elizabeth weintraub: I am Looking for a Land Park Agent to Sell My Home in Land Park
- 12/17/11 03:59 AM
I get a lot of emails about buying and selling homes in Land Park. That's because I live in Land Park, and I specialize in Land Park. Out of any neighborhood in my four-county Sacramento area, I know the various Land Park neighborhoods the best. I do so much in Land Park that I am Zillow Land Park agent as well. But I've also been in the business for more than 30 years. Last month I earned top agent at Lyon Real Estate out of the 900-or so agents in the company. As a Life Member of Master's Club and a … (5 comments)
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elizabeth weintraub: How I Tattooed My Face and Survived to List Another Sacramento Short Sale
- 12/15/11 03:30 AM
Some sellers strip homes when they move. It's not just the stripping of foreclosures that causes problems in a Sacramento real estate transaction, although those situations can make it difficult for a buyer to get a loan. And the insurance companies, I hear, are pursuing previous owners who have bashed the daylights out of their former homes.
Some sellers take everything that is not tied down and then some. They even unscrew the light bulbs, if you can believe that. How much is a 99-cent light bulb with 25% of its useful life remaining actually worth? It makes you wonder if … (9 comments)
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elizabeth weintraub: A Sacramento Lawyer Might Not Want to Hire Herself as a Client to Buy or Sell a Short Sale
- 12/09/11 01:42 AM
Some people are so busy being a pompous ass that they can't listen when you try to tell them good news. They want to hear the sound of their own voice and not yours. If they would just quiet down for a moment, they might find out important information about a Sacramento short sale.
But this is the thing about talking to people from the public. Odds are some of them are jerks. They are the kind who will cut in line at the grocery store and then ram the cart into your back. They can't win with you because if … (4 comments)
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elizabeth weintraub: REALTORS® Who Advise Represented Parties Are Interfering in Another REALTOR'S® Transaction
- 12/08/11 01:52 AM
I was over at the Med Center yesterday listing a house. It's a short sale, like many in Sacramento. As I was walking through the home, doing my agent visual inspection, my phone rang. I'm always a bit conscious when I'm in a vacant house and talking on my cell because I tend to pace the floor when I talk. I can't stand still. No way, Jose. As a result, the sound of my heels clicking on hardwood floors echoes through my Jawbone device. I imagine that sound is not a very pleasant experience for the caller on the other end.
… (8 comments)
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elizabeth weintraub: Where Are the Honest Real Estate Agents?
- 12/06/11 02:35 AM
Every so often, I write a controversial blog on my homebuying website, which I am contracted by the New York Times to do for About.com. Being a little bit of a troublemaker, sometimes I provoke people. But when I do, they don't respond. When I don't, they go wild. Some of the responses astonish me. That's because the blogs I think are controversial hardly get any responses at all. Sometimes I am practically begging for controversy but those blogs get ignored. And the blogs that are fairly straight forward and innocent, whammo, some of those get attacked. The comments can be … (9 comments)
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elizabeth weintraub: Hello? Hello? Where is My Bank of America Short Sale Approval Letter?
- 12/05/11 03:50 AM
It would be nice if things worked exactly the way they are supposed to work, but they don't. Like this morning, I pressed the button to turn on my cellphone and nothing happened. You know the definition of insanity, right? Doing the same thing over and over and getting the same result? I pressed the button again and again. I'm not immune to insanity, obviously. In fact, we're on a first name basis. Hello insanity. Hello Sacramento short sale agent. See, it knows my occupation. That's how intimate we are.
But at least I have some common sense. And common sense … (6 comments)
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elizabeth weintraub: Not Just the Number One Short Sale Agent but the Number One Agent at Lyon Real Estate for November
- 12/03/11 02:46 AM
I was sitting at a client's dining room table in Elk Grove yesterday when the news hit. I had just handed the seller his MARS document and had explained the seller's right to cancel the short sale listing at any time -- which seems to reassure sellers and make them feel more comfortable -- and I also gave him time to read it. I don't rush anybody. During this time period, I pulled out my cell to check if there were any emergencies.
