Sacramento Appraisal Blog

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Riding my Bike on the American River: Round 3 – A “Video” in Black & White

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On Saturday, I took 801 black and white pictures while riding my bike on the American River trail in Rancho Cordova and Sacramento. I built a mount for my bike (for only 87 cents, by the way) to hold down my camera and then I had to manually push the button to take photos. The images were then placed in sequence to show as a “video”. You can see my previous outing HERE.

I road an average of 15 mph throughout this brief ride and I tried the “continuous shooting” feature on my camera so that as long as I was holding the button down, my camera was taking photos.

I think the video got a bit washed out in the middle because of the sun. If you notice, when there are few trees along the bike path, the pictures look very bright. It was either that or evidence of my camera’s death since the last frame in this ride was the very last breath of life for my camera (bummer).

 

By the way, at the very beginning of the video there is a snake on the trail. Did you see it? A group of riders stopped to watch it cross the pavement.

I’m no photographer, but just a guy who loves biking and is experimenting with taking photos while on the road. This is my third “video” like this and I can only see my methodology evolving over time to capture some of the essence of the trails and how fun it is to ride them. The first “video” I made is much inferior to the second and third, but I’ll keep it up because that’s usually how experimentation goes. We tend to get better at what we do as time goes on.

www.SacramentoAppraisalBlog.com Riding my Bike on the American River: Round 3 – A “Video” in Black & White

Reminder: When is the deadline for appealing property taxes in various counties? (Sacramento, Placer, Yolo, El Dorado, San Joaquin, Stanislaus, Merced, Sutter, Yuba, Solano)

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SacramentoTaxAppeal-screenshot-smallThe deadline for appealing property taxes in the following counties in the Greater Sacramento Region will be here very soon (especially in Placer County). Please have a look at the information below and let us know if you have any questions. We are available to help home owners understand the property tax assessment and appeals process, and to assist home owners in disputing their property taxes if it makes good economic sense for them.

NOTE: If the Assessor sent you a letter and specified a certain appeals deadline for your property, whether commercial or residential, then disregard the deadlines below and stick with what your local Assessor said.

County / Deadline for Formally Appealing Property Taxes

  • El Dorado County (November 30, 2009)
  • Merced County (November 30, 2009)
  • Placer County (November 30, 2009)
  • San Joaquin County (November 30, 2009)
  • Sacramento County (November 30, 2009)
  • Solano County (November 30, 2009)
  • Stanislaus County (November 30, 2009)
  • Sutter County (September 15 if they sent you a letter in the mail, but otherwise November 30, 2009)
  • Yolo County (November 30, 2009)
  • Yuba County (November 30, 2009)

You can visit our website at www.SacramentoTaxAppeals.com, call us at 916-595-3735 or email us at info@SacramentoTaxAppeals.com so we can look into your situation and figure out if appealing your property taxes looks like a good move for you this year. We look forward to hearing from you soon.

www.SacramentoAppraisalBlog.com Reminder: When is the deadline for appealing property taxes in various counties? (Sacramento, Placer, Yolo, El Dorado, San Joaquin, Stanislaus, Merced, Sutter, Yuba, Solano)

Real Estate Market Trends: Past 36 Months of Sales in Folsom, El Dorado Hills, Rancho Cordova & Citrus Heights (August 2006 – August 2009)

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I put together a series of city-wide graphs to show the past three years of home sales within Folsom, El Dorado Hills, Rancho Cordova & Citrus Heights. It’s always interesting to me to take a look at a market-wide graphs to try and make sense of what property values have done over a specified time period. When looking at data like this, I ask questions like: What is the lower end of the market doing? Have there been any changes in the upper end? What does the overall trend look like? Declining? Stabilizing after a decline? Increasing? What types of circumstances may have triggered a change in the overall price levels during various times over the past three years? New laws or regulations? Unemployment? Loan rates adjusting? Economic factors? Zoning?

All graphs below are based on information from Sacramento Metrolist between 08/28/2006 to 08/27/2009. The points on the graphs represent single family residential detached units.

