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Selling Homes in Sacramento is Like Herding Cats
Working in real estate and selling homes in Sacramento is somewhat like herding cats. Just for the record, I don’t run a cat ranch or anything, but there are 3 cats who live in my home in Land Park, so I know a little something about herding cats. Cats will do whatever they want to do. They are somewhat predictable, but there are times a cat will completely freak you out, and the Sacramento real estate market is a good comparison. Just when you think that cat is headed for the litter box, it will abruptly stop and throw up on your feet.
I always look for trends because, as a Sacramento real estate agent, it helps me to properly advise clients. You know, just because buyers were wild and crazy last spring doesn’t mean that activity carries through to August. August is typically a slowing down month. A time for families to finish vacation plans, shop for back-to-school clothes, and prepare homes for winter which, in Sacramento, means closing the garage door.
I’m looking forward to the Sacramento Autumn Home Selling Market. It’s generally spectacular every year, and it shouldn’t be any different for 2013. About a week after Labor Day, the flood gates will open. That’s my prediction. But getting into escrow and closing are two distinct things. Any monkey can get into escrow. Closing is another story.
There are signs of increased listing activity right now. Sellers are calling and asking about selling homes in Sacramento. From just yesterday, I have 3 new listings in Elk Grove on the horizon, a home in Roseville will hit the market today, and I’m meeting with another seller in Citrus Heights this weekend.
Buyers, on the other hand, are a bit slower to submit offers now. They are spending more time thinking about it. Not every transaction that every agent has in escrow will close. I’m seeing more fallouts from buyers with cold feet, buyers who can’t qualify, buyers who probably should not have been trying to buy a home in the first place. There are also buyers who can’t understand that a rising market means if they’re buying a short sale, that price might be higher after waiting a few months.
What we need are incentives like my cat Pia’s freeze-dried chicken treats that we can throw in front of these guys. We need to continually check in with our buyers and make sure they’re still on board and headed for closing. Remove obstacles from their path. Keep the positive vibe going. Because I tell ya, it’s not easy herding cats when you’re selling homes in Sacramento.
Is the Era Over for Sacramento Front Lawns?
Are front lawns in Sacramento over? Experts are saying that the era of the lawn in the West has seen better days. Some cities in the Southwest have front yard ordinances that prohibit lawns all together. Lawns are a pain-in-the-butt to maintain. I became so busy in real estate over the years that I no longer have time to mow our front lawn, so we hired a gardener. Then, after staring at the crabgrass and all the other crap that has inched into our 1/4 acre of grassy paradise over a few decades, we decided to kill it all, spray RoundUp everywhere, and put in a brand new lawn, specifically designed to be drought tolerant.
Except our gardener, with his fancy riding mower that he just bought, transfers seeds and bits of other neglected lawns into our pristine environment. In days of extreme heat, I can practically watch the weeds grow and spread. Crabgrass especially. The stuff nightmares are made from. The only way to get rid of the crabgrass is to grab a spade and dig them up myself. Which turns me into fanatical lawn woman — which I don’t want to be.
In fact, as I’ve been reading books about moving to the Big Island on Hawaii, a lawn filled with big ol’ piles of lava seems a better choice to me. I know you probably can’t imagine why a person of relatively sound mind would want a yard to look like the day the Earth blew up after a nuclear holocaust, like in the movie Tank Girl, but there are good reasons for it:
- Reason #1, you don’t have to water it.
- Reason #2, you don’t have to mow it.
- Reason #3, you don’t have to spray chemicals and pesticides.
Lava rock just sits there. True, it doesn’t support the vegetation that people move to Hawaii to gaze upon such as palm trees and exotic anthuriums, but it’s maintenance free. It would be almost like living in Las Vegas, with an ocean but without the casinos and extreme heat. You might not know this, but because the weather and soil conditions in Hawaii can cause trees to grow 10 feet a year, you might have to mow your lawn 2 to 3 times a week!
I was thinking about that when I looked at a lawn in Roseville this weekend. I’m listing more homes in Roseville. It was crabgrass city. In fact, if one dug up all of the crabgrass, I don’t think there would be any lawn left. It would be dirt. The seller asked if it was worth replacing the lawn. Well, in that price range, probably not, because although a new lawn would make the house sell faster, the cost would not be returned 100%. So, look for a new listing, a home in Roseville, to come on the market later this week. Just don’t spend any time staring at the lawn, OK?
Here is a link to read up on Sacramento front lawn ordinances: what you can and cannot do to your Sacramento front lawns in the city. These ordinances do not apply to Roseville.
