As a real estate professional I work with many buyers and sellers every year and often hear stories about the seemingly small mistakes of past real estate transactions that ended up costing aggravation and more importantly money. In the spirit of prevention I offer this special report to those of you who are not my client yet and hope you will find it informative and help you to see that I am concerned that your transaction goes as smoothly as possible.

1. The Wrong Price

A surefire way to get less than the fair market value for your home is to overprice it in the beginning. It sounds contradictory, but it is true. There are several reasons for this. First, if you home is more expensive than the similar homes in the neighborhood, fewer buyers will choose to even look at it. Why would they waste their time? And the buyers that do decide to look at your home will likely use it for comparison to justify their decision to purchase a different home.  “See? A similar home but a lot more expensive. We should get the one we saw yesterday – it’ a bargain compared to this one.”  Additionally, the longer your homes remains unsold, the less interest it will generate among buyers. Eventually, when it’s been on the market longer than the other similar homes, buyers will start to think that there is something wrong with it.  You are then forced to face the real possibility of being forced to sell it for less than its real value. So the lesson is to be sure your home is priced correctly from the beginning saving time, aggravation and money.

Overpricing is not the only pitfall that sellers fall into, some even underprice their homes. How do you know your home’s real value…by getting a professional Comparative Market Analysis (CMA). A CMA will show you what similar homes in your area are selling for and how long it takes to sell them. You will be able to see the range of values that your home falls into and then determine an accurate asking price. I offer CMAs for homeowners free of charge. Just give me a call or send a request via email and I’ll prepare it for you at no cost or obligation.

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Great Lifestyle and Amenities

The name Rocklin translates to “rock pool” which is a very accurate term used to describe this area as granite outcroppings seem to dominate the landscape. Rocklin CA got it’s humble start as a quarry town and as is typical of small towns the local streets are named after the town fathers who settled here and got things rolling. Most of the city sits on the very land that George Whitney owned (Whitney Oaks Golf Course) and passed to his heirs. The Rocklin History Museum offers lots of interesting facts about this area and it’s worth the read especially if you are interested in Native American History and the Transcontinental Railroad.

Rocklin is home to Sierra College which is nestled in the Sierra foothills and has a solid reputation preparing students to continue at the university level  offering three campus’ stretching from Rocklin to Lake Tahoe. On the weekends the college hosts a used car sales lot which I have found to be handy for selling and buying used vehicles, both land & water. There also is a private college, William Jessup University, that just opened and is located at Hwy 65 & Sunset.

Recreational activities in Rocklin range from baseball to rock climbing and the park & rec offers leagues for children and adults in addition to the local sports stores and athletic clubs. The hills prove an acceptable challenge for bicycle clubs and the Quarry Classic is a must see for soccer fans. Sunset Whitney County Club has been a fixture here since the 1964 and is a private country club offering golf, swimming and the usual amenities and currently open to the public for golf.

West Rocklin borders Hwy 65 and the hills are covered with homes as far as you can see offering the complete suburban lifestyle. East Rocklin borders Loomis and Granite Bay along Sierra College Blvd and is home to more rural living on larger acreages and close proximity to Folsom Lake. There are farm stands selling local produce and orchards growing everything from olives to persimmons. Variety in lifestyle is the constant in this community and Rocklin is ever changing to meet the needs of the community.