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.

New Listing - 8238 Leesburg Way, Elk Grove, CA 95624

Adorable 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom, 1220sf Elk Grove home! You will love the spacious open layout with vaulted ceilings, freshly painted interior, updated flooring, and a cozy fireplace. The kitchen has lots of storage space, tile counters, and a cute dining nook. The backyard is a great place to garden and it has a covered deck which is a wonderful spot to entertain or barbeque! This home features a newer fencing, corner lot with possible RV access and an attached 2-car garage. It is located close to parks, Harriet Eddy Middle School, Monterey Trail High School, shopping & more! Don't wait! Offered at $339,900. For more photos and detail, please visit 8238 Leesburg Way, Elk Grove, CA 95624.

Don't wait to get a "Date of Death" Appraisal...

I sell many homes where the original owner passed away, and the successor trustee of a trust is the person selling the home. As a rule, I do not give tax or legal advice to my clients since I am not a CPA and not an attorney...but I see this situation enough that I feel the need to make a suggestion to sellers of homes after the death of the owner - talk to a CPA immediately, and obtain A DATE OF DEATH APPRAISAL.

A Date of Death Appraisal is a formal valuation of the home by a state-licensed real estate appraiser upon the date of death of the owner.

You should look into this sooner than later. The estate will likely need one for tax purposes, whether you decide to sell the home immediately or wait.

For too many people having this done is an afterthought. Be proactive. Recently I sold a home for a successor trustee where the owner died over 8 years ago. The longer you wait to have a this done, the more expensive the appraisal will be. The appraisers I refer to my clients typically charge $400-$500 for an appraisal, however if they have to dig for comparable sales information that is not readily available or current, the cost will definitely increase. Additionally, if you get this done sooner than later, while you still have access to the property, the appraiser can actually see the home. If you wait a long time...and maybe even wait until after the property is sold (very common), then the appraiser not only has to dig up old information but also won't have the benefit of being able to see the home in person.

My suggestion - talk to a CPA and don't delay getting this done. If you need a referral to a great appraiser, reach out to me and I can connect you.

Quoted in a Sacramento Bee article about bay area buyers moving to Sacramento...

I have helped numerous buyers relocate to Sacramento, but one thing is certain -- none of them have been overeager to plunk down a bunch of money on a home here. For some reason there is concern that bay area buyers come to Sacramento with their high tech salaries and recklessly offer more than homes are worth.

Nope.

All of the bay area transplants I have worked with have been very financially prudent and conservative. I relayed this experience to a Sacramento Bee reporter for an article that ran in this weeks newspaper about bay area home buyers moving to Sacramento. He also interviewed some of my recently closed clients in the article as well. They sold their long-time home in Dublin and paid cash for a cute 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom, 1501sf Antelope home for $339,000, closing just last week. They did so in order to retire a little ahead of schedule. We looked at many homes together before they made any decisions, and before they made an offer we carefully reviewed recent comparable sales so their offer was in line with the market value.