Email ElizabethHow to Find the Perfect Home in Sacramento
Today I am honored to bring you some extraordinary wisdom about how to find the perfect home in Sacramento, written by our exclusive buyer’s agent, Josh Amolsch. This is from an agent who shows on average 40 to 50 homes a week in Sacramento. He is not some retired agent who works only on referrals or an agent who sells a measly 1 or 2 homes a year. Josh is an agent down in the trenches who works every day, 12 to 14 hours a day.
How to Find the Perfect Home in Sacramento
by Josh Amolsch
The traditional and overused Sacramento Realtor marketing gambit is that they will “help you find your perfect home”. Well, I am here to explain why perfect homes are a fairy tale. A perfect home does not exist. But the good news is you can come close. The truth is even if I gave you a million dollars to build your own home from the ground up, afterward, there would be things that you wished you had done differently.
We too frequently hear from folks that a home will not work for them because of one or two features that they don’t like. One thing we can’t fix is the location, which is why location is always the most important aspect of a property. Aside from that, most characteristics of a property can be altered and renovation loans can make a so-so home a wonderful home that you will love and be proud of. It takes vision, and a little work, but anything worth doing or having requires effort. The key is to make the numbers work. Fortunately, we are entering a market in Sacramento where the numbers are starting to working for you.
Another factor is feelings can change from day to day and trends change from season to season. The point is to focus on finding a home that is about 80% what you want. Not about the 20% you don’t want (80/20 Rule). Even more astonishing is the fact the 80% homes are more plentiful. Why? Because most buyers won’t accept the 80% home when they are trying to find the perfect home in Sacramento. Their limited vision gives you a leg up on the price. Less demand = better deal for you.
This is how investors operate and become rich. Well, your riches can be in the form of a terrific home that you got for a good deal and added value to. Any outdated features can be fixed before you even move into the home. Walls can be knocked down to make the living spaces more open, can lighting can be installed. In fact, you can likely be living in your newly purchased/renovated home much faster than waiting for that “perfect” home to come on the market which, as we know, isn’t really isn’t perfect anyway.
Remember, perfect homes don’t exist. But wasting time and money chasing a fairy tale does exist. I encourage you to talk to your lender about a renovation loan. The best lender I know is Dan Tharp along with the renovation specialist Howard Nordberg. These two are industry diehards, local to Sacramento, and the best in the business. You can tie in the renovation loan with your new mortgage and close both at the same time.
The market is softer right now, so we can very likely get you into a home for under the asking price, giving you (and your contractors) the opportunity to renovate the property to your SPECIFIC needs. Much closer to your desired home than you will find just by waiting for the “perfect” home to come onto the market.
Maybe something close to the “perfect” home will come on the market, but by then, interest rates will have gone up even more (Fed Reserve Meeting Schedule) and prices will have gone up more. The market is not going down in Sacramento. We can talk about this one on one if you would like. Call Josh Amolsch at 916.224.2756.
Do You Know Your Neighbor Can Print on Your Printer?
Are you aware that the odds are your neighbor can print on your printer? I discovered this by accident. So what, you might say. If a neighbor prints on my printer, I won’t give him any documents. But they could set your printer to produce the Grapes of Wrath while you are at work. Using up all your paper and ink.
At home in Sacramento our network has a firewall and is better protected most likely than the setup at our house in Hawaii. In fact, I’m not even sure how our printer works here in Hawaii. I just bought an HP, plugged it in, stuck in cartridges and it works. Not all the time, though, and sometimes I need my laptop to be closer to the printer instead of out on our lanai.
It’s a touchy thing. Which is why I had no idea that a neighbor can print on your printer. Sometimes I have to turn off the HP and turn it back on to get it to print. It’s an annoyance, and I use for so very little in Hawaii. An occasional property report in case I am preparing listing paperwork. OK, I also print boarding passes with it because I like a plan B.
