sacramento short sales: Invasion of the Moth Agents
- 12/15/10 01:58 AM
Is it the time of year that brings out the craziness and wild mood swings in people or could it be something else? Like, oh, I dunno, an invasion of moths? I never think about moths. Our closets are lined with cedar. But when my husband pulled out a suit coat the other day, he discovered tiny holes in the sleeves.
I scoffed when he initially put the moth traps in the closet. I thought they were totally unnecessary and perhaps something he picked up at the grocery store while standing in the check-out line -- one of those impulse purchases. … (6 comments)
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sacramento short sales: A Sure-Fired Way to Sell That Home is to Tell the Buyer He Can't Have It
- 12/13/10 03:18 AM
It astonishes some people to learn that not all of my real estate sales are Sacramento short sales. True, a good number of homes in Sacramento that I sell these days are short sales, but I still work with regular sellers and buyers as well. It's what I was brought up to do. It's how I have sold real estate since the 1970s, and those types of transactions don't just vanish because short sales and foreclosures dominate the market.
I mention this because I received an offer last week for a regular Sacramento home. It's not a short sale. In fact, … (14 comments)
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sacramento short sales: The 2 Elements a Seller Needs to Close a Short Sale
- 12/09/10 04:26 AM
I closed two more short sales yesterday. One was in Cameron Park and the other was an Elk Grove short sale. Both were negotiated by a law firm and both sellers were released from liability. No deficiency judgments here.
As short sales go, these transactions were relatively easy but that's mostly because they were priced correctly in the first place, and we chose the right buyers. I'd say that's the top 2 elements to a successful short sale apart from a motivated and committed seller: The right price and the right buyer.
Many short sales in Sacramento that are prolonged or … (6 comments)
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sacramento short sales: I'm Just Sitting Here on the Group W Bench
- 12/01/10 01:34 AM
They say the numbers don't lie. But numbers lie all the time. Look at 'em, just sitting there on the page. Lies, all lies. Can't you hear 'em squawking, making promises they can't keep? Why, I'll never leave you, say the zeros. And then they skip town. You can count on me, say the fives, as you watch their backbones crumble and morph into squiggly threes.
The thing is there are a dozen ways to manipulate interpret just about any real estate market report. What do you want it to say? Whether real estate prices in Sacramento are going up or … (8 comments)
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sacramento short sales: About Bumblebees and Sacramento Short Sale Agents
- 11/23/10 03:09 AM
Nobody ever believes me when I say I don't like to work too hard. I think that's because they look at what I accomplish and naturally assume that I work very hard to get there. But the truth is I am always looking for ways to work less hard and get more done. I'm lazy that way. I'll take the path of least resistance if it gets me to the same destination.
As real estate agents, we can't be bumblebees all the time, zipping from one flower to the next, one short sale listing to the next. Sometimes, we need to … (7 comments)
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sacramento short sales: No Pot For You, California
- 11/03/10 02:31 AM
My husband and I, despite being very different people as in female versus male, Mars vs. Venus, are very much alike in many ways. We share an affinity for the same books, music, films, and travel destinations. He can complete my sentences for me and doesn't get ticked off when I take a left turn in conversations without signaling. But he threw me for a loop yesterday when I asked how he planned to vote for Proposition 19, the initiative to legalize marijuana for personal use.
First, let me say that we do not smoke pot. We don't grow pot. And … (10 comments)
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sacramento short sales: An Elk Grove Short Sale and Why You Might Want to Cancel Halloween
- 10/23/10 03:26 AM
There is only one thing I don't like about this short sale home in Elk Grove. The thing that bugs me is the fact I might have to drive back over there to take another photo. Because the tenants have decorated this home for Halloween. Which means if the home doesn't sell for some reason over the next week, the photo will be dated. I mean, I hope the tenants are not those types of people who leave up Christmas decorations until spring. I hope they know that when Halloween is over, it's time to cancel Halloween.
