3900 M Street is Closing!

The buyer signed the papers yesterday, the seller signed today and we should be closed before the end of the year. I’m happy to have it close but I'll miss having access to this property.

The Slow Season

I have been told that the holidays are the "slow season" in the real estate business. I've been told this from many sources and once upon a time I did believe that it was a little slower around this time of year.



I thought that an agent that was willing to still work the business at this time would still have a little business because many other agents we’re not as active.



I never imagined that this was the busiest time of year, but for me that sure is the case! There have been no posts to my blog in over a month because I’m focused on taking care of my clients in every working hour. Priorities!



Happy holidays!

1633 39th Street Coming Soon

Well, "Soon" is a relative term. This amazing East Sac home for sale won’t hit the market for about 5 more months because that is how long it will take to do the new construction.

Based on how fast the amazing home at 3900 M Street sold, I don’t think we will have any trouble selling this one.


More details to follow soon…

Veterans Day Parade – November 11th

Join the City as we honor our heroes past and present at Sacramento’s Veterans Day Parade on Friday, November 11th. The parade begins at 10 a.m. at Lot "X" at 3rd and N Street and follows a route northward on 3rd Street to Capitol Mall, east on Capitol Mall to 9th Street. It then follows south on 9th Street where the parade will disband. Third Street will be closed from 10 - 10:30 a.m. for the parade start. A program will follow at Capitol Mall at 11 a.m.

The Grand Marshall is the first person to break the sound barrier – General Chuck Yeager himself. There will be entertainment, children’s activities, and educational displays. For parade entry information, call 916.808.2344 or email sacvetparade@cityofsacramento.org.

3900 M Street is Pending Sale

As far as East Sac homes for sale, this was an amazing one and the buyers market agreed. We brought 3900 M Street on the market on Thursday afternoon and had an offer on Saturday that had just been accepted and marked Pending!


I delivered about 250 letters to the neighbors in the Fab 40’s inviting them to the open house, knowing that this home has been of great interest while being built. I think they all showed and more, including many potential buyers and some that didn’t know they were buyers until they walked through the front door. As a guess, I would say that we had over 500 people through the house during those three days.


This has been such a great project and the builder paid great attention to all the little details. I’ll miss this listing when it closes but fortunately I’m working with the builders on another amazing East Sac new construction that should start in a month or two.


I love delivering a great product to the market!

Referral from Kathy

Kathy and I met by chance and I got the privilege of listing her property. It would be the fourth and final time she needed to list it for sale during the past 12 month period. It took us a while but we got it sold and to another client of mine. I loved showing the property and visiting with Kathy, and not just because she had one of the cutest cats in the world!

Got to love getting both a company response card and a thank you card.

Referral from Denise

Denise and I met at an open house and after a detailed search we came back to a wonderful listing that I had in Campus Commons and put together a deal that made everyone happy.

It sounds like her new kitty loves playing on the stairs almost as much as the previous kitty did.

A smiley face comment cards from past clients make me feel all warm and fuzzy inside!

3rd Annual Doggie-Walk-A-Thon – November 5th

The 3rd Annual Doggie-Walk-A-Thon will take place on Saturday, November 5th from 9:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. at McKinley Park. The entry fee is $20 (with or without dogs and entry cost varies wit number of dogs). Walk your pooch around the park on fun 1K and 2K paths. There will be prizes, a silent auction, demonstrations, doggie costume contest and more. Proceeds will benefit Friends of McKinley Park Tennis, SPCA and Youth Development Network. For more information or to register go to www.ydnetwork.org/2011doggieevent.

3900 M Street, East Sac Homes For Sale now Live!

The listing for 3900 M Street in East Sac’s Fab 40’s has gone live in the system!

Here are some links to the listing...

 

The properties own website.
A second dedicated site…

The general MLS page.

The listing on Trulia.

The listing on my own website, www.east-sac.com in two places.
 

The listing on Realtor.com

 

The listing on the Local MLS client page:

 

There are more places going up soon, but these are the first to populate.

The “Just Listed” postcards are going out in the next couple days to over 100 neighbors. I have personally delivered about 200 letters to neighbors letting them know of the new listing and inviting them to the open houses.

I’ll be holding it open on Friday from 4:00 to 7:00, Saturday and Sunday from 12:00 to 4:00.

The lockbox is on the property and I've put flyers in the house and the box on the sign. We should get a good gage for activity over the next week.

1109 39th St East Sac Pending

The East Sac home for sale at 1109 39^th Street went pending a while ago, but now all the contingencies have been removed and we are moving toward a closing date. That closing date has changed from a quick close to a long close, but at least we now have confidence that it will close!

