I had someone ask about Kevin Martin’s condo the other day, so I wanted to give the scoop on L Street in Midtown for any who might be wondering. Former Sacramento Kings Guard, Kevin Martin, purchased a penthouse condo in the L Street Lofts on 09/25/2008 for $1,340,000. The property was re-listed on the market at $995,000 in December 2010 and sold all cash on 04/19/2011 for $775,000. Here is a visual tour of the loft in photos. I bet this tour will only be live for a matter of weeks, so sneak a look if you can. Frankly I’m surprised the tour is still up since the property closed a few months back. This post by Bleed Black & Purple goes into a bit more detail about the transaction. By the way, there is a bank-owned corner penthouse loft for sale right now at $750,000 (originally sold on 06/27/2008 for $1,185,000).

The Price of Fame: Would you pay more for a property because someone famous lived there? Would you feel like you had ”bragging rights” to say an NBA player previously owned your property? Or what about buying Ronald Reagan’s house in the “Fabulous 40s” where he lived while he was Governor? There is obviously a difference between a former president and NBA star, but the scenario is still thought-provoking. On the other side, would you pay less in other cases, maybe serial killer Dorothea Puente (sold last year)? What role have you seen former ownership play in real estate?

If you want to understand what has been happening in the Sacramento area real estate market during the first quarter of 2011 (and get some good context for the past), check out the Wright Report. I am pleased to have been able to contribute to this report again, and I wanted to share it since it is the most exhaustive report I know of that covers the state of real estate investment in the Greater Sacramento Area (Sacramento, Placer, Yolo, and El Dorado Counties). Thank you Joel Wright for letting me contribute and thank you to everyone who reads it.

Click here to view the Wright Report on Scribd and then click “download” on the bottom right corner of the screen to save a copy to your desktop. I recommend reading the report leisurely and digesting it over a few days. 

Agree? Disagree? Questions? Let me know what you think.

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. 

Can a cracked or raised driveway be an issue for an FHA loan? If the damage is deemed a safety issue for whatever reason, then it is something that will require correction. However, if the damage is minimal and hardly noticeable, it shouldn’t be a big deal. Let’s look at a real life example.  

The tree roots in this front yard in Sacramento have made a very obvious impact to the driveway. It’s not hard to miss damage like this, right? The photo above does give the illusion that the raised driveway is truck-sized, but my shoe below helps show more clearly that one slab has been pushed 3-4 inches higher than the other slab. It’s always important to bring in an object to the photo to help give perspective (maybe a ruler, quarter, dollar, etc… or shoe).

A trip hazard is a subjective call to make by the appraiser and not necessarily an automatic repair, but in this case above my sense is that this is a legitimate safety issue. There is confusion over trip hazards due to HUD Mortgagee Letter 2005- ML-48 (pdf) which indicates that trip hazards are no longer an automatic repair. Sometimes this is interpreted to mean that trip hazards are no longer an issue to be called out, but that’s not really the intent of FHA because guidelines require a property to be free of all known hazards and adverse conditions that might affect the health and safety of occupants.

Do you think a driveway as such might be a safety hazard? Have you encountered difficulties funding a loan due to a driveway like this?

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. 

Are appraisers being too picky about calling out for repairs on FHA loans? I cannot speak for all appraisers by any means, but from an appraiser’s standpoint I’ll say that FHA has strict guidelines they expect their appraisers to follow. As a Certified Real Estate Appraiser in the Sacramento area, I have a HUD checklist that I go through while at a property, and if there are items HUD won’t accept, I have to call them out. Things like chipping paint, an inoperable heat system, a shattered window, or even a broken garbage disposal, can all hold up an FHA loan if not properly cured. 

It can be frustrating to think such a minor repair can be a deal killer for a loan, but at the same time, a good loan officer, solid lender, and superstar real estate agent will be able to cooperatively deal with issues like this. FHA repairs are normative in the course of business, and when you work with knowledgeable professionals, these things can be anticipated, maybe negotiated with the seller, and hopefully remedied (of course this might be difficult if the property is bank-owned, and the bank is unwilling to put even one cent back into the foreclosed property). See a video below that I shot during an FHA appraisal inspection (recorded with myTouch 4G cell phone):

Let me know if you have questions, insight, or any real estate appraisal or valuation consulting needs. If you are a local real estate or loan office in the Sacramento area, I’m happy to come and give my FHA presentation. Contact me at 916.595.3735, on my company website, or on Facebook.

The Sacramento Appraisal Blog is hosting a little contest for you, and the prize is a free $125.00 Residential Natural Hazard & Tax Disclosure Report by GeoAssurance. It’s what you wanted for Christmas, right?

These types of reports give great detail for any environmental hazards surrounding your property, and you can use the NHD report for any local residential property you want, whether for business or personal use (or for a friend or family member).

All you have to do is comment on THIS blog post below or tweet the following message: ”Christmas Contest from @SacAppraiser: FREE Natural Hazards Report http://bit.ly/7BKVzX”

The Fine Print: Anyone can enter. You must live in or do business in one of the following California counties: Sacramento, Placer, Yolo, El Dorado, San Joaquin, Stanislaus, Merced, Yuba, Sutter, or Solano. Each person only gets one entry, but if you have a Twitter account like me and you re-tweet this post, you can have two chances to win (blog comment and tweet).  The NHD report is good for one residential property located in one of the aforementioned counties. A winner will be selected on December 21, 2009 at 3pm PST and announced here and on Twitter. If you do not provide accurate contact information, someone else will be selected. 

Questions? Call 916-595-3735, email ryan@lundquistcompany.com or message me on Twitter at @SacAppraiser. 

www.SacramentoAppraisalBlog.com Win a FREE Natural Hazards Disclosure Report: A Christmas Gift from The Sacramento Appraisal Blog