Elizabeth's Weintraub's Blog

Good Morning Vietnam, Bye-Bye Sacramento

Sun, 29 Nov 2009 07:50:53 -0600

By the time many of you read this, I will be on a plane and headed for Seoul, South Korea, where, with any luck, I will stumble onto a connecting flight for Hanoi. Yup, we're off for a two-week trip to Vietnam, with a side tour to Ankgor Wat in Cambodia. Bye-bye Sacramento.

I have a feeling this is one of those "If it's Tuesday, this must be Belgium" tours. We're starting in Hanoi and will end in Saigon, eating our way through Vietnam like ravenous dogs. Although, I can say it's a pretty safe bet we won't be sampling any dog. Not without our knowledge, anyway.

To those of who will receive the holiday cards I mailed yesterday, let me say in my defense that I did try to sign them, but because the cards are blue with silver ink, none of the pens I tried would show my signature on the blue background. So, yes, I took the easy way out and did not sign them. I also did not want to sign my name 500 times.

But I want you to know that I folded those cards, addressed the envelopes (OK, I used labels, but darn it, I printed those labels and peeled them off the paper), put the cards inside, sealed the envelopes and affixed postage. I even drove to the post office and stuffed the cards into the mailbox myself.

I hope that counts.

I had a tough decision regarding the cards I ordered this year. Should they be Christmas cards, Hannukah cards, holiday cards or what? While I am not a practicing Christian, I do celebrate Christmas. My husband celebrates Hannukah. I suspect Brandon is probably a Wiccan.

So, I thought about who the cards were for. They're for each and every friend and client. A gift is for the recipient, not the sender. I don't buy gifts that I like when I give presents. I buy gifts that I hope the recipient will enjoy. A card is the same principle. Since cards carry messages; I figured the universally accepted message that my friends and clients would enjoy is one of peace. Blue = peace. So, that's why the cards are blue. Because I am too darn lazy to buy different cards for each person. There, now you have it. Everybody on my list will receive an identical card.

In any case, the petsitters will be at our home taking care of Brandon, Pia and Pica. No need to worry about them. See you all on December 14. If I can, I'll try to post a few pictures.

Photo: Stan Godwyn

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Elizabeth Weintraub is an author, home buying columnist for The New York Times-owned About.com, a Land Park resident, and a Land Park real estate 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 sells short sales throughout Sacramento. Call Elizabeth Weintraub at 916.233.6759. Put 35 years of real estate experience to work for you. DRE License # 00697006.

The Short Sale Savior, by Elizabeth Weintraub, available through bookstores everywhere and at Amazon.com.

Photo: Unless otherwise noted in this blog, the photo is copyrighted by Big Stock Photo and used with permission.

Update on Bank of America Short Sales and California's Housing Market Trends

Sat, 28 Nov 2009 09:47:02 -0600

Two interesting bits of information this morning. First, take a look at this chart from the Federal Housing Finance Agency. It shows the appreciation scale for housing in California from 1991 to present. Although we are not out of the slump by any stretch, it indicates the bottom happened in late 2008, which mirrors the movement I see in Sacramento's real estate market.

Second, another of my Bank of America short sales is about to be approved. What makes this Sacramento short sale different is the fact we submitted the file in early October, just as Bank of America was in the process of switching to its new system. The negotiator was assigned a month later in November. Typical. However, yesterday, Bank of America said the BPO will be uploaded next week; it expects approval in 10 days.

Blow me over with a feather. If this keeps up, I'll have to get a pacemaker. My heart can't stand it.

See, I envision this world as a place where a Sacramento short sale agent submits the complete package to Bank of America, and it's immediately acknowledged. The negotiator is assigned promptly. It moves from Phase 1 to Phase II within 2 weeks, goes to review, and Bank of America issues short sale approval 2 weeks later. Four weeks' time, tops.

But I'm a person who sees the glass half-full as opposed to half-empty.

It's too early to tell if this is a fluke. Last week we received approval on another Bank of America short sale within a 2-month timeframe. It could be a trend. Hard to say. But I'm keeping my fingers crossed. Because right now, I'm working on a boatload of Bank of America short sales.

If you're an agent or a seller who is exasperated by a delayed Bank of America file, ask to get that file escalated and transferred to the new system. Don't let it fall through the cracks. Once a short sale gets stuck, it's hard to unwedge it. Ask for a review of the file to ensure the bank hasn't lost any documentation. Put yourself in the negotiator's shoes. You've got 2 huge stacks of short sale files that reach the ceiling. One stack has every required document; the other is incomplete. Which would you work on?

Get timelines and hold the bank to it. Note your files. If Bank of America says it will assign a negotiator by Day X, call on Day Y. Follow up. And let me know how it goes. I'm always happy to hear from fellow short sale agents. Maybe someday we will all be as giddy about Bank of America short sales as we are about Wachovia short sales. You think?

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Photo: Unless otherwise noted in this blog, the photo is copyrighted by Big Stock Photo and used with permission.

The Secret to Success is to Do What is Best for the Client

Fri, 27 Nov 2009 09:34:49 -0600

Almost every agent in Sacramento specializes in certain neighborhoods. Generally, at least one of those neighborhoods is where the agent resides. I suspect that human nature makes agents more curious about their own surroundings, and they typically enjoy intimate knowledge about those areas due to the fact that they live there. But clients don't always want to buy a home in their real estate agent's neighborhood. So, should they hire a different agent?

It depends. When clients choose me to represent them, where I live or specialize is not always important to them. Although I sell a lot of homes in Land Park and South Land Park, and I live in Land Park, I do represent clients who sell or buy in other areas. Especially if those listings are short sales, which accounts partly for why I have closed 45 transactions over the past 12 months.

I'm not a lollapaloolza agent with a team of agents under me. I'm just a Land Park agent who focuses on her clients, and an agent who lists and sells a lot of short sales in Sacramento.

Most agents in Sacramento sell 4 to 6 homes a year. I've heard some of them say: "I'm not wasting my time on any listing under $500,000" but, in this down economy, I'm just as happy to close two $250,000 transactions than do nothing. Or worse, sit around with my peers complaining about it.

It means in a down market I work twice as hard. But that's OK. I love the real estate business. I'm committed, dedicated and passionate. And I'd like to believe that I choose my clients wisely. I don't select a client based on a home price or how much I'll earn. My criterion is whether I like them. I like most people which, I suppose, makes me fortunate.

When it comes to selling homes in Land Park, I know the neighborhood like the back of my hand. I know which streets flood in the spring, the perceptions that influence value in certain areas and I can spot a Squeaky Williams' home a mile away. Sellers choose me to represent them because they have faith in my experience, marketing and communication skills. Buyers hire me because they rely on my negotiation abilities and instincts. Many of my clients, if they were strangers at first, end up as close friends.

However, when a buyer called me last week to help her buy a home in Granite Bay, she asked a lot of questions about the neighborhoods in Placer County. I don't know those areas very well and told her so. It would be different if she had wanted to buy in Natomas or Elk Grove, as I feel comfortable selling in those areas, but I really know very little about Placer County. For example, every time I see an under-priced or over-priced listing in Land Park, generally those listing agents are from out-of-the-area. When I see a buyer pay an outrageous price for a home in Land Park, odds are that buyer was represented by an agent who doesn't specialize in Land Park. But that's true anywhere in Sacramento.

I explained to the Granite Bay caller that she would be better off working with an agent who specializes in Granite Bay. If she knew the neighborhood where she wanted to buy, that would be one thing. Then she could hire me to negotiate and carefully monitor the escrow to close smoothly. But she wanted and needed information about the area, and I could not provide it. It was in her best interest to work with a Granite Bay specialist. She seemed sad that I preferred to refer her to another Lyon Real Estate agent. I would have loved to have worked with her, too, so it wasn't anything personal.

When new agents ask me the secret of success, I tell them: Do what is best for the client. Don't deviate. I suppose it sounds hokey to some, but it really is that simple.

