What keeps you up at night? Lately I’ve been thinking quite a bit about some violent crimes that have occurred in my city. There was a drive-by shooting a few days ago that killed three teenagers and I’m grieved that things like this happen. I find myself getting less sleep and giving more of my attention to collaborating for results for some of these local problems.

I know blog experts say you should pick a niche and stick to it, but today I can’t help but take a little detour from the appraisal realm to talk about the importance of building community to reduce crime. Okay, technically speaking, safer neighborhoods tend to have higher property values, so maybe I’m still somewhat on topic. 

I think it’s easy to look at violent crime and see the usual suspects like gangs, guns, and drug-use, but there is often another culprit. Yes, isolation is a very great danger in our communities, yet it seems like the American ideal (at least on the west coast). We purchase real estate and often tend to drift into the backyard to actualize our yearning for privacy and exclusivity. There is nothing wrong with that of course, but when our normative practice as a community is to withdraw and no longer talk to each other or think each household has a responsibility to the community, we are setting ourselves up for some problems. Having good communication is the foundation for a strong neighborhood, so when communication sloughs off or hardly exists, a neighborhood is destined to have crime take over and property values dwindle.  

By the way, here is an advocacy campaign I’m helping to put together. I’m not looking for kudos nor am I bragging in any way either. This is very real to my world right now, and I welcome any locals to please get involved. News 10 actually interviewed me today about this effort. Together we can make some changes, but change will never happen without intention.

I would never blame something like a shooting on silent neighbors, so please don’t get me wrong here. I simply think that when tragedy strikes, it’s a good reminder for each of us to embrace a vision for the community by intentionally contributing to neighborhood life in very simple and practical ways. This can sound overwhelming, but improving a neighborhood really boils down to things like saying “hi” to neighbors, picking up litter, taking walks around the block, keeping the lawn mowed, grilling burgers with the family next door, waving to passersby and reporting suspicious activity. These are only mundane practices in life that require little time or skill, but they can have a very real impact on the community - if they are practiced or not practiced. 

If isolation does not help boost safety or property values, why is it so readily embraced in our society?

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.

It’s easy to view all sales in a given city on one graph, but what happens when we begin to unpack data a bit and look at specific areas or zip codes? We just might notice differences because there are often a number of real estate segments or sub-markets within a given city. As we all know, not all neighborhoods are competitive to each other, so it’s important to try to look at neighborhood-specific data to really understand the real estate market. Below is a trend graph of all sales in the City of Rancho Cordova over roughly the past five years.

There are actually three zip codes in Rancho Cordova (only two with houses really though). Let’s put the 95670 and 95742 zip codes in Rancho Cordova next to each other below and do a little comparison to see if we might get better data this way as opposed to just looking at the graph above. What do you see when viewing data in the 95670 zip code (not Gold River – only Rancho Cordova) in comparison to the 95742 zip code (Anatolia, Kavala Ranch, Sunridge)?

Rancho Cordova Real Estate Data (95670 Zip Code)
* 107 sales over the past 90 days
* 5.4 months of current housing supply listed on the market
* $146,000 median sales price over the past 90 days
* Average days on market: 64 days
* Number of active listings: 92
* Number of active short sale listings: 59
* Number of active short sale contingent listings: 43
* Number of pendings: 56
* 42% of all sales over the past year were REO (bank-owned)
* 26% of all sales over the past year were Short Sales
* Roughly 68% of all sales were distressed in some regard (REO or SS)
* Unemployment in Rancho Cordova is 14.4% per EDD (as of 12/2010)
* Unemployment in Sacramento County is 12.6% per EDD (as of 12/2010)

Rancho Cordova Real Estate Data (95742 Zip Code)
* 61 sales over the past 90 days
* 7.1 months of current housing supply listed on the market
* $231,000 median sales price over the past 90 days
* Average days on market: 86 days
* Number of active listings: 44
* Number of active short sale listings: 60
* Number of active short sale contingent listings: 41
* Number of pendings: 54
* 32% of all sales over the past year were REO (bank-owned)
* 29% of all sales over the past year were Short Sales
* Roughly 61% of all sales were distressed in some regard (REO or SS)
* Unemployment in Rancho Cordova is 14.4% per EDD (as of 12/2010)
* Unemployment in Sacramento County is 12.6% per EDD (as of 12/2010)

What stands out to you about the differences between 95670 and 95742? When we combine 95742 data into 95670 data to show all of Rancho Cordova, the entire median sales price level for Rancho Cordova increases, doesn’t it? Can you see why I think it’s important to look at these zip codes separately? Ah, we can make data say so many things if we’re not careful to really dissect it.

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.

What’s been happening in the Rancho Cordova real estate market? I’d like to give you a glance below at the overall tend over the past few years as well as some current data tidbits too. Keep in mind that a specific property in Rancho Cordova may or may not fit in with the general trend shown below. 

