Posts from — May 2010

My Realtor friend Jenifer Miller invited me yesterday to give a 90-minute talk to a group of new real estate agents at Lyon Real Estate in Elk Grove. It was fun and I hope overall helpful too as we discussed how to more effectively communicate with appraisers in an HVCC world as well as a few tidbits on FHA minimum requirements.

Anyway, one of the members of the class brought up a great question. He asked how properties could not be worth at least their replacement cost. The truth is that we see so many properties in the Sacramento area selling far below what they would actually cost to build from scratch (cost of land + all improvements). 

That’s the nature of the market these days. But why is that? There are many factors to consider. Do you remember the real estate bubble? It couldn’t have lasted forever. Property values really climbed too quickly to enormously high levels, didn’t they? When the bubble burst, it changed the real estate market. There ended up being a huge oversupply of distressed properties listed on the open market, and these REOs set the pace for the rest of the market. Keep in mind too everything that was going on in Wall Street, the bailouts, and the economy beginning to sincerely struggle. All of these factors (and more) influenced property values.

Moreover, check out unemployment figures to the right for both Sacramento County & Placer County. These April 2010 stats from the Employment Development Department show an unemployment rate of 12.5% in Sacramento County and 11.5% in Placer County. Let’s contrast this with data from April 2006 that shows the unemployment rate was 4.8% in Sacramento County and 4.3% in Placer County. Things changed, didn’t they? In light of unemployment rates being significantly higher nowadays, do you think buyers could really afford to purchase houses right now at 2006 levels?  

What do you think? I’d love to hear your insight.

How is the Sacramento real estate market doing? Is it getting better or worse? Are there more bank-owned sales right now than in recent years? There are so many indicators for the health of a real estate market, but let’s take a look at the percentage of bank-owned foreclosure sales (REO) vs. short sales. What do you see? What stands out to you? Any good news here? 

* Data is based on Sacramento MLS for all single family detached properties in Sacramento.

Check it out. I started a Facebook page for my business last week. My rationale for taking the plunge is threefold: 1) I like Facebook and I use it all the time; 2) Facebook is a ripe arena for conversation; 3) I want to make sure to be available and able to connect with others in this simple (free) way. Click the image below (or here) to visit the page.

You may wonder, “well, Ryan, you are so into social media, so why did it take you so long to create a Facebook page?” Honestly, I felt conflicted for a while, so I needed time to really think this through. Facebook is so personal, and I just didn’t want to be “that guy” who looked and sounded like he was marketing to his friends. This was really a philosophical hurdle that I needed to sift through over time before rolling out in confidence with a page. It just took a bit of time for me to ultimately feel comfortable enough that starting a page was the best move, and that it’s acceptable and non-spammy to have a page for business (well, non-spammy depending on how you use it of course). And by the way, I am not “that guy”.

Do you have a Facebook page? Why? Why not?

I took the day off yesterday to enjoy some fishing at Ice House Reservoir. I sure needed a break in life, so it was nice to have a friend take me out on his boat. We ended up bagging ten trout and having ten or more others get away too. We were out on the lake for six hours, and the weather was pretty cold (with wind). It actually started to snow while we were packing up. On that note, I’d never been fishing before when there was a glimpse of snow on the shore, so that was neat. I could get used to a four-day work week and then fishing on Fridays. Anyone else with me on that?

Enjoy a few pictures.

I wrote the other day about the importance of building an online business presence, and I was provoked further today about just how relevant social media truly is. It’s easy to think that newer mediums such as Twitter, Facebook, and blogging are a fad, but take a look at the Socialnomics video below (or here). I saw this today during a presentation by Chris Tellez at the Sacramento Association of Realtors YPC meeting.

What do you think? How does the video make you feel? Do stats like this bring pause about the way you do business or aim to do business in the future? 

I recently inspected a bank-owned huge fixer of a house in the Oak Park area of Sacramento, and I put together a one-minute video below (or HERE) for you to experience a bit of what I saw. This house sold for less than $20,000.

By the way, I do have the full blessing of my client to use images of this house they purchased. I would never violate my client’s confidentiality by posting pictures or sharing information like this without the absolute blessing of a client. Thank you also to Bill Cobb for the music. Let me know what you think.

I remember stumbling upon an episode of Jeopardy in the early 90s and seeing that they too had jumped on the “bandwagon” of the world wide web. Yes, even Jeopardy now had a website just like everyone else. Do you remember those days?

