Carolyn Gjerde-Tu's Blog: All Categories

I've had this screen shot of the REW LEC2 on my desk at the office since probably August.  Watched closely as Morgan laid out the development of the site here.  Checked the blog posts every few days to see if there was some new development to the site.  At first it was simply interesting to see the design process unfold but after a while, when some new feature was introduced I really started wishing my site had the quick search or the featured areas or the thumbnail listings, advanced IDX and on and on.

I always wanted a custom website.  I never liked the idea of a generic site, one of many copies, but a true custom website is still out of my budget.  Cal Carter who specializes in Gulf Shore Condos has one of the most beautiful custom websites I have…

Guest speakers for today's Davis MLS meeting were Bill Miller, Vice President of MetroList and Dave Howe, Regional MLS Coordinator.  Davis agents who aren't attending the Friday meetings are missing out on some good speakers.

Dave and Bill spoke about changes coming to MetroList, CalMLS and handheld technology.

MetroList has been working hard for the past couple of years to form alliances with other surrounding area MLS's. Within the next month, the remainder of the San Francisco Bay Area will be incorporated into the combined, Quattro database.  This means that Real Estate Agents can access data from Mendocino County to the north and west, to parts of Merced County to the south and east. It will include all of the data for the entire San Francisco Bay…

What does lower inventory really mean.

Recently the Sacramento Bee ran a front page story asking the question "Is worst over for Sacramento's housing market?" 

It is an interesting question, available inventory has  been going down to a more manageable number and home sales have risen over the past few months to match at least in volume numbers seen in 2005. Buyers have not been hesitant to act quickly to buy whatever properties appear to be a good deal.  For the majority of the Sacramento region that has meant distressed properties, short sales and REO/Bank Foreclosures. 

One reason for the decrease in inventory over the past few months is due to banks/mortgage holders holding off on foreclosure proceedings due to new legislation that was passed in…

The luxury home market in the Sacramento region has slowed as the majority of home buyers right now are first time homebuyers.  Because the market is flooded with foreclosures and short sales the number of move up buyers has decreased. So how has this affected markets like Granite Bay with exclusive gated communities and large luxury homes?  Granite Bay is in a strong  buyer's market.  There is currently over 12 months of inventory in Granite Bay with 194 homes on the market and 16 closed sales for the month of October.  There have been some foreclosures and short sales and it is likely that the number of distressed properties will continue to increase in the next few months.

 The difference between the original list price to sales price in the past 14…

Sacramento Real Estate has been hit harder than many other parts of the country  with distressed properties.  Bank owned/foreclosed homes and short sales are currently  the majority of actual closed sales throughout the region.  Buyers are looking for bargains and they are more likely to find them in distressed properties than from a typical seller.

Sometimes buyers want to look specifically for short sales.  This might happen because in certain price ranges there is stiff competition and there are typically fewer people searching for short sales.

A short sale is defined as a home offered for sale where the seller owes the mortgage holders more than what the house is worth.  A seller putting their house up for sale as a short sale may or may not be in…

The Sacramento market has been very active in the entry-level price ranges.  However there still are buyers looking for higher end homes. From townhomes, newly built green design, elegant yet understated brick bungalows to large modern built newly constructed homes.  Sacramento has a wide range of choices when it comes to housing.

 Neighborhoods with higher-end homes include, Land Park, East Sacramento, Midtown Sacramento and Sierra Oaks.

Sacramento Housing Market above $450,000

• 315 homes for sale
• $5,400,000 max list price
• Most expensive house is 11,727 square feet on 1.7 acres
• Median list price is $649,000
• 31 homes sold for over $450,000 in October
• Most expensive home that sold in October $1,125,000
• Median sales…

It is no secret that with distressed properties becoming the overwhelming number of listings in the greater Sacramento Region that this has caused an increase in potential MLS violations as many of the agents are from out of the area and are not really versed in the actual MLS rules.

Most of these violations could be avoided if out of area agents just read through the regulations. Metrolist has a forty page document  available on their website, the same website used to upload listings to the MLS system.

The brokerage I work for has identified the six most common MLS rules and the fines associated with each. Note fines were current as of 5/08.

• Placing a non Metrolist keybox on the listing. This is one of the most common violations that I see.  Out…

I'm just about convinced that of all the social networking sites out there, twitter has the potential to offer the most value to real estate agents. The majority of twitter users do not have protected profiles so within minutes of signing on you can start following  industry and technology leaders, other real estate agents and people from your local communities.  It is the people from your local communities that I believe will have the best long-term value.

I have been spending a fair amount of time on twitter in the last few weeks and while I'm still definitely learning and testing things out here are just a few tools and tips to get started:

• search.twitter.com -- This feature allows you to search names, places, phrases, events and the results…