Salvation Army is the best!

As many of you may know, I work on the CanTree Committee of the Sacramento Association of Realtors, obtaining donations and putting on functions and events to raise money, all of which goes to the Salvation Army to feed needy families in our area.

In December we had a big celebration and presented the Salvation with $76,000 that we had raised through 2011. They thanked us at that time and we were happy and pleased to be able to raise money for such a wonderful organization.

Despite the fact that we needed no further thanks, the Salvation Army wanted to do something more for our committee, and Thursday, after our committee meeting, they provided us with a delicious lunch. There were a half dozen different kinds of sandwiches, two very yummy salads – a fuji apple chicken salad and an Asian chicken salad, some chips, drinks, and giant cookies for dessert. Yum!

Thank you to Ava Simpson, Syd Fong, Captain Hendrik Sumter, and everyone at Salvation Army for being such special people and for the wonderful lunch!

By the way, if you are in our area and would like to attend our next fundraiser, let me know. We are having a Crab Fest on February 25^th. Tickets are $55 each. It is our most popular event and raises the most money for Salvation Army of any fundraiser we give each year.

The food is great (in addition to the crab there will be pasta, salad, bread, and maybe some surprises), there will be a live band, dancing, auctions, raffles, and lots of fun. It will be at the new Citrus Heights Community Center, which is beautiful. Many of the tickets have already been sold, so get your tickets while some are still available. Jon and I would love to see you there.

If you can’t make it to the Crab Fest but just want to donate to the Salvation Army, let me know and I’ll tell you how to make out your check and get you a donation letter so you can deduct your donation from your taxes.

If you would like to donate a raffle or auction prize, I will also provide you with a donation letter for that. We can use lots of prizes for the event, and any help, large or small, is appreciated.

Salvation Army is the best, and I'm so happy to be on the CanTree committee.

******************

Susan Neal "Happy clients make me happy."
Broker / Realtor
Century 21 Noel David Realty
Fair Oaks, California

Full time real estate services in Fair Oaks CA, with friendly professionalism, 30+ years experience.

I work hard to give my buyer or seller a low-stress transaction.

For all your real estate needs or questions, call me at (916)705-8951 or visit my website at www.SusanNealFineProperties.com.

HUD homes resource Search HUD Homes

Saturday February 4, 2012 is Museum Day in Sacramento California. Nearly all area museums have free admission, and the zoo admission is half price. Many of the museums also have free parking.

If you wonder how big a deal this is, consider that 26 great museums will be free! You can visit several in one day, but it is recommended that you not try to visit more than 2 or 3, since you will want to have a chance to truly enjoy yourself and appreciate what they have to offer.

Last year Jon and I had fun at the California Railroad Museum and the Old Schoolhouse Museum. We had a wonderful day and I took about a hundred photos. I especially loved touring the mail car, since I had two ancestors who worked those cars, and maybe even the one we toured!

There are also some wonderful restaurants in Old Sacramento, where many of the museums are located, and I recommend that you take a lunch break and visit any one of them – you’ll get a great meal. One of my favorites is Rio City Café, where you can eat by the Sacramento River and watch the boats while you eat. The food is delicious too.

So . . . have you often thought about visiting some of Sacramento's many wonderful museums or our great zoo, but you just haven't gotten around to it? Or you have several children and you fear that parking and admission will be too expensive?

Well, mark this Saturday February 4 on your calendar! This is Museum Day in Sacramento, and admission is free from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

You can arrive at any time during the day, but most of the museums will be open only until 5:00 p.m., so leave yourself enough time to see the exhibits before closing.

Please be aware that parking may be crowded at certain venues, because many folks will want to visit one museum or another on the same day.

For a list of all of Sacramento’s museums, a map to them and what each is doing for Museum Day, check the Sacramento Museums website.

And have a fun day!

******************

Susan Neal "Happy clients make me happy."
Broker / Realtor
Century 21 Noel David Realty
Fair Oaks, California

Full time real estate services in Fair Oaks CA, with friendly professionalism, 30+ years experience.

