Keep it Real in Sacramento

Most homes on the market in the Sacramento area are overpriced and do not compare favorably to houses in the same price range.  One of the most common questions heard by Sacramento real estate agents is, “If they think my home is overpriced, why don’t they offer me something lower?” Find out why I don’t agree with my listing clients when I hear this question in my current Rocklin & Roseville real estate column, “Apple or Orange?”

If you live or want to live in California you have a greater probability of being able to afford an entry level home in Sacramento than almost any other area of the state.  According to a recent report by the California Association of Realtors more households in Sacramento can afford to buy a home than all but one other area of the state.  Check out my report on this story, “Where can we afford to buy” over at my weekly column at Rocklin & Roseville Today.  I have also published it on my news page at jalone.com.

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Congratulations to Robin Sweigart of MagnumOne Realty, who just last week got her first real estate sale in contract.  Robin did a great job with her listing on Paizano Court and based on what I have seen looks like she has a strong buyer and hopefully a smooth escrow and closing.  Good work, Robin! 

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The standard 30-year fixed rate mortgage has been around for a long time and must have been revolutionary when it was introduced as it opened the door to home ownership.  If you believe the current real estate market is experiencing evolutionary problems that can’t be fixed with a short term stimulus package then we need some of the big and trusted players in the mortgage industry to lead the way in developing a new standard mortgage product as revolutionary as the 30-year fixed rate loan was when it was introduced.

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With so many articles and news reports about the struggling real estate market why don’t we hear more about short sales?  I wrote my first article on short sales back in June of last year, “Short Sales: Road to Riches?” but still get emails and calls asking what they are, can we use it to sell our house and should we consider buying a short sale house? 

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Lately I seem to get myself in situations where I am defending Realtors and trying to explain that most agents care about their clients and do everything we can to help them.  I found a blog post from a fellow Realtor who operates in New York that says it better and takes it another step and includes balancing the career with family responsibilities.  Check out my column over at Rocklin & Roseville Today, “What my father told me” and read the details about this amazing blog post.

In the past week I have had two posts about the recent Federal Reserve lowering key interest rates and have indicated this was good news for our struggling Sacramento real estate market.  I received a comment on one of these posts asking why I was cheerleading low interest rates when it was cheap money that got us to this point. 

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The real estate market here in Sacramento is quiet on the surface, there are not going to be enough transactions in 2008 to support the current population of agents, but is teaming with activity not being tracked.  Many of the pundits who are predicting another year of depreciating values would be surprised if we could see all the web activity from potential buyers who are waiting for the day they believe is the bottom of the market.  No one wants to admit they bought in June or July of 2005 but there are many who would like to buy at the bottom of this cycle.  Check out my latest article, “Waiting for a reward” and see what others are saying about 2008.  I have also published it as my weekly column over at Rocklin & Roseville Today.

This must be a new year, the holidays are gone and a large winter storm is moving toward Sacramento but I do have some very good news to share. 

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Sales are down, inventory is up, prices are falling and more households are able to afford an entry-level home.  All of this is and a prediction is included in my Rocklin & Roseville Today column today, “Only Time Will Tell.”  I have also posted it on my new page at jalone.com.  Let me know what you think, send me an email; I enjoy reading your comments.