homebuying: Online Real Estate Porn of Homes in Sacramento - 02/13/14 12:27 AM
I received an atta-girl letter yesterday from a reader of my articles about homebuying on About.com. Just out of the clear blue. It sounded like something I would force a person to write if I tied them up and put a gun to their head -- it was pretty flowery and flattering. It just surprised me that some person would read my words and care enough to write to me. I get these every so often and they really make my day. It's nice to be appreciated. It's not mandatory but it's nice. Especially since I can be really opinionated. That's … (7 comments)

homebuying: Why a Short Sale Agent Cannot Give Legal Advice - 06/03/12 11:31 PM
My brain is constantly switching between national and local real estate. That's because when I write about homebuying for the New York Times About.com, I try to lean on the national approach. However, when I write my personal blog, it's from a local viewpoint. When I speak to home buyers and home sellers in Sacramento, it's local. All real estate is local.
Yet that doesn't change the fact that when it comes to legal advice, I can't give it. Even if I think I may know the answer, I can't give it to a seller or a buyer. I am not … (9 comments)

homebuying: If You Believe This, I've Got Some Swamp Land in Florida to Sell You - 02/15/12 01:37 AM
The thing about writing about what really happens to you in your life is you don't have to make up anything. It almost seems like cheating. To just write about crap that happens. No embellishments. But that's why I don't have any problem writing a daily blog or coming up with stuff to write about because life happens every single day, whether or not I agree.
It's tough choosing what to write about. So much goes on. Sometimes, it's the very last thing that happened that sticks in my head, which is what I'm choosing to talk about today. I could … (7 comments)

homebuying: My Once in a Lifetime Achievement - 02/03/12 01:36 AM
I finally accomplished a feat that ended up achieving a goal I didn't create. While I like competition as much as the next guy -- after all, I am a Sacramento short sale agent which, by its very nature, should make me somewhat competitive -- I am not driven by competition. I don't have to be better than anybody else, I just have to make more money, haha.
Seriously, though, given a choice between celebrity status or being stinkin' rich, I'll take the money. Haven't you ever had discussions like that? Well, I did, when I was younger. Before the days … (5 comments)

homebuying: 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)

homebuying: What Makes a Real Estate Agent a Professional? - 11/28/11 03:24 AM
There are some jobs that I will never have. Yup, it's time that I admit it. When you reach a certain age, you come to the terms with that fact. It is the inevitable. For example, I will never be a bandleader for the Jimmy Fallon show, regardless of how much fun that has been lately and how jealous I might be of that guy.
I will also never be a Hot Kush or Ganja Juice Girl. That's got to be pretty much the equivalent of participating in a wet t-shirt contest but the pay / prizes are probably much better. … (11 comments)

homebuying: Two Tips for the Price of One About Closing That Difficult Short Sale - 10/09/11 04:10 AM
One of the big benefits of writing about homebuying for About.com is I get to write whatever I want to write. Nobody tells me what to say or censors my material. It's like writing a blog except I get paid directly for it. You could write for About.com, too, if you have a passion for a topic and consider yourself an expert. It pays very well. You could probably live on it.
I noticed yesterday that I have written 97 short sale articles so far. Make no mistake, being a Sacramento short sale agent has been beneficial to me in more … (45 comments)

homebuying: Help, My Computer is on Fire - 07/25/11 02:59 AM
I'd like to say that I play computer games to bridge "down" time, but that would be a lie. As a Sacramento short sale agent, I don't have any free time during the week. I work my butt off from Monday to Friday, typically from 5 AM to 7 PM. Yup, I put in 14-hour days / 70-hour weeks on selling Sacramento short sales.
On Saturday, I write several articles and a handful of blogs at my second job, for which I am paid by the New York Times. Not everybody can work at this pace, but it works for me. … (12 comments)