This is a complicated property that has taken a lot of work to get to this stage, but it has been well worth it. I love a challenge and a red tagged 5-plex that is zoned R1 but could also be a duplex. Definitely a challenge...

New Listing! 39th & M Coming Soon

Construction both felt quick and so slow, but now the day is rushing up on us and 39th & M is going live on Thursday! I look forward to holding this amazing East Sac home open on Friday, Saturday and Sunday to give the neighbors and potential buyers a good look at it.

Monthly Payments of Home Buyers Almost at 1981 Levels?

OK, when I saw this headline I had to read the article.

Monthly Payments for Home Buyers

On October 6, 2011, in Economist Commentaries, by Lawrence Yun, Chief Economist

A home buyer purchasing a typical American home at the prevailing average mortgage rate today would have a mortgage payment of $698 a month. This figure is not much different from what a home buyer would have faced 30 years ago. In 1981, home prices were much lower but mortgage rates were reaching 18 percent. Today, home prices have come down by about 33 percent on average from the bubble years, but prices still remain comfortably higher than those of the 1980s. However, thanks to record low mortgage rates, the monthly payment obligations have been greatly reduced.

After reading the article I still didn’t believe it and had to run the numbers for myself. I decided to take real world numbers, here in Sacramento, on a listing that I currently have in Downtown. I mean, maybe this is true for a home in Columbus GA, but it can’t be true here…

The condo that I have listed at 958 Q Street is listed for $195,000. When it was first built in 1982 the units in it’s complex were selling for $55,000. Back then you had interest rates at 18%. If you did a 3.5% down loan like today’s common FHA loans, factoring in average rates for tax and insurance, your payment would have been $867 per month (not counting HOA or any possible PMI). Today you can get a FHA loan at 4% (one of my buyers just locked at 3.675 with no points!). That makes a payment of $1167 per month or about $290 more today than 30 years ago.

I was feeling pretty smug for about 5 seconds until I started to think about what $867 would have bought me 30 years ago compared to today. Going back to my youth when a quarter bought you a candy bar and now I think they cost a buck, I had to go to an online inflation calculator. $867 from 1981 after adjusted for inflation is $2150 today!

Well, me and my short lived smug self will just have to contemplate these numbers and the buying power of today’s interest rates over a long over due candy bar…

39th & M Final Stucco

My upcoming listing at 39th and M has its final coat of stucco on and the scaffolding has been removed! It is looking like an amazing East Sac house now, not just one in the throes of construction.

They are in the process of putting in the hard wood floors. The rooms are all painted, the kitchen and bathroom cabinets are in and it is getting close to being finished.

The estimates are that in two or three weeks all the final finish work will be done and the listing will go live.

I’m greatly looking forward to holding open houses in this amazing property!

Sacramento, City of Trees

One great benefit of having family at UC Davis Medical Center in Sacramento is going up onto the 14^th floor of the Davis Tower and seeing all the trees in the surrounding neighborhoods of Elmhurst, East Sac and Oak Park.

I do love this city!

39th and M Floor Plans

39th and M is getting very close to being completed. We expect to list if for sale in early November, the exact date dependant on getting all the finish work and landscaping completed.

PJ recently asked on my blog if I had the floor plans for this property. Well, here they are!

Of course as the builders went through the process there have been little changes to improve the design, so the floor plans are a little different than the finished product.

It is amazing how quick this has gone up and how much the builder has paid attention to all the little details. I get regular emails for feedback on doorknob choices, the hardware for the kitchen cabinets, paint colors and everything else. I love being this involved in the building process.

QR Codes

OK, I’ve been asked what that little box of boxes is on my 39th and M Street flyer. In short, it is like a bar code, but more advanced and smart phones are often used to read them to take the user directly to a website.

Here is what Wikipedia has to say about QR Codes.

A QR code (abbreviated from Quick Response code) is a type of matrix barcode (or two-dimensional code) first designed for the automotive industry. More recently, the system has become popular outside of the industry due to its fast readability and comparatively large storage capacity. The code consists of black modules arranged in a square pattern on a white background. The information encoded can be made up of any kind of data (e.g., binary, alphanumeric, or Kanji symbols).^[1]

Created by Toyota subsidiary Denso Wave in 1994 to track vehicles during the manufacturing process,^[2] the QR code is one of the most popular types of two-dimensional barcodes. It was designed to allow its contents to be decoded at high speed.^[3]

The technology has seen frequent use in Japan; the United Kingdom is the seventh-largest national consumer of QR codes.^[4]

Mortgage Rates Below 4%

OK, being 40 years old I know of times when rates were 18% but I wasn’t yet buying houses in those years. I’m used to 8-12% for most of my adult life and seeing rates below 6% has been exciting. Now rates are dipping under the 4% mark and I’m in shock.

