Land Park - Sacramento, CA

I KNOW BANKS CALL THE SHOTS BUT…

Paula Swayne — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 07:35:51 +0000

I will be the first to admit that I don’t do a lot of foreclosures…in fact, I am in the middle of my first one. No, I am NOT going to answer any questions on how in the world I have accomplished this remarkable feat! Being a rookie at foreclosures, but not uninformed, there have been few surprises. The bank shortened up the removal of all contingencies to 10 days (and we all know how well the banks do at moving things along in a timely manner). We had to promise that there would be world peace…okay, maybe not, but it felt like it!

Anyway, we have been hustling to get everything done in the 10 days we were allotted. My clients signed the final counter from the bank on the 19th, so we have until Monday to remove our contingencies….you would think! I received a call from the listing agents assistant explaining the error in my math. You see, the BANK signed the counter offer THEY wrote on the 16th, so add 10 days…and yep…the contingencies were suppose to be removed today. Now, some sane person may ask if we were in contract on the 16th and the reasonable answer would be no, since my clients hadn’t agreed to their counter yet. The assistant kindly explained to me that the date that my clients agreed to and signed the counter really didn’t matter. Hmmm….

This being the case, the next time I receive an offer on a property I have listed, I am just going to assume that the buyers have agreed to it and go forth and prosper!

No related posts.

A LISTING DREAM TEAM

Paula Swayne — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 05:45:19 +0000

You have decided to sell your home and are looking for that perfect Realtor that will create the perfect storm of a high price, a quick sale and a smooth escrow. Many agents will tout their ability to do exactly this combination.

However, the perfect listing Realtor does not act alone. A truly successful sales experience is a team…the combination of the efforts of the Realtor AND the homeowner. A united effort goes a long way to have a mutually positive experience.

The smart seller should select their Realtor with one main thought in mind…do you trust your Realtor? If you do, then this means you have done your homework, understand the qualifications of your Realtor and are convinced that this is the Realtor for you. Once this task has been accomplished, the rest is a breeze. You, as the seller, will TRUST that the Realtor is telling you what you need to do to your property to receive the best price. You will TRUST your Realtor that you are being told the right price for your home and you will TRUST your Realtor when you are advised regarding the offer and negotiations necessary for a successful sale.

Mutually, the Realtor needs to trust the seller. The Realtor must TRUST that the seller has made all necessary disclosures. The Realtor must TRUST that the seller will work in a timely manner to accomplish the needed tasks.

So, when you are searching for that perfect Realtor, make sure it is someone you TRUST and someone you can work with. After that, it really can be a positive experience.

LAND PARK COMMUNITY ASSOCIATION…LOTS HAPPENING!

Paula Swayne — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 06:39:14 +0000

It is becoming very apparent why every Sacramento neighborhood needs advocates to maintain and improve their community in a thoughtful and intelligent way. Tonight the Land Park Community Association heldtheir February public meeting. Several upcoming challenges to the neighborhood were brought to the attention of the LPCA board and attending neighbors. Here is a highlight of just a few of the concerns expressed:

An organization entitled “SAFE” is advocating changes to be made to Freeport Boulevard to improve thesafety of bicyclists and pedestrians. They have asked that LPCA take a position in support of their cause. LPCA is working with them to address their concerns.

The Business Journal published that the Tower Theaterbuilding is now for sale. LPCA will be monitoring the progress of the sale and the buyers intended use for this historical landmark.

It appears that the city has funded the repair of the remaining lamp posts on Land Park Drive, which are in dire need of repair. This should be completed by the end of the year.

There is some question as to who has proposed expansion of the Sacramento Zoo. It appears to be either the City of Sacramento or the Zoological Society. In any case, the expansion is the old Zoo 2002 Plan reincarnated. This would expand the zoo to the land that presently houses the pony rides, the gardens and Funderland. It would also expand the golf course parking to a multi-level parking lot. There is more, and it would be premature to list the exact proposal. Let it be said that the reason that this organization was originally created was to fight this expansion (then known as the Association to Preserve Land Park) and we just might have to take up the wishes of the neighborhood again. Stay posted.

LPCA would love to have you be a part of the association! Please get on our website and join!

RECOVERY IS A MISNOMER

Paula Swayne — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 23:31:19 +0000

We are hearing the whispers “The housing market is recovering”! In our area, we believe this to be particularly true. Sacramento was one of the first to feel the meltdown, so naturally, we would be one of the first to see some hope of recovery.

Now the question becomes, what, exactly, does the word “recovery” mean? Evidently, the answer to this depends on your perspective and the amount of optimism you choose to insert into the equation.

