Jeff Ragan's (jeffragan) Blog

I'm a little late getting these stats our, but the real estate market in Humboldt County, California is hanging in there during the month of November! There are currently 568 homes on the market, which is just a hair higher than our "normal" 500- 550, and close to our recent low of 550.  Fewer ho...

First time home buyers often ask about closing costs, and it can be very confusing, especially when they have limited funds to bring into escrow for closing, or when they are shopping multiple loan products with different costs structures.  It's important for all home buyers to remember that ther...

What do our October 2010 Humboldt County, California real estate statistics look like?  We seem to have started a downward trend in prices again in Humboldt County, California.  The number of active homes on the market, while not a huge number, is creeping up in relationship to previous years.  W...

Many of you will recall that Eureka, California made national news on January 10, 2010 when a 6.5 earthquake rocked the city.  We counted our own blessings, and were promptly forgotten by the rest of the world, when 2 days later when a 7.0 earthquake destroyed the country of Haiti.  We in Eureka ...

What is the state of the real estate market in Humboldt County, Califorina?  Our "Active" homes, while starting out the year lower than last year, crossed over 2009 in August, and have been tracking slightly higher than last year since.  While this certainly isn't bad news, it does neutralize one...

Great stuff!  The essentials to generating more website traffic!Most of us Realtors are not SEO experts, but we can learn if we take a little time. There are some very basic SEO (btw, SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization) strategies that most Realtors fail to use to get their websites showin...

So you're going to sell your home and you need to get ready.  What do you do?  The first thing is to call me ((707) 499-7111) so we can sit down together, evaluate the value of your home and your goals in selling, and then plan a strategy to accomplish those goals.  After that's done, you can sta...

The statistics show that July was a good news/bad news month for the Humboldt County, CA real estate market.  First the bad news:  inventory is up and sales are down.    As with the rest of the country, the expiration of the federal home buyers' tax credits has created a lull in the market, with ...

Who should you use to represent you in a real estate transaction?  An agent?  A broker?  A Realtor?  Here's a brief explanation of real estate agency. An agent is someone who acts on behalf of another person.  A real estate agent acts on behalf of his client to buy or sell real estate.  In Califo...

Clients always ask me, "How much is my home worth?"  The first step is remembering that neither you as the seller, nor I as the real estate agent, have the power to make your home sell for a certain price.  It is the market that determines the fair market value of your home.  What is the market? ...