Sacramento Real Estate by Julie Jalone
Keep it Real in Sacramento - April 2007
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Sacramento Real Estate by Julie Jalone Keep it Real in Sacramento - April 2007
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Reader
Response
My column, “No March flowers for Sacramento real estate,” at Rocklin & Roseville Today, got a bit of play, when part of it was posted over at Sacramento Land(ing). One comment posted there said, “If
RE agents only took listings that fairly reflected current prices, and managed those prices throughout the listing period,
I would bet their personal sales would increase 50%.” I don’t know of any Realtors who actively practice setting prices significantly above the market value because
when you do that, you are setting yourself up for failure in the eyes of your client, spending time and money on listings
that have a low probability of selling and creating negative advertising with your name on a stale for sale sign. My personal philosophy on pricing is to tell the seller what I think the home will sell for and provide information
to support my recommendation. I believe, seller’s who set a realistic
asking price when they come on the market will generally get a higher sales price than those that come on with an above market
price and then, over time, lower the asking price (see my article on pricing). You get the most interest during the first week to 10-days the house is on
the market so you want price to attract buyers, not chase them away. Although I support and encourage selling homes at realistic prices, I work for my clients. It is their home and setting the price is their decision. For
the reasons above, I will NOT list a home with a price that is significantly over what I believe the current value is. But I will list it at a price above what I recommend as long as we have a plan to reduce
the price in a relatively short period of time. I hope that gives the above reader some insight
on the Realtor’s role in pricing homes on the market.
Waiting
and more waiting
Check out the latest update
at MyForSaleSign main page at jalone.com. Randi and Tony are doing
well, although getting a bit fatigued keeping the place ready for a showing. Tony
is ready to get it sold and get back out to find their first house together. No
open house this weekend but I am feeling good about getting some showings. We are looking forward to a quite, sunny and warm weekend. Keep track of me over the weekend with Twitter.
Blah
March for Sacramento real estate
There is nothing positive to report about the
Sacramento real estate market in March. Sales volumes are down, prices
are not showing any strength, and inventory of available homes continues to grow. Slice
it and dice it anyway you want and I’m not sure who you are to find anything to feel good about. Well, I suppose there are a few “bubblers” out there who seem to take delight in seeing the
Sacramento real estate market in trouble. Read the full story: “No March
flowers for Sacramento real estate” on my Real Estate News page or in my column at Rocklin & Roseville Today.
Wednesday
already?
Where
is this week going, I know the days are getting longer but all of a sudden they seem to be flying by. Up early this morning to see if I can catch up. Have to deal
with an offer on my Susanna listing and have my fingers crossed it is negotiable. Still lots of articles and news about
the real estate market and how the sub-prime lender collapse is impacting the market at the same time we are building inventory. My buyers are active but understand time is on their side so continue to look for
the perfect home. I am constantly surprised by how many homes on the market
show so poorly. It seems some sellers just can’t maintain their home in
“show quality” during these longer selling cycles but they ought to be able to do the dishes, pick up the laundry
and my favorite, clean the cat box!
Karmyn
Tyler can sing and don't be shy
I have continued to Twitter and yesterday came across a great young actress and singer, Karmyn Tyler, who has recently moved to the LA area. I have not had an opportunity to see any of her acting yet but she has a great voice, check out her music
on her myspace page or on her website at www.karmyntyler.com. Yesterday,
we started the May Newsletter and with this issue we will be starting our 4th year of producing and mailing them
every month. I remember when we started, Michael said, if we are going to start,
we have to make a commitment to do it for at least one-year. We made it through
that year and are still going strong. This
year we want to send out more discounts, giveaways and other offers. Last month
we had a great offer from California Closets in Roseville that I hope at least
a few of you took advantage of. If you or your company is interested in participating,
please let me know. If
you would like to get our monthly newsletter mailed to you along with the offers, please fill out our request form. Please feel comfortable giving us your contact information we keep that information
secure and will not distribute it to anyone. By
the way, if you go to Karmyn’s site, leave her a message and let her know Julie sent you.
Are
we headed to a new record?
Foreclosure
activity in California during the first quarter took a large step towards the record high activity back in 1996 when during
the second quarter of that year 15,418 foreclosure sales occurred. During the
first quarter this year we had 11,033 sales and almost 47,000 Notices of Default filed.
