This is not a political post, but a good example of how politics and real estate collide on the local level. One of the largest companies in Rancho Cordova, Aerojet, has recently made a move to request a zip code change from the post office for some of its Rancho Cordova property to have a Folsom zip code. As you can see in the video below, Vice-Mayor David Sander is not happy. You can read a more detailed explanation by David Sander here. For those who may not be local, Folsom has a higher median income and higher property values than Rancho Cordova, and it’s important to note Aerojet has been the source of environmental issues in Rancho Cordova too as their Superfund site covers 5,900 acres according to the EPA.

Can you think of a move that would be similar from Rancho Cordova to Folsom? Maybe Sacramento to Elk Grove, Citrus Heights to Roseville or North Highlands to Antelope? Have you seen companies or households do this successfully? I’d be curious to hear from Folsom residents and Rancho Cordova residents also.

If you have any questions, or real estate appraisal or property tax appeal needs in the Greater Sacramento Region, contact Lundquist Appraisal by phone 916-595-3735, email, Facebook, Twitter or subscribe to posts by email.

Did you do anything for “National Night Out” on Tuesday? My household hosted a neighborhood BBQ and it was a profound success. We had a fantastic crowd, and it was nice to have visits from four council members, an Alyson Huber representative and Sacramento County Supervisor Don Nottoli too. But most importantly, neighbors were connecting and we really had a good time. I’m so thankful to residents who worked to pull things together last-minute to make this happen. I feel very blessed to be surrounded by good friends in my community.

What makes a neighborhood great? In my opinion, it’s not about big houses or price level per se, but rather a sense of community and connectedness. That’s priceless.

Quick Tips for Hosting a Community BBQ:

1. Do the BBQ in the front yard.
2. Ask a few neighbors to do the BBQ with you. Get people on board first before you start publicizing.
3. Make it your goal to connect with others and simply invite residents into that vision. People like it when they smell authenticity rather than an agenda. On a related note, if you want to see change in your neighborhood, keep the tone positive rather than negative. A positive vision is attractive, but complaining doesn’t work to muster the troops.
4. Go potluck style. It’s easier that way and more powerful when everyone has something to share and donate.
5. Knock on doors to pass out flyers. Invite people personally and they’ll have a greater chance of responding. In my experience, 400 flyers placed on doorsteps has far less impact than knocking on 30 doors.
6. Provide opportunities for neighbors to help with details like canopies, grills, drinks or any other component. Remember too that you don’t have to pull off the ultimate block party with bounce houses and pony rides. Think simple.
7. Invite council members or the police department to show up and give them a minute to talk with residents.
8. No guilt or shame if people cannot make it – only grace and goodwill. Nobody likes to eat a guilt sandwich.
9. If you have an action step, let people know. Maybe there is a neighborhood meeting coming up that people could sign up for. Or maybe you are putting together a phone tree, neighborhood email list or e-Group that would be perfect to help propel the community forward. You don’t need an action step of course, but if you have something, bring it.   
10. Thank people for their contributions and recognize the work of others to pull off the event - whether big or small.

Do you have any tips to add? What do you think makes a neighborhood great? I’d love to hear your comments and stories.

If you have any questions, or real estate appraisal or property tax appeal needs in the Greater Sacramento Region, contact Lundquist Appraisal by phone 916-595-3735, email, Facebook or subscribe to posts by email.

The City of Rancho Cordova is currently considering changing zoning code in a way that would essentially do away with garage conversions. Basically, the new code would allow a garage conversion only if the property owner built another garage somewhere else on the parcel (which effectively means nearly all properties will not qualify for a conversion). The slide below is from a presentation on May 24, 2011 at a council work session. See the entire slideshow here.

The main reason for this conversation and potential change is about curbing blight in neighborhoods since garage conversions often contribute to a decline in property value. However, while it’s true that an individual property usually sells for less when the garage is converted, the real question is whether a garage conversion on a street results in other properties losing value. How much market weight does one conversion have for an entire street or tract?

Questions: Do you think garage conversions contribute to blight? How so? Is this a good move to help increase property values? Where is line between what a city can do to boost real estate values and the rights of residents? What blight issues make the most negative impact on value in a neighborhood? Are you aware of other cities or areas where conversions are illegal? Would making conversions illegal be a negative factor in the eyes of buyers? I’d be curious to hear your constructive thoughts below.

NOTE: I will update this post at some point to let you know what is decided on the issue. Again, this is only conversation among City Council right now.

If you have any real estate appraisal, consulting, or property tax appeal needs in the Greater Sacramento Region, contact me at 916.595.3735, by email, on our appraiser website or via Facebook. 

Since the Anatolia area of Rancho Cordova is located four miles south of Highway 50 in a more secluded portion of the city, all the neighborhoods in that area are often referred to as “Anatolia”. There are actually currently three distinct communities in this area though and only one of them is under the Anatolia HOA. You can see the HOA outlined in red below and also the Sunridge Park and Kavala Ranch neighborhoods nearby – both not a part of the HOA (yet identified as such at times). 

It’s important in real estate to understand neighborhood boundaries since buyers might be attracted to certain neighborhoods for a variety of reasons. Some buyers might prefer the Anatolia HOA, the clubhouse and slightly older houses (2005+), while other buyers might be attracted to new construction in Kavala Ranch or Sunridge Park (over 50% of sales last year were new construction). As you can see in the graph below, Anatolia has the highest and lowest sales in the 95742 market, while Kavala Ranch and Sunridge Park seem to fit nicely in the middle of the range of sales in Anatolia. 

Can you think of any other neighborhoods in the Sacramento area that are lumped together under one title despite being distinct communities? If you live in the Anatolia area, what drew you to the community? Regardless of where you live, do you prefer an HOA or no HOA?

