Do You Have What it Takes to Do a Short Sale? - 05/31/12 07:07 AM
Not every seller is cut out to do a short sale. It takes a certain breed. Because there are never any guarantees. What a bank did yesterday it might not do tomorrow. So, if some supposed Sacramento short sale agent tells you he or she knows exactly what will happen, you better run like the wind. Nobody knows for certain. All we can do is guess-estimate.
Some things, however, are almost like writing on the wall. Like a hard-money loan in third position on a California short sale. You know where those third loans generally come from? Sources such as Key … (6 comments)

Failed Bank of America Loan Modifications are Short Sales in Disguise - 05/30/12 06:05 AM
I was reading a client response letter this morning. My former client wrote, "Elizabeth was excellent and made our short sale process so much better than it could have been. We have heard horror stories . . . " And it made me wonder how does she really know how awful it could have been? I try not to focus on the negative crap in a short sale. I don't always share with a seller every little horrid thing that happens either because I try to spare feelings. But the truth of it is short sales are not always a pleasant … (10 comments)

Three Cats and a Short Sale - 05/29/12 06:57 AM
It is not my job to make people put their homes in Sacramento on the market as a short sale. They either want to sell or they don't. Sometimes, I get calls from a spouse, for example, who wants me to talk the other spouse into selling. Sometimes, people aren't ready to sell even when they believe otherwise. I had potential clients last week who, when presented with the paperwork to sell, almost had a minor heart attack. I've never had that happen before.
They were shocked to learn that their home would go into escrow within days if not hours. … (8 comments)

How to Get Top Dollar for that Home in Land Park - 05/28/12 06:31 AM
You want to hear something insane? I ducked into Taylor's Market in Land Park this weekend for a quick stop to buy veggies. I wasn't buying enough stuff to require a cart or a hand-held basket, and I was in a hurry. So, I piled the veggies into my arms, rushed to the cash register to dump them, and the bill rang up to 8 cents shy of $29. What did I buy?
2 pounds of strawberries 20 ounces of lettuce 1/2 pound of mushrooms 12 ounces of tomatoes Granted, the mushrooms were sliced and the lettuce was washed, but geez … (6 comments)

MetroList Leads My Priority Worst Rankings for the Day - 05/27/12 08:35 AM
Which would you rather wake up to? Rebuild your email database or cat puke? It's a tough decision, but I think I'm gonna go with ishy, squishy cat puke between the toes. I try to keep my deleted emails under control but that danged Equator No Reply fills it up quickly.
That's because Equator now sends an email to say I have an email in Equator. It used to send the email content. That was pretty cool because I could read what it was about. It doesn't do that anymore. And every time an email is generated in Equator, I get … (5 comments)

The Apple Pie of Sacramento Short Sales is No Dessert - 05/26/12 07:37 AM
Imagine you're having dinner at a restaurant. You've finished your meal and are awaiting for dessert when your cell phone rings. So, you excuse yourself from the table, grab your cell and head out to the parking lot to talk. When you come back to your table, everybody is gone, the table is cleared, and the waiter elbows you to ask: "Do you have a reservation?"
You wonder if this is the Twilight Zone. You say, "I just want to eat my apple pie." No, the waiter says you must call a special 800# and make a reservation. Then, they will … (9 comments)

It's Better to Under-Promise and Over-Perform - 05/25/12 07:02 AM
I imagine today will start out in a frenzy and slowly fizzle out right after lunch. Many holiday weekends are like this as people prepare to go out of town. Some people are already gone as they turn a 3-day weekend into a 4-day weekend. My assistant is one of those people. I panicked because she was leaving me unsupervised. When there is nobody around to keep me in line, I can get into trouble. As if being a Sacramento short sale agent isn't trouble enough for one person.
My husband is already out of town. He is in Chicago visiting … (9 comments)

Guns Don't Kill People, Home Buyers With Guns Kill People - 05/24/12 06:40 AM
You might be wondering about the real estate market in Sacramento. The truth is it's way better to be a seller in Sacramento right now than to be a buyer. But that doesn't mean if you're a seller and a buyer that you're hosed. Be happy that you're not living in New Delhi where the monkeys are running wild in the streets, biting people and snatching bags from people's hands. Authorities have trapped something like 13,000 monkeys since 2007. Although I can certainly see the comparison to home buying and selling in Sacramento. It's a crazy market. Too bad we can't … (5 comments)