Any little thing can screw up your cellphone, and I don’t want to be boarding a plane and discover my phone is messed up. I don’t trust technology to work all of the time because it doesn’t work all of the time. And then there is user error, too. Not immune to that.
The way I discovered a neighbor can print to your printer is because I heard a strange noise in the house. Clicking, clacking. Maybe it came from outside, some new strange crawly or flying critter. I went from room to room, and as I got closer to our den, the sound was louder. Sure enough, the printer lights were blazing, and it was printing.
A page flew upside down on the floor. I picked it up. Hmmm. Thanksgiving Day Menu. At first blush, I thought it was an HP error. Because seriously, who would serve Stove Top stuffing when you could make your very own sausage and sage dressing? But then I figured it had to be local, Hawaiian, because it contained taro rolls.
How did this happen? I guess my printer showed up on my neighbor’s printing menu. I figured it had to be the neighbors to the north of me because they were closest to our den where the printer lives. Just to mess with them, I went next door and set the menu on a chair by their front door.
A few days later, I spotted Mrs. Neighbor coming home from work. Did you get your Thanksgiving Day menu? I asked. She looked very confused. I put it on your chair, I said.
She burst out laughing: OMG. She couldn’t figure out how I knew it was her.
I did the easy thing. I unplugged the printer. There is something you can do about turning off wireless direct. I didn’t do it, though. Because knowing me, I would fix it so I could never print to it again. Unplugging it is safer in my case.
A Look at Average Days on Market in Sacramento Real Estate
The average days on market in Sacramento are edging up as we move further into our slower season of the year. I see it in my own listings. Homes that would have flown into escrow a year ago are taking much longer to sell, especially in the $750K to one-million market in Sacramento.
My thoughts in examining that particular segment is it is the luxury market. This segment seemed to do better last year. Further, our average state workers in Sacramento, including first-time home buyers, are often reluctant to spend that amount of money for a home.
I took a look at the last 30 days in the $750K to one-million price ranges in Sacramento County. This is how it breaks down:
Activity $750K to 1 Million over the last 30 Days in Sacramento County:
- 270 homes for sale
- 174 Active
- 52 Pending
- 44 Sold
The average days on market in Sacramento for the sold homes in our luxury market show 52% sold at slightly more than 100% of list price within 30 days. My professional opinion is those homes were either priced under market or they were renovated. The other 48% sold between 60 days and 120+, dropping off list price by about 1% for each month on the market.
Now, in contrast, the under $500K market in Sacramento is a different story. Here are the statistics I extracted from MLS:
- Number of homes: 5,067
- Active 2,378
- Pending 1,488
- Sold 1,201
Since so many pending sales blow up lately, I don’t put a lot of credence in the pending numbers. Too nefarious. Prefer the hard cold stats of sold. However, the average days on market in Sacramento for the under $500K market is 60% sold within 30 days at an average of 99.62% of sales price. Another 23% sold within 60 days.
What all of this means is sellers need to be priced right at inception. Don’t put homes on the market to see what kind of activity you will get because it’s a waste of time if it’s not priced right. To sell, you may need to be under market or renovated.
Even though the average days on market in Sacramento may be growing, it also gives plenty of ammunition for buyers to use. We have enough inventory that everything is not selling. In the under $500K market about 1 in 4 homes sold. In the luxury market about 1 in 6 homes sold.
Buyers will be hard pressed to find a better market as we move forward into the new year. Prices are still moving up, interest rates are going up, too. When homes do not sell, eventually sellers will take them off the market, and when inventory drops, there will be fewer choices.
Buy or Make Your Own Clay Flowers in Kailua-Kona
The owner of Nana’s Clay Flowers in Kailua Kona, Tara Vilaiwan, is holding a small clay flower in her shop on Ali’i Drive. My friend, Linda, introduced our coffee group to this shop. All of the flowers are made from a soft clay that hardens without baking, called Lana Clay. It’s very expensive, Tara explained, but she also makes her own clay. She will teach you not only how to make clay flowers but also how to make your own clay.
