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3 talking points for Sacramento real estate

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Let’s look at three trends today. Instead of only unpacking Sacramento County though, let’s glance at the region as a whole to understand larger dynamics at hand. I hope this will help give you a few more real estate talking points, whether for conversation with friends or clients. Any thoughts?

1)  It’s taking 20% longer to sell properties compared to last year

days on market for sac placer yolo el dorado county - sacramento appraisal blog

It’s not earth-shattering news that properties are spending more time on the market these days compared to last year. It’s simply one of the byproducts of having more housing inventory. Keep in mind 47 days is actually really quick considering sales in March 2012 took more than 80 days.

2) Inventory is up by 110% compared to last March

inventory in sac placer yolo el dorado county - sacramento appraisal blog

The Sacramento Region had just above one month of housing supply for an entire year. Inventory began to increase when interest rates shot up from 3.5 to 4.0% between May and June 2013 (and investors also began exiting the market around this time). It’s easy to get sensationalistic about a stat like this, but remember that current inventory is still VERY low.

3) Sales volume is down 17% from last year

SACRAMENTO region sales volume - by sacramento appraisal blog

Sales volume has been really low lately. The first quarter of 2014 was down 17% in sales volume when compared to the first quarter of 2013 and 25% from the first quarter of 2012. As you can see above, cash sales are an X-factor for why volume has been low, and the market has been feeling the impact. This is true in Sacramento County, and it’s true when looking at the region (Placer, Yolo, El Dorado & Sacramento).

BONUS: The first quarter of 2014 saw a 44% decline in cash sales compared with Q1 2013.

A quick video of where the market is. Watch below or here.

I hope this was helpful.

Sacramento Bee Quote: By the way, I wanted to share that I was quoted in a SacBee article last week entitled Sellers’ market has few sales. That’s always an honor. Thank you to anyone who clicked over from the story or even subscribed. I really appreciate you being here, and I’m looking forward to talking together.

Questions: What stands out to you above? What are you seeing in the trenches of the local market? I’d love to hear your insight. Comments are welcome below.

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Top items to review in an appraisal report: Part 3

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What was the appraiser thinking? That’s not always easy to tell since an appraisal report can often be more than 25 pages in length. Where do you even begin to understand the rationale of the appraised value?

formsOver the past couple weeks I’ve shown you some of the big-ticket items to look for in an appraisal report (see Part 1 and Part 2). Today I wanted to wrap up this series by providing an example of an appraisal report that includes the information from the previous posts as well as a few extra tidbits. This example has sections highlighted in bold blue text to help you get straight to some of the most important items to review. This is perfect for home owners, attorneys and anyone in the real estate community wanting to brush up on the art of reading an appraisal. Ultimately, knowing these things may help you gauge whether the report is reliable or not (as well as give you a framework for challenging a bad appraisal).

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD the example report. I’ve highlighted about ten sections in blue and included descriptions for ease of use. I’m also glad to visit your office to lead discussion to talk through this document (it would take 10-15 min).

example appraisal report - by sacramento appraisal blog

Please note each appraisal software company may have a slightly different layout, and that appraisals for non-lending purposes may look even less similar.

Any questions or stories to share? Comment below.

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Taking a sledgehammer to the First Value Inn

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Just a quick post to share a fun real estate moment from last week. I attended the demolishing of the First Value Inn in Rancho Cordova. This dilapidated motel was a sincere eyesore for the community, so it’s great to have it torn down to make room for a parking lot for the Los Rios College District. If you didn’t know, a college campus is scheduled to come to Folsom Blvd just west of Mather Field Road in the next two years. Anyway, while attending the event I was elated to get to inflict some damage on the building with a sledgehammer. This definitely made last week’s highlight reel for me. It’s the small things, right?

me

Also, here is a fast motion video I put together to help show the demo. I thought it would be fun and more interesting to speed up the video to essentially show six minutes of film in about one minute. Watch below (or here).

I always enjoy seeing progress in Sacramento area communities. Change happens one step at a time. Or in this case, one building at a time.

Question: What changes have you seen in your community lately? I’d love to hear about any building demos or rehabs.

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