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Check out my newest chapter on my reality real estate series, MyForSaleSign.  In addition to tracking what is happing with Randi and Tony in Yuba City, we are now following the day to day activities of my personal property in Anchorage, Alaska.  For the latest update and check out the MyForSaleSign blog.

I am hopeful adding the Anchorage home to the mix will be entertaining and informative.  This will allow me to write about the process from the owner/seller prospective and see how well we do, following the advice I give my own clients.

The number of homes coming on the market is happening faster than sales, expired listings and those withdrawn by their owners.  I the past week, ending May 14th, the number of available homes increased 179 to 16,348.  According to HousingTracker we have seen inventory grow 7.1 percent in the past month and is on tract to exceed our record highs we experienced last August. 

Surprisingly, the median asking price during this current inventory growth has not changed very much.  During the past three months while inventory has grown 25.6 percent the median asking price has only dropped .2 percent, all of which has come in the last month. 

Well, it looks like another great spring day in Alaska, the buds that were on the trees when I got…

We had a wonderful Mother’s day weekend highlighted by a girl’s night out to celebrate my Cousin Brenda’s birthday and a nice brunch with my Mom and Dad.  Always fun to be back in Anchorage for a few days.  Well for the balance of this week I will be working from here and Michael is putting the finishing touch on our remodel project here. 

This is a fun time to be here in Alaska, you can almost see the leaves on the trees coming out and lawns turning green. In a month it will be hard to believe there was snow here as it will begin to look and feel almost tropical.

This has been a busy week for me as I prepare to sneak off for a few days to see my Mom on Mother’s Day.  Recently I have had the good fortune to be working with a number of clients who are looking to buy new homes.  They cover most of the traditional reasons for wanting to buy a home.  Some are moving here from other locations but others are looking to have a smaller or larger home.

The inventory of available homes is high, a good percentage are overpriced and most end up sitting on the market for months. But there is a group of for sale homes that are different.  First, they are prepared to sell; they are easy to show and are priced right.  In other words they are clean, well maintained, have good features, the sellers are cooperative and the asking…

May has traditionally been a busy time of year for me and my business and so far this year is not an exception.  I have a number of active buyers and sellers I am currently working with and enjoying, the end of school activities are starting, and we seem to always have something going on at home.   Over the weekend we started marketing our newest listing, Beretania Way, a great 4/5 bedroom home in Natomas.  With almost 3,000 square feet of living space and a huge backyard this is a great family home with easy access to downtown.  I also out with buyers on Saturday, looking for a home in the Granite Bay – Roseville – Rocklin area.  I know I have been talking about growing inventory and buyers having lots to choose from but the truth is, when you are looking…

At least on a national basis there are some analysts who are pointing to what is happening and claiming the current housing slump has bottomed out and starting to recover.  Check out my article and review of what Joe Kalish, from Ned Davis Research, has to say in a recent USAA article on the real estate market.  You can see my article, The Worst May be Over?, on the Real Estate News page or here in my column over at Rocklin & Roseville Today. Read Full Post

To the dismay of many, as inventory of available homes continues to grow the median asking price has remained almost unchanged.  Each month so far this year inventory has grown in the Sacramento area.  According to HousingTracker, inventory of available homes has gone from the low 12,000’s in January to the current level of 15,918 as of April 30.  All during this buildup the median asking price has not changed much and has been hovering around the $400,000 level.  As of April 30 HousingTracker reports a median asking price of $399,000, a .02 percent drop from a month ago.

If inventory continues to expand at the current rate we will see more homes on the market than we did last year when we hit highs of over 18,000 homes for sale in the Sacramento area,…

My column, “No March flowers for Sacramento real estate,” at Rocklin & Roseville Today, got a bit of play, when part of it was posted over at Sacramento Land(ing).  One comment posted there said, “If RE agents only took listings that fairly reflected current prices, and managed those prices throughout the listing period, I would bet their personal sales would increase 50%.”

I don’t know of any Realtors who actively practice setting prices significantly above the market value because when you do that, you are setting yourself up for failure in the eyes of your client, spending time and money on listings that have a low probability of selling and creating negative advertising with your name on a stale for sale sign.

My personal philosophy on pricing…