Don't Be Hard on the People Who Can't Read Email - 05/23/12 06:13 AM
Part of what makes a person a successful real estate agent is learning how to read other people and adapt to their needs. Not everybody is the same. For example, yesterday I had to drive over to Mercy Hospital in East Sacramento to get an offer signed. The seller had just finished performing a C-Section but he can't do email. I had tried to fax the offer electronically to his main office fax at the hospital but the machine could only accept 12 pages at a time. Which I did not figure out until I had sent 10 faxes.
I have … (7 comments)

Bank of America Wants You to Do a Short Sale - 05/22/12 07:11 AM
I don't know much about front-loading washing machines except that they use less water (which is great for our environment) and are horribly expensive. I know even less about whether I can stop the machine mid-cycle and open the door. Wouldn't water run all over the floor? But this is something one would want to do if one accidentally locked her cat in the washing machine.
That thought crossed my mind yesterday when I could not find my cat, Jackson. He wasn't in the living room or the family room. I called him and he didn't come. Didn't see him in … (12 comments)

Looking at Real Estate Websites From Both Sides Now - 05/21/12 06:44 AM
Here is another chapter of if I could change the world. I woke up this morning with Judy Collins on my brain. Strains of bows and flows and angel hair and ice cream castles in the air suddenly appeared out of nowhere. Probably because we have tickets to see Judy Collins at the Crest Theatre in Sacramento this November. I don't think I've ever seen her in concert, although I did buy her album Wildflowers in 1967. This was back in the day when you could have one hit song on an album and people would buy it.
I suppose I … (17 comments)

How to Donate Money to Help Bodie, The K9 Shot in Land Park - 05/20/12 07:32 AM
Here's one thing you don't expect to happen every day. You're a Land Park agent, out showing homes near Robertson and Riverside. You step outside into the sunshine and BAM, BAM, you hear gunshots. That's what happened on Friday to an Elizabeth Weintraub team member. The agent called to share the news about Bodie, the police dog who was shot in the line of duty. A suspected car thief shot the canine during a police chase through Land Park. Bodie was shot in his jaw and paw.
We talked about the dog for a few minutes, and then I asked if … (9 comments)

Don't Get Suckered Into Short Sale Mortgage Fraud - 05/19/12 06:25 AM
It's hard to think like a crook. Part of the problem is crooks are often not very smart. I mean, if they were smart, they would think of some other way to make a living than to be a crook. Because there are other options, you know. You don't have to turn to a life of crime to pay the bills.
I'm not talking the guy who shows up to rob a bank and leaves evidence of his home address at the teller's window. Or the burglar who breaks into your home and leaves his cell phone on the kitchen counter. … (9 comments)

Banks Rarely Reject a Short Sale Due to No Hardship - 05/18/12 07:05 AM
You wanna know what Sacramento short sale sellers wanna know? They all wanna know the same thing. Will their short sale be approved? The answer to that question if I am their Sacramento short sale agent is most likely yes. That's because I rarely get a short sale denied due to lack of hardship, and even those types tend to eventually close.
One of my readers mentioned in another blog that banks have 2 faces. That's a good analogy. There is the public face and there is the private, behind-the-doors face. The public face says we need to abide by our … (5 comments)

Sacramento Home Buyers Learn the Hard Way If You Snooze You Lose - 05/17/12 06:49 AM
Everybody has their own way of dealing with chaos. And chaos is exactly what we have in the Sacramento real estate market right now. It's absurd. The market is so wild that I've taken to putting listings on the market at midnight now. No joke. I'm not slipping them into MLS mid afternoon, no sirree. Live at midnight.
Then I get everybody into position for the onslaught the following morning. Shields in position, Scotty. Our gravitational sensors are spinning. Warp drive has been knocked out. All power to forward shields.
This is because emails go out to buyers from their agents … (7 comments)

If You Can't Believe a Green Tree Rep, By Gosh, Whom Can You Believe? - 05/16/12 06:47 AM
Why do people want to believe the bank is their friend? Those warm fuzzy days of friendly banksters are history. You especially can't believe what you hear from a bill collector such as Green Tree.
I know of Sacramento short sale agents who won't touch a Green Tree short sale with a 10-foot pole, but I'm not one of them. I routinely get Green Tree short sales approved. Even though Green Tree can be very aggressive. I hear from my Sacramento sellers how Green Tree treats them. They hound them to death.
Green Tree calls over and over to demand payment. … (24 comments)

