Do you need a Central Valley Short Sale Specialist?  If you have any questions or would like to discuss any real estate related issue please contact Pat Holkesvig at (209) 471-6516 or complete our Contact Form. Pat Holkesvig & Your Home Team specialize in Stockton short sales, Lodi short sales, Lathrop short sales, Manteca short sales, Elk Grove short sales, Mountain House short sales, Tracy short sales, Ripon short sales and Tracy short sales. Request a cost-free FREE MARKET EVALUATION for your home at the Valley's BEST homepage Homes-In-Stockton.com. Click here to search all Central Valley homes for sale just like a realtor or click the following links to view homes available in your neighborhood or community. STOCKTON NEIGHBORHOOD SEARCHES: Brookside Brookside Golf Lincoln Village L... 01/31/2011

The Tapestry Collection of homes in the Villa Tuscany subdivision in north east Stockton is situated in an area commonly called "La Morada or Morada West."  Homes in this area were built between 2003 to late 2006 by multiple local and national builders. Tapestry is centered around a dedicated City Park - Parma - one of a number of parks that celebrate Stockton, California's relationship with other Sister Cities around the globe - this one being Parma Italy.  The architectural flavor carries a strong suggestion of both Tuscan villas and the more common "Mediterranean" influence.  Some of the old Live Oak Trees have been preserved throughout the subdivision, including in the park area. Villa Tuscany is free from Homeowner Association dues, but the annual property tax bill does support a ... 01/30/2011

    It started off that Noah sold 69 tickets to tons of family & friend support.  Fundraisers like this can be fun.  Immanual Cadets made $2 per ticket sold.  That was a pretty successful fundraiser since all together the Cadets sold 384 tickets (maybe more since kids kept selling after the official turn in date).  The O'Neal Family is very appreciative to all of our friends that supported Noah in this fundraiser.  It was a fun time watching all that hockey that broke out in the fight game.  Great times catching up with friends. The Immanuel Cadet Honor Guard consisted of Noah O'Neal, Cullen Burris, Nick VanderWeide, Dakota Roos & Devin Roos.  It's truly an honor to watch your son carrying the American Flag amongst his peers.  I had goose bumps & could have gone home after watching the... 01/30/2011

The potential flooding and increased costs for residents surrounding the Smith Canal in Stockton, California has been an issue for the neighborhood since the FEMA map was finalized last year.  Increased costs for flood insurance and a "cloud" for the sales potential for local homes has had a direct impact on property and real estate sales in the area. Homeowners and future buyers in the area have some relief "in sight."  FEMA has approved at $30 million flood-control gate to be built at the mouth of the canal opening into the deep water channel. A public relations campaign will be launched for Smith Canal-area residents illustrating that it would be in their best interest to pay an average $300.00 annual 30-year assessment rather than an average $950 annual flood insurance payment.  Ho... 01/29/2011

Every year during the holiday season, the real estate community in Stockton, California holds an event called the "Cantree."  This is not exclusive to Stockton, other agents in other communities do the same thing ...  The idea ... build a "tree" of canned foods that are given to food banks and kitchens at the end of the "drive." The "Hunger Free and Healthy by 2020" summit held on January 27 at the Robert J Cabral Agricultural Center, is still looking for means to achieve their goal, but is taking steps to provide plans for building and rebuilding relationships in the drive to provide for the County's poor and hungry.  Part of the goal is to pay particular attention to the "kind" of food donations received.  They are taking steps to provide for healthier food in their drives. Perhaps w... 01/28/2011

New Homes are still selling in Stockton and San Joaquin County - weekending 1/23/101 This week's indicators painted a brighter picture suggesting the possibility of sustained economic growth.  The three-month moving average of annualized retail growth rate suggests a annual rate of 14%.  This proposed a consumer spending rate of nearly 4% in the fourth quarter and couple with an increase in manufacturing rates, if sustained could ignite another tranche of business spending and hiring, especially with smaller business. Overall growth is expected to remain slow and steady over the first several quarters according to the Wells Fargo Weekly Economic and Financial Commentary. The following information has been extracted from New Homes Sales and Marketing reporting companies and on-site visi... 01/27/2011

The Stockton Record today carried an Associated Press story headlines "Home prices fall further."  An insert in the story illustrated "California foreclosures on the decline."   Both stories could mean good news for buyers ... if they are really buyers! With outstanding loan rates, solid inventory growth and lower prices, one might think that this is the "buyers'" market that we have been waiting for.  For the quick and dirty "sound bites" that may be so.  BUT, uncertainty in the job market still has many holding back from a full rush back into the housing market.  Are we at the bottom in Stockton and San Joaquin County?  There's no definitive answer, but here's an observation:  In many areas of our community the prices of homes are selling at the same price they sold at in 2001.  So w... 01/26/2011