Because the only thing … (3 comments)
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sacramento short sales: An Elk Grove Short Sale With 2 Master Suites
- 10/20/10 02:44 AM
One of these days, it's gonna happen. I'm gonna open my front door some morning, step out onto the porch in a nightshirt, barefoot, and whammo. The wind is gonna slam shut the door. My door automatically locks. And, with my luck, this will happen at the precise moment a busload of people drive by. With cameras. My hair will be sticking out in all sorts of odd directions.
Where will I find the positive spin on that, you may ask? Hmmm . . . I would probably say to myself, it could be worse. How about naked photos sold to … (3 comments)
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sacramento short sales: Confidence is in the Mind of the Beholder
- 10/13/10 03:09 AM
I make people afraid of me. Yup, I frighten people. For the most part, they find me intimidating. I'm not saying this in a boastful manner; it's more of an insight -- a confession, because I'm aware of it. How am I aware of it? People tell me. They say that I'm straight forward and to the point and, let's face it, I have an assertive Type A personality. That scares people. Probably because they're not. But then people say that after they get to know me, they are astonished at how friendly and down-to-the-earth I am. Because that was not … (26 comments)
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sacramento short sales: Do You Need a Lawyer To Do a Short Sale?
- 10/12/10 03:25 AM
A prospective client called yesterday to ask whether she needed a lawyer to do her short sale. She was confused. After all, she had called some of her friends who know a guy who knows a guy and they told her that a real estate agent is supposed to negotiate her short sale, not a lawyer. And real estate agents are free, you know. They don't charge you anything. Not like those scary and expensive lawyers.
It came as a surprise to this person that I, as a Sacramento short sale agent, cannot give her legal advice. Nope, no can do. … (10 comments)
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sacramento short sales: You Might Need a Survivor Instinct to Work in Unstable or Falling Real Estate Markets
- 10/10/10 04:22 AM
It sort of surprises me that I close, on average, more than one real estate transaction per week in the Sacramento four-county area -- knock on wood. Times are tough in this industry. CAR Chief Economist Leslie Appleton-Young says home sales will shrink 10% this year, and predicts median home sale prices will increase only 2% in 2011. So why am I selling when other agents are leaving the business?
You know, I didn't wake up one morning and decide that I should challenge myself more. That I needed more adversity in my life. Like, I should sell every one of … (3 comments)
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sacramento short sales: Here's What CitiMortgage Short Sales Have in Common With an Airline
- 10/07/10 03:47 AM
It seems that every business is always trying to find a way to make a buck. One of the ways to make a buck is to maximize profit -- increase the amount of money that's already pouring into a business. For example, let's say you sell pencils for $1.00 each. If you increase that price to $1.01 and sell 50 million pencils a year, you've made an extra $500,000. But if you break that pencil in half and package it as 2 pencils at $1.25 per package, you've pumped another $1,250,000 into your business.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not against … (17 comments)
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sacramento short sales: I Don't List Every Short Sale in Sacramento, Just the Short Sales I Expect To Close
- 10/05/10 03:18 AM
I rarely take time off from selling Sacramento short sales. Apart from working 7 days a week, 14 hours a day, I have little time to do much of anything else. So, when I do go somewhere, I don't answer my phone. My team member, Linda Swanson, responds to my emails, takes my phone calls and keeps business running as usual in my absence.