Take a look at my article “More Californian’s faced with sting
of foreclosure” posted on the Sacramento Real Estate News page at Jalone.com or in my Rocklin & Roseville Today column.
Alright....too
much!
The horror of what happened at Virginia Tech is difficult to deal with, especially
as we continue to learn about the shooter and his victims. Somehow, being on
the other side of the Country creates a buffer but today, here in our backyard, our cushion was destroyed and it all feels
much closer. In
Yuba City where I am working with my reality real estate series clients, Randi and Tony, there is a man the police are searching
for a man who allegedly told his pastor he is planning a mass killing that will make the massacre at Virginia Tech look mild.
You can read the full story in the Appeal Democrat. I have talked with Randi; she is scared about what is happening in her
normally quiet town. I invited her to stay with us but she already had plans
to be with friends tonight. After
hearing about Yuba City I went to pick up my son from school and was shocked to see all the kids being escorted to parents,
rides and buses by their teachers. The small buffer of Yuba City being an hour
away was wiped out! What is going on in our world? Update
– They caught the character in Yuba City last night, well actually he turned himself in to the police. Let’s have a quiet and peaceful weekend, the handgun debate can wait!
More
For Sale Signs
The
number of homes for sale in the Sacramento area continues to swell as we move deeper into the traditional spring selling season. According to HousingTracker, in the past week ending April 16, there was a growth of 413 in the available inventory of homes for sale. This is the largest weekly increase in the past few months. During
the past month the inventory has grown 10.8 percent and stands at 15,262 homes and condos for sale. This is an increase of 23.4 percent from a year ago when we were on our way to record levels of inventory
during August 2006. The
Sacramento-Arden-Arcade-Roseville Metropolitan Statistical Area approximation has 18,477 total listings of which 15,262 are
either Single Family or Condo homes. The area includes the major cities of Auburn, Carmichael, Citrus Heights, Davis, Elk
Grove, Rancho Cordova, Roseville, Sacramento, South Lake Tahoe, West Sacramento and many others. In
other news foreclosures are also growing. This morning in the Sacramento Bee’s
business section was a full report on the growing number of foreclosure notices sent to area homeowners during the first quarter. See the full story, “Foreclosures in full bloom” for details.
Magic
Formula I have looked at so many real estate
agents sites that promise to have a proven method of selling or proprietary marketing plan and I have spent more than a few
hours thinking about how to sell a home. We have tried, promotions, talking signs,
giveaways and all sorts of advertising. Is there a magic formula for selling
a home? Check out our latest reality real estate series at MyForSaleSign. For sure there is no magic formual for avoiding the IRS so don't
foreget April 17th is the deadline for filing your 2006 return.
Happy Birthday Joe!
The
past week has been very hectic and busy with getting our son back in the school routine after spring break, a closing and
more feng shui house hunting. I am pleased to report I think we have found a house for my clients and, most
likely, we will be making an offer tomorrow or Monday. Today, I have an interview
with a potential new member of our real estate group and later this afternoon Michael and I are hosting a small birthday celebration
for our friend Joe Weber. He was disappointed we didn’t list his birthday
in my April Newsletter so I thought he should, at least get a blog mention. Happy Birthday Joe! We hope you have many more and we are around to help celebrate! Lots
of news about our real estate market taking another turn for the worse with March not turning out to be as good as many of
us hoped. I will be taking a closer look at the numbers next week and should
have my normal monthly analysis done by the end of the week. I do think our market,
like most, has been impacted by the tightening credit requirements being imposed by lenders.
Clearly, having to prove you have a job and sufficient income to service debt has taken some buyers out of the market.
News of the day
Important
news of the day, Larry Birkhead is the father of Anna Niclole Smith’s daughter, Don Imus has been suspended for making
racial slurs and Julia Roberts wants to save the planet now that she has kids. I
hope these items are in the headlines, on talk radio and TV news because there is not much else going on. Can’t we find something better to talk about? I
personally find that five straight weeks of rising inventory is more interesting than Britney going to a Lakers game. If you exclude the small drop in inventory for the week ending March 5, the
number of homes on the market has shown a steady upward trend according to HousingTracker. It is up 21.1 percent from three months ago and 10.3 percent in the past month. As of the week ending April 9, the total number of homes available in the Sacramento
area is 14,849 and clearly indicates sellers have responded to the spring selling season.
