Selling Sacramento: Market Clarity with Agent Kee

Keisha "Agent Kee" Mathews
  • 5.0 (1)
  • Investing
  • Updated Biweekly

Sacramento's housing market, decoded weekly — without the panic, hype, or headline noise. Selling Sacramento is the market clarity podcast for first-time buyers, equity sellers, legacy-building homeowners, and agents sharpening their craft. Hosted by Keisha "Agent Kee" Mathews — broker, developer, and real estate economist — pulling from her live 97.5 FM KDEE program with added case studies and deeper analysis you won't hear on air. Expect honest talk on neighborhoods, homeownership, appraisals, financing, equity, and legacy. Your Mission. My Expertise.™ New Wednesdays.

  1. 1d ago

    Elk Grove's New $60,000 Homebuyer Program and Rates Above 7%

    Mortgage rates crossed 7%. Elk Grove approved a second homebuyer assistance program. California signed new housing laws, including a pilot that names Sacramento County. State Farm and Allstate filed to return to the homeowners market. Agent Kee explains what each change means for buying, owning, and selling a home in the Sacramento region. Show notes • Market check: Freddie Mac's 30-year average reaches 7.03%, and how to compare lender quotes • Segment 1: Elk Grove's existing 80% AMI program and its new 81% to 120% AMI program, what we know, and how to prepare • Segment 2: The September 29 housing package, read through the costs of building: land, construction, fees, time, and financing • Segment 3: State Farm and Allstate's filings, why availability is not affordability, and insurance preparation for buyers and sellers • Extended: How deferred assistance loans affect your equity, and how to read housing statistics Schedule a conversation at AgentKee.com. Selling Sacramento airs live Wednesdays 1 to 2 PM on 97.5 FM KDEE, the Soul of Sacramento™.

  2. 6d ago

    Mortgage Rates Near 7%: The Fed Rate Hike, California Proposition 37, and What Sacramento Buyers Should Do

    The Federal Reserve raised rates on September 16, 2026, for the first time since 2023, and mortgage rates are now near 7 percent. On this episode of Selling Sacramento, we talk through what that means for you, what California Proposition 37 on the November 3 ballot would actually do, and where the Sacramento housing market stands right now. In this episode: Does a Fed rate hike raise mortgage rates? Why mortgage rates follow the bond market, and what the Fed does affect directly, including credit cards and home equity lines of credit.How much a higher rate adds to a monthly payment on a Sacramento County median-priced home.What you control when rates rise: your credit, your debt, your loan type, how you compare lenders, and what you negotiate.What is California Proposition 37? How the proposed $25 billion CalHFA homebuyer loan program would work, who qualifies, and which homes are eligible.Why Proposition 37 is a loan, not a grant, and why it does not apply to existing homes.Down payment affordability and monthly payment affordability are two different problems. Which one Proposition 37 addresses.Sacramento County's August 2026 numbers: a $549,000 median price, flat from a year ago, with homes selling in a median of 25 days. Plus Placer and El Dorado counties.What sellers should do this fall, including how a rate buydown credit compares with a price reduction.Where buyers have room to negotiate. A note on timing: This episode aired live on September 23, 2026, when the Freddie Mac 30-year average was 6.95 percent. On September 24, it rose to 7.03 percent. Read the full written breakdown:https://agentkee.com/blog/california-proposition-37-fed-rate-hike-sacramento-housing-august-2026 Talk through your own numbers: Chat with Kee Listen live every Wednesday, 1 to 2 PM: 97.5 FM KDEE, the Soul of Sacramento | www.kdeefm.org/listen-live Sources: Federal Reserve; Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey; California Association of REALTORS® August 2026 Home Sales and Price Report; California Secretary of State Official Voter Information Guide; Legislative Analyst's Office. Selling Sacramento: Market Clarity with Agent Kee is a weekly real estate radio show hosted by Keisha "Agent Kee" Mathews, broker and owner of Mathews & Co. Realty Group, airing live Wednesdays from 1 to 2 PM on 97.5 FM KDEE in Sacramento. Keisha "Agent Kee" MathewsBroker | Real Estate Economist | Strategic AdvisorMathews & Co. Realty Group | CA DRE #01439130 | #02015028

