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A Link to A Video. Got Enclosure?
Here’s the link we need.
This worked earlier for an audio file.
<a href=”http://www.sacramento-home.com/podcasts/PodcastTest.mp3″>Quiet, numbskulls, I’m broadcasting</a>.
Well, in Part 1 of Trying out Some Basic Podcasting, I installed MightySeek’s Podpress and it turned out that podcasting was not so basic using that plugin. So I thought I’d get still more basic. Let’s try an embed tag and a link.
I’ve been working with a really great couple recently on the purchase of their first home and am really excited to announce that the home they liked has been approved for a short sale. We’ve all (the lender, the buyers, me and the seller’s agent) been waiting with bated breath for about a month now. No, I’m not kidding. The date on the contract says July 11th.
I met this couple while showing my listing on 7710 25th Avenue - which is still in the approval process for a short sale - and liked them instantly. For first-time buyers, they already know a lot about investing for the future, have experience maintaining property and are not afraid of the work owning a rental property involves. With the purchase of this home, which will be their primary, they will also be jumping into managing a rental for their relatives.
I see a bright future for them if they stick with it. And something tells me they will. Stay tuned!
Thanks and congratulations to Susan S., a good friend of mine from back in my software days . Susan closed escrow this week on a fabulous home in East Sacramento, one which was offered at approximately 13% off of comparable sales value.
Susan was fortunate inasmuch as when we previewed it, it was actually pending sale with another buyer. However this buyer — who was a first time buyer — had a concern because of some slight irregularities in the carpeting, so they cancelled their transaction. The irregularities were no big deal to Susan even if they’d been let stand — and it turned out they were corrected in escrow in any case.
Susan is shown here having a good time at her new home with several of her friends (some of whom helped informally with her inspections, though she was very dilligent with her formal inspections as well) and her dog, Sage.
Just trying to get a head count here before I go ahead and set a date, so do let me know at purvabrown@msn.com right away.
If you’re buying your first property with an eye toward investing in the future or are actively investing into rentals, this seminar can save you thousands of dollars in tax payments when you sell. Yes, yes, it’s perfectly legal. Section 1031 in the Internal Revenue Code allows you to defer all of your capital gain taxes to the IRS (15%) and the Franchise Tax Board of California (9.3%) if you buy another property of equal or greater value.
But you must know what you’re doing. And you must use a qualified intermediary.
So attend the seminar and empower yourself.
Now that we’re settled in this lovely country home we just bought, my husband and I decided to go out and explore. Pollock Pines is quite a pretty little town and definitely worth a stop if you’re heading up to Tahoe for the weekend. Because it’s not too far from Sacramento, people live here (like us!) and commute to Sacramento (again, like us!)
It’s okay - it’s just 5,000 or so of us residents.
Last week, we went to The Bowling Alley. (Yes, we go to The Grocery Store, The Post Office and The Bowling Alley.) And it was a lot of fun. On Saturday nights, they have black light bowling. There are also approximately seven pool tables as well and a bar.
I tried my hand at it (pun intended) and came away realizing thirteen pounds is heavier than it seems. (I need my own bowling ball.)
The best part about all this - it’s not crowded. You are not shoving for space. So if you’re in Pollock Pines for the night, stop by. There’s a lot of friendly people here. And quite a few homes for sale, might I add!
I’m still trying to find the answer to this one. In the last post of Sacramento real estate statistics it was pretty clear that Sacramento had about a ten month inventory of unsold homes. Of those, about a third were bank owned houses or short sales.
Consumers usually believe these are better deals than the regular homes in any particular neighborhood. (Why I’m still trying to understand!)And so, there are a lot more buyers for short sales priced the same as a “normal” or individually owned house.
But that being said, not all short sales are going through. Just last week, I canceled my own listing in Colonial Village although it was priced well because the lender would not respond to the offer which was “too low” according to their appraisal. Problem with the appraisal: too high.
So between the offers being too low and the lender’s appraisals being too high, a lot of homes that are technically short sales are not going through. Which means they will either be auctioned or be back on the market as bank owned properties. Unfortunately because they will be left vacant for long lengths of time, they may have issues with deferred maintenance and / or vandalism.
However, it is important to note: if you made an offer on a house and it didn’t go through during the short sale phase, you might be able to revisit it and make the same offer after it is a bank owned property (if it didn’t sell in auction). The earlier rejection may have been because the seller didn’t qualify for a short sale and have nothing to do with your offer.
Something to think about.
I met some wonderful people today while showing a property in Auburn. It is a country home across from a golf course on an acre… oh, and it gets better - is for sale under $300,000. While it is not Elite Properties’ listing, the potential buyers appreciated knowing that they could ask pointed questions about the house without hurting anyone’s feelings.
Which makes me think about the new club of buyers I’ve been running into lately. This market sure has created a new surge of investors and as well as first-time buyers. I guess every new market downturn brings with it its own club of new investors. What I’m seeing is the new buyers are not as scared of a market turnaround. They’re in it for the long haul. Even the first-time buyers today have an eye to retiring with their real estate intact. They understand the value of a home and are aware of the advantages of rental properties.
Like the clients I met today said, “Owning real estate in California is like owning gold. Why would you EVER sell?”
Well said! I thought. My thoughts exactly.
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