Photo: Home in Land Park, by Elizabeth Weintraub

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Photo: Unless otherwise noted in this blog, the photo is copyrighted by Big Stock Photo and used with permission.

How Many Foreclosures Are in Land Park and Curtis Park?

Thu, 26 Nov 2009 17:02:35 -0600

As compared to the rest of Sacramento, the number of foreclosure homes in 95818 is tiny. In October, we had 557 bank-owned homes for sale in Sacramento. The bank-owned pending sales numbered 674, and 689 bank-owned homes closed escrow. That's almost an 80% drop in inventory over the past 15 months. If you're looking for a foreclosure in Sacramento, better get in line behind the other 20 buyers who are competing for the same home.

The number of foreclosure homes in Land Park and Curtis Park pale in comparison. That lack of inventory could be due to the fact that some homes in Land Park never reach the foreclosure stage because they might be sold as a short sale long before the trustee's sale date rolls around.

Fortunately, as a Land Park agent and resident, I don't see very many sellers here with under-water homes. That's because our neighborhood was not hit as hard as the rest of Sacramento. Our values have been relatively stable in Land Park and Curtis Park.

As you can see from the chart below, which covers the past 15 months of foreclosure activity in Land Park and Curtis Park (95818), we had 4 bank-owned homes for sale in October, no pending bank-owned sales and two sold as bank-owned homes.

Image: Trendgraphix, used with permission

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Photo: Unless otherwise noted in this blog, the photo is copyrighted by Big Stock Photo and used with permission.

How Many Short Sales Are In Land Park and Curtis Park?

Thu, 26 Nov 2009 16:40:11 -0600

I get a ton of phone calls from prospective short sale buyers, primarily due to my short sale article published by The New York Times-owned About.com, asking me if Lyon Real Estate has very many homes in Land Park or Curtis Park that are available as a short sale. (This article ranks #2 nationwide in a Google search for "short sales," just behind Wikipedia's entry, as it has for the past 3 1/2 years, so you can imagine the number of calls I receive.)

Over the past 12 months, Lyon Real Estate has represented twice as many sellers in Land Park and Curtis Park as compared to our closest competitor, Coldwell Banker. I am proud to say that we are unequivocally the market leader in Land Park / Curtis Park.

For the most part, home buyers are always looking for a good deal in Land Park / Curtis Park because these core city neighborhoods are such a desirable place to live. It's more expensive to buy an older, classic home in Land Park, for example, than in other areas of Sacramento, but for those of us who live here, the price is worth it.

There are actually very few short sale homes in Land Park and Curtis Park as compared to other areas in Sacramento. I listed a short sale home in Land Park that sold over list price in a week due to multiple offers. That sale was a month or so ago. Another of my Land Park short sale listings is presently in active contingent status, awaiting approval from the bank. That seller, too, received multiple offers and sold in a week.

Here is a Trendgraphix chart that shows you the short sale activity in Land Park over the past 15 months:

Image: Trendgraphix, used with permission

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Photo: Unless otherwise noted in this blog, the photo is copyrighted by Big Stock Photo and used with permission.

An Agent Can Make Your Real Estate Transaction a Joy or a Nightmare

Thu, 26 Nov 2009 09:17:30 -0600

Your first instinct is not always reliable. I've learned that over the years. While I often rely on my intuition, I don't always grab the first instinct that pops up. For example, when I put on my reading glasses this morning to peer at my monitor, my vision was blurred. My first thought was perhaps I am experiencing an aneurysm. But when nothing further happened, I realized that I had forgotten to remove my contacts before going to bed.

A friend called yesterday to talk about her horrible real estate transaction. She shared details about all the nasty things the buyer and the buyer's agent had done to her since entering escrow. It was pretty clear she despised these people, and I didn't blame her. "I was going to leave the buyers all the furnace filters," she hissed, "But now I am taking them." Well, I offered, make sure you don't leave behind any rolls of aluminum foil or bottles of Windex, either. Leave the scum nothing. That made me laugh, but she wasn't laughing. She was still furious.

I'm a firm believer of not burning any bridges if one can help it. We've all had to deal with difficult people in our lives. We can't change them. The only thing we can change is our attitudes.

I told my friend about the last home I sold. Those buyers were pretty obnoxious. They were over at the house changing the locks before they had even received confirmation of recording. The moving truck was parked in the street and movers were carting out my belongings, preparing for the long cross country trip to Sacramento, during which the rude buyers were barking demands, insisting that I vacuum the second floor and haul the trash cans down to the curb. They were very unreasonable.

They had been horrible during escrow as well. I did not like them nor respect them. We can't always choose our buyers. But I could choose how I reacted toward them and whether I conveyed my feelings to them. I decided they didn't deserve to know what I thought and kept my emotions in check. I was pleasant and accommodating to the end.

When I arrived in Sacramento and began unpacking, I realized that all the hardware for our bed and dining room table had been left behind on top of the refrigerator. Crap. I called the buyers to ask if they would FedEx the bag of screws and bolts to me. They immediately sent the package overnight, which wouldn't have happened if I had given them a piece of my mind prior to departure. I could have been sleeping and eating on the floor.

I advise my sellers to be nice to their buyers as well, regardless of how the buyers behave during escrow. For one thing, the sellers might want their mail forwarded. And I try to not transfer any frustrated feelings that I may be experiencing to my clients. It's part of an agent's job to be a buffer.

See, unpleasant things happen every day. It's part of life. But so do good things. For the most part, good things tend to outweigh the bad things. Whenever I'm feeling frustrated or grumpy, I turn my attention to something more pleasant such as LOLcats. One can't scroll through LOLcats without smiling.

This week, for example, I had to change the status of a Sacramento listing from active contingent to active short sale because the buyer was obtuse. However, I also received a double short sale approval from Countrywide and, let me tell you, that doesn't happen every day. In fact, I consider that double Countrywide approval a Thanksgiving miracle. On top of that, Bank of America approved another short sale. That's where I prefer to focus. On the good things.

I wish everyone a safe and wonderful Thanksgiving.

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Photo: Unless otherwise noted in this blog, the photo is copyrighted by Big Stock Photo and used with permission.

It Doesn't Matter Where You Go For Thanksgiving as Long as You Enjoy the Company

Wed, 25 Nov 2009 09:32:32 -0600

Ah, the day before Thanksgiving. When I was considerably younger, this used to be one of my favorite days of the year. Because it's not a school night. The Wednesday before Thanksgiving was the one day out of the year I could stay out late without any consequences. Dance the night away if I wanted and sleep in late the following morning.

OK, I usually had to get up early to stick the turkey in the oven, but I could go back to sleep. Now that I've reached what is referred to as that "certain age," I no longer stay up late, and I get up early because that's when I wake up. I've also discovered that, at my age, it's easier to go out to Thanksgiving dinner with close friends and take home leftovers than prepare it myself.

One of the best places to enjoy a Thanksgiving dinner in Sacramento is The Firehouse Restaurant in Old Sacramento. The ambiance itself is remarkable. This is a historic building, built in 1853, and it originally housed a firehouse. The setting is beautiful, ornate and relaxed, and each dining room is unique.

If I have anything bad to say about The Firehouse Restaurant for Thanksgiving, it's that it doesn't serve dark turkey meat -- no thighs or drumsticks -- but few places around Sacramento do. The menu for this Thanksgiving features a choice between baked brie or lobster pudding for the first course, a mixed green salad with dried cranberries, spiced walnuts, blue cheese & pear or potato bisque for the second course, and the third course is, of course, roast turkey breast, prime rib, monkfish or maple-smoked pork.

I'm getting hungry just writing about it. My husband and I have been going there for 3 years now. The first year we went to The Firehouse, I skipped the roast turkey and felt a little guilty. After all, where I grew up in Minnesota, Thanksgiving is supposed to be all about the turkey. So, the second year, I chose the turkey. Except for the apple-pecan stuffing, which I thoroughly enjoyed, the turkey was, well, white turkey meat. There's not much one can do a turkey breast to make it any better than it already is.

