I'm very happy that my new site for Sacramento Real Estate is live.  The site is not done by any means but it will soon be a resource for buyers and sellers for the greater Sacramento region.  The website covers homes for sale in Sacramento, Yolo, El Dorado or Placer counties. 

 

If you are looking more specifically for homes for sale in Davis then visit Discover Davis Homes.  That site also has information on greater Sacramento homes but has specfic home searches for Davis neighborhoods and property types.

 

Winters CA being a town of 6,990 (July 2007) has a much different housing market than the most of the greater Sacramento region.

 

	1 year	15 months
	Mar 08	Mar 09	% Change	Jan 08	Mar 09	% Change
For Sale	36	33	-8.3%	32	33	3.1%
Sold	3	6	100%	1	6	500%
Pended	5	6	20%	0	6	n/a

 
Because the numbers are so small they should be looked at more to see the general trend than to be taken at face value - also can use the numbers to see how the Winters market  fits in with the rest of the region.
The number of homes for sale has decreased by 8.3 percent since March 2008, however this is only a total of three homes in addition the number of sold homes increased 100% from 3 to 6 homes.  Again, the numbers are so small, any variation makes a large percentage change.  Sales are up in the region and that is reflected in these numbers.  Pending sales went from 5 to 6 in this time period.  

The average sales price changed from $339,000 to $224,000 which is 33.9% change.  What is very interesting about the market statistics for Winters is that 5 of the 6 homes that sold were REO/Bank owned properties.  So while inventory numbers have remained relatively stable for the past year, the number of foreclosures on the market has increased.  About 1/3 of the Winters homes listed for sale in March 2009 are bank owned properties.  This number should be monitored as many experts feel that there will be more foreclosed homes come onto the market in the next few months.

Visit my site to see all Winters homes for sale.

I haven't spent much time at active rain lately - I spent a lot of time in 2008 here - made some friends - I had a closing or two from people that found me from my blog here - consider the time I spent worth the effort last year.  I haven't given up on blogging - in fact I'm blogging a lot more in multiple places this year.  Just wanted to try something for fun.  I started my blog on active rain about the same time as one on Real Estate Webmasters.  I have posted more lately to my REW blog but in terms of total numbers I have more posts on this one - my AR blog.

I think I already know which blog is going to win out - however, when I was looking through some results in google to try and come up with some topics to write about I did notice that I had both Real Estate Webmaster posts as well as Active Rain posts on page one of google for a number of terms.

I'm going to write three posts for each blog - they will be market statistics for March 2009 - the most recent full month I have data on.  Since it was too confusing to figure out if I had written about a city before - I'm picking three cities that are in my market area but ones I have not written market analysis about in the past - there are SO many areas I haven't written about...

Winters, CA

El Dorado Hills, CA

Rocklin CA

This isn't going to be a perfect test - I don't write duplicate content for ANYTHING - and REW blogs do not allow for duplicate content either - so these will be similar posts on similar subjects - if the posts on AR and REW are too similar I know I will have to change the REW post - that is the rules over there and I'm fine with that concept.  So let's see how these blogs do.

I love Twitter - I really like how you can use twitter on your phone or on the web - I use it to stay in touch with my friends, ask questions, gather information and even get some news.  Early on I found that using the web interface (twitter.com) was a bit limited and after trying a few different desktop applications decided that Tweetdeck worked best for me.  I could group people, I didn't have to constantly check for updates.  Even though I use Tweetdeck I still end up using twitter.com quite a bit.  Well there is a modification to Twitter.com that you can do through firefox that makes using the web interface a lot more fun.

Troy's Twitter Script is a firefox extension - follow the instructions (you download the greasemonkey extension and then Troy's script) and all of a sudden your twitter page looks like this:

 

Sorry about the quality of the screen capture I did this very quickly.  All of a sudden conversations are nested- you can follow conversations and replies of friends even when you aren't following their friends.  Videos and photos get expanded, you can watch them right on the twitter.com page.

This is a really nice modification - there is a group function but I haven't been able to see how you use groups yet.  The script also adds a RT (retweet) button to make it easier to pass on tweets you have found useful.  It also expands out the URLS so you can see what you are about to click on (instead of just the URL shortner like tinyurl.com)

There is also a way to add social links to twitter profiles (another feature I have yet to play with) but another great way to build connections with people.

This is an easy modification - but only works with firefox.  Learn more about this Cool Twitter Script

Almost forgot, be sure to follow me on twitter @cgjerdetu

As of today there are 85 homes for sale in Woodland listed as short sales.  A short sale is when the seller owes more on the house than what it will sell for.  In order for a seller to "sell short" the mortgage holder(s) must approve the sale and agree to accept less than what is owed on the property.

Since there is never a guarantee of what a home will sell for until there is a contract - most banks will not even look at a seller's package until there is an offer in place.  Banks are also overwhelmed with the volume of home owners who are looking to complete a short sale and the process of reviewing files can take some time. 

 

A better metric as a buyer is to see if the seller is working with a short sale negotiator - they work on behalf of the seller to negotiate directly with the bank - leaving the listing agent to do what they do best - market the property and work directly with the seller. 