I work hard to give my buyer or seller a low-stress transaction.

For all your real estate needs or questions, call me at (916)705-8951 or visit my website at www.SusanNealFineProperties.com.

HUD homes resource Search HUD Homes

The real estate market in Fair Oaks CA is recovering well!

I love Fair Oaks California, and one of my favorite things is how it is a little bit of everything. It is primarily a bedroom community, but it contains many small businesses and is very near large shopping malls and centers. It feels rural and is considered semi-rural, yet it is actually not that far from the "big city."

Its housing continues with the theme of having a combination of varied styles and sizes of homes. You can find McMansions next to tiny cabins, and up the street will be a tract of middle-sized homes.

It is this diversity of styles, sizes and prices that makes it an interesting place to live, though it can sometimes be challenging to arrive at comparable sales for listings.

There are several tracts that have been built through the years, but a large number of homes are custom, including some very old ones and some very big and new that have been built in the last few years. There are homes selling for as much as $2,000,000+ and a few under $100,000.

Preparing a market report for Fair Oaks California is therefore a different experience - particularly if it is to have any meaning. For that reason, I like to analyze the sales and active listings by price range. That way you can see what range has the most active listings and which is selling more.

It can also be useful to see the market trends, rather than a static snapshot of market conditions. Here is a graph showing how the market is improving over–all in Fair Oaks California, through all price ranges over the past 15 months.

*

One problem with the news reporting is that they seem to pick out a very simplified set of numbers. They will say things like: There were fewer sales last month or prices are down.

My questions are: Fewer sales of what? And prices on what? Where? Those “news” statements don’t reflect my experience here in Fair Oaks.

Below are the past 15 months of Fair Oaks active listings, sales, and pendings (those for whom a contract has been submitted to escrow).

Here are records of Fair Oaks homes listed or sold at up to $299,000 between October 1, 2010 and December 31, 2011.

*

The same information for homes listed or sold between $300,000 and $599,999.

*

Homes listed or sold between $600,000 and $999,999.

*

Homes listed or sold at $1,000,000 or more.

*

As you can see, the trends are very different in different price ranges. This can give you an idea of where the market is stabilizing and where it is not yet settling down. Clearly the very high end market is a bit uncertain and the graph looks erratic.

But in most price ranges, there are fewer homes sitting on the market, more sales and pendings, and with multiple offers on the narrowing inventory, the prices are beginning to inch up.

With interest rates still historically low, now is a great time to buy. And with a smaller inventory, sellers have less competition, so it is also a great time to sell! Our local market is achieving a great balance – and that is good for all.

So I think you can see that the real estate market in Fair Oaks CA is recovering well.

Right now there are 2 homes listed in Fair Oaks, CA at over one million dollars. They are both spectacular and different. I would love to find just the right buyer for either of them.

Call me if you are interested in buying a home in the wonderful community of Fair Oaks, CA and I would be glad to help you in any price range that fits your budget.

******************

Susan Neal "Happy clients make me happy."
Broker / Realtor
Century 21 Noel David Realty
Fair Oaks, California

Full time real estate services in Fair Oaks CA, with friendly professionalism, 30+ years experience.

I work hard to give my buyer or seller a low-stress transaction.

For all your real estate needs or questions, call me at (916)705-8951 or visit my website at www.SusanNealFineProperties.com.

HUD homes resource Search HUD Homes

Phoenix Field, Fair Oaks California is a wonderful place to live!

Are you interested in learning about properties in the Phoenix Field area of Fair Oaks California? There are some really beautiful homes here and the Phoenix Field neighborhood includes one of the best parks in Sacramento County, with one of the few remaining protected vernal pools in the country.

The area has a fascinating history. It was developed on land that used to be a general aviation airport serving our area. The exact beginning of the airport is a little vague, but what we do know is that is was opened some time between 1946 and 1948, because it was not depicted on the September 1946 Sectional Chart, but it was on the 1948 chart, which described it as having a 2,200' unpaved runway.

