With the new stimulus package being nearly passed by the President, now is the time to start thinking about refinancing out of those higher interest option arm rates or purchasing a new home. We all know how California has suffered through this housing slump, mainly because of our higher median home prices. The majority of Californians could not even think about refinancing their homes due to the fact that our homes are still to far above the conforming loan limit of $417,000. While we sat and watched many parts of the country such as the Midwest and Southern portions of the US refinance into lower conforming rates, we were basically held hostage by the secondary markets where loans are bought and sold. Since the credit crisis became news, the secondary market has virtually closed down ... 02/09/2008

Yesterday, I received a pile of emails and numerous phone calls from potential Internet fraud victims. I'd like to alert you to this scam, because it is unlikely that I am the only real estate agent whose identity has been compromised in this manner.  Here is how it works. A woman in Africa goes to Yahoo.com and sets up an email using your name. She used my middle initial, which I use solely for the Department of Real Estate and MLS, which is how I know she did not pick up my name from the various web sites where I post my listings. I am guessing she got it from Realtor.com. She downloaded my listing photographs and posted my Land Park listing as a home for rent on Craigslist at an incredibly low rental amount. For example, this home would easily rent for $2,000 a month, and she adverti... 02/01/2008

 2608 PORTOLA WAY *(CURTIS PARK) SACRAMENTO, CA 95818Offered at $699,000 Check out the Web commercial for 2608 Portola Way.  Show-stopping CURTIS PARK high-water bungalow. Unique Remodel blends uber modern updates with vintage character. Master suite w/ dressing room, walk-in closet & Asian-inpsired bath. Arches, mosaic, tile, wood flrs, concrete counters, origin WW, crown molding, newer windows w/grids. 2 units in LL with sep. entrances.4-car garage.Living room and family room:Curved windows -- Newer Marvin Windows with grids. Some dual pane. Hardwood floors.Coved Ceilings Exposed with double crown moldingExterior:Newer sills around perimeter and seller poured new footings in 05.New paint in 05Matching siding installedGutters and downspouts new in 05Stairs built in 2005, new doorTrim p... 01/28/2008

A seller who is putting his home on the market next week needed to get his home in shape to sell, but he had a few marks on his kitchen wall that required repair. He had tried to match the wall color in the kitchen, but could not find a good match. As a result, he ended up with two big splotches of brownish shades on his brown wall. He wanted to leave it that way. He was tired of making repairs and spending money to fix up his home before selling it. Even though I explained to him that a buyer who is handing over more than a half million dollars for his home will want it turnkey and ready to move into, the seller was adamant that he was not going to repaint the kitchen. As a compromise, he is painting one wall a darker shade of brown. Because in a buyer's market, if a buyer can easily s... 01/27/2008

I loved this house - The neighborhood was fine- near UC Med. It sold last year for the mid $300's - now the bank will take $214,900- that is a steal. It's had some nice updates too.Great price for this updated craftsman bungalow close to UCD Med. Hardwood floors, dual pane windows, HVAC, indoor laundry, partial basement, large front porch, detached garage and formal dining room with built in hutch.Let me know if you want to see it.~Lindalinda@lindaperryhomes.com 01/20/2008

Paper or Plastic, Sacramento? That will be the 15 cents, please if you chose plastic. Our Legislators will be working on passing a bill to charge 15 cents for each plastic bag that your groceries are bagged in.The reason is that damage is being caused to our ocean by these bags as well as the generational time that it takes for the plastic to break down at the dump.The E-Friendly thing to do is use a cloth bags. I'm sure you've seen them, they are sold at the grocery stores. And if you start now and buy one each time you go to the store, you will soon have a collection of healthy e-friendly cloth bags.San Francisco has already banned plastic bags all together. So won't you at least give paper a try? It's important to start...let's not be stubborn. Each person can and will make a differe... 01/18/2008

The number of REO (a term for bank-owned / foreclosed property) listings in Sacramento has grown exponentially over the last year.  If ya'll read my blog, you will know that I love stats.  There are some interesting, yet predictable, trends with bank-owned property in Sacramento...For the new reader of this blog - Sacramento is full of micro-markets.  The mass media doom and gloom has its place in certain micro-markets here, but does not equally affect the entire Sacramento metro area.  I don't want to bore everyone with a reiteration of the same old stuff, so for you folks who want to brush up on 'Erin's Real Estate Principles 101', you can check out some past posts.Anyway, so let's explore REO inventory trends in Sacramento County.  This first graph illustrates REO inventory for the e... 01/17/2008