As you can see, when looking at all sales from 2006, property values have clearly declined over time. There is a very obvious downtrend, wouldn’t you say? Additionally, there is a wide value spectrum too, which represents a big difference in neighborhoods like White Rock, Lincoln Village, Walnutwood, La Loma, Stone Creek, Sunriver, and Anatolia.

Let’s take a closer look at the 95670 zip code in Rancho Cordova(not Gold River – that’s a different market). Sometimes sales in Gold River and Rancho Cordova are grouped together on graphs because they have the same zip code, but that’s not proper in my opinion. Regarding the 95742 zip code, we can take a look at data in a future post if you’d like (just let me know). Overall it looks like there has been a decline in sales prices over the past year, though not as steep of a decline as in previous years. The trend toward more stability is similar to Citrus Heights.

Now let’s put an age parameter on the data to see if there is any difference between properties built before and after 1990. As you can see when comparing the graph above with the one below, newer areas in the 95670 represent the highest sales in the zip code (this would be basically be the Stone Creek area and Capital Village).

Here is a spectrum of price per square foot for all sales in Rancho Cordova (95670) over the past year. Remember though, don’t just take your square footage and multiply it by the average price per square foot. That’s not always the best idea to determine the value of your house. See my previous post entitled “Is price per square foot an accurate way to measure the value of a house?”

Specific Rancho Cordova Real Estate Market Data (95670 zip code):

• 165 sales over the past 90 days.
• 89 current active listings
• 55 current active short sale listings
• 42 current short sale contingent listings (this means an offer has been submitted already)
• 39% of all sales over the past year were REO (bank-owned)
• 22% of all sales over the past year were Short Sales
• Roughly 61% of all sales were distressed in some regard (REO or SS)
• Unemployment in Rancho Cordova is 14.6% per EDD (as of 11/2010)
• Unemployment in Sacramento County is 12.8% per EDD (as of 11/2010)

By the way, here is a video from the Rancho Cordova Historical Society with over ten minutes of old photos and maps of Rancho Cordova.

If you’ve been looking for Rancho Cordova real estate information, I hope this was helpful for you. What do you see in the data above? Does anything stand out to you? Keep me posted if you have any questions or a need for a real estate appraisal or property consulting. I am a member of the Rancho Cordova Chamber of Commerce, and I do appraisal work for estate planning, probate, divorce, second opinions, FHA, property tax appeal, private loans, bankruptcy, and so much more. Call 916.595.3735, email me, or visit my company website.

It’s been a great week of business, but one of the most exciting things I have to talk about is the official hooded-sweatshirt count for Project 680. Our goal was to collect 680 new sweatshirts (“hoodies”) for homeless students in the Folsom Cordova Unified School District, and I am very pleased to announce that 735 hoodies were gathered by residents, churches, businesses, and organizations.

It’s been amazing to see intentional compassion spread throughout the community. Watch a video thank you below or HERE for details. For more information on Project 680, contact me or see www.project680.org or the P680 Facebook page.

If you’ve been spending any time reading this blog (thank you), you’ve heard me talk recently about Project 680 and a drive to collect 680 new hooded sweatshirts for homeless students in the Folsom Cordova Unified School District. Well, last night we had our finale celebration at Rancho Cordova City Hall and I am very pleased and excited to officially announce we met our goal of 680 hoodies since we counted a total of 687 hoodies last night.

It’s been amazing to watch the community rally together for the sake of homeless students in the FCUSD. Local residents, businesses, churches and organizations really stepped up their game to to make this happen. Thank you everyone for your team-oriented mindset and support, whether big or small. 

Here is a brief video I shot to give you a glimpse into last night’s festivities.

Home owners ask me sometimes about the average price per square foot for their neighborhood. Honestly, I pay attention to the price per sq ft as one of many real estate metrics, but it’s not the end-all solution to valuation by any means. Let me illustrate my point by presenting a graph of all sales in the Anatolia neighborhood of Rancho Cordova over the past twelve months.

Over the past 90 days Anatolia has had an average price per square foot of $103. If Joe the Home Owner then took this figure and applied it to his home, let’s see what he comes up with. Imagine he has a house at 1000 square feet. In theory, Joe’s house should be worth $103,000 (1000 x $103), but the graph shows homes at 1000 square feet sold between $140 to $150 dollars per square foot actually. Let’s look at 2000 square feet. It looks like $103 works very well for some houses, but other properties at 2000 square feet clearly sold closer to $250,000 (that would be $125 per sq ft). Let’s look at even larger homes. Many 4000 square foot properties sold well under $103 per square foot, and houses around 5,550 square feet sold closer to $81 per square foot ($450,000 / $103). 