Tara has been creating clay flowers in Kailua-Kona for 15 years, and she started the business 30 years ago. An astounding fact is she developed her own tools and found a person to craft the tools for her. They are sort of like knitting needles but some have edges that can roll out realistic looking leaves. In my opinion, her clay flowers look better than silk. They present a real image.
She has given classes to many artists. I am not that creative with my hands. Can’t even draw stick people very well. So I did not attend the class but just watched for a while. But she alluded to the fact that others have learned from her because she came up with the artistic concept.
My friend Linda (pictured here) invited me to come along to her one-on-one class with Tara on how to make clay flowers. The clay itself is colored by oil paints. In this photo, Linda is making the leaves for her very first anthurium. Did you know that real anthuriums are poisonous? They contain a long stem flower in the center, ornamental green leaves, and a waxy heart-shaped flower, which is really a spathe.
Here is a close-up of the parts of the anthuriums Linda made yesterday. The white jar with the open lid contains glue, and only a tiny portion of glue on the wire stem is required to hold the clay to the wire. After the clay dries, in about 30 minutes, it is ready to be painted. You can drop the clay flowers and they will hold their shape. Unbreakable. Sunlight doesn’t harm the color, either. But the main thing is they appear real.
Tara makes clay flowers in Kailua-Kona in all sizes and shapes. Some are normal size and very lifelike. Others are miniature versions like this tiny carnation pot I bought for our house in Hawaii. She doesn’t use photographs but relies on the image in her mind. You should see the tiny monkeys. I almost needed reading glasses to view the detail because they are so small, about 1/2 of an inch.
Nana’s Clay Flowers
75-5782 Ali’i Dr, #2A
Kailua-Kona, HI 96740
Should a Single Woman Buy a Home With her Boyfriend?
Before I get started talking about should a single woman buy a home with her boyfriend, I want to specifically state this blog is not excluding all other types of partnerships or relationships. Not leaving out the LGBTQ community. I mention a single woman only because I work with a lot of single women. I was once a single woman myself, 5 different times. As such, I bought and sold many homes. My advice to most single women wondering should a single woman buy a home with her boyfriend is, no. Don’t do it.
Now, having thrown that out there, I admit that it worked out for me. I bought a home with my boyfriend, and we’ve been married for almost 20 years now. My situation was fairly iron clad. A solid and strong commitment between the two of us that still exists today. Not to mention, my super powers could see into the future, and I visualized no complications. Further, in retrospect, I made no mistake by excluding past boyfriends from my financial life.
Generally, though, if a person has got to ask should a single woman buy a home with her boyfriend it’s because something is sending out warning signals. Call it intuition or trusting your gut. I’ve had other boyfriends in my life who wanted to buy a home with me, and I refused. Simply not tangling up my financial affairs, including the roof over my head, on a whim.
And not only were some of those breakups a bit messy, I was soooooo relieved I was not in homeownership with them, too. When you are the sole person on title, you can tell everybody else to move out of your house. My firm belief is there is no good reason to share the financial benefit and burden of owing a home with some other person just because you’re together. Especially not if you can afford to buy it without anybody else.
In fact, a past boyfriend paid rent, because there is no free lunch. One-half of my mortgage payment, including taxes and insurance, was far less than if we shared rent for a comparable house, but this guy did not want to pay his fair share. It irked him to no end that I refused to put him on title. He felt he should get a break because I received all of the tax benefits, not him, and I received all of the appreciation. He expected a discount off his share. That’s not a quality I deserve in a partner, so I made him move out.
Just sharing my thoughts about this subject in case another person is questioning the right move. When it’s your money, your credit and your financial situation that allows you the opportunity to buy a home, don’t automatically feel like you have to cut in the love interest in your life. You don’t. And don’t sell your house to move in with your boyfriend. Rent it out.
However, if it’s too late for you and you bought a home together anyway and now want to break up, call me at 916.233.6759. I work with many divorcing couples, too.
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