Brandon Weber

Interested in preservation in the core? Then come attend the Sacramento Old City Association's Winter Preservation Roundtable, where former SOCA president David Mogavero will be presenting issues of “Ecological Building”, “City Scale & Building Scale Issues” and “Economic Aspects of Urban Form”.

The details:

Saturday, Dec. 13th
9:00a – 12:00 Noon
at the Stanford Gallery
(the bldg. just west of the Museum)
Old Sacramento-dressed in its Christmas finery

Reports & Announcements w/discussion on “Minimum Maintenance of Historic Properties” & Neighborhood involvement

Juice, rolls, coffee served -$5 Donation
Students attend free w/valid ID
Event Contacts: Linda Whitney – 441-7883 owcathouse@aol.com
Kathleen Green – 442-1117 kdgreenone@yahoo.com

Ready for some good news about the real estate market? I should think so. Especially after continually being barraged by bad news in the press about the market and the overall economy. Well, economy or no economy, bad news or good news in the press, the real estate market in and around the Sacramento core continues to trend upward (often defying greater Sacramento statistics).

Prices Are UP! And not just a little. Prices in the 95811, 95814, 95816, 95818, 95819 zip codes have increased a full 5% when compared to October sales, according to the local MLS, from an average price of just over $392,000 to just under $415,000. This is still down, obviously, from November of 2007 by roughly 8%. But compared to being 16% down when comparing October of 2008 to October of 2007, this is an outrageous turnaround. So outrageous that I would expect a bit of a correction next month. That being said, there is still a lot of reasons to be hopeful about the future of the real estate market in the core.

Inventory continues to decrease. The number of active listings an the market have decreased from 251 to 224. The number of homes sold in November did decrease to only 30, but there are currently 54 pending transactions in the area.

Interest Rates Are Low! Actions by the Fed have dramatically reduced interest rates causing people to jump at locking in rates now.

From SacBee.com:

Sacramento's troubled housing market, which has been gaining momentum for several months, got a new jolt this week. An $800 billion stimulus plan for the credit markets, unveiled Tuesday by the Federal Reserve and U.S. Treasury Department, sent fixed-rate mortgages tumbling as much as 1 percentage point.

Almost immediately, homebuyers with deals pending raced to lock in rates. Potential homebuyers called their agents and said they were ready to look in earnest. Homeowners took a fresh look at the refinance market.

Is the News Too Good? Maybe. This may be a spike rather than a turnaround, but I think that there is enough evidence in the past couple of weeks that the urban core may indeed be back on the upswing. And that's good news for homeowners.

It finally came. The falling leaves, the cold winds, and, yes, the rain. I am sitting in my office, looking out onto the wet streets here in Midtown Sacramento. One thing we don't get a lot of here is a change of seasons. Only weeks ago, our temperatures were still hitting the 90s. And one week ago, temperatures were still in the 80s and, well, beautiful.

Don't expect me to complain about beautiful weather here. But I do like the change. The falling leaves are welcome, the cold winds are welcome. And, yes, the rain is welcome, too. The fire is stoked. Change is here.

Yes, there is an art, but it is the book I am talking about here. One of my biggest pleasures is the buying and reading of books. So, I have decided that when I have found a good book (or a tidbit from a good book) I will include it here if it is particularly useful to understanding real estate. The Art of Pricing is not a real estate book, but its topic is important for any business and its tips useful for anybody when establishing pricing.

There are a number of tips in the book, one of which is that studies have shown that the number 9 connotes "cheap" and the number 0 connotes "quality". In other words we assume that something priced $60.00 is of higher quality than something priced $59.99. This is certainly true when it comes to establishing a price for housing.

What do you think? Would you react differently to a house that is priced at $355,000 or $354,999? I believe the answer is clear. Even if your perception of quality isn't completely different, at least you assume that the seller or seller's agent is trying to get one over on you. As if you don't know that the two numbers are essentially the same. Could you imagine saying, "but, honey, this home is $1 cheaper!"

I want to know what you think. Please comment and tell me if pricing like this makes a difference to how you react (to the house, seller, agent, whatever!).

With all the doom and gloom in the reporting on the current real estate market, don't you think it is time for some good news? Well, I do. And, oddly enough, it is the same as all that bad news we have been hearing. You know, about real estate prices tumbling in California. For people who have not been able to enter the real estate market for close to a decade, there is now a remarkable opportunity. In just one year, according to the San Francisco Chronicle, the number of Californians who can afford to buy a home has doubled:

The percentage of households able to buy an entry-level residence in the state reached 48 percent during the second quarter, double the level from a year ago, according to the California Association of Realtors. The trade group defines a starter home as one priced at 85 percent of an area's median, which works out to $329,120 for the state. The minimum income needed to purchase such a property is $62,870, down from $101,440 a year ago (assuming an adjustable-rate mortgage starting at 5.69 percent and a 10 percent down payment).

Well, it may not be the news you were looking for. But if you are one of those who has been frustrated in the past half a dozen years or so about being priced out of the market, your time may have come.