The Real Folsom Blog

New Palladio 16 Cinemas opens Dec. 11

For many going to the movies during the holiday season is a cherished family tradition. This year will be an extra treat for Folsomites as the new movie theater--Cinema West's Palladio 16--is set to open to the public Dec. 11th. Someone affiliated with the theatre came by the KW office this morning to give us a brief rundown on the new facility. Here's the skinny: when it opens, it will be the largest solar-powered movie theatre in the United States, as well as have the most digital 3-D screens (a total of six) of any U.S. theater. It will be the Sacramento area's only all-digital projection theater. The screens will be high-def and the largest of the screens will be just slightly smaller than an IMAX screen. Palladio 16 will be able to seat (in luxury stadium seats) just under 3,000 patrons at a time with theater sizes varying from about 125 to 300. Palladio 16 is located at the back of the still-under construction shopping mall complex located at the corner of E. Bidwell and Iron Point Road. You can check out their web site to see what they'll be showing when they open Dec. 11th.

Chalk One Up for Home Buyers

Some good news for home buyers on this blustery and very wet Tuesday. On Monday, Governor Schwarzenegger signed The Buyer's Choice Act. The new law allows the buyers of REO (bank-owned) properties to choose the title and escrow company. Under the old regime, banks were dictating that choice, with a "the door is that way if you don't agree"  attitude. The banks and asset managers can no longer force buyers to choose title and escrow companies of the bank's choice. And even better news, the law passed as an urgency measure by the Gov is effective immediately. It's been a tough enough market as it is, how nice to finely be able to give home buyers some old fashioned customer service.

415 Posts and Counting...

I've been feeling bad lately about not posting more regularly. When I started this blog with a focus on real estate and housing matters in Folsom, I promised myself this wouldn't be one of those blogs you find out there where there are spurts of blog posting activity then months of nothing. The only way one of these blogs could be useful to Folsom home buyers and sellers I thought was for a regular output of info. Then, as I was cruising the back end of my blog web site today, I saw the number: 415 posts in the past two years since I started this blog in July of '07. Not too shabby, I'm thinking. So now that I'm feeling a little better. The summer has been super busy for me but this week everything settles down, so I'll be recommitting to keeping The Real Folsom Blog as current as possible. I'd be remiss as I reminisce to not thank Barbara Van Duyn--my regular guest blogger--for her contributions to The Real Folsom Blog. Barbara, who is a mortgage planning advisor with First Priority Financial here in Folsom, has her own blog--Under Your Roof--full of useful information on real estate and finance. Make sure you check it out. I have found Barbara to be great resource on all things real estate finance. Looking forward to the next 415 posts....

Now Certified As a Pre-Foreclosure Specialist

Between the bank-owned properties and the short sales, it's been a challenging market for buyers, sellers, real estate agents, and mortgage specialists. We could all use a little help getting through these transactions, especially the short sales. For real estate agents, that help is coming in the form of a new nationwide short sale agent network being set up as we speak. If this thing takes off, as I believe it will, the loooonnng short sales will be a thing of the past, replaced by a much streamlined process. The gist of the effort is to get short sales pre-approved by the lender before a property is listed, saving time and effort on the part of buyers and sellers. To participate in this network, agents undergo two days of training on how to handle pre-foreclosure properties. Last week I earned my PSC pin and am excited at the possibility of serving short sale clients in a much more efficient manner that will mean a quicker sale and the ability for sellers to move on with their lives faster. Belonging to the network also means I will get updates on the latest trends and happenings in the pre-foreclosure market and have access to current, lender-specific information on how to get short sales closed as quickly as possible. I'm excited about what this means for my current and future clients. I'll keep you posted on this ambitious, and promising, project.

