For the first time in a long while, Sacramento price metrics came in higher than a year ago. Before anyone pops champagne or panics about a new run-up, the fine print matters — and this month the fine print is most of the story.

Key Numbers This Month

• Median sale price (Sacramento city): roughly $500,000–$550,000 depending on the source and month you look at — Redfin's Sacramento data has run near the low end of that range this spring. Regional medians sit higher.
• Mortgage rates: the 30-year fixed averaged 6.49% in Freddie Mac's weekly survey as of July 9 — stuck in a narrow 6.4–6.5% band since mid-May, and notably below the 6.72% from this week last year.
• Days on market: low 40s for the city per Redfin, a bit slower than last year's high 30s — though this varies enormously by price point and condition.
• Sales volume: roughly flat compared to last year, with more homes selling above their original list price than at this time in 2025.

What's Happening With Prices

Prices are technically up year over year. Ryan Lundquist's June recap explains why that "technically" is doing heavy lifting: the 2025 market peaked unusually early, so this summer's stats are being compared against a dull stretch of last year. Same house, friendlier yardstick.

The honest read is that price declines have been compressing for months — things stopped getting more negative, and now the line has poked above zero. That's stabilization, not liftoff. One month of positive year-over-year data after an easy comparison isn't a trend, and we'd caution both buyers and sellers against building a strategy on it.

Inventory & Days on Market

The quieter story is supply. Active listings have been shrinking lately — partly because pending sales firmed up, and partly because would-be sellers are pulling back or holding off. Fewer fresh choices is what most of our buyers are actually feeling, whatever the headlines say. (Months of supply — how long it would take to sell everything currently listed at the current pace — remains in the high-2s to around 3, which historically leans mildly toward sellers.)

At the same time, homes that are overpriced or dated are sitting well past the average, while clean, well-priced listings keep moving in days. We wrote about the condition gap recently, and it has only widened: this is a market that pays for move-in-ready and punishes wishful pricing. Distress, for the record, remains minor — see our honest look at Sacramento's distress numbers if the doom videos have reached your feed.

What This Means for Buyers

Rates near 6.5% are lower than a year ago, and sellers of slow-moving listings are negotiable — that's your leverage. But don't expect bargain-bin conditions on the good stuff: with listings tightening and more homes selling above original list, the well-priced, move-in-ready home still draws a crowd, especially under $500,000. Get fully pre-approved, decide your payment ceiling before you fall in love with something, and treat stale listings as your negotiation pool.

What This Means for Sellers

The year-over-year headline is finally on your side, and thinning competition helps. Use that honestly: price to today's comps — not to the "prices are up!" narrative — and put real effort into condition and presentation, because that's where 2026 buyers are paying premiums. If your home checks the boxes, you may be pleasantly surprised; if it needs work, price for it up front rather than chasing the market down with reductions. Start with a real number, not a portal estimate: get a free home valuation.

Neighborhood Spotlight: Citrus Heights

Entry-level is where this market's tension is sharpest, and Citrus Heights is its poster child. It has the region's highest FHA share among the areas Lundquist tracks — 17.9% of sales since 2022 — which tells you first-time buyers are competing hard here. Well-priced homes in the $375,000–$525,000 band see some of the fastest action in the region, while anything overpriced sits just like everywhere else. If you're weighing an entry-level purchase, our Citrus Heights guide covers the neighborhoods, schools, and trade-offs in depth.

The Bottom Line

A stabilizing market with a misleading headline: prices barely above a soft 2025 baseline, rates parked in the mid-6s, supply quietly tightening, and a wide gap between homes that show well and homes that don't. Boring, honestly — and boring markets reward preparation over timing. For the region-wide data we lean on every month, read the Sacramento Appraisal Blog; for what it means on your street, that's our job.

Want the specifics for your neighborhood or price range? Search Sacramento homes for sale, get a free home valuation, or ask us for a personalized market report.

Or call us directly: (916) 739-2424

The Peter Parker Team | DRE# 01257844 | eXp Realty DRE# 01878277
Market data is approximate as of mid-July 2026, drawn from the Sacramento Appraisal Blog, Freddie Mac, and Redfin. Conditions and rates change frequently; verify current figures before making a decision. This is general information, not financial or legal advice.

Short sales in the Sacramento region are up 31% this year. Here's the same fact stated another way: there were twelve more of them than last year. Both versions are true. Only one of them makes a scary headline.

That pairing comes from Ryan Lundquist at the Sacramento Appraisal Blog, in his July post on underwater mortgages, delinquencies, and short sales — titled, with a dad joke he immediately apologizes for, "You can't do a short sale if you're tall." Behind the pun is some of the most careful distress data anyone publishes on this region, and his one-line summary is the right frame: we don't have "a distressed market," but "we're seeing more distress." From the agent's side of the table, we'd co-sign that — and add some street-level context the regional numbers can't show.