  3. Sep 15

    What California Homeowners Need to Know Before September 30

    Right now there are bills sitting on the Governor's desk that would change who has to prove they are lending to you fairly, what you are allowed to build in your own backyard, and what your insurance company owes you before it drops you. He has until September 30. If he does nothing at all, some of them become law anyway. Almost none of the people those bills would affect know they exist. This week Agent Kee takes you through the three questions that actually decide whether you can own a home right now. Can you get the loan. Can you carry it. Can you insure what you bought. You will hear: The fair lending bill that got quietly narrowed on its way to the Governor, and why the findings will never be public, no matter what happens to it. What you are entitled to today if you were turned down for a mortgage and the reason did not match your file. The bill that would cancel your HOA's ban on a back house. Why rates went up again, and the chain that runs from a tanker in the Persian Gulf to your monthly payment. Whether that number everyone is afraid of really costs what you think it costs, and what waiting actually buys you once the price of the house moves while you wait. And the question most buyers ask two weeks too late, which is not whether they qualify for the house, but whether anyone will insure it. No hype. No guessing at what rates will do. Just what is verifiable, what it costs in real dollars, and what you can still control. Selling Sacramento: Market Clarity with Agent Kee airs live Wednesdays from 1 to 2 PM on 97.5 FM KDEE, the Soul of Sacramento. Keisha "Agent Kee" Mathews is a REALTOR and REALTIST, Broker and Owner of Mathews & Co. Realty Group. To put real numbers to your own situation, book time at AgentKee.com.

  4. Sep 5

    Should You Get Your Real Estate License in 2026

    The median agent with two years or less in the business grossed $8,000 in 2025. The median agent's business expenses were $9,530. That gap is where most real estate careers end, and almost nobody explains it before someone signs up for licensing school. In this episode, Agent Kee answers a question she gets asked constantly: is right now a good time to become a real estate agent. The answer comes from data rather than encouragement. The episode covers the current state of the profession, including national membership figures, income by years of experience, and California licensee counts from the Department of Real Estate. It then walks through the three structural changes a new agent is entering into. How compensation is negotiated after the August 2024 rule changes. What the Compass and Anywhere merger did and did not do to the brokerage landscape. And what artificial intelligence actually absorbed, which is the entry-level work that used to give new agents a way in. The episode closes with five questions that predict who lasts in this business, an honest description of who should not enter it, and the case for why the advisory work matters more now than it has in years. Agent Kee is a broker, developer, and housing advocate in Sacramento, and the owner of Mathews and Co. Realty Group. Selling Sacramento airs Wednesdays at 1 PM on 97.5 FM KDEE, the Soul of Sacramento™. To talk through your own situation, buying, selling, or building a career in this business, book time at agentkee.com.

  5. Sep 2

    Dolly's House That Whitney Built: What the Internet Got Wrong and the Real Lesson About Ownership

    Dolly Parton died last week, and one story has been everywhere: that she took the millions Whitney Houston's recording of "I Will Always Love You" earned her and bought a commercial property in a Black Nashville neighborhood, calling it "the house that Whitney built." It's a beautiful story. The property records tell a different one. In this episode, Agent Kee follows two assets through the same lesson. First the song, including the 1974 phone call from Elvis Presley's manager demanding half of Dolly's publishing, and the night she said no and cried about it. Then the real estate, and what NPR found when it went back to the Nashville Planning Department and checked the dates the Washington Post had reported. Then the part the tribute posts skip: what happened to that corner over the next thirty years, and who was still holding title when the value showed up. And because this is not just a Nashville story, Kee brings it home to Oak Park, Del Paso Heights and Meadowview, with the numbers on what the foreclosure crisis did to Black homeownership in Sacramento County and where the appreciation went afterward. One question runs through all of it. When the value shows up, will your name be on the deed? Sources cited in the episode notes. Selling Sacramento airs live Wednesdays 1 to 2 PM on 97.5 FM KDEE, the Soul of Sacramento. Book a consultation at AgentKee.com.

