Home > Blogs > Sally Dunbar > Fair Oaks Homes For Sale by Sally Dunbar... Bridging Buyers and Sellers for Decades

If THIS crap sells, we ARE in a changed market!

By Sally Dunbar

Real Estate Agent with Lyon Real Estate, Fair Oaks CA (Sacramento Area) DRE# 00809499

March 14, 2013 12:48 PM

termite riddled drywall and toxic mold Mold and the worst termites I have ever seen. Toxic looking mold, to boot! Deep black and gross. And multiple offers, anyway!

This is the hottest market I have ever worked in and I have been a broker for 34 years. Sacramento had 10,000 homes on the market at the peak, and today it is about 1200. TWELVE HUNDRED HOMES FOR SALE in the ENTIRE COUNTY!

Buyers are duking it out to get a home today.

The home I took this picture in has multiple offers on it, and my buyer wants to make an offer, too! You really wanna tackle those termites? And the scuzzy mold?? I ask.

"Sure, it's not so bad", he says. WHATTTTTT??? I have been in escrows where the tiniest flaw send the buyer into catatonic shock, but that was when there were lots of other choices. Right now, choices are so slim that buyers will take on ANYTHING, just to get into a house. Even mold. It's crazy!!!

By the way.... look at the light switch in the picture for size reference. This is about 7 feet of wall. And the artistic splotch that looks like a river map? Those are termite tubes, about 1/3 inch in relief from the wall. Unbelievable! And there were 6 or 7 areas of termites just like this!

This just goes to show you... When demand outstrips supply, crazy stuff happens. And a hot real estate market is the craziest of all!

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Michael Setunsky

Woodbridge, VA

Your Commercial Real Estate Link to Northern VA

Sally, this is amazing. Sellers are back in control. It looks like some are unloading their properties no matter what the condition.

Mar 15, 2013 11:01 PM

Myrl Jeffcoat

Sacramento, CA

Greater Sacramento Realtor - Retired

Sally - Isn't it absolutely amazin' how rapidly the market changed from just a year ago? Yet, you and I have been in the business long enough to know real estate markets are cyclic. While weathering other real estate downturns, I have been astonished how quickly they can turn brisk again, after a prolonged session of slumber.

I worry about substandard properties, with problems like toxic mold, getting transfered to people, who have become panicked by our extreme shortage of inventory. Back in 2008, I toured a Citrus Heights repo, that had an overwhelming fowl odor the minute we stepped inside. Closer examination of the master bathroom found a scene similar to what you have pictured. Interestingly, that odor or the cause of it, seem to saturate my lungs to the point, the smell was in nearly every breath I took for several hours thereafter. If toxic mold can do that to you in a few minutes of a showing, imagine moving in or working with a property like that for an extended time.

Mar 15, 2013 11:42 PM

Gary L. Waters Broker Associate, Bucci Realty

Bucci Realty, Inc. - Melbourne, FL

Eighteen Years Experience in Brevard County

That is where we are headed. Highest pf peaks and lowest of lows, we will have seen them all!

Mar 16, 2013 12:03 AM

Keith Cox

Freedom Mortgage - Rancho Cucamonga, CA

Sales Manager | Loan Officer | Freedom Mortgage

Wow Sally,

Maybe the buyers will find a cure for a disease with that type of lab experiment growing..

Good Luck!

Mar 16, 2013 12:05 AM

Rob Lyszczarz

RE/MAX Properties Unlimited - Westfield, NJ

Irrational exuberance or excessive stimulus, or both.

Mar 16, 2013 12:31 AM

Elizabeth Weintraub Sacramento Broker

Elizabeth Anne Weintraub, Broker - Sacramento, CA

Put 40 years of experience to work for you

I hear ya, Sally. I had a seller ready to put a listing on the market but when we met at the property, we discovered it had been stripped. Thugs had smashed holes in the ceilings and walls, ripped out light fixtures, tore out the Romex, swiped all the copper, removed the hardware from sinks and under the sinks, and they even stole the doors to the bedrooms. All the appliances were gone, nothing but an empty shell remained. Water all over the floor. And buyers still fell all over themselves to buy it. This Sacramento real estate market is insane.

Mar 16, 2013 12:58 AM

Kat Palmiotti

eXp Commercial, Referral Divison - Kalispell, MT

Helping your Montana dreams take root

Gross! At first I couldn't imagine why anyone would want to purchase a home that needed that much work, but it would make sense for an investor who was going to fix it and flip it. Blech, though. I wouldn't have wanted to show the house!

Mar 16, 2013 01:59 AM

Marc McMaster

RE/MAX Centre Realty - State College, PA

Putting my clients before myself

At the right price everything sells. These days it seems like if you put a banks name as the owner it will have multiple offers no matter what!

Mar 16, 2013 02:13 AM

Fernando Herboso - Associate Broker MD, & VA

Maxus Realty Group of Samson Properties - Clarksburg, MD

301-246-0001 Serving Maryland, DC and Northern VA

I can assure you that most of the buyers are possibly investors. .you need experience to buy this problem as a homeowner. .

