It’s been well-publicized for years that there is naturally occurring asbestos in El Dorado Hills. Here are some links for further research for anyone wanting to read up on the issue, particularly if you are considering making a home purchase. It’s so important to be well-informed about the good stuff and “the dirt” in a community, don’t you think? If you are a resident in El Dorado Hills, how do you feel about the issue? No big deal? Slightly concerned? Is there anything you do to adjust your outdoor lifestyle because of NOA?

EPA Article on El Dorado Hills
El Dorado County of Education Links on Asbestos
EDH Asbestos Yahoo Groups
Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry
California Geological Survey – Asbestos

If you have any questions, or real estate appraisal or property tax appeal needs in the Greater Sacramento Region, contact Lundquist Appraisal by phone 916-595-3735, email, Facebook, Twitter or subscribe to posts by email.

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. 

May was “Bike Month” in the Sacramento area, and I decided to participate at the last minute by contributing fifty miles to the overall regional goal of one million miles for the month. 

I love riding my mountain bike along the American River Trails, but I’ve been hibernating from biking for quite some time now. I finally crossed the threshold again though to get back in the saddle, and I’m so glad I did. Most of my fifty miles over the week consisted of leisure, but I did make it a point to do a 15-mile roundtrip for a re-inspection of a property in the La Riviera area. The home owners were enthusiastic about me doing this, so it was fun to combine appraisal work and biking on the same trip. You can see a partial map of my route above (taken from the MapMyRide app).

Geographic Competency: I don’t plan to bike to many inspections because it would take far too long to do my job on only two wheels. However, biking to one appraisal inspection last week made me think of how important it is for an appraiser to really know the local market and understand the influences in a particular neighborhood. That is exactly why I recommend interviewing an appraiser before making a hire. Ask the appraiser about his/her experience in general as well as his/her knowledge of your neighborhood market. 

Did you participate in Bike Month? What do you do to stay in shape? 

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. 

Thanks to Sonja for tipping me off to this story. What type of problems might exist when a home is not connected to the sewer line for twenty three years? Might this impact marketability? Any health issues? Watch the video here to listen to a story from a Stanislaus County home owner (City of Ripon).

Let me close with a statement from the news story: “The problem has been repaired, but the sudden absence of regular “fertilization” may keep his lawn from looking so lush.”

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.

We hear so often about how new construction has basically stopped in the Sacramento area. Instead of just listening to a blanket statement though, let’s take a look at the actual trend of building permits in Sacramento County from 1994 through 2010. The information below is based on data from the United States Census Bureau for the number of permits pulled for new construction of single family residential properties in Sacramento County.

What do you see? Does anything surprise you? What happened between 2004 and 2005 to chop the level of permits in half? Do you think more or less permits will be issued in 2011? Do you pay attention to the number of permits pulled as an economic indicator?

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.

Do you remember when internet dating sites first started out? Didn’t it seem a bit odd then that people would first meet online before they ever met in person? Now it’s so commonplace though that most of us know quite a few people using sites like this, or have friends who met a spouse online.

Just as people connect on dating sites these days, things have changed for business too since we have the opportunity to build relationships with others through vehicles such as Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter (and so many others). I don’t think we need to put our whole focus on spending all day online, because we definitely need to get some “Facetime” with people (and get work done too). But building an online presence and being where people are at is really important for business.

Let me highlight Twitter for just a minute. I’ve been using Twitter for over a year now and I’m really grateful for the relationships I’ve built. Honestly, at first glance I thought Twitter was some sort of platform to post self-focused disconnected ”buy from me” type marketing messages, but it can actually be a very relational tool (if used properly). With that being said, meet some people in the Sacramento area that I’m glad to have connected with on Twitter (most in person too after meeting on Twitter).

@GenaRiede I think I found Gena’s blog first and then started following her on Twitter. She has great search engine rankings in the area and is continually cranking out content. Gena has been a real estate blogger since April 2006 and has 174 real estate videos to date. She was a RE blogger before the blogging bandwagon came to town.

@SuzannePhan A multi-media journalist for News 10, she’s constantly connecting with locals and trying to stay on top of current stories. She recently covered a story in my home town, and our paths were able to cross for a brief interview. Check out her website.

@TheBeamGuy This guy knows his stuff when it comes to Mid-Century Modern (MCM) homes in the Sacramento area (He is a licensed contractor). I linked to him on one of my posts on Streng homes. Seriously, he really has a niche speciality. Check out his website. 

@DavidYaffee David is a local Realtor, and I like his resourceful real estate videos. We’re actually shooting a video together this afternoon. I’m glad to have connected with David recently through Sacramento Tube. Check out David’s site / blog.

@RosevilleRockLnVery funny RE marketing gal. Heather is a gifted networker and so good with words. She and her husband make a great RE team and they are hard workers for sure. Check out the Ostrom website.

