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!)

Folsom's New Bridge Opens Today...

As a result of 9/11, one of the main arteries connecting the two sides of Folsom, The Folsom Dam Road, has been closed since 2003. It's been a real drag for those needing to cross the river, as there were only two other bridges to accomodate the 18,000 cars that crossed the dam daily.

The dam road closing also clogged the streets of Historic Old Town Folsom with commuter traffic enroute to picturesque two-lane Rainbow Bridge. The poor old town shop keepers have been struggling, as shoppers and restaurant patrons have been reluctant to tackle the traffic and parking snafu.

Now after 6 years of traffic nightmares, the new Folsom Lake Crossing bridge opens today! The planned capacity is 40,000 cars per day, with 4 lanes, plus bike and pedestrian lanes. Whoo... what a load off for the people of Folsom!

So get shopping in Old Town Folsom and help support the businesses that have struggled for so long. Antiques, candles, collectibles, crystals, candy, clothing, great restaurants... it's all there. And the drive is so much easier now that the new bridge is open. Hooray!!!

Flickr photos by pulpolux, Adam79, and ETGeek

A Walk on the American River, at Fair Oaks

Sacramento Bar is the area just West of the Sunrise Bridge in Fair Oaks, filled with acres and acres of rock cobble left over from gold mining that ended in the 60's. It's one of my favorite places to walk, right near my home in Fair Oaks. You're in the middle of town, yet within minutes, you are deep in nature. Join me as we stroll the American River at Sacramento Bar on a recent winter Saturday...



And just for the record, Lewis and Clark DID NOT raft this river... I just imagine that I'm back in time to when they COULD have.