Buyers see this as a possible loss of power. As the housing market grows in strength, it may be assumed that buyers will see a loss in their ability to negotiate a “deal”. Many first time home buyers feel they have hit the mother lode with a combination of foreclosures and short sales, low interest rates and the federal tax credit. As the housing market begins to return to normalcy, the government will no longer see the need to stimulate the market or continue lower interest rates. There is a growing belief that the market has the ability to absorb the remaining foreclosures without the once-touted “wave”. If ever there was a time to get off of the fence to take advantage of a great market, this is certainly it!

Sellers hear “recovery” and instantly assume this translates into their equity growing once again. While we certainly see an inventory that would appear to give sellers a stronger negotiating ability, this is not translating into an increase in equity. The “recovery” that is being bantered about is really more of the beginning of a stable market. Homes that are believed to be the “best house at the best price” are selling fairly quickly and at close to the asking price. Note, however, the words “best price”. Sellers must be competitive in their pricing to appeal to the “deal” buyers are looking for. The result is equity being put into a holding pattern for the foreseeable future. While sellers can be relieved that they are no longer seeing their equity decrease, they should not look to the near future for equity gains.

Recently in discussing the possibility of putting their home on the market, the seller asked, “What if I wait a year…can I expect to get $100,000 more?” This question was raised on a $300,000 home. Simply put, it will many years before this home can see that kind of gain. The suggestion was to either sell now or rent the home for 5 years and then review the market value of the home.

When discussing “recovery” be certain that it is very clear what that word means. We got to this place in the housing market through years of “if you fog a mirror, we will give you money” loans. It will take us years to return to a normal market. The word “recovery” just may be a term that would better be replaced with “we are at the intersection and are starting the journey towards normalcy”.

SPECIAL HAPPENINGS AT LAND PARK’S SACRAMENTO ZOO!

Paula Swayne — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 02:43:13 +0000

Amber is pregnant! Now, you might wonder who Amber is and why this is such a monumental occasion. Amber is a Giant Anteater and her little bundle of joy will be the first anteater to be born at the Sacramento Zoo. Look for the birth announcement coming in early April. If you want to learn more about Amber and her little one, click on Sacramento Zoo’s Amber.

The giraffe’s at the Sacramento Zoo have always had a barn of sorts and enough land to wander, but it was nothing special. Well, all that has changed with the opening of the Tall Wonders Giraffe exhibit. Not only do the giraffes have a cutting edge new home, but now visitors can view them at eye level with the addition of a viewing deck. The giraffes are already enjoying their new home, but the grand opening won’t be until February 12th. Now, it just doesn’t get any cooler than that!

If you have enjoyed our little Sacramento Zoo enclave, you have missed one of the very special experiences of the region. Take a weekend day and meander the regions of the world in an hour or two!

A DAY IN THE LIFE OF A REALTOR…

Paula Swayne — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 05:21:22 +0000

I always have to giggle just a little when people tell me that they are considering going into real estate because they “love looking at houses”. If only that is all we do…or even a majority of what we do! So, to give some perspective, I thought I would share what a normal day for a Realtor can look like.

Hurry…get ready for work! I can’t be late today because it is the office meeting and tour! Hurry..hurry!

Whew…got to the office just in time to check e-mails before the meeting starts! For 30 minutes or so, I learn about the latest law changes, educational opportunities offered by the office and the real estate association and the features of the new listings our office got this week…some really cool stuff!

Off we go…the whole office leaves, en mass, to tour our new office listings! We are very PC – carpooling to economize on gas! Between homes we evaluate the features of the home and how they relate to the value. And, of course, how our weekend was, what our families did and so on.

It is amazing how many messages a Realtor can get just in the hour or two we are gone touring homes! How do those callers know when we are gone? I also check e-mails.

An agent comes in and says “Check out this! Google Whitepages.com and put in your name. It tells people way more than you want out there!” I did and it does! I immediately select an option that eliminates me from their site. That was scary! They listed my home address, my age and my family’s names and ages…really scary!

Lunch break…my very favorite time of day! I get to eat and socialize a bit!

I get a call while I am at lunch…a client spotted their perfect house and wants to go see it! I look up the property, call to arrange the showing, call the client back and off I go!

Well, it wasn’t the perfect house after all. Oh well, we’ll just keep looking! Maybe we need to consider another neighborhood.

I promised myself I would work on my farm today. I hand address 250 envelopes (I am a big believer in humanizing things). I want to be sure to give my farm something of value, and I think a graph showing how 2009 fared in our neighborhood would be interesting. I’ll have to work on that tomorrow, since I have too many other things I want to get done today.