@BrightFarm Barbara helps people excel in their “elevator pitch”. Last year she and some others joined me in reading through the book “Crush It” for a business book club. Check out Barbara’s website. It’s fun to finally meet people in person after first having met on social media.

@PlumasLaker Gary and I actually connected after he found one of my blog posts on Plumas Lake. After talking back and forth about real estate, we became Twitter and Facebook friends. We share common passions for community building. I filmed him for a Good Neighbor TV post too. Really good guy (and now an elected official too).

@geewhizkid Andy is a solid person. He is a technical writer for VSP and is deeply involved in the community. I suppose technically we met in person for an hour at a meeting before becoming friends on Twitter, but that’s almost close enough to say we met on Twitter, right? We went to Kansas City together for the All-America City awards. We brought home the “All-America City” award for Rancho Cordova of course, but I won’t forget the lamb ribs that Andy and I enjoyed at Jack Stack in KC. 

@JenniferBourn Jennifer’s forte is branding and internet marketing. She actually did a post sort of like this on her blog a number of months ago, so I definitely want to credit her with the inspiration for this post. That’s what creative people do – they inspire. Seriously, Jennifer has some great content.

I like Twitter, but it’s not tweeting my stuff that gets me going, but rather the opportunity to connect with real people. I know this post might seem kind of off-topic for an appraisal blog, but business is all about relationships, and these are things I am constantly thinking about throughout the week.

Where do you build relationships with people online and in the real world?

Let me know if you have questions, insight, or any real estate appraisal or valuation consulting needs. Contact me at 916.595.3735, on my company website, or on Twitter or Facebook.

What’s been happening in the Citrus Heights real estate market? I wanted to give you a glimpse below at some market-wide data to help give some insight. Of course, keep in mind that a specific property in Citrus Heights may or may not fit in with the general trend of the data below. 

As you can see, when looking at all sales from 2006, property values have clearly declined over time. When you consider the lower end of the market was hovering around $250,000 in mid-2006, but is now closer to $100,000, the drop in property value is pretty substantial. There is big difference for the upper end too.

But at least the past three years have shown a bit more stability, right? That’s encouraging news for home owners (I know real estate data can feel dysmal at times). Overall the trend below over the past three years appears to show a decline,  but the blue dots representing sales sure do look a whole lot more horizontal over the past couple years. 

For historical reference, below are two graphs of all sales in Citrus Heights between 1997-2010 based on the 95610 and 95621 zip codes. The blue line represents monthly median price figures for the respective zip code, whereas the red line shows the market-wide median price (Sacramento Area). These historic graphs come from the Sacramento Association of Realtors.

Specific Citrus Heights Real Estate Market Data:

• 217 sales over the past 90 days.
• 171 current active listings
• 108 current active short sale listings
• 84 current short sale contingent listings (this means an offer has been submitted already)
• 39.5% of all sales over the past year were REO (bank-owned)
• 25% of all sales over the past year were Short Sales
• Roughly 65% of all sales were distressed in some regard (REO or SS)
• Unemployment in Citrus Heights is 9.0% per EDD (as of 11/2010)
• Unemployment in Sacramento County is 12.8% per EDD (as of 11/2010)

If you’ve been looking for Citrus Heights 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. 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.

Happy New Year! I hope 2011 is turning out to be great so far. After having just returned from Southern California for a week visiting with family, I am geared up and ready for the year ahead. As I blaze forward in life and business, I wanted to take a glance at this past year of blogging and highlight my eleven favorite posts of 2010. It wasn’t easy to pick only eleven posts, but the ones below made the cut because of fond memories of great conversation, relevant information, or just the sheer fun of posting about the topic. 

1. What legos can teach us about real estate
2. Would the sound of a train drive you crazy?
3. A water tower behind a house in the Pocket area of Sacramento
4. A major hoarder property in West Sacramento
5. The Skinny on Streng Houses in Sacramento
6. A flashlight tour of a dark boarded-up house in South Sacramento
7. Four reasons why appraisals “come in low”
8. Is price per square foot an accurate way to measure the value of a house?
9. Should the Arden-Arcade area of Sacramento become a city?
10. Appraisers vs. Machines: What do you think of websites like Zillow?
11. Would you buy Dorothea Puente’s house?

Thank you for making this past year such a joy. I sincerely appreciate you stopping by the Sacramento Appraisal Blog last year, and I hope you’ll do the same this year ahead. If you have any questions, you can reach me via email, catch me on Facebook, or call 916.595.3735.

I saw this photo in MLS a while back while doing research for an appraisal in Stockton. Yes, this is an installed toilet in the crawl space of a residential single family home. The photo was labeled “non-permitted toilet installation”. They say a picture is worth a thousands words, and that just might be true in this case. What do you think? I’d love to hear your comments.

