Sacramento Real Estate Views

April Foreclosure Update

Foreclosures Increase

According the RealtyTrac.com, leading foreclosure information website, foreclosures in California continue to be high although there has been a decrease of 10% from April to March.  That said, California still has the third highest foreclosure rate in the country with 1 in every 138 homes receiving a foreclosure notice in the month of April.  The total foreclosure activity is up 42% in the state over April of 2008.

Most Activity in the Initial Stages

RealtyTrac.com reports that the majority of the activity is in the initial stages of the foreclosure process due to the legislative and lender imposed moritoria that have been in place in one way or another since September of 2008.

California’s latest extension of the moritorium ends, supposedly, on May 23.

Sacramento County Foreclosures

Sacramento county continues to get pummeled by the economy and housing is continuing to take a hit.  While sales are up and inventory is down, for the time being, the foreclosure rate has increased locally in April.

As the diagram indicates, 9 cities in Sacramento county had 100 or more foreclosure filings in the month of April.  Orangevale had 98 and the remaining 9 cities all  had over 100.

Other cities with filings include:  Fair Oaks 98, Rio Linda 74, Sloughhouse 26, Wilton 21, Elverta 18, Mather 16, Herald 4, Walnut Grove 4, Isleton 2 and Courtland 1.

From the initial filing, it still can take a couple months for these properties to come on the market, if they aren’t sold at auction or in a bulk sale.  This ensures that we’ll have plenty of homes for sale in the region for quite a while to come.

Looking for an experience REO/banked owned home sales agent?  If so, please call and I’d be happy to help you get a great deal on a bank owned home.

Thanks for visiting!

Tags: foreclosure data sacramento, foreclosures in sacramento

Foreclosed Homes in Sacramento

Know What to Expect When Making An Offer On a Sacramento Foreclosure

This market is a wonderful opportunity for many people looking to get the lowest price on a home in the Sacramento region since the late 1990′s.  Prices are now holding steady but they are lower than they have been in years.  With impending doom on the horizon, prices could go lower after the end of the year.

There are a lot of people out there attempting to take advantage of the market, some are having success, some aren’t.   I’ve got clients I’ve written dozens of offers for and still haven’t been able to get a response from agents representing these listings.

Realtor Professionalism

The level of professionalism of the majority of Realtors has declined dramatically in this market.  Offers are submitted and no one responds that they’ve received them.  Calling and emailing doesn’t help, there is just no response at all.  A few days later, the property in question goes into pending sale and you’ve got no idea what’s going on.  With as tough as the banks are to work with, I guess I can’t blame them.

The fact is that most Realtors aren’t setup for this market.  They don’t have the teams to accommodate such a high volume of business.  I spoke to one assistant that I know who is working with a Realtor who has contracts with 6 banks.  He has 3 people on staff.  The assistant, himself and a transaction coordinator.  3 people trying and handle the volume of 15 listings a month is pretty tough and they are adding more.

When you take into consideration all that needs to be done with an bank owned home, it’s a monumental task.

Our team has over 30 banks we’re dealing with and we have 19 people on staff to handle all aspects of the business.  Phone calls and emails to our office get returned, properties get cleaned up and we move homes.

It’s a Service Oriented Business

The buyers are who suffers in this environment.  Maybe I’m expecting too much here but we all have licenses and it’s our duty to communicate, even if it’s on the most basic level, with each other for the good of our reputations as Realtors and, most of all, for the people we represent.  It’s not that hard.

I just wrote 4 contracts for an investor from Alaska just because I answered the phone and followed up.  That’s what this business is about, service.

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Tags: foreclosures in sacramento, homes in sacramento

A Sign of the Times

I’ve made a change in my career over the last week.  I’ve left my position at Pulte Homes, Inc. to go back into the resale side of the market with the #1 REO team in the Sacramento region.  I’m working with REO Deal Makers at ReMax Gold.

This change will be a good thing for my career as it will expose me to another side of this business that, frankly, I had pushed away.  I realized that learning this side of the business is an essential for any Realtor looking for continued success.  There was always something that didn’t feel right about “capitalizing on someone else’s misfortune” and that thought or perception, kept me away until this week when I began my new position.

The day I gave my notice I began getting calls from potential buyers which stands out because I had told no one that I was quitting my position and starting a new one.  I hadn’t given it any of my attention, it just happened.  One of those potential buyers is a great lady I had worked with about 2 years ago named Joyce.  Joyce is from Modesto but has relocated to the Roseville area to pursue a love interest.  She is about as saavy as they come in so far as investors are concerned.  She has done more with less than anyone I know.  This is one of the benefits of educated risk taking.

Today, we went out looking at bank owned properties.  This is my first excursion into that market and, I’ll tell you, it was an eye opening.  I found myself oddly affected by entering these homes knowing that someone had been forced to leave for financial reasons.  The conditions I saw were startling.  A couple homes we saw were in good enough areas but were just trashed inside.  These were newer homes all built within the last 10 years and some were in just terrible condition while others were in better but still tough condition.  The minimum repair bill was about $8K.  That said, all penciled out as profitable in the standard investment scenario.

I found myself fighting back a little emotion after visiting our second property.  I’m sensitive to the point of being sappy sometimes.   Joyce, however, was gleeful.  All a part of experience I guess.  There was a lot of opportunity in what we saw.  I understood how she felt.

What occurred to me was this:  As a Realtor, my business is neighborhoods and communities.  I feel a responsibility as a Realtor to do everything in my power to get these homes sold to families or persons who will take care of them and act responsibly to make these neighborhoods, now blighted with properties that are unmaintained and unsightly, better than they were before.  We’ve got to make it a priority for the sake of our communities to get our region past this crisis and act responsibly in the neighborhoods in which we work.

Naive? Probably but it motivates me and makes what I do for a living worth it. Cheesy?  Sometimes that description definitely applies! Sincere? Always!

Interested in a great deal on a home?  We’ve got plenty of choices in our market at the moment.  If you’d like to make it happen, give me a call.

Tags: foreclosed homes, foreclosures in sacramento, Sacramento real estate market