Escape from it all!

Here is the view from a listing I have coming on the market soon. This is a unique home in Auburn only minutes from the freeway but a world away from the city and people. There is nothing “track” about this home and it will take a equally unique buyer to make this work. This is not a family home and is best suited for a working couple who want an alternative style home or it could be a great weekend escape pad for someone from San Francisco or the Bay Area.

If you or someone you know might be interested in learning more about this unique property let me know and I will send you more information.

Over at Rocklin & Roseville Today my weekly column this week is, “What is likely to be in the final stimulus bill?”

Important Information for Struggling Sacramento Area Homeowners

There have been some significant changes with lenders that are catching financially strapped homeowners unaware and reducing their alternatives to avoid a foreclosure. If you or someone you know is not making their monthly mortgage payments and thinking they can wait several months before asking for a loan modification or doing a short sale, those days are over. Check out my column over at Rocklin & Roseville Today or at Sacramento Today, “Short Sale Market Changes in Sacramento.”

Busy Sacramento Week

This past week has been very busy and adds to my belief the real estate market is weather driven or at least it seems that way to me. Every time we get some warm sunny days, I am too busy to spend much time outside! It is nice to see the Sacramento real estate market continuing being active, even if the transactions are always difficult to get closed.

During the past week I have taken three new listings. The first is a very nice home in the Natomas area of Sacramento. This home is just a year old, has tons of upgrades and has been very well cared for. If you or someone you know is looking to buy in this area take a look at 510 Dnieper River Way.

The second listing is also in the Natomas area but since we have some additional work to complete before it is ready to show it is not officially on the market but keep an eye out for it.

The third listing we took this week is unique for a couple of reasons. First, this is a spectacular home on 2 plus acres in Newcastle and it is one the seller never anticipated having to sell so it has been painstakingly remodeled and shows like a dream. These sellers thought they were working with their lender and anticipated a loan modification that would allow them to stay in their home. When negotiations failed the lender quickly filed a notice of default and has set a sale date for later this month. I don’t normally like to work under such pressure but we have had success with this lender and feel if we can get an offer in quickly, we have a chance to delay the sale and avoid foreclosure. For this reason we have priced the home super aggressively. Take a look at 1001 Kentucky Greens Way, and let me know what you think.

I am looking out the window and seeming clouds moving in. Would you know, just as I am catching up!

Buying a short sale listing

What do I need to know about buying a short sale listing? This was essentially the question one of my readers sent me last week. I have written a number of articles including “Six Steps to a Successful Short Sale” and “Short Sale Success,” on using short sales to avoid foreclosure but have not spent much time addressing the buyer in a short sale transaction.

If you or someone you know is considering buying a home in the Sacramento and Roseville area you will more than likely look at one or more short sale listings. What should you know and be prepared for if a short sale turns out to be the home of your dreams? Check out my Rocklin & Roseville Today column, “Short Sale Question & Answer,” and read what I have to say on the subject.

Other News: Getting some rain last week was great but I am enjoying the sun this week and using its energy to keep up with everything that is going on in the Sacramento real estate market. We have some new listings that will be on the market in the next week or so plus several clients who are actively looking for homes.

Stop Sacramento Foreclosures

A total of 523,624 California properties received foreclosure filings, including default notices, auction sale notices and repossessions in 2008. This was a 110 percent increase from 2007 and almost five times as many compared to 2006.

The city Stockton registered the highest foreclosure rate in California and the nation with a 9.46 percent of its housing receiving a foreclosure filing during the year. Other California cities in the nation’s 100 largest metropolitan areas in 2008 included Riverside-San Bernardino at number 3, Bakersfield at number 4 and our own Sacramento at number 9.

Sacramento foreclosure filings impacted one in 19 properties or 5.2 percent of all homes. This compares to a rate of one in 54 across the country.

If you or someone you know is struggling to make ends meet and are unable to continue to make mortgage payments on a home where the value is now less than the loan amount, call us. We can help you avoid foreclosure and get you back on the road to financial independence. We have been helping stop Sacramento foreclosures for two years and have an experienced team to guide you through the Short Sale or loan modification process.

If you are interested in learning more about short sales see one of my articles on the subject, “Six Steps to a Successful Short Sale.”

Sacramento Predictions

I was looking at the number of homes currently on the Sacramento area market, how inventory has changed in the past year and the impact on prices and value with so many homes for sale in preparation for writing my weekly columns for Rocklin & Roseville Today and Sacramento Today. I had promised myself I would avoid making predictions in such turbulent times but somehow when you write about how many Sacramento homes for sale last year and this year it seems impossible not to say where you believe this number will go by year-end. If you are interested in seeing what I had to say on the subject check out may latest article, “Sacramento Year End Inventory.”