The real estate market here in Sacramento is quiet on the surface, there are not going to be enough transactions in 2008 to support the current population of agents, but is teaming with activity not being tracked.  Many of the pundits who are predicting another year of depreciating values would be surprised if we could see all the web activity from potential buyers who are waiting for the day they believe is the bottom of the market.  No one wants to admit they bought in June or July of 2005 but there are many who would like to buy at the bottom of this cycle.  Check out my latest article, "Waiting for a reward" and see what others are saying about 2008.  I have also published it as my weekly column over at Rocklin & Roseville Today. 01/15/2008

Paying your utiliity bill in the City of Sacramento just got easier! The Department of Utilities recently launched its ExpressPay service to allow customers the ability to make one-time payment online.  Customers will receive a leaflet in their January bills explaining bill paymentoptions.  But I posted info below: The City of Sacramento Department of Utilities has launched its new online bill payment option, ExpressPay. The ExpressPay system can be accessed from the Department's webpage and allows customers to make a one-time payment with their Visa, Mastercard, debit card or bank account number. ExpressPay is the first online bill payment service offered by the City of Sacramento. The Department of Utilities also accepts payments over the phone, in person at 1395 35th Avenue and via A... 01/15/2008

After the storms the beginning of this year it is a good idea to be prepared for the next one.  I have many clients who lost power for up to a week here in the City limits of Sacramento.  Take some time to think what you would do without power and or heat for a week.  My clients spent lots of time in internet cafes during the day but nights were cold without lights and electricity.  Those with gas stoves and water heaters faired better because they could still cook and take hot showers but not much else.I am compiling a list of items that clients should have on hand for severe weather events including the possibility of having to evacuate if there is a flood.  In the meantime below is information from the City of Sacramento regarding severe winter events:If you should experience any pro... 01/15/2008

Sales are down, but inventory percentages have dropped further than the sales decrease percentage, so this is good news. Pending sales are up. These numbers could predict a very interesting January.Although sales dropped 2% from November, which is usual for this time of year, inventory went down 5% last month. We can use fewer homes on the market. Pending sales, those which have gone into escrow under contract but not yet closed, have gone up 3% in December, which should mean we will see an increase in closed sales in January.Here is how the numbers break down for December sales:Homes under $200,000: 20%Homes between $200,000 and $400,000: 63%Homes over $400,000: 17%The average sold price in Sacramento's downtown core area rose more than $100,000, which is the highest average increase i... 01/14/2008

I have not had time to come up for air let alone keep my blogs current.  Nice to see some buyers back in the Sacramento market and we have added some new listings and best yet two new agents to our team.  Dealing with all that and then my previously reliable assistant who has been sick off and on for the past several months informed me she needed to find a job with health benefits.  Who knows how a sick person who can't get to work for me can find full time work?  Grrrrrr.....Well, I have the job opening posted and am looking forward to taking this as an opportunity to redefine the position and what I am looking for.  This is not a business you can do well without some good help in all the areas of your life and I am committed to achieving some balance in my life.  The days and months a... 01/12/2008

The only person whose opinion matters when your home is listed for sale is not you. It's not your agent's opinion, either, nor is it the opinion of all the other agents who work your neighborhood. The person whose opinion matters is the buyer. It is the buyer who will make an offer and, it is you, as the seller, who will either accept, counter or reject that offer. And that's what sets market value. A seller who is willing to sell at a price a buyer is willing to pay. While your home is on the market, the most effective way to judge its impact is to ask buyers for feedback about it. Buyers will tell you -- without a whole lot of prodding -- what they liked, what turned them off, what needs to be improved or why they decided to buy another home. This is valuable information you can use! ... 01/12/2008

100% Financing is on its deathbed. I predicted this in a past blog a few months ago (click here), and I hate to say it, but we are returning to the world of a minimum of 3 - 5% down. Speaking with my go-to loan officer the other day, it appears that the zero-down programs of yesterday are all making the migration to 5% down starting on January 15th, which is the end of next week. That's right - if you have not closed escrow on your loan by then, your zero-down program will sunset (no longer be available).If you meet certain qualifications, you may now be able to qualify for an FHA loan, with a 3% downpayment...There was a Senate Bill earlier this year that was attempting to change the FHA required 3% down to 1.5% down, but I do not believe that went anywhere. Marlena found one program t... 01/11/2008

