I woke up at 4am this morning, and could not fall back asleep. It is now about 5:30am, and I figured since I am the 'agent on duty' this morning at the office and have to get up soon anyway that I would just start my day a bit early.
I am sure ya'll can relate to the fact that your mind tends to skip around from one thought to another when you are laying in bed not able to sleep...
One of the more prominent re-ocurring thoughts I had on my mind this morning was the fact that I was not selected by a seller this last week to list a property. I "lost" to another agent. I always ask for feedback from clients, potential clients, etc...the feedback I received was that they chose some other agent who had suggested a substantially higher listing price. The property in question showed up on the MLS today, listed at $439k. I had suggested $399k.
Folks...recent comparable (like-kind) property sales data just does not lie.
Case in point...this example is from earlier this year. I met a lady from out of state who inherited a house in a very desirable neighborhood in Carmichael. The house had been owned by an elderly couple for 50 or so years, and was in need of (among other things) a new roof, paint, flooring, new siding, landscaping, and lots of cosmetic updating. I did a very comprehensive analysis of the home's value, and determined the home should be listed at $559k in its current condition. The day I was going to meet the lady to sign the listing agreement, I received a phone call from her saying she decided to list with another agent who told her the home was worth more. Naturally I was taken aback...sure enough, the next day the home appeared on the MLS listed at $650k. WOW! About 30 days later, they did a price reduction to $625k. Another 15 days later, they did a price reduction to $599k. About 30 days after that, it went into escrow with a buyer. When it closed escrow just recently, it sold for $550k. Hmm...
Overpricing a home has a negative impact on a listing. Your home will sit on the market too long. It invites low-ball offers. You end up doing price reductions and "chase the market downward." You will eventually fetch a price much less than if you had priced the property correctly to begin with.
I dare say that "case" would have sold immediately if it had been priced at $559k, netting the seller more money and saving valuable time.
How ever you choose your agent, please do not make your selection based on the agent with the highest suggested listing price.
Tuesday, July 31, 2007
Monday, July 30, 2007
Lyon Real Estate pulls print ads from the Sacramento Bee, makes shift to online listings
There has been talk of this internally at Lyon for a while now...
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Sacramento's Lyon Real Estate says it plans to significantly reduce advertising with The Sacramento Bee, citing national statistics that four of every five homebuyers use the Internet in some way to find their homes. Lyon's contract with the Bee is worth more than $1 million per year, Lyon chief executive officer Michael Lyon said.
The Bee's loss of a significant portion of the Lyon contract would be a blow to a company already reeling from plummeting real estate ad revenue. Lyon -- the region's third-leading residential real estate company last year based on 2005 sales volume of $3.5 billion -- would not say exactly how much it is cutting its local newspaper advertising.
Links:
http://sacramento.bizjournals.com/sacramento/stories/2007/07/30/story4.html?f=et180&b=1185768000^1497952&ana=e_vert
http://erin.golyon.com/
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Sacramento's Lyon Real Estate says it plans to significantly reduce advertising with The Sacramento Bee, citing national statistics that four of every five homebuyers use the Internet in some way to find their homes. Lyon's contract with the Bee is worth more than $1 million per year, Lyon chief executive officer Michael Lyon said.
The Bee's loss of a significant portion of the Lyon contract would be a blow to a company already reeling from plummeting real estate ad revenue. Lyon -- the region's third-leading residential real estate company last year based on 2005 sales volume of $3.5 billion -- would not say exactly how much it is cutting its local newspaper advertising.
Links:
http://sacramento.bizjournals.com/sacramento/stories/2007/07/30/story4.html?f=et180&b=1185768000^1497952&ana=e_vert
http://erin.golyon.com/
Friday, July 27, 2007
Donation lifts Arden Arcade cityhood bid
A last-minute donation from Citrus Heights has given the Arden Arcade incorporation drive a push, but whether cityhood backers can keep the effort in motion remains to be seen. Today, proponents of Arden Arcade cityhood are scheduled to meet with Sacramento's Local Agency Formation Commission -- the local body charged with drawing political boundaries and handling the incorporation of new cities -- to hash out a critical contract that may make or break the chances of a cityhood vote making the November 2008 ballot.
On July 19, the Citrus Heights City Council directed staff to donate $10,000 to the group's incorporation effort. The money came after the group missed a key July 1 deadline to come up with a deposit of about $28,000 to fund fiscal and environmental studies needed before the cityhood issue could be put to a vote.
But the studies can't start until a funding agreement is signed that spells out how the costly Environmental Impact Review and Comprehensive Financial Analysis will be paid for, said Peter Brundage, LAFCO executive director. "Time is critical," Brundage said. "It's important to get the studies under way, we're already two months behind." The studies are expected to take six to eight months.
"We'll make our best efforts, but that's provided they can continue making the payments as expected," he said. Joel Archer, chairman of the incorporation effort, was more upbeat. "We're excited to continue on with the process," Archer said. "It's a long road, and it'll continue to be a long road, but we're excited that people and other cities want to help us succeed."
On Wednesday, Brundage confirmed that cityhood backers provided a check for $11,889, the balance of the deposit. But backers didn't bring the signed funding agreement, instead setting up today's meeting so their attorneys could review it. Archer said he expected the meeting to be routine. "We plan to have it final on Friday," he said.
Brundage said he wasn't sure. "(Archer) said he had some questions (about the agreement), but he didn't tell me what they were," Brundage said. "So we'll see." In order to keep the studies going, the consultants will need an average of $25,000 per month, Brundage said. The total cost could be about $300,000, with the incorporation backers' share expected to be about $200,000 and the LAFCO share about $100,000.
The terms of the funding agreement say LAFCO will be paid on the first day of each month, according to the document. If cityhood backers fail to pay within five days after that, the agreement says, LAFCO can cease work on the project, terminating it completely if the payment is not made in 30 days. Archer said he's confident his group can raise the money. "There's enough of a pipeline," he said. "It's never a certainty, but it's enough to believe that we can keep going."