San Joaquin County's elected officials have approved adding expanded areas to the "special zone" that offers state tax credits to employers.  Officials in Stockton, California have added three small pieces to the county's enterprise zone expansion.  Included in Stockton's expansion pieces is a north Stockton area intended to keep a current employer from "looking elsewhere." The Enterprise Zones have allowable tax incentives up to $37,000 for new hires, benefits and other incentives for machinery and equipment.  There are 42 enterprise zones in the State and the San Joaquin zones was finalized in 2009, a zone totaling 656-square miles.  The new expansions will add a total of less than 6-square miles to the zone.  With state budget woes, there are many concerned that this whole program i... 01/25/2011

  Like most of the Nation, Stockton, California is facing many difficult fiscal issues.  One of those areas of concern is the Stockton Unified School District.  To help tackle the multimillion dollar budget gap, SUSD is looking for the Stockton Teachers Association for sizable concessions.  Jim Thomas, deputy superintendent of business services for the San Joaquin County Office of Education says, "I don't see any way how Stockton can stay solvent without the concessions they're asking for." The proposal includes enlarging class sizes, shortening the school year and a 10.7 percent pay cut."  Stockton Teachers Association President Ellen Old said, "That's pretty much a jaw-dropper!"  Stockton Unified's chief financial officer Jason Willis comments, "We've been dealing with the budget usin... 01/24/2011

This is our profession ... one in which we make a considerable commitment of time, education and resources.  We did not one day wake up and suddenly we were professionals caught up in the midst of being a "real estate professional!"  Indeed, most of us spend a fair amount of energy getting prepared, and then continued to exert energy in staying on the top of our game. Perhaps you've noticed that topics seem to run in cycles on ActiveRain.  It appears that client communication seems to frequently be batted around with a great deal of mixed opinions.  Sometimes, it seems that post regarding the completeness of client's information causes us stress. In my opinion, and there are also exceptions to any example, but I wonder if we may be forgetting to complete some of the basics.  We have go... 01/23/2011

   "Help publicly.  Help privately. Help in your actions by recycling and conserving and protecting, but help also in your attitude.  Help make sense where sense has gone missing.  Help bring reason and respect to discourse and debate.  Help science to solve and faith to soothe.  Help law bring justice, until justice is commonplace.  Help and you will abolish apathy - the void that is so quickly filled by ignorance and evil."  Tom Hanks, Actor One of the troubles with quoting the famous and glamorous will be the tendency of some to think ... "I could never do that become I'm just me" or others to tend to not take "them" seriously.  Alas, sometimes when we "heroize" folks, we take away from them the ability to reach out to us ... the pedestal we've placed them on is too tall! If we find ... 01/21/2011

   New Homes are still selling in Stockton and San Joaquin County - weekending 1/16/101 This week's indicators brought mostly mixed news for the economy.  Starts of new housing increased in the single family units, but declined in multi-units.  There is some concern that the starts may be year-end adjustment.  The Labor market continues to be up and down. The pace of growth continues slow and is expected to remain slow over the first several quarters according to the Wells Fargo Weekly Economic and Financial Commentary. The following information has been extracted from New Homes Sales and Marketing reporting companies and on-site visits for the week ending 1/16/11: Focus on Stockton: Total Projects Reporting: 4: Traffic: 62; Sales: 3: Cancellations: 0; Net Sales: 3; YTD Sales: 4 San Joa... 01/20/2011

  The other day a group of us were looking over and sharing our "marketing plans" for 2011; this was a sort of "reality test" between colleagues.  Most of us were really pretty good about "metrics" ... you know the number of calls for a contact, the number of contacts for an appointment, the number of appointments for a listing .... Etc.   Then we started looking at the "logic" behind the plans ... and began to have some concerns ... the statistics of the market place and the projects of our plans were not in sync!    AND ... frankly, they don't have to be ... but then the strategies need to take into account how you move from the "normal" to the "target." Our own experience can produce a great deal of the data that we'll need in developing our business plans.  But we do need to "gut-ch... 01/19/2011

