Posts from — September 2010

I’m working on an appraisal right now in an area of the 95815 zip code of Sacramento that has had some crime challenges lately. There have been multiple murders within the neighborhood boundaries over the past year. It’s sad of course to see this type of activity in any area, yet always interesting from a real estate standpoint to research neighborhood happenings and make sure to understand what is going on in the local market. Heavy crime might impact market value, right?

Honestly, I find it kind of earie to google street names in this particular neighborhood and read more about specific murders. There are also online local news videos at my disposal too. On top of that, I can scroll through the Sacramento Police Department’s Twitter account and find at least one tweet that describes a situation that happened very close to the subject property.

If you live in an unincorporated portion of Sacramento County or the City of Rancho Cordova, the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Department has a valuable online crime mapping tool. For reference, I used this tool to do some research near the corner of Watt & Arden in the Arden-Arcade area of Sacramento. I included a snippet of the past 90 days of crime within one mile of this intersection based on the Sheriff’s crime mapping tool. Each icon on the map stands for something, whether vandalism, burglary, assault, etc… Check out this crime map tool and let me know what you think.

How have you seen crime impact a community or real estate? On another note, where do you get your crime information from? Local news? Newspaper? Social media?

The Sacramento Association of Realtors YPC hosted the 3rd Annual “Bowling for the American Dream” event on September 25, 2010. The 1980s-themed event sold out and it was a big success to raise money for the California Association of Realtors “Housing Affordability Fund” (C.A.R.H.A.F.), which funds programs like the Mortgage Protection Program (MPP), SAR’s very own ECO program, and more.

I sit on the YPC Board and I’m very pleased to see how successful this event was. Thank you everyone who participated, bowled, dressed up in 80s gear and sponsored the event. Thank you to Cathie Eason for taking so many wonderful photos as shown in this slideshow. I made a video below of Cathie’s photos. Enjoy.

Can you spot me in the video? Think 80s rocker with fake tattoos.

When should a home owner formally appeal his/her property taxes? How do you know if you should dispute the Assessor’s value? The rule of thumb is really simple. If there is enough savings left for you after you have paid someone to help you appeal, then it’s absolutely worth it. If there really isn’t any potential for money to come back to your wallet, then don’t even bother.

Have a look at the video below (or HERE) and see how a home owner in Sacramento County paid me $89.00 to save $1,016. Not a bad deal, right?

I act as a “tax appeal consultant” instead of a real estate appraiser when I do tax appeal work. See www.SacramentoTaxAppraisals.com or call 916.595.3735 and I’ll check out your property for free to see if it looks like there is any potential savings to be had. This offer is good for residential property owners in Sacramento, Placer, Yolo, El Dorado, San Joaquin, Stanislaus, Solano & Merced Counties.

I am very pleased to share that Lundquist Appraisal Company has become a member of the Rancho Cordova Chamber of Commerce. Since my HQ is located in Rancho Cordova and I already have so many great business and personal connections in the community, it only made sense to formalize a bit and earn a plaque for my office too. It’s good to see the Chamber offering members a free webpage too. I got on that quickly a few weeks back when I joined.

Do you belong to your local chamber of commerce? What benefit have you noticed, and what value have you given?

Last week a client invited me to speak to his office staff to help them understand how to build a successful blog for their real estate business. I was excited for the opportunity because it’s always nice to add value where I can. We talked about the relevance of using a blog as a tool to establish an online presence and why blogs are important. It was very practical too in that I set them up with usernames, and we even wrote a blog post on the spot. Learning should be experiential, right?  

I figured some of the content from my presentation might be useful to others, so I uploaded a 15-minute audio-video tutorial. Let me know what you think. 

If you work in the real estate field near Sacramento and I can help you sift through the world of blogging and building an online presence, let’s connect at 916.595.3735 or catch me on Facebook.

Any questions? What tips would you add to the mix?

There was quite a stir two days ago when The National Bureau of Economic Research announced that the recession is over. Have a look at two paragraphs from their press release (taken from their website):  

“The Business Cycle Dating Committee of the National Bureau of Economic Research met yesterday by conference call. At its meeting, the committee determined that a trough in business activity occurred in the U.S. economy in June 2009. The trough marks the end of the recession that began in December 2007 and the beginning of an expansion. The recession lasted 18 months, which makes it the longest of any recession since World War II. Previously the longest postwar recessions were those of 1973-75 and 1981-82, both of which lasted 16 months.