If you have any questions, let me know. Call 916.595.3735, email me, or find me on Facebook or my appraisal website at www.LundquistCompany.com. 

There is much discussion these days about “low” appraisals and even “Appraisal Hell”. Sure enough, these issues showed up again yesterday in an article on Reuters entitled ”Special Report: What’s a home worth? Pick a number, any number“. I wanted to give a few comments about this article as well as some reasons why homes sometimes appraise for less than the agreed upon price between a buyer and seller. My two cents:

1) Price is too high:  Sometimes the agreed-upon price on a home is too high. If one buyer and seller agree to accept a certain amount for a property, the agreed upon price is not always consistent with market value. There is a real difference between price and market value because market value would gauge what a typical buyer would pay for a property, not just what one specific buyer is willing to pay. As appraiser Patrick Egger says, if you lined up 100 buyers to purchase a particular home, what would the majority of these buyers pay for the specific property? The answer to this question would probably produce a pretty good number for what the home is worth. But you might have a small pool of buyers who would be willing to pay far above asking price, right? Maybe it’s a “honey, buy this house at any cost” situation, friends or family live next door, or simply a high offer is presented to beat out all other offers. 

2) Really bad appraisal:  Let’s face it, there has been some very warranted scrutiny of the appraisal industry over the years, and especially since May 2009 when HVCC was implemented. Maybe the appraisal really was bad (inexperienced appraiser, out of the area appraiser, really quick shoddy appraisal, appraiser didn’t know the market and just guessed at value).  You know appraisals are an issue too when phrases like ”Appraisal Hell” are coined to describe that place where Borrowers go when appraisal issues hold them back from getting a loan. However, it’s important to keep in mind that a “low” appraisal isn’t always due to a bad appraisal for reasons explained in this post.

3) Strict Lending Guidelines:  The article above gives a scenario where a couple paid for seven appraisals with different lenders before deciding to call it quits (because the appraisals did not come in high enough for their loan). My heart goes out to the couple for all the money they spent, but part of me wonders if there is more to the story. I wonder why the two appraisals at asking price were deemed suspicious by two different lenders. That’s a red flag in my mind, or maybe it’s just a testimony to hyper-regulation and lenders being finicky. But maybe the appraisals looked inflated for some reason too? Guidelines in lending have certainly become more strict in recent years, especially after the housing bubble burst.

4) Counter-offer to “No Man’s Land”:  Sellers sometimes counter the buyer with a higher price despite the buyer offering at asking price. At times this counter offer works out very well, but other times it might push the property into “no man’s land” (above market value). Many experienced local real estate agents are careful about this scenario as they work with their clients. In these instances, if the appraisal “comes in low” (below the higher accepted contract price), the value might not really be low, but rather indicative of where the sales price should have been. Of course sometimes properties are marketed at lower prices in order to get multiple offers quickly, and it’s not too surprising to see that market value ends up being above the original list price in many of these cases. Ultimately, it’s nice to be able to boost up the sales price and try to fit concessions or credits in a higher sales prices, but sometimes there might not always be room to do that.

In the past few months I’ve been hired multiple times due to bad appraisals. Usually a client or local real estate agent will ask me to do a full appraisal to help give the buyer a better sense of the market (this is usually when buyer’s are coming in with a more sizable down-payment than 3.5% – FHA). Other times clients will hire me as a consultant or reviewer (no value rendered) to take a look at the original appraisal they disagree with. My job in these scenarios is to  review the report and point out some things for the original appraiser to consider.

What do you think? What has been your experience with appraisals? What is your remedy to deal with a “low” appraisal?

If you have any questions or a need for an appraisal or consulting in the Sacramento area, give me a call at 916.595.3735, send me an email, catch me on Facebook, or see my company website at www.LundquistCompany.com.

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.

I mentioned a couple weeks ago about getting a new phone for my appraisal business. Well, during some time off last week I bought a myTouch 4G by T-Mobile. This is definitely an upgrade from my G1.

The features I like most so far about the myTouch4G include: the internet speed is so much faster than my previous phone, it plays flash videos, tethering, two camera lenses, there is a flash on the camera, it’s very easy to sync with Google apps, the flashlight app is far more than just a lit-up screen, it has a decent camera and a great video camera, no dropped calls yet, and there are seven screens. It doesn’t have a pull-out keyboard, which I thought would be a deal-killer for me, but I’ve adjusted quite easily to the on-screen touch keyboard.

Here is a video overview of the myTouch 4G below (or an external link). 

On the job I anticipate using the following apps and features the most: Square (to accept credit card payments by phone), flashlight, video, camera, email and internet of course, social networking to connect with clients, Google Voice, Google Calendar, and Google Maps. The phone does have a video chat feature, but I don’t know that I’ll really use that during the business day.

Having the right technology for business these days is very important to me so I can stay in touch with clients and be a quick resource as needed. What tech gadgets make your business run smoothly?