Holy toledo, Batman, I spotted an email congratulating me for being the number one agent at Lyon Real … (6 comments)
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elizabeth weintraub: SB 458 That Amends CA Civil Code 580e Doesn't Necessarily Mean No Seller Contribution in a Short Sale
- 11/25/11 03:41 AM
Before I tell you how to work within SB 458 in a Sacramento short sale, let's first talk about Thanksgiving. I pride myself as a person who pays attention to detail. I would never, for example, just presume that simply because a restaurant advertises it features a Thanksgiving meal that you're gonna get turkey. There is no guarantee that T-Day equals a bird. You might get turkey loaf, like my sister did when she went to the Nicollet Island Inn in Minneapolis. Or roasted turkey breast, for those who went to the Firehouse Restaurant in Old Sacramento.
But if you're like … (5 comments)
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elizabeth weintraub: The Cowboys and Cowgirls of Real Estate Sell Short Sales
- 11/19/11 03:49 AM
I just received a fan-email from an agent in her 70s. I think she's from New York. Said she had been spending the day yesterday reading my stuff on short sales on About.com, because she now needs to service these types of listings. She offered me a play on words: deed-in-lieu of foreclosure or Elizabeth Weintraub in-lieu of CRS course. I think what she meant was in-lieu-of CDPE.
Agents should get training from a multitude of sources, but the most important place to get training, it turns out, is sometimes from yourself. From experience. I learn from myself all of the … (7 comments)
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elizabeth weintraub: Krushchev's Due at Idlewild; Car 54, Where Are You?
- 11/15/11 02:03 AM
I've often said I would prefer to do a root canal than have to deal with an AMS Bank of America short sale. Well, this morning, lucky me -- I get that wish. I'm going in for a root canal at 9 AM and guess what? I don't have a single AMS Bank of America short sale in the works. This is my lucky day! That's my tradeoff. Root canal and no AMS Bank of America. Sounds fair to me.
This is what being a Sacramento short sale agent can drive a person to. To looking for a silver lining like … (9 comments)
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elizabeth weintraub: Don't Hate Me Because I Sell Sacramento Short Sales
- 11/14/11 02:19 AM
I am a Sacramento short sale agent, and I am proud of what I do. The services provided are such that not every agent can or wants to do it. But I don't want to be hated for it. The thing is when a person is successful in the real estate business, automatically there are agents who build up an intense hatred because they, themselves, are not successful. It's the weirdest thing ever.
I know there are agents in Sacramento who are very unhappy when their seller fires them and hires me. I don't call these sellers; I don't solicit the … (1 comments)
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elizabeth weintraub: A Short Sale Agent Often Wonders Were You Lying Then or Are You Lying Now
- 10/21/11 03:17 AM
A home seller in Land Park asked me yesterday what I have learned in my life's journey thus far. That was an odd question. It was a question that can't be answered in one sentence. Well, I suppose I could have said: We're all gonna die. Or, that nothing matters half as much 5 years from now as you think it matters today. Or, even we all create our own reality. Which we do. We're 100% responsible for how we feel and think. If you're miserable, it's your own damn fault.
Instead I said I've learned to say NO without providing … (9 comments)
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elizabeth weintraub: Is There Life In a Short Sale After a HAFA Short Sale?
- 10/19/11 02:57 AM
As a Sacramento short sale agent, there is no such day as a boring day. I never sit around wondering where my next fresh hell is coming from because I already know. It's one of 2 places. It's the computer or my phone. People aren't running after me as I drive down the street or accosting me in elevators. But they do call and text and email all day long.
Yesterday, some of my excitement was: is there life after a HAFA short sale? In one of my transactions, I am still ticked that the buyer booted my seller out of … (5 comments)
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elizabeth weintraub: Investors: Beware of the Purchase Eligibility Certification in an IndyMac Short Sale
- 10/16/11 04:03 AM
I spend most of my Saturdays writing articles about home buying and home selling for About.com. Yesterday, I wrote an article about whether a seller with a real estate license can represent herself as a short sale agent. Short sale agency relationships can be complicated. I should have been writing about whether an agent can represent herself as a buyer's agent for a short sale. And maybe I'll write that one next week.