The way to compensate for eschewing the turkey portion of a Thanksgiving meal is to order pumpkin torte for dessert. Skip the pear and pecan crisp. In fact, have 2 servings of pumpkin torte. With pumpkin cream-cheese mousse, spiced anglaise and caramel. When all is said and done, though, the purpose of Thanksgiving is not to stuff one's face with mashed potatoes and turkey. It's to give thanks and celebrate with friends and family.

So, wherever you end up this Thanksgiving, I hope you enjoy your company and have a wonderful Thanksgiving.

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Photo: Unless otherwise noted in this blog, the photo is copyrighted by Big Stock Photo and used with permission.

Types of Short Sales to Avoid and Why Bank of America is Improving

Tue, 24 Nov 2009 09:37:17 -0600

When I list a short sale in Sacramento, I often qualify the sellers partly on instinct. That's why my short sales get approved. Of course, I examine the usual qualifiers such as whether the seller has a hardship and whether the list price is reasonable. But some of my short sales that I thought were a long shot get approved as well, and that's where intuition comes into play.

This year, I've had only 3 short sales that did not close. In 2 of the cases, Bank of America took so long to approve those short sales that the sellers finally found a job and no longer qualified. Actually, one of those 2 had been approved 3 times, and each time the buyer vanished upon approval. By the 4th time, the seller was working. The 3rd short sale also was approved, with the stipulation that the seller occupy the home, but the seller refused to move back.

So, it's not really a matter of my short sales not getting approved as the bulk of them do. That's because I set standards for listing my Sacramento short sales.

Contrary to what some Sacramento short sale agents may believe, I don't refuse to list a short sale based primarily on the seller's qualifications because I am not qualified to accurately predict the types of circumstances a lender may or may not decide is a hardship. I have learned over the years that lenders will approve short sales even if the seller has assets and cash in the bank.

Moreover, some sellers don't want to share every last bit of their personal financial information with an agent, nor should they. I advise my sellers to speak about such private matters with their lawyers and tax accountants -- individuals licensed and qualified to give that type of guidance and advice.

Here are a few types of short sales that I avoid:

Scams
Flippers
Mortgage Fraud
Unlikeable sellers
Transactions that are not arm's length
Rent-backs
Overpriced listings
Hard-money seconds that may call for seller contributions from unwilling sellers
Homes that are not upside-down
Sellers who prefer to do a loan modification

I know some agents refuse to list short sales if they are Bank of America loans, which originated at Countrywide. However, I am seeing an improvement at the moment with the way Bank of America handles short sales. Especially when Bank of America holds the second on a Wachovia short sale. Not to mention, some Bank of America short sales are now in the ReoTrans system. So, maybe Bank of America is turning around. One such sale recently closed within 2 months. When they do it 30 days, though, I'll have to eat my shoes. Blech.

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Photo: Unless otherwise noted in this blog, the photo is copyrighted by Big Stock Photo and used with permission.

Some Short Sale Promoters Push Folks to the Edge With Short Sale Spam

Mon, 23 Nov 2009 09:41:07 -0600

My husband laughs at Sacramento drivers who, upon leaving the vehicle, turn around and point the key remote at the car to lock it. That's because some people think it works like a TV remote, which emits infrared signals to the TV, but it doesn't. It sends its signal by radio, through the air. So, you don't need to face the vehicle to lock it. Although, I admit that I do look at the car, just to make sure the lights flash, which tells me it is definitely locked.

Hey, where would we be in modern society without our gadgets?

Take my DisplayKEY, for example. It opens SUPRA lockboxes, which lets me retrieve house keys to show homes. It's an essential part of my real estate business in Sacramento. While I was in The City this weekend, I received an email from MetroList that said it is retiring our DisplayKEYs. It is switching to an ActiveKey system that doesn't update daily in a cradle. Not only that, but MetroList informed me that it has already scheduled an appointment for me to exchange my DisplayKEY for an ActiveKey.

The only problem is the date it has scheduled me for is a day when I will be in Vietnam. Now, you know that MetroList has been working behind-the-scenes on this for months. But it just dropped the bomb in my lap on Friday. A little advance notice would have been nice. Because when I return from Vietnam, my DisplayKEY will no longer work. If my DisplayKEY doesn't work, I can't work. Thanks for the heads-up, MetroList.

Of course, if I had been using eKEY, I would not be in this position. The eKEY system lets an agent access a lockbox through an agent's cellphone. That sounds like an excellent solution. I went to the GE Security website to check devices that support eKEY software, but my BlackBerry 8700 was not listed. Now I remember why I am not using the eKEY system.

I popped over to my service provider's website and, low and behold, the BlackBerry BOLD 9700 is now available. I've been waiting for its release for months! And the BOLD works with eKEY. Plus, it has a video camera, a faster network connection and utilizes trackpad navigation. My 8700 is headed for a funeral. As my service provider reminded me, I've had this phone for 38 months. That's an eternity in a cellphone's life.

That research has solved 2 problems, but a 3rd problem still exists. My email downloads to my BlackBerry. I'll most likely bring my cellphone to Vietnam as I have World Access, which will let me check email from my phone. That will save time as I won't have to visit Internet cafes. Who wants to sit in an Internet cafe when you're on vacation? Instead, I can turn on my phone once a day to stay connected through email. That all sounds feasible except for spam. I deal with overnight spam by deleting it in huge blocks from my computer in the morning. But that won't be possible in Vietnam.

I receive daily huge volumes of spam. The worst offenders are two short sale promoters. How I end up on their targeted spam list is beyond me. One would think they could use their marketing dollars in a more effective manner. They bombard my email with short sale spam. As a Sacramento short sale agent, I don't need their short sale courses since I am tortured enough daily through my very own activities. So, this brings me to the solution of signing up for a spam-blocking service. The downside is important emails may be delayed. But the upside is I will never again have to manually delete their crap.

Some people use spam blockers that require the recipient to click on a link and enter a password to prove that one is not a robot. Those sites annoy me. If they annoy me, they probably annoy others. I guess that leaves Postini or Barracuda to consider. If you have any suggestions regarding spam blockers, I would welcome the input. I hate to do it, but this Sacramento agent has got to lock the gate.

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Photo: Unless otherwise noted in this blog, the photo is copyrighted by Big Stock Photo and used with permission.

King Tut Isn't the Only Exotic Adventure in Golden Gate Park

Sun, 22 Nov 2009 10:04:13 -0600

One of the things I really enjoy about Golden Gate Park is that you see stuff in San Francisco that you'll rarely come across in, say, Land Park in Sacramento. For example, during our six-block stroll from the N Line to the de Young Museum at Hagiwara Tea Garden Drive, I spotted guys like those Party Down dudes (love that show), dressed in bow ties and black suits, carefully removing and stacking bottles of champagne from the back of a black sedan.

Across the street, a wedding Limo decorated like Hello Kitty. Then, a nearly naked guy jogging. A Cyndi Lauper look-a-like smacking gum, photographers carrying tri-pods, kids toting skateboards, an old woman wrapped up like a mummy and asleep in her wheelchair, a tuba player, a hooker, a lost kid playing drums on the sidewalk with a tree branch, Daddy Warbucks screaming on his cell, and a greyhound pulling a kid in a wagon. You've gotta love the diversity.

My husband and I woke sleepy-eyed yesterday due to the trains roaring by all night, stashed our luggage at The Waterfront Hotel at Jack London Square and walked around back to the Oakland Ferry. It's a 30-minute ride to San Francisco from this spot. No sitting in traffic on the Bay Bridge or taking the B.A.R.T. under the water. Best views of the Bay.

A somber group of people sat together at port side. This guy with a hat and scarf wrapped around his neck held a velvet-covered box, and we overheard them discussing the 23rd Psalm. I suspect it's not legal to dump a person's ashes in the Bay, but that wouldn't stop me if I were in their shoes.