 

There are some bargains out there for patient buyers - but the key is PATIENCE.  Search Short Sales in Woodland to look specificially for homes listed in MLS as a short sale.  You can also search all homes for sale in Woodland, CA on my website.

I'm updating Discover Davis Homes with 2008 market data and noticed an interesting pattern for single family homes in Davis.

Davis CA Homes Sold in 2008 : 332

• Average List Price for Davis Homes: $583,943
• Average Sold Price for Davis Homes: $ 566,058
• Average Days On The Market: 68

Davis CA Homes Sold in 2007 : 509 

• Average List Price for Davis Homes: $583,145 
• Average Sold Price for Davis Homes: $ 570,081
• Average Days On The Market: 57

While the number of single family homes sold decreased dramatically last year, the average sold and list price stayed virtually the same.  Micro-markets in Davis have seen many fluxuations, however on a broad scale, homes values in Davis have held pretty steady.

Visit my site to search homes for sale in Davis CA

Davis, CA is a true college town - it is one of the only places on the west coast where the university is still a major part of the city - there are restrictions on growth in the area which for the near future will help keep the balance between town and university in check. One of the main events every year is Picnic Day - a tradition that goes back to the 1920's a time for parents to visit their students - this always takes place in early April, which means that some years it rains on Picnic Day. Here's a video from 2007 when it did rain on the parade.



Typical for a parade in Davis, there are plenty of bikes and the UC Davis marching Band-uh. It's interesting living in a place tied so closely with a unversity. One of the more curious observations though is how little the students seem to notice the people who live here - it's almost like they just walk past without even noticing anyone over the age of about 22. There is a strong emphasis on education here and the schools are considered some of the best in the state. To see what is currently for sale here visit my website on Davis CA Real Estate

How do you know when your website is making an impact?  Of course the easiest and perhaps most satisfying way is when a you get a customer that you know came directly from your site.  Even better is when that customer buys or sells a home and tells you your website was the reason that they chose to work with you.  Another way is to look at visitors and try and track the number of people who are returning to the site.  Real estate websites have an advantage over a lot of other industries because the listings make our sites "sticky".  Make it easy for people to search for homes and they will come back over and over, many times earlier in the process than they would feel comfortable with personally contacting an agent.

Another great way to know when your site is making an impact is when it gets quoted in the newspaper.  My friend Wayne Long from Columbus GA  just had his site used in a local newspaper's website.  Wayne just recently went through a redesign of his site and it looks great. 

The local Columbus newspaper, The Ledger-Enquirer's story was not about Wayne's website -- wouldn't that be nice if the newspaper reviewed real estate websites,  but instead the story was about a multi-million dollar mansion that is headed for foreclosure owned by a former car dealer named Bill Heard .  Wayne's site was featured in the related content section of the story and there is a link directly to his Columbus GA Real Estate site.

I haven't seen any of my local or regional papers link directly to any real estate websites, but someday they might. If I keep working hard enough on my site, maybe they will link to mine.

 

 

 

Davis agents, this is late notice but the Davis MLS meeting on Friday, December 12th will have a guest speaker to talk about the possible Green Initiative in Davis.  The city is considering requiring "green" updates to be completed on buildings at the time of sale.  This is something that is likely to slow down the buying process and would add unecessary expense to the sale of a Davis home.  Details of the program are still being formulated, the City of Berkeley has recently put in a Green initiative and there are reliable stories that this is delaying loan approvals and causing problems in getting escrows closed.

I am all for environmental upgrades but not forced at the time of sale.  If the city pushes for this, let's try and help them come up with some better alternatives.

The meeting starts at 8:30 am at the OddFellows Hall on 2nd Second Street.   

 

UPDATE: I wrote about the meeting here: Davis considers green resale ordinance

 

Carolyn Gjerde-Tu specializes in Davis Real Estate

I love living in Davis, I've written a number of times about living in a college town and how it is very bikeable and a tight knit community and how this is a great place to raise a family.  No matter how great I think Davis is, however, it is an inland place.  I grew up along the Mendocino Coast in California and sometimes I miss the ocean and the beach.  I feel that no matter how long I live away from the ocean I will always be a coastal person.

I'm lucky that a I still have family on the California coast and that Davis is only about an hour from the pacific ocean.  Since this sense of being on the ocean seems to be calling to me right now.

 

I've lived in New England and found the winters there too long and cold.  I am a Californian and I don't like the cold.  Delaware is enough further south that maybe I could survive there, especially in the summer. Who knows, maybe someday I'll buy a vacation coastal home in Delaware.  One area that seems interesting is Sussex Shores.  It has one of the only private beachs and of course ocean front homes.  This is not inexepensive real estate, all are well over a million dollars and some have sold for more than $5,000,000.  The homes in the neighborhood are not necessarily fancy but they are large and best of all they are just steps away from the beach.  I don't think I will ever leave California but maybe I might be tempted to spend some of my summers in Delaware looking at Sussex Shores Homes for sale.

Carolyn Gjerde-Tu specializes in Davis Real Estate