Archer refused to say how much money the incorporation effort has on hand, only that he "believes it's sufficient," to carry the committee to a November 2008 cityhood vote. Citrus Heights, which became a city in 1997, was the first of three cities in Sacramento County to incorporate over the last decade. It donated money to the incorporation efforts of Elk Grove and Rancho Cordova, which became cities in 2000 and 2003, respectively. Rancho Cordova has donated $25,000 to the Arden Arcade incorporation effort, said city spokeswoman Alexandra Miller. Elk Grove has not donated any money, a city spokeswoman there said.
Arden Arcade cityhood petitioners first went before the Citrus Heights City Council in March, when they asked for $35,000. The council unanimously denied that request. Mayor Jeff Slowey said his change of heart was due to a better developed presentation by the group and a clearer idea of their financial picture. Cityhood, he said, is "worth a vote of the people."
Councilman Steve Miller agreed. Though disappointed by the group's so-far bleak financial situation, he said he saw many similarities between Citrus Heights and the potential city-to-be. "With Citrus Heights, the deck was stacked against us, and it took a long time to get to the vote," he said. "But I truly believe we're a success story."
Links:
http://www.sacbee.com/arden/story/294479.html
http://www.ardenarcadecity.org/
On July 19, the Citrus Heights City Council directed staff to donate $10,000 to the group's incorporation effort. The money came after the group missed a key July 1 deadline to come up with a deposit of about $28,000 to fund fiscal and environmental studies needed before the cityhood issue could be put to a vote.
But the studies can't start until a funding agreement is signed that spells out how the costly Environmental Impact Review and Comprehensive Financial Analysis will be paid for, said Peter Brundage, LAFCO executive director. "Time is critical," Brundage said. "It's important to get the studies under way, we're already two months behind." The studies are expected to take six to eight months.
"We'll make our best efforts, but that's provided they can continue making the payments as expected," he said. Joel Archer, chairman of the incorporation effort, was more upbeat. "We're excited to continue on with the process," Archer said. "It's a long road, and it'll continue to be a long road, but we're excited that people and other cities want to help us succeed."
On Wednesday, Brundage confirmed that cityhood backers provided a check for $11,889, the balance of the deposit. But backers didn't bring the signed funding agreement, instead setting up today's meeting so their attorneys could review it. Archer said he expected the meeting to be routine. "We plan to have it final on Friday," he said.
Brundage said he wasn't sure. "(Archer) said he had some questions (about the agreement), but he didn't tell me what they were," Brundage said. "So we'll see." In order to keep the studies going, the consultants will need an average of $25,000 per month, Brundage said. The total cost could be about $300,000, with the incorporation backers' share expected to be about $200,000 and the LAFCO share about $100,000.
The terms of the funding agreement say LAFCO will be paid on the first day of each month, according to the document. If cityhood backers fail to pay within five days after that, the agreement says, LAFCO can cease work on the project, terminating it completely if the payment is not made in 30 days. Archer said he's confident his group can raise the money. "There's enough of a pipeline," he said. "It's never a certainty, but it's enough to believe that we can keep going."
Archer refused to say how much money the incorporation effort has on hand, only that he "believes it's sufficient," to carry the committee to a November 2008 cityhood vote. Citrus Heights, which became a city in 1997, was the first of three cities in Sacramento County to incorporate over the last decade. It donated money to the incorporation efforts of Elk Grove and Rancho Cordova, which became cities in 2000 and 2003, respectively. Rancho Cordova has donated $25,000 to the Arden Arcade incorporation effort, said city spokeswoman Alexandra Miller. Elk Grove has not donated any money, a city spokeswoman there said.
Arden Arcade cityhood petitioners first went before the Citrus Heights City Council in March, when they asked for $35,000. The council unanimously denied that request. Mayor Jeff Slowey said his change of heart was due to a better developed presentation by the group and a clearer idea of their financial picture. Cityhood, he said, is "worth a vote of the people."
Councilman Steve Miller agreed. Though disappointed by the group's so-far bleak financial situation, he said he saw many similarities between Citrus Heights and the potential city-to-be. "With Citrus Heights, the deck was stacked against us, and it took a long time to get to the vote," he said. "But I truly believe we're a success story."
Links:
http://www.sacbee.com/arden/story/294479.html
http://www.ardenarcadecity.org/
Monday, July 23, 2007
Can’t Sell Your Home? Maybe It’s Priced Too Low...
This article was featured recently in the New York Times. Although Sacramento is not specifically mentioned, this really resonated with me, as I have noticed the same phenomena locally in some of Sacramento's most coveted areas like East Sacramento, Land Park, Sierra Oaks (Arden), etc. The sub-prime and first time buyer market has been hit a little with all of the tightening of loan requirements...but the more wealthy individuals have not been affected by that.
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Given that the real estate market is supposed to be in free fall, some strange things have been happening recently in Mill Valley. It is one of the expensive suburbs of San Francisco just over the Golden Gate Bridge, and much of the housing market there seems to be doing just fine. One three-bedroom house sold for $1.4 million last month without ever being officially put on the market. The seller accepted a pre-emptive bid — $20,000 above the asking price — from somebody who had heard that the house was about to be listed for sale.
“The homes that are having a hard time selling are the average-priced homes,” said Vanessa Justice, a real estate agent with Pacific Union GMAC in the Bay Area, where the median house price is about $750,000. For upper-end homes, she said, “it’s actually pretty crazy right now.” It has been a while since real estate agents used the word “crazy” in a positive way, but Ms. Justice is onto something here: the high end of the market is surviving the slump much better than any other segment. Even as foreclosures keep rising and overall sales continue to plummet, more expensive homes have staged a bit of a comeback in recent months. They’re spending less time languishing on the market than others, and their prices appear to be holding up better.
This split in the market helps explain why the sales of Manhattan apartments, some of the priciest homes in the country, have remained fairly strong. The national trend has gone largely unnoticed, though, because neither the federal government nor the National Association of Realtors — the main sources of housing data — report statistics for different price segments. But after just about every home sale, documents must be filed with a local government office. A research firm called DataQuick Information Systems gathers these records, and a New York Times analysis of them shows that the story of today’s real estate market is really two different stories.