What the Distress Data Actually Shows

Three findings from Lundquist's distress breakdown stand out:

• About 0.8% of Sacramento-area mortgages are underwater — meaning the home is worth less than what's owed — per the ICE Mortgage Technology data he cites. That's below the national figure of roughly 1.5%, though it has grown from 0.5% in April 2025. Most of the growth traces to homes bought after 2022, which makes sense: buy near the price peak with a small down payment, watch prices go flat, and there's not much cushion left.
• Delinquencies, foreclosures, and short sales are all rising — from pandemic-era lows. Those lows were never going to hold. Forbearance programs and 20%-a-year appreciation made distress nearly impossible for a stretch, so some normalization was always coming.
• There still aren't many distressed sales to actually buy. Anyone waiting for a flood of cheap foreclosures is getting a trickle, and the low-priced fixers that do hit the market draw a crowd.

The Percentage Trap

The most useful part of the post has nothing to do with real estate mechanics — it's a lesson in reading statistics. Lundquist points out you could honestly report that Sacramento short sales grew "over 1,500%" since 2022. You could also honestly report the 31% year-over-year jump. Both figures describe a change of a few dozen transactions in a region where Roseville alone has closed more than 8,300 single-family homes since 2022.

His advice to people in the industry is to report the percentage and the raw count together, and to be wary of anyone who inflames "sensational percentages based on tiny numbers" — those people, as he puts it, are likely spinning a narrative. Our version of that advice for buyers and sellers: whenever a housing statistic scares you, ask what the raw number is. If a video says short sales exploded and the raw number is twelve, you've learned more about the video than the market.

Where FHA Concentration Matters — and Where It Doesn't

The section we found most useful as agents covers FHA loans. Nationally, FHA borrowers are more delinquent than other loan types. Locally, FHA has been about 10% of the market — but it isn't spread evenly. Sacramento County accounts for roughly 72% of the region's FHA purchase volume since 2022, and in some Sacramento County neighborhoods FHA is over 30% of transactions.

Lundquist adds a sharp caveat about raw counts here too: Roseville ranks near the top for FHA purchases by volume, but only because Roseville closes a lot of everything — FHA is just 6.2% of its sales, versus 17.9% in Citrus Heights.

Here's what we'd add from working these streets. The FHA-heavy, entry-level areas — think Citrus Heights, Rancho Cordova, Rosemont — hold two truths at once. Yes, they have the deepest pool of recent low-down-payment buyers, so if the economy softens, payment stress will concentrate there first. But they also have the strongest first-time-buyer demand in the region: a well-priced, move-in-ready home under $500,000 can still draw multiple offers. Distress and demand are concentrated on the same blocks. If more short sales do materialize, they'll likely show up in these areas — and get met by waiting buyers. That's a shock absorber, and it's one of several reasons this doesn't rhyme with 2008.

If You're Hoping to Score a Cheap Foreclosure

Reset your expectations. The foreclosure wave has been predicted every year since rates jumped, and the actual distressed inventory remains thin. Meanwhile, the low-priced fixer you're picturing is the most-watched listing type in the region.

What works better in this market: hunting listings that have sat a few weeks and gone stale, negotiating repairs and credits during inspection, and shopping the pockets where sellers have lost leverage. If a genuine short sale or REO does fit your search, fine — just know it comes with longer timelines and lender approval, and it's rarely the bargain the listing price implies. Search Sacramento homes for sale and we'll flag the realistic opportunities, whatever their label.

If You're the One Carrying the Weight

Lundquist closes with a reminder we want to echo: these statistics represent people, and his ask of the industry is to know what people are going through and be available to help. So here's the practical version, if your payment has started slipping:

• Call your servicer early. Forbearance and loan modification options exist, and they work better before you're months behind.
• Use the free help. A HUD-approved housing counselor costs nothing, and the CFPB's help-for-homeowners hub lays out your options in plain language.
• Find out what your home is actually worth. With only about 0.8% of local mortgages underwater, most owners who feel stuck still have equity — which means a normal sale, at a decent price, may be on the table. Get a real valuation of your home before assuming the worst.
• If you truly owe more than the home is worth, a short sale is a real option, and Peter has guided clients through them. The single biggest factor in how these turn out is how early the conversation starts — so talk to us early, even if you're not sure yet what you want to do.

This is general information, not legal or financial advice; for a distressed situation, loop in a qualified professional.

The Bottom Line

More distress, but a long way from a distressed market: underwater mortgages under 1% locally, short sales measured in dozens, and entry-level demand still strong enough to absorb what does surface. That's a trend worth watching — Lundquist says he expects more short sales ahead given flat prices, and we agree — without being a reason to panic-sell or to camp out waiting for foreclosure bargains. Read the Sacramento Appraisal Blog yourself; it's the most honest data work in this region, and this post is a model for how to talk about uncomfortable numbers without spin.

Want a straight answer about your block, your equity, or your options? Search Sacramento homes for sale, get a real valuation of your home, or contact us.

Or call us directly: (916) 739-2424

The Peter Parker Team | DRE# 01257844 | eXp Realty DRE# 01878277
Market data referenced from the Sacramento Appraisal Blog (July 2, 2026) and is approximate as of mid-2026. Market conditions change frequently; verify current figures before making a decision. This is general information, not financial or legal advice.

Picture two houses on the same street. Same floor plan, same lot, same year built. One was remodeled three years ago; the other still has its original kitchen and the carpet to match. Not long ago, those two homes sold within a few thousand dollars of each other — buyers were competing for anything with a roof, and condition got lost in the scramble. In 2026, that spread has stretched into real money. The distance between the updated home and the dated one is the thing a lot of Sacramento buyers and sellers still aren't pricing in.

