I had a picnic at Folsom Lake on Sunday. Who would believe we’re still having sunny days to enjoy our beautiful lake. We walked in at the levee entrance at Sophia Parkway and GreenValley Road in El Dorado Hills and found we weren’t the only ones with the same idea. Boaters, families, individuals with dogs, Whipperwils, Seagulls, Geese and a lone Loon populated the lake. Hikers, Cyclists, Equestrians, and nature enthusiasts alike enjoy the many trails. One of the popular trails leads to Brown’s Ravine in Folsom Lake State Recreation Area that is home to the Folsom Lake Yacht Club and Folsom lake Marina, also located on Green Valley Road in El Dorado Hills. Although only the brave would g

HGTV's home remodeling show "Bang For Your Buck" is coming to Sacramento for the first time. And if you're a homeowner who's recently renovated your master suite or an outgoing Realtor who'd like to appear on the show, a TV production company wants to talk to you. High Noon Entertainment is searching for three homeowners who've had their master bedrooms and bathrooms overhauled within the last three years. Applicants must send photos, renovation costs and applications by March 11. Executives with HGTV and High Noon Entertainment decided to take the show to Sacramento after all the attention the city and the region have been getting lately. Some of that attention has come from local effo

Sacramento developers Ken Fahn and Mark Cordano are searching for tenants after buying the shuttered Philipp's Bakery Monday. Fahn and Cordano are looking for one to three businesses to lease space at the historic East Sacramento building, which operated as a bakery-cafe for about 80 years. "Mark and I are both native Sacramentans and are very much into design and preservation," Fahn said. "We love older buildings. It's a beautiful building. It's a terrific location." The 3,256-square-foot building was last listed at $699,000. Fahn didn't want to comment on the purchase price. The building closed escrow Monday after being on the market for at least three years. The sale proved difficul

Hello- Recently I was watching the movie Burlesque starring Christina Aguilera and Cher and a legal issue was raised that piqued my curiosity. In the movie (spoiler alert!) Cher and Xtina are able to save the burlesque club from foreclosure by selling a nearby developer the "air rights" over the club so that the view for the developer's skyscraper will remain unimpeded. Is there such a thing as "air rights" for the space above a building and can one purchase them, or is this just an example of "movie magic"? Thanks, Becky A: Believe it or not, “air rights” are for real, and the deal you describe is entirely plausible. The owner of land generally owns not just a particular bit of the sur

Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate moved into the Sacramento region’s residential real estate market last week when Pleasanton, Calif.,-based Mason-McDuffie partnered with the company. Better Homes and Gardens Mason-McDuffie Real Estate’s (formerly Prudential California Realty) brand switch brings a broad array of comprehensive real estate services to residents in Sacramento, El Dorado and Placer counties. “Better Homes and Gardens Mason-McDuffie Real Estate’s emphasis on being a lifestyle real estate brand means that we now provide consumers in Northern California with all of the real estate-related services they need, from brokerage representation for homebuyers and sellers to consume

Quick Update Workers are back on the job at the Tapestri Square brownstone-style homes at  2002 T Street. 58 single-family brownstone-style homes will retain the neighborhood’s historic charm and style while catering to an upscale buyer. They range from 1,300 to 2,800 square feet, starting from the high $300,000's. A donation to the Sacramento Children's Home will be made on behalf of Tapestri Square for each home sold. email info@tapestrisquare.com tapestrisquare.com SacPress Photos | Kati Garner

Welcome to my new column. I have been a Real Estate Broker and brokerage owner for six years in Midtown and now in East Sacramento. For the past three years I have primarily sold foreclosures for banks and institutions. Before I became a Real Estate Broker I “flipped” older distressed homes in the greater downtown Sacramento area. I am a member of four professional associations and attend several conferences and workshops a year where I have direct contact with the real estate industry’s leaders and experts. This insight helps me greatly with the understanding of real estate’s future. As most people are well aware the real estate market is not going to recover soon and the foreclosure ma

