Elk Grove, CA

With the winter months quickly approaching and the first time home buyer tax credit looking as though it is going to be extended, what is our current Market in Elk Grove, CA doing???? With incredible interest rates, affordability at a 40 year low and tax credits still available, buyers have been busy - both first time home buyers and investors!

Here's the latest Statistical Summary for the Elk Grove, CA Real Estate market, based on data pulled on October 31st from California Metrolist

Active Listings:

There are currently 878 single family homes for sale in the Elk Grove area - this includes 95624, 95757 and 95758 zip code areas) .

Price Range - $95,000 to $4,350,000

2 bedroom, 1 bathroo.m, 828 square feet - 7 bedroom, 7 bathroom, 10,350 square feet

Average - 4 bedroom, 3 bathroom, 2241 square feet with an average price of $273,119. This average price is up from last month.

Of these 878 single family homes for sale, only 78 of them are REO's or Bank Owned Homes . This number has continued to remain fairly steady for the past 30 days, 208 are Short Sale listings and 458 are Short Sale Contingent - meaning they have offers and are negotiating with the bank(s). Both the number of short sales and the number of short sale contingent listings are up from last month...good indication that the market of the moment seems to be short sales!

Pending Sales:

There are currently 425 pending sales in the Elk Grove area!

Price Range - $89,900 - $1,200,000

2 bedroom, 1 bathroom, 1016 square fee - 7 bedroom, 5 bathroom, 5,569 square feet

Average - 4 bedroom, 3 bathroom, 2060 square feet

Average asking price - $250,731 and Median asking price - $235,000 with the average days on the market of these pending sales being 51 days.

Of these 482 pending sales in the Elk Grove area, 179 of them are REO's or Bank Owned Homes. The bank owned homes have been receiving multiple offers for the past several weeks and generally are selling for above list price; some for way above list price making appraisals an issue in many transactions.

Sold Listings - October 1, 2009 through October 31, 2009

There were 243 single family homes sold and closed from 10/1/09 through 10/31/09 n the Elk Grove zip code areas. SOLDS have been remaining consistently stable over the past few months.

Price Range - $100,000 - $720,000

2 bedroom, 1 bathroom, 884 square feet - 6 bedroom, 5 bathroom, 5237 square feet

Average - 4 bedroom, 3 bathrooms, 2,111 square feet

Average Sales Price - $243,887

Median Sales Price - $235,000; both Average and Median prices dropped from last month

Average Days on Market - 19 days

Average List Price to Selling Price Ratio - Home sellers got an average of 101.32% of asking price for their Elk Grove area single family home.

Of the 243 single family homes that closed escrow in October 2009, 104 of them were REO's or Bank Owned homes.

For more information on market statistics or prices in the Elk Grove area, contact The Mode & DurhaM Team at (916) 405-5765 or Lori@ModeandDurhaM.com.

To check the value of your home, go to www.AllElkGroveHomes.com.

Search all Elk Grove Homes here!

Lori Mode and Bruce Durham, Keller Williams Realty in Elk Grove, CA

www.ModeandDurhaM.com

I thought I would share my neighborhood with you. I live in the Camden area in Elk Grove. This is a picture of our lake taken at sunset this evening from a section of our running/walking/biking trails that I enjoy throughout the neighborhood.

Camden is a neighborhood of custom, semi-custom and production homes, consisting of Camden Passage, Camden Park and Camden Point. It contains the lake where I often see many people fishing, miles of trails winding throughout the neighborhoods, greenbelts, and several parks.

Why I love to live in Camden

Search all Elk Grove homes here!

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Lori Mode and Bruce Durham, Keller Williams Realty in Elk Grove, CA

www.AllElkGroveHomes.com

I've said it before, but I'll say it again, I love working on Wachovia short sales. Give me nothing but Wachovia short sales in Sacramento and Elk Grove, and I'll be a happy, happy short sale agent.

A Wachovia short sale is like that lone flower growing out of a sun-drenched sidewalk crack. I work on enough short sales in Sacramento to thoroughly appreciate the no-nonsense way that Wachovia handles its portfolio of loans in default. Other banks pale in comparison to Wachovia. I'd say that Wachovia performs like a Gold Medal athlete at the Olympics while, let's say, Bank of America hobbles along like some old guy in a wheelchair with a flat tire.

I met with the manager of Wachovia's short sale department 6 days ago. We walked through one of my short sale listings in Elk Grove as I spoke with the relocated seller on my cell. The manager asked a handful of questions, the seller responded and, yesterday, we got short sale approval.

Not only did we receive approval, but Wachovia is paying the seller $3,500, providing we can close escrow in early December. The seller had gone into default after transferring out-of-state and tapped several credit cards to the tune of about $25,000 to try to keep the mortgage current -- a struggle that proved fruitless in the end.

