Changing Market in Sacramento

Hello Everybody!

The tides are turning folks! These past few weeks have been very busy for me and for a lot of my colleagues.  I wanted to talk about some of my experiences in the past few weeks to give you a "bird's eye view" of the real estate market in Sacramento.

The first Buyer, I will refer to as Mr. K.  Mr. K wants to purchase an investment home in certain targeted areas.  He is looking at homes that are priced under a $100,000.  He prefers that the homes he looks at, needs some repair work.  Seemed like a simple task.  I had heard that there were a flood of these homes on the market.  One other key factor that would make my job a bit easier, Mr. K, was going to pay cash for his investment home and close in 10 days.  A motivated Buyer is a good thing!

Off we went. To the specific areas that he had targeted.  To our surprise, there were not that many homes to look at.  We pared our list down to five homes and checked them all out.  We really liked this one home near the Valley High area in South Sacramento. The home was listed for $89,000.  I knew the listing agent and I placed a call to her and told her I would be faxing an offer to her.  She told me that she expected multiple offers "So come in with your best shot David.."  We wrote the offer up and I emailed it to her.  We were notified the next day that our offer was NOT accepted, someone else had offered more than us.  We offered $94,000! We felt that the home was well worth $94,000, so we offered more than full price.

Not to be discouraged, we set out with a new set of homes to look at.  We even went out to the North Area and toured some homes off of Elkhorn Boulevard.  Our thoughts were that this area may not be as competitive as the South Area.  After we looked at 4 homes, we decided to submit and offer on a nice home on Longdale Drive.  The listed price was $79,900.  Once again, I called the listing agent and informed her that we would be submitting an offer on the home.  She told me that there were already three offers submitted! What!?!???  Needless to say, we did not get this home neither.

Several more times since those two initial tours of duty, and we have submitted 6 more offers and Mr. K is still without an accepted offer.  We are awaiting on an answer on an offer we submitted on Monday.  From what I hear, we have a good chance to get this home.  I will keep you posted.  Amazing how the view looks from the trenches.  The media should pay attention to what is really happening. The market is definitely getting better!

Tomorrow, I will tell you about the buyer I will call Ryno.  

It's October 7, 2009 and I am very Bullish on Sacramento

David Ohara

@dwo34

dwo34@aol.com

Don't Believe the Hype!

Good Tuesday to All!

A friend and I were having a conversation about places we have visited and the people we have encountered.  How many times have we not gone to a visit a place because we thought the people were not friendly?  I want to dispel the rumor about people from New York.

Last year I went to New York for the first time.  I had always been amazed by the sky line and impressive architecture.  Not to mention Time Square, Yankee Stadium, The Empire State Building, Lady Liberty, Ground Zero, Broadway, etc....etc.....etc.....

I have also heard from many people that people from New York were not friendly and were rude. I heard that New Yorkers were always in a rush and would not give you the time of day if you asked for directions.  And I had heard that New Yorkers spoke with a heavy accent and it was hard to understand.  You know my response to those negative people?  "Baloney!"  My experience with New Yorkers, are totally the opposite of what I have heard.  In my opinion, New Yorkers rival Hawaiians as the friendliest that I have met.  Let me give you some references so you don't think I am full of Hype.  My brother had arranged the trip to New York for me.  He had a shuttle van waiting to pick us up at the airport.  On the ride from JFK to Manhattan, the shuttle driver asked if I needed directions to any of the attractions.  I told him that we wanted to go to Times Square and walk around.  He said "After you drop your luggage off at the hotel and grab a bite, call me. Here is my number.  I should be back in the city in an hour, I will take you there...."  I called our driver up and he picked us up at the hotel.  A nice gesture! He said "No charge, my treat to you as a visitor to New York." What a nice guy!  Another example of the New York hospitality.  Numerous New Yorkers offered assistance on the subways.  For a visitor, if you can navigate the subway system, you can get around New York with ease.  Also, these supposedly rude and arrogant New Yorkers, would get up out of their seats on the subway and offer their seats. Amazing.  One more reference for good measure.  At Bobby Flay's restaurant in Manhattan, it was known that he could drop in at any time and say hello to the patrons.  We told the hostess that we had eaten at his Las Vegas restaurant, and this was a treat, since this was his home.  She called him up to see if he was coming in and there were some fans of his there.  He had a prior engagement, but instructed the hostess to give us an autographed copy of one of his books.  Rude? Arrogant? Standoffish? Hard to understand? Elitist attitude?  Don't want to be bothered?  Not a chance.

By the way, the sites in New York are well worth their hype! You will not be disappointed by what New York has to offer.  In my opinion, the people are one of the best attributes of New York!

The reason why I commented on this, is because often we get caught up in hype. Hype that may not be true.  Sometimes in life, it's best to experience things and make your own judgement.  It's fine to use reviews and information to help educate yourself on a decision.  Keep an open mind and don't always believe the hype!

It's August 25, 2009 and I am bullish on Sacramento

David Ohara

@dwo34

dwo34@aol.com

Best Buy and Twitter

This morning on one of the local Sacramento area news stations, they put out a question to their viewers.  To paraphrase the question was "What do you think about Best Buy using Twitter as a qualification for hiring future employees?" Apparently Best Buy wants to make sure their future employees are "social" and have some sense of technology. In short Best Buy wants to have their future hires with a minimum of 250 followers on Twitter.

Most of the viewers who responded were against such hiring criteria.  The most famous reply was "I don't even have a Twitter account, so there is no way I can qualify for that job.... and I think this is discrimination"  I can understand the frustrations of those who would not meet that criteria, but I can also see where Best Buy is trying to "stay current with the times..."  Twitter is large and is growing. I can give first hand experience on this one folks.  A couple of months ago,  I thought Twitter was something that Ashton, Oprah, Shaq, and a few other celebs did to keep the public updated.  Since I have joined, I have seen how this thing can be beneficial, both socially, educational wise, business growth, and research.  I am an advocate of Twitter!

Best Buy can institute their own criteria for job qualifications and I think this is intelligent on their part.  Imagine having an army of employees with large follower bases.  Whenever there were sales, specials, new merchandise, announcements, and grand openings, the "army" could tweet this information to their followers.  The reach is staggering and potentially more effective than some other forms of advertising.

People of Facebook and MySpace, don't discount Twitter. Maybe open up your horizons and use Twitter as another means to stay "connected" to your world.  It could actually help you land a job!

July 17, 2009 and I am bullish on Sacramento

David Ohara

Twitter - @dwo34