Ryan Lundquist, the appraiser behind the Sacramento Appraisal Blog, put numbers behind that gut feeling in a late-June post asking whether appraisers are giving bigger condition adjustments in 2026. His answer, from the appraisal side of the desk, was yes. We read his work every month, and this one lines up cleanly with what we're seeing in offers and counteroffers across the region.

What an Appraiser Is Actually Seeing

Lundquist says he finds himself "making bigger adjustments for condition right now." The important nuance — and he's careful about it — is that this isn't an appraiser deciding to change the rules. It's the appraisal following the market. In his words, the "price disparity between a pristine home and a dated one could be larger today than it was in the past."

The reason is affordability. His line is worth sitting with: "lack of affordability has bred hypersensitivity among buyers about condition, location, and price." Back in 2021, he notes, buyers were "much more forgiving about defects" because they were desperate and outbidding each other on everything. Today they're "patient instead of desperate." When someone is already stretching to make the monthly payment work, they have zero appetite to also pour $60,000 into a kitchen the month after they get the keys.

You can see both ends of it in the Land Park data he cites. Pristine homes are commanding premiums — he points to a home listed around $1.35 million that reportedly drew six offers and sold near $1.5 million — while well-priced fixers under $400,000 still pull multiple offers, because buyers will happily compete for a project if the price honestly reflects the work. The homes that sit are the dated ones priced as though they've already been updated.

Why the Gap Got Wider

The frenzy hid condition. When every listing sells in a weekend, the tired house and the turnkey house both close, and the price difference between them compresses. A slower, payment-sensitive market does the opposite. It rewards move-in-ready and punishes deferred maintenance, because the buyer paying today's rate wants to spend their cash on the down payment, not on a contractor.

That's why condition adjustments grow and shrink with the market, as Lundquist puts it. Right now they're growing. This is the same market we described when we wrote that shrinking supply, not rates, is the 2026 story — fewer homes, choosier buyers, and a premium on the ones that don't need work.

If You're Selling: Condition Pays Again — But Don't Over-Improve

Here's the part an appraiser's post doesn't get into: what to actually do about it. A widening condition gap means targeted prep work pays off again the way it didn't have to during the frenzy. The trick is spending on the right things.

• Hit the visible, broad-appeal updates first. Fresh interior paint in current neutrals, updated flooring, and a light kitchen and bath refresh — counters, hardware, lighting, not a gut remodel — do the most per dollar. National Cost vs. Value report data has long shown exterior and curb-appeal projects recouping the most; treat that as a pattern to verify for your home, not a guarantee.
• Fix what scares buyers and appraisers. A failing roof, an old HVAC system, dry rot, a leaking water heater. Deferred maintenance reads as risk, and risk shows up as a condition adjustment that comes straight out of your price.
• Don't out-build the block. The most expensive home on the street rarely earns its money back. Match the neighborhood's standard; don't lap it.
• Document everything you've done. Hand your agent — and the appraiser — a dated list of improvements. Appraisers credit what they can see and verify, so make your home's condition easy to give you credit for.
• Then price to condition. An updated home can ask the premium. A dated home priced like an updated one is the listing that sits and goes stale.

If You're Buying: The Home That's Been Sitting Is Your Leverage

The flip side of a wider condition gap is opportunity, and most buyers walk right past it.

• Above the entry tier, the lingering dated home is where you negotiate. Most buyers self-select out of anything that needs work, which thins your competition exactly where you want it thin.
• Know the exception Lundquist flags. Under $400,000, fixers still draw crowds. In value areas like Rancho Cordova or Citrus Heights, a livable project priced right can still see multiple offers. The real leverage on condition shows up in the move-up brackets, not the entry tier.
• Buy condition, not location. You can paint, re-floor, and remodel a house. You can't move it into a better school zone or off a busy street. A cosmetically dated home in a strong, supply-tight area like Folsom or Fair Oaks is often the smartest dollar on the market.
• Get real bids before you waive anything. "Needs updating" can mean $15,000 or $90,000, and the difference decides whether the deal is a steal or a trap.

The Appraisal Angle Most People Miss

This is where our side of the table and the appraiser's quietly connect: condition adjustments cut both ways at appraisal time, and that affects your strategy before you ever write an offer.

If you're buying the one pristine home in a neighborhood full of dated comps, the appraisal can come in below your offer — there may simply not be enough updated sales to support the premium you paid. Build that conversation into your offer strategy up front, not after the appraisal lands. If you're selling an updated home surrounded by dated sales, those comps can drag your appraisal down, which is exactly why that improvement list isn't just marketing — it's ammunition for the appraiser.

A home valuation grounded in your block and your home's real condition catches this. A generic online estimate that's never seen your kitchen does not.

The Bottom Line

Lundquist's message to his fellow appraisers was that the numbers follow real buyer behavior, and right now buyers are voting hard for condition. The translation for the rest of us is simple: condition is worth money in Sacramento again — worth spending on before you list, and worth hunting for when you buy. How wide the gap runs depends on your price range and your neighborhood, and that's the conversation we like to have.

