Let's Say Thanks

Take a minute during this busy holiday season to recognize our U.S. Troops stationed overseas. Go to www.LetsSayThanks.com, where you can pick out a thank-you card. Xerox and the Let’s Say Thank organization will print and send it.

All you have to do is click on your favorite design and either select a message or draft a personal note. The postcards are then printed by Xerox and mailed in care packages by military support organization Give2TheTroops®.

Wouldn't it be wonderful if the soldiers received a bunch of these? Whether you are for or against the war, our soldiers over there need to know we are behind them. This takes less than a minute and here is an example reply from one Soldier:

Thank you so much for the post card. It is so nice to receive things in the mail
here. Some would not believe it but the simple good feeling of going to the
company mail room and the clerk saying "Yes, you have mail" is an uplifting
experience. Even if it’s just a letter saying "hi" makes our day! Thanks
again for your thoughts and prayers.

Please take the time and please take the time to pass it on for others to do. We can never say enough thank you's. Thanks for taking to time to support our military!

Thanks Jim!

As much as I enjoy maintaining my blog there are days when I feel like I have to write a post and times when other tasks pressure me to publish and run. I was thinking about this earlier this week when I went to Mikie’s parent-teacher conference. The subject was writing and how much he has improved since last year. We were looking at some of Mikie’s writing and his teacher told Mikie he would be able to correct some of his mistakes if he took time to read what he wrote. She said, “All good writers read what they write.”

I think sometimes I am guilty of letting spell-check do my reading. If there are no red, green or blue underlined words it must be good to go. This morning I got an email from a good friend on the East Coast who, I like to believe, reads my blog occasionally to see what we are doing out here. He wrote, “I just wanted you to know the latest, fourth blog should have been proofed by someone other than the spell check! ;-) FOURTH not FORTH!”

Thank you Jim, I am going to take your email as a queue to slow down, enjoy blogging and do more than spell-check before I publish. I won’t promise there will not be errors or better ways to write something but you can be assured that I have read what I wrote.

"Wife Swap" and more!

Over the years we have learned we need a day to get ready to fly home from Alaska and today’s it! This is a wonderful place to visit and with everything we try to accomplish by the end our stay we have clothes and gear in every imaginable place. Today we will get it all in one place, maybe even do a load of laundry and get packed up for our return to summer.

While we are here, we have had a number of emails and a few calls asking about what has happened with “Wife Swap” the reality TV series. As I mentioned a few weeks ago, they contacted me after finding me at our www.jalone.com website. They said they were interested in having a Realtor on the show and liked my site. Okay, we have talked to them a few times; filled out an application that asked all sorts of interesting questions, and now we have a scheduled phone interview with them next later this week. If that goes well I we were told we would then meet with a casting producer. If nothing else it has been an interesting experience and a fun topic in conversations.

The MagnumOne Realty team has been busy while we have been gone and it will be fun to see everyone and get a caught up. Sounds like we have a few more great listings and a couple of escrows going that could use some help.

Out of Town Lenders

Not all out of town lenders are bad, just the ones I seem to have to deal with! Twice in the past month I have had great clients who both were using lenders I had never heard of and were located out of the Sacramento area. Both were quick to provide pre-qualification letters when we needed them. One went so far as to say he could close the deal in 14-days when we told him the seller was requesting a 21-day close.

There was more talk than anything coming from these two loan originators. In the first case after six extensions we moved the loan to a local lender who now has it in the final stages and we are expecting a close next week. The second lender experience has been the worst I have ever witnessed. This particular lender has made promise after promise with never any follow through. How can someone say the documents are being sent to the title company five times and are never received? We actually had another lender look at the loan request and were told the clients “just didn’t qualify for the requested amount” but the out of towner continues to promise documents that will never come.

Both of these lenders work on commission, if they don’t make a loan they don’t make any money. On first blush, this sounds good; they should work hard to get the loan done so they can make a living. What I think happens, is when the lender finds out the loan may be difficult, require extra work or they think it might not be approved they “cut and run.” Why spend more time on something you may not get paid for. I know this is what happened on at least one if not both of my most recent bad experiences.

If you are considering a mortgage loan please talk to your friends, family or even your Realtor and find a lender who one of them has successfully worked with. I never push my clients to use one of my lender contacts but I will tell you a lender who has relationship with a good agent has an additional incentive to meet your needs.

Foreclosure Buying Tips

Since the Sacramento real estate market is comprised of so many foreclosures I thought it might be a good idea to provide some tips on buying lender owned properties. Although there are some bargains to be had they are not always easy and there are some things you should know if you are interested in buying one. Check out my latest article, Buying Bank Owned Properties, on my Real Estate News page at www.jalone.com.

Back in Anchorage

We returned to Anchorage from our favorite Alaska city, Homer. Anchorage has and has not changed much from when we lived here. There are new buildings here and there and plenty of road construction. The downtown area is a mess as a enormous parking garage is being built and the traffic is as bad as we remember.

