not complaining because I really enjoy working with our clients. Just this past week I have met a wonderful new family and we are now helping them sell their wonderful home in the Deer Ridge development in Auburn. If you have never been there it is worth seeing. Nestled in the hills off of Highway 49 this neighborhood is beautiful with green areas, flowers, paths and large lots. The home we are selling is on Rain Tree Court and is large, well maintained and has all the upgrades you could ask for. In addition the lot and backyard is more like a first class resort. You really do have to see this one to believe it. This home is shown by appointment so call me and I’ll give you a private tour.

Julie & the three bears

I recently read an article about real estate blogging which made the point that people only read your blog to get information on real estate and author’s who make the mistake of venturing off into other topics will lose readership. I hope that is not the case as there are days I am thinking about other things besides real estate and I feel like writing about them. Today is one of those days but I’ll toss is some real estate tidbits too.

Bears: Michael’s daughter Kevyn is a Park Ranger in Alaska at Lake Clark National Park. Part of her job is monitoring bears and making sure the occasional visitor to her area of the park are aware of the bears and know what to do when they encounter one. She just sent us a few pictures and I couldn’t resist posting this one of the three cubs.

Cinco de Mayo: We had a long day yesterday and since it was Cinco de Mayo I was thinking about some good Mexican food. We ventured off to the Hacienda Del Roble on Granite Drive in Rocklin. We have not been there in several years because the last time we went the food was not very good. It is close and we thought some of the other better know restaurants might be very busy. It wasn’t busy, there was no indication they even knew it was a special day and the food was just the same as our last visit. All the dishes we had had Mexican names but none tasted that way. Very disappointing!

New prices: We just lowered the price on two of our listings. Check out the beautiful home in Granite Bay on Ebony Oaks, now offered as a short sale with an asking price of only $775.000. In addition, our Latigo Court listing in Roseville which is a very nice home in a great neighborhood has now been reduced to $428,000. Check these homes out and if give me a call if you would like to arrange a private tour of either home.

New listing: This may be the finest home in Auburn’s most desirable neighborhood, Deer Ridge. Check out this stunning home with six bedrooms, loft study and loads of upgrades on large private lot that feels like a first class resort. This brand new listing is located at 11309 Rain Tree Court in Auburn.

MagnumOne is growing

I am delighted to announce that Tina Farinas has joined MagnumOne Realty. Tina is an experienced agent who specializes in serving buyers and sellers in Sacramento and Placer counties. She is a real “worker” and her clients love her for that. Check out her page at jalone.com and her personal website, http://www.tinafarinas.com/. Welcome Tina!

In addition to Tina joining our team we have just announced our desire to participate in an internship program being sponsored by Sierra College. With a management team that enjoys helping staff and agents grow and develop it seemed like a natural decision. We hope there will at least be one student who would be interested in learning more about real estate, the Sacramento market and how a small company is meeting the needs of clients. If you are a student or know one who is interested see our intern posting.