New Listing - 5400 Robertson Avenue, Carmichael, CA 95608

Lovingly-maintained 3 bedroom, 1 bathroom, 960sf Carmichael home is ready for a new owner! You will love the spacious layout, updated kitchen with tile counters, big bedrooms, lots of storage, attached 2-car garage, central heat & air, dual pane windows, nearly quarter acre park-like backyard with newer fencing and HUGE 12x18 workshop with electrical, additional storage shed, large covered patio. Freshly painted exterior, pest clearance and 2-year roof certification. Located near schools, parks and shopping. Don't wait! Offered at $309,900. For more photos and information visit 5400 Robertson Avenue, Carmichael, CA 95608.

New Listing - 2180 Irvin Way, Sacramento, CA 95822

Adorable 2 bedroom, 1 bathroom, 939sf home in Hollywood Park! You will love the spacious layout, wood floors throughout, freshly painted interior, updated kitchen with white cabinets and laminate counters, dining nook, remodeled bathroom with tile flooring and new vanity, indoor laundry room, central heat and air, attached one-car garage. The huge backyard offers a great sunny space to garden or play. It is in close proximity to awarding-winning schools, William Land Park, restaurants, parks and more! Don't wait! Offered at $349,900. For more photos and information visit 2180 Irvin Way, Sacramento, CA 95822.

Not on public sewer? Be sure to get a septic inspection...

Occasionally I help clients buy or sell property that is not hooked up to public utilities. These properties tend not to be located in urban or suburban areas, and are usually a bit more rural -- like Elverta, Rio Linda, Elk Grove or unincorporated Sacramento County or Placer County areas.

Recently I helped a buyer purchase a horse property home on acreage in Elverta, and while MLS stated that the home was on all public utilities, we observed that there were indeed septic tanks on the property.

Septic systems must be pumped and drained in order to be fully inspected. Do yourself a favor and do not stand downwind of the septic while it is being drained. It's pretty disgusting to smell.

In cases where the septic is easily accessible -- meaning that the location to the access points of the underground tanks is known, and the access points are not buried or require excavation -- pumping is approximately $350 and then the inspection itself is approximately $125.

Assuming the septic system is in good, functioning condition, having a septic company issue a "certification" may cost another $250. A certification means that the company will guarantee the system is operable for the next 2 years. Some lenders may require as a condition of funding a loan that buyers obtain a septic certification for homes not on public sewer. So if you are buying (or selling) a home on a septic system, I would be sure to budget at least $725 for a septic certification. Maybe more.

For homes on septic systems where the tanks, wells, leach lines, etc. are NOT in good condition, a certification may not be issued without repairs. This can get pretty expensive (thousands of dollars!) depending on what the issues are.

The costs of inspection, repairs, and certification are negotiable between buyer and seller.

New Listing - 5630 35th Avenue, Sacramento, CA 95824

Adorable 2 bedroom, 1 bathroom, 1,213sf Fruitridge Manor home is the perfect blank canvas for your personal touches, and is ready for a new owner. Lovingly maintained by the same family for many years, you will appreciate the wood floors, large kitchen with double oven, separate living and family rooms, fireplace with gas starter, and spacious bedrooms. Backyard offers both sunny and shady spaces to garden and play and a shed for additional storage. Close proximity to shopping, public transit, CSUS, and more. Probate sale. Offered at $249,900. Don't wait! For more photos and information please visit 5630 35th Avenue, Sacramento, CA 95824.

What is that red device and why did it have to be installed on the gas meter of one of my listings?

Well, even after nearly 13 years as an agent and after hundreds of sold properties, I still occasionally come across new things in my transactions. You might be looking at that photo wondering what is that red thing on that gas meter?

Candidly I had never seen one before being required to install one on the gas meter of one of my listings prior to the close of escrow. It is an automatic gas shut off valve device.

When the buyer for one of my listings was in the process of getting homeowners insurance quotes, he had to fill out a questionnaire about the property. One of the questions was "Is the house bolted to the foundation?" This actually mirrors one of the questions on a seller property disclosure, the Residential Earthquake Hazards Report. My seller clients answered this question as "Don't know."

This set off alarm bells with the insurance company.

You might think, well duh, of course the house is bolted to the foundation. Not so fast...this home was built in 1922. We asked the home inspector to go down in the basement and look for anchor bolts. The manner in which the home was constructed either concealed the bolts (probably likely), or the house was indeed not bolted to the foundation.

So is a house that is not bolted to its foundation un-insurable? That alone apparently won't disqualify the home from being eligible for a homeowners insurance policy, however the insurance company mandated the home have an automatic gas shut off valve installed prior to issuing a new insurance policy.

Why? We were told that in the event of an earthquake, if the home somehow shimmied off its foundation, this shut off valve would at least prevent a natural gas leak. Ok then.

I called several plumbing contractors to have this thing installed, and literally none of them even knew what I was talking about when I described what I needed. Apparently this is way more common in the bay area, but nobody locally here in Sacramento had ever seen one or heard of it being required.

So...$720 later, the buyer is now the proud owner of a cute home in Land Park with a shiny red gas shut off valve.

Quoted in a Sacramento Bee article about million dollar homes in Sacramento...

I’m quoted in the Sacramento Bee this week in an article about Sacramento being #13 in the nation for homes valued over $1M. Spoiler alert: about half the cities ahead of Sacramento on the list are in CA. And the number of million dollar homes equates to only 1.7% of our housing inventory - meaning 98.3% of inventory here is under $1M.

Relative to the rest of California, the Sacramento region is still remarkably affordable. The California statewide median home price as of last month is $600,860 per the California Association of Realtors. The median home price in Sacramento County is $375,000. There are California counties where the median price is well over $1,000,000 (Alameda, Marin, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara, etc.). And even in the greater Sacramento area, homes in Sacramento are more affordable than Placer County at $499,650, Yolo County at $476,500, Nevada County at $404,000, El Dorado County at $552,000, and Solano County at $451,000.

New listing - 7556 Wooddale Way, Citrus Heights, CA 95610

Well-maintained 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom, 960sf adorable Citrus Heights home is ready for a new owner. You will love the laminate flooring, freshly painted interior, cute updated kitchen with tile counters, remodeled master bathroom, dual pane windows, central heat and air, acrylic stucco exterior, composition roof, and attached two car garage. Big backyard with spacious patio for entertaining, shed for extra storage. Located close to parks, k-12 schools, shopping and more. Don't wait! Offered at $299,900. For more photos and detail visit 7556 Wooddale Way, Citrus Heights, CA 95610.

Top Producer Trifecta for May 2018 in my Coldwell Banker Sierra Oaks office...

In my first full month at my new office at Coldwell Banker in Sierra Oaks, I hit the trifecta: Top Closer, Top Seller, and Top Listing Agent in the office. You will see they rank "teams" (groups of multiple agents) and individuals, and I swept the individual category. There are well over 100 agents in my office, and it's nice to see I rank among the top, and clearly I hit the ground running after transitioning to this Coldwell Banker office from another brokerage in mid-April.