The field was labeled as "Fair Oaks-Phoenix" on the March 1954 USAF Sacramento Sectional Chart. You can read some really interesting history of the flying lessons, changes in ownership, and the operation of the air field through the years at a website about Abandoned and Little Known Airports in the Sacramento area.

By 1987 the air field fell out of use and developers finally took over the weed-strewn area that had been used for a few years as a dirt bike riding park. Years later they began building what is now known as the Phoenix Field residential area, with all of the streets given aeronautical names in honor of the old field.

You will find streets with names like Runway, Approach, Propeller, Flyway, Kitty Hawk, Airport, Aileron, Wingtip, and others.

At the time of this writing, there are 8 homes for sale in the Phoenix Field development, priced from $209,500 to $450,000.

Here is a video I took driving through a little bit of the area, showing some of the homes, Little Phoenix Park, which is a neighborhood pocket park, and the large Phoenix Park across Sunset Avenue from the homes.

*

One of my favorite things to do is to take an hour break in the day and to walk through the park and enjoy the beauty and wildlife in the vernal pools area. It’s also fun to visit the specially designated Fair Oaks dog park in one set aside part of Phoenix Park.

Phoenix Field, Fair Oaks California is a wonderful place to live!

If you are interested in learning more about this fascinating neighborhood and Phoenix Park, give me a call.

******************

Susan Neal "Happy clients make me happy."
Broker / Realtor
Century 21 Noel David Realty
Fair Oaks, California

Full time real estate services in Fair Oaks CA, with friendly professionalism, 30+ years experience.

I work hard to give my buyer or seller a low-stress transaction.

For all your real estate needs or questions, call me at (916)705-8951 or visit my website at www.SusanNealFineProperties.com.

HUD homes resource Search HUD Homes

How do you know if you’re getting a good deal

on a Fair Oaks home?

Many people who know that this is the right time to buy in the Fair Oaks California area, with prices affordable and interest rates low, still wonder whether they are getting a good deal when they find the home they want to buy.

Some may feel that the only way they can feel they got a good deal is if they paid less per square foot of house than the average for the neighborhood. That is certainly one consideration, but it is not the only one – especially in an eclectic, semi-rural area like Fair Oaks.

A good deal is different for each buyer - and each home, of course. One buyer might love the fact that the yard is large for the price, while another may think the upgrades make it a good deal.

One likes its proximity to something they value (shopping, bike paths, schools, or ?), and another simply likes the fact that it is priced lower than the one across the street with a similar floor plan.

But strangely enough, while buyers might spend up to an hour looking at each home they ultimately reject, they often find the one they want in moments. They tell me it just feels right.

You should be able to rely on your Realtor to review comparable sales in the neighborhood with you and explain how they apply to the home you are considering. But a true comparison must include comparing the features in a home that are important to you.

Do you feel that a home without a fireplace just doesn’t feel like home? Then when you are comparing one with and one without, realize that to you, a house with that feature is worth more. After all this will be your home and you can expect to live in it for at least several years and maybe much longer.

Which things can you comfortably live without and which things will you be unhappy to do without?

If you are getting all or most of the things you want in a Fair Oaks home that costs a few thousand more than another one that doesn’t have features you want, you are still getting a good deal, and you will be happy about your purchase for years with no regrets, as long as it fits your budget.

So really think about what is most important to you in your home, and be honest with your Realtor so she can find the perfect Fair Oaks home for you!

And that’s how you know you’re getting a good deal on a Fair Oaks home.

******************

Susan Neal "Happy clients make me happy."
Broker / Realtor
Century 21 Noel David Realty
Fair Oaks, California

Full time real estate services in Fair Oaks CA, with friendly professionalism, 30+ years experience.

I work hard to give my buyer or seller a low-stress transaction.

For all your real estate needs or questions, call me at (916)705-8951 or visit my website at www.SusanNealFineProperties.com.

HUD homes resource Search HUD Homes