I am covering for another agent, so I have to go through her file to be certain all of the disclosures are signed…nope! I e-mail the sellers agent to let her know what is stilll needed in the file. I also call the title company in hopes that they might have some of the documents..yea! They do!

I have to call a buyer to be sure that they put the utilities in their name, since the property recorded today.

A client calls to ask for a list of the costs he incurred preparing the house for sale and doing the requested repairs. Here’s a tough one…the actual seller isn’t asking…her brother, who is inheriting some of the money, is. Hmm….talk about being in the middle of it! I hate it when this happens! I call the seller and ask her what she wants me to do and we work it out.

I arrange for locks to be changed and meet the locksmith at a property.

One of our agents has a lender who is requiring a second bid for a roof certification. She asks for some names. I recommend one that ends up being half the cost of the other! Yea! I love it when that happens!

I work on finding a cheaper “fax-to-e-mail” company…not too much luck.

I get a call from a family who is having some issues and needs to know what their home value is. They aren’t going to sell it – they just need help. I arrange to see them on Saturday.

An old friend comes by with an idea for a new enterprise for Realtors and want my opinion. It might be a good idea for some venues, but I can’t see Realtors using it.

Now it is past 5, the secretary has left and I am still at the office. Time to go, pick up what-ever-in-the-heck I am going to fix for dinner and get home to feed the dogs. Aahhh…a day in the life of a Realtor!

LAND PARK PACIFIC LITTLE LEAGUE REGISTRATION…IT’S NOT TOO LATE!

Paula Swayne — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 15:58:26 +0000

Aahhh, baseball…the roar of the crowd, the anticipation of the first pitch and the thrill of the crack of thebat! All of this can be experienced in Sacramento’sWilliam Land Park and Dooley Field in the spring of 2010! From the excitement of the 5 year olds donning their first uniform to the budding athletic talent of a 14 year old, now is the time to register…it’s not too late!

You can register your child on-line by clicking Land Park Pacific Little League . Register now and have a great baseball season!

WHEN SHOULD I SELL?

Paula Swayne — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 17:59:02 +0000

It is probably one of the first questions asked of a Realtor by a homeowner considering selling their home. It is a logical concern as all homeowners want to maximize their equity in their home.

It would be easy if there was a “one-size-fits-all” kind of answer. However, the appropriate (and I am sure, frustrating) response would be “it depends”. The timing element of any sale is influenced by many factors.

In today’s market, the tax credit is the star of the show. Not only does it allow up to $8000 for first time home buyers, but now, until April 30th of 2010, move up buyers can get up to $6500! Homes that would qualify for these types of buyers should be scrambling to get on the market. A typical winter yard can be forgiven to take advantage of such a great opportunity.

In a normal year, the busiest months for sales are April, May and June, with actual recordings 30-60 days later. Taken on face value, most sellers would assume that this translates to the best time to put their home on the market. However, let’s take this a step further. This also means that the highest inventory of available homes is also in the spring and are competing with each other. To lessen the competition, why not market a home at the beginning of the year or in the fall? Take photographs of the spectacular yard when it is in it’s full glory and leave them on the dining room table for potential buyers to see what they can look forward to. The competition is less and the home can be staged to be the best home on the market!

Holidays can be a wonderful time to market a home. Typically, it looks its most inviting with festive decorations and great curb appeal. In a season that almost expects drop-in visitors, the home is kept a little tidier than usual. Certainly there are fewer buyers shopping for a home, but the buyers that are looking for a home are quality buyers if they are shopping for a home over the holidays. And again, the competition is almost non-existent.

Remember, the reasons a buyer wants to buy is not seasonal. Job transfers, increasing or decreasing family size and changing family dynamics are not time driven issues.

Many sellers believe if they wait for a year or so, they will net more from their home. With a few exceptions, this is simply not the case. New appraisal guidelines that minimize loan risk have stagnated the real estate market. While most would agree that the market has stabilized in the stronger locations, equity will not be increasing with any significance in the foreseeable future.

Ultimately, a seller should put their home on the market when the need arises. Pay attention to economic advantages such as the tax credits and consult a Realtor for issues specific to your location. Anytime is a good time to market your home.

WHEN IT COMES TO FRAUD, WHO ARE YOU PROTECTING?

Paula Swayne — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 16:52:13 +0000

I was at a luncheon the other day when a Realtor shared her story of a short sale listing she has. It had received multiple offers and one of the buyers agents had offered to pay her seller $5000 if her seller would take their offer (of course, AFTER close of escrow). She had told the story because she was surprised that in this day of regulation upon regulation, someone would still think it was okay to offer this.

However, when we asked her what she did, her response surprised me. Now, I can think of a multitude of answers to this buyers agent (notice I did not use the term “Realtor”).