It makes me want to run out and refinance the few properties that I have and buy several more. Given that home prices are as low as they are, I’m not sure I’ll be able to resist the urge to buy more properties…

From CNN Money

“Mortgage rates have never been cheaper, with the 30-year rate falling below 4% for the first time in history.

The interest rate on a 30-year fixed-rate loan fell to 3.94% this week, the lowest rate since mortgage giant Freddie Mac (FMCC, Fortune 500) began tracking it. Meanwhile, the average for a 15-year fixed-rate mortgage also hit a record, falling to 3.26%.

"Average 30-year conventional fixed mortgage rates fell below 4% for the first time in history this week following a sharp drop in 10-year Treasuries early in the week as concerns over a global recession grew," said Freddie's chief economist, Frank Nothaft.”

East Sac and the Fab Forties

The Fab 40's are the center of the amazing East Sac neighborhood. When there is talk of amazing homes in Sacramento, no other neighborhood is mentioned as often.

The properties on 38^th to 48^th Street, between J Street and Folsom Boulevard have the largest lots and command the highest value and are considered by most to be the official Fab 40's boundary. The prestige of these properties flows into the neighboring blocks and can be seen in the homes surrounding it. The common misconception is that the Fab 40's is from 40^th to 49^th street, but take a drive through the neighborhood and you will see why the general boundary is where it is.

There have been many notable residents but the most famous is President Ronald Reagan who lived at 1341 45^th Street when he was the Governor of California.

Every year the Fab 40's are host to a variety of great events like the 4^th of July parade and block party and an incredible display of Christmas lights.

46^th Street was the turnaround point for the J Street Line back when there was a streetcar network that served the historic neighborhoods of Sacramento, resulting in it being one of the widest streets in East Sac, but 45^th street boasts the largest lots of the area.

Over the years many of the homes have been remodeled or completely rebuilt, making it a wonderful, eclectic mix of home styles. On some blocks you will have homes that are just over 1,000 square feet and homes that boast over 8,000 square feet. All the varied styles, wide streets, large lots and canopy of trees it makes it a joy to stroll through the neighborhood.

Back yard concert

Got to love a back yard concert. This one features the Mekons in my friend David's back yard in Davis.
Must be about 60 of us enjoying the amazing sounds of this group. Not sure how David gets such great talent, but I'm happy to show up, kick in a donation for the band and enjoy some good food, drinks and company.

39th and M Stucco

This is the first coat of the exterior/colored stucco for 39^th and M. Early next week the second and final coat of stucco should go on the property. The half wall for the yard should also be finished early next week and then the large green fence can come down and we will have a much better look at the property.

1109 39th Street - New Listing

I have another listing in Sacramento's amazing neighborhood of East Sac, just half a block from my 39th & M listing here in the Fab 40's...

This is an amazing opportunity to live in the Fab 40's in East Sac! Currently a 5-plex but zoned R-1 with plans for a duplex, the home is almost 3,700 square feet and it is just waiting for your vision to redesign it. There is alley access to the oversized 3 car garage with work areas and it still has a large yard on this huge lot. There is lots of potential here for the right buyer. Please do not disturb occupants.

East Sac Remodel Home Tour

Sunday is the Friends of East Sacramento annual Home Remodeling Tour from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.

Pick up the flyer for 39^th and M and take a look at the property while you are wandering through the wonderful Fab 40’s neighborhood.

Second Yelp Review

This is another great review on Yelp. I do love my clients.

 

“Nathan Sherman represented us as first time buyers, he is professional, honest and really looks out for his clients. We had some unusual incidents with some offers and he handled them Excellent. I totally recommend him as realtor.”

Operation Twist

OK, I'm not a fan of the name of this new government plan. It will be amazing to see interest rates on mortgages go even lower than the historical lows that we are at and years from now in the real estate industry I'll be able to wistfully look back and say "I remember when interest rates were 4%" while we are at a then staggering 8% or something.

As with almost all things in the real estate market, I will wait and see what the future brings. If I only had a crystal ball...


From CNN Money
The Federal Reserve announced "Operation Twist" Wednesday, a widely expected stimulus move reviving a policy from the 1960s.

The policy involves selling $400 billion in short-term Treasuries in exchange for the same amount of longer-term bonds, starting in October and ending in June 2012.

While the move does not mean the Fed will pump additional money into the economy, it is designed to lower yields on long-term bonds, while keeping short-term rates little changed.