When the market seems to get some of our colleagues down, or it might just be “life” is pressing in … one of the things I’ve seen over and over on ActiveRain is the willingness to express encouragement and good will from members to each other.  It is a model that makes the community feel special, about itself and about each other.  But … what about those who are not part of the Rain? From time-to-time we read posts from some of our AR Icons about the importance and advantage of inviting colleagues to become part of ActiveRain.  Aside from the obvious personal advantages, consider for a moment the people in your professional community that may need that extra boost, that “atta agent” that may make all the difference in their, day, week, month or even year.  In a small but significant wa... 01/18/2011

  Sometimes the stories are just plain sad ... other stories seem out-of-touch ... still others just don't ring true ... and yet others raise the "I don't believe this" monitor to the top of the scale.  What are these stories ... these are the hardships of the short sale seller. The loss of jobs, the reduction of income, the drastic changes in personal circumstances ... all of these are in the bounds of expected hardships.  Our job is not to assess the validity of the hardship ... nor do we rate them on a scale of one-to-ten in being sympathetic to the sellers' lender.  With as much professional detachment as possible, we prepare the submission package, market the property, negotiate the initial offer and submit to the seller's lender.  BUT every now and then .... ... Comes the whopper ... 01/17/2011

  No, you are not seeing double … both little and large pictures show the MetroPlex theatre complex in downtown Stockton, California. One of the signature locations of the downtown renovation project, the MetroPlex  like other sites has been instrumental in bringing new life back to the downtown area. Prior to the bursting “bubble” there were other development and renovation plans, all designed to make “downtown” an alternate choice opportunity for entertainment and living environments.  So for now the waterfront promenades, the retirement village, the luxury condos, the over-flowing marina slips … will all have to wait … at least for a while. This isn’t the first time that redevelopment plans in Stockton have had to be placed on hold.  For a city at the headwater of the inland “deep c... 01/11/2011

   ... AND THE WORLD ... Some time ago I remember reading a new novel by a local writer Steven Varni set in the Delta region and entitled "Inland Sea."  I suppose I was a little disappointed since I had expected the book to be about the Delta, Stockton Port and the environs thereabouts.  Instead, it was a dramatic retelling of the life and times of a Delta Italian American family ... and apparently bordering a little on a autobiographical bent. So I'll continue to search for the presence of the Delta in American literature ... knowing somewhere that the vitality of the area has to make a great backdrop to the American version of War and Peace or Pride and Prejudice ... in other words ... required reading for Delta area students. One of two California inland ports, the Port of Stockton (... 01/10/2011

    Sometimes “landmark” sites become so commonplace, that the history and challenges behind them get lost.  For many of the people living and working in Stockton, California one such place may be “Weber Point.”     For the last several years the annual “asparagus festival” has found its home on the 9.7 acre site.  It has been an integral part of the community’s revitalization program surrounding the downtown area.     Located on the site of the home of Stockton founder and early pioneer, Charles M Weber, the event center has many smaller events throughout the year. The iconic structure in the center is the immense fabric shade structure covering the main stage.  Hot summer days may find the city’s kids relating more directly to the interactive water feature near the centers main entran... 01/09/2011

   The Los Angeles AP last week carried a story on the continuing decline in home prices.  In fact it was quite a large story - the quarter page type with photos and charts.  An insert caption next to a picture of a foreclosed home reads:  "An open house sign is seen on the front lawn of a home for sale on Nov. 4 in Los Angles.  Homes prices are dropping in the nation's largest city ..." They then quoted the "annual home changes for the Standard and Poors/Case-Shiller 20-city home price index since 3000."  The change in 2006-07 was -0.1%; 2007-08 -10.7%; 2008-09 -19.0%; 2009-2010 -0.7%!  So the question that comes to mind:  Whatever happened to the glass half full idea?  Prices fell 18.3% less in 2009-2010 from the previous year!  So do you need to make a really big deal out of the Home... 01/04/2011

  New Homes are still selling in Stockton and San Joaquin County - weekending 12/26/10 Homes in foreclosure or at risk of foreclosure still pressure home prices.  Wells Fargo proposes that sustainable housing numbers may not consistently improve until mid-2011. The following information has been extracted from New Homes Sales and Marketing reporting companies and on-site visits for the week ending 12/26/10: Focus on Stockton: Total Projects Reporting: 4: Traffic: 23; Sales: 0: Cancellations: 0; Net Sales: 0; YTD Sales: 103 San Joaquin County:               Total Projects Reporting:  27; Traffic: 82; Sales: 7; Cancellations: 1; Net Sales: 6; YTD Sales: 601 Lathrop reporting 3 projects: 0 new releases, 9 in available inventory; Linden reporting 1 project: 0 new releases, 3 in available in... 01/01/2011