jjalone's Blog: All Categories

With the mortgage industry going through change and consolidation it is vital for home buyers to have a “good” lender working for them. In my latest Rocklin & Roseville Today and Sacramento Today columns, “Home Buyer Key to Success: A Good Lender” I write about good lenders and one who is on my “never work with again” list. I also provide some tips on how to make sure you get a good lender when you are in the market for a loan for a new purchase or even a refinance.

I have worked with some wonderful lenders over the years but right now, when a client asks for a lender recommendation I feel as positive as I have ever felt to provide them with several names. Having our clients working with a good lender not only makes my job easier but adds to the overall… Read Full Post

This has been a crazy real estate week and I have several new topics to blog about but today I want to officially welcome Stephanie McLaughlin to our MagnumOne Realty family. Some of you may remember “MyForSaleSign” feature when I chronicled the selling of a Yuba City home for Randi and Tony. The agent on the other side of the transaction was Stephanie and I was so impressed with her skill and customer service philosophy I stayed in touch with her and have now convinced her to join MagnumOne Realty. Not only does she bring the focus on client service but she provides us with a solid presence in Sutter and Yuba counties.     “For me, real estate sales is the most exciting and rewarding career,” says Stephanie. “It's all about helping people find that… Read Full Post

One of our agents at MagnumOne Realty has a new listing in Loomis. I have always said living in this area makes you close to everything but as a non-golfer I had never thought of this area as “Golf Country.” What I learned from the seller of this beautiful home on 2.3 acres is that from his house in Loomis there are eleven golf courses within 10 miles and believe it or not there are more than 30 courses within a 35-minute drive. With this house you don’t even need to drive as the property is big enough to safely hit wedges, pitch, chip and you can putt on your own private putting green. If you or someone you know is looking to enjoy the county life and be “close to it all” this home is nestled among some mature shade trees and gives the feeling of… Read Full Post

I have been wrestling with a situation I have not experienced before. Some of the buyers we are currently helping find new homes are the same ones we helped by a home when the market was peaking back in the summer of 2005. The difference today is they want to buy a smaller more affordable home in the same community they live in and one where the loan to value ratio is not upside down. There objective is buy a new home before their credit is destroyed by walking away from their existing home. Check out my column, “Who gets hurt?” at Rocklin and Roseville Today or over at Sacramento Today if you are interested in learning more.

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As you may have noticed from my lack of posts this past week I have been a bit swamped. As much as I enjoy helping homeowners who are experiencing difficulty and need to get out from under their mortgage debt, the process of short sales is long, tedious and requires a good deal of effort. We have been making some good progress and it looks likely we will get another positive response from a lender in the next few days. Then we go through the normal escrow period and closing dance. I know there are some who feel Realtor’s drive around, look at houses and make more money than we should. It is work and generally more difficult than it should be to get some of these transactions closed.

I am not complaining because I really enjoy working with our… Read Full Post

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.

Bears: Michael’s daughter Kevyn is a Park Ranger in Alaska at Lake Clark National Park. Part of her job is monitoring bears and making sure the occasional visitor to her area of the park are aware of the bears and know what to do when they encounter one. She just sent us a few pictures and I couldn’t resist posting this… Read Full Post

I am delighted to announce that Tina Farinas has joined MagnumOne Realty. Tina is an experienced agent who specializes in serving buyers and sellers in Sacramento and Placer counties. She is a real “worker” and her clients love her for that. Check out her page at jalone.com and her personal website, www.tinafarinas.com. Welcome Tina!

In addition to Tina joining our team we have just announced our desire to participate in an internship program being sponsored by Sierra College. With a management team that enjoys helping staff and agents grow and develop it seemed like a natural decision. We hope there will at least be one student who would be interested in learning more about real estate, the Sacramento market and how a small company is meeting the needs… Read Full Post

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.

The Census Bureau reported that 2.9 percent of U.S. homes or 2.28 million properties, not including rentals, were vacant and for sale. It was the highest quarterly number as far back to 1956 when records of such vacancies were first kept.

The West had the biggest gain in vacancy rates among home owners, rising to 3.2 percent in the January-March period from 2.6 percent in the same quarter a year earlier. Vacancy rates inched up in the Northeast and remained steady in the Midwest and South.

From my recent house hunting trips with clients I know there are a good deal of vacant homes, many of them short sale or… Read Full Post