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.

Real Estate Appraisal

City of Galt Market Trends & the Value of Age

By Leave a Comment

Over the years I have done quite a bit of appraisal work in the city of Galt. If you are not familiar with the area, then know that Galt is located off Highway 99 in Sacramento County just North of the San Joaquin County Line and South of the city of Elk Grove. The Highway basically divides Galt into two portions (Western & Eastern), and in general the Western side contains older houses (though there are still patches of newer developments as well as many properties built in the early 1990s in particular).

The information in the graph below is based upon sales in Sacramento MLS for detached single family residential units.

City of Galt Market Trends Graph by Lundquist Appraisal Company September 2009

Instead of keeping all sales in the graph as one color, I thought it would be more interesting to plot properties built after 2000 (blue dots) against homes built before 1999 (red). What do you see in the graph? It looks like the panoramic view of sales is showing that buyers are willing to pay higher amounts for properties that are newer in age. This isn’t a revolutionary concept, but it’s interesting to see on paper. Yet at the same time one notices there are many properties built prior to 2000 that compete with the upper end of blue dots between $250-400K. Overall though, we see that the lower end of the market has fewer blue dots, doesn’t it?

I suppose if we really wanted to segment the entire Galt market in the graph, it would be most prudent to further break down age categories into something like the following: pre-1900, 1900-1940, 1940-1960, 1960-1979, 1980-1989, 1990-1999, and 2000-2009. And then we could start segmenting other factors like square footage, location, lot size, bedroom count, condition, upgrades, etc…. Okay, this is starting to sound like what I do everyday as an appraiser. 

By the way, if you have not seen our Galt video on YouTube, check it out HERE or below. The photos are original and they help to show some of the different types of property found in Galt – on both sides of the freeway. The city of Galt has some neat historical properties and also really typical tract homes.

 

Feel free to comment above or contact me at info@lundquistcompany.com or 916-595-3735 if you have any questions. If you are a Galt home owner, what is it you love about your city?

www.SacramentoAppraisalBlog.com City of Galt Market Trends & the Value of Age

A Lesson in Neighborhood Boundaries: Tahoe Park, Tallac Village & Fruitridge Manor in Sacramento

By Leave a Comment

I wanted to put up a brief post to talk about neighborhood boundaries and how important it is to know the local market when appraising (or hunting for real estate). Often times it is obvious when a new neighborhood or housing niche begins because the style of homes change or there is a natural barrier such as railroad tracks, a main street, commercial property or a highway. Other times it is not so obvious to the unfamiliar eye.

The image below is a portion of Sacramento known as Tahoe Park South (blue), Tallac Village (green) and Fruitridge Manor (orange).

Tahoe Park - Tallac Village - Fruitridge Manor

According to our uniform appraisal standards called USPAP, appraisers are to select the best available comparable sales when doing an appraisal. Lenders know this and so most of the time they have a standard requirement for the “comps” to be located within a one-mile radius from the subject property (NOTE: the best comps are not always located within a one mile radius). So when applying this lending guideline, in theory an appraiser can value a property location in the orange section (Fruitridge Manor) and then find comparables in the blue portion (Tahoe Park South), right? Well, not really because even though these housing areas are well within a one-mile radius of each other, they are actually much different market areas as illustrated with the data below.

Tahoe Park South (blue):

  • 5 sales over past 90 days
  • 32 sales over past 12 months
  • Median price over past 90 days:  $225,000
  • Current Actives:  11

Tallac Village (green)

  • 20 sales over past 90 days
  • 59 sales over past 12 months
  • Median price over past 90 days:  $89,500
  • Current Actives:  31

Fruitridge Manor (orange)

  • 13 sales over past 90 days
  • 66 sales over past 12 months
  • Median Price over past 90 days:  $85,000
  • Current Actives:  31

The most obvious difference above is the striking change once you head North of 21st Avenue from Tallac Village to Tahoe Park South. If one were comparing property values between the areas above, the median price levels alone tell you that property in the current real estate market in Tahoe Park South sells for a great deal more than Tallac Village or Fruitridge Manor. For more information on the Tahoe Park area, click HERE.

We can also see that Fruitridge Manor and Tallac Village have a similar median price level and so they appear more similar on paper. However, one important difference to note that comes from knowing the local market is that the bulk of houses in Tallac Village are block construction (yes, houses made out of block) in comparison to the typical stick-built houses in Fruitridge Manor.

Knowing local neighborhoods is important when buying a house, investing in real estate and definitely when appraising properties. This post is not meant to be exhaustive, but only briefly informative. If you have further questions or any real estate appraisal needs, you are welcome to contact me at 916-595-3735 or ryan@lundquistcompany.com.

www.SacramentoAppraisalBlog.com A Lesson in Neighborhood Boundaries: Tahoe Park, Tallac Village & Fruitridge Manor in Sacramento

Fannie Mae’s Definition of Market Value

By 3 Comments

As an FYI for any readers, this is Fannie Mae’s definition of market value, which is contained in the Fannie Mae appriasal form (1004) that is used for most conventional loans:

imagesMarket value is the most probable price which a property should bring in a competitive and open market under all conditions requisite to a fair sale, the buyer and seller, each acting prudently, knowledgeably and assuming the price is not affected by undue stimulus. Implicit in this definition is the consummation of a sale as of a specified date and the passing of title from seller to buyer under conditions whereby: (1) buyer and seller are typically motivated; (2) both parties are well informed or well advised, and each acting in what he considers his own best interest; (3) a reasonable time is allowed for exposure in the open market; (4) payment is made in terms of cash in U.S. dollars or in terms of financial arrangements comparable thereto; and (5) the price represents the normal consideration for the property sold unaffected by special or creative financing or sales concessions granted by anyone associated with the sale.

Examples: If you sell your house and include your red corvette in the garage as part of the sale, it probably wouldn’t fit the definition above because the buyer very likely paid a higher price for the house because of the machine parked in the garage (#5). Or if there are $50,000 of concessions contained in the purchase price, chances are that the buyer paid more for the house to get the benefit of money back, right? (#5) Or if a property is listed on the market for 1 day only, it may have been under-priced and not reflective of the market, right? (#3) (not always the case if a property goes quickly, but often so). Or consider when a family member sells to another family member and how the sales price is often much lower than it would have been if a non-family member purchased the house. This would very likely not be an arms-length transaction where each party is acting in his own best interest (#4). Or imagine a couple is getting divorced and they need to sell their house quickly. The house sells $30,000 below other recent sales in the neighborhood and so it does not fit the definition of market value (# 2 & # 3).  These are the types of issues that appraisers must consider constantly (and these are the reasons why speaking with local Realtors is a crucial part of our job. Having reliable and accurate information leads to better appraisals). 

If anyone has questions, feel free to contact me at 916-595-3735 or www.lundquistcompany.com