How About This Slogan for JPMorgan Chase? - 05/15/12 07:07 AM
How did Jamie Dimon, the chairman and CEO of JPMorgan Chase, manage to lose $2 billion? You might ask why did the buyers of a Sacramento short sale cancel yesterday? Or, how did a Rocklin short sale go into escrow the day it came on the market? Why do people always want to know the why when the facts often speak for themselves. The "why" doesn't change the facts. It won't rewind the clock.
I had agents yesterday begging me to call them back and explain why a short sale was no longer available. It was no longer available because it … (8 comments)

Lindsey Buckingham, Whole Earth Festival and a GMAC Short Sale - 05/14/12 07:35 AM
If mama ain't happy, nobody is happy. That's the motto they should print on greeting cards for Mother's Day. But then some wiseass might say that every day is mother's day. Just like they used to tell us that every day was children's day when we were kids, but we knew better. And, fortunately, there were plenty of things to do in Sacramento yesterday to keep mama happy.
Not that I have a mom anymore. I'm an orphan. And I'm not a mother. Although some people might disagree with that statement, especially some short sale negotiators. But that doesn't stop me … (11 comments)

Do I Look Like I Fell Off a Turnip Truck To You? - 05/13/12 07:47 AM
One of my clients said to me the other day that he's afraid of me because he reads my blogs. He was half laughing but he was also half serious, I suspect. Of course, I find that sentiment hilarious. I do not think of myself as a frightening or scary person. Confident, but not overly so. Direct, but not insensitive. I have limitations. However, there is a line that most people won't cross because they know there are consequences.
Agents, especially, know there are consequences. The idea of consequences, I realize, is foreign to many people born after 1985, and to … (15 comments)

Think Before You Call the City to Complain About Your Neighbor's Lawn - 05/12/12 06:11 AM
It's like somebody turned loose all of the winged monkeys on a single day. There were so many of them flapping about yesterday that they were knocking each other out of the sky. Banging into each other. Boom! Splattered monkeys on the pavement. You might not know this, but winged monkeys lack the training to fly well in formation. They just go nuts when they are unsupervised. As goes the life of a Sacramento short sale agent.
You hand out short sale approval letters, and you'd think buyers and their agents would be ecstatic. But some of them take a wrong … (8 comments)

The First Rule to Talking on Your Cell Phone About Business - 05/11/12 06:59 AM
I do what I can to stop phone calls from coming to my phone. It's not that I don't want to talk to people, it's that I prefer to reserve time for phone conversations with people who are part of my business plan. This imaginary business plan that I don't really have. The one that says I should talk to people who will produce income for my business. This plan that is in my head. If you're not part of that plan, then do not call me, or at least don't call me during the week and during business hours.
Somebody … (61 comments)

Patti Smith at the Mondavi Center or What the Heck is Wrong With Davis - 05/10/12 07:12 AM
Anybody who knows me at all knows that I am a rebel. I buck the system. That's my nature and I'm unapologetic about it. I own that about myself. I am also a conformist. You have to conform to be a successful Sacramento short sale agent because you need to have systems in place, to do the same things in the same order over and over until it becomes second nature.
Like every morning I write a blog.
Thought I would begin this morning by writing about Patti Smith because we went to Mondavi Center for Arts last night to see … (3 comments)

Forget About Selling Homes in Land Park - 05/09/12 07:08 AM
People think real estate is the business to be in if you don't want to be accountable to anybody. They all want to be their own boss, and probably a lazy boss at that, when you get right down to it. But that's not the best business for lazy people. Especially if you are a Land Park agent. Days of being lazy are few and rare. Nope, the business to be in is home repair.
Yup, home repair. This includes home improvement as well. Doesn't matter which you choose if it involves some dude or dudette coming out to your house … (6 comments)

We Don't Exist in a Vacuum - 05/08/12 07:25 AM
Everything you do and say will be used against you. But that's how life is even when you're NOT under arrest. You can't walk through a shopping mall without those sitting at outdoor tables judging you. Oh, they might not wink, wink, nudge each other, but they have thoughts in their head. They're thinking: man, who let him out of the house dressed like that, or I wish I had her butt or where did that kid get a sucker as big as his head? Human nature, you can't stop it.
Perception is all around us. Sometimes, it's real and sometimes … (4 comments)

How to Tell When the Market Begins to Recover in Sacramento - 05/07/12 07:02 AM
Because I sell so many homes every year, I am in a unique position to watch what happens in the market across the Sacramento four-county area. Not only am a busy Sacramento short sale agent, but every so often I list and sell a home in which the seller has equity. I get a real mix; although my concentration, due to the market, is basically short sales. I will most likely, based on present production, close more than 100 homes this year without much trouble.
I was talking to an agent a few days ago who used to work at Lyon … (6 comments)