For the regional data behind all of this, Lundquist's read on condition is worth your time — it's some of the most honest market analysis in the region, and we're glad to build the buyer-and-seller playbook on top of it.

Trying to decide whether to update before you sell, or whether that dated listing is the deal it looks like? Search Sacramento homes for sale, get a home valuation, or contact us.

Or call us directly: (916) 739-2424

The Peter Parker Team | DRE# 01257844 | eXp Realty DRE# 01878277
Market analysis referenced from the Sacramento Appraisal Blog (June 23, 2026) and is approximate as of mid-2026. Remodel-return figures cited are national and vary by home and market. Conditions and appraisal outcomes vary by property — verify your specifics before deciding. This is general information, not financial, appraisal, or legal advice.

This week the Sacramento real estate corner of the internet got briefly distracted by a private island. A 5.6-acre spot out in the Delta listed for $39,000 — less than a used car — and the appraiser Ryan Lundquist used it to open a post this week — yes, partly about buying a private island. It's a fun hook. But buried under the helicopter-pad jokes were the two most useful things anyone has said about the Sacramento market this month, and we want to pull both into the open.

The first: yes, home prices are higher than they were a year ago — and no, that doesn't mean what it sounds like. The second, from the island itself: a property's value hinges almost entirely on what you're allowed to do with it. Both matter if you're buying or selling here right now.

Yes, Prices Are Up Year-Over-Year. No, It's Not a Comeback.

If you only read the headline number, 2026 looks like a rebound: most year-over-year price readings in the region are now running higher than mid-2025. Easy story to tell. It's also mostly an illusion, and it's worth understanding why before you make a six-figure decision around it.

Here's Lundquist's point about the year-over-year comparison: the 2025 market peaked early and then slid for much of the year. So when you compare this spring to that one, you're measuring against a weak stretch — the "up from last year" gain is partly just last year being soft, not this year being strong. As he put it, "I wouldn't get too hyped over this." Expect the next few months to show even bigger year-over-year gains for the same reason: summer 2025 was dull, so almost anything clears that bar.

That lines up with what we see at the offer table and with the broader regional data. The Sacramento-area median has been running in the mid-$500,000s and is best described as roughly flat to slightly up — stable, not surging. (Those figures are approximate and move; we cite ranges, not a single stale number.) This is the same theme we wrote about recently in why shrinking supply, not mortgage rates, is the real 2026 story: the market is steadier than the doom takes and cooler than the boom takes. Both at once.

What's Actually Happening Underneath

Strip out the year-over-year noise and the current picture is pretty consistent:

• Sales volume is roughly flat versus a year ago — buyers are active, not frenzied.
• Inventory has tightened a little across most of the region — fewer homes to choose from.
• More homes are selling above their original list price than a few months ago — competition has ticked up, especially on well-priced, move-in-ready homes.

Put those together and you get a market that's modestly competitive, not a free-for-all. The well-priced house in good condition still draws attention; the overpriced one still sits. That gap is the whole story right now.

One more honest caveat, and it's a big one: the regional number hides enormous block-by-block variation. "The region is up a bit" tells you nothing about your street. A prewar home in Land Park behaves nothing like a 1970s ranch in Rosemont, and they're both "Sacramento." Lundquist himself is moving to quarterly reporting for the smaller counties precisely because the monthly numbers there bounce around too much to trust. The lesson for a buyer or seller: a metro-wide median is a starting point, never the answer for your specific home.

The Island's Real Lesson: Value Hinges on What Zoning Allows

Now the part that has nothing to do with islands and everything to do with your next purchase. The reason a 5.6-acre island can list for $39,000 is that you can't really do much with it — the value, as Lundquist put it, "hinges on what zoning allows (or will allow maybe)." That's not a Delta quirk. It's the single most underrated factor in real estate value, and it shows up constantly in Sacramento deals:

• ADUs. A lot that can legally fit an accessory dwelling unit — a granny flat, a rentable casita — is worth more than an identical lot that can't, sometimes by a lot. California and Sacramento have made ADUs far easier in recent years, but the specifics still come down to your parcel.
• Lot splits (SB 9). Some single-family lots can now be split or add a second unit; many can't, depending on size, location, and overlays. That possibility is real money — or a dead end.
• Fixers and "potential." A listing that whispers "bring your vision" is only worth it if the vision is permittable. The addition, the second story, the converted garage — value only exists if the city or county will sign off.
• Rural and agricultural parcels out toward Wilton, Sloughhouse, or the county fringe, where zoning (and well/septic and Williamson Act status) determines almost everything.

Here's the practical rule we give every client chasing "potential": verify the allowed use with the actual authority, not the tax record or a listing remark. Tax records are frequently wrong or out of date; a hopeful agent's "you could totally build an ADU here" is not an entitlement. Call the Sacramento County planning department or the City of Sacramento's planning staff and ask about your specific address and your specific intended use before you pay for the upside. As the island's listing agent told Lundquist, "act fast and do your due diligence." The due-diligence half is the part that protects your money.

What This Means If You're Buying or Selling

If you're selling: don't let "prices are up from last year" talk you into pricing for a boom that isn't here. Above-list sales are happening on the sharp, well-prepared homes — not across the board. Price to your real, recent comparable sales and your home's actual condition, and the tight inventory works for you. Start with a grounded number, not a Zillow guess — we'll tell you what your home is actually worth today.

