Great article from Business Week� this is an interview with Michael Youngblood, the managing director of asset-backed securities research at Friedman Billings Ramsey & Co. (FBR ) in Arlington, Va

Here is a good article on Sacramento real estate market; we know that the bay area is becoming a buyer's market. Sacramento may offer good buys at moderate prices even now. Enjoy!

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A look at the February numbers for the four county Sacramento area real estate market is encouraging but I have reservations about being overly optimistic. The Sacramento Bee article, "Home Prices Rise in County", points out, "After five straight months of falling sales prices for Sacramento County homes, values edged up slightly in February, signaling a potential rebound for the regions most populated county."

DataQuick, the research firm that follows and reports the real estate numbers, indicated all four counties, Sacramento, Placer, El Dorado and Yolo, all saw increases in the median price for sold homes during February.

The sales volume was also up slightly from January to 1,743 homes sold in the area. Although this number is up from January it remains 26% lower than February 2005.

Inventory of homes on the market continued to grow. At the end of January there were 9,267 homes on the market. The number available in February increased to 9,870. A year ago there were only 3,554 homes to choose from. The average number of days on the market for homes sold in February was 58 days compared to last year when it took an average of 37 days to sell.

In some of the local areas, where I have been working recently, the median price increases from last year were almost all positive. El Dorado Hills median price in February increased to $606,500, up 9.3% from last year but down from January. In Rocklin, zip codes 95677 and 95765 we saw price appreciation of 34.4% and 7.9% respectively from last year and both areas were up from last month in terms of price and volume. The three zip codes in Roseville. 95661, 95678, and 95747 all had increases in the median price fro last year and from January. Sales volume was down double digits from 2005 and flat compared to January numbers. Granite Bay, zip code 95748, reported 11 sales, down from last year and January. The median price paid in February for a Granite Bay home was $730,000, down 3.2% from a year ago but up $20,000 from last month. For more detail, take a look at the chart by Zip Code produced monthly by the Sacramento Bee.

The January numbers were "to early to tell" how the 2006 real estate market in Sacramento would shape up and now we have February reports which are a bit more positive than we have seen for the past few months but still don't paint a very clear picture of what is going to happen this year. If it were just the numbers, I would say some of the local pundits are correct in predicting a "return to normal" after the last five years of double digit increases and bidding wars on anything with a for sale sign in the front yard. Based on my personal business and talking with collogues the past few weeks, the steam we started to feel building in mid January and early February has been dampened by the last three weeks of winter weather. The rain and cold seems to be keeping buyers inside or at least not driving from the bay area. Right now, I am not feeling as bold as I was last month when I made three positive predictions. Even though I was right about modest growth in the median price and increased sales volume, I was wrong in predicting a slight decrease in the inventory of homes for sale. With the prediction for more rain, I don't think we are going to see February as the start of a new positive trend for the year. I will predict, when the rain ends and warmer weather gets here, there should be a nice surge in activity as the buyers start getting out and looking again.

Julie Jalone is an experienced professional Realtor serving buyers and sellers of residential real estate in the Greater Sacramento area including Placer, El Dorado, Yolo and Yuba counties. Some of the communities served by Julie include Sacramento, Roseville, Rocklin, Lincoln and Granite Bay. To learn more about Julie, take a look at her website, jalone.com, where you will find additional articles, monthly market analysis and her daily blog, "Keep it Real in Sacramento."

About the Author

Julie Jalone is an experienced professional Realtor serving the need of buyers and sellers of residential real estate in the Greater Sacramento area including Placer, El Dorado, Yolo and Yuba counties. Some of the communities served by Julie include Sacramento, Roseville, Rocklin, Lincoln and Granite Bay. Julie is a wife and mother living in Rocklin. For more information see her website, www.jalone.com
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1.Bigger Profits – bigger profits are in bigger deals. Working in the average price range and above in your area is a good place to start. Big-time investors say go where the money is at 2 to 3 times your average area sale price and higher. There are more handyman investors chasing the smaller deals and actually driving up the prices therefore making minimal profits.

2.Locate the Property – These homes are available in almost every neighborhood. All over the country are foreclosure homes in every price range. There are million dollar foreclosures right here in Charlotte, NC. Work with a professional real estate agent be aggressive go after the bigger deals where there is less competition.

3.Making Offers – the process is the same in no matter what the price range you work. Determine after repair value, subtract repairs, subtract carrying costs, subtract your overhead, and subtract your profit (minimum $25,000) equals maximum offer. Offer something way less than that and then negotiate to somewhere under your maximum offer amount.

4.Financing –not very often are you going to get the same bank to finance a foreclosure deal. You can possibly get a bank to finance a construction loan if you can wade through all the paperwork, use your credit cards (old school) best are to keep on finding outside sources like hard money lenders, partners, private lenders, your self directed IRA, someone else’s self directed IRA or anyone of your contacts who wants to make 10% to 12% on a first mortgage secured by real estate.

5.Repairs/Renovation – speed and quality are what you need and are expecting from you workers. Hire or have on your team a group of excellent and competent contractors and suppliers. They may cost more but your savings in the 2 to 3 or 4 months in extra carrying cost after shoddy workmanship will off set the additional expense. Time is money, in this case big money.

6.Marketing/Selling – start selling before you close on the purchase. Advertise for sale by owner when the agreement for sale is signed by you and the seller. You may be able to turn over the property at a profit and let your buyer close with the seller without any expense on your part. What is the ROI of $10,000 with $0 investment? Begin your advertising as an “as is” price, increase your sale price as you have work scheduled and ordered. By waiting until the project is complete to start advertising will put you 3 to 4 months behind in the process.

Working where the money is, is the same process as working on cheap houses just by adding more zeros to the end of the check. You work in better neighborhoods your appliances and fixtures won’t get ripped off every weekend. There are more opportunities to sell in a place where people really want to live.
EzineArticles Expert Author Bill Carey

Bill Carey with over 30 years in real estate sales, investments, and home building offers a unique perspective to the buying and selling process of residential real estate for F*R*E*E consumer information and reports log on to http://www.CharlotteNCExecutiveHomes.com and see "Insider Real Estate Secrets Revealed" …a must-read for Home-Owners and Renters! It's a F*R*E*E 12-lesson e-course covering more than 20 topics exposing the realities behind buying and selling a home. It Could Make(or Save) You Thousands of Dollars

See http://www.BillCareyRealtor.com and sign up for our monthly e-newsletter with tips for buyers, sellers, home owners and soon to be home owners.

With the foreclosures going up there is good business to be made in the pre-foreclosure business. Watch out for this we will be adding more articles, information and book reviews on this one

Read this excellent article from Bloomberg by Mark Gilbert. According to real estat Gurus, the market can come crashing anytime. Think about the million dollar mansions and condos. Do your research and invest/sell your property in Aspen.

How about a tool that can give you the property value like a street map? Now the tool is here and I love it. It is http://www.zillow.com gives you an Zestimate. I did a test drive of the site with my bay area home and surprised to see that the valuation of the property and my neighbor’s house is close to reality.