A Buyer's Agent is Your Key to Short Sale Offer Acceptance - 05/06/12 07:52 AM
Stop selling your buyers and start selling yourself, I want to tell buyer's agents. But it's not really my place to say it. I'm just a Sacramento short sale agent. I represent sellers. I refer buyers to my trusted team members and work exclusively with sellers. My job is to get the bank to accept their short sale and close that puppy. I do it quickly, efficiently and quietly, without a lot of drama, if I can help it.
But this seller's market is taxing on everybody. It's really hard on sellers. Oh, you might think it's all fun and games … (9 comments)

What's Wrong With Offering Over List Price for a Short Sale When the Offer is Cash? - 05/05/12 07:09 AM
Can you tell me how many offers you have received? That's the question I hear over and over when I answer my phone. That's because I am a Sacramento short sale agent. No wonder agents don't want to answer the phone. I want to say what difference does it make? Didn't you see the scores of agents and their buyers standing on the front steps of that home waiting to get inside? Can't you see it's been in MLS for two whole days which means we probably have 2 dozen offers? Have you been sleeping under a rock and just now … (14 comments)

Are You Gonna Die on that Natural Hazard Disclosure Hill in this Short Sale? - 05/04/12 07:07 AM
On which hill do you wanna die? That's an expression I sometimes apply to my business. Because sometimes you've gotta take a stand, especially when you're a Sacramento short sale agent. But taking a stand has consequences. If you're gonna do battle, you take a chance on being killed. Not literally, of course. So I choose my hills for my battles. I can't always choose my battles because adversity goes hand-in-hand with Sacramento short sales. No way around it.
But the hill on which I'm gonna die, you betcha. And there's a good chance I'm not gonna die. I like to … (7 comments)

Fastest Freddie Mac HAFA Short Sale: 48-Hour Turnaround - 05/03/12 07:54 AM
The lesson for today is don't ever try to do a short sale by yourself. Hire a Sacramento short sale agent. Or, if you live in some other part of the country, hire the best short sale agent you can find there. Unlike a loan modification, which you can do yourself, there is no real do-it-yourself short sale. You need a pro. An agent or a lawyer with plenty of short sale experience. That's because there are too many things that can go wrong.
I mean, call me silly, but if I were a seller, I would want my agent to … (5 comments)

The Fastest Growing Cities in California - 05/02/12 06:42 AM
Sometimes, I want to grab people by the shoulders and shake them. OK, sometimes is understated. I want to do this almost every single day. I want to say "apply critical thinking," or "consider the source." But I've also been around the block enough to know that people often don't listen, don't want to know and, half the time don't really give enough of a crap to take responsibility. It's too easy for us to make others responsible for our bad decisions and point fingers, assign blame elsewhere. It's the American way.
You hear the expression: think outside the box. I'd … (9 comments)

Is it OK for a Listing Agent to Negotiate With the Buyer? - 05/01/12 07:39 AM
It's not often that I talk directly with a buyer in the middle of negotiations. Because when it's my listing, I represent the seller as a listing agent. My fiduciary is to the seller. Fiduciary is an extremely important element in real estate. A fact that no agent should ever forget or temporarily misplace. It's not just the liability, either, it's common sense.
As the representative for the seller, I must look out for the seller's best interests at all times. Number one on that list of best interests, of course, is closing the transaction. Number two is closing it with … (6 comments)

 
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Elizabeth Weintraub, Sacramento Short Sale Agent, Land Park, East Sac, Lyon RE

Sacramento, CA

More about me…

Top 1% at Lyon Real Estate #00697006

Address: 2801 J Street, Sacramento, CA, 95816

Office Phone: (916) 233-6759

Cell Phone: (916) 233-6759

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Broker-Associate at Lyon Real Estate, midtown Sacramento. Selling since 1974. Home Buying Guide at About.com. Sacramento short sale agent.
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Author Bio: Elizabeth Weintraub is a Sacramento real estate broker, author, home buying guide for About.com, a Land Park resident, and a Land Park agent who specializes in older, classic homes in Land Park, Curtis Park, Midtown and East Sacramento. Weintraub is also a Sacramento Short Sale agent who lists and successfully closes short sales throughout Sacramento four-county area. Call Elizabeth Weintraub at 916.233.6759. Put 35 years of real estate experience to work for you.

 


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