If you're buying: the flip side is reassuring. You did not miss a rocket ship. The market is stable and only modestly competitive, so you have room to be disciplined — get pre-approved, move decisively on the right home, and don't overpay just because a headline said prices are "up." And if a property's appeal rests on what you could add or build, make the zoning verification a condition of your enthusiasm, not an afterthought.

For everyone: the regional median is a vibe, not a valuation. Your block, your home's condition, and what your parcel legally allows determine the number that matters.

The Bottom Line

Lundquist's island post is a good reminder that the most important real estate facts are often the least flashy: a year-over-year "gain" can be a mirage, and a property's value lives in what you're allowed to do with it. The Sacramento market in mid-2026 is stable, supply-tight, and selectively competitive — a market that rewards sharp pricing and real homework over hype in either direction.

If you want a straight read on your specific home or neighborhood — or a reality check on whether that "tons of potential" listing actually has any — that's exactly the conversation we like to have. And for the genuinely good local market analysis behind a lot of this, we'll point you straight to the Sacramento Appraisal Blog; we're glad to build on it.

Search Sacramento homes for sale | Get a real home valuation | Talk to us

Or call us directly: (916) 739-2424

The Peter Parker Team | DRE# 01257844 | eXp Realty DRE# 01878277
Market data referenced from the Sacramento Appraisal Blog (June 9, 2026) and is approximate as of early-to-mid 2026. Market conditions change frequently; verify current figures before deciding. Zoning, ADU, and lot-split rules vary by parcel and jurisdiction — confirm with the relevant planning department. This is general information, not financial, legal, or land-use advice.

Here's a conversation we have almost every week. A buyer who has been ready for a year tells us they're going to wait for rates to come down before they start looking. The trouble is, they've been waiting since rates were supposed to drop in 2024. Then in 2025. They're still on the sidelines, and the homes they liked along the way have sold to someone else.

Ryan Lundquist, the appraiser behind the Sacramento Appraisal Blog, put the frustration plainly this month in a recent post with a blunt title: stop obsessing over rates. We read his analysis every month — he's about as close as this region has to a neutral referee on the numbers — and his June read matches what we're seeing from the agent's side of the table. The thing actually shaping the 2026 Sacramento market isn't the interest rate. It's the shortage of homes for sale.

What the Numbers Actually Show

Lundquist's latest supply analysis describes a market that is quietly tightening:

• Active listings are down about 6% year over year. That's a genuine turn. Earlier this year inventory was running above 2024 levels — by May, new listings had slipped below 2024 after five straight months above it.
• Closed sales are up roughly 2% year-to-date across the four-county region, with Sacramento County doing most of the lifting.
• Mortgage rates rose from around 6% in January to north of 6.5% — and buyers kept buying anyway. (Rates move weekly; you can check the current number against Freddie Mac's weekly rate survey.)
• The biggest growth in buyers showed up in the $400,000–$500,000 range.

Put those together and the headline writes itself: rates went up, demand held, and the supply of homes kept shrinking. Lundquist makes a sharp point about why agents don't feel that 2% bump in sales — a 2% change is almost imperceptible day to day, the way you wouldn't notice a friend losing 2% of their body weight. It's real; it's just quiet. The supply drop, on the other hand, is the part everyone feels.

The Rate Trap

Waiting for the perfect rate sounds prudent. In a market with fewer homes for sale, it's usually the most expensive thing a buyer can do.

Two things tend to happen. First, while you wait, you're passing on houses that won't come back — inventory is tight, and the good ones move. Second, on the day rates finally dip, every other buyer who was also waiting comes off the sidelines at once. That surge of competition bids prices up and erases the payment savings the lower rate was supposed to deliver. You can refinance a rate later. You can't go back and buy the home that already sold.

Nobody can reliably call where rates head next — Lundquist has spent four years watching "rates will drop soon" predictions that didn't pan out. So we don't build a buyer's plan around a forecast. We build it around being ready: a full pre-approval, a clear monthly payment you're comfortable with, and a sharp sense of which homes are worth moving on.

Why Supply Is the Real Constraint

There's a structural reason inventory is thin, and it shows up in Lundquist's data: about 15% of the homes for sale right now previously sold on the MLS between 2020 and 2025. A lot of owners who might list bought or refinanced at rates near 3%, and they're not eager to trade that for a 6.5% loan on the next house. That "lock-in" keeps homes off the market. As Lundquist puts it, the longer those listing lines stay subdued, the longer the market feels stuck — and he points to broader unease, from inflation to geopolitical headlines, keeping cautious sellers cautious.

Here's where our job and his diverge in a useful way. Lundquist's data is regional, and it's excellent at that scale. But "the region is down 6%" hides enormous block-by-block variation, and that's where buyers and sellers actually live. Some pockets are genuinely buyer-leaning right now — we've written about softening, more negotiable conditions in places like Elk Grove and West Sacramento. Meanwhile, a well-priced home in a supply-starved, school-driven area like Folsom or Fair Oaks can still draw multiple offers in a weekend. And that $400,000–$500,000 band where buyers are growing fastest? That's exactly where competition is stiffest — value areas like Citrus Heights are doing real work in this market. The regional median can't tell you any of that. A local agent can.