Voyage Home Loans and Angelwish, an international non-profit organization that empowers busy people to grant the wishes of children infected and/or affected with HIV/AIDS, have partnered to sponsor a giving spree to benefit Angelwish kids.   The giving spree will take place at the G. Willikers Toy Emporium at 8:00 AM on Saturday, March 6. Local Sacramento children will be purchasing $3,200 worth of toys, books, games, and other gifts for the Angelwish children and their families. The event was made possible through the generous contributions of Voyage employees, whose donations were matched by the company.   "Angelwish is thrilled to be working with the employees of Voyage in engaging

 *   You have likely heard the old joke that lab rats are being replaced by lawyers because the lab workers do not get emotionally attached to lawyers.  Or the one about a thousand lawyers being chained together at the bottom of the ocean being a “good start”.  As these jokes (and the hundreds of others) show, lawyers have a bad reputation.  Personally, I have never had the need for one and only know a few, and I have worked pretty hard at maintaining the status quo on both of those points.  It seemed to me that lawyers are for people who live near secret toxic waste dumpsites.  Recently, my work helping small businesses with marketing led me to a local Law Firm and Real Estate company

Sacramento's office space market will continue to favor tenants as vacancy rates increase and businesses consolidate existing office space. That combination is allowing prospective tenants to negotiate deals that may not have been possible before the economic downturn. According to Reid Boggiano of Sacramento Tenant Advisors, companies looking for class B or C office space will be able to get deals and allowances that weren't possible during the economic boom. "It hasn’t been this much of a tenant’s market in Sacramento for a good many years," said Boggiano. "Right now we are negotiating rent reductions and generous tenant improvement allowances that we wouldn't have imagined only a few

Walk through some of the region's newest neighborhoods and you'll discover hundreds upon hundreds of houses lying empty. Their owners, victims of foreclosure, have long since moved on. While only some of those are currently on the market, you'll find it next to impossible to come upon a foreclosed home for sale in Sacramento's central city. That's because there's currently only one. The desirability of living in the grid and of its housing stock have kept prices fairly stable and made the area nearly immune to the foreclosure crisis, unlike outlying areas of the city and fast-growing suburbs like Natomas and Elk Grove, according to local real estate agents. "Downtown has held its value,

Special to Sacramento Press By Dena Kouremetis It may seem like an anomaly, but it really comes as no surprise to REO expert and Re/Max agent Ray Ponce.  Housing in Sacramento’s ‘grid’ – surrounded by freeways in all directions, has simply not become a casualty of foreclosure crisis. “It’s just a matter of supply and demand,” says Ponce. “There has always been, and will continue to be a demand for housing in this area.  Most of the homes in this area were built during the 30’s, 40’s and 50’s during a period of time when quality of craftsmanship and individual style were important for homeowners.  These homes are built well and possess charm and character that today’s modern homes simply

Unemployment figures that we hear, as bad as they are, are not the entire picture of todays unemployment. Tens of thousands of people have lost their (self employment) jobs within the real estate and finance fields within the last year alone. Real estate fosters many different self employment opportunities.  When the markets were good, the California Association of Realtors held their tests in locations that would hold thousands of applicants at a time. Tests were given monthly and often times several times a month.  Within the field of real estate alone, you have Appraisers, Loan Officers, Home Inspectors, Realtors, and Notories.  In addition to real estate, the financial markets also hav

 Shared Office Space Equals Greater Networking Potential As the definition of work has changed, so has the destination. Entrepreneurs not content to serve a sentence isolated at home or ready to take on the overhead of an office staff are joining forces in new coworking spaces where they can network with other creative types while sharing resources. The growing trend is visible at 3rdward in New York City where desk space starts at $300 per month with access to a digital media lab, wood shop and dance studio. It also pops it’s well-groomed head up at Conjunctured in Austin, Texas, where a team of four technologists share space and ideas with creative entrepreneurs in a remodeled old house