homebuying: What Do You Do Besides Sell Sacramento Short Sales? - 05/13/11 08:03 AM
If you ask this Sacramento short sale agent what she does besides sell short sales, the answer would be very little. I start work sometime between 5 AM and 6 AM every day. I end at 9 PM, at which point I either read for a while or immediately fall asleep. Unless I have some awful thing happen during the day that I can bend my husband's ear yakking about. It wouldn't surprise me to learn that he wears earplugs to bed and has just never told me.
I work 7 days a week, too, because I also write for About.com … (8 comments)

homebuying: You Never Know How You Might Be Found in Google - 04/03/11 03:54 AM
I might walk under a ladder, and I don't care if a black cat crosses my path. I'm not really superstitious, but just to be safe I think I'll knock on wood when I type the next sentence. I have not received a speeding ticket for years. It's not because I don't speed. I suspect it's because I am lucky.
I bought a new car that has a weird quirk. When I exceed 75 MPH, a spoiler pops up to keep the car stable and on the road. Not that I probably need this spoiler at 75 MPH -- maybe 100 … (14 comments)

homebuying: Should Consumers Review Their Real Estate Agents Online? - 07/18/10 04:00 AM
I am at a conference in Seattle for About.com. Every year About.com hosts a "guide event" for its writers. I don't know how many people write for About.com at the moment, but I imagine it's more than 700 or so. Everybody has their own little domain. Mine is Home Buying. I've been writing for About.com for a little over four years.
About.com is owned by The New York Times. We are a profit center for the NYT, which is good news because as we all know, newspapers are hurting financially, and I'd hate to see a great paper like the NYT … (12 comments)

homebuying: Where Do Real Estate Agents Draw the Line Before Crossing It? - 06/26/10 03:32 AM
I have noticed something peculiar happening in the Sacramento real estate market. Now, ordinarily, I do not pay much attention to what other agents are doing because, quite frankly, it's none of my business. My business is to write weekly articles for my homebuying website at About.com, sell my listings -- short sale or otherwise -- put my buyers into contract and write a daily Elizabeth Weintraub blog. That's enough stuff to keep me busy. You know what they say about busy people? If you want something done right, ask a busy person to do it.
Lately, though, I've noticed that … (63 comments)

homebuying: An Agent Can Never Assume a Home Buyer Knows How Real Estate Works - 03/28/10 01:51 AM
Last night a reporter sat across from me at my dining room table. In between bites of a delicious steamed-beet salad dotted with goat cheese, she admitted that a short sale was a mystery to her. I guess I'm so intertwined in the business that it astonished me a person could be in the dark about short sales. But it does goes to show that just because you're familiar with a subject doesn't mean everybody in the universe understands it.
I try to take nothing for granted in real estate. Surprises pop up all the time. In fact, it's often better … (11 comments)

homebuying: A Neutral Color is the Color of Choice When Preparing a Home for Sale - 01/06/10 01:17 AM
I receive a lot of interesting emails from readers all over the country. I do my best to answer questions. Many of those questions center on short sales, probably because I write a lot about short sales and enjoy a strong internet presence as a Sacramento short sale agent. But since selling short sales takes up only about half of my annual real estate sales, I also field questions on other activities such as selling homes in Land Park and throughout Sacramento that are not short sales.
A reader from my About.com homebuying site wrote yesterday. She was clear that she … (14 comments)

homebuying: Since When Is It Wrong to Expect a Buyer's Agent to Pull the Comparable Sales? - 11/10/09 01:31 AM
As I was driving to West Sacramento yesterday to take a listing in Bridgeway Island, a buyer's agent called. Just for the record, I wasn't pulling a Maria Shriver, I was wearing my Jawbone. He asked about a Sacramento short sale home that I have listed and wanted to know how much his buyer would have to offer to buy it.
I explained that his buyer would have a running chance if the agent ran the comparable sales and based the purchase offer on the comps. This is the same procedure an agent would use for a listing that is not … (17 comments)