If you have any real estate appraisal, consulting, or property tax appeal needs in the Greater Sacramento Region, contact me at 916.595.3735, by email, on our appraiser website or via Facebook. 

You might remember me heading to Kansas City last June for the All-America City Awards. It was a real honor to be a part of the team from Rancho Cordova due to my involvement with Project 680. Anyway, the National Civic League interviewed me via Skype last week, so I wanted to share it with you in case you might be interested to hear some of what I think about local government and civic engagement. Enjoy. 

If you have any real estate appraisal, consulting, or property tax appeal needs in the Greater Sacramento Region, contact me at 916.595.3735, by email, on our appraiser website or via Facebook. 

What’s the difference between Stone Creek, Capital Village, Anatolia and the rest of Rancho Cordova? Have a look at the trend graph below of all sales over the past three years throughout the City of Rancho Cordova. Houses built before 1990 include territory north of Highway 50 as well as south too. Properties built after 1990 in the 95670 zip code basically include the Stone Creek area as well as Capital Village (most houses were built in the past ten years, though there is one development built in the mid-1990s). Lastly, the 95742 zip code includes Anatolia, Kavala Ranch and Sunridge.

What do you see? What stands out to you about differences or the overall trend?

If you have any real estate appraisal, consulting, or property tax appeal needs in the Greater Sacramento Region, contact me at 916.595.3735, by email, on our company website or via Facebook.

What’s been happening in the real estate market in Rancho Cordova? Have a look at the embedded document below and let me know if you have any insight or questions. If the font is too small, click “fullscreen” on the tab or visit the document online here.

By the way, I used www.scribd.com to embed the file above (a PDF). It’s a great tool to help share and display content online – especially documents. I like that I can simply show readers what I’m talking about instead of saying “download this PDF”. Do you have a use for something like Scribd?

If you have any real estate appraisal, valuation consulting, or property tax appeal needs, contact me at 916.595.3735, www.LundquistCompany.com or via Facebook.

Earlier today I ran into Micah Runner, who works in the City of Rancho Cordova’s Economic Development Department. In light of major media publicity recently regarding Governor Jerry Brown’s budget, and the potential for the elimination of redevelopment departments altogether in California, I wanted to ask Micah a few questions about redevelopment in Rancho Cordova and how current budget decisions may impact redevelopment in Rancho Cordova and surrounding areas.

Do you think redevelopment departments in California should get the axe for the sake of a balanced budget? What areas in the Sacramento Region would be hit the hardest if the plug was pulled on redevelopment agencies? How might the elimination of agencies like SHRA or Rancho Cordova’s redevelopment department impact property values?

I’d love to hear your thoughts below.

If you have any real estate appraisal, valuation consulting, or property tax appeal needs, contact me at 916.595.3735, www.LundquistCompany.com or via Facebook.

I took my oldest son to the 11th Annual Rancho Cordova Christmas Tree Lighting last night in the Capital Village area. I took some photos as well as shot a few brief clips with my Flip camera (only 40 seconds as shown below). This was a festive family-friendly event, and it’s always nice to run into so many familiar faces too. 

This annual event takes place in the Capital Village neighborhood in Rancho Cordova at Village Greens Park. If you’re interested to learn more about this neighborhood, you can check out a previous video tour I shot a year ago where I drive through the neighborhood and talk through the different types of houses.

I think events like the Christmas Tree Lighting help shape a sense of community for Rancho Cordova as well as boost a festive atmosphere for the Capital Village neighborhood. What events in your city or neighborhood help foster a sense of connectedness or pride among residents? Also, if you live in Capital Village, what do you think of the yearly Christmas Tree lighting (on top of all the other events)? Good? Bad? I’m curious to hear your perspective.

I attended and said a few words at the groundbreaking of White Rock Park in Rancho Cordova today. This is a major win for the neighborhood, the City of Rancho Cordova and the Cordova Recreation and Park District. I am so proud of this project moving forward and especially proud of the way residents handled themselves over so many meetings over the past several years. We made it a deliberate point to strike a cordial and cooperative spirit with CRPD. It’s nice to see results and wonderful to know that residents behaved decently in the midst of strong emotion over a park that has been neglected for many years. It was a huge honor for me also to get to be one of the golden shovel diggers. This is a very special day. Great work everyone!!!

Last week I headed to Kansas City for the All-America City Awards as a part of the delegation from the City of Rancho Cordova. I am very pleased to announce that Rancho Cordova is now recognized by the National Civic League as an “All-America City”. This prestigious award means a great deal for the community at large and it was an incredible honor to be involved. It was a fantastic bonding time for the team too, and so nice to meet many great citizens from across the United States.

I made three videos while in Kansas City as a way to stay in touch with everyone back home (and a total of 7 videos over the past week). It was neat to see so many people using YouTube, Twitter & Facebook to include others in the All-America City quest. This shows again how social media is changing the way we are able to communicate.

You can see our team’s presentation here, some of Andy Gee’s photos here, several videos I shot here, and follow the #allamericacity twitter stream too.

Online All-America City Articles (added 06-29-10)

• Rancho Cordova Post
• Sacramento Press
• Sacramento Business Journal
• Cordova Community Council
• City of Rancho Cordova Website
• Grapevine Independent

We had our final All-America City team meeting last night before our Rancho Cordova delgation makes the trek to Kansas City over the next few days. We’ll be competing with about 25 other finalists for the honor of being crowned as an “All-America City.” We’ll give a 10-minute presentation on Thursday morning, so wish us luck. I put together a fun one-minute “Rocky” video from our team gathering last night. What do you think? Watch below or here. I’m so excited for this week. Once I knock out a couple days of work, I’m out of here.