Looking for something to do this Halloween? Here are two highly recommended events you can attend:

Trick or Treat Faire at Sunset Center in Rocklin

Just for kids! (Accompanied by an adult) An event for kids at the elementary school age and younger. Dress up your young tots and take them to their first (of fifth) Halloween to do some trick or treating. Tickets are $5 per child and you might get to eat the candy yourself! From 4:00 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. A great alternative to traditional neighborhood trick or treating, the city of Rocklin organizes this event each year as a safer option. There are games, prizes and treat bags! And prizes are awarded for the best costume, so dress them up!

Callson Manor Haunted House

If you’re looking for a more serious… er… fright, head over to the Callson Manor Haunted House at the Placer County Fairgrounds in Roseville, which promises to be “an attraction of a higher caliber.” Tickets are $30 for the entire attraction. The Haunted House is open between 7:30 and 10:30 p.m.

Although their website doesn’t say anything about children and what ages are recommended, use your own discretion. And have a screaming good time!

I, for one, will be shivering under the sheets.

Where is everyone in Placer county going? Total volume of homes sold in September has almost doubled as compared to last September going from 245 homes sold to 455 sold in September 2008.

Foreclosures sold have more than quadrupled and so have short sales. What’s surprising is that almost the same number of non-distressed properties have also sold, which is not seen as often. Non-distressed sales seem to have an inverse relationship to foreclosures and short sales. Placer county seems to prove that theory wrong. Distressed properties now make up more than half the real estate sales in Placer county – 55% of homes sold in September were either foreclosures or short sales.

Maybe everyone just waited until September of this year to buy. With the average sales price falling 28.4% over last September who can blame them? The average sales price is now $348,455 bringing the average price per square foot to $161.57

Inventory in Placer county sits at 7.2 months based on the last 12 months of sales and 5.8 months based on the last 6 months of sales.

Perhaps you already live here… but maybe you want to know more. Here are five of the most commonly cited reasons for people to move to Roseville:

Proximity to downtown Sacramento, but really – who needs it?

Roseville used to be one of those cities which was nice to live in because it was so close to Sacramento. Unless you are in commute traffic, the distance to downtown Sacramento – about 20 miles – can be covered in approximately a half hour. But lately, if you hate the commute, you can skip it. Roseville has become one of the fastest growing commercial hubs, with malls, offices and restaurants that can put downtown Sacramento to shame. And more businesses (hospitals, malls, restaurants) are moving to Roseville, making it a city to commute to, not from.

Have you Noticed how Clean it is?

Sure, there are older parts of Roseville that are charming and, er… hard to drive through. But the newer areas and especially the business districts have been planned with a focus on cleanliness and an eye toward making roads and neighborhoods pleasant to look at and drive around in. The city of Roseville also passed a law in the 1990s mandating nine acres of parks for every 1000 residents, twice the amount required by other cities in California of the same size. The city continues to follow a policy to maintain miles of trails for biking and walks along greenbelts.

Speaking of Biking…

The League of American Bicyclists recently awarded Roseville the Bicycle Friendly Community Award – Roseville was the first city in Placer county to receive this award. And why not? Roseville has 83 miles of on street bike lanes and 27 miles of off-street paths. It also hosts an annual bicycle event – the Roseville Bikefest. This year’s event occured on October 4th at Quail Glen Elementary School.

The Schools, the Schools!

I’m sure there are numbers out there to prove it, but you cannot beat word-of-mouth. One of the biggest reasons cited by home buyers in Roseville is the schools. Even when they would rather live in the country, most home buyers – if they are parents – will pick a home in the greater Roseville area for the proximity to nature trails, hiking, and fishing, while staying within the Roseville city school district.

Historic Old Town Roseville

If you’re bored on any evening, you can always head over to Historic old town Roseville. It has recently received a 13 million dollar facelift! The Historic Old Town Merchant’s Association also organizes special events like the Strawberry Festival in spring and a car show in the summer. Main street is shut down for these events and it’s a great place to bring family and friends or just hang out by yourself. Whether you are looking for a good restaurant, shopping or are looking for a quiet time in a museum, you can find it here in Old Town.

Convinced yet? Or maybe you didn’t need to be. Maybe you’ve loved Roseville all along and have wanted to buy a home here since you were a child. Well, what are you waiting for? A list of available homes, perhaps? Allrighty then. Go here!

If I were a home seller in Folsom, I would be pretty thrilled right about now. Although falling home prices are nothing to be happy about unless you’re a home buyer, Folsom-dwellers should be glad their homes are retaining their value and – as compared to the rest of Sacramento county – are relatively stable in prices.

Average sales price in Folsom is now at $425,514, down 10.7% from September 2007. While this might seem like a large drop, one has only to look at Elk Grove, for example, to see how much better Folsom is really doing. Sold price per square foot is now $190.68 – down 12.1% from last September’s $217.05

Part of the reason Folsom has maintained its value is the relatively low number of foreclosures. The majority of homes sold are still non-distressed. However, the number of foreclosures has gone up pretty significantly this September: last September only 2 foreclosed homes sold. This year? 20. Last September 90% of sales were non-distressed. This year, while still the majority as mentioned earlier, non-distressed home sales make up 51.9% of the total sales pie.

Still, Folsom gives the rest of Sacramento county some hope. The drop in sales price is gradual enough that the more observant ones amongst us (that would be perhaps the people not directly involved in the market – hmmm – anyone? Hellooo?) can see how foreclosures are inversely related to price appreciation and can predict that when the foreclosure inventory gets absorbed by the real estate market, we will, very possibly see prices head up again.

September has been a great month for bargain hunters in Elk Grove. Foreclosures have been most of the sales, reporting an increase of 459% in sales over last year at the same time (September 2007). And with foreclosures totaling a whopping 73.1% of all sales in Elk Grove, non-distressed properties saw a drop in their sales of about 36%

Foreclosure activity and bank-owned property sales are never good for home prices. So we saw sold price per square foot drop to $126.62 – a change of 29.4% over last September’s $179.31

Average sales price is now at $265,796. That is a drop of 28.4% over last September. Median price sits at $250,000.