In the Boston area, for instance, the number of homes selling for at least $1 million plummeted to 619 in the first five months of 2006, from 773 in the period in 2005, according to DataQuick. But the number jumped to 711 in the first five months of this year. In the New York region, sales at the top end — that is, homes in the most expensive 5 percent of the market — have also been rising, while they have been falling in the middle and bottom of the market. The same is true in the San Jose, Calif.; Seattle; Denver; and Houston areas. In San Francisco, Los Angeles, Phoenix and Miami, high-end sales are down but not by nearly as much as sales in other price segments.
Separate statistics from the California Association of Realtors also show million-dollar-plus homes to be selling better than others in that state.
The high-end market is far from booming, to be sure. Many houses would still sell for less today than they would have a year ago. But the market has stayed strong enough to catch a lot of buyers and sellers off guard. They keep hearing about a real estate meltdown and then finding a different reality when they go to make a deal. A three-bedroom apartment around the corner from the Guggenheim Museum, on 88th Street near Fifth Avenue, was recently put on the market for $2.8 million, and the first bid came in slightly lower than that. Ten days — and nine bids — later, the seller accepted an offer about $500,000 above the asking price. In Brookline, Mass., near Coolidge Corner, a big Victorian house went on the market for $1.4 million this spring — just as it had in 2006, without selling. “I thought it was still overpriced,” said Chobee Hoy, the seller’s real estate agent. Yet the house ended up selling for about $30,000 more than the asking price.
There seem to be three main causes of the split in the market. The first is that affluent families continue to do better than others, thanks to healthy income gains and a rising stock market. “To some extent, it is the rich getting richer,” Andrew LePage, an analyst at DataQuick, explained. “The folks who don’t rely solely on a weekly or monthly paycheck seem to be doing better.” The upper end of the market has also been helped by an influx of well-off foreign investors whose buying power has grown with the recent decline of the dollar. Hard as this may be for an American to imagine, New York, San Francisco or Miami can now seem like a bargain, compared with London, Moscow or Sydney. Jason Haber, an agent with Prudential Douglas Elliman in Manhattan, said he had recently taught himself how to convert square feet into square meters — you divide by 10.8 — because of all of the international buyers traipsing through New York apartments. Finally, both the recent rise in interest rates and the problems in the mortgage market have had a much bigger effect on low-income and middle-class buyers than affluent ones. It’s become harder to get a subprime mortgage, while the uptick in interest rates this year has added about $100 to the monthly payment on an average fixed-rate 30-year mortgage.
As Mark Zandi, chief economist of Moody’s Economy.com, summed up the market: “The low end is getting creamed. The middle is struggling. The high end is running on its own dynamic.”It’s tempting to conclude, then, that the top of the housing market has somehow become bubble-proof. And some real estate agents will doubtless make this pitch to buyers who are on the fence. But it is almost certainly wrong.
In fact, the very top of the housing market — the sprawling vacation homes and 10,000-square-foot mansions — seems to be doing considerably worse than merely expensive homes. Ines Hegedus-Garcia, an agent in Miami, recently looked at sales volumes there and found the market for homes that cost $1.2 million to $2.5 million to be holding up decently. The situation was much worse for those priced above $2.5 million. There are also a couple of areas, like Washington and San Diego, where the high end of the market, broadly defined, is already doing about as badly as everything else. So perhaps the recent comeback won’t last long in other cities.
Remember, it’s not as if the wealthy are immune to irrational exuberance. Just think back to the 1990s — or the 1920s. Any asset can end up becoming overvalued. Right now, though, there is a bit more of a rational explanation for home values at the high end of the market.
Link:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/11/business/11leonhardt.html?ex=1185508800&en=0dc65481565dc693&ei=5070
____
Given that the real estate market is supposed to be in free fall, some strange things have been happening recently in Mill Valley. It is one of the expensive suburbs of San Francisco just over the Golden Gate Bridge, and much of the housing market there seems to be doing just fine. One three-bedroom house sold for $1.4 million last month without ever being officially put on the market. The seller accepted a pre-emptive bid — $20,000 above the asking price — from somebody who had heard that the house was about to be listed for sale.
“The homes that are having a hard time selling are the average-priced homes,” said Vanessa Justice, a real estate agent with Pacific Union GMAC in the Bay Area, where the median house price is about $750,000. For upper-end homes, she said, “it’s actually pretty crazy right now.” It has been a while since real estate agents used the word “crazy” in a positive way, but Ms. Justice is onto something here: the high end of the market is surviving the slump much better than any other segment. Even as foreclosures keep rising and overall sales continue to plummet, more expensive homes have staged a bit of a comeback in recent months. They’re spending less time languishing on the market than others, and their prices appear to be holding up better.
This split in the market helps explain why the sales of Manhattan apartments, some of the priciest homes in the country, have remained fairly strong. The national trend has gone largely unnoticed, though, because neither the federal government nor the National Association of Realtors — the main sources of housing data — report statistics for different price segments. But after just about every home sale, documents must be filed with a local government office. A research firm called DataQuick Information Systems gathers these records, and a New York Times analysis of them shows that the story of today’s real estate market is really two different stories.
In the Boston area, for instance, the number of homes selling for at least $1 million plummeted to 619 in the first five months of 2006, from 773 in the period in 2005, according to DataQuick. But the number jumped to 711 in the first five months of this year. In the New York region, sales at the top end — that is, homes in the most expensive 5 percent of the market — have also been rising, while they have been falling in the middle and bottom of the market. The same is true in the San Jose, Calif.; Seattle; Denver; and Houston areas. In San Francisco, Los Angeles, Phoenix and Miami, high-end sales are down but not by nearly as much as sales in other price segments.
Separate statistics from the California Association of Realtors also show million-dollar-plus homes to be selling better than others in that state.