  6. Aug 13

    Is It a Good Time to Buy a Home? How We Got to the 2026 Housing Market

    I've had several conversations lately with people asking me the same question: Is this really a good time to buy a home? The concern behind that question made me realize that people need more than another prediction about where home prices or mortgage rates are headed. They need to understand how we got here. In this episode of Selling Sacramento, I'm walking through nearly two decades of housing history—from the 2008 housing crash to the Sacramento market we're standing in today. We start with what actually broke during the Great Recession and what happened when the construction industry lost roughly 2.3 million jobs. Then we follow what happened next: the decline of the skilled-trades pipeline, California's emphasis on the four-year college pathway, the short sale and REO years, First Look programs that gave owner-occupants an opportunity to compete for foreclosed homes, and the generational wealth that was created in some of Sacramento's historically overlooked neighborhoods. Then we get to 2019, because COVID did not create Sacramento's housing shortage. Inventory was already extremely tight before the pandemic began. When historically low mortgage rates collided with that shortage in 2020 and 2021, purchasing power increased, competition exploded and Sacramento home values accelerated at a pace far beyond the region's historical average. So why didn't prices crash when mortgage rates went back above 6%? Why aren't homeowners selling? What happened to rates in 2026? How do construction labor, housing inventory, inflation and the cost of financing all connect? And after all of that: Is now actually a good time to buy? There isn't one answer for everybody. My goal is to give you enough context to understand the market so you can make a better decision for yourself and your family. Selling Sacramento with Agent Kee Mathews97.5 FM KDEE — The Soul of Sacramento™AgentKee.com

  7. Jul 30

    Short Sales, Explained

    About two percent of mortgaged homes in this country are underwater. That number is nowhere near where it was during the Great Recession, and it is not a description of your house. The stress in today's market is concentrated, not spread evenly. If you are standing in one of those pockets, the national average does not help you. In this episode, Agent Kee walks through short sales from the homeowner's side of the table. She explains what a short sale is in plain terms, how it differs from foreclosure, a loan modification, and a deed in lieu, and why understanding those differences can protect your financial future. You'll also learn how California's nonjudicial foreclosure process works—from the first missed payment through the Notice of Default, the reinstatement period, the Notice of Trustee Sale, and the foreclosure auction—and why seven months of runway is often much shorter than it sounds when lender approval alone can take 60 to 90 days. The episode also addresses five of the biggest misconceptions about short sales: Do you have to be behind on your mortgage to qualify? Will you still owe the difference after the sale? Can you afford to sell if you have no money for closing costs? Why do lenders approve short sales? Is a short sale as damaging as a foreclosure? Agent Kee also discusses what actually causes short sales to fail, why timing is one of the most important factors in a successful outcome, and how to recognize foreclosure rescue scams that often target homeowners immediately after a Notice of Default is recorded. Agent Kee is a licensed California real estate broker and real estate economist. She is not an attorney or CPA, and nothing discussed in this episode should be considered legal or tax advice. Always consult qualified professionals regarding your specific situation. Selling Sacramento airs live every Wednesday from 1:00–2:00 PM on 97.5 FM KDEE, The Soul of Sacramento™. Learn more or schedule a confidential consultation at AgentKee.com.

  8. Jul 23

    Navigating New Home Construction: What Every California Buyer Should Know

    Whether you're buying your first newly built home or your next one, understanding the construction process before you sign a contract can save you time, money, and frustration. In this episode of the Selling Sacramento Podcast, Keisha "Agent Kee" Mathews breaks down what buyers need to know about purchasing new construction in California. You'll learn what to expect from construction timelines, builder contracts, deposits, design center upgrades, inspections, financing, warranties, and why having your own representation matters throughout the process. If you're considering a new home in communities throughout Sacramento, Elk Grove, Folsom, Roseville, Rancho Cordova, Natomas, or elsewhere in California, this episode will help you approach the process with confidence. Topics include: Understanding construction timelinesBuilder deposits and upgrade costsBuilder contracts and negotiationsInspections throughout constructionFinancing and rate locksBuilder warrantiesChoosing upgrades wiselyWhy your own REALTOR® mattersRead the companion article:Navigating New Home Construction For questions about buying new construction in the Sacramento region, visit:AgentKee.com

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Sacramento's housing market, decoded weekly — without the panic, hype, or headline noise. Selling Sacramento is the market clarity podcast for first-time buyers, equity sellers, legacy-building homeowners, and agents sharpening their craft. Hosted by Keisha "Agent Kee" Mathews — broker, developer, and real estate economist — pulling from her live 97.5 FM KDEE program with added case studies and deeper analysis you won't hear on air. Expect honest talk on neighborhoods, homeownership, appraisals, financing, equity, and legacy. Your Mission. My Expertise.™ New Wednesdays.

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