Have you ever felt like you need to do a blog post, but you just don’t know what to write? I’ve been there many times, so I wanted to share a resource I created that helps me avoid this feeling by keeping 10-20 post ideas in front of me at any given time. The document below hangs in my office, and I use it to jot down post ideas whenever I have them. This system is simple and it’s  worked extremely well for me to be more organized, save time and stay focused on my target audience.

Download “How to develop blog content” and start writing down some ideas. I hope this is helpful, whether you have a real estate blog or write about something else.

By the way, if you’re in the real estate industry and looking for some general blogging tips, check out Quick Tips for Real Estate Blogging.

How do you plan posts? Could you see yourself using a resource like this?

If you have any questions or Sacramento area real estate appraisal or property tax appeal needs, contact me by phone 916-595-3735, email, Facebook, Twitter or subscribe to posts by email.

Do you think this roof might need replacement? I’ve been asked multiple times in my appraisal career to “ignore the tarp” on the roof, but when a tarp is present that means the roof is probably failing or getting too close for comfort, right? Well, maybe there really is no damage. Maybe it’s just an owner who prefers the look of a plastic tarp to comp shingles, tile or wood shake. 

In a situation like this the appraiser has to disclose all he knows about the roof and cannot simply ignore the situation – whether the appraisal is for a private party or a loan. A property like this would not quality for conventional or FHA financing unless the roof was repaired or replaced. On top of the cost to replace the roof, I would be most curious about any other damage on the interior from water intrusion.

Do you have any real estate roof stories?

If you have any questions or Sacramento area real estate appraisal or property tax appeal needs, contact me by phone 916-595-3735, email, Facebook, Twitter or subscribe to posts by email.

There is no escaping property taxes, right?

According to the Sacramento County Assessor, “An “escape assessment” is a correction to a property’s assessed value on the local property tax roll. The correction is made because the Assessor’s Office discovered a property or a taxable event that should have been assessed but was not. Current and/or prior year tax rolls may be affected. The most common reasons for an escape assessment are overlooked or unreported new construction, a missed change of ownership… or the removal of an exemption.”

Why am I talking about escape assessments? I just finished up some property tax consulting work for an East Sacramento home owner who needed research for his property’s value over the past four years. I love this type of work because it’s exciting to analyze the market for a number of years to establish a value over time. In this situation the owner inherited the property in 2008 from a friend, but the Assessor’s Office was not informed at the time of the death of the original owner, which should have triggered a reassessment. When the Assessor discovered the death and change of ownership, they sent the new owner a “Notice of Proposed Escape Assessment”, which basically means the Assessor’s Office enrolled new assessments for the property for the past four years. The home owner can appeal the values within 60 days of the issuance of the notice. Since the owner disagreed with the value put on the tax roll by the Assessor for 2008-2011, he hired me to show what market value was during each of these respective years.

NOTE: In situations like this the owner can appeal property taxes for multiple years in the past, but that’s not the case in typical “decline in value” situations. If you have been overtaxed for the past several years, for example, but you did not formally dispute your property taxes at the time, then there is nothing you can do once the appeals deadline passes on November 30 of the given year. All you can do is wait until the next year to appeal your property taxes.

Does that make sense? Let me know if you have any questions.

If you have any questions or Sacramento area real estate appraisal or property tax appeal needs, contact me by phone 916-595-3735, email, Facebook, Twitter or subscribe to posts by email.

To give comps or not give comps? That is the question. I met up with Realtor Steve Ostrom last week and we talked about whether a real estate agent should give an appraiser “comps” or not when meeting the appraiser at the inspection. Steve talked about why he always meets the appraiser at the property and I gave some tips for interacting with appraisers around this issue. Due to HVCC, there is still some confusion over whether agents can even talk to appraisers, but they definitely can (just don’t try to pressure for a certain value). Check out the video below (or here). Let me know what you think. I’d love to hear from other agents and appraisers especially. Any questions?