Days of Cheating on MLS at least in the Sacramento, El Dorado and Placer County are Coming to an end.      Recently, I read Here we go again! DOM - CDOM - Leased & Ative? What the heck?!? by Laurie Manny and was disheartened that we still have those agents who will reduce their integrity in the name of selling a listing.What these agents don't realize isthey would still sell by being transparent. This generation is beyond being fooled by the shenanigans of a agent who is looking for a way around the system.Well, I left my comment for Laurie on her post and went on about my business.Yesterday, I drove by a house that is one of 7 homes I will be showing my home buyers on Sunday. I happen to call the Seller and ask about the school in the area along with some other questions, I had. Last n... 01/10/2008

Can you imagine owning your own home?Right now, when you drive to your apartment after work you may be lucky enough to drive into a garage but many renters drive into a parking space that may be covered or not. While lugging in the groceries from the parking lot for that get-together you are having during the holidays in your apartment, you start imagining owning your own house.Want to see what the numbers look like for renting versus owning a house? It's not easy to entertain in an apartment. Where does everyone park and of course, there is the issue of not making too much noise since those walls are joined together. You start imagining what it would be like to own your own home.Considering how much you pay in rent and the fact that you are paying someone else's payment so that they ca... 01/08/2008

 SEE SACRAMENTO STORM DAMAGE AND POWER OUTAGE, DAY ONE, FRIDAY, JANUARY 4, 2008.After my husband and I cut down the tree from our roof, we tried to use our land-line phone but the back-up battery had gone dead. The phone for my FAX wasn't working, either and neither was my cell phone. The temperature inside our home was rapidly dropping. All our power lines and phone lines were ripped from the pole and lying in our yard. Fortunately, the tree trunk was holding them in place on the ground. But it meant we couldn't even call the utility companies to find out when our power would be restored. DAY TWO, SATURDAY, JANUARY 5, 2008 Another Land Park home owner called earlier to say a tree had fallen in her yard. It crashed on top of her neighbor's new Lexus and took the power cables along with ... 01/08/2008

 Friday Friday morning started out like any other Friday, except instead of waking up because a cat was in my face meowing at 6 AM, the howling winds outside my bedroom window jolted me awake. I stumbled into the kitchen to turn on the coffee pot, prepared a bowl of food for my sick cat and hit the power button on my computer. The rain was pounding the roof and wind rattled my windows. I reached into the kitchen sink for a spoon when my eye caught a looming figure in the still dark yard moving rapidly toward me.Bang. Thud. And all the lights in the kitchen went out. Everything in the house stopped humming and my back-up battery on my computer began to squeal. I squinted through the darkness to try to make out what was on my deck.It was my 30-foot beech tree. Ripped apart six-feet from t... 01/07/2008

My, my, my...well 2007 came to an end with quite a bang for me...literally. A few days before Christmas I was in a pretty nasty car accident while visiting family in Southern California. Without going into too much detail, we all walked away from the accident more or less ok, but I have some lingering pain. Needless to say, I have not spent much time blogging lately. I was amazed to see how many people noticed I had not posted, and emailed me to ask why. Anyway...my deep, thought-provoking real estate-related insights will return here in the next few days as I get moving again.On a happy note, my production in 2007 qualified me for the Sacramento Association of Realtors "Master's Club" - a first for me.  Yay! 01/05/2008

Looking forward to 2008Promises to be a home buyer's dateMany buyers will seal their fate While there is still low interest ratesRelocating and packing their cratesSome will set their moving dateSince they found a mate And will marry in 2008.  "> Babies are coming this yearNot me, don't worry no fearIt's past clients I hold dearThat I'm talking about here. "> A poet I am not...Real Estate is what I doI helped Lynda, John, Mark, Jennifer, Erin and SueSo, it's no wonder that I can help you, tooMatters not if it's old or newReal Estate in 2008 is what I do. "> May your memories be made in the house that we findWhere family and friends who sometimes will dineSharing laughter and fun and games of all kind While paying your payments always on time.  "> Remember the rule you promised and madeA... 01/04/2008