Fine, as long as it is on the HUD statement and so, transparent. (We all know this wouldn’t happen!)
While I am sure my seller could use the extra $5000, this is fraud and I will not recommend to my seller that they proceed with your offer.
I am not willing to risk my license in order to sell a house…and believe me, it can happen.
Speaking to the seller…”If you do this, and the lender finds out, you could be in serious financial jeopardy.”

She told us that she was concerned that she primarily represent her seller’s interest, which would be to take the $5000. However, understanding that this was fraud and her seller would be at risk, she would let her know about fraud and then let the seller decide. She said she didn’t want to appear to be the expert in this situation.

I just couldn’t restrain myself. I told her that she IS the expert in this situation. Her seller hired her for her expertise and was expecting her to guide her through the short sale process. Of course you tell her that this is fraud and that you will have nothing to do with it. Not only does it put the seller in jeopardy, but it puts the agents license in jeopardy as well.

I wouldn’t hesitate to put my own livelihood before knowingly committing fraud. But then, that’s just me!

COME OUT, COME OUT, SHADOW INVENTORY!

Paula Swayne — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 00:10:20 +0000

April 8th, 2009
Carolyn Said, Chronicle Staff Writer
“A vast “shadow inventory” of foreclosed homes that banks are holding off the market could wreak havoc with the already battered real estate sector, industry observers say.”"We believe that there are in the neighborhood of 600,000 properties nationwidethat banks have repossessed but not put on the market, “said Rick Sharga, vice president of RealtyTrac.”

May 19th, 2009
Blog posted by Peter Coy
“A new survey from Zillow.com confirms what I’ve been saying for months: There is a huge amount of “shadow inventory”in the housing market. Except the shadow is even bigger than I imagined.” According to Zillow’s VP for data and analytics, Stan Humphries, “Almost one-third of homeowners (31%) said they would be at least somewhat likely to put their homes on the market in the next 12 months if they saw signs of a recovering real estate market…We here at Zillow expect to see a long, drawn-out bottom, with any upward bumps in value tempered by new inventory coming into the market.”

July 21st, 2009
Real estate news and analysis from the Wall Street Journal
“…there are some signs that banks may be delaying foreclosures, either because they’re overwhelmed with a glut of delinquent loans or because they’re strategically holding off on over saturating the market. That so-called “shadow inventory” could lead to an uptick in foreclosure listings later this year.”

August 2nd, 2009
by CalculatedRisk, lifted from the comments on Corus: “Too toxic to fail” by Rob Dawg
“On shadow inventory from Reuters: “Shadow” inventory lurks over U.S. housing recovery
[A] massive supply of unsold homesis waiting in the wings and could easily swamp the recovery before it can gather speed. The number of homes listed officially on the market, while still at historically high levels, might be only the tip of the iceberg: said Stan Humphries, chief economist at real estate website Zillow.com in Seattle, Washington.”

September 30th, 2009
Quoted from Henry Blodget, CEO and Editor-in-Chief of The Business Insider
“Amherst Securities has produced a scary analysis of this “shadow inventory” overhang, which Amherst estimates is a shocking 7 million houses (The consensus is only 2-3 million). 7 million houses represents 1.4 times the number of houses currently sold in the country each year. So this represents a massive overhang. As these houses hit the market in future years, they will keep pressure on house prices. This will likely either lead to further declines in prices or delay the recovery.”

October 13th, 2009
from Homefront by Jim Wasserman and Dale Kasler
“There is no massive shadow inventoryof bank-owned repos – and banks aren’t intentionally holding them off the market. So says Foreclosure Radar’s Sean O’toole.”

October 15th, 2009
Written by Eric Wolff
“There is no shadow inventory; there is no bank conspiracy; there are not houses waiting like vine-ripened tomatoes for the moment to be plucked, says a recent report from ForeclosureRadar, a prominent data-tracking firm.”

I offer these quotes from various sites to show the progression of the “shadow inventory” issue. What I found fascinating is the wide variance of opinion. Experts in the field can’t agree, any more than the numbers that support their opinion. It seems to me, if they have been predicting this “glut” of homes to come on the market since (at the very least) the beginning of the year, and it hasn’t happened, it might be time to question the reality of “shadow inventory”. Interpret it as over-reaction, misinterpretation or simply wrong, the “shadow inventory” has yet to appear. Contrary to popular opinion and strange as it may be, we in Sacramento have more demand for foreclosures than we have foreclosures to sell. It is common to have many multiples of offers on each foreclosure. Foreclosure buyers have become accustom to the rejection of their offer – even when it offers over asking price. I, for one, do believe in fairy tales…and maybe this is one of them!