Martin Luther King Day: Pretty amazing to be celebrating the life of Dr. King and his efforts to break down barriers caused by race on the day before we inaugurate the first African-American President, Barack Obama. Regardless of you political party affiliations and who you voted for tomorrow is a new beginning for America. If there is strength in our culture it comes from optimism and hope that we share for a better tomorrow.

Short Sale Update

Julie Jalone - MagnumOne Realty

If you have been reading my blog, you know I have spent a good deal of time and energy over the past two years helping Sacramento area homeowners avoid foreclosure by doing short sales and/or loan modifications. In the past month or so I have been ranting about how difficult it has been to deal with Countrywide (“Countrywide Sucks,” published on December 9, 2008). Well, as of this morning we have had two approvals from them in the past week. The one we got this morning is a deal we have been working on since April of last year. The buyer has long since walked, the sellers have abandoned the property, the condition has deteriorated rapidly and the prices in the neighborhood have continued to decline. The price they have agreed to accept is significantly higher than what this home will now sell for but at least it is a positive sign from this lender.

I figure the speed at which Countrywide has moved on this single short sale transaction has cost them in excess of $60,000 and will most likely increase over the next 60-days as we seek a new buyer at a much lower price. No wonder lenders need federal bailouts!

The fact that we have received two approvals from Countrywide in the past week demonstrates they have finally started to understand the cost to them and are improving their process. It may not help with the property I just used as an example but it will help with countless other homes that under the specter of foreclosure.

If you or someone you know is struggling to make their mortgage payments give me a call we may be able to help even if their lender is Countrywide!

Positive News in Sacramento Forecast

As soon as the holidays were behind us it seems like the media has again focused on the economy and in particular the negatives. I don’t know about you but when I hear too much negative news it impacts my mental attitude and slows me down. There are some bright spots in regards the Sacramento and the real estate market. I think we should understand the overall situation but take the time to remind ourselves of what is positive.

In my weekly real estate column over at Rocklin & Roseville Today, “Sacramento Economic Forecast,” I highlight some of the strengths of our Sacramento economy and the real estate market positives that were reported in the Sacramento Business Review’s economic forecast. I think they are worth thinking about on this cold winter morning.

Other: Yesterday, I received a phone call from a homeowner asking me to help them avoid foreclosure on a property in Rocklin. They were transferred to Minnesota and have been renting the home for the past year but the tenants are now moving out and they cannot afford to continue to make the payments. This is a typical of the kind of requests I get so I started to get to work.

Using Twitter to stay in touch

I have been using twitter for almost 2 years now and it is one of the social networking tools I enjoy the most. It is a flow of short messages from members all around the world and allows users to follow others and read what they have to say as the day progresses. You can carry on conversations, ask questions, get directions and always find someone who can cheer you up. As of today I am following 2,257 users and have 2,102 followers. Some of my twitter colleagues are news organizations such as the Sacramento Bee, CNN and Sacramento Traffic Alerts. You can find and follow a wide range of celebrities such as Madonna and Britney Spears and even get updates from Barack Obama. Most users are just like me, everyday people who do their jobs and enjoy the internet and staying in touch. There is a growing number of spamers using twitter but they are easily controlled.

I recently used twitter to ask some of my “followers,” who are real estate agents; about their local markets and found some similarities with what is happening in our Sacramento area market. Check out my column today at Rocklin & Roseville Today, “Tweeting Real Estate News” to see what I learned.

If you are not familiar with Twitter check it out at www.twitter.com. If you end up joining the thousands of other who are using twitter, follow me at twitter.com/JulieJ and I will follow you back.

Nothing new in Sacramento or Roseville

I started to blog about some of the November results for our local Sacramento real estate market and quickly became bored. For anyone who reads a newspaper or listens to the news there is nothing new to report. Generally sales are up, median prices and average price per square foot are down. About the only thing of much interest is the number of default filings have dropped, but may be the result of a new state law requiring lenders to contact homeowners who are delinquent on the payments, then wait 30 days before filing a default notice.
As we move into 2009 the inventory of homes for sale has continued the slow decline from the highs we experienced in the summer of 2007 when it was reported by HousingTracker that there were over 18,000 homes for sale in what they define as the Sacramento area. Even with the increased number of foreclosures the inventory of homes has continued to decline and as of mid-December stood at 12,628 down almost 23 percent from a year ago and down 5.9 percent in the past month.
As we move into the spring selling season I would expect to see the decline in homes on the market slow or even increase. There are still way too many houses on the market for the number of buyers but the good news is we are headed in the right direction to achieve a balanced market and some price stability.
If you are interested in more specific numbers about the Sacramento, Roseville or other local communities send me an email to juliej@jalone.com and I would be happy to answer.