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.

City of Galt Market Trends & the Value of Age

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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

Photos from the Field: Tracy, Atwater, & Tire

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Here are some photos from the field yesterday. I usually snap a picture when I see something that interests me.

Got vacant sites? This sure is a common view throughout the Greater Sacramento Region and Central Valley. The following image was snapped in the city of Tracy on the Western end of Golden Leaf Lane. It’s just not cost-effective in most cases to build out lots right now, even if the lots are “finished” and simply ready for a builder to come in.

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I don’t know what it is, but when I see a home owner on his one-acre lot selling cows and goats, I feel compelled to snap a picture of the signage. This photo was taken in Atwater, CA.

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Last, but not least. On the way home from inspections yesterday I had a bit of a scary moment when my tire blew out on the freeway. The entire tread on my front left tire just completely came off. At first I didn’t know if I hit something or what happened. I felt the truck start to pull to the left though and for a split second I wondered what was going to happen. Thank God I was able to get to the side of Highway 99 safely and quickly.

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www.SacramentoAppraisalBlog.com Photos from the Field: Tracy, Atwater, & Tire

Quick Data: Antelope Foreclosures & Short Sales

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Quick data on Antelope, CA based on information provided in Sacramento MLS for detached single family residential properties: 

  • There were 832 sales in Antelope within one year of 09/14/2009.
  • 63% of these sales sold as “bank-owned”
  • 20% of the sales sold as Short Sales
  • 206 sales over the past 90 days
  • 38 current Active listings
  • 203 current Short Sale Active listings
  • 112 current Pendings.

Interesting stuff. I typically run city-wide data like this for appraisal reports and then of course neighborhood-specific data for the market area boundaries for the property I am appraising (often times a certain subdivision). This helps me see both the overall market and then the smaller neighborhood in the context of the real estate market at large.

What do you think of the data? Does anything stand out to you? Do you think most buyers look at figures like this to determine the health or lacktherof in a community (before they buy)? Do buyers care? Comment above or call me at 916-595-3735 if you have any questions.

www.SacramentoAppraisalBlog.com Quick Data: Antelope Foreclosures & Short Sales

R.I.P. Oak Park Starbucks

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On this coming Sunday, the Starbucks in the “Oak Park” area of Sacramento will be closing. Between appraisal inspections today, I paid my respects by buying a cup of coffee for the last time at the location. Oak Park native, Kevin Johnson (former NBA All Star / current Mayor of Sacramento), was instrumental in bringing Starbucks to the area and helping to reinvent the corner on which it is located. 

I always liked the art on the inside of this store because it had somewhat of a typical Starbucks feel to it, but it also incorporated local Oak Park flavor by using KJ imagery. I took the following shots with my mobile phone.

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According to a Sacramento Bee article, the word is that Old Soul Company is potentially interested in this corner spot, so hopefully they or another coffee house will soon establish roots. Whatever happens, the hope is that the new business willl be a step forward in redevelopment for Oak Park. 

Further Background & Articles:

www.SacramentoAppraisalBlog.com R.I.P. Oak Park Starbucks

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