Number of Sales in the Past 3 Years:

  • Folsom:  2,183
  • El Dorado Hills:  1,665
  • Rancho Cordova:  1,732
  • Citrus Heights:  2,374

What do you see? What does it look like the market has done in the areas below? Does anything stand out to you or surprise you? What do you notice about the higher end of the market on all of the graphs?

Folsom Real  Estate Market Trends: 

Folsom CA Sales Trend Graph August 2006 to August 2009

 El Dorado Hills Real Estate Market Trends

El Dorado Hills Sales Graph August 2006 to August 2009

Rancho Cordova Real Estate Market Trends:

Rancho Cordova Sales Graph August 2006 to August 2009

Citrus Heights Real Estate Market Trends:

Citrus Heights CA Sales from August 2006 to August 2009 Trend Graph

City-wide data is important to look at because what is happening in the overall city can sometimes have an impact on smaller niches and portions of housing within the same city. This is not always true, but it’s relevant to at least be aware of what is happening in the overall market so that we can more readily decipher a city’s sub-markets.

On the other hand, one of the glaring downfalls of city-wide data is that information is too general to really draw neighborhood-specific conclusions from. As we all know, each city or area typically has a host of different types of neighborhoods, and these pockets of real estate can vary drastically from each other in terms of buyer perception, price range, and many other factors. For example, Rancho Cordova has two main zip codes and the 95742 zip code (Anatolia) is far different from most of the 95670 zip code (everything else). Or properties near Old Town Folsom may have weathered the market differently than those in Empire Ranch. Or Governor’s Village and Serrano in El Dorado Hills may show differing market trends because of location, square footage, year built, or some other factor.

With all that being said, I am very curious to hear your observations and insight about the city-wide trend graphs above. Feel free to comment above (just below the post title)  or email info@lundquistcompany.com. If you are in need of additional and more specific research or an appraisal, let’s talk soon (916-595-3735).

www.SacramentoAppraisalBlog.com Real Estate Market Trends: Past 36 Months of Sales in Folsom, El Dorado Hills, Rancho Cordova & Citrus Heights (August 2006 – August 2009)

Quick Statistics: Los Banos & Patterson Sales in 2008-2009 – Foreclosures & Short Sales

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los banos and patterson mapThe cities of Los Banos and Patterson are located in the Central Valley of California off of Interstate 5 in Merced County and Stanislaus County respectively. If you are not from the area, but you have traveled through California along I-5, chances are you have at least seen exit signs for both Patterson and Los Banos. I have appraised many properties in both cities over the past year and I figured I would throw up some quick and informative data as an FYI. The data below is based upon the past twelve months of sales in MLS for single family residential detached properties.  

City of Los Banos Real Estate Market Data: 08/28/08 – 08/28/09

  • Last year the city of Los Banos in Merced County had 1555 sales
  • 1379 of these sales were bank-owned properties (89%)
  • 70 of these sales were short sales (4.5%)
  • 93.5% of total sales in Los Banos were either bank-owned or short sales
  • Los Banos has a 18.4% unemployment rate as of July 2009 (EDD)

Los Banos CA Sales August 2008 to August 2009 Trend Graph

City of Los Banos Links:

City of Patterson Real Estate Market Data: 08/28/08 – 08/28/09

  • Last year the city of Patterson in Stanislaus County had 1108 sales
  • 989 of these sales were bank-owned (89%)
  • 83 of these sales were short sales (7.5%)
  • 96.5% of total sales in Patterson were either bank-owned or short sales.
  • Patterson has a 21.9% unemployment rate as of July 2009 (EDD)

Patterson CA Sales August 2008 to August 2009 Trend Graph

City of Patterson Links:

What do you notice form the data above? Does anything stand out to you? Why do you think both of these communities have been plagued by foreclosures as well as a high unemployment rate? Feel free to share your thoughts by commenting above (just under the post title).

Please contact me at 916-595-3735 or info@lundquistcompany.com if you have any questions about the data above or a need for more detailed analysis or valuation.

www.SacramentoAppraisalBlog.com Quick Statistics: Los Banos & Patterson Sales in 2008-2009 – Foreclosures & Short Sales

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