About Sacramento's East Sacramento

February 18th, 2009

As a first time homebuyer, I have to admit I was a little leery about everyone and worried about being taken advantage of. Luckily, I was referred to Tim by a friend of mine, which I believe is always the best way to go. Tim contacted me before I ever found the time to call him - that really impressed me. Right away, I appreciated his energy and enthusiasm! I have to say, looking into house couldn't have been more convenient through the website that he set up for me. I could click in my email and go to the site to view all the homes and immediately filter out my favorite homes. The main things that stand out to me about Tim Collom is that he always had current updates on all the homes, he even found the home that I bought before it reached the MLS, he was flexible with my tight schedule, he was very knowledgeable, and he was exceedingly willing to walk me through all the details of buying a home. I would recommend him to any one of my friends and family and actually already have!

---Melissa Johnstone, Accountant

Everybody knows that the moment you drive a brand new car off the dealer lot, the value drops when those tires hit the street. Still, there's a certain appeal to buying a brand new car. There's an agent in my office who trades in her car and buys a new car every year. She just gets tired of her vehicle. She doesn't lease; she pays cash.

I took my car to Tom Stephens Mercedes in East Sacramento last week for its annual service. Stephens is the best Mercedes auto shop in Sacramento; he used to be a manager at Mercedes, and he intimately knows these cars because that's all he does.

That's when I realized that my car is 9 years old this month. I wondered if I should buy a new car. Not because I need a new car because I don't; it has less than 40,000 miles. But I also realize that real estate clients expect their agents to drive newer cars. It's perception, in part. It's why I wear suits and not cut-offs to work.

I love my car because it's fun to drive and because it's a convertible. The drawback is it has only one passenger seat, but I either drive with my buyers or I borrow my husband's Prius when I show property. If I bought another car, I'd probably get the same model; that's how much I enjoy it.

The service manager suggested I spruce it up by buying sportier rims, which now has me wondering about remodeling it. Hey, I know I won't get the money back out of it, but it's a lot less expensive than forking out $50,000 for a new Mercedes. I could use new leather seats, I suppose. Maybe buff out the paint or paint it a different color. Then replace the tires so they're all the same size and I can rotate them, which would give the tires a longer life expectancy.

I could easily drive this car another 10 years and it still won't turnover 100,000 miles. What do you think? Is remodeling a car a bad idea?

The Short Sale Savior, by Elizabeth Weintraub, coming soon to a bookstore near you.

Photo: Big Stock Photo

Click here to view a photo gallery of architecturally beautiful homes in East Sacramento.

It's that time of year again!! If you missed out on this last year, don't miss your chance to attend one of my favorite annual holiday events, the 2008 Sacred Heart Holiday Home Tour of the Fabulous 40's neighborhood in East Sacramento! There will be 5 homes on tour, each featuring unique architectural style.

This year, the tour schedule is Friday, December 5th, 11 a.m. to 8 p.m.; Saturday, December 6th 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.; and Sunday, December 7th 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Time is running out to purchase your tickets in advance for only $20! You can order them online, or you can purchase them at the Sacred Heart School office, or several local retail locations (such as William Glen, Haus by David Randall, La Maison Marche, Collected Works, etc.). Tickets at the event will be $30. If you are interested in volunteering at the tour, click here.

This fundraiser benefits Sacred Heart Parish School, and is organized by the Parents of Sacred Heart School.

The insanity of the seller's market during 2004 and 2005 has shifted to a buyer's market. In some areas of the country there has been a price correction for homes.

The buyer's market is a simple product of supply and demand. Currently, there are more homes on the market than buyers. This creates a surplus of homes. In Concord, California there was roughly a 12 month supply of single-family homes available, according to my calculations.

Two things can resolve the current surplus of homes. 1) More home buyers enter the real estate market. This is the more unlikely solution. Mortgage lenders have tightened their qualifications for loans. Eligible home buyers must have better credit scores and a stable financial situation to qualify for loans. Also, interest rates have increased in the past few weeks, decreasing the amount home buyers qualify to purchase. The combination of these two factors make this solution less likely than the other.

2) Home owners decrease their home prices. Sellers will need to make their home more attractive to the available home buyers in the market. One of the ways will be a reduction in listing price. This can be evidenced through buyer incentives (credits toward closing costs) or by lowering the asking price. Home sellers are forced to compete on price to entice buyers into the home.

Home sellers cannot immediately increase the number of home buyers as a result of their actions. However, a home owner can lower the price of their home to increase the home's attractiveness to the available buyers. If you can buy more house for less money, why wouldn't you?

This makes it a great market to buy a home for investment or personal use. I say that with a caveat: The holding period should be greater than two (2) years. I make this caveat because I think that we are near the bottom of the current real estate market correction. I am not sure that we have reached the absolute bottom yet. A two year holding period allows for the real estate market to reach bottom and begin to rise again.

My advice to buyers and investors: Call me today and get in the market! This in my opinion is a great time to buy for the long haul.

My advice to sellers: Do not expect to set the terms of the deal. You are no longer in the driver's seat of the real estate market and need to make concessions to home buyers.

It seems a lot of my business comes from people who say they have called a lot of other real estate agents -- what am I? Chopped liver? -- However, by the time they get to me, they are so happy to talk to an East Sacramento real estate agent who answers her phone that they are beside themselves. I had such a call a week ago.

The buyer emphatically said she was not ready to work with a real estate agent but had questions about my listing. We talked a little. I listened. Asked questions. She responded. Then I suggested that maybe she would benefit by receiving listings directly from MLS, instead of driving around and calling listing agents who don't answer their phones.

Based on her needs and my knowledge of the market, I emailed her data on a few homes in East Sacramento on Monday. She called me on Tuesday to arrange a tour for Wednesday. By Thursday afternoon she was in contract. And in shock.

When I met her dad on Sunday to show the property in daylight hours, he took me aside and said, "I've known a lot of real estate agents in my life -- a lot -- and this is the first time I've heard an agent suggest a lower price than what the buyer wanted to offer."

Hey, it's my job to get the buyer the best deal possible. Maybe her dad never worked with a buyer's agent before? I can't, for the life of me, imagine an agent refusing to provide guidance on offer pricing. We're in the trenches day in and day out; we know our inventory and market value. To withhold this knowledge from a buyer seems unthinkable to me and would be a violation of our fiduciary relationship with our clients.

The upshot is this buyer purchased a probate home in East Sacramento for $225,000. When was the last time you heard of that kind of sales price? The deals are out there if you know where to look. So, the next time you call a listing agent, ask that agent about the area where you are looking. You might be pleasantly surprised at what you can find.

Photo: Elizabeth Weintraub (a home in East Sacramento but not the home in this blog)

The Short Sale, by Elizabeth Weintraub, coming from Archer Ellison in January 2009.