homebuying: Will The First-Time Home Buyer Tax Credit Vanish on November 30th? - 10/26/09 02:28 AM
People wonder what it's like to be self-employed. Having freedom from a boss is often quoted as one of the reasons that real estate agents go into the business. An associate in Sacramento says that being her own boss means that she's free to choose any block of 12 hours out of the day to work. It's not unusual for busy, full-time agents in today's market to put in 16 to 18 hours a day.
I often start work at 5 AM. It's quiet. I can answer emails and questions from my About.com homebuying site. It's also when I write my … (27 comments)

homebuying: If One Box of Chocolates is Great, Two Boxes Are Even Better! - 02/12/09 01:59 AM
My grandmother was born in Hungary in 1903 and passed away in 1988. She told me shortly before her death that she was tired of living and was ready to go. I've never really understood that concept but perhaps I'm not old enough yet to reach that conclusion. I can't fathom it. But then I'm in relatively good health with very few vices except for chocolate.
Whenever my grandmother came to visit when I was a child, she used to bring me a box of See's Candies. Did you know that See's Candies was founded in 1921 in San Francisco? That … (18 comments)

homebuying: Paying Attention to Your Intuition Will Rarely Steer You Wrong - 02/08/09 06:37 AM
Selling real estate requires full concentration, especially in Sacramento's red-hot buyers' market right now -- which is always a challenge because the economic climate changes from day-to-day. But it also requires full use of all an agent's capabilities. Having systems in place to handle the workload is a necessity, but so is listening to intuition, that little nagging voice in the back of one's head that says something is different or doesn't add up.
I reviewed a real estate book for my About.com homebuying site yesterday, which I try to do every couple months. This is a book by Margaret Rome, … (54 comments)

homebuying: In This Hot Sacramento Market, Everybody Handles Stress Differently - 01/11/09 02:43 AM
Almost everybody I talk to lately says they are overwhelmed with business. Escrow companies are swamped with foreclosures and refinances. Agents are showing property like crazy to first-time home buyers. Sellers are calling to obtain pre-listing advice and prepare for the Sacramento spring real estate market.
In my little world, there are days when my phone doesn't stop ringing. My publisher sent a request late Friday for an updated biography and a list of individuals who may endorse my short sale book. I don't have time to think about contacting people for an endorsement nor do I have any ideas for … (14 comments)

homebuying: Who Are You and Why Do You Want To Be My Friend? - 09/27/08 03:41 AM
Most of my friends would say I am a social butterfly. Probably because I regularly talk to a lot of people I don't know while pumping gas, dining out, or in the dressing room at Macy's, but those conversations fall short of what constitutes an actual friendship. I am friends with my clients, people I grew up with, neighbors, agents I work with, and yes, people I meet online. But I am not friends with the guys standing next to me at the popcorn counter at Tower Theatre in Land Park. Unless they want to buy or sell homes in Land … (22 comments)

 
Elizabeth Weintraub Sacramento Broker, Put 40 years of experience to work for you (Elizabeth Anne Weintraub, Broker)

Elizabeth Weintraub Sacramento Broker

Put 40 years of experience to work for you

Sacramento, CA

More about me…

Elizabeth Anne Weintraub, Broker

Address: 3620 Fair Oaks Blvd, Sacramento, CA, 95864

Office: (916) 233-6759

Mobile: (916) 233-6759

Broker-Associate at RE/MAX Gold, Midtown and Sierra Oaks Sacramento office. Co-partner Weintraub & Wallace Realtors. Selling since 1974. Homebuying expert at The Balance. Weintraub & Wallace sells homes from Galt to Lincoln.
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Author Bio: Elizabeth Weintraub is a Sacramento real estate broker, author, home buying expert for The Balance, a Land Park resident, who specializes not only in older, classic homes in Land Park, Curtis Park, Midtown and East Sacramento but sells extensively from Elk Grove to Lincoln. Weintraub is prominently known as the #1 Sacramento Short Sale agent throughout the Sacramento four-county area. Call Elizabeth Weintraub at 916.233.6759. Put 40+ years of real estate experience to work for you.



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