NOTE: In quite a few cases the “comps” provided by real estate agents are really not all that “comparable” to the subject property. It can be valuable when agents share their market insight with appraisers, but my advice to agents is to make sure the sales really are comparable and located in the same market area. This comes back to the difference between a property that is truly competitive / comparable (“comp”) to the subject and a sale that meets a certain price level.

If you have any questions or Sacramento area real estate appraisal or property tax appeal needs, contact me by phone 916-595-3735, email, Facebook, Twitter or subscribe to posts by email.

Do chain link fences increase or decrease property value in a neighborhood? I asked this question to some very experienced real estate agents and investors in the Sacramento area, and here is what they said:

Eric Peterson with Praxis Capital: We remove the chain link fences 100% of the time. We do the same to a house with bars on the windows. When buyers see this stuff they immediately think about safety concerns. It’s not the mindset you want to instill in a prospective buyer. If the houses around our target property have chain link fences, we likely will pass on the house. It’s just all about perception and no one wants to make a huge purchase decision while worrying about the safety of the street. 

Jeff Grenz with Erik Berry & Associates 916-425-3228: When I am evaluating homes for investor purchases… If the only home on the street with a chain link front yard fence is the home I’m evaluating, I include a cost to remove the fence, a few hundred dollars…but you can’t remove it from adjacent homes. Landscape and presentation of the subject and adjoining homes impacts the speed of the sale, and ultimately the price. Chain link yells “DISTRESSED”

When I see chain link in the front yard, I start looking for why… where is the big dog? Is there a high crime problem? Is there loitering? Will a potential buyer be asking the same thing and how many will pass by without even looking? I will lose prospective buyers.

It’s an economic decision…. as you lose prospective buyers and narrow your field, it costs more time to sell and you have to discount, both of which devalue the property.

Dennis Lanni with Housing Group Fund: It would not matter to me, but the chain link fence represents what kind of neighborhood it is. It tells me that safety is a concern, sort of like security doors but worse.

Kaleena Amuchastegui with Capri Property Real Estate: Automatically what comes to mind when you mention a front yard chain link fence is a home in an undesirable neighborhood, there is just something about chain link that screams it’s needed to be there to protect a home, not to mention it’s a huge eye sore in my opinion. I think of older neighborhoods that are run-down, I think of areas with higher crime rates… I know that if we acquired a property with a chain link fence around from auction there is a 90% chance we would remove it. I also know we would never add a chain link fence to a property.

Max Boyko with Team Hybrid Real Estate Services: Of course what I think and my investors think can be a different thing, but I would say chain link fences are definitely one of the most unappealing items in a neighborhood. It varies case by case, but primarily my investors would take them out, which I agree with. I wouldn’t say they would pass on a property if it was a good deal, but it takes away the appealing factor and creates a sense of poor security in the neighborhood, which may turn off potential buyers

Please note if you have a chain link fence, nobody is targeting you or saying you’re bringing down the neighborhood. These are simply the opinions of experienced real estate agents and investors. Of course, it may be worth considering what they are saying since they are constantly buying properties to fix and sell on the open market. Clearly they’re in touch with the perceptions of buyers, what makes a difference in property value and the reality of how important impressions are for a neighborhood. If certain elements of fence design give off a negative impression for the community, what can be done about it? What options exist?

If you want further information, I wrote a series last year called “Blight Week” that might provide some more insight into this important conversation. I wrote a previous post that shows a variety of different types of fences and considers the influence a front fence can have on a property. I firmly believe any neighborhood that is experiencing signs of decay has the potential to see better days with a little intention. There is always hope and we can find and experience that together too.

What do you think about chain link fences? Do you agree with the specialists above?

If you have any questions or Sacramento area real estate appraisal or property tax appeal needs, contact me by phone 916-595-3735, email, Facebook, Twitter or subscribe to posts by email.

Sometimes there really isn’t any value in a house. I’m working on an appraisal right now where the cost to demolish the house looks to be the only ”value” the structure is bringing to the lot. When a house has very poor workmanship, a shoddy foundation, does not conform to current code in any sense and is all around sub-par in quality and construction, it’s not too likely to be a positive contributor for value.