If You're Buying

• Don't anchor to a rate forecast no one can make. Plan around your payment and your timeline instead.
• Get fully pre-approved, not just pre-qualified. In a low-supply market, the ready buyer wins the house.
• Hunt where the leverage is. Buyer-leaning pockets and listings that have sat a few weeks (price reductions cluster on overpriced and higher-end homes) are where you negotiate.
• If the payment is the obstacle, ask us about programs like CalHFA down payment assistance — and remember you can refinance the rate down the road. You can't re-buy the house.
• Work with someone tracking supply street by street, not just quoting the regional median.

If You're Selling

• The supply shortage is your tailwind. You're facing less competition than a typical spring, and serious buyers are still out there.
• But price to today, not to last year's peak. Buyers are payment-sensitive, and overpriced homes are the ones sitting — stale active listings have been averaging well over a month on market.
• If you've been holding because of your low rate, that's fair — but if life calls for a move, thin inventory is genuinely working in your favor right now.
• Start with a real number. Get a real home valuation based on your block and your home's actual condition, not a Zillow estimate.

An Honest Word on Distress

Lundquist also flags a slight uptick in short sales, and his read is the right one: notice it, keep it in context, don't sensationalize it. The buyers most exposed are the folks who purchased in the last few years with low down payments — FHA and VA loans — because prices have been roughly flat, leaving little equity cushion. This is not a 2008 repeat.

That said, if you bought recently with little down and now need to sell, talk to us early. Peter has guided clients through short sales and other distressed transactions before, and there are almost always more options on the table when you start the conversation early rather than late.

The Bottom Line

Lundquist's advice to his fellow professionals was to stop obsessing over rates and focus on people. The buyer-and-seller version is the same: stop timing the rate, and start reading the actual market in front of you — which, in Sacramento right now, is defined by how few homes are for sale. If you want a clear-eyed read on what that means for your specific price range and neighborhood, that's exactly the conversation we like to have.

We'd also just point you to Lundquist's work directly — it's some of the most honest local market analysis out there, and we're glad to build on it.

Ready to make a move, or just want a straight answer about your options? Search Sacramento homes for sale, get a real home valuation, or contact us.

Or call us directly: (916) 739-2424

The Peter Parker Team | DRE# 01257844 | eXp Realty DRE# 01878277
Market data referenced from the Sacramento Appraisal Blog (June 3, 2026) and is approximate as of early-to-mid 2026. Market conditions and mortgage rates change frequently; verify current figures before making a decision. This is general information, not financial or legal advice.

We just want to quickly go over what to expect during the second week of your purchase if you’re using a mortgage. After the first week, we’ve already had you meet with the lender, make your deposit with the title company, order the appraisal, and order the inspections.

So in Week 2, we’re going to see the results of those things. Your appraisal is either going to get done and we’ll get the report back for review by the lender and review by us, or it will be very soon; we’re going to get the inspection reports back in hand if we don’t have them already; and we should be getting the disclosures and reports from the title company and the seller, if we don’t have them already.

We’ll take a good look at all those and make sure if we have the appraisal done, that there are no issues with the value. We may have to go back and renegotiate the price, or there may be some appraiser-required repairs. Sometimes they’ll point out something that, from a lender’s point of view, they want to have taken care of – and usually, honestly, it’s just something as simple as there’s a smoke detector that needs new batteries or it’s missing, or a carbon monoxide detector that needs to be put in place somewhere in the house. Occasionally, there are more expensive or difficult things, but that’s pretty rare; usually, we’ll have noticed those when we first looked at the home.

As far as the inspections go, we’ll take a good look at those, determine if there are any real serious problems that make us want to cancel the purchase or renegotiate either getting a reduction in price or a credit from the seller – basically money to help you cover your closing costs in lieu of repairs to the property.

And the third thing that we’re going to be doing is taking a look at the disclosures and reports we got from the title company and the sellers. And usually, there’s no big surprises there; just routine, straightforward information.

Last but not least, your lender may be asking you for a few last bits of paperwork to complete your loan file, because once they have the appraisal back, they want to have a complete package they can submit to the underwriter for approval.

And that really should be wrapping up what you’re going to be doing during Week 2. One minor thing: if you haven’t already, you should get a quote from your insurance company to get coverage in place on the home, because your lender’s going to require you to have that. So rather than have that be a last-minute thing, you can get some quotes and decide what the right coverage is for you.

If you have any other questions or want to go into more detail, please call, text, or email. We’ll be happy to answer them.

We wanted to talk about what you’re going to do in more detail with your lender, especially in the first week after you get acceptance of your offer.

Basically, you’re going to get with your lender so they can disclose to you the terms of your loan. They’re required by law to do this, and they’re actually required by law to have the numbers they disclose to you at the beginning match very closely with what the numbers are at the end. There can’t be any big increase in fees that catches you by surprise; if so, they’ve got to go back and readjust. Lenders don’t want that to happen, and neither do you, so it almost never does.