There are buyers out there but they are not keeping the pace with the number of homes coming on the market each week. The
good news, according to housing tracker, even with the increase in available homes the median asking price has remained constant
at about $400,000. I
have listened to Imus a few times and although I know he is a “shock jock” and has been for a long time, he shocked
me with what he said about the Rutgers women’s basketball team. However,
the focus on him by the media for his outlandish and horrible comment is overkill in my opinion. The man has been doing this for over 30 years; I don’t recall another time he has made headlines
and suspect most of the people who heard this in the news said who is Imus? Based
on my knowledge of his show and style I believe him when he said he meant no malice but he is the only one that knows if that
is true or if his words reflect how he really feels. Regardless, if he didn’t
know it before he knows it now, you can’t make racial slurs on TV and Radio unless you are a rapper and have said it
on a recording. I think we should get on with other more important items.
Feng Shui is not a decorating style I have been thoroughly enjoying working with some clients who are moving to this area and
looking for their new home. They have introduced me to the complexities of feng
shui and I am determined to learn more and use that knowledge to help them find a home.
I started writing about what I am learning as a blog post but it quickly grew into an article for my column over at
Rocklin and Roseville Today. Take a look at “Fung Shui House Hunting” on my website here or in my column. Reminders: Property tax, if you pay
it directly, is due tomorrow and the deadline for filing 2006 income taxes is next Monday, April 17th.
Friday Potpourri
We
were disappointed to see Gina Glocksen get booted from American Idol this week. She
clearly is a better singer than some of the others who are moving on and one of the more interesting entertainers. My prediction for the winner is Melinda Doolittle who seems to be in a league of her own. With the counter American Idol movement it will be interesting to see how the votes come out. Yesterday,
I watched a demonstration of the new Google Maps feature, My Maps, and thought I give it a try. After a few false starts I was able to complete a “mashup” and create a map of my current listings. It is kind of cool but as you will find when you click
on one of my pins, it takes the photo too long to load. Overall it is a nice
feature and I see some good uses for it. Speaking
of software and the internet, I ran across an online photo editor that is pretty cool.
Most of us all have photo editing software on our computers but I suspect there may be a time and place where you want
to do a quick fix to a photo or add some effects. If so take a look at Picnik. We
just lowered the price of the great condo I have listed in The Crosswoods of Citrus Heights. If you know of anyone looking for a nice place to live it
would make a great home for a retired couple, single person of even a first time home buyer. Finally,
over at Sacramento Land(ing), there is a great post, “Sacramento Price Watch,” dated Wednesday, April 4th. It has price changes from almost all the reporting sources and the Zillow Zindex graphs for most of the cities in the Sacramento area. Sunday
is Easter and we have a quiet day planned but still have some bunny work to compete and it looks like another great day to
be outside.
Julie's Social Networking - Round 3 · MySpace – Julie Jalone · Point2Agent – This is a real estate agent webpage I use to develop some of my listing pages and to publish to other real estate
sites. · Ning – We joined this community to pay respects to a formal colleague of Michael’s who died and have just added my
profile. · Classmates.com – I have been tracking my high school reunion · Digg – We have not done much with this site but it has a great deal of potential. Even
I am surprised the number and variety of the social network sites we have or are using.
I still have a few more to add but those can wait until a later day.
New stamps and price
With all
the hoopla about the new Star Wars stamps and mail boxes that resemble R2D2 I discovered this morning that a first class postage
stamp is going from 39 cents to 41 cents next month! I think the stamps are cool,
and I will use them on my June Newsletter but, darn sending a letter is getting expensive! I am busy
this week, today I am showing new homes to our MyForSaleSign heroine, Randi. We saw some wonderful homes on Saturday and want to compare
those to new construction. Check out the MyForSaleSign blog for the latest update. Tomorrow I will be working with some clients who are
moving to the Sacramento area and looking for a new home. In addition I have
some interviews set up for this week for potential new team members that came as a result of our advertising. Finally, we are mailing the April Newsletter and I have some work to do on
a few files, finish my report on social network sites I use (here is a link to My Space web page) and publish my February results for Rocklin and Roseville.
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