Sacramento Appraisal Blog | Real Estate Appraiser

Real estate appraisals for divorce, estate settlement, loans, property tax appeal, pre-listing and more. We cover Sacramento, Placer and Yolo County. We're professional, courteous and timely.

crime prevention

Celebrating a $5,303 community yard sale

By Leave a Comment

I mentioned a week ago about a community yard I was helping lead to raise funds for a new neighborhood sign. After an incredible amount of work these past few weeks, I am very pleased to announce our yard sale total was a whopping $5,303. I am truly amazed and it has been wonderful to see the community really pull together to make this happen. This effort involved hard work from so many people and I’m elated to announce enough money was raised to design and build a new concrete neighborhood entrance sign.

This new sign will help rebrand a corner and also help improve the image of the neighborhood too, which can have an impact on property value over time. It’s often the “small things” in neighborhoods like keeping lawns mowed, the right types of fences, doing basic stuff and even neighborhood signs that help foster an image for the community – whether positive or negative.

On a different but related note, I used YouTube videos (like this one) to help show people what we had to offer at the sale. I found them to be very effective to post on Craigslist and email too. There were 437 hits on three videos over the weekend, which was worth the minimal effort I put into making them. It was great to have a huge turnout too on Sunday after Fox 40, News 10 and Channel 13 interviewed us on Saturday. I spoke at all the interviews, though I’ve only actually seen one of them. I have no idea how they turned out.

The moral of the story? Good things can happen in a neighborhood when neighbors get intentional. Do you have any stories of great things happening in your community? What would you like to see change? How do you market your yard sales?

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.

NNO recap & Tips for hosting a community BBQ

By 4 Comments

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.