The intent is to thereby push down interest rates on everything from mortgages to business loans, giving consumers and companies an additional incentive to borrow and spend money.

39th and M Stucco

Updates on 39th and M: The second coat of stucco is on and I’m going to head over to the property to give final feedback on the color choice for the third and final coat that will go on in the next couple days.

Thank You Card and Friends

OK, I can’t think of any other career I would rather have. I love getting to hunt for the prefect house, negotiate a great deal and follow it through to closing and beyond.

Then there are the wonderful perks like getting to know that my clients are incredibly happy with my work and best of all, I got two great people as new friends out of the deal.

It’s a good life!

MENA General Meeting

I just sent this out as a MENA email blast yesterday. I hope to see lots of neighbors that I know at the meeting tonight!

"Last week we sent out an email about the General Membership Meeting that is taking place on Wednesday September 21st. Now that we are a day away we wanted to take a moment of your time and remind you that we would love to see you at the ShepherdGarden & Arts Center (3330 McKinley Blvd) in the room next to the patio tomorrow evening.

You will hear from Lisa Schmidt of Friends of East Sacramento about saving the Clunie Community Building at McKinley Park which is scheduled to be closed and locked up in October of this year!

You will also get the chance to meet all the board members of MENA and hear a little bit about what we are doing for our community and there will be an open question and answer time.

The meeting starts at 7:00 and plan on staying till around 8:30 or 9:00, meet lots of your neighbors and enjoy some free ice cream!"

Review on Yelp

I received a wonderful review on Yelp last week.

Here is the review in full in case you don't want to view it on the Yelp site:

"Nathan Sherman is a terrific realtor. I've bought and sold a number of homes over the years, and I really appreciate key qualities in a realtor - good listening skills, patience, and flexibility. Nathan has all these qualities - and he has a great sense of humor, too! I "found" Nathan at an open house months before I could seriously consider purchasing a home. Nathan understood and immediately showed me his "I'd be willing to live here" list of homes. Within a day he had me setup with alerts to help me narrow my search, was helpful when I would find things on my own and welcomed viewing those properties again with me. And, it really is all about you - Nathan frequently said "buy the right house for you ...someone will buy this one". In the end, I found exactly what I was looking for, in a comfortable price range, great location, and on schedule."

Open House at 354 34th St

I'm holding an open house today at 354 33th St just off McKinley Blvd. This is an amazing 4 bed 3 bath home with over 2450 square feet.

I love the look of this home with the classic East Sac brick exterior.

There were a couple sets of clients through that were very serious about the house, both through for the second time. Hopefully an offer will be coming soon...

East Sac Home Remodeling Tour

The Friends of East Sacramento annual East Sacramento Home Remodeling Tour will be held on Sunday, September 25, 2011, from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.

Six recently remodeled homes will be featured including a striking contemporary home that was built from the ground up, a 1400 square foot home with a fabulous outdoor entertaining space and an exquisite original Mediterranean Revival.

Tickets are $20 in advance, $25 on the day of the tour (check or cash only). Tickets can be purchased in advance at East Sacramento Hardware (4800 Folsom Blvd.), Haus (5601 H St.), Jeannie’s Jewelry (2600 Fair Oaks Blvd) or Parkside Pharmacy (4404 Del Rio Rd).

On the day of the tour, tickets will be sold at 1062 47th St. Proceeds support neighborhood parks and beautification projects in East Sacramento.

To volunteer as a tour docent or for more information, call 452-8011 or friendsofeastsac@aol.com

I will have an ad in the tours brochure showcasing 39^th & M and sharing space with Ted Smith Design (the designer of that amazing home).

39th and M Pre-Stucco

Updates on 39^th and M in East Sac: They have the house wrapped and getting ready for stucco. It will take three coats of stucco to complete the job so they might have it finished by the end of next week…

39th and M, Fab 40's, East Sac

39th and M Artist Rendering

Updates on 39^th and M in East Sac: This is the amazing artist rendering of what the home at 39^th and M will look like.

Steve Hubbard is the artist and he has done an incredible job of giving us a look into the future. Of course, some details may change between now and the completion.

39th and M, Fab 40's, East Sac

Volunteer Opportunity: The Great American River Clean up!

I've sent this out to the MENA members and now I've received it as a member of the Sacramento Association of Realtors. Looks like it's time to put in on my blog too.

Volunteer Opportunity: The Great American River Clean up!
Saturday, September 17th  |  9:00am - 12noon
Along the American River

Last year, 2028 volunteers removed over 15,000 pounds of debris from the American River Parkway in three short hours! Be part of the crew that makes the Parkway shine this year!

