jjalone's Blog: All Categories

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…

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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… Read Full Post

Happy New Year! Here we are at the final day in 2008 and looking forward to the hope of a new year. Whatever your plans are for this evening, be careful on the roads, last night was super foggy here in the Roseville area and will most like not be much better tonight. 

There were some great times and occurrences this past year but it was also one of the most difficult years I have had in real estate. There were plenty of clients but getting transactions completed was more difficult than in years past and much more difficult than they should have been. Check out my weekly column over at Rocklin & Roseville Today, “Sacramento Real Estate: Where are we going?” and see where I think our Sacramento real estate market is headed in… Read Full Post

Take a minute during this busy holiday season to recognize our U.S. Troops stationed overseas. Go to www.LetsSayThanks.com, where you can pick out a thank-you card. Xerox and the Let’s Say Thank organization will print and send it.

All you have to do is click on your favorite design and either select a message or draft a personal note. The postcards are then printed by Xerox and mailed in care packages by military support organization Give2TheTroops®. Wouldn't it be wonderful if the soldiers received a bunch of these? Whether you are for or against the war, our soldiers over there need to know we are behind them. This takes less than a minute and here is an example reply from one Soldier: Thank you so much for the post card. It is so nice to receive… Read Full Post

In today’s competitive real estate services industry there is nothing more important than client service. I am referring to what may be called Realtor helpers such as title/escrow companies, home inspectors, lenders and others who help us get our transactions completed.

It is this group of professionals who can make closing a sale easy or a nightmare. Over the past two plus years we have been working with a number of clients who would like to avoid foreclosure/bankruptcy by having us negotiate a short sale with their lenders. Trust me when I say, this is not as easy as it sounds. It takes experience, time, sustained effort and on occasion some luck to get all the parties to the sale in agreement. Just this week we had all our “ducks in a row” on a short… Read Full Post

If it was housing that led the economy to where it is today, “the tank,” then it only stands to reason, housing can be the way to recovery. Sure there are other elements of the National economy that need tending but until we have some stability in housing the economy is not going to improve dramatically. Check out my column, “Next Steps Toward Recovery,” over at Rocklin & Roseville Today.

Update on my last column, Sacramento Short Sale Tales: Although we have not closed this transaction, we did escalate our request and rational to the executive offices at Bank of America and this morning we got what we hope will be the approval that will allow our clients to complete their short sale and avoid foreclosure and… Read Full Post

A good portion of the business we do at MagnumOne Realty is helping financially struggling Sacramento area homeowners avoid foreclosures by helping them qualify and negotiate with their lenders to accept less than they are owed by accepting a short sale. Lenders tend to treat us as the enemy even though we are helping them and the entire process can be long and arduous but we are good at them and there is a good deal of satisfaction when we complete a short sale and our clients can step away from payments they can no longer afford to pay and a debt that was greater than the value of the house they owned. 

My column today over at Rocklin & Roseville Today, “Sacramento Short Sale Tales” is about a current deal we are working on with both Wells Fargo and… Read Full Post

I started to write a short rant about how difficult it is to deal with Countrywide when you are representing sellers who would like to avoid foreclosure and complete a short sale. My frustration with them got the better of me and the rant became an article, “Countrywide Sucks!” which I have posted on my real estate news page at jalone.com. If you have had a different experience or have any suggestions on how to complete a transaction with CW, please let me know.

Other Items: Just a reminder as we enter the heart of the holiday season, the first installment of your 2008-2009 property tax is due tomorrow, December 10th. The penalty for late payments is stiff so if you pay your own taxes make sure you get them into the mail ASAP. Read Full Post