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Monday, January 21, 2008 (Martin Luther King Day) 

  Southern California. We decided to take a few days and get out of town so picked Universal Studios in Southern California. Mikie was excited to see “Hollywood” and I thought it would be a good outing for the family.    After two days of touring the park and taking a few rides around the area, I can tell you what you already know. There are a lot of people there, they all seem to be on the freeway at the same time or going to breakfast, lunch and dinner with you, there are some spectacular homes and the prices are out of sight.   Overall we had a good time; visiting Universal Studios is fun but not the best place for a sensitive 8 year old. Too many of the tours and attractions are a bit on the… Read Full Post

I am particularly pleased to welcome Kara Green as MagnumOne Realty’s newest agent. Kara was born and raised here in the Sacramento area and after a number of years living in Canada moved back home. I was fortunate to represent Kara and her husband, Blaine, as they searched for and acquired a new home. It was a difficult search because they had some unique needs but eventually we found the perfect home. During that time we talked a great deal about real estate and I am delighted our conversations led to her becoming a Realtor and for the opportunity to work with her. Welcome Kara, welcome home!

 If you want to learn more about Kara, visit her jalone.com page. Read Full Post

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.

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Over at MagnumOne Realty, our agent Kelly Baker listed a home in Lincoln last week. Because it have been on the market for some time with another agent and it is a short sale we made a decision to price it very aggressively since the seller needs to be done with the property and the bank had conditionally approved taking a discount.   We priced this Lincoln Crossing home less than $105 per square foot or $335,000 for a nice 4 bedroom, 3.5 bath, 3,206 square foot house. 

If you believe there are no buyers out there, guess again because the phone has been ringing off the hook and we are already in a multiple offer situation. On the same street there are a number of other homes for sale with nothing happening. I recently read one market described as 80… Read Full Post

We were sad to learn this week that my assistant, Megan Warn, will not be returning to her position when she recovers from the illness she has been fighting for the past several months. Megan did an outstanding job for us and we were hoping she would stay, continue to learn and eventually become a Realtor with us. We do understand her current need to get well and find a job that offers medical insurance benefits. 

The exciting part of having a job opening is that you get to re-define what you need and have the opportunity to meet and talk with people who will become a big part of your life over the next year. If you or someone you know is interested in an assistant position, check out our job posting or send me an email. Experience is not required but we… Read Full Post

Congratulations to our MagnumOne Realtor Kelly Baker. Earlier this week she got her first solo listing. In this crazy Sacramento real estate market, as you might expect, the listing is a short sale. The good news is it is a great house in Lincoln Crossing. The seller is in the military, being deployed with no promise of returning to this area and unfortunately like many homes in this area of Lincoln it was built and purchased in 2005 at the height of the market. At this time, the value of the home is less than the mortgage and the lender has already conditionally approved the short sale. If you or someone you know is looking for a large family home, here is an opportunity to get a very attractive deal on a beautiful home. For more information, see Keswick…

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Wednesday, January 9, 2008 Wow, we have things to report. Most important I’d like to welcome our newest Realtor to MagnumOne Realty, Kara Green. Kara is a brand new Realtor who we are very excited about. She has lived here in the Sacramento area for almost her entire life and has a large and diverse circle of friends and family. She is bright and outgoing and we believe will be a great addition to the MagnumOne Realty team. We have not had a chance to build a webpage for Kara but hope to have one completed by early next week. Second, we have price reductions on two of our listings. The asking price on our Paizano Court listing in Roseville has been reduced from $850,000 to $799,900. Clearly this is a significant reduction and brings this… Read Full Post

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. 

First, I am delighted to announce that Robin Sweigart has joined our MagnumOne Realty team as an associate broker. She brings us a wealth of experience as an appraiser and we are pleased that she has made the decision to become a Realtor and join us. For more information about Robin, check out her page at jalone.com. We know her attention to detail and enthusiasm will translate to the kind or client service we want MagnumOne to be known for. Welcome Robin! Our second piece of good news is finding out that one of the top Internet real estate marketing firms has name our website, www.jalone.com in the top 100… Read Full Post