Call Nathan: 916-969-7379
Specializing in the amazing homes of East Sacramento and surrounding neighborhoods

Good bye 2015, Hello 2016!

Good bye 2015, Hello 2016!

Posted by on Jan 21, 2016 in Just Sold, Ramblings | 0 comments

I just wanted to take moment and wish good bye to 2015. It was an amazing year. I was able to help my clients close on 29 homes. Best of all, more than 3 out of 4 of those transactions were referrals or past clients! I appreciate all of the referrals. It helps keep my face off billboards, bus benches and the traditional newspaper ads that so many other agents need to do. I try to keep this blog focused more on the events and happenings of East Sac instead of promoting my business but wanted to take a moment and thank everyone that helped make 2015 such a wonderful year for me. It doesn’t matter where my clients are or what price range, they will always get my million dollar service and smooth closing process. I look forward to a wonderful 2016 and I hope all of you have a great year too! –...

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Light Switch Locations in Old Homes

Light Switch Locations in Old Homes

Posted by on Oct 12, 2014 in Ramblings | 0 comments

I have no idea when it became common practice to put light switches in the places that make sense for the flow of traffic in a home, but it was obviously before my home was built in 1936. Since about 75% of my business is in East Sac, I help about 18-20 clients per year buy or sell a home in East Sac and I see a lot of older homes. Very often, the location of the light switches don’t make sense for the flow of traffic into or out of the room. Let’s take my home as an example. When we bought this home last year, there wasn’t a light in the living room, you had to walk through the dining room to turn the dining room light on and you had to walk through the breakfast nook, the kitchen and into the laundry room to turn the kitchen light on. The light switch for the central hallways was at the far end of the hallway, so by the time you got to the point where you could turn the light on, you were already leaving the hallway. While it might have been easier to wire it this way 80 years ago, living with it for the past year and a half and knowing that we planned on living there for the rest of our lives, I had to fix this. Paying an electrician to work with the old knob and tube wiring wasn’t something that I wanted to do. Fortunately, when I hired a great electrician, Karen Viciguerra, to install a ceiling fan with a remote controlled light in the living room last year, she told me about wireless light switches. I looked for them at the time, but didn’t find any in HomeDepot or Lowes. Since I had 100 other items on my To Do List for home projects, this one fell to the bottom of the list when it wasn’t easy to find whatever she was talking about. When my wife and I were at Lofings Lighting at 2121 J Street a couple months ago, I saw a display for wireless lights and asked Joan Gilly, the wonderful sales associate that was helping us. She went through all the details of what we would need and hooked us up. The process was very simple and if you can change a light switch (turn off power, remove a few screws and wires and put them onto the new switch and put it all back together), then you can do this easy project. All it takes is replacing an existing switch with the Lutron Maestro Wireless switch and then putting the wireless remote switch somewhere that makes sense. The first set took me a little less than an hour to do since I actually read the directions in full. Each additional switch only took me about 30...

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Knob and Tube Wiring and Appliances

Knob and Tube Wiring and Appliances

Posted by on Jun 15, 2014 in Ramblings | 0 comments

I am getting very close to helping a neighbor buy a house that I once lived in when I first moved back to California. It is a great older home in East Sac, on one of the friendliest blocks you could ever want. The lender called me with the concern from the insurance company that the house still has knob and tube wiring. The lenders concern was that modern appliances shouldn’t be run on knob and tube wiring and they wanted to know if the whole house is knob and tube. I looked at the inspection report and the pictures of the electrical panel all opened up by the inspector. Sure enough, there is plenty of new wiring connectors in there. Looking at the pictures in the crawl space there is a mix of knob and tube as well as new wiring. When I asked my favorite home inspector what he remembered of this job from two weeks ago and if the wiring was updated for the appliances, he made a comment about the fact that most appliances weren’t around when knob and tube wiring was around. This got me thinking and I did a bit of digging on the internet. Apparently knob and tube wiring was popular from the 1880’s through the 1930’s and into the early 1940’s. The next search turned up that the first hand powered dishwasher was invented in 1887 but the first domestic dishwasher didn’t come about until 1926 and they didn’t gain main stream use until the 1950’s. The first clothes washing machine goes back to 1752 and the first electric one was advertised in 1904. Demand for the electric washing machine really started picking up in the 1940’s and by the 50’s they were very popular. Electric stoves were first patented in 1892 but were just a novelty until after the 1930’s since electricity prices were so high and other fuel was more affordable. While there is some overlap of the use of knob and tube wiring and some of our main electrical appliance, the majority of American homes probably never had knob and tube wiring run to these appliances. What did I learn from this hour long trip down the historical rabbit hole of wiring and appliance? That I’m very lucky to have been born when I was and to have always lived with these great luxuries! Sure, when I was a kid we didn’t have cell phones and console games were things like Pong and Tank. Kids these days have no idea how good they have it, but then again, neither did I when I was their age (but I didn’t have the internet to look up how good I had...

