Month: September 2009

Waiting for the market to bottom out? You may be too late!

I’ve repeatedly been asked when I thought the Sacramento housing market would bottom out.  My answer was always the same: “The only way to see the bottom is to be past it.”

The latest home sale statistics show that the bottom of Sacramento’s housing market may be behind us.  The median home price in Sacramento County in August was $190,000.  Compared to February 2009’s reading at $167,000, that represents a 13.8% increase in Sac-town’s median home price.  The graph below shows how a trough in the median home price has developed over the last nine months.

The last 9 months show a trough starting to form on Sac-town's median home price
The last 9 months shows a trough developing

Market timing is more luck than skill.  For those waiting to time the bottom, you may be a few months late.  But, that doesn’t mean you’ve missed your chance at buying a home at an incredible value.  There are still 2,993 properties for sale in Sacramento for less than $190,000.  Opportunities still abound for those decisive enough to follow the facts

Study finds walkable neighborhoods command higher prices

A report done by CEOs for Cities concluded that walkable communities command higher prices for their homes.  Hopefully this and other studies will steer city planning across our country towards more mixed use, higher density development as opposed to segregatedly zoned suburban sprawl.

Curious about how your neighborhood ranks in walkability?  Go to www.walkscore.com. Very cool tool!

A Letter from Spencer

Hi There,

Matt has given me the honor of guest writing this month’s Matt’s Memos.  If you have been reading his Memos you probably know my name.  Matt has been sending his letters to all of my clients as well as his while I spent the last year battling cancer.  I had multiple myeloma, a type of blood cancer.  It was the fight of a lifetime and I almost lost.  However, I had a bone marrow transplant at Stanford last September and I am now cancer free.  The recovery from a bone marrow transplant has been rough but I am mostly back at work now. 

It was the experience of a lifetime.  My family and I had amazing support from our community.  That includes family, friends, neighbors, co-workers and my clients.  The support we received came in the form of many person-hours doing everything from preparing meals, babysitting, driving back and forth to Stanford, dental work, construction work, housecleaning, nursing, doctoring, financial planning, and most of all, prayer and good wishes.  My gratitude for this support is something that I have trouble expressing in a meaningful way.  The fact is that I can never repay all of the good karma sent my way, but I want to acknowledge it here.  Thank you!!  

Probably the biggest support I received was from Matt.  He worked double time to take care of my job duties and my clients while I was gone.  He also asked nothing in return for this.  Anyone that knows Matt knows he is a good guy, I am here to say that he is the kind of guy that would make huge sacrifices to take care of a friend.

It is said that every dark cloud has a silver lining.  For me, the silver is in discovering just how powerful a community of people from many different walks of life can rally to a cause and make a big difference.  That is a lesson that I will carry with me for the rest of my life.  It gives me hope that through all of the craziness of today’s world, that the goodness in all of us will prevail over the challenges. 

Philosophizing aside, I am now back at work and ready to face the next stage of my life; living life as a cancer survivor.  My experience has made me appreciate everything I have even more. Furthermore, I’ve made a commitment to Matt to help him take care of his clients whenever he has the need.  As a result you may be speaking with me from time to time if you are doing business with Matt. 

Another commitment that I have made is to live my life fairly openly so that others may learn from my experiences.  I have received a lot of positive feedback for my blog and how it has helped others understand what it is I went through.  I started it back before I got sick.  The entries follow the arc of my process and are often raw, sometimes profane and personal and they rarely have anything to do with business.  It is there for you to read or not.  I still put in new updates on a regular basis.  The address is http://www.puddinrider.blogspot.com.  Also, I am an avid Facebook user.  If you are too, please send me a friend request.   Of course if you want to chat, give me a call.

Best Wishes,
Friend of your Mortgage & Real Estate Consultant for Life
Spencer Rubin