Fair Oaks, California, Home Prices and Sales Activity (5/09)

It's been a wild ride for homes sales in Fair Oaks, California, but for 2 months in a row we have had huge increases in the number of sales.

Sales doubled in March over the preceeding month, from 18 to 38, then increased another 10% in April, to 41.

And all the while inventory has been dropping to it's lowest numbers in over a year. With 42 pending sales out of the 132 homes on the market in Fair Oaks, that's roughly 1/3 of the homes selling in one month.

Compare that to one year ago, when only 1/5th of the homes sold.


But what effect have the increased sales had on the prices, you ask? April saw an overall increase in the average price per square foot from $143 to $149. That's down from a high of $194 last April.

Remember, this is for all price ranges. In general, the lower priced homes are going to sell for much different per-foot-prices than luxury homes.

But one thing is for sure... it's tough to build as cheaply as our homes are currently selling for.

We are in a market that may be the best buyer's market you'll ever see. Low prices, low interest, and some selection.





If you want stats on a specific price range, just holler on over. I can zero in on price for you, or provide stats for any other Sacramento area neighborhood.

How I learned... to put the FUN in Fundraising.... and channel my inner hillbilly

Sweet Potatoe Sal here... befor I git kot jackin Sally's blog, I wunna tel ya'all bout my Hillbilly Olimpiks yesturdai, wher we razed $600 fer the Salvation Army and C.A.R.E.

See, Sal's ofiss has razed $200K fer char-ty, haff a which kame from soshul partees they throwd. Peeple bot thair tikets last November at a Chili Feed at Lyon Real Estate in Fair Oaks, then she got me, Sweet Potatoe Sal, ta kum up with some gamin and food fer the partee. It wuz at Ancil Hoffman Park in Carmichael - peeple hed ta ware thair Sunday best, as yul see in this muvin pitchur below.

thar seems ta be some problem with this new fangeled movee stuff. Sumtimes it's thare, sometimes not.... jest like my sens a humor with teknacul difikultys. I'm workin on it... be patent, and ya'll kum bek, y'hear?

Awr gamin wuz fun... PBR beer kan relay, toelit trottin, 3 leggit hippity hop, and cherree pit spittin. Downhome Dennis roold on the pit spittin. A Washurs turnamit wuz the hi-lite. Clayster roold thet won. Thay wuz all bedder at pitchin them washurs after drinkin Junebug Julie's Pond Scum Punch, ah'l tell yu.

OK... Sally here. I sent Sweet Potatoe Sal packing. She hi-jacks my blog WAY too often. She's back in the spud patch now.

Here's how we raise so much money for our charities. We've held our lunchtime Chili Feed and Auction in our Lyon office parking lot for over 10 years. All the agents bring chili, salads, desserts and such. We charge $5 to get in, and usually have 250 - 300 people come. Do the math on that. Total, we'll raise $20,000 - $33,000 in that 3 hour period. To date we've raised around $200K!

Our big bucks come from our auction, but half of that comes from our social events. Different agents will volunteer to host an event. We've had poker parties, video scavenger hunts, talent shows, Irish parties, gourmet dinners, pirate parties, and even a Cinco De Silk Road party on May 5th. Everyone came dressed as a gypsy/goat herder/sheik/sultan/belly dancer etc. It was wild. My party this year was my Hillbilly Olympics.

The way it works.... The donor pre-selects the theme, date, time, location and # of attendees. We make a sign up sheet. At the auction, the last table to close is the social event table. You sign up for a ticket to the party (usually $15 - $45 apiece). That way the guest list will be a self-selected group who wants to come to your party. If more people want to come than there are spots for, the price goes up.

We usually make $9,000 - $12,000 on the parties alone. (My pirate party had 40 people pay $45 apiece. That's $1800 on one party alone. Course, then I had to pay to put it on!)

The best part is that our family of agents has a rocking social life throught the upcoming year. Our event is always in November, then the parties start in January usually, contiinuing right up til the following October. Next week I'm attending a Martini party. The Oktoberfest is still a ways off. A day on a houseboat is planned for this summer... with jet skiis and all. Two weeks ago was the Irish Fest.

Whew... how do we have time to sell homes with all that socializing????

Uncle Sam wants to give you free money. $8,000 smackaroos, to be exact.

As if getting to be your own landlord isn't enough, now Uncle Sam wants to give you $8K for buying a home.

Unbelievable? Yes. True, also YES.

But there are ALWAYS catches, right? Yes, but not many.

Mainly that you gotta be a first time home buyer. So, principle residence only, and you can't have owned a home in the past 3 years. Good on that one?... then read on.

You must close escrow on your home by November 30th, 2009, and is retroactive to January 1, 2009.

It has income limits, and starts to phase out at $75K income for singles, and $150K for couples filing jointly.

Can you get it now? Absolutely. You can file an amended return for 2008. Then start spending, baby.

How much? The credit is 10% of your home's purchase price, or $8,000, whichever is less. There is no repayment, unless you sell your home within 3 years.

If you are clever, you are probably asking if you can use the $8,000 as your downpayment. Before yesterday, I would have smacked your nose for being so silly. But hey.... yesterday HUD announced they would make bridge loans availble to buyers who qualify to enable use of the $8K for a downpayment. That is huge. Call me to check on how that is being implemented. It's too new to tell at this point. (Update - they've pulled back on the promise to allow it's use for your downpayment... just one day later. Stay tuned....)

So.... pretty slick, huh? It's a total gift, inspired by the Fed's desire to jumpstart our housing market and get the money flowing again. Why not let a little of it flow into your pocket?
For more details, check out the NAR site .

flickr photo by 13 faves

What do you think about how our parks effect our home values?

Next week I have been invited to speak to the Sacramento Board of Supervisors about the impact of our area parks on home values. As I am preparing my comments, I am wondering what you would tell your Supes. What advise do you have for me?

It seems to me most of our finest neighborhoods are near our parks. We have William Land Park, McKinley Park, Curtis Park, Ancil Hoffman Park, Goethe Park, just to name a few. We have the Effie Yeaw Nature Center where our area school children learn. But best of all, Sacramento Area is blessed with the American River, with its miles of protected parkway. With walking trails, horse trails and miles and miles of paved bike trails, the parkway defines what I love about our area.

But the impact on home values..... Hmmm. I've got some interesting ideas on how to formulate my 3 minutes of fame, and some major number crunching to do.

The issue here is budget cuts.... and huge proposed cuts to our park programs. If it can be shown that our parks keep prices up, that would ultimately keep taxes up, as well, which means they pay for themselves.



What do you think? How do you think the condition and improvements at your area parks effect your home values?



flickr Photo by etgeek, mrmitch, and pete baer.

Video Tour of Fair Oaks, with Sally Dunbar, Your Fair Oaks Realtor.

I've been living in and loving Fair Oaks since 1979, and I can't think of a place I would rather live or raise my kids. That's why it's my favorite place to sell real estate. Join me on a brief video tour of my Fair Oaks, the way I love it. I filmed this in April of '09 during a glorious week of Springtime weather.

For more information on Fair Oaks Homes for sale, give me a call, (916) 535-0356, or search for homes at www.SallyDunbar.com. (I do list and sell homes throughout the Sacramento area, but now you know my bias!)