When it comes to building wealth, the choice between real estate and the stock market has been a long-standing debate. Popular media often highlights stock market booms, cryptocurrency surges, or tech IPOs, but they rarely dig into the long-term reliability and tangible advantages of real estate. In regions like Humboldt County, where the real estate market includes vibrant communities such as Eureka, Arcata, Fortuna, and Ferndale, the conversation becomes even more relevant. While both investment paths have their merits, there are critical differences, overlooked factors, and regional dynamic... Read more

The recent economic conditions had unemployment rates higher than what they had been in more than a quarter of a century. Ironically the housing sector had created incredible opportunities as the interest rates in buying and selling were on the rise. During such times the country saw a gradual rise in the demand for real estate agents.

To become a real estate agent you can be educated in any of the business schools through diploma and course programs or you could have attained skills through online courses. What matters most to become a real estate agent is that you must posses a lice... Read more

Home Front: Quarterly home sales worst yet for Sacramento area

Sacramento-area home builders just keep singing the blues.

July, August and September brought their worst quarter yet in this long housing crash: just 616 sales in El Dorado, Placer, Sacramento, Sutter, Yolo and Yuba counties, the Folsom-based Gregory Group reports today.

Actually, nearly all the region’s sales were in Placer and Sacramento counties alone. The suburban cities of Placer County accounted for 44 percent of third-quarter sales of new homes in the region. Sacramento County’s outer... Read more

Home Front: Small home makes big splash in Sacramento development

By Jim Wasserman
jwasserman@sacbee.com

http://www.sacbee.com/business/story/2108425.html?storylink=pd

The K. Hovnanian-built house in Natomas has a standard-size bedroom and a surprisingly large great room that combines a kitchen and living room. But that’s about it for 817 square feet – likely the smallest new house for sale in Sacramento. Price: $126,000.

Home Front discovered this seventh wonder of the real estate world via colleagues who got builder postcards aiming to pry boom... Read more

August 10, 2009
Bad June swoon for Sacramento-area homebuilders

http://www.sacbee.com/static/weblogs/real_estate/

Ouch! Homebuilders in Sacramento, El Dorado, Placer and Yolo counties reported their second worst sales month of 2009 in June, selling just 197 homes, condominiums and townhouses, the California Building Industry Association reported about an hour ago.

These things happen. But the regional sales tally was the lowest since January, when builders sold 163 homes, reported the CBIA, a trade group for state homebuilders.

It rather flies in the fac... Read more

Sacramento-area home sales fall for 1st time since April 2008

By Jim Wasserman
jwasserman@sacbee.com

http://www.sacbee.com/business/story/2033127.html

The 14-month streak is over.

Sacramento-area home sales reached their highest monthly count yet this year in June. But with fewer bank repos on the market, they failed to beat the numbers from June 2008, according to new statistics released Thursday from researcher MDA DataQuick.

It was the first time since April 2008 – when year-over-year figures turned positive after three years of declines – ... Read more

Home Front: How assessor slashes property values

By Jim Wasserman
jwasserman@sacbee.com

http://www.sacbee.com/business/story/2014910.html

This week the Sacramento County Assessor’s Office – and more like it across the great foreclosure belts of California – chopped property values again on nearly everything built in the housing boom.

The value slashing in Sacramento County that started in 2007 with 50,000 properties and 90,000 last year, reached 170,000 in 2009. That’s nearly every lot carved from a pasture and turned into a new house sinc... Read more

Repo business soars as Sacramento area home sales slump

By Jim Wasserman
jwasserman@sacbee.com

http://www.sacbee.com/topstories/story/2002300.html

At the beginning, Alejandro Maybuena lost the Sacramento house he bought in April 2005 for $350,000. At the end, in early 2009, Kim Gish bought it for $109,000.

Stories like this have happened more than 40,000 times in the Sacramento area. Still, the tale in particular of one house in California’s capital region shows the sweeping change in a real estate industry that once involved mainly a mom-and-po... Read more

Home Front: Despite programs meant to help, many homeowners still frustrated

By Jim Wasserman
jwasserman@sacbee.com

http://www.sacbee.com/business/story/1978579.html


Day in and day out since 2007, callers who struggle with mortgages throughout the Sacramento region, those who can’t sleep for worrying, who want to stay with houses that have lost $150,000 in value, have phoned Home Front to fret and express a common sentiment.

"My lender," they say, is "difficult." Callers complain about long waits, bureaucratic snafus and a sense of not bei... Read more

Sacramento region’s repossessed home sales boom hits lull

ShareThisBy Jim Wasserman
jwasserman@sacbee.com
http://www.sacbee.com/business/story/1789794.html

Published: Saturday, Apr. 18, 2009 - 12:00 am | Page 1B
Months of foreclosure moratoriums, stepped-up loan modifications and bank decisions to keep repossessed homes off the market are biting hard into a slice of the economy that has come to depend on sales of distressed homes.

Sacramento-area real estate agents who sell bank-owned homes and the contractors who fix them before and after sales ... Read more

Home Front: Don’t expect those Bay Area shoppers anytime soon
ShareThisBy Jim Wasserman
jwasserman@sacbee.com
Published: Friday, Apr. 3, 2009 - 12:00 am | Page 1B
In area conversations about real estate it’s often an act of faith that a widening gap between Sacramento and Bay Area home prices might soon spark a new migration east to buy houses cheap and put an end to free-falling prices here.

Nice theory. But wrong.

The once-widening gap that seemed to promise help has already closed. While 17 months ago the median sales price in Santa Clara Cou... Read more

Home Front: Don’t expect those Bay Area shoppers anytime soon

By Jim Wasserman
jwasserman@sacbee.com

Published: Friday, Apr. 3, 2009 - 12:00 am | Page 1B
In area conversations about real estate it’s often an act of faith that a widening gap between Sacramento and Bay Area home prices might soon spark a new migration east to buy houses cheap and put an end to free-falling prices here.

Nice theory. But wrong.

The once-widening gap that seemed to promise help has already closed. While 17 months ago the median sales price in Santa Clara Co... Read more

Many consumers consider selling their home directly but eventually turn to REALTORS®. Smart home sellers realize they need the expertise in pricing their home, making connections with REALTORS® working with buyers, arranging and staffing open houses, and coordinating with other professionals in the sales process.

Only about half of all real estate agents are REALTORS® -- the top half, in our not-so-humble opinion. REALTORS® work independently, for small agencies, or for large brokerages. They help people buy and sell residential or commercial properties, vacation homes, and land; they... Read more