It was a short 3-minute walk from the ferry landing in San Francisco to our favorite dim sum restaurant in the Rincon Center, Yank Sing, which was already hopping by 10:30 AM. We started out with an order of Peking Duck, followed by dishes of scallion prawns, Hau Gau, sugar-snap peas, sticky rice in banana leaves, chicken-stuffed mushrooms, and pretty much crammed dumplings into our faces to the point where I didn't leave enough room to finish off with a sesame ball.

The weather was much more cooperative yesterday than it had been on Friday. Sunny, with a light breeze and no rain. The question was did we want to take a street car or the muni to Golden Gate Park. Or were cable cars the best direct route? We opted for the muni, but the N Line stopped at Church and Duboce, where we transferred to a bus. The bus driver told us she's never seen King Tut, even though she's a San Francisco native.

She didn't drive a bus very well. At the first stop, she almost left a baby at the curb because the parents couldn't open the back door of the bus to get out. At the next, she passed up a stop and 2 passengers screamed that they needed to get off. It was a fun ride up Haight Street. Also, somehow fitting that Ben and Jerry's scored the corner location at Haight and Ashbury.

When we arrived at the de Young Museum, it was readily apparent that VIP tickets were the way to go. Otherwise, we would have stood in this crowd of visitors for hours, but a VIP ticket let us bypass the long lines. There are 10 chambers that comprise the King Tutankhamun exhibit. I learned that King Tut married his half-sister. Among the many 3,000-year-old burial treasures are religious pieces such as an ankh, which is the Egyptian symbol of life, and lots of jewelery, including tiny coffins that housed King Tut's internal organs. Probably the best thing was this painted wooden torso of King Tut, or maybe the pectoral with lunar and solar emblems and a glass scarab.

After the tour, we visited the gift shop because no tour is complete without a gift shop. There, you can buy mummy magnets, rubber mummies that squeak and mummy pencils, among other trinkets. I think it's important to support museums, so I bought a pearl jewelery box for my sister and an alabaster cat figurine made in Egypt.

We spent our last hour in San Francisco at the Ferry Building, gorging ourselves on gourmet chocolate, Point Reyes cheese from the Cowgirl Creamery and salami from Tasty Salted Pig Parts, before heading back to Oakland to hop the Capitol Corrider train to Sacramento. Below are a few photos I hope you enjoy:

Oakland Ferry to San Francisco, left and Yank Sing, right

de Young Museum King Tut Exhibit, left and Cowgirl Creamery, right

Photos: Elizabeth Weintraub

Click here for Day 1: The Swell Season in Oakland

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Photo: Unless otherwise noted in this blog, the photo is copyrighted by Big Stock Photo and used with permission.

The Swell Season Played the Paramount Oakland Theatre to Standing Ovation

Sat, 21 Nov 2009 22:16:38 -0600

If you haven't seen the 2007 movie "Once," and you really love a romantic story, coupled with an unbelievable soundtrack, you might want to do yourself a favor and rent the DVD. Notwithstanding the fact it won an Oscar in 2008 for Best Original Song, the movie has an almost documentary feel to it, yet it's the music that pulls you in tight and doesn't let go.

Because of this movie, my husband and I have been wishing we could see the then-unknown stars, Irish singer-songwriter Glen Hansard and the classic-trained Czech pianist Marketa Irglova, perform in person. We hit the jackpot yesterday by scoring tickets to the Paramount Oakland Theatre to see The Swell Season, a band formed by these two remarkable musicians.

We hopped on the Capitol Corrider train out of Sacramento Friday afternoon, which dropped us but a few blocks from The Waterfront Hotel in Oakland at Jack London Square. The Paramount is about 18 blocks up Broadway from there.

Even though the show didn't really get started until about 8:30 and ran until after 11 PM, I managed to stay awake, way past my bedtime, because it was so riveting. You should see Glen play guitar. He's like a madman on steroids. He strums lightening-bug fast. So fast you'd think his guitar would catch on fire. He can put Pete Townsend to shame.

I know a thing or two about Pete Townsend. I grew up in the 1960s. When I was 12 and entering 7th grade, I begged my parents for a piano. I used to go across the street to teach myself how to play my neighbor's basement piano. I taught myself to play Christmas carols by writing the notes on the keys in magic marker. Instead of a piano, though, my parents bought me a guitar and sent me to take lessons. I was told that until I could play a song 6 times in a row without making a mistake, I had not mastered the tune.

Grasshopper.

So much for Red River Valley and Old Black Joe. That was enough to make me want to tear out my hair. I wanted to play the Beatles.

Glen's vocal range is amazing. The music is raw, emotionally charged, sweet and bittersweet, raging, rip-roaring passionate and brutally honest. Mar, who truly must have fallen from the heavens, lends the duo balance and clarity through the voice of an angel. The sound of The Swell Season is absolute perfection, on par with the reflection of mountain tops mirrored in the still water of an Alpine lake.

Here's a link to Falling Slowly and another to a free MP3 of Low Rising. Glen and Mar are simply magical. There are no other words to describe these guys. They have a new album out, Strict Joy. I encourage you to buy it. And if you have a chance to catch their North American tour, I promise you, you won't regret it.

But I don't recommend that you ever stay at The Waterfront Hotel at Jack London Square. Not if you want to sleep at night. The train goes by, the horn sounds and you'll wake up. Plus, there are no honor bars in the rooms nor bathtubs, and you have to walk outside to go around the hotel to reach its restaurant, Miss Pearl's. But that was a small price to pay to see The Swell Season in person.

Click here for Day Two in San Francisco and the King Tut Exhibit.

Photos: Elizabeth Weintraub

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Photo: Unless otherwise noted in this blog, the photo is copyrighted by Big Stock Photo and used with permission.

An Easy Way to Protect Vulnerable Plants from Frost in Land Park and Throughout Sacramento

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 10:01:49 -0600

The only person I've ever known who truly loved winter down to the core of her very soul was my mother. She adored winter. She loved the way the sun's glint reflecting off frozen windswept snowdrifts could blind a person. How sub-zero temperatures could cause metal earrings to sting one's earlobes and make the nostril hairs inside one's nose hang like icicles. She's dead now. That's what loving winter does to you.

Me, not so much. I'm not a big fan of winter. In fact, I grew up believing that California and Hawaii were among some of the best places to live in America. Notwithstanding how expensive Hawaii is, that makes Sacramento a dream destination with affordable housing and friendly people. We enjoy mild winters, too, a little snow in the foothills, but for most of the season, I don't even wear a coat.

The biggest problem with winter where I live in Land Park is frost. When those temperatures dip in to the 30s, some of the plants in my garden don't make it. Especially the cacti and succulents. I lost several gorgeous cactus plants last year, and am bound and determined it's not going to happen again this year.

Enter the picture: water wells. I had totally forgotten that we had a stack of these frost protectors in our garden shed. My husband and I used these to get an early start on growing tomatoes when we lived in Minnesota. They worked great. We could get a 30-day jump on everybody else by setting out our tender plants in late April and surrounding them with water wells. Didn't matter if it snowed or temperatures dropped, our plants were protected.

This year, I am protecting my cacti and succulents from frost and have already set up my water wells. See the photo above of my Land Park cactus garden. They look sort of weird, like aliens have taken over the garden, but I'm not losing my plants again this year. Here is a place where you can get them online. This gardening company calls them tomato teepees.

The water wells are made from plastic and feature individual chambers that hold water. So, if one of the chambers is punctured by a cactus thorn and leaks, the rest of them remain intact. They work by absorbing heat from the sun during the day and keeping the plants warm. The secret to filling them is to place a 5-gallon bucket over the plant, put the water well around it and, after it's filled, pick up the bucket. I'll report back in the spring.

Photo: Elizabeth Weintraub

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Photo: Unless otherwise noted in this blog, the photo is copyrighted by Big Stock Photo and used with permission.

In This Countrywide Short Sale, It Could Be Much Worse Than It Is

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 09:33:57 -0600

I don't have any problem with multi-tasking except when facing certain types of death-related circumstances. While some people can't walk and chew gum at the same time, I routinely multi-task. It's often the only way to get things done during the day.