The high-end market is far from booming, to be sure. Many houses would still sell for less today than they would have a year ago. But the market has stayed strong enough to catch a lot of buyers and sellers off guard. They keep hearing about a real estate meltdown and then finding a different reality when they go to make a deal. A three-bedroom apartment around the corner from the Guggenheim Museum, on 88th Street near Fifth Avenue, was recently put on the market for $2.8 million, and the first bid came in slightly lower than that. Ten days — and nine bids — later, the seller accepted an offer about $500,000 above the asking price. In Brookline, Mass., near Coolidge Corner, a big Victorian house went on the market for $1.4 million this spring — just as it had in 2006, without selling. “I thought it was still overpriced,” said Chobee Hoy, the seller’s real estate agent. Yet the house ended up selling for about $30,000 more than the asking price.
There seem to be three main causes of the split in the market. The first is that affluent families continue to do better than others, thanks to healthy income gains and a rising stock market. “To some extent, it is the rich getting richer,” Andrew LePage, an analyst at DataQuick, explained. “The folks who don’t rely solely on a weekly or monthly paycheck seem to be doing better.” The upper end of the market has also been helped by an influx of well-off foreign investors whose buying power has grown with the recent decline of the dollar. Hard as this may be for an American to imagine, New York, San Francisco or Miami can now seem like a bargain, compared with London, Moscow or Sydney. Jason Haber, an agent with Prudential Douglas Elliman in Manhattan, said he had recently taught himself how to convert square feet into square meters — you divide by 10.8 — because of all of the international buyers traipsing through New York apartments. Finally, both the recent rise in interest rates and the problems in the mortgage market have had a much bigger effect on low-income and middle-class buyers than affluent ones. It’s become harder to get a subprime mortgage, while the uptick in interest rates this year has added about $100 to the monthly payment on an average fixed-rate 30-year mortgage.
As Mark Zandi, chief economist of Moody’s Economy.com, summed up the market: “The low end is getting creamed. The middle is struggling. The high end is running on its own dynamic.”It’s tempting to conclude, then, that the top of the housing market has somehow become bubble-proof. And some real estate agents will doubtless make this pitch to buyers who are on the fence. But it is almost certainly wrong.
In fact, the very top of the housing market — the sprawling vacation homes and 10,000-square-foot mansions — seems to be doing considerably worse than merely expensive homes. Ines Hegedus-Garcia, an agent in Miami, recently looked at sales volumes there and found the market for homes that cost $1.2 million to $2.5 million to be holding up decently. The situation was much worse for those priced above $2.5 million. There are also a couple of areas, like Washington and San Diego, where the high end of the market, broadly defined, is already doing about as badly as everything else. So perhaps the recent comeback won’t last long in other cities.
Remember, it’s not as if the wealthy are immune to irrational exuberance. Just think back to the 1990s — or the 1920s. Any asset can end up becoming overvalued. Right now, though, there is a bit more of a rational explanation for home values at the high end of the market.
Link:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/11/business/11leonhardt.html?ex=1185508800&en=0dc65481565dc693&ei=5070
Friday, July 20, 2007
Home Front: In some spots, house sales just ZIP along
Great article in the Sacramento Bee today. Look people, despite all the mass media doom and gloom regarding the Real Estate market, many areas in Sacramento (and surrounding counties too) are still doing really well!!! The areas that are suffering the most are those where new home construction is still rampant - Elk Grove, Natomas, Lincoln, etc...
Luckily for me I do little or no business in those areas. If you look at my current active listings, you will see the majority right now are in the Land Park area (you can see my listings here: http://erin.golyon.com/listings.html). The bulk of my real estate transactions are in Downtown / Midtown Sacramento, East Sacramento, Land Park, Curtis Park, Tahoe Park, Arden, Carmichael, Rosemont / College Greens, Fair Oaks, Orangevale, Citrus Heights, and Antelope. If you want to learn more about these areas, visit http://www.erinattardi.com/communities.php.
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Home Front: In some spots, house sales just ZIP along
Sometimes it seems the for-sale sign has become the official flag of Sacramento-area cities. Everywhere you look, there's another one stuck in the ground. But there are a handful of well-populated ZIP codes in the region where the number of homes on the market is actually shrinking.
Consider 95616 in Davis. It had 67 houses for sale in June, compared with 195 in the same month last year. That's a 66 percent reduction. And so it goes in certain pockets, according to recent June statistics on housing inventory in the four-county region of El Dorado, Placer, Sacramento and Yolo.
The 193 listings in Auburn's 95603 were down 15 percent from last June. Roseville's 285 listings in 95678 were down 9.5 percent. Other ZIP codes where inventory is falling were Roseville's 95661, Mather's 95655, midtown Sacramento's 95816 and Foothill Farms' 95841. The statistics, which come from Sacramento-based TrendGraphix, are good signs, evidence of supply and demand coming into a better balance in some areas.
Downtown still boomtown
Anecdotal evidence continues to pour in that the housing slump doesn't apply in neighborhoods near downtown Sacramento. While cocktail party talk elsewhere in the region revolves around the bulging inventory of thousands of houses for sale, people in east Sacramento, Curtis Park and Land Park like to talk about multiple bids and runaway prices.
In recent months, million-dollar deals and two-bedroom homes listed for $800,000 and $900,000 are not unheard of. "I've got a friend in Land Park who said a couple of houses sold for record prices. They sold within a week," said Jon Nastro, a real estate agent and broker associate who sells in Elk Grove. "Land Park is Land Park. The investors never came in there," he said. "They couldn't afford to." It's the same in east Sacramento, home to the "Fab 40s" of tree-lined streets and stately, sizable homes.
In those neighborhoods, people like to swap stories of that one house that couldn't possibly be worth its asking price, given all the fixup it needs. Then it goes on the market for $700,000 and gets multiple offers the same day. Housing slump? What housing slump?
Like many things in real estate, it's all about location.
As he's been saying for months, TrendGraphix owner Michael Lyon says of the region's current market conditions: "We are awash in homes for sale." But every month he adds the caveat: "The only exceptions remain the areas closest to the Capitol."