Unlike California, everyone we talk to up here is excited about the economy and the future for the State of Alaska. Yes, gas prices are high, we paid 4.74 per gallon of unleaded on our trip back from Homer but if you live here you may be getting a $1,000 check from the State soon to help with the higher fuel costs. Seems the oil revenues are coming is so fast there is a multibillion dollar surplus. If you are interested in reading more about what is happening in the “Last Frontier” check out my column, “There is more to Alaska than summer,” over at Rocklin & Roseville Today.

Homer, Alaska

At the end of the road is Homer. You drive as far south as you can from Anchorage along the Kenai Peninsula and you end up in this wonderful Alaska village. It is also known as the Halibut fishing capital of the world but it is so much more and if you are ever in Alaska well worth the time to visit.

Nestled on the shore of Kachemak Bay there is breathtaking views of glaciers, mountains and wildlife. In addition to the fishing there is an active art community, quaint café’s and a few very nice restaurants. Whether it is fishing, kayaking, bear viewing, shopping, dining or site seeing Homer has it all and then some. For a community this small it has a very cosmopolitan feeling.

This is one place where the local real estate market appears to being doing just fine. In the past few years there as been large increase in the population as the town has been discovered as a great vacation spot and, interestingly, a growth in retired people moving to Homer.There is no doubt in my mind, if we ever return to Alaska to live, it will be to Homer!

So long summer!

We left summer behind yesterday and arrived in Anchorage where they have been experiencing a wet and cool summer. At least it is nice to get away from the smoke for a few days. We are here for a family wedding and a trip to Homer to visit Michael’s daughter Kevyn and her husband Dave.

We have a good team to cover for me while we are away and I have my phone and email so hopefully we can get some work done and have some fun with family here too.

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.

Lost Weekend

Every year about this time we get teased with some early spring weather and it feels good. We know there are always a few more storms to pass through but when they come I am not ready. This weekend was a perfect example, it had been beautiful the previous weekend and then wham, lots of rain and wind.

Psychologically, I was prepared for more sun and pleasant days. When it didn’t happen, I found it hard to switch gears. Open Houses are not a lot of fun on rainy days. Sitting alone in an empty house waiting for visitors who would rather be home or shopping in the warmth of a mall is not high on my list. The increased activity in the market came to a screeching halt for a few days and we got lazy around our house.

A bright new shinny Monday dawns and we are still in the fog. Car keys are missing from their normal spots, backpacks full of notes sent home from school have been unread, and all portable phones are not on their cradles and are uncharged. We have lost the weekend war, none of our plans were accomplished and we have made it more difficult to move forward with this new week. But the sun is out, the sky is blue and some of that spring feeling and energy is slowly growing inside. A couple of cups of coffee help too!

Let's Move to Sacramento

If you live or want to live in California you have a greater probability of being able to afford an entry level home in Sacramento than almost any other area of the state. According to a recent report by the California Association of Realtors more households in Sacramento can afford to buy a home than all but one other area of the state. Check out my report on this story, “Where can we afford to buy” over at my weekly column at Rocklin & Roseville Today. I have also published it on my news page at jalone.com.

By the way, if you or someone you know is a real estate agent who is tired of working alone in a big company environment and/or is interested in joining a small but growing full service real estate brokerage we would love to talk with you. Send me an email or give me a call at 916 290-9339.

Smorgasbord Wednesday

Congratulations to Robin Sweigart of MagnumOne Realty, who just last week got her first real estate sale in contract. Robin did a great job with her listing on Paizano Court and based on what I have seen looks like she has a strong buyer and hopefully a smooth escrow and closing. Good work, Robin!

I have had a number of emails about my latest column at Rocklin & Roseville Today, “Don’t blame the sub-prime lenders.” Several were from Realtors who agreed with most of what Michael Hill had to say and a couple were from lenders who indicated their companies were doing exactly what I suggested, attempting to come up with a new and innovative loan product for the current market. One that expands the ability of borrowers to qualify for a mortgage that is affordable. In both cases I responded back asking for details but have not heard anything back. At least it sounds like some lenders are at least giving some thought to what homes cost today and how to make buying and paying for them affordable. I did get one email saying my premise was wrong, prices of homes will fall at least 50 percent more and that is the only way houses will be affordable.

I do believe we will see some continued depreciation of home values in the Sacramento real estate market but there will still be too many homes that too many buyers can’t afford. If we are going to see any recovery in the next year it has be because some of the larger and trusted lenders develop new and innovative loans that make higher priced homes affordable to more buyers.

In the meantime, more houses are coming on the market in the Sacramento area, asking prices are declining and I am getting calls about short sales.

If anyone is interested in joining a fantasy baseball league and taking over a team in a “keeper” format please let my husband, Michael know. Their group is shy one manager and the season is rapidly approaching.

Super Bowl Sunday

Another year and more Super Bowl parties than one can attend. Especially if Michael is recovering from a cold Mikie brought home and I am getting it. Growing up in Alaska, I don’t know much about football; have never been to a professional game and only a few Stanford games with Michael. Watching it on TV is not my idea of a good time but I do like spending time with friends and family so if it is football that brings us together, well I guess I can pretend to know what is going on.

What I do know about today is that there will not be too many people out looking for a new house or thinking about calling a Realtor so it is an easy day to dedicate to a party….wow, I wished I felt better.