Improved Site – Cost to Demo = Market Value

In a valuation like this I would not just consider the raw land, but also the contribution of value for any other improvements too – namely water and sewer on the site (hence the term “improved site”). But the cost to demolish the property also must be considered in a case like this because a buyer in his right mind wouldn’t pay money for an inhabitable house that is well beyond a reasonable cost-to-cure.

The moral of the story? Just because a house exists does not mean it has value. In so many cases a house can be salvaged, but in some cases a house just needs to meet a bulldozer instead.

If you have any questions or Sacramento area real estate appraisal or property tax appeal needs, contact me by phone 916-595-3735, email, Facebook, Twitter or subscribe to posts by email.

I came across this street in Sacramento last week and shot a quick video. Which house do you think might be overbuilt for the area? Does one stand out to you? The answer is obvious, I know, because one house is defnitely 2x or more the size of surrounding houses.

What disadvantages or advantages might an overbuilt house have? I’d love to hear your comments and stories below.

Let me know if you have any questions. Call 916.595.3735, email me, or contact me through my appraisal website.

Home owners often wonder how far the real estate market in the Sacramento area has declined since the housing “bubble” burst several years ago. Or in other words, if you bought your house today, how far back would you have to go to find the same price in the past? The graphs below from the Sacramento Association of Realtors help answer this question as they compare median sales price in respective zip codes to the county-wide median sales price from 1997 to 2010.

Have a look at the following graphs, see my commentary below, and let me know what you think. What do you see?

Carmichael Trend Graph (95608 zip code):

Elk Grove Trend Graph (95624 zip code):

Elk Grove Trend Graph (95758 zip code):

Fair Oaks Trend Graph (95628 zip code):

Greenhaven / Pocket Trend Graph (95831 zip code):

Land Park / Curtis Park Trend Graph (95818 zip code):

Mather Trend Graph (95655 zip code):

West Sacramento Trend Graph (95605 zip code):

Basically, if you bought a house today in the post-bubble real estate market in Sacramento, you’d be paying somewhere around late 2001 house prices generally (depending on the area of course). Many areas currently have a median price somewhere just before 2002, while some of the higher-priced zip codes tend to have a median price level right now closer to 2003-ish level. Keep in mind too that each house is different and may or may not be consistent with the overall zip code trend.

If you have any questions or insight, I’d love to hear your comment belows. If you have a need for my real estate appraisal or consluting services also, feel free to call 916.595.375, visit my website at www.LundquistCompany.com or email ryan@LundquistCompany.com.

How do the graphs above strike you?

While appraising a triplex in Sacramento I came across an interesting property history of another nearby triplex in the “Gardenland” area of Sacramento in the 95833 zip code. As you can see below, this property has changed hands quite a bit in the past five years, and it has gone into foreclosure twice too. This is actually a fairly common phenomenon because investors and first-time buyers purchased properties several years ago when property values had already come down since 2005, but then the economy took a turn for the worse. Property values decreased even more and unemployment increased dramatically also.

Sales History of a Triplex Property:

10/01/2010  $117,500 (sold on MLS as bank-owned)
08/11/2010  $60,376 (foreclosure transfer)
02/28/2008  $180,000 (sold on MLS as bank-owned)
07/25/2007  $306,000 (foreclosure transfer)
06/22/2006  $399,000 (sale – not on MLS)
05/27/2005  $360,000 (sale – not on MLS)

It’s remarkable to think this triplex once sold at $399,000 and yet closed days ago for $117,500. This property seems to tell the story of the housing bust and current economy, huh? What do you see?

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.

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?

They say a picture is worth a thousand words, and in this case it’s true. I noted quite a few bullet holes in the stucco of a house on a recent appraisal inspection. I’m not a big gun guy (or CSI fan), so I couldn’t tell you what type of firearm caused this damage, but I do know that holes like this are a sad commentary on reality.