Mar 16, 2013 02:53 AM

Maureen Bray Portland OR Home Stager ~ Room Solutions Staging

Room Solutions Staging, Portland OR - Portland, OR

"Staging Consultations that Sell Portland Homes"

Sally that is one crazy market you're dealing with! Talk about a turnaround. It's hard to imagine anyone getting excited about a property that looks like this photo, but I know that the Sacramento area has lots of investors looking for their next flip.

Mar 16, 2013 03:28 AM

Sally Dunbar

Lyon Real Estate, Fair Oaks CA (Sacramento Area) - Fair Oaks, CA

Fair Oaks Realtor - Fair Oaks Homes for Sale

I just came back from a 10 mile walk (whew) and am headed to do an open house, so can't comment on the above. In all fairness, though homes don't get action like we are talking about unles they are priced right. At $200K, that house is a steal. At $250K, mabe not so much. At $300K everyone woud be saying "Are they SERIOUS??? What a dump!!" It's all about pricing.

Mar 16, 2013 04:01 AM

Nina Hollander, Broker

Coldwell Banker Realty - Charlotte, NC

Your Greater Charlotte Realtor

Your headline sure got my attention. When I first started in real estate the owner of my firm always said "you price it right and you can sell it--no matter the condition, location, etc." Now it's "no matter the market."

Mar 16, 2013 06:29 AM

Carla Muss-Jacobs, RETIRED

RETIRED / State License is Inactive - Portland, OR

Good for a little sweat equity . . . I'm glad to read that buyers are being more adaptable to this, then to be so picky. If they feel they can do the updates, why not? Some new drywall . . . ;-)

Mar 16, 2013 09:50 AM

Tom Jansson

Acuity Home Inspections - Chicago, IL

Chicago Area Home Inspector - InterNACHI Certified

These are nutty, nutty times. I'm wondering what kind of structural damage those termites managed to do... the photo looks like a basement... am I right about that? Did they make it into the beams or joists?

Mar 16, 2013 09:50 AM

Michael Blue

Home Smart Realty West - Encinitas, CA

REALTOR - 760-889-8877, Encinitas/Carlsbad

It boggles my mind, just a couple short years ago buyers sat on the fence. We had low er prices, low interest rates and lots of inventory! Do people say to themselves, lets wait for prices to go up, inventory to shrink so we can settle for something aweful?

Mar 16, 2013 10:53 AM

Sally Dunbar

Lyon Real Estate, Fair Oaks CA (Sacramento Area) - Fair Oaks, CA

Fair Oaks Realtor - Fair Oaks Homes for Sale

Nina - Yes, it seems like the bank REO's lately have taught us you can sell anything... for the RIGHT PRICE.

Erice - PA sounds like CA...

Carla - New sheet rock will do alot ofthe trick. But the drainage that caused the damp conditions, as well needs to be dealt with.

Tom - It was actually a detached garage - the outside wall of it. We don't have basements much in CA. I couldn't tell if it reached the beams - didn't look like it, though.

Michael - yes that's it! Wait for prices to go up! I think the whole economy is getting better, and people have confidence once again. So full speed ahead.

Mar 16, 2013 11:40 AM

Christine Donovan

Donovan Blatt Realty - Costa Mesa, CA

Broker/Attorney 714-319-9751 DRE01267479 - Costa M

Sally - The market down here in Orange County is crazy too. The change in you supply is definitely dramatic.

Mar 16, 2013 04:26 PM

Maddy Everhart

Lyon Real Estate - Fair Oaks, CA

Oh, WOW!! Sally, I'm about to put my own house on the market (Carmichael, on the Fair Oaks border) and I'm bracing myself for a bidding war since I'm pricing it just under $300K. Just from the coming soon sign in my front yard I'm astonished at the calls! Three from the same peeps (their Realtor, the mom, and the actual buyer who is begging me to let me know the second it goes on MLS!) And to think I have been trying to do some spring cleaning (dog, 3 kids, get the gardner to trim some shrubs, etc.) so it looks ok to show and I'm not so embarrassed! Uhhhh....yeahhhh.....maybe I really don't even need to do that. Maybe I'll just wipe the crumbs off the kitchen counters and call it a day? Durn it...now if I could just find me some of those buyers or sellers and listings! What's a new agent to do in this market? ::grumbleGRUMBLEgrumble::: I'll even take one with mold! ;)

Mar 19, 2013 11:46 AM

Sally Dunbar

Lyon Real Estate, Fair Oaks CA (Sacramento Area) - Fair Oaks, CA

Fair Oaks Realtor - Fair Oaks Homes for Sale

Maddy - Nice of you to drop by! I knew you had the coming soon, but didn't know it was your own house. Don't quit gettng it ready. The reason you will get multiple offers is either because it is emotionally inspiring, or because it is a really good value (ie priced low) That's the story with the mold house - low price, so the buyers would take on the mold.

But you want to get top dollar for your home, so keep tweaking the condition - beyond the crumbs. It will pay off for you!

Mar 20, 2013 07:55 AM

Gabrielle Kamahele Rhind

KGC Properties LLC, Tucson Property Management & Real Estate - Tucson, AZ

Broker/Owner

GOOD MORNING SALLY! A little late coming back around to see this post - and I can't believe that someone - or a bunch of "someones" would offer on this "crap"! Love your posts as always!

Apr 23, 2013 10:33 PM