Sacramento Appraisal Blog

Market trends and 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.

My policy on sharing content online

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It’s a huge honor when people share my posts, videos and photos on their blogs and websites. It’s actually something I encourage and welcome too if it’ll benefit another blog audience. But I do want to take a minute to communicate clearly on my policy for sharing content online from the Sacramento Appraisal Blog so we’re on the same page and can share happily ever after. Here are six simple requests:

  1. Graphs: Feel free to share my graphs (unaltered). Please link back to my blog.
  2. Videos: Feel free to share my videos (unaltered). Please link back to my blog.
  3. Photos: Share any of my photos (unaltered). Please give credit / a link back.
  4. Share the blogPosts: Share snippets of posts (unaltered), but I’d appreciate my posts not being shared in their entirety on your blog or website. It’s always nice to see someone share a paragraph of my thoughts, insert their own commentary and then link to the rest of the article. This seems like a great social media policy to me. Why? Because you share something valuable created here to benefit your audience, but your readers also still have a reason to visit my site too instead of just yours. This helps sharing be good for you and me.
  5. Similar Use: Share any media above or other files on your blog or website in the same way I use them – not a different way. This helps keep the integrity of the media intact. If you have any idea for usage in another way, contact me.
  6. Other: If you have questions, let me know. I am reachable and always willing to talk with media, bloggers and real estate (and other) professionals. I’m all about being a resource to you and your readers.

Again, thank you for sharing my content. It means a great deal to me when others think my stuff is good enough for their audience. As we share posts, my hope is to be able to maximally create value together. Know that I will always give you proper credit and links, and work hard to honor your content.

Any questions? Do you have a similar policy? Anything you’d add or change?

If you have any questions or Sacramento area real estate appraisal or property tax appeal needs, contact me by phone 916-595-3735, email, Twitter, subscribe to posts by email or “like” my page on Facebook

Removing half the rear yard to make room for a garden

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In honor of Earth Day, I wanted to share the progress of my backyard garden. We recently decided to rip out nearly half the rear lawn in order to expand the Lundquist “farm”. We’ve had three raised 10′ x 4′ garden boxes for a number of years, but now we’re moving up to the major leagues by creating 500+ sq ft of space to work with. Why are we doing this? 1) This will cut down on grocery bills; 2) I’ve always felt like I don’t get much value from lawn when considering all the water it takes to keep it green; 3) While I don’t mind mowing the lawn (despite sometimes having a “parcel mullet“), having less to mow is better; 4) We’ll have food to share with friends and neighbors; 5) This will support a healthy diet.

This is the portion of lawn we’re removing as well as some in-progress shots.

I am removing this portion of rear lawn

Progress on removing sod

Progress on removing sod in the rear yard

Here is a partial view of the rear yard from our second story. The photo was taken through a window screen. Everything to the left side of the concrete median will be space for gardening.

View from upstairs (through a screen)

The finished product: Here is the final product on 4/22/12. I’ll definitely give an update once the garden is up and running.

The Lundquist farm

Replacing the front lawn? We’re also considering removing the front yard entirely and replacing it with drout-resistant plants and trees. There is actually a turf rebate program through California American Water, so I will basically get to do this for free. I’ll be honest that removing the front yard feels a bit more unconventional and odd to me, but I think we can make it really attractive with some effort (and save money and water in the process).

Do you plan to garden this year? Have you removed lawn to create space for something else? Good or bad, what do you think the impact on the resale market will be for my plans? Any suggestions for what we should grow?

If you have any questions or Sacramento area real estate appraisal or property tax appeal needs, contact me by phone 916-595-3735, email, Twitter, subscribe to posts by email or “like” my page on Facebook

The most common FHA appraisal repairs

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Here is a quick video of some of the most common FHA repairs I encounter during appraisal inspections in the Sacramento area. In this video I quickly talk through 25 repair items while scrolling through photos. This is good information for real estate agents, investors and home owners since FHA is so dominant in the market. I hope this is helpful. Watch the video below (or here) and check out other FHA appraisal articles if you wish. Any questions or insight?

If you have any questions or Sacramento area real estate appraisal or property tax appeal needs, contact me by phone 916-595-3735, email, Twitter, subscribe to posts by email or “like” my page on Facebook

A graph of the unemployment rate from 1990-2012 in Sacramento County

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Anytime I hear hyper-positive news about the national housing market, I wonder if it’s spin I always sift the details through the local economy in Sacramento and the need to see the unemployment rate continue to drop to see improvement in our market. It’s been somewhat encouraging to see the unemployment rate decline from the high of 13.2% in July 2010 to 11.2% in February 2012, but I’ll feel even better once we see unemployment down a few more percentage points. I’ve been posting unemployment trends and graphs for quite some time, but the graph below stands out in my mind since I added an additional eight years (1990-1998) from my previous graphs. It’s amazing to consider what a wild ride it’s been over the course of two decades. The economy and unemployment have been up and down to say the least (sort of like a roller coaster), and hopefully we’ll have a downhill ride in coming years to get that rate down a bit.

Feel free to use this image on your blog, website or in a presentation. I do have a larger size available too, so email me if that’s relevant for you. Please just keep the image intact and feel free to link back.

What stands out to you about the graph? What time period do you remember most?

Unemployment in Sacramento County 1990-2012 - graph by Sacramento Appraiser - 530 pixels

Property Tax Class This Week: By the way, on an unrelated note, on Thursday I am teaching a class at the Sacramento Association of Realtors YPC forum called “How to Appeal Your Property Taxes.” The class is open to SAR members and affiliates, but even if you are not a part of the association, you can come as my guest. Just let me know beforehand if you’re interested (send me an email, call or comment below). I’ll be talking about the nuts and bolts of property tax appeals, FAQs and advice for consumers from my experience consulting with home owners.

YPC Forum: “How to Appeal Your Property Taxes” – April 19, 2012 9am Sacramento Association of Realtors 2003 Howe Avenue, Sacramento, CA 95825

If you have any questions or Sacramento area real estate appraisal or property tax appeal needs, contact me by phone 916-595-3735, email, Facebook, Twitter or subscribe to posts by email.

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