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!

Now that we’re settled in this lovely country home we just bought, my husband and I decided to go out and explore. Pollock Pines is quite a pretty little town and definitely worth a stop if you’re heading up to Tahoe for the weekend. Because it’s not too far from Sacramento, people live here (like us!) and commute to Sacramento (again, like us!)

It’s okay – it’s just 5,000 or so of us residents.

Last week, we went to The Bowling Alley. (Yes, we go to The Grocery Store, The Post Office and The Bowling Alley.) And it was a lot of fun. On Saturday nights, they have black light bowling. There are also approximately seven pool tables as well and a bar.

I tried my hand at it (pun intended) and came away realizing thirteen pounds is heavier than it seems. (I need my own bowling ball.)

The best part about all this – it’s not crowded. You are not shoving for space. So if you’re in Pollock Pines for the night, stop by. There’s a lot of friendly people here. And quite a few homes for sale, might I add!

Okay, fellow Sacramento Realtors® – what is with pricing a home at 199,999? I understand you want to stay under the $200,000 mark, but seriously! At least refrain yourself and set the listing price at 199,900. The buyer gets the idea.

Even Metrolist has started to add a home at $200,000 on both sides of the $200,000 price.

A smart fellow Realtor® looks for a certain amount above and below what his buyer wants anyway – the amount varies with the market. But if my client says she’ll buy a home up to $300,000 I will usually search between the parameters of $240,000 to $320,000. Who knows? The sellers might be motivated!

So instead of letting this drive me nuts, I did some research. Turns out there is a reason behind the 99 cent pricing (Thank God the MLS doesn’t have cents!) and the roots are economic. Go here for the entire story.

But feel free to call and scold me if I ever add too many 9s. Unless it’s a million dollar home. I’d make an exception there -wouldn’t you? But then, I’m the last Realtor® in Sacramento not impressed by 9s.

This morning while searching the MLS and getting lost in all that real estate inventory out there for sale, I noticed a house on Priscilla Lane that is such a steal, I would write an offer on it today. Alas, I’m fully invested and my husband will definitely want to send me to be mentally tested if I thought about another home.

My ambition, like someone else mentioned in the SacBee a while ago, is to own entire streets. Monopoly player, for a long time (and Scrabble too, which is the right combination for a Realtor®, I guess!) This real estate investor owned all the houses on the street he lived on and the Bee cautioned him that he was not “diversified!”

Let me fall back on my favorite quote from Warren Buffett again: “Diversifying is insurance against ignorance.”

But, back to the neighborhood: the Colonial area is largely ignored by investors and first-time homebuyers today for two main reasons:
1. There seems to be a general look of untidiness in the neighborhood, thanks to the vacancy factor of foreclosures, and
2. The zip code 95820 is shared by Oak Park, which we know not too many people want to move to because of the crime.

To combat that, I say:
1. Foreclosures have hit this area hard – which makes it perfect for you investors! and
2. 95817 is also shared by Oak Park – these are postal codes, not crime or wealth codes.

And the fact remains, if you’re looking for great deals, they’re all here! The average home is about 1000 sq. ft. with 3 bedrooms and 1 bath. Backyards are modestly sized and streets are cleaned every month on third Thursdays. (Yes, I did live there for a while – in a home we knew would be a good rental in a couple of years.) Most homes have real hardwood floors and if you get lucky, homeowners have put on new roofs and central air. Rent hovers right around $1250 a month. Property values are depressed now to about $180,000 but generally have been hanging around $250,000 for a turnkey home.

If you have an extra $50,000 to invest, you should be looking around Colonial! Consider these!

When shopping for houses in Sacramento as a first-time buyer, which zip code is preferred?

I got a call from a potential buyer the other day wanting to look at houses that she had picked from the MLS herself (I love it when buyers are involved in the process from the start and don’t wait for Realtors® to do the research) and the two themes I saw repeating were 95608 and 95821. Personally, I like 95821 because there are some pretty great deals out there for first-time buyers. But my client has never lived in Sacramento, so I want to really make her feel at home. Any ideas?

This has got to have been the most painful episodes I’ve watched on TLC’s Property Ladder. A young couple – they were 21, I think, bought a home in Del Paso Heights hoping to flip it and make some money. After an agonizing hour, the show ended with them having made maybe $10,000. Bad contractors and just wood rot threw them overboard and they may have walked away with the $10,000 if they were lucky.

Sad. But not the only case of flipping houses here in Sacramento gone wrong. This year, in early spring while I was out previewing properties in the Colonial area, almost every other house on the market was someone’s ambitious flip gone wrong. Failure, when it relates to homes, is extremely painful to watch.

So what can you do to avoid these mistakes? Here are a few ideas:

1. Know the neighborhood – know the prices like the palm of your hand. If you don’t know what the houses are going for, it gets easier to let optimism get you carried away. Also, make sure you can get to the neighborhood easily. Anything more than an hour’s drive is too far.

2. Do the math. This should probably be number one. If the math doesn’t work out for you to make a profit that’s substantial, do not do it. The carrying costs might eat into that profit and probably will. The best math will not save you from a market crash, so do more than your homework and leave some wiggle room.

3. Get to it! This is the biggest piece of advice I can give you. Vacant homes are a liability. The sooner you can get done and get out from under the mortgage, the more profit you can make. Time is literally money. Treat it as such.

More tips coming up! Mostly from experience, so believe them!

Okay, so it wasn’t on this blog, but I had been advertising my property for rent and I’m glad to say after just a month of moving out of it and three long weekends of prepping it (I say prepping, but we painted, refinished the floors, painted some more, cleaned, landscaped, etc.) it’s finally rented for $1300 a month!

Which is pretty good. But here’s what a lot of people are not aware of with the current market – sales suck, but rents are good. All those people with foreclosed homes have to go somewhere! And chances are they will end up back in the same neighborhood they left.

So, for the first time in a while, rents have inched up a little! Although the aim of buying an investment property is always to make it cash flow, that’s not always the case in Sacramento. But in this market, that dream might just become a reality! So, come on investors – there are a lot of houses out there just waiting!

Map of the Week this week goes to Sacramento County’s “Cities in the County” map, which has links to the city government information in each case, as well as links to the city maps themselves. Can you name the seven cities?

Well, sure, if you look at the map you can.

What’s our mnemonic device, students?

“Can Everyone Find Good Ideas Regarding Sacramento?”

Citrus Heights

Elk Grove

Folsom

Galt

Islton

Rancho Cordova

Sacramento

I wonder how the folks in Isleton feel about being quaint?