Keep it Real in Sacramento

I recently read an article about real estate blogging which made the point that people only read your blog to get information on real estate and author’s who make the mistake of venturing off into other topics will lose readership.  I hope that is not the case as there are days I am thinking about other things besides real estate and I feel like writing about them.  Today is one of those days but I’ll toss is some real estate tidbits too.

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The number of vacant homes for sale in the United States set a new record in the first quarter of 2008, the U.S. Census Bureau reported Monday.

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Get this, now is the time when inventory of homes on the market traditionally increases and should continue to so as we move into summer but inventory is remarkably stable right now.  Even with the large numbers of foreclosures in the Sacramento area during the first quarter we are seeing inventory staying right around 15,000 and even edged down last week.  We still have more “For Sale”  homes than wanted to achieve a balanced market but the fact that it is not increasing rapidly as it has in the past two years is very good news.  For sellers the icing on this cake is, believe it or not, according to our friends at HousingTracker the median asking price has actually increased in the past week.  For the week ending yesterday, the median asking price was $307,000 up $2,000 from the previous week.

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It is just a number but when you think about the families having to move from their homes and lives disrupted, 5,278 foreclosures in Sacramento and surrounding counties during the past three months is staggering. For more details about the Sacramento foreclosures check out my column, “Foreclosures Skyrocket, “over at Rocklin & Roseville Today.

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I must have forgotten to knock on wood last week when I babbled on about For Sale Declines and being amazed that inventory of homes on the market in the Sacramento area were declining and prices were holding steady.  I just surfed over to HousingTracker to take a look at inventory and prices this week and was surprised again, for a different reason.

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Assistance programs have been around for years but are re-emerging now that most lenders require down payments before they will finance a home. Check out my latest column, “Down Payment Assistance,” over at Roseville & Rocklin Today where I write about a few of the programs we have used, how they can benefit both buyers and sellers and where to get more information.

Here we are on Wednesday of the week where we are expected to get some 80 degree weather during the coming weekend.  That feels good to me and so does what is starting to happen in the Sacramento and Roseville real estate market.  Check out my column, “Warmer weather brings out buyers,” over at Roseville & Rocklin Today and see why I am starting to feel optimistic.