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St. Jude Fundraiser

St. Jude Fundraiser

Posted by on Mar 30, 2014 in Events, Ramblings, Volunteer | 1 comment

My wife and I are going to be hosting a block party BBQ and fundraiser. While I can’t make the invitation open to everyone who reads my blog, I wanted to share what we are doing and hopefully inspire others to connect with their neighbors and/or give to a good cause.  This fundraiser is in honor of our next door neighbor, Mike Keating, who lost the battle against cancer on February 8, 2014. While he was an East Sac resident living on the same block for over 35 years, we only knew him for the 9 months that we lived next door to him. In that time he touched our lives deeply. We will miss him and he will be in our hearts forever more.  He loved kids so we thought St. Jude’s would be a wonderful organization to do a fundraiser in his honor. St. Jude’s focuses on treatments for childhood cancer and other catastrophic diseases. You can learn more about them at www.stjude.org. If you had the honor of knowing Mike or ever enjoyed a Murder Burger in Davis (he was an owner at one time) and would like to make a donation in his name or if you just want to give to a great cause, you can do so at www.stjudeevents.org/sherman. As the weather turns to spring and everyone starts to get outside more, I encourage you to get to know your neighbors, pull the BBQ into the front yard, share some wine and beer and hang out with the amazing people that make up our community. Then make a habit of...

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How is the Market Doing?

How is the Market Doing?

Posted by on Dec 8, 2013 in Comps, Ramblings | 0 comments

I’m often asked how the market is doing. While each neighborhood has its own microeconomics that affects it, these are the numbers for the greater Sacramento area and it should give you a good idea of where the market is. Back in August of 2005 the Median Selling price was way up at $392,750 and then it went all the way back down to $160,000 by January 2012. (Click on the Chart to Enlarge It) During the height of the market we saw 2,325 escrows close in the month of June 2004 and at the slowest point we only had 707 close during September 2007. Now we are back to a much more reasonable level of transactions per month. (Click on the Chart to Enlarge It) 2002 and 2003 inventory was low and the prices increased greatly. In 2006 prices started falling and inventory rose to record levels in 2007. By the end of 2011 inventory has dropped to a very low level and by 2013 to historically low levels. This combined with relatively low prices and very low interest rates has made it a competitive market… (Click on the Chart to Enlarge It) (August 2007 and again in January 2010 SAR adjusted to better reflect short sales and bank owned properties on the market). The Months of Inventory is a reflection of how many houses are for sale and how many are being purchased each month and how long would it take for them all to sell at the current rate. Not surprisingly, the lowest Month of Inventory had been April 2003 and the highest was September 2007. 4 months of inventory is a balanced level with numbers lower than that being considered a sellers market and anything above that being a buyers market. We have been in a new historical low since early 2012! (Click on the Chart to Enlarge It)  So what does all of this mean? It means that the market was at a crazy low inventory for over a year, interest rates were at a historical low level and demand finally came back when everyone realized that the bottom of the market had passed. Prices have come up off the bottom, the frenzy has calmed and the years of pent up demand is somewhat satisfied. Sellers can’t assume a quick sale and a higher price than their neighbor just got. Buyers aren’t going up agains multiple offers on every property and agents are able to breath a little easier as we return to a more “normal” supply and demand. The market has changed, again. Who knows what winter and spring will bring, but I can tell you I’m happy that I don’t have to give my buyers the “multiple offer competition is the norm” prep talk at the start of a search. Now I have to give my sellers the “don’t expect your home to sell in two weeks” prep...

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How NOT to stage your home for sale!

How NOT to stage your home for sale!

Posted by on Jun 10, 2013 in Ramblings | 0 comments

OK, I toured a great house today. It is in a good location, it has been well updated, I even liked the layout and the landscaping. Even the price is right, so it has so much going for it. Some of the art in the house was very cool and some of it was rather odd. There was a couple pieces of art that were a little bit distracting, but there was one that just made me stop in my tracks.  This sums up the “How NOT to Stage Your Home”. Don’t have art that might put a buyer off or art that is so distracting so the clients remember the art instead of the house, and remember to put the toilet seat lid down, especially if it looks like...

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