For example, I might be brushing my teeth while talking on my cell. It's easy. You can do it, too. You just move the Jawbone off your chin so it doesn't transmit the sound of robust brushing and talk with your mouth full of toothpaste. So what if some toothpaste dribbles down your shirt? It's a small price to pay for doing 2 things at the same time.

I often work simultaneously on 2 computers with multiple windows open. It would be nice if MetroList had the common sense God gave a chimp and worked on cross-platforms, but our Sacramento MLS requires an Internet Explorer browser, so I need to use a PC at times. MetroList doesn't interact well with Java. I'd say 10% of the time when I request a report from MetroList, it freezes, submits a Microsoft error message and then closes out my browser.

While I'm waiting for it to reopen, I can then turn my attention back to my trusty Mac and focus on another project such as firing off a heated email to MetroList, explaining that it needs to fix this problem, which I then delete because I know what the response will be. MetroList will say the problem is on my end, yet when I go to the office and use the computers in our workroom, I get the same error message. It's the price I pay for being forced to work in a PC environment.

Instead of focusing on the irritating nature of MetroList, I prefer to look at how fortunate I am that we have Apple in this world. My Mac Pro makes my life enjoyable and happy. And it gets even better. This month I'll be able to access WinForms on my Mac. Go WinForms. There is always a rainbow in a rainstorm if you look hard enough for it.

Case in point, while driving down Business 80 yesterday, I was talking to a Sacramento seller who is considering a short sale. I meant to exit on 26th Street but for some reason got off on south 99 instead. OK, I was writing down an address and driving. But in my defense, let me say that I wasn't looking at my notepad, I was looking at the road and probably writing on my thigh. The exit to 99 is one huge and very long curve. I said to the caller, "I have the distinct feeling that I should be focusing at the moment on navigating this curve on the freeway exit and should not be writing down your address." She agreed.

She then told me that when she bought this home, she had planned to put down 20% but her agent had advised her to keep her powder dry and use that cash for repairs. So, she took out an 80/20 combo loan through Countrywide, and now her home is underwater. (Ack. Countrywide, the worst short sale to do.) Bear in mind, I pointed out, she would still be underwater whether or not she had put down 20% because values in that neighborhood have fallen more than 50%.

Moreover, it's actually a good thing that she had financed 100% of the purchase price. If she hadn't, and she had taken out a home equity loan for the repairs, she could possibly be facing a deficiency judgment on that second loan right now.

So, that was an excellent move. She has her former agent to thank for that suggestion. It's the silver lining in this situation. It could be worse. Suddenly, the caller felt much better about calling a Sacramento short sale agent. And if I can make my potential client's day better, you know what, mine is better, too.

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Photo: Unless otherwise noted in this blog, the photo is copyrighted by Big Stock Photo and used with permission.

The 2 Biggest Problems Facing Sacramento Short Sale Buyers

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 08:29:36 -0600

Believe it or not, some home buyers are having a very difficult time buying a short sale in Sacramento these days. You might ask yourself, why is that? Is it because the Sacramento market has limited inventory, which is causing buyers to compete with each other for some of the same homes? Or because lenders are tightening the belt in underwriting and kicking out loans for the slightest discrepancy?

In part, but not in whole.

I propose that the 2 biggest problems buyers face in a short sale situation are pricing and patience. Some buyers don't want to wait for short sale approval because their buyers' agents, for whatever reason, did not properly counsel them and explain that short sales can take, on average, 3 to 4 months to get approved. As a Sacramento short sale agent, when I am working with buyers, as opposed to sellers, I suggest that buyers sign a short sale addendum, which contains a date that is 120 days out.

Some home buyers believe they can demand that the lender quickly respond to their offer. It's not gonna happen. Threats don't work. There is a procedure for the short sale process and, along the way, it can get delayed for reasons out of the listing agent's control. Negotiators quit their jobs, they may become ill or misplace the file, or the PSA, worried over its tax-exempt status, could issue autocratic ultimatums, which then require further negotiation.

The key is patience. Buyers who wait for short sale approval generally receive it. That's evidenced by the growing number of short sales I am closing in Sacramento.

As for pricing, sometimes buyer's agents do not look at the comparable sales or, if they do happen to glance at them, they can't interpret them. In many cases, the short sale price a buyer sees advertised is not the real price. Because unless the bank has already issued approval, known as an approved short sale, it's up to the bank to select the price. And that price is based on comparable sales. Knowing what the bank is likely to accept is not really a big secret or a scary, unknown factor.

An agent called me a few days ago, asking about the price her buyer may need to offer to get that short sale offer accepted. I suggested she look at the comps, because that's where the answer is, staring her right in the face. She argued that some of the homes in that neighborhood sold for less than my seller's sales price and the square footage of those homes were larger. Therefore, she concluded, our short sale price was too high, and she believed her buyers should offer less than asking.

Did she happen to note that a few homes with identical square footage and upgrades as the subject property recently sold for $25,000 more? I guess her eyes wandered all over those comps instead of zeroing in on the exact models. It's like this, say you've got 3 red apples and 12 green apples for comps. The home you want to buy is a red apple. Which is a comparable sale? A green apple or a red apple? Which homes do you think the short sale bank will use as comparable sales?

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Photo: Unless otherwise noted in this blog, the photo is copyrighted by Big Stock Photo and used with permission.

Some Sacramento Short Sales are Improving But Aurora and CitiMortgage Take the Cake

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 09:24:01 -0600

Now that homebuyers no longer feel pressured to buy a home before the home buyer tax credit expires (because it was extended to April 30, 2010), it seems that the market is a teeny bit quieter in Sacramento. Usually Mondays are the worst day of the week, phone-wise. My cellphone tends to ring constantly on Mondays, generally because buyers are out over the weekend looking at homes. But yesterday, it was eerily silent.

In fact, I mentioned to my husband over lunch that my phone hadn't rung once. Was the market slowing down? He asked me if it was turned on. Duh. Of course, it's turned on because it asked to connect me to my Jawbone. It's illuminated. It's on. See? I showed him my phone. Oh. No bars. Somehow, and don't ask me how, I had managed to turn off my wireless connection. Holy crap. Four hours of phone messages.

I often get asked by media whether the short sale market in Sacramento is improving or getting worse; i.e., meaning is it taking longer to get short sale approval or are the banks and PSAs starting to get their acts together. It depends on which banks we're talking about. If it's a Wachovia short sale, the length of time to wait for short sale approval is still the same -- about a week.

If it's a Bank of America short sale or, worse, the loan originated at Countrywide, it's at least 90 days but it could be 6 to 9 months before approval. Aurora used to be better than it is now. Last spring approval came from Aurora within 6 weeks. I've got a handful of Aurora short sales now that are dragging. Last week, an Aurora negotiator told me that the 60-day approval we expected to receive next week is being pushed to 120 days out.

Lovely. Because CitiMortgage, which holds a second on this property, just issued short sale approval. It is set to expire in 2 weeks. On this particular short sale, Aurora holds the first. I emailed the negotiator to ask him why CitiMortgage would give us only a 2-week window on the approval letter when we don't have approval from the first lender, Aurora. Because this is an all-cash transaction, the buyer could perform, but we aren't going anywhere without Aurora's blessings.

His response? Because we should have had approval from Aurora by now. What was he smoking? His response inferred that we somehow dropped the ball, which is nuts. As a busy yet organized Sacramento short sale agent, I manage the short sale process like a gorilla.

I sense that CitiMortgage is now disguising its approval letters. I mean, the thing looks like an approval for a certain dollar amount, but CitiMortgage is really asking for more money. In this letter, CitiMortgage demanded a 2-week escrow but will agree to extend if it receives an 11% premium on the short-pay. It's not a large amount, about $5,000. So the true payoff is about $5,550. A $550 difference. Which the buyer shouldn't have to pay.

We quickly amended the HUD-1 to reflect the true demand from CitiMortgage and sent it off to Aurora. And this is how an escrow that was slated for approval next week will be pushed to January. But hey, at least my cellphone is working again.