In determining that a trough occurred in June 2009, the committee did not conclude that economic conditions since that month have been favorable or that the economy has returned to operating at normal capacity. Rather, the committee determined only that the recession ended and a recovery began in that month.”

I get what the National Bureau of Economic Research is saying, but let’s take a look at unemployment rates. When the recession began in December 2007 according to the NBER, the unemployment rate in Sacramento County was 5.7%, and when the recession “ended” in June 2009, the unemployment rate was 11.5%. As of August 2010, the unemployment rate in Sacramento County is 12.8%.

What do you make of the news that the “recession is over”?

I shared some good news a few weeks back that Sacramento County refunded me $398.96 after I appealed my 2008 property taxes. Well, yesterday another check arrived in the mail for $449.02 for my 2009 property taxes.  Here’s my story.

Taxes are a part of life and we should only pay our fair share – and no more!!! Please contact my tax appeal company so we can see if there is a potential savings for you. If there is, let’s move forward to help you reduce your property taxes (we have very reasonable fees). If not, then we’ll shoot straight with you to let you know if the Assessor has you valued correctly. Click HERE and we’ll look up your property for FREE.

So how should I spend the $847.98?

If you’ve seen or heard of the show Hoarders, you may have come across a house like this. A client purchased this West Sacramento property earlier in the week for nearly $20,000 and gave me permission to do a video before they do a complete remodel. This property can best be described as a “hoarder’s delight”. There is rubbish and junk everywhere throughout the house and it has some very obvious condition issues too.

As I mentioned in the video, it can be very challenging to get a loan on a hoarder property because of the health & safety and potential or actual condition issues. However, it is possible (If FHA, it would probably take an FHA 203K loan because a traditional FHA loan won’t work).  I’d be curious to hear from anyone who has found success on either side if the equation, whether obtaining the loan or brokering the loan.

What do you think of a house like this? What types of potential health and safety and condition issues do houses with hoarding face? How does hoarding impact life and even real estate?

Here is a trend graph of all 2-4 unit sales in the city of Vallejo, CA over the past five years. The information is based on data in Bay Area MLS. The residential-income market sure has been impacted. It’s amazing to see the low point around $250,000 several years ago has now become closer to the higher end of the market over the past few months for 2-4 unit properties.

If you own a duplex, triplex or fourplex in the Vallejo market (or Greater Sacramento region), I’d be curious to hear what has happened to your rent levels over the past five years. Also, has the Assessor decreased your property taxes?

Beyond appraisals, Project 680 is something really important to me, so I wanted you to know what is going on. We’ll be doing a community hoody drive beginning this month. This is such a simple idea and practical way to advocate for local homeless students. Together we can make a difference. 

If you can’t see the video in RSS, click here. There are many ways to get involved in the flow of what we are doing (the video explains it all). Even if you aren’t local, I’d love to have you join forces and definitely take a photo for the photography contest. I’d love to have some blog readers submit photos. That would make my day.

Questions? More information? Call 916.595.3735, see www.project680.org/hoody, catch us Twitter @project680, or on Facebook at www.facebook.com/project680.

Here is a before and after image of a house in the “Oak Park” area of Sacramento that one of my clients rehabbed recently. It’s a joy to see properties like this get an “extreme makeover” because it’s great for the community and wonderful for one lucky buyer too. The previous stairs were apparently failing, and so someone built a very shoddy walkway on top of them (don’t miss the huge pile of dirt underneath too). The new stairs are quite an improvement, don’t you think? Neighbors just might appreciate the upgrade too.  

One of funny things about real estate is I get to see what’s in style with kids these days. The posters on the walls of teenage rooms are like an education in pop culture. I constantly run into Justin Bieber, Miley Cyrus, and definitely characters from the Twilight series. Anyway, I came across a “Twilight Bus” while snapping comp photos in Galt a couple of days ago and this definitely caught my attention.

Oh the things I see. What do you think?