In a sense these neighborhoods are becoming like Santa Barbara or the regional equivalent of what some analysts have dubbed "superstar cities." For most buyers, that means if you don't already live there, it's likely you never will.
Link:
http://www.sacbee.com/142/story/282179.html
Luckily for me I do little or no business in those areas. If you look at my current active listings, you will see the majority right now are in the Land Park area (you can see my listings here: http://erin.golyon.com/listings.html). The bulk of my real estate transactions are in Downtown / Midtown Sacramento, East Sacramento, Land Park, Curtis Park, Tahoe Park, Arden, Carmichael, Rosemont / College Greens, Fair Oaks, Orangevale, Citrus Heights, and Antelope. If you want to learn more about these areas, visit http://www.erinattardi.com/communities.php.
___
Home Front: In some spots, house sales just ZIP along
Sometimes it seems the for-sale sign has become the official flag of Sacramento-area cities. Everywhere you look, there's another one stuck in the ground. But there are a handful of well-populated ZIP codes in the region where the number of homes on the market is actually shrinking.
Consider 95616 in Davis. It had 67 houses for sale in June, compared with 195 in the same month last year. That's a 66 percent reduction. And so it goes in certain pockets, according to recent June statistics on housing inventory in the four-county region of El Dorado, Placer, Sacramento and Yolo.
The 193 listings in Auburn's 95603 were down 15 percent from last June. Roseville's 285 listings in 95678 were down 9.5 percent. Other ZIP codes where inventory is falling were Roseville's 95661, Mather's 95655, midtown Sacramento's 95816 and Foothill Farms' 95841. The statistics, which come from Sacramento-based TrendGraphix, are good signs, evidence of supply and demand coming into a better balance in some areas.
Downtown still boomtown
Anecdotal evidence continues to pour in that the housing slump doesn't apply in neighborhoods near downtown Sacramento. While cocktail party talk elsewhere in the region revolves around the bulging inventory of thousands of houses for sale, people in east Sacramento, Curtis Park and Land Park like to talk about multiple bids and runaway prices.
In recent months, million-dollar deals and two-bedroom homes listed for $800,000 and $900,000 are not unheard of. "I've got a friend in Land Park who said a couple of houses sold for record prices. They sold within a week," said Jon Nastro, a real estate agent and broker associate who sells in Elk Grove. "Land Park is Land Park. The investors never came in there," he said. "They couldn't afford to." It's the same in east Sacramento, home to the "Fab 40s" of tree-lined streets and stately, sizable homes.
In those neighborhoods, people like to swap stories of that one house that couldn't possibly be worth its asking price, given all the fixup it needs. Then it goes on the market for $700,000 and gets multiple offers the same day. Housing slump? What housing slump?
Like many things in real estate, it's all about location.
As he's been saying for months, TrendGraphix owner Michael Lyon says of the region's current market conditions: "We are awash in homes for sale." But every month he adds the caveat: "The only exceptions remain the areas closest to the Capitol."
In a sense these neighborhoods are becoming like Santa Barbara or the regional equivalent of what some analysts have dubbed "superstar cities." For most buyers, that means if you don't already live there, it's likely you never will.
Link:
http://www.sacbee.com/142/story/282179.html
Tuesday, July 17, 2007
Placer OKs 14,000 homes
All I have to say about this is YIKES!
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Placer County supervisors Monday approved a development the size of a small city just north of the Sacramento County line. The Placer Vineyards project -- in the works for the past 13 years -- is the largest development ever approved for the unincorporated portion of Placer County, and one of the largest ever approved in the region. It will bring 14,132 houses to a rectangular swath of 5,230 acres of farmland west of Roseville. About 32,800 new residents are expected in the development, which will be built over 20 to 30 years.
The unanimous vote on Placer Vineyards was a setback to the voluntary "Blueprint" regional growth plan adopted by the member governments of the Sacramento Area Council of Governments in 2004. The idea behind Blueprint was to pack more people into areas earmarked for growth, making it more efficient to serve them with public transit and reducing the need to build on more farmland over the next half century. In this case, however, the Blueprint concept lost amid community concerns about traffic.
The Placer supervisors opted instead for a plan containing fairly typical suburban densities for single family homes. SACOG had advocated an alternative with 21,631 residential units. "There was just an obvious concern about additional traffic," said Doug Elmets, a spokesman for the 21 different property owners involved in the Placer Vineyards plan.
Supervisor F.C. "Rocky" Rockholm said pursuing the Blueprint alternative would have added further study time and delayed construction. "We can move forward today," Rockholm said. "Thirteen-plus years (of planning) is enough."
Other supervisors said they might have voted for the Blueprint plan, but instead would defer to Rockholm, who represents that area. SACOG Executive Director Mike McKeever was out of town Monday and could not be reached for comment. But he has previously said that he viewed the Placer Vineyards vote as an important one in predicting the success of the voluntary Blueprint plan on the ground. McKeever sent a letter on July 9 emphasizing the benefits that he said the county would realize by adopting the alternative favored by his staff. "Building 7,000 fewer homes in Placer Vineyards means they will be built someplace else," McKeever wrote. "They will not just disappear." He went on to predict that opting for a less-dense option in Placer Vineyards would result in more long-distance commuting.
Situated in the southwest corner of Placer County, the Placer Vineyards area was earmarked for growth in the county's 1994 general plan. The project is bounded by Baseline Road on the north, the Sacramento County border on the south, the Sutter County line on the west and by Walerga Road and Dry Creek on the east. Two town centers are planned -- one at Watt Avenue and Baseline Road and the other at Watt Avenue and the future East Town Center Drive. In addition, the project will include 48 miles of recreational trails, 210 acres of parks and 709 acres of open space. Stretches of Baseline Road and Watt Avenue that fall within the project each will be expanded from their current two lanes to six lanes.
Other amenities include a bus transit system, a transit center, a county corporation yard, an aquatics center, a youth center, a library, 11 church sites, water infrastructure, two fire stations, a sheriff's substation, a high school, two middle schools and six elementary schools.