Once you meet with the lender, they’re going to run your credit if they haven’t already. They’re going to complete the loan application interview if they haven’t already – just some basic information about your employment, date of birth, Social Security number, where you’ve lived and so forth, income, expenses. They’re going to ask you to provide the last two years of tax returns and generally the last two months of bank statements. If you have investment accounts, other kinds of financial records that affect your application, they may ask for those as well. And basically, you can expect to get a checklist from them of what you need to bring to your appointment.? While you’re there, they’ll also get a check from you, typically for about $450, to order the appraisal of the property. Once that’s done, they’re going to wait till the appraisal comes back; they’re going to take all the information you gave them, and assuming it’s complete, they’re going to submit it to underwriting.

Once your file’s in underwriting, you should have loan approval in two, maybe at the most three days. Either you’ll get full approval with no conditions, or you’ll get what’s called conditional approval, where they’ll say “Well, you’re approved, but we need to see your most recent pay stub, your most recent bank statement,” or some other factor like that – which is usually pretty simple and easy to provide.

Once you’ve got that taken care of and have full approval, they’ll order your loan docs. They’re going to want to get verification that you have insurance in place, so just in case something happens to the home, that insurance will take care of it and that doesn’t turn into a problem for your lender. And they’ll generate the loan docs, which is basically the promissory note and other papers you’re going to sign just to take responsibility for the mortgage.

Your lender’s going to be keeping in touch with you week by week and as they need to about getting information, and we’ll certainly be there by your side in that process as well. And I think you’ll be actually happy and surprised how quickly they can move things along. We’ve actually had people close a purchase transaction in as little as 11 or 12 days after we got their offer accepted. Generally, it’s more like 17 to 21 days.

Some of the stories you may have heard from people are like 35 or 40 days or longer; that typically doesn’t happen with the lenders we recommend that you use, and the only thing that would really push the process out that far would be if you were taking advantage of down payment assistance. We’ll do another video on that, to go into that subject in more detail; it’s a bit of a specialized topic. So I hope this helps answer your questions about the loan process. If you have any others, please call, text, or email us. We’ll be happy to answer them.

During the first week after acceptance of your offer, we typically order inspections of the property, just to make sure that we’re very clear about its condition and to find out if any repairs are needed, anything that we should be concerned about, and get a ballpark idea of how much that’s going to cost and therefore decide if we need to either renegotiate the price with the seller or ask for a monetary credit from the seller to compensate for those.

The inspections we generally recommend include a pest inspection, which looks for termites and other kinds of bugs that eat wood. It also focuses on damage from water, particularly plumbing leaks or water landing on the roof or getting sprayed on the house from sprinklers – anything that could deteriorate especially wood and other parts of the structure. That generally costs anywhere from $125 to maybe $175 for an unusually large house, and we usually can get those done within I would say two to four days of when we order them.

After we have the pest inspection done, we usually recommend a roof inspection. That typically costs $75. And even if you’ve got a concrete tile roof that you think is perfectly fine, it’s a lifetime material, we just want to make sure that no tiles are broken or chipped or have slipped out of place and that there’s no flashing around the roof vents or other parts of the structure that have moved out of place or been damaged. We can usually get that done within a couple of days of when we order it.

Assuming that these move forward since they’re more expensive, we usually get a whole house inspection, and that’s more or less like taking a used car to a mechanic and having him give it a quick overview, bumper to bumper. We’re going to have a look at the overall structure of the house, the heater, the air conditioner, the plumbing system, the electrical system, appliances, windows – quite a long list – water heater. I think you’ll agree, once you see that inspection report, which is generally around 30 pages of text and 8 to 10 pages of photos, 12 to a page, you’ve got a very good opinion of the condition of the property.

And in case you were wondering, these inspectors I’m mentioning, they’re all the same ones that I used when I bought my house. When my son and his wife bought their house, they used the same people. We’ve worked with most of them for anywhere from 10 to 15 years. They’re quite good, and we’re sure you’ll be very confident and happy with the job they do.

The other inspections we recommend would be a sewer line inspection, especially for an older structure, an older home where lines have been in the ground for 15 or 20 or 30 years, and especially if there’s a lot of trees or other vegetation that could affect the line going out to the street.

And last but not least, if you have a chimney, a good chimney inspection and cleaning is always a great idea.

If anything turns up during these inspections that need more of a specialist’s look, whether that’s plumbing, electrical, heating and air conditioning, structural stuff, roof, we can have a more detailed look at those elements of the hose and make recommendations from what’s found.

So that’s basically what we’re going to focus on for inspections. Usually, we get them done in I would say 7 to 12 days after the purchase, and we’ll have a little bit of strategizing – do we want to do the appraisal of the property first or do inspections first, or perhaps do them concurrently? We’ll go over that with you as well. If you have any other questions about inspections or any part of the purchase transaction, please call, text, or email us. We’re always happy to answer them.

Let’s go into more detail about your earnest money deposit with the title company. By law in California, when you write an offer to buy a home, you need to offer some amount of money as an initial deposit. And that can be anywhere as little as a thousand dollars – occasionally we’ve done five hundred dollars, but generally minimum a thousand, and more commonly about one percent of the purchase price. Occasionally, if it’s a very competitive situation, we may have suggested that you write a larger deposit, usually no more than three percent of the purchase price.

