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In the past week I have had two posts about the recent Federal Reserve lowering key interest rates and have indicated this was good news for our struggling Sacramento real estate market. I received a comment on one of these posts asking why I was cheerleading low interest rates when it was cheap money that got us to this point. That reader’s comment made me ask if it was low rates that drove prices up to a point where very few could afford to buy. Although I am not an economist and may not ... Read Full Post

From Realtor.org: Susanne Cannon, the director of the Real Estate Center at DePaul University, says that at a conference this month with other academics who specialize in housing, the consensus was that many buyers have been waiting on the sidelines until the market hits bottom and then plan to make their move. Now that lower rates are a factor, Cannon says, the question becomes: At what point will buyers be compelled to act, thinking they are getting a price they can live with and a rate the... Read Full Post

Freddie Mac reports that interest on 30-year, fixed loans fell for the fourth straight week, landing at their lowest level in nearly four years. Rates averaged 5.48 percent for the week ended Jan. 24 -- down from 5.69 percent a week ago. This drop was driven by the Federal Reserve’s biggest cut in 20 years to fed fund rate. Freddie Mac also reports that rates on 15-year mortgages declined to 4.95 percent from 5.21 percent, rates on five-year adjustable-rate mortgages dropped to 5.13 percent... Read Full Post

The National Association of Realtors has lost a great deal of credibility when it comes to making forecasts and maybe the beginning of this disturbing trend started back at the beginning of this downturn (August 2005) when their chief economist at the time, David Lereah said, “All of the doom and gloom forecasts of a housing debacle are not only irresponsible, but also downright wrong.” There is a great deal of good work being done by the NAR but, in my opinion they should exit the foreca... Read Full Post

Something must be happening out there in Sacramento real estate land. Yesterday I was working with buyers who are looking to upgrade their home in the Roseville area. Two of the homes the wife was interested in seeing had been on the market for a long time, one them was over 180 days (six months waiting for a sale). As I was setting up our tour I found out the first one had gone pending that morning so we took it off our list. The second one turned out to be a lovely home and my client liked ... Read Full Post

I am sure I am not the only one this morning struggling to get started after a long weekend. As you may know from my blog post yesterday, we spent the weekend in Southern California and enjoyed three wonderfully warm days in Hollywood and at Universal Studios. Since Tuesday is my normal day for posting my column at Rocklin & Roseville Today and my creative juices seem to be on a low ebb after driving down Wisteria Lane at Universal Studios I checked all my normal sources for ideas to insp... Read Full Post

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 ... 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 convers... 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 bu... Read Full Post

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 ... Read Full Post