"It's going to be a very well-planned community," said Kent MacDiarmid, project manager for Placer Vineyards. "The people who will live in this community will be very proud." He said the town center -- with restaurants, theaters and a civic center -- will give residents an opportunity to walk to and shop in their own community, possibly reducing vehicle traffic to outside shopping areas.
The county's approval Monday does not mean that Placer Vineyards will soon start construction. The landowners must still go through the review of their proposed habitat mitigation with federal environmental agencies. The Placer Vineyards property is dotted with vernal pools, the seasonal wetlands that host a variety of endangered species, and other types of wetlands.
Landowners plan to preserve about 3,600 acres of open space off-site and 700 acres on-site, according to documents filed with the county. The developers anticipate filling about 100 acres of wetlands both on-site and off-site where roads and pipelines will be built. They will compensate by preserving twice as many vernal pools elsewhere, said lawyer Jim Moose. The Sierra Club maintains that the mitigation plan is inadequate, and is considering a lawsuit.
Terry Davis, coordinator of the Sierra Club's Motherlode Chapter, said Placer Vineyards should include more detailed plans for preservation of vernal pools and connected grasslands. "Our ballpark figure would be somewhere in the neighborhood of 4,000 to 5,000 acres," he said.
Federal agencies also have raised concerns.
In a May 1 letter to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which must issue permits before any wetlands can be filled, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency recommended "denial of the project as currently proposed."
Link:
http://www.sacbee.com/230/story/276289.html
__
Placer County supervisors Monday approved a development the size of a small city just north of the Sacramento County line. The Placer Vineyards project -- in the works for the past 13 years -- is the largest development ever approved for the unincorporated portion of Placer County, and one of the largest ever approved in the region. It will bring 14,132 houses to a rectangular swath of 5,230 acres of farmland west of Roseville. About 32,800 new residents are expected in the development, which will be built over 20 to 30 years.
The unanimous vote on Placer Vineyards was a setback to the voluntary "Blueprint" regional growth plan adopted by the member governments of the Sacramento Area Council of Governments in 2004. The idea behind Blueprint was to pack more people into areas earmarked for growth, making it more efficient to serve them with public transit and reducing the need to build on more farmland over the next half century. In this case, however, the Blueprint concept lost amid community concerns about traffic.
The Placer supervisors opted instead for a plan containing fairly typical suburban densities for single family homes. SACOG had advocated an alternative with 21,631 residential units. "There was just an obvious concern about additional traffic," said Doug Elmets, a spokesman for the 21 different property owners involved in the Placer Vineyards plan.
Supervisor F.C. "Rocky" Rockholm said pursuing the Blueprint alternative would have added further study time and delayed construction. "We can move forward today," Rockholm said. "Thirteen-plus years (of planning) is enough."
Other supervisors said they might have voted for the Blueprint plan, but instead would defer to Rockholm, who represents that area. SACOG Executive Director Mike McKeever was out of town Monday and could not be reached for comment. But he has previously said that he viewed the Placer Vineyards vote as an important one in predicting the success of the voluntary Blueprint plan on the ground. McKeever sent a letter on July 9 emphasizing the benefits that he said the county would realize by adopting the alternative favored by his staff. "Building 7,000 fewer homes in Placer Vineyards means they will be built someplace else," McKeever wrote. "They will not just disappear." He went on to predict that opting for a less-dense option in Placer Vineyards would result in more long-distance commuting.
Situated in the southwest corner of Placer County, the Placer Vineyards area was earmarked for growth in the county's 1994 general plan. The project is bounded by Baseline Road on the north, the Sacramento County border on the south, the Sutter County line on the west and by Walerga Road and Dry Creek on the east. Two town centers are planned -- one at Watt Avenue and Baseline Road and the other at Watt Avenue and the future East Town Center Drive. In addition, the project will include 48 miles of recreational trails, 210 acres of parks and 709 acres of open space. Stretches of Baseline Road and Watt Avenue that fall within the project each will be expanded from their current two lanes to six lanes.
Other amenities include a bus transit system, a transit center, a county corporation yard, an aquatics center, a youth center, a library, 11 church sites, water infrastructure, two fire stations, a sheriff's substation, a high school, two middle schools and six elementary schools.
"It's going to be a very well-planned community," said Kent MacDiarmid, project manager for Placer Vineyards. "The people who will live in this community will be very proud." He said the town center -- with restaurants, theaters and a civic center -- will give residents an opportunity to walk to and shop in their own community, possibly reducing vehicle traffic to outside shopping areas.
The county's approval Monday does not mean that Placer Vineyards will soon start construction. The landowners must still go through the review of their proposed habitat mitigation with federal environmental agencies. The Placer Vineyards property is dotted with vernal pools, the seasonal wetlands that host a variety of endangered species, and other types of wetlands.
Landowners plan to preserve about 3,600 acres of open space off-site and 700 acres on-site, according to documents filed with the county. The developers anticipate filling about 100 acres of wetlands both on-site and off-site where roads and pipelines will be built. They will compensate by preserving twice as many vernal pools elsewhere, said lawyer Jim Moose. The Sierra Club maintains that the mitigation plan is inadequate, and is considering a lawsuit.
Terry Davis, coordinator of the Sierra Club's Motherlode Chapter, said Placer Vineyards should include more detailed plans for preservation of vernal pools and connected grasslands. "Our ballpark figure would be somewhere in the neighborhood of 4,000 to 5,000 acres," he said.
Federal agencies also have raised concerns.
In a May 1 letter to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which must issue permits before any wetlands can be filled, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency recommended "denial of the project as currently proposed."
Link:
http://www.sacbee.com/230/story/276289.html
Saturday, July 14, 2007
Ask Erin: Requests for Repairs
I was asked recently by one of my buyer clients if the seller of the subject property was "responsible" for replacing all of the old galvanized plumbing pipes with new copper pipe. The property my client is purchasing is a little cottage in Fair Oaks built in approximately 1941...galvanized pipe was the standard when the home was built, however newer homes are generally plumbed using copper pipe, or flexible "pex" pipe.