As you can see, an average price per square foot figure is not constant for all houses in a neighborhood. Simply multiplying your square footage by the average price per square foot for your area, city or zip code may or may not work, and will very likely not give you an accurate number.

Question: When looking at the graph above, what size of home do you think might give you the best return on your dollar?

I wanted to share with you that there are three weeks left in the Project 680 Hoody Drive. It’s been great to see everyone get involved so far, and I’d love to see others embrace the vision too. We definitely have some work left in our quest to collect 680 hoodies for homeless students in the FCUSD. Let’s keep going strong and advocate for homeless kids in this very practical and relevant way. If you have any questions or a desire to get involved, let me know.

By the way, this was the first video I took with my Flip Ultra 4GB video camera. I am really excited to have this camera. The lighting wasn’t great and there is a freeway close by, so settings weren’t ideal, but overall I am impressed with the quality so far for a $150 product. Are you a Flip owner?

Beyond appraisals, Project 680 is something really important to me, so I wanted you to know what is going on. We’ll be doing a community hoody drive beginning this month. This is such a simple idea and practical way to advocate for local homeless students. Together we can make a difference. 

If you can’t see the video in RSS, click here. There are many ways to get involved in the flow of what we are doing (the video explains it all). Even if you aren’t local, I’d love to have you join forces and definitely take a photo for the photography contest. I’d love to have some blog readers submit photos. That would make my day.

Questions? More information? Call 916.595.3735, see www.project680.org/hoody, catch us Twitter @project680, or on Facebook at www.facebook.com/project680.

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!!!

Will the Arden-Arcade area of Sacramento become a city? We shall see. There is a measure on the ballot for November 2010 that puts this important decision in the hands of residents (Measure D). 

If you live in the Arden-Arcade community or have an opinion about cityhood either way, I am very curious to hear what you think, especially as it pertains to the current quality of life under Sacramento County. I’m paying close attention to this issue because it’s my professional duty to know what is happening locally, but more than that I am a resident of the newest city in the Sacramento area and my Rancho Cordova antennas are tuning in.

The image below shows boundaries for Arden-Arcade.  

Links for further reading about Arden-Arcade:

Arden-Arcade Cityhood Observer (blog)
Arden-Arcade Cityhood Website
Arden-Arcade Sacramento County Website
Arden-Arcade Wikipedia
List of Arden-Arcade Council Candidates
SNR Story: Is Sacramento cracking up? 7-10-10
Sacramento Bee: In Arden-Arcade, cityhood fever heats up again 08-18-10
Stay Sacramento Facebook Page
Stay Sacramento (opposition to cityhood)
Yes on Measure “D” Facebook Group

Would you be interested in reading through the book “Crush It” by Gary Vaynerchuk? I put together a little business book club earlier this year and I’d like to take a stab at Round 2. The main idea is that during one month local business-minded people get together at a coffee shop once a week for 60-90 minutes to talk about a few chapters of a book. This is a short commitment, but good on a few levels. It helps us bounce around ideas, grow, learn together and form stronger relationships. This book is very well liked too, so I’m looking forward to absorbing the content together.

The last book we read was Trust Agents. Depending on our meeting location, we might just do locals only (I’ll keep you posted Bryan & Tom since you guys joined last time from Georgia & Alabama). We’ll see on that point.

I don’t have set times yet, though I’m thinking we can start in later July or the beginning of August on Tuesdays or Thursdays from 2-3:30pm. Let me know if you’re interested or if a different time works for you. I’d like to meet somewhere near the Rancho Cordova area or Sacramento. The best group size will be 8 or so people – and from different types of businesses. If it turns out that August is too busy for us based on vacations and such, then we’ll just make it happen in September when things theoretically slow down.

I got news a couple hours ago that fireworks for the annual youth fireworks fundraiser at Cordova Neighborhood Church were stolen late last night from the metal storage container on church property. Thieves broke in and took nearly everything. In short, this fundraiser is THE big fundraiser of the year for kids to earn their way to summer camp as well as pay for other activities throughout the year. Right now the church is out between $8,000-$10,000.

This is actually my home church, so it’s definitely personal for me. But objectively speaking, it’s not okay to steal from kids and churches. Bottom line.

But there is good news because fireworks will be re-stocked by this afternoon. If you are thinking of making a purchase anyway, please consider going to 10600 Coloma Road in Rancho Cordova. Also, see the Rancho Cordova Post for more details. I think News 10 also came out to run a story. Let’s respond together. Feel free to spread the news by Twitter, Facebook, or however you’d like. Just remember that there is a massive 4th of July Parade tomorrow morning on Coloma Road, so plan around that major traffic jam (street blocked off until 12pm basically).

Happy 4th of July everyone!!!!

Photo by Bryce Cooley – used with permission.