It’s wild to think that just 15 years ago the idea of the “world wide web” seemed to be on the fringe, but it’s now a very significant part of our lives. Consider how the world has changed in the past several years with the advent of things like smart phones, Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Google, and blogosphere. The web has opened up opportunities for us to communicate, do business, be more efficient, waste time, shop, date, read the news, share videos, meet people, etc…

If you are in business, the truth is that people want to reach you online. They hope to find your website, understand more about your company, and see what others are saying about you too. They may even wish to connect with you on Twitter or Facebook. I know it can sound overwhelming to someone who is not a social media convert, but don’t worry because you don’t have to be a tween techie guru to be successful online, and you can certainly take small steps to further develop your web presence over time. The key is to find what is going to work for you and your business and then incorporate a realistic and doable social media rhythm into your life. Ask yourself the question: What facet of the web or social media right now will help you further connect and build relationships with people? 

Why do I spend time thinking about this stuff? Because it’s the wave of the future that is now here. My goal in business is to provide a great product and be relevant, resourceful, and focused on relationships with people (both online and in person). Just yesterday a local home owner googled me and ordered a pre-listing real estate appraisal for his house in the Rosemont area of Sacramento. After this man perused my website, he called me to connect for business. That’s how it works these days in many cases, and I plan for this scenario to only increase over time as our society continues to embrace an online lifestyle.

What do you think of all this?

If you’re a sports fan like me, you know the big story in basketball right now is whether LeBron James will be moving on to a different team or staying in Cleveland. This topic has dominated sports talk radio today, but the one thing I kept thinking of throughout the conversation thread was LeBron’s house.

If LBJ ends up playing in New York, for example, what is he going to do with his mega mansion in Cleveland? I remember reading an article several years ago about his 35,000 square foot 11-bedroom house that includes a bowling alley, casino and barber shop. Could he sell it without taking a huge loss? Is there a market in Cleveland for a house like this?

If you are considering remodeling or adding on to your house, think about resale value and what will be most acceptable to a pool of typical buyers in the future. Even though you might really like to add a ferris wheel, triple your square footage, or make your home feel like the bat cave, if you plan to sell your property in the not-too-distant future, you may want to consider whether there is a market for such a feature. Is your addition really considered an improvement to most buyers or will it be a distraction in the marketplace? Any thoughts?

I saw this not too long ago and it’s definitely interesting. Before stepping on the lawn I actually made sure I was not going to sink. Maybe this could provide for some very creative landscaping opportunities.

Are you in or out? It could make a huge difference in property value whether you live in a certain neighborhood or not. A boundary line for a neighborhood could include anything from a street, park, city or county line, different design of houses, train tracks, commercial district, etc… Whatever it is that separates one neighborhood from another is very significant to be aware of because real estate is about location, location, location.

Let’s take a look at the Tahoe Park area of Sacramento. What are the boundaries to Tahoe Park? As you may know, the Tahoe Park neighborhood is comprised of four sections as shown below. You can read more about these four sections of Tahoe Park from a previous post.

Let’s think further about the neighborhood boundaries above. If you are local, do you see any big value differences between some of the bordering areas such as Tallac Village, Colonial Heights, Elmhurst, Oak Park or UC Med Center? Some of these portions are competitive or more similar to each other, but others are VERY different neighborhoods despite sharing a street border such as Stockton Blvd.

What sort of boundaries have you seen make a big difference in real estate values in the real estate market? Maybe you’re thinking of a certain dividing street, a freeway, or a newly constructed subdivision in the midst of an older tract. Or think of the home you grew up in as a child. What boundaries do you think defined that neighborhood?

Let me know if you have any questions. Feel free to call me at 916.595.3735 or ryan@LundquistCompany.com.

I wanted to update everyone on the Project 680 Community Bike Ride last weekend. A group of us met at Hagan Park in Rancho Cordova to enjoy a ride along the American River trails for the cause of raising money and collecting socks for local homeless students. Our official sock and money count will be tallied on Thursday evening, so stay tuned to www.project680.org or on our our Facebook page.

Thank you everyone for your support. Together we can make a difference and be the difference for local students struggling with stable living situations. Thank you also to Keith Klassen, who “raided the aisle“, came on the bike ride, and whose back makes a prominent appearance in the video at 15 seconds (guy wearing black and gray). 

Everyone has a story, and so does every house. I inspected a Sacramento area property recently that was utterly filthy. In fact, Code Enforcement had to grant me access because it had been boarded up as a “dangerous property” because of its condition and history involving illegal drugs, squatters, prostitution, and many calls to the police from neighbors.  This property was dirty to the core, and as you can see below, I had to be careful where I stepped.

While inspecting this house and seeing the remnants of an existance of desperation and addiction, I couldn’t help but think of the vile things that went on inside and how none of the partakers in drugs and prostitution would have ever imagined they’d end up in this filthy little hole doing what they were doing. I was reminded of a “say no to drugs” commercial campaign from the 80s with the punchline “nobody says they’ll grow up to be a junkie”.

This house will thankfully soon be rehabbed, but I wonder if the former occupants will ever find the help and hope they need.