New Listing - 3068 8th Avenue, Sacramento, CA 95817

Stunning 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom, 1,773sf home on large .12ac lot close to Curtis Park! You will love the wood flooring, tasteful decor, remodeled kitchen with newer stainless appliances, island with built-in range, oven, and vent, formal dining area, downstairs bedroom and bathroom, upstairs loft, skylights, dual pane windows, lots of storage and a full basement. Amazing backyard features deck, fire pit area surrounded by flagstone, separate garden area with raised beds, fruit trees, and vine-covered archway. Don't wait! Offered at $369,000. Traditional sale! For more photos and information, please visit 3068 8th Avenue, Sacramento, CA 95817.

New Listing - 4335 54th Street, Sacramento, CA 95817 (Colonial Heights near Tahoe Park)

Charming 2 bedroom + office, 1.5 bathroom, 1,108sf craftsman on a gorgeous tree-lined Colonial Heights street! You will love the front porch, wood floors, built-ins, large living room, formal dining room, remodeled kitchen with newer cabinets, corian counters, & newer appliances, large bedrooms w/ big closets, remodeled jack-&-jill bathroom, half bathroom off kitchen, and inside laundry room. Private .14ac backyard has large shed, planter beds, and more. Large detached garage with separate finished room off the rear- currently used as a home office. Don't wait! Traditional sale! Offered at $239,000. For more photos and information, please visit 4335 54th Street, Sacramento, CA 95820.

All good things must come to an end...and now I am officially the "Immediate Past President" of the Masters Club...

Sadly, all good things must come to an end, including my term as Masters Club President. Earlier today was this year's annual Sacramento Association of Realtors "Masters Club" awards luncheon and installation event. If you are not familiar with the Masters Club, it is a club for the top producing Realtors in the Sacramento region. I am a "Life Member" of this club based on my consistently high production volume of real estate sales in the Sacramento area for the last several years. My term as 2012 President has officially ended, and I passed the gavel to the new president for our new program year that began this month. We did some great things during my year as President that I am very proud of. We added some member benefits, including an education discount for current Masters Club members to take classes at the association. We also raised thousands of dollars that benefited charitable causes in the community, including Habitat for Humanity, the California Association of Realtors "Housing Affordability Fund", Quinn Cottages, the Home Energy Conservation Program, the Sacramento Association of Realtors Scholarship Trust, and more.

So I am now the 2013 "Immediate Past President" of the Masters Club and still have a spot on the Masters Club Steering Committee. As fun and rewarding as it has been to be President, it was a lot of work! I'm happy to ad my name to the long list of past Presidents before me.

New Listing - 6564 Park Riviera Way, Sacramento, CA 95831 (Vacant Land)

This parcel is a blank canvas awaiting your dream home! Located next to Lewis Park and Genevieve Didion Elementary School in the in the Pocket / Greenhaven neighborhood, this R-1 zoned 80ft x 200ft (approx .367 acres) vacant lot has utilities on the property and is ready for your addition to the neighborhood. Don't wait! Offered at $125,000. For more information and photos, please visit 6564 Park Riviera Way, Sacramento, CA 95831.

Opening Day in San Francisco! Thus begining my favorite season...

I have only missed ONE San Francisco Giants home opening game in about the last 15 years (and that was because I had to attend the installation for the Sacramento Association of Realtors "Masters Club" where I was being installed as its Treasurer a few years ago)...this year I was fortunate enough to go again! I got to see a great ceremony introducing the team and to raise the World Series Pennant! Here's to a great 2013 season and (hopefully) yet another World Series victory!!

New Listing - 8046 Otium Way, Antelope, CA 95843

Classy Antelope 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom, 1,665sf home on .095ac lot! You will love this light and bright home; the open layout, downstairs bedroom and bathroom, freshly painted exterior, newer patio cover, fresh sod, attached 2-car garage, and more! Located in the Dry Creek Joint Elementary School District and the Roseville Joint Union High School District. Don't wait! Traditional equity sale! Offered at $225,000. For more photos and information, please view 8046 Otium Way, Antelope, CA 95843.

New Listing - 1140 34th Avenue, Sacramento, CA 95822 (South Land Park Hills)

Great potential in South Land Park Hills! This 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom, 1,283sf home is a blank canvas awaiting your personal touches. You will love the open layout, wood flooring, central heat and air, dual pane windows, covered patio, large .18ac backyard, and newer sewer line. Close proximity to schools, parks, shopping, public transportation, the freeway, and more! Don' wait! Traditional sale! Offered at $249,000. For more photos and information, please visit 1140 34th Avenue, Sacramento, CA 95822.

How far off the mark is Zillow for Sacramento home values?

If you have been reading my blog for a while, then you probably already know that I usually get a chill down my spine when one of my clients mentions "the Z word." What's the Z word? Zillow. What is Zillow? Zillow.com is a website that, among other things, provides information about neighborhoods and properties.

Zillow is a neat website. I have an agent profile on Zillow. I have clients who have found me using Zillow. However, my general thought about Zillow is that while it's a fun consumer tool that provides property information to people looking to buy or sell (or even rent property now), the vast majority of the time, the "Zestimate" (aka, the value that the website dreams up for a certain property), is usually not close to the market value of a Sacramento area property, and the homes listed for sale on the website are not current.

Let's take my last few closed transactions. I closed 4 transactions last week (all equity sales), and February was a pretty busy month for me. So this information is CURRENT as of today, March 8, 2013.

1804 2nd Avenue, Sacramento, CA 95818; this was a home I listed in Land Park. The original listing price was $279,900, and this sold on 2/26/13 for $285,000 -- 1.82% above it's listing price. Zillow's Zestimate: $271,690 -- approximately 4.89% below it's selling price.

8020 Walerga Road #1016, Antelope, CA 95843; this was a condo I listed in Antelope near Walerga and Elverta. The original listing price was $109,900, and this sold on 2/26/13 for $123,000 -- 11.83% above it's listing price. Zillow's Zestimate: $102,815 -- approximately 19.63% below it's selling price.

5674 La Campana Way, Sacramento, CA 95822; this was a home I listed near Mangan Park, a neighborhood just to the south of Hollywood Park. The original listing price was $129,999, and this sold on 3/1/13 for $142,000 -- 9.23% above the listing price. Zillow's Zestimate: $116,692 -- approximately 21.69% below it's selling price.

7910 Walerga Road #601, Antelope, CA 95843; this was a condo I listed in Antelope near Walerga and Elverta (different community from the other one above). The original listing price was $129,900, and this sold on 3/1/13 for $140,000 -- 7.78% above it's listing price. Zillow's Zestimate: $103,987 -- approximately 34.63% below it's selling price.

My friend and appraiser, Ryan Lundquist, just wrote a blog recently on a similar topic -- comparing Zillow values to some of his recent appraisals. You can view that post here. I think two conclusions can be drawn from the information above. First, Zestimates are generally not accurate. They don't take into consideration property features that can not be quantified. Is it on a main street, is it near a park, was the kitchen remodeled, have unique architectural features...? Second, our dynamic Sacramento area real estate market is now increasing in value, and Zillow has a long way to go to catch up to pricing these trends and factoring them into their mathematical equations that determine these values.