Where is the honor?

Check out my latest column over at Rocklin & Roseville Today, “No honor for agents.” There was a recent Harris poll conducted about the prestige of various occupations and believe it or not, real estate agents and brokers fared worse than lawyers, business executives and union leaders. What is up with our clients? I have also published the column on my Real Estate News page at jalone.com

Fight back and save a tree

Our mail box is stuffed, again! Especially this time of year when the junk mail is accompanied by every imaginable catalog such as Victoria Secret, Harry and David, Red Envelope, Fairytale Brownies, and the list goes on and on. Some of these are merchants I have used and like but I didn't ask for and don’t need their catalogs. Did you know the paper used to produce catalogs annually is equivalent to 8 million trees?

I came across a site, Catalog Choice, which we have started to use to reduce the number of catalogs we get. You register, find the catalog you want to stop getting and they do the work. Yes, it would be great if they just took your name off of all catalog mailing lists but this is a start and let’s face it we all have a few catalogs we enjoy looking at. It is too late to stop what you will get over this holiday season but think about the spring catalogs you won’t have to throw away!

Holiday Inventory

It has been a few weeks since I have reported on how inventory of homes on the market. The number of homes currently on the market has been declining for the past two months but not at a very fast rate. As of November 19, according to HousingTracker, we had 17,444 homes on the market in the Sacramento area. That is a decline of over 1,000 homes from the high in September and is down 2.3 percent from a month ago but is still 13 percent higher than it was a year ago.

The median asking price for homes on the market right now is $349,000, which is down 2.2 percent from a month ago and 15.9 percent from last year. Until we see a much more significant decline in the inventory I do not expect to see continued pressure on sellers to lower their price to attract buyers.

Over the past few weeks I have been noticing some increased buyer activity in homes price below $350,000.

How good is your coverage?

As many as 40 percent of the 14,000 homeowners who lost their houses in California’s forest fires last month are discovering they don’t have enough insurance to rebuild, according to the California Department of Insurance.Although California state officials have tried to raise home owner awareness of coverage limits, several nationwide studies suggest that homeowners tend to ignore risk and don’t understand that insurance policies don’t guarantee replacement costs.

Don’t let this happen to you, check your insurance policy or call your agent and determine if you have replacement coverage or exactly how much you would get in the case of the unthinkable, a full loss.

Paul Martin's

We have discovered a wonderful new restaurant in Roseville, Paul Martin’s American Bistro. The restaurant has a modern, warm, decor with brick, leather, and lots of wood. According to one of the owners, Brian Bennett, they are concentrating on seasonal and organic ingredients they get from local farmers and producers. What I can tell you is everything we had was wonderful, especially the shrimp scampi and the service was attentive and friendly. This is the kind of place that is going to quickly develop a regular clientele. You can count on seeing me there often!

This week went by much too fast! We were busy at MagnumOne but not to the extent I would like. I had a few showings on our listings but nothing that appears to be headed toward an offer. With most schools out next week and almost everyone I know headed out of town the already slow market should be headed to comatose for the rest of November so maybe I will have time to have a lunch or two at Paul Martin’s.

Here is where they are located:

Paul Martin's American Bistro

1455 Eureka Rd

Roseville, CA 95661

(916) 783-3600

Not Easy for Buyers too!

We have all heard it and most of us have said it, this is a buyer’s market. There are thousands of homes on the market, asking prices continue to decline and the number of active buyers is small. All of this should combine to make buying a breeze for homebuyers. My latest client buyers, Joe and Laura, found just the opposite. Check out my latest article and column at Rocklin & Roseville Today, “No Breeze for Buyers!” for the full story. I have also published the article on my Real Estate News page at jalone.com.

Check out my FREE CD Offer and meet Karmyn Tyler

New - eschool reports from MagnumOne Realty

Magazine Photo Shoot

I have been working with a real estate industry publication, Broker-Agent Magazine to complete a feature story on me and MagnumOne Realty. It has been very flattering to be nominated for this honor and fun working with the writer. This past Friday, I spent a few hours with their photographer, Jill Wagner Photography. We took some photos at my son’s school, Sierra Elementary, with the Principal Bob Capp (see photos below). From there we got some in my home office and then went to one of my listings. It was a fun experience and Jill did a great job of getting some shots that even I liked!

The editors at Broker-Agent are putting the final touches on the story and it should be published in their Sacramento December issue.

Five Solutions for a Troubled Housing Market

From the online NAR magazine: How do you fix a troubled housing market? Forbes.com asked that question of a broad range of housing experts, including CEOs of real estate firms, real estate practitioners, economists from lending institutions, and research directors at analytics firms. Here are five of their best suggestions.

1. Restore investor faith. "Mortgage fraud, by both borrowers and insiders, must be identified and prosecuted in order for faith to be restored in the market," says Anthony Sanders, professor of real estate finance at Arizona State University.

2. Expand Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the Federal Housing Administration loans. "Our local banks and community banks have done a great job providing funding. (FHA) should be there as a supplemental for people who have good credit," says Congressman Lincoln Davis (D-Tenn.)

3. Cut construction and prices. "The market will only hit bottom after builders cut construction and sellers slash prices," says Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody's Economy.com. "The longer builders and sellers hold on, the longer the market will struggle."

4. Bring back non-agency loans. "The dramatic seizing of the mortgage-credit markets caused the elimination of almost any loan that wasn't backed by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac," says Bob Walters, chief economist at Quicken Loans. The revival of non-agency loans "will add much-needed mortgage funding to potential home buyers and folks looking to refinance."

5. Buyers and sellers get real. Nelson Gonzalez, senior vice president of Esslinger, Wooten Maxwell, REALTORS® , believes that once buyers realize that they're not going to convince a seller to accept a rock-bottom price, fluidity and activity can return to the market. "There is much pent-up demand," he says, "and buyers have been sitting on their hands for some time now."

Are you ready to bid?

There is another foreclosure auction coming to town and this weekend is the “Open House” for over 200 properties that will, check that, may be sold at auction on November 18^th. Check out may latest column at Rocklin & Roseville Today, “Foreclosure Auction” for the details and my warning to be careful.

It amazes me, with all the bargains in today’s market and homes that go for weeks without a showing, this weekend some of these auction properties may get as many as 50 potential buyers through them. The allure of huge discounts appears too much for some of us. The unfortunate truth is that most of these homes will be sold at current market price or above!

If you are interested in the foreclosure auction and would like me to help select, value, bid and close the transaction call me at 916 276-6883 or send me an email. I like a good auction!

Short Sale Patience

Right now I have two short sale escrows and as of “this moment” both look like they will close successfully. If you have not been involved with a short sale, let me tell you, they are a great deal of work and more often than not it is frustrating dealing with lenders who act like they have nothing to lose by taking all the time in the world to make decisions. Even with all the work we put in getting these two sales to this point, my hat is off to the buyers. In a world of instant gratification where you can more often than not get anything you want today or worst cast, overnight mail, they waited and waited without any assurance the transaction would go through. Patience is a rare commodity these days and I want to acknowledge that without the buyer’s patience we would not be getting ready to close.

You can see these properties at Miravista Drive and Oregon Way.