In some cases, it's easier to represent yourself but it's not always wiser. I have helped agents buy short sales in Sacramento but let's make no mistake about … (3 comments)
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elizabeth weintraub: Short Sales and the Twilight Zone Share Similarities that Mortgage Brokers and Morton's Do Not
- 10/14/11 03:03 AM
There are agents in town who think this particular Sacramento short sale agent can walk on water. Perhaps these are agents who hang out at pot dispensaries. I don't understand that perception. Yes, it's true that miracles happen every day, but not as a direct result of my actions. They happen because we agents in the short sale world live in the Twilight Zone. Nothing is as it seems. Nothing really makes sense. And I'm OK with that.
I've learned how to be successful in this type of dysfunctional system know as Sacramento short sales. I can sail my ship across … (3 comments)
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elizabeth weintraub: If You Ever Needed a Good Reason to Ditch the BlackBerry, Here You Go
- 10/13/11 03:11 AM
Yesterday was BlackBerry hell. The funny thing is a week ago I had decided to ditch my BlackBerry. It's almost like I can sense the storm on the horizon before it arrives. You can smell a rain storm approaching, you know. Or maybe I just enjoy good timing. Coincindinky, I dunno. But when you've got complete strangers in the grocery store coming up to you and asking why you're still carting around a BlackBerry when the Droid is available -- implying that you're living in the dinosaur ages -- it's time to think about a new phone.
"What's up with the … (18 comments)
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elizabeth weintraub: This Certified Short Sale Specialist is Your Mount Rushmore for a Sacramento HAFA Short Sale
- 10/12/11 02:25 AM
I suspect most baby boomers can name the 4 guys in The Beatles with more ease than recalling the 4 presidents at Mount Rushmore. In fact, I bet most people can name all of Santa's raindeer and each of the 7 dwarfs before they can tell you who is on Mount Rushmore. It's just a place, although a National Memorial, where parents drag their kids at least one lucky summer out of their lives.
Although mine never did. I had to catch Mount Rushmore on my way to Sacramento from Minneapolis. My husband went a different route when he drove out … (4 comments)
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elizabeth weintraub: If You Want to Do Serious Shoe Shopping in Sacramento, You Probably Have to Go to San Francisco
- 10/10/11 03:29 AM
About once every 3 months on a Sunday, I find a couple of hours to go shopping at the downtown Sacramento mall. It's not so much that I really enjoy shopping as it is a necessity in my line of work. When my husband is out of town, it's also an alternative to having to do my own laundry. If I could get away with wearing t-shirts with holes in them and beat-up jeans, that's what I would wear to meet with clients. But as a Sacramento short sale agent, my sellers expect me to dress the part. It kind of … (4 comments)
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elizabeth weintraub: When You Break Your TV in Sacramento, You May as Well Suck it Up and Call Surewest
- 10/08/11 03:49 AM
I do not have the temperament to work in technical support. Those people are a breed apart for whom I have tremendous respect. You can tell that they put up with a lot of nonsense and idiots. As a Sacramento short sale agent, I deal with nonsense and idiots day in and day out. I recognize it when I see it.
Like last night. I had to call Surewest because I broke my TV. I broke my TV because I have a big screen plasma and a 13-inch TV brain. I could handle the days of rearranging the scrunched-up aluminum foil … (11 comments)
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elizabeth weintraub: Is Everybody Drinking the Same Kool-Aid?
- 10/06/11 04:01 AM
There are some days that seem to be filled with stupidity. There's just no other way to put it. I expect a little stupidity here and there because that's how life is. You take the good with the bad. The smart with the stupid. The honest with the liars. But it can get a little overbearing at times and make an agent wonder: Is everybody drinking the same Kool-Aid?
An agent in my office told me about her experiences after a recent closing. She represented the buyers. Buyers who thought she should give them $2,000 of her commission because that's what … (11 comments)
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I get a lot of emails about buying and selling homes in Land Park. That's because I live in Land Park, and I specialize in Land Park. Out of any neighborhood in my four-county Sacramento area, I know the various Land Park neighborhoods the best. I do so much in Land Park that I am Zillow Land Park agent as well. But I've also been in the business for more than 30 years. Last month I earned top agent at Lyon Real Estate out of the 900-or so agents in the company. As a Life Member of Master's Club and a … (5 comments)
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