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Photo: Unless otherwise noted in this blog, the photo is copyrighted by Big Stock Photo and used with permission.

Buying a Home in East Sacramento Means Sharing a Bit of History

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 09:04:31 -0600

Part of my success in real estate is due to paying attention to my intuition and purposely scrutinizing the emotional impact of homes, especially as an agent selling homes in such landmark neighborhoods in Sacramento as Land Park and East Sacramento. These tree-canopied areas feature many older, classic homes, and each is generally unique, loaded with history. I can feel it. It's like a sixth sense or something.

If you don't get a vibe when you walk into a home, it's probably because you're not receptive to it. I think everybody has the ability to do it. Some people probably don't care.

I felt it years ago when I entered Notre Dame, that magnificent 13th-century Gothic cathedral in Paris. It was as though all the laughter and tears over hundreds and hundreds of years were still present inside those stone walls, preserved, yet faint. The massive volume of history lingering in that structure was almost overwhelming. Centuries of hope, fear, anger, lust and faith, all coming together in one spot. Simply incredible.

Now, my new listing in East Sacramento is not a cathedral, but it's brimming with history. This delightful cottage was built in 1930 and is located just east of 35th Street. This is a home in which I can sense much happiness over the decades. It's cheerful. It smiles at you from the curb. From its pretty red porch to the hand-crafted slated pillars and adorable white shutters, it makes you feel like you want to hug it hello.

Of course, it features original hardwood flooring and vintage light fixtures, but I predict that the layout of this home and its generous living spaces will hold a lot of appeal to East Sacramento buyers. Another welcome benefit is the size of the yard and its extra-deep lot. You'll discover many fruit trees, rose gardens and, yes, even grapes, with plenty of space for children to play and dogs to romp. You can also barbecue hot dogs and hamburgers with your friends on the raised wood deck.

It has 2 bedrooms, one of which boasts a built-in Murphy bed. So, you could use this room as a spare office and pull down the bed when company arrives. If you need a full-time office, the dining room at present is utilized as a home office. You're not giving up dining space if you use the room for that purpose because the living room is so huge it could easily accommodate a dining room table. Moreover, you'll find more room for a table in the massive kitchen as well.

To survive our hot Sacramento summers, the home has central heat and air, a feature that's often hard to find in this price range in East Sacramento. The pest report has been cleared, and it has a newer roof. You won't have to buy any appliances because it comes with a refrigerator, electric range, built-in gas oven and dishwasher. Best of all, you'll also get an inside laundry complete with a washer and dryer. No more trips to the laundromat. On top of that, there is a one-car garage, too.

It has everything a first-time home buyer could want in a home, including fresh paint and ceiling fans. You don't have to do a thing but move in and create your own family history in this fabulous East Sacramento cottage. Did I mention it's offered at an extremely affordable price? There is no loan; the sellers own this free and clear. It's been in the family for decades. No short sale, no foreclosure here. Call Elizabeth Weintraub at 916-233-6759 or your own East Sacramento agent for a private showing today.

See a virtual tour and more photographs of 1723 Santa Ynez Way, Sacramento, CA 95816

Offered exclusively by Lyon Real Estate at $314,900

East Sacramento listing agent, Elizabeth Weintraub, 916-233-6759.

Photos: Elizabeth Weintraub

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Photo: Unless otherwise noted in this blog, the photo is copyrighted by Big Stock Photo and used with permission.

It's Not Always Wise to Mix Friendship With Business: Sometimes Agents Should Back Off

Sun, 15 Nov 2009 09:01:59 -0600

Whenever my neighbor goes on vacation, she asks me to watch her house and pick up the mail from her front steps. This is such a quaint custom in Land Park -- throwing mail on the porch when there's too much or it's too big to stuff into the mail slot. Mail carriers in other parts of Sacramento often stick oversized mail inside the screen door, but not here. Our mail is tossed on the porch like a dead squirrel.

When my neighbor's husband was killed suddenly in a tragic car accident on the W-X freeway, my husband and I were there for her. We invited her grieving family over to our home for dinner, attended the funeral and the year-later celebration. We shared photos of our vacations, vegetables from our gardens and stories of our days.

I had listed her Land Park home a while back. After a few weeks of showings, she asked why her home wasn't selling, and I leveled with her. She needed to take down the paneling in the living room, remove her heavy drapes from the windows and install plantation shutters, take up the carpeting and refinish the hardwood floors, scrape the acoustic ceiling, and paint everything in tones of coffee and cream.

We took the listing temporarily off the market, she hired contractors and did the work. Her home was transformed. Afterward, I sensed that something was bothering her, so I asked what was wrong. She blurted out: "My home is so beautiful I no longer want to sell it." That's all right. I understood. I canceled the listing. It's common for people to feel seller's remorse. Besides, I was relieved she wasn't moving.

My neighbor called yesterday. She asked if I could take a break and come over. Something was up. We talked about her recent vacation. She showed me photos of her granddaughter. Then she dropped the bomb. It was prefaced by: "I don't want you to be mad," and I knew what was coming. Yup, her daughter in Los Angeles knows this guy, a friend of her uncle's cousin or something. He has a real estate license. About 1 in every 35 people in California has a real estate license.

There will be no for sale sign in the yard. And if he can't sell her home in a few months, she'll give the listing to me. This plan makes about as much sense as banging your head against a wall because it feels so good when you stop. Her daughter wants the business to stay in the family. After all, she says, this guy sold one home this year, a home south of Florin in a week. To her daughter, he's perfectly qualified to sell homes in Land Park because he is family. She doesn't believe they need a Land Park agent yet, much less an agent who has already sold $11 million this year.

You know what? Friends come first. Even misguided friends. I don't need to take every listing on my street. Seven years ago, when I moved to Land Park, I might have felt differently, but not today. So, I hugged her, promised to get her information on transferring her tax base and went home, feeling very sad that my friend is moving away. I'm going to miss her.

Photo: Elizabeth Weintraub

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Photo: Unless otherwise noted in this blog, the photo is copyrighted by Big Stock Photo and used with permission.

Do What You Love, Pay the Price and You'll Always Be Passionate About Your Job

Sat, 14 Nov 2009 08:47:18 -0600

I closed a couple more escrows in Sacramento yesterday. One was in Natomas, which was a Wachovia short sale, and I represented the seller. The other was for buyers who had spent a long time looking at homes in Land Park until I suggested they consider a particular home that met their needs. The negotiations for that home were a bit tough because the buyers were not paying anywhere near the list price, and we ran into a snag at closing because the seller could not wire funds to escrow before the buyers' loan lock expired, but we closed on schedule.

This was a situation in which the seller paid to close. It wasn't a short sale. And the home wasn't upside down. It most likely would have sold for more if it had been priced right in the first place, but it wasn't. After a home sits on the market for a while, it begins to lose its desirability, especially in Land Park. When you have an overpriced listing and it's dated, Land Park agents often stop showing those homes.

I stood on the front steps, waiting for the buyers. It was a tad brisk, the sun was sinking, leaves twirled in the street. From the porch, I could see the home my former neighbors had renovated one street over. All the homes on this street are unique, filled with vintage details, oozing architectural detail, some dating back to the Roaring 20s. I imagined horse-drawn carriages clip-clopping down the street through the leaves. Then my buyers pulled up.

It's hard to know which person in a couple should receive the keys, so I always ask, because often it's not the person I spend the most time talking to throughout the transaction. When I handed the keys to the wife, her eyes teared up, and she had this expression on her face like her heart had stopped. This home was absolutely her dream, and it was now a reality. These are the moments that add the icing to the cake in my profession.

Her husband turned to thank me and said the reason they chose me to help them buy a home in Land Park was because being a Land Park agent is not just a job to me. They chose me because I am passionate about my job, because I love what I do and, apparently, it shows.