There are multiple clean up site locations – pick one near your home! Follow this link to register as a volunteer

East Sac Chamber Lunch

Today’s East Sac Chamber Of Commerce lunch was at Vanilla Bean Bistro at 3260 J Street. The food was an amazing mix of California Cuisine with a Turkish twist (just like their marketing says). The company was excellent and the speaker was talking about social media, so updating my blog was almost mandatory after that.

J

39th & M Front Door

Updates on 39^th and M in East Sac: The front door for 39th and M is in.

OK, is this the coolest door ever or what?

Tree Height in Sacramento

I'm at UC Davis Med Center visiting my wonderful step-mom who has been here for over three weeks now. She is recovering from a serious spinal surgery.

My amazing wife was very persistent in getting her moved from her last room to her current room so that she could be by the window and have a great view of the trees.

It turns out that the trees in the Elmhurst neighborhood just north of UC Davis are about five stories tall. What a great view! Environment plays a great part in recovery and the Sacramento trees a huge bonus for us.

Patio Dining at its Finest

Got to love a California summer evening in one of East Sac’s best kept dining secrets, our back yard…

What a way to celebrate 8 years and 10 days of a wonderful marriage!

958 Q Street Open House

Held an open house for a great listing of mine at 958 Q St.

There aren't many condos for sale in the downtown/midtown area and even fewer with garages that have direct access into the home.

This is a great complex and this is my second of hopefully many listings in the Saratoga Townhomes...

39th & M Trim

Updates on 39^th and M in East Sac: It is now starting to look like the English Tudor that it will be. I love the trim work on this home.

All the little details that will go into finishing off this house are amazing and they still have a couple months to go before it is finished. This corner of 39 and M is starting to take shape. Next week should be the roofing and stucco…

39^th and M, Fab 40’s East Sac

Sold – 1723 11th Ave

What an amazing home this Land Park house is! It’s perfect for my clients and I hope they take me up on the offer to come over and cook in the master chefs kitchen. I’m thinking risotto with gorgonzola and sun-dried tomatoes…

Sold – 717 Dunbarton

I had the great honor of listing this property and representing the buyer. This is the best unit in all of Campus Commons!

717 Dunbarton Sacramento

Sold – 4119 Pebble Oaks, Antelope

This is an amazing home in Antelope that is just perfect for
my buyers. Everything even down to the pool was a perfect fit. The closing
process was crazy, but we made it through to the end!

Sold – 1633 39th St

This little house is in need of lots of love but when my clients are done with it we will have another amazing East Sac home…

39th & M Windows

Updates on 39^th and M in East Sac: OK, I’m having a lot of fun taking pictures from the same spot across the street and then flipping through them on my computer and watching the house magically pop up. I’ve got the easy part of this job!

Fortunately I only live a few blocks away so a jaunt through the Fab 40's for another picture doesn't take up any extra time.

All the windows are now in and the house has taken shape. This is going to be an impressive home!

39^th and M, Fab 40’s East Sac

New Listing 5706 Amnest Way – Now Pending

On 8/2/11 we brought 5706 Amnest Way on the market as a short sale and by 8/15/11 we were under contract. The bank is moving along on the short sale process and we hope that this is a smooth one…

39th & M Roof

Updates on 39^th and M in East Sac: The attic space is HUGE in this house! We have been talking about finishing off a large section of the attic to have some serious storage space up there.

Notice the guy at the top of the roof line. While I lack the healthy fear of heights that many people posses, there is no way that you would get me up there doing that work.

39^th and M, Fab 40’s East Sac

39th & M Framing

Updates on 39^th and M in East Sac: It is amazing what they can do in just a few weeks with a dedicated crew! Walking through the site I can finally get a feel for what the finished house will look like. We are still a few weeks before seeing what the corner of 39th and M will look like, but the roof will complete the lines.

I love the view from the windows on the second story right there at the corner. You can look down 39^th Street or M Street for a good ways before the canopy of trees covers takes over the distance.

39^th and M, Fab 40’s East Sac

39th & M Floor Insulation!

Updates on 39^th and M in East Sac: OK, I might be easily impressed but the fact that they are insulating the floor boards really is impressive. The energy rating of this home is going to be amazing! Try finding this in just about any other home in East Sac…

39^th and M, Fab 40’s East Sac

39th & M Foundation

Updates on 39^th and M in East Sac: This is a new property from the ground up! New foundation all around.

39^th and M, Fab 40’s East Sac

39^th and M, Fab 40’s East Sac

39^th and M, Fab 40’s East Sac