So let me clarify...in Real Property transactions in the State of California (other states may vary), the only state or local requirement that mandates a seller to bring anything in a home up to a higher standard applies to making sure there are operable smoke detectors in a home, and that the water heater is braced with seismic retraints. Aside from those two items, almost anything else is fair game for negotiation, but the seller is certainly not "responsible" to repair or update anything.
In short, a seller is not required by any mandate to bring a house built using old or out-of-date building code standards (or older-type building materials) up to current standards when selling the subject property. If you absolutely want a house built to current code and with up-to-date building materials, you may not want to purchase an older home...
So let me clarify...in Real Property transactions in the State of California (other states may vary), the only state or local requirement that mandates a seller to bring anything in a home up to a higher standard applies to making sure there are operable smoke detectors in a home, and that the water heater is braced with seismic retraints. Aside from those two items, almost anything else is fair game for negotiation, but the seller is certainly not "responsible" to repair or update anything.
In short, a seller is not required by any mandate to bring a house built using old or out-of-date building code standards (or older-type building materials) up to current standards when selling the subject property. If you absolutely want a house built to current code and with up-to-date building materials, you may not want to purchase an older home...
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
Before & After...
Well the June stats just came out...total inventory keeps climbing. I thought it might be fun to take a trip down memory lane by showing the current inventory stats as compared with stats June 2004.
Behold! The top chart shows inventory from April 2003 - June 2004...a seller dominated market.
The bottom chart shows inventory from April 2006 - June 2007...a buyer dominated market. If you click on the charts, you can see enlarged versions.
Sellers...do NOT overprice your homes!! Buyers have a lot of choices.
Source:
Tuesday, July 10, 2007
Sacramento County Crime Mapping Tool
If you live in Sacramento County, or are interested in living in the County jurisdiction, you might be interested to check out the Sacramento County Sheriff Department's crime mapping tool. You can search an entire zip code, a radius around an address, near a park, etc. Little icons are used to represent different types of crimes, and you can search back as far as 90 days. Pretty interesting...
Link:
http://crimemap.sacsheriff.com/cvc/wizard.asp
Link:
http://crimemap.sacsheriff.com/cvc/wizard.asp
Monday, July 9, 2007
Home site with a history
A single-family home is proposed at the site of the former governor's mansion in Carmichael. The house would occupy 0.4 acres on the 11-acre site near Ancil Hoffman Golf Course. Owner Sigmund Zygelman, a Sacramento businessman, said he plans to live in the two-story home with his family and chose the site because of its location.
"It's a very nice, quiet area," Zygelman said. The state bought the site in 1970 to build the official residence of the governor. The site, at the southeast end of California and Oak avenues, eventually became known as "La Casa de los Gobernadores," even though no governor ever lived there. In 1984, the state sold the property to Carmichael developer Matt Franich, who subdivided the property into several lots.
The sprawling former governor's mansion and a single-family home occupy the site. County planning officials also approved two other single-family homes, which have not been built. Zygelman purchased the property in December and submitted his application in March. The project requires the Board of Supervisors' approval. It will go before the Carmichael-Old Foothill Farms Community Council in September or October for recommendations, said Ione DeMorales, a county planner. She said a staff report should be ready by the end of July. Jacob Mesika, Zygelman's builder, said the new house would be about 5,000 square feet. It would be constructed in a French country style, with earth-tone colors and an acrylic stucco exterior to conform to zoning for the area, he said. The project cost is estimated at $1 million. Like many, Zygelman says he is amused by the name and history of the site.
The governor's mansion in Carmichael was built in the mid- 1970s for Gov. Ronald Reagan, who left office during its construction. His successor, Jerry Brown, refused to live there. Some residents say the site isn't convenient, since it is about 10 miles from the Capitol. "For whatever reason, no governor has ever lived there, so I do find that kind of amusing," Zygelman said.
Link:
http://www.sacbee.com/arden/story/255237.html
"It's a very nice, quiet area," Zygelman said. The state bought the site in 1970 to build the official residence of the governor. The site, at the southeast end of California and Oak avenues, eventually became known as "La Casa de los Gobernadores," even though no governor ever lived there. In 1984, the state sold the property to Carmichael developer Matt Franich, who subdivided the property into several lots.
The sprawling former governor's mansion and a single-family home occupy the site. County planning officials also approved two other single-family homes, which have not been built. Zygelman purchased the property in December and submitted his application in March. The project requires the Board of Supervisors' approval. It will go before the Carmichael-Old Foothill Farms Community Council in September or October for recommendations, said Ione DeMorales, a county planner. She said a staff report should be ready by the end of July. Jacob Mesika, Zygelman's builder, said the new house would be about 5,000 square feet. It would be constructed in a French country style, with earth-tone colors and an acrylic stucco exterior to conform to zoning for the area, he said. The project cost is estimated at $1 million. Like many, Zygelman says he is amused by the name and history of the site.
The governor's mansion in Carmichael was built in the mid- 1970s for Gov. Ronald Reagan, who left office during its construction. His successor, Jerry Brown, refused to live there. Some residents say the site isn't convenient, since it is about 10 miles from the Capitol. "For whatever reason, no governor has ever lived there, so I do find that kind of amusing," Zygelman said.
Link:
http://www.sacbee.com/arden/story/255237.html
Friday, July 6, 2007
New Listing - 2708 17th Street, Sacramento / Land Park 95818
This is the nicest home in this price range in Land Park! Gorgeous remodeled home! This tastefully done 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom home was renovated with permits by licensed contractors, and is a perfect combination of old world charm and new amenities.
Step inside to find beatifully refinished hardwood floors, a cozy living room with a warm fireplace, recessed lighting, and many windows letting in lots of natural sunlight. The kitchen boasts new white cabinets, complete with wine racks and decorative shelving, stainless appliances, a dramatic vent hood over the gas range, granite counters, recessed and under cabinet lighting and more. In conjunction with the dining room, this house is perfect for entertaining or family gatherings!