Once you get your offer accepted by the seller, your deposit money needs to go to the title company, and that can be in the form of a personal check, cashier’s check, or wire. And they are going to deposit, they’re going to cash your check if you did it that way, and hold it for the period that we’re in escrow. If you cancel the purchase, assuming you’re not in default, they’re going to refund you the money.

And that’s really something I want to cover in detail because, especially if you’ve made a larger deposit, two or three percent of the purchase price, a lot of buyers ask us, “Gee, what happens if I cancel? Am I going to lose my deposit? Can the seller keep my money?” and so forth. Just to give you a quick, simple answer, it’s basically almost never.

We’ve been doing business for about 16 years, helping people buy and sell around 600 homes, and honestly – I’m thinking now – I think there’s maybe one occasion where someone really lost their deposit. And they knew exactly what they were doing; they just changed their mind at the last moment, after they had done inspections after they had the property appraised after everything was ready to go – just literally a day or two away from closing escrow, and they just changed their mind and canceled. In that case, they were in default, and they had the seller retain their money.

But there’s plenty of safety nets that you have to make sure that that doesn’t happen. And those would include what we call contingencies, and the contingencies are more or less safety nets or exit doors, if you will, out of the transaction that you have the right to keep in place for at least 17 or 21 days after you’ve had your offer accepted.

Those include physical inspection of the property; if you discover something that you weren’t aware of or that is more troubling than you thought and we can’t find a resolution for it, either through repairs or some monetary compensation, you can cancel the purchase on that basis. Yo the can cancel on the basis of inspections. If we discover something or a number of things that turn up, whether it’s in the physical inspections or the review of disclosures in the reports we receive, public information we become aware of, you can cancel on that basis as well.

And the other main contingency that we have is appraisal contingency. If we offered, for example, $300,000 and the property only appraises for $285,000, if we can’t renegotiate a price that you and the seller find agreeable, you can cancel on that basis.

Generally speaking, we’re going to get the property inspected and review the disclosures and reports in anywhere from 7 to 12 days after the agreement, and generally, that’s plenty of time to get it done. As far as appraisal, that usually takes a little bit longer. Sometimes we get it done within 7 to 12 days; frequently it’s more between 12 and 17 days.

And last but not least, your loan approval process. If all that goes okay – the physical inspections are fine, the disclosure review is fine, the appraisal is fine – but you run into some problem getting your loan approved, that’s the last contingency that we typically remove, and we wouldn’t remove it until we know that your loan is in fact fine.

So really, over the course of the generally first 17 to 21 days after agreement, we’re just sort of checking off things as we go. And we’ll be in touch every step of the way, making sure that your questions are answered, any concerns are addressed, and if we need to cancel, we will, and if we need to attempt to renegotiate, we’ll make our best effort to do that. Generally speaking, we don’t run into a lot of unforeseen events, no huge surprises and red flags, so this is all just sort of worst-case scenario that I’m discussing, but I just wanted to address it in case that’s a concern of yours.

Again, assuming that all goes well, we come to the close of escrow. The lender and the title company are going to tell you how much money you need to complete the purchase, which is going to be the remainder, if any, of your down payment money, perhaps some closing costs as well, and you’ll have your initial deposit be credited towards that total amount.

So, this really, I think, is probably more than you wanted to know about earnest money deposits. I hope it was helpful and addressed any concerns you have. If there are more, please call, text, or email us. Always happy to help.

We wanted to give you a quick overview of what to expect during the first week of your purchase if you’re using a mortgage loan.

Basically, there are three things that you’re going to want to focus on this week, and first is to meet with your lender as soon as possible. They’re actually legally required to disclose to you the terms of your loan, what your interest rate is going to be, what your monthly payment is going to be, and what the amount of money is you’re going to need at the end of the transaction for what we call your cash to close figure – any down payment and remaining closing costs.

When you meet with them, they’ll also order the appraisal, and that’s what’s going to basically confirm that the property we’re buying is worth what we’re offering. If it’s not, we’ll have to go back and potentially renegotiate or even cancel the purchase. It happens rarely, but lenders just get the appraisal done to make sure that it is in the appropriate value range.

The second thing you’re going to do is deposit your earnest money initial deposit with the title company. That can be in the form of a personal check or a cashier’s check, or if it’s more convenient, you can wire it to the title company. That needs to happen within three business days of acceptance. If it’s a help to you, we can arrange for a courier to pick it up, especially at your workplace, and take it to the title company – or if you do it soon enough, you can just put it in the mail.

The deposit is going to get cashed by the title company. They’ll hold it, and it’ll be credited towards your down payment amount if you complete the purchase. If you don’t, that will be refunded to you if you cancel.

The third thing we’re going to do is we’re going to order inspections, just to make sure that the property is in the kind of condition we want it to be, and we just learn there are, if any, issues or problems that we need to request repairs from the seller, or maybe we’re going to ask for just money instead of repairs. So once we get these three things moving forward, we’ll see the fruits of those in Week 2 and move forward in our closing process.

We’ll go into a little bit more detail in individual videos about your despot, your lender process, and the inspections, but this is a good first overview. If you have any other questions, feel free to call, text, or email us. We’ll be happy to answer them.