But wait, the approval gets better; Wachovia is also paying a higher-than-traditional amount of commission. I charge more for my short sale negotiations than many other agents. I figure I'm worth it because I get results. Some buyer's agents snort when they hear about my listing agreement percentage because they don't believe that I'll get it; however, all commissions are negotiable and, on a short sale, subject to bank approval.

It's no secret that short sales are a lot more work than other transactions. I work extremely hard for the commissions I earn. I'm happy to report that Wachovia recognizes this and pays accordingly. As a Sacramento short sale agent, I've been doing them long enough to have established unparalleled systems, which handle the volume, and lets me give my clients the undivided attention they deserve. So, if you are contemplating a short sale in Sacramento, give me a ring. Call Elizabeth Weintraub at 916.233.6759.

And if you're a Sacramento Wachovia short sale seller, believe me, I'm rolling out the Red Carpet.

Short sale buyer's agents in Sacramento are wising up and asking more questions upfront about my listings before showing them to a buyer, but I still get the goofy questions about homes that are new to the market such as: Is this short sale approved by the bank? Some banks such as Wachovia and Wells Fargo are putting systems in place to preapprove the sales price but most banks do not. It takes an offer from a qualified buyer to get a response.

I've had only one bank this year tell me that the price on my Sacramento short sale wasn't satisfactory, and that same bank came back 3 months later to accept an offer at that price. That bank, of course, was Bank of America.

Banks are accepting the short sale offers I submit. However, the offers I submit are generally much higher than my list price. As a Sacramento short sale agent, I realize that the market generally supports 2 prices: the list price and the expected offer price.

Simply put, banks want market value. Depending on the bank, however, banks may accept an offer that is priced somewhere in the range of 5% to 12% below market. What is market value? Market value is based on the comparable sales.

When I list a Sacramento short sale, I always pull the comparable sales, and I consider the pending sales, too, because pending sales are indicative of which way the market is moving and will become the sold comps at closing. Most of my short sales are listed about 10% below market value. This tactic brings multiple offers, which tends to push up the offers closer to market value. I advise my short sale sellers to accept the offer from the most qualified and dedicated buyer at a price that is closest to market value.

The problem isn't whether the short sale bank will accept the price, it's whether the price will appraise by the buyer's lender. Sometimes, buyers write offers that are too high. In one instance, I had to tell a buyer's agent that she may want to submit an addendum at a lower price. She had offered, let's say, $350,000 on an Elk Grove short sale listing that was priced at $300,000. I suspected that the comparable sales would not support such a high price and we'd have a problem getting it appraised at that price. So, her buyer lowered the offer to $330,000.

Sure enough, the buyer's appraisal came in at $329,000, and the buyer coughed up the $1,000 difference in cash.

Tip: Before you sign a purchase offer for a Sacramento short sale, ask your agent to give you the comparable sales for that neighborhood and to interpret that data for you. Because often, the listed price means nothing. Some agents ask their sellers to sign listing agreements at prices far less than market value, hoping that the short sale bank will give away that home for free, when the bank will do no such thing.

Lots of home buyers don't understand this, and many can't wrap their heads around the fact that some prices are plucked from thin air. They see a home on the market at a certain price and wrongly assume that they can buy that short sale at that price, when they can't.

I attended my first Elk Grove Investment Club meeting tonight and it was great! Hosted by Todd & Erin Newington of First Priority Financial with guest speakers, Bill and Chris Stanley of Realty Roundup, a local property management company, it was well attended by area investors.

I am often asked by potential investor clients about the local market and so I make sure that I stay up on the local rental market as much as possible. What a great opportunity to listen to the opinion of an area expert. Realty Roundup is the largest property management company in the local area and information regarding the Elk Grove rental market was shared by Chris Stanley with the investors.

Chris stated that the Elk Grove rental market has remained fairly stable over the past couple of years. The rental values have stayed steady as well as the number of vacancies. He attributes this to the fact that we have many homeowners walking away from their homes due to hardships but still wanting to remain in the Elk Grove area thus entering the rental market. Approximately 75% of their recent applicants have been somehow affected by the foreclosure market - either they have lost their homes through foreclosure or short sale, or they were renters of homes lost to foreclosure or short sale. Currently the most stable of the 3 Elk Grove zip areas is 95624.

Chris also seemed to feel that those former homeowners that have lost their homes through foreclosure or short sale, may end up being your best renters as they don't have that hefty payment any longer. Realty Roundup looks for the renter's income to be at least 3 times the monthly rent.

The Elk Grove area is a great place for your investment dollars...prices are very reasonable, we currently have incredible interest rates and we are seeing positive cash flows again! Don't wait! The opportunity is right NOW!

For more information on the local rental market and investment opportunities, contact Lori Mode of The Mode & DurhaM Team, Keller Williams Realty, at (916) 230-0371 or Lori@ModeandDurhaM.com.

Search all Elk Grove homes here!

Search all Sacramento homes here!

Contact me for more information about anything you see on this blog

Lori Mode and Bruce Durham, Keller Williams Realty in Elk Grove, CA

www.AllElkGroveHomes.com