I was amazed when I returned from my vacation at Yellowstone National Park to discover my inbox was fairly clean. Evidently, documents were processed and questions were answered. Escrows are on target to close. And, in a … (9 comments)
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sacramento short sales: Here Are Photos From Snow King Lodge in Jackson Hole, Wyoming
- 09/28/10 03:47 AM
I had considered booking a reservation at a different hotel in town, a place that costs $1,000 a night. I figured we'd be here only one night so it might be nice to stay at a really swanky place. But when I figured out we would get to the hotel around 9 PM and be out first thing in the morning to drive to Yellowstone, it seemed sort of foolish and unnecessary to spend that kind of money for such a short period of time. I'm sure some reading this blog will think it's stupid to spend that kind of money … (7 comments)
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sacramento short sales: Bears, Wolves, Buffalo and Elk and a Supervolcano
- 09/27/10 03:21 AM
I'm going to a place today that doesn't exist. Well, the place exists, but there is no such town. It's an area, a valley, not a city. That place is Jackson Hole, Wyoming. I'm obviously not a snow skier or I would know that. There is a town called Jackson, however, and we're spending tonight there. It'll probably be at least 50 degrees cooler in Jackson today than in Sacramento.
People ask how I stay sane when I sell so many Sacramento short sales, and this is how I do it. Every so often, I get away. I go somewhere totally … (14 comments)
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sacramento short sales: Here are 3 Approved Sacramento Short Sales With a Reduced Waiting Period
- 09/22/10 03:07 AM
In the land of Sacramento short sales, there are days when it feels like I am a balloon artist -- blowing up balloons and squeezing them into animal shapes. I actually have a very close friend from Minnesota who lives in Texas and is a professional balloon artist. You know, you squeeze one end and it sends air to the other end. You take care of one problem in a short sale and another one appears. You let go without tying the end, and the balloon flies across the room. You stab it, and it pops.
This week, I seem to … (8 comments)
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sacramento short sales: How Many Offers Does It Take to Sell a House in Sacramento?
- 09/17/10 03:16 AM
Sacramento used to have enough business to go around for everybody, but that's probably not the case today. Even though I live in a sheltered world in which I am 100% focused solely on what I do, I'd have to be blind not to notice real estate companies are closing up shop and real estate agents are taking second jobs. It makes me a bit reluctant to talk about my business, because it seems that even though the real estate market is, in many ways, in the toilet, every year I do better than last. I also don't want to make … (7 comments)
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sacramento short sales: Here's How to Medicate Your Cat and Live to Talk About It
- 09/15/10 02:50 AM
It's pretty difficult to outsmart a cat. If you have a cat, you know exactly what I mean. You've always got to be on your toes because cats are quick to learn and, unlike humans, tend to not repeat their mistakes. Our cinnamon-spotted ocicat, Pia, is a tiny little thing compared to the other two cats, but she rules the house. Probably because the other 2 are males.
She has developed acne on her chin, which is not responding to ointment. That means we now have to give her antibiotics in liquid form twice a day for 2 weeks.
As a … (17 comments)
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sacramento short sales: Sacramento Buyers Can Get a Good Deal on a Short Sale Without Lowballing the Price
- 09/10/10 02:44 AM
I'm seeing a weird disconnect lately for Sacramento short sales. Part of the problem, I suspect, is the fact that buyers feel a bit uneasy due to our fragile economy. They are probably uneasy because they are confused about where the Sacramento real estate market is heading. They also might be working with an agent who is trying to make a personal career decision such as whether the agent should stay in real estate or look for a full-time job elsewhere. Without strong guidance, some buyers are left to flop about like a goldfish out of water.
Some of the offers … (5 comments)
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sacramento short sales: There's a Reason Why Short Sale Agents Sell Short Sales
- 09/09/10 03:30 AM
The doctor yanked a thorn almost an inch long out of the side of my third toe. This was after slicing my skin with a razor blade. You might not know this, but shots to numb a toe are delivered to the front of the toe at the base and on both sides. I didn't know that. So, when the doctor described the procedure, I decided to brave it sans an anesthetic.
I had been living with this cactus barb stuck in my toe for almost 24 hours. It was difficult to walk under those conditions. I was so relieved after … (13 comments)
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Is it the time of year that brings out the craziness and wild mood swings in people or could it be something else? Like, oh, I dunno, an invasion of moths? I never think about moths. Our closets are lined with cedar. But when my husband pulled out a suit coat the other day, he discovered tiny holes in the sleeves.
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