The master bedroom is a quiet retreat, with a ceiling fan, recessed lighting, and door to the private backyard. The master bathroom has a large, stunning dual-head travertine shower - you must see it to believe it! The guest bathroom has a very nice travertine tub/shower combo, pedestal sink, and extra storage cabinets. The two guest bedrooms have ceiling fans and large closets. The backyard has a cute covered awning, perfect for BBQ's or relaxing.
This home also has an oversized one-car detached garage, a .09 acre lot, 3 bedrooms, and 2 full bathrooms. It is offered at $499,000.
Step inside to find beatifully refinished hardwood floors, a cozy living room with a warm fireplace, recessed lighting, and many windows letting in lots of natural sunlight. The kitchen boasts new white cabinets, complete with wine racks and decorative shelving, stainless appliances, a dramatic vent hood over the gas range, granite counters, recessed and under cabinet lighting and more. In conjunction with the dining room, this house is perfect for entertaining or family gatherings!
The master bedroom is a quiet retreat, with a ceiling fan, recessed lighting, and door to the private backyard. The master bathroom has a large, stunning dual-head travertine shower - you must see it to believe it! The guest bathroom has a very nice travertine tub/shower combo, pedestal sink, and extra storage cabinets. The two guest bedrooms have ceiling fans and large closets. The backyard has a cute covered awning, perfect for BBQ's or relaxing.
This home also has an oversized one-car detached garage, a .09 acre lot, 3 bedrooms, and 2 full bathrooms. It is offered at $499,000.
For more photos and detail visit http://erin.golyon.com/listings.html or http://www.2708-17thstreet.com/
For a private showing, please contact Erin Attardi at 916-342-1372.
Thursday, July 5, 2007
Rates on 30-year mortgages sink
Rates on 30-year mortgages sank this week to a one-month low, while rates on most other mortgages also fell, good news to prospective home buyers. Freddie Mac, the mortgage company, reported Thursday that 30-year, fixed-rate mortgages averaged 6.63 percent. That was down from last week's 6.67 percent rate and was the lowest since early June, when rates stood at 6.53 percent.
The moderation is welcome for people in the market to buy a home. In mid-June, rates on 30-year mortgages climbed to 6.74 percent, an 11-month high.
Rates on many mortgages have ebbed in recent weeks as investors' fears about an inflation have eased. "Long-term mortgage rates continued to move lower for a third consecutive week, in part reflecting a moderation in core inflation," which excludes food and energy prices, said Frank Nothaft, Freddie Mac's chief economist.
The Federal Reserve in deciding to hold a key interest rate steady last week noted that some readings on core inflation have improved. The Fed's key rate has been at 5.25 percent for a year, offering borrowers a period of steadiness. Some other mortgage rates tracked by Freddie Mac also showed declines this week. Rates on 15-year, fixed-rate mortgages, a popular choice for refinancing, fell to 6.30 percent from 6.34 percent last week. And, rates on five-year adjustable-rate mortgages averaged 6.29 percent, down slightly from last week's 6.30 percent.
However, rates on one-year adjustable-rate mortgages rose to 5.71 percent this week, compared with 5.65 percent last week.
The mortgage rates do not include add-on fees known as points. All mortgage types each carried a nationwide average fee of 0.4 point last week. A year ago, rates on 30-year mortgages stood at 6.79 percent, 15-year mortgages were at 6.44 percent, five-year adjustable-rate mortgages averaged 6.39 percent and one-year ARMs were at 5.82 percent. After a five-year boom, the housing market fell into a slump last year. Sales turned weak as did home prices. The slump is expected to drag on probably through the rest of this year.
Link:
http://www.sacbee.com/845/story/257676.html
The moderation is welcome for people in the market to buy a home. In mid-June, rates on 30-year mortgages climbed to 6.74 percent, an 11-month high.
Rates on many mortgages have ebbed in recent weeks as investors' fears about an inflation have eased. "Long-term mortgage rates continued to move lower for a third consecutive week, in part reflecting a moderation in core inflation," which excludes food and energy prices, said Frank Nothaft, Freddie Mac's chief economist.
The Federal Reserve in deciding to hold a key interest rate steady last week noted that some readings on core inflation have improved. The Fed's key rate has been at 5.25 percent for a year, offering borrowers a period of steadiness. Some other mortgage rates tracked by Freddie Mac also showed declines this week. Rates on 15-year, fixed-rate mortgages, a popular choice for refinancing, fell to 6.30 percent from 6.34 percent last week. And, rates on five-year adjustable-rate mortgages averaged 6.29 percent, down slightly from last week's 6.30 percent.
However, rates on one-year adjustable-rate mortgages rose to 5.71 percent this week, compared with 5.65 percent last week.
The mortgage rates do not include add-on fees known as points. All mortgage types each carried a nationwide average fee of 0.4 point last week. A year ago, rates on 30-year mortgages stood at 6.79 percent, 15-year mortgages were at 6.44 percent, five-year adjustable-rate mortgages averaged 6.39 percent and one-year ARMs were at 5.82 percent. After a five-year boom, the housing market fell into a slump last year. Sales turned weak as did home prices. The slump is expected to drag on probably through the rest of this year.
Link:
http://www.sacbee.com/845/story/257676.html
Tuesday, July 3, 2007
New Listing - 2757 Land Park Drive, Sacramento / Land Park 95818
Their loss is your gain! Must sacrifice this wonderful home - all offers will be considered! This could be an incredible opportunity for the right buyer. This home appraised at $795k just months ago. 3 Bedrooms / 2 Bathrooms, 1848sf per assessor + basement. It has a newer roof, newer electrical, central heat & air, kitchen was remodeled in 2004, 2-car attached garage, basement, nice patio & yard, etc. Please feel free to call or email me. Showings must be arranged with me directly. This property will not be published on the MLS. 3% Buyer's agent commission. Do not disturb the occupants.
See all my listings at http://erin.golyon.com/listings.html
Erin Attardi, Realtor
Lyon Real Estate
Tel 916-342-1372
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