Giving Back to Our Community

It's been busy of late, and I've been a little lax on posting. My apologies for that. One of the things that kept me busy was Red Day, last Thursday. Red as you may or may not know is the color of my broker, Keller Williams. This year, for the first time, KW initiated a day of volunteering. The idea: for all KW agents to give back to the community where they live, at least for a day, and, of course, it is hoped a little more often than that. The Folsom KW office was tasked to come up with a project as a group. Our project: clearing the foxtail weeds out of two of the three bear enclosures at the Folsom Zoo-Sanctuary, located near the library and behind city hall. Because foxtails are dangerous to the animals and grow vigorously we had to get on our hands and knees to pull out the roots. So for two and a half hours, we pulled and pulled. Was rather funny while we worked, groups of children came through on tours and were clearly puzzled by our presence, as well as a little disappointed to not see the bears. Although we could see them well as they kept a wary eye on our activities from their cages just above us. Now the zoo will plant some buffalo grass--a more bear-friendly treatment of the enclosure.I've included a few photos to prove we were there. I'm the one in the straw hat in the front.

 

Dwellicious Is One of Latest Social Networking Tools

MetroList, our local multiple listing service provider in Sacramento has just announced a new feature called Dwellicious! Cute name! So what does Dwellicious do? It’s simply one of the latest in a string of social networking tools that are all the rage these days. Visitors to MetrolistMLS.com now have the option of bookmarking properties they like on MetrolistMLS.com and sharing them with friends and family.  And, Dwellicious works with the most popular social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter. If you go to www.dwellicious.com, you’ll find a video tour describing the service.

City Celebrates Trails Day Saturday, April 25

One of our best assets as a city in Folsom is the wonderful system of bicycle/hiking trails we have. This Saturday, April 25, you can show your support and appreciation by rolling up your sleeves and volunteering for some hard work and fun from 9 a.m. to noon. Sign up by calling the city at 355-7285. For your effort, you'll receive a free lunch and a commemorative T-shirt! You must be 16 years old to participate.

Here a Scam, There a Scam...

I've said it before, and it keeps proving true, bad economic times bring out the scammers like a locust plague. Two recent warnings from the California Association of Realtors confirm this. In the first, relayed from the Federal Trade Commission, consumers are warned about economic stimulus scams, perpetrated through the Web and e-mail. Basically the scammers entice consumers to provide personal information or a small payment in exchange for help in getting you money from the stimulus fund. Don't be conned. Their one goal is to ultimately get your bank account information to drain your funds. The other scam targets Californians. Scam artists are using forged letterhead of major lenders to con Californians into paying thousands of dollars for non-existent loan modification services. Bottom line on these two latest scams: be deeply skeptical of anyone who demands money up front and make promises they can save your home.

Doing CMAs Are a Challenge in Current Real Estate Market

At the height of the market, it wasn't too difficult to do a Comparative Market Analysis with prices going up steadily and lots of sales for comparison. You could, with not too much work, figure out the current market value of a home. Getting a good CMA is a key element in selling or purchasing a home. If you're selling you don't want to price too high and not get offers or too low and wind up giving your home away. And for buyers, you don't want to offer a penny more than you have to. I'm finding, though, that it is getting more and more challenging to do a CMA. To do a CMA, you start by looking at three key elements: recent sales, pending sales, and homes currently on the market. The problem with any of those categories is that the numbers are all over the place. I recently did a CMA for a home in a community that has been hard hit with foreclosures and short sales. Looking closely at the listings to see the condition of the homes and the amenities, I found a range of about $70,000 dollars between the lowest and highest recent sales of comparable homes. When you make a decision of where to price your home, keep in mind factors like how quickly you want/need to sell and price accordingly. And, if you decide to price your house at the higher range, be ready to do price reductions sooner than later. Test the market if you want but don't stay in the higher range too long.

Tough Times for Sellers and Buyers Alike

Interesting article in this Sunday's Sac Bee section--"Home-market bottom elusive goal." The Bee's real estate guy, Jim Wasserman, brought together four real estate watchers to get their assessment on what lies ahead in real estate and whether any of them could answer the Question: Where is the bottom? One of the things I got out of it is: it's a tough time for both sellers and buyers. Why it's tough for sellers is pretty obvious. However, even though it seems like it's a good time for buyers, what with lower home prices and great interest rates, it can be difficult to make that big decision when it looks like prices will drop some more and on top of that the economy continues to go haywire. The best piece of advice for buyers in the article: If you find your dream home (or something close) and if the numbers work out, then go ahead and buy and get on with your life. The article also confirmed what I'm hearing now from the experts that it looks like an uncertain ride for at least a few more years...