It made me think back to my childhood. When I was about 7, I turned a sandbox into a playhouse. Decorated it with curtains, and furnished it with miniature chairs and a plastic kitchen table. At that age, I used to grab scraps of drywall from nearby construction and draw floorplans in the street. One day my sister sat in the street clutching her teddy bear and watching me draw a house. I drew bedrooms and put in doorways.

After I finished, I wanted to go play in the woods, but my sister was reluctant to come because she didn't want to drag her teddy bear along. Hey, I told her, we'll just put your teddy bear in the bedroom and go. So, she left it in the street. Needless to say, it wasn't there when we came back.

Life coach experts say that if you're struggling with life decisions -- trying to figure out what kind of job you should do, what your calling is in life -- you should look at your childhood because the answers are there. I went into real estate full-time in my mid-20s. I've completed countless college courses in real estate, worked as a title searcher, escrow officer, real estate agent and real estate broker; I have owned my own brokerage in Newport Beach, years before moving to Sacramento and joining Lyon Real Estate.

I've been through down markets, rising markets, crazy high-interest rate markets, had good times and times that I struggled, but I could not imagine myself doing anything else apart from real estate. I think it's the best job in the world.

An agent asked me yesterday, "How come every time I call you, you're so upbeat and chipper?" Well, because I am doing what I love. Because I have a choice in my attitude. Because I can make a difference in other people's lives by helping them to sell or buy a home. And because after all these years, I'm good at it. Real estate is my calling. What's not to be happy about?

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Photo: Unless otherwise noted in this blog, the photo is copyrighted by Big Stock Photo and used with permission.

Pending Short Sales in Sacramento More Than Triple Over Past 15 Months

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 08:58:39 -0600

In this life, most of us learn to take the good with the bad. The bad is carrying a bag of used cat litter through the family room and having the bottom fall out of the bag. The good is reading Lyon Real Estate's Trendgraphix press release, which announced this morning that pending short sales are continuing to rise in Sacramento.

As a Sacramento short sale agent, an increase in pendings shows me that more banks are approving short sales. That's great news. In our MLS, we have 3 basic ways the status of a short sale before closing can be displayed. The first is an "active short sale," which means the home is offered for sale, probably at an artificially low price and subject to bank approval. The second is "active short contingent," which means the seller has accepted an offer and all parties are waiting for bank approval. The third is "pending," which means the bank has accepted the buyer's offer.

Illustrated in the chart above, in August of 2008, we had 217 short sales pending in the Sacramento area. By October of 2009, that number leaped to 953 pending short sales. With the exception of a slight increase in inventory last month, the number of homes for sale as a short sale has been falling since March. When we have fewer homes for sale and continued strong interest from buyers, we're in a seller's market, but that applies primarily to the entry-level market and not to the upper-priced homes for sale.

What I find particularly interesting is that the overall activity in the $200,000 to $400,000 market (of all homes for sale, not just short sales) is steadily increasing this year, while the percentage of homes that sell under $200,000 is falling. For example, in March of 2009, 34% of all home sales in Sacramento sold between $200,000 and $400,000. Last month, that percentage jumped to 40%.

Here is how the October sales activity in Sacramento breaks down:

Inventory increased 2%
Homes sold in Sacramento under $200,000: 54%
Homes sold in Sacramento between $200,000 and $400,000: 40%
Homes sold in Sacramento over $400,000: 5%

What this means for Sacramento home buyers is if you're planning to buy a home over $400,000, the market is wide open for you, and those prices are soft. But if you're buying a home under $400,000, expect to fight with other buyers for the same home, regardless of whether that home is a short sale.

Image: Trendgraphix, used with permission.

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Photo: Unless otherwise noted in this blog, the photo is copyrighted by Big Stock Photo and used with permission.

How to Make Sure You Don't Lock Yourself Out of the House

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 09:16:28 -0600

Hey, sometimes it happens. You get locked out of your house. I've done it twice and have put a system in place so it never happens again. The first time I tried to crawl in my second-story window. Except my ladder wasn't high enough, and I had to jump from the top rung. Not to mention, tear out my screen. I could have killed myself.

The second time I was taking out the trash late at night. The trash can was in my attached garage. I wasn't appropriately dressed to seek help, either, because I was wearing a nightgown. Opened the side door to the garage, and when I heard it click behind me, my heart sank. I knew it was locked. Did I want to sleep in the cold garage? Or did I want to knock on my neighbor's door and ask him to kick in my back door? I suppose it could have been worse; I could have been naked.

Last night, the seller of my new West Sacramento short sale listing called. Her home was on Lyon broker tour yesterday. An agent, in an attempt to secure the home, no doubt, locked her door to the garage. The seller, I discovered, doesn't carry a key with her. She had already driven over to our Lyon office in West Sacramento, but the lights were out and the place deserted.

I called an agent I know at the Lyon West Sacramento office, but received her voice mail. I thought about jumping in my car and driving over there myself, but it would have taken me at least 20 minutes from my home in Land Park.

Instead, I pulled up the Lyon website, plucked a friendly looking face from the West Sacramento office and called a Lyon agent at random, Patt Kregelo. Patt was driving home from the grocery store, 5 minutes away from my listing, and she offered to run over there. I added that if she hadn't yet seen this home, perhaps it would be a good time to preview it, but Patt had frozen food in the car. See, this is the thing about our vast network of Lyon real estate agents, even if we don't know each other, we stick together. Thank you, Patt, if you're reading this, for helping me out. I really appreciate it. So does the seller.

For the rest of you, though, to avoid getting locked out of your own house, you should hide a key somewhere on your property. If you don't have an extra key, get one made today and hide it. Consider a place in the garage. For about $30, you can attach an outside wireless garage door keypad, which will let you open the overhead garage door by entering a code on the keypad.

You can also give a key to your neighbor. Or buy one of those fake rocks for keys, put the key inside and hide the rock in the garden. Just let me say that I've already had a reason to use my hidden key. The trick for me was remembering where I hid it. Plus, if you don't think that you'll ever get locked out of your house, just wait.

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Photo: Unless otherwise noted in this blog, the photo is copyrighted by Big Stock Photo and used with permission.

Google Docs is a Great Way to Publish Daily Updates on Short Sales to Your Website

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 08:35:33 -0600

My husband is a savvy shopper, always looking for bargains and buying stuff on sale. Thank goodness he's not into those big discount chains and coming home with armloads of toilet paper. I've been to homes where the bathtub was the only place left to stash an oversupply of toilet paper. But he does tend to buy larger quantities of an item when it's on sale.

He was thrilled when he discovered that Target over on Broadway had Fancy Feast on sale. Our older cat, Brandon, loves Fancy Feast canned cat food. Turkey and Giblets. Maybe he's a Thanksgiving cat at heart? He turned up his nose at the other types of wet cat food we've tried to feed him, all of which smell nauseating but appear to be culinary delights for a cat.

My husband was so thrilled with Target's sale prices that he bought a couple of cases of canned Fancy Feast. Except they weren't Turkey and Giblets. Some were chicken and grilled beef. Maybe he was hungry when he went to the store? His explanation was he thought that Brandon would like a choice among a variety of flavors.

No, he wouldn't. Cats dislike change. They don't need variety in their diet. Once a cat has established that he likes a particular type of cat food, that's what you give him. Brandon expects the same food in his bowl, day-in and day-out. It fulfills a basic need that he can count on. Until the day comes when he changes his mind, and then he will let me know because he'll stop eating it and demand something else.

People are resistant to change as well. Sometimes, the older they get, the more stuck in their ways they become. Few roll with the punches. Some gripe, complain, snarl. Many have a routine, and they repeat that routine day after day. Change can be frightening.

I'm sort of an abnormality and buck the tide. I embrace change. I'm constantly searching for ways to improve things -- by remodeling my home, remodeling my car, remodeling myself, even. As a Sacramento short sale agent, I'm also constantly looking for ways to improve communication and speed up the short sale process. I believe communication is key.

Which brings me to my point. I have created a link to my website that now displays, in real-time, the activity on my Sacramento short sales. I refer buyer's agents to the site, which has dramatically reduced the amount of time I used to spend on my cell yakking about them. Clients can go there, too, to check the status of their short sales. Plus, the link is accessible by my associates who can post updates on the site as well.

Best of all, it's free. Any real estate agent can set up a reporting system such as this and publish it to a website through Google Docs. Check it out. Just go to Elizabeth Weintraub's website and look at the lower-left menu. It's the bottom link, called Short Sale Listing Status.

Photo: Brandon, in his Land Park home, by Elizabeth Weintraub

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Photo: Unless otherwise noted in this blog, the photo is copyrighted by Big Stock Photo and used with permission.

Since When Is It Wrong to Expect a Buyer's Agent to Pull the Comparable Sales?

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 09:31:05 -0600

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 a short sale. The agent got huffy with me. "I'm an old man," he said, "and I've been in the business for 46 years. I don't have time for this."

His poor buyer. He's apparently working with an agent who doesn't have time to do the job the buyer hired him to perform. This is where the adage: "If you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all" comes into play. So I thanked him profusely for calling me, and was as polite as I could be while following a cement mixer down Jefferson.

Here is a new listing in West Sacramento. It's a 4 bedroom, 2 bath, with vaults, boasting almost 1900 square feet of pure joy, especially if you own pets. That's because the living room, dining area, kitchen and family room have upgraded ceramic tile floors. The tiles are larger than 12-inch, but I didn't measure them to determine if the tiles were 16-inch or 18-inch. The home was built by Forecast in 2001. It's a desirable one-story on a cul-de-sac with a view of the greenbelt.

The interior is absolutely immaculate. It's in move-in condition. The kitchen has an island, the counters are ceramic tile and there's a breakfast nook that overlooks the incredibly landscaped back yard.

You'll love the spacious master suite, which is almost 20 feet. Plus, it has outside access to the back yard. The master bath has double sinks, ceramic tile floor, a separate tub, shower stall and a huge walk-in closet with organizers.

As I was leaving, the seller mentioned that she found me at my Homebuying About.com site when she Googled "short sale." When she read my article -- which ranks #2 at Google, right behind Wikipedia -- she discovered that I was a Sacramento short sale agent and was delighted when she realized that my office is in Midtown. See, Lyon Real Estate has 18 offices in the Sacramento area, and we have an office in West Sacramento, too. So, this seller gets the advantage of a For Sale Sign on her lawn that sports our West Sacramento office phone number, and she gets her home on tour with our Midtown office over the river, plus my cell phone number on a sign rider. Dual coverage. It doesn't get any better than that.

3044 Sherman Island Road, West Sacramento, CA 95691

Offered as a short sale exclusively by Lyon Real Estate at $235,000

Elizabeth Weintraub, 916.233.6759

Photos: Elizabeth Weintraub

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Photo: Unless otherwise noted in this blog, the photo is copyrighted by Big Stock Photo and used with permission.

Nothing to Wear and Nothing to Buy Except This East Sacramento Home That is Not Upside Down

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 09:00:29 -0600

Few guys understand what a woman means when she opens her closet and declares: I have nothing to wear. Guys look in the closet and they see clothes jammed in so tightly that one might break a hanger yanking something out. Wall-to-wall clothes. They scratch their heads and wonder how can a woman say she has nothing to wear when it's obvious that she has 6 times more clothing than them. In fact, it looks like the entire fall collection from Macy's in that closet.

See, here's the thing. When a woman says: "I have nothing to wear," it means she can remember the last time she wore every garment. I know, that doesn't make sense to many guys, but it does to a woman. And that which she can't recall, she probably doesn't like anyway. I imagine women who suffer from memory loss always have something to wear, so that can be the upside to losing your mind.

In my case, I realized yesterday that I have nothing to wear -- not for any of those reasons but because I had dropped 4 dress sizes. Very little in my closet fits me anymore. In case you're wondering, it's called the "don't eat" diet, which consists of consuming 3 small meals a day, no snacks, no desserts, and running around like a chicken with my head cut off slamming to closing those Sacramento short sales and homes in Land Park.

I'm back to the size I was in college. And I have my husband to thank. I thanked him, too, as I breezed in the door yesterday carrying a bunch of bags from my shopping spree at Macy's in downtown Sacramento. "What did I do?" he asked, bewildered. Well, he had stopped making me high caloric dinners and served up smaller portions, as I requested, since I had previously blamed my weight gain on him. He prepares our dinners and handles the grocery shopping. Now, I know it wasn't his fault, but it amuses me to share the blame. Call it a wife's prerogative.

At least now I'll have something to wear when I go over to East Sacramento today to shoot interior photos of my new listing. This is a very spacious two-bedroom home with an extra deep lot. And it's not upside down. Yup, not a short sale. It's owned by a regular seller. Been in the family for ages -- the mortgage has been paid off. I listed it last Friday for $314,900.

This East Sacramento home features hardwood floors, central heat and air, and one of the bedrooms has a murphy bed. The kitchen is huge, almost 25 feet, about the same size as the living room, with space for a table. In fact, you could also utilize part of the living room for dining and convert the formal dining room into a home office, if you needed an extra room. It has a 2-motorcycle garage, as the seller calls it, and a raised deck in the back yard for entertaining.

It goes into MLS today and showings start on Wednesday. If you're looking at homes in East Sacramento, give me a ring at 916.233.6759. I'd love to show you this. And I'll try to post more photos tomorrow.

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Photo: Unless otherwise noted in this blog, the photo is copyrighted by Big Stock Photo and used with permission.

If Banks Make More Money on Foreclosures than Short Sales, Why Am I Closing So Many Sacramento Short Sales?

Sun, 08 Nov 2009 09:25:40 -0600

A fellow blogger and agent on Active Rain, Pacita Dimacali, wrote a piece that included links which substantiate the theory that banks make more money on foreclosures than short sales. Pacita works in Alameda, about 90 minutes away from me in Sacramento, and she is also a contributor to my book, The Short Sale Savior. Pacita knows her stuff.

If the federal government is subsidizing lossses suffered by banks through foreclosure, it would appear that banks such as Bank of America, Wells Fargo and CitiMortgage have very little incentive to do a short sale. Yet, month after month, those same banks are approving my Sacramento short sales.

Now, Wachovia short sales are handled in a different manner. But that's primarily because Wachovia is a portfolio lender. Loans originated by World Savings, for example, that are now Wachovia short sales, close from sale date to recording in about 5 to 6 weeks.

I'll tell you why I suspect that my sellers are getting short sale approval and the sellers Pacita illustrates are receiving short sale rejections. I believe it has to do with short sale pricing and how I market those listings. See, banks are in the business of making money, and they probably don't care where the money comes from. The government can give it to them or short sale buyers can give it to them.

After all, if a bank takes the property in foreclosure, it will still need to ultimately sell that bank-owned home to a buyer. If the buyer is already standing in front of the bank, waving money and paying market value, why wouldn't the bank accept the short sale? As a Sacramento short sale agent, I fully realize that I represent the seller and have a fiduciary duty to get the seller the highest price possible, even though that money is not going directly into the seller's pocket. It goes to the bank. But the bank is also the ultimate decision maker.

At the moment, according to MLS, my short sale listing to sales price ratio average so far for 2009 is at 106.5% of the sales price. Yup, as bizarro as it sounds, that's right. I generate so much interest on my Sacramento short sales that buyers pay over list price. The banks are happy, the sellers are happy and even the buyers are happy. That's how life should be.

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Photo: Unless otherwise noted in this blog, the photo is copyrighted by Big Stock Photo and used with permission.

Land Park Has Only 3 Active Short Sale Listings in MLS, Including a Tudor at $325,000

Sat, 07 Nov 2009 08:42:46 -0600

I just listed a new short sale in Land Park yesterday, but before I get to that, let me tell you about a weird thing that happened on Friday. I've never, in all my decades of real estate, experienced this before. A buyer who was supposed to close escrow on a home in South Land Park sent me an email with an attachment. That attachment was a copