The 4^th of July is quickly approaching.  Everyone is making big plans on how to celebrate our nation’s Independence Day.  People who know Sacramento know that it’s a great city to celebrate the 4^th of July in. Wallethub.com recently compared America’s 100 largest cities and compiled a list ranking the best cities to celebrate the 4^th.  Sacramento ranked 19^th out of 100!

Wallethub.com used 14 different metrics to decide on their rankings.  Metrics such as the duration of fireworks shows, average gas prices, the number of festivals and performances, weather forecasts and more. 

Americans love to spend money celebrating July 4^th.  Wallethub.com estimates “Fourth of July spending to be around $346.50 on average per household, up 5 percent since 2014. On beer alone, we’re projected to spend more than $1 billion. That’s to wash down the 150 million hot dogs, 700 million pounds of chicken and 190 million pounds of beef we eat on this star-spangled occasion.”

My favorite place to watch the festivities and fire works happens to be free.  I like to watch on the east side of the tower bridge in Downtown Sacramento.

Here are some other popular spots to watch the fireworks.

Cal Expo

Cal Expo will join the City and County of Sacramento and CBS Radio to produce the largest-scale pyrotechnics display in the area on Saturday, July 4, 2015.

The FREE Independence Day Celebration is a family oriented collection of activities that takes place at the Miller Lite Racetrack Grandstand at Cal Expo. A limited number of $10 reserved seats are available for sale by clicking here.

Doors open at 5:00 p.m. and the fireworks start at 9:30 p.m. While many spectators watch from the surrounding area, the best views are from inside the Grandstands.

Admission Info:
General Admission: FREE
Reserved Seats: $10
Parking: $10/car

Rancho Cordova

July 3-4, 4-11pm Friday, 12-11pm Saturday, Hagan Park, Rancho Cordova; $2 Admission, $10 parking. The largest Independence Day Festival in the area, located along the beautiful American River in Rancho Cordova. Over our two-day festival, we are expecting up to 20,000 people to drop by for plenty of All American food, music, fireworks and fun!  2 days of celebration start with a carnival, concert, BMX show, and a fireworks mini-show on July 3. A 5k and parade kick off the Fourth’s events, which also include carnival rides, booths, live music, Kids Zone! activities, and an impressive fireworks show at 9:45pm. And all this at Hagan Park’s ideal summer location on the river. More info at ranchocordovajuly4th.com.

Raley Field

Mark your calendars for our 3rd Annual Fourth on the Field! Come out and celebrate the birth of our nation while bringing back the feel of a neighborhood block party with local food trucks lining the warning track, interactive games on the field, a kids area with fun games and inflatables for all ages, and live music!

To cap the night, bring your blankets and grab a spot on the field as we present a spectacular show in the sky with fireworks synced to America’s favorite patriotic music. More info at raleyfield.com.

 

Notable mentions include Old Sacramento, 55th Annual Folsom Pro Rodeo, and 14th Annual Spirit of Freedom 4th of July Parade.

 

Real Property Management Select is proud to operate in Sacramento.  RPM Select also has offices in Fairfield, CA and Concord, CA.

 

 

Sacramento ranked as No. 1 best affordable city near wine country

Recently Food & Wine Magazine teamed up with the Redfin real estate blog to come up with a list of the 10 best affordable cities near wine country. Naturally, you think of Napa (and BTW, we do offer Napa property management and wine country property management), but guess what? Sacramento ranked #1 in the nation!

First, our friends at Redfin looked at the U.S. cities with the most vineyards, wineries and tasting rooms nearby and then identified which of those are the most affordable. Median sale price and price per square foot of homes determined affordability. The experts at Food & Wine then chose their favorite 10 cities. They even provided their recommendations for wineries, tasting rooms, wines and restaurants to try in each city. According to Redfin and Food & Wine Magazine, “these 10 cities not only have impressive local wine options, but are also a good bang for their buck.”

I think everyone from the most sophisticated wine connoisseur to the average wine drinker knows about Napa and Sonoma. Napa and Sonoma continue to create and distribute some of the best wines in the world.  Napa is just a short 2 to 2.5 hour drive from Sacramento. What many people might not know is that great wineries can also be found in nearby Amador County, El Dorado County and San Joaquin County. This region is best known for their Zinfandels, which are considered some of the best in California.

 1. Sacramento, California (Lodi Wine Region)

• Median Sale Price: $235,000
• Median Price Per Square Foot: $154
• Winery to Visit: Michael David Winery. Two brothers whose family has farmed Lodi since the 1850s founded this large, eco-minded winery.
• Wine to Try: Zinfandel. This grape produces lush wines in the warm climate.
• Where to Drink: Downtown & Vine. Wines from all over California are on offer at this restaurant-retailer.

To read the full article visit https://www.redfin.com/blog/2015/04/the-10-best-affordable-cities-near-wine-country.html#.VWyGKVxVikr.

If you are interested in renting a home or investing in the areas referenced in this article please contact Real Property Management Select Sacramento for all of your Sacramento property management needs. But don’t forget, RPM Select does offer wine country property management! Real Property Management Select has offices in Sacramento, Concord, Fairfield, and San Jose.

 

Baseball season is upon us! Time to break out the peanuts and enjoy America’s favorite pastime.

I wanted to write a quick article about something dear to my heart. While I love the game of baseball, someone who loved the game more was my late stepfather, Terry Cunningham. His family has been well known around the cities of Benicia and Vallejo, CA, and the Cunningham name holds some weight around the communities.

To honor Terry’s passing in September 2014, the Benicia Oldtimers baseball team is playing a double-header this Sunday, May 17^th, 2015, on what they have deemed as Terry Cunningham Day. My stepfather had been a part of the Oldtimers baseball league for over 30 years as first baseman, and was inducted into the Nor Cal Baseball Hall of Fame in 2005.

The Oldtimers will be hosting both Vallejo and Watsonville teams this Sunday at Fitzgerald Field in Benicia, CA. The Watsonville game starts at 11:00am with the Vallejo game following after at 1:30pm. I’ll be there wearing Terry’s number 13, with my hat, glove, and some peanuts to enjoy the games!

Below is a link to the article written in the Benicia Herald newspaper:

Apartment occupancy in the Sacramento region is on the rise and has been for some time now. The Greater Sacramento Area actually leads the nation in apartment occupancy, by one company’s estimate. RPM Select Sacramento is making sure to stay on top of the Sacramento apartment management industry, and we have the scoop for you below.

The second quarter of 2014 saw apartment occupancy rise to 96.1 percent, a 16-point improvement over the same quarter one year earlier. It was the greatest increase nationally seen by the apartment data research firm, Axiometrics.

This is great news for multi-family investors and Sacramento apartment management companies.

According to Jay Denton, Axiometrics’ vice president of research “There’s no obvious reason for the improvement. Job growth, and supply of new units, is virtually the same now as it was in 2013 and 2012. Rather, those metrics continuing to improve over the last two years has led to a tipping point where available apartments and similar rental spaces are shrinking fast.” Denton goes on to say “Rates of 96 percent or above in California is considered a sign of virtual full occupancy.”

It’s not surprising to find that rents are on the rise as well. The second quarter of 2014 saw a year-over-year increase of 6.5 percent, fifth strongest nationally among the 50 biggest metropolitan regions.

“It just means owners can maximize revenues, and you’ll see those owners raising rates,” Denton says.

According to Denton 2015 might just be more of the same, or even better. While job growth is expected to continue to grow in the region, even a developer starting to build a new apartment project right now wouldn’t be able to introduce it to the market for at least another year or 18 months. “Rent growth that’s expected on this pace is 5 to 6 percent, and it could be even stronger,” he said. “Simply because there’s not much new in the way of supply anytime soon.”

Statistics within the region:

Citrus Heights saw the greatest year-over-year gain in rents, 14.4 percent, going from a median of $869 a month to $995.

Downtown Sacramento, which includes the popular midtown neighborhood, saw an 11.3 percent gain in occupancy to 92.3 percent.

The Arden-Arcade area, at 96.8 percent, has the highest overall occupancy rate among submarkets.

The increase in rents and apartment occupancy in the Sacramento region has been a huge boom for investors. If you have ever been interested in investing your money into apartment buildings now seems to be the time. Real Property Management Select is the perfect Sacramento apartment management company to watch over your property. RPM Select is the obvious choice because we will help you get the greatest return on your investment.

Real Property Management Select Sacramento has years of Sacramento apartment management experience. It’s important to work with a Sacramento apartment management company who is familiar with the laws and regulations you must follow when owning a multi-family apartment building in Sacramento. Don’t trust your investment to anyone. Contact our professional property management team today to find out how we can help.

Sacramento median home values up 7.4 percent and median rents up 4.6 percent from 2014 to 2015

SACRAMENTO HOME VALUES ARE INCREASING

In January this year the median home value in the Sacramento area was $333,400. According to a report released recently by Seattle-based real estate data tracker Zillow, this is a 7.4 percent increase over the last year. This is wonderful news for investors and homeowners alike.

The U.S. national average of home values in 2014 showed an increase of 5.4 percent. Zillow states that the median value of a U.S. home in January of 2015 was $178,500.

SACRAMENTO RENTS ARE INCREASING

There is more great news for investors in the Greater Sacramento Area. Sacramento also saw an increase in the median rent for houses from 2014 to 2015. In January, the median rent for houses in Sacramento was $1,629 a month, an increase of 4.6 percent over January 2014. The national average showed an increase of 3.3 percent in the monthly rental median over the same one year period.

Although this is fantastic news for local investors, Sacramento’s numbers are significantly lower than other regions of Northern California. One example of this is the San Francisco market. The median home value in San Francisco is up 7.3 percent from last year at $705,900. However, the median monthly rental cost has gone up nearly 15 percent in the same time period. The average rental cost in San Francisco was $3,055 in January of this year. This is interesting information but it is hardly fair to compare the Sacramento and San Francisco markets. The San Francisco real estate and rental markets are unlike any others in Northern California.

“Rental appreciation has been a freight train these past few years, chugging along without any appreciable slowdown,” according to Zillow Chief Economist Stan Humphries. “Since 2000, rents have grown roughly twice as fast as wages, and you don’t have to be an economist to understand why that is hugely problematic.”

Zillow said it expects growth in rental prices to outpace home values in 2015.

It looks like Sacramento might be a great place to invest right now. With rents increasing well over the national average, investors should be giddy with excitement. Luckily Real Property Management Select serves the Greater Sacramento Area and beyond. Whether you are an experienced investor or a homeowner looking to rent your property RPM Select can help make the most of your investment.

Give us a call at (877) 603-9696 for more information to see what Real Property Management can do for you.