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.

By the way, if the weather doesn’t get any worse, the Placer County Strawberry Festival is this weekend. The hours are 10 to 7 PM today and 10 to 4 Pm on Sunday at the Placer County Fairgrounds (800 All America City Blvd., Roseville). Adult entrance it $9 and parking is $5. It is very good event and worth the time and money.

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.

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.

Feng Shui is not a decorating style

Every day is an opportunity to learn something new and it never ceases to amaze me where and how this comes about. Last week I was talking and sharing what I have learned about Web 2.0 and social networking sites. Today, I am writing about the ancient Chinese practice of feng shui (pronounced in English as “fung shway”).

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 4^th. 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.

Social Networking - Round 3

Here is a few more of the social networking site we are using. As you will see some of them are to support the business and others are for fun/personal use:

• 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.