jjalone's Blog: All Categories

Okay, make me officially amazed! Inventory has not started growing like it normally does this time of year, it has actually declined. According to our friends over at HousingTracker, the number of homes on the market in the Sacramento area has declined 2.9 percent in the past month and now stands at less than 15,000 for the first time since the low last spring of just over 13,000.   This trend if it continues could make for an interesting second half of the year.

While inventory is declining or at least holding steady during the past few weeks the median asking price for homes has been hanging in the $309,000 range for the past five weeks. As of April 7 it was at exactly $309,000 down .3 percent in the past month. Asking prices seem to be showing signs,… Read Full Post

There are many industry professionals and local agents clamoring about a recovery of our troubled Sacramento real estate market but I am feeling cautious because I have been dealing with so many shorts sales and foreclosures. It is nice to hear about agents being busy and see some houses move so check out why I am not smiling in my weekly column, “No Smiles Yet” over at Roseville & Rocklin Today.

By the way, the publishers of Roseville & Rocklin Today, have just launched Sacramento Today and we are working out the details for my weekly column to appear there. I’ll keep you posted when and where it will be. Today is Friday, I think and it has been a very busy real estate week for us and we are looking forward to some downtime over the weekend and maybe… Read Full Post

Yesterday the Senate announced that it had reached a bipartisan compromise on a plan to aid families facing foreclosure. This is good news as the lawmakers have been unable to reach agreement on some of the key provisions already passed by the house.

The compromise includes: ·         Foreclosure aid. A $4 billion package to aid communities hard hit by foreclosures and mortgage delinquencies. Local governments could use the funds to buy and rehabilitate foreclosed homes at a discount. ·         Government-backed mortgages. Increased loan limits for FHA- guaranteed mortgages. ·         Financial counseling. About $100 million in new funding for housing counseling for troubled families. ·         Tax credit. A $7,000 tax credit, over two years, for… Read Full Post

It's April 1st again and that means there are some crazy things flying around the Internet. Some of it is difficult to tell if it a joke or not but most of it is fun. Here is a list I found earlier with links to some April 1st jokes.

·         The BBC's Flying Penguin's - this one is the best April Fools' joke out there this year. You can watch the video here . ·         CNET has TechCrunch acquiring TigerBeat and renaming it CrunchKids. ·         Google and Sir Richard Branson launched Project Virgle and plan to colonize Mars. See also the Google Blog announcement. ·         PizzaHut has become PastaHut. ·         Search the future with Google Australia's gDay technology. ·         Too busy to search? Let someone Google for you. ·         Catch… Read Full Post

Wow, we just reduced our 53rd Street listing in Sacramento down to $137,500. This is property that is worth looking at by first time home buyers and investors. Not only does it have curb appeal in a rapidly improving neighborhood but it has a double size lot with a cottage in the back. The small cottage has a private driveway off of 20th Avenue and the two structures are separated by a privacy fence. The house needs some work but has the potential to be a real jewel. 

Speaking of nice homes on the market, check back later today and check out our newest listing on Meghan Way in Sacramento. Read Full Post

As you may know we have recently been working on a number of short sales here in the Sacramento area. This includes working with both sellers and buyers. They clearly add a level of complexity and administrative work to each transaction and require an extreme level of patience from everyone involved.  Each lender has their own process and requirements which is understandable but some are so much more difficult to work with. Wells Fargo in particular seems to be at the top of the “wish we didn’t have to work with” list. They appear to employ a delaying strategy which I don’t understand. Everything you fax to them gets returned asking for one more piece of information. When you place the date in wrong place they send it back. When you correct that they… Read Full Post

The news and commentary from my National Association of Realtors has not always been something to be proud of. More often than not they have, in my opinion, been guilty of delivering propaganda than telling readers the truth. That may be a bit harsh, but clearly they can find a way to put a positive “spin” about some very negative trends in our National real estate market. 

I naturally read their news releases and carry the requisite salt so after reading a story this morning, “Existing-Home Sales Rise in February,” I did some quick looking at our Sacramento market to see if there was any correlation with what the NAR was saying about the National market., Take a look at my column, “Something is Happening” over at Rocklin & Roseville Today and see what I… Read Full Post

As you may know I spend a fair amount of time and money on maintaining a web presence. I believe that more and more people are using the internet to find everything from soup to nuts. That includes homes, where a recent report by the National Association of Realtors said a huge percentage of homebuyers search for a home online before contacting a Realtor. 

I know from experience that some of my clients first learn about me from my website. More often than not they are directed there by one of the search engines but more and more seem to be finding me through some of the articles I have written and published on various other sites or from some of my on line social networking that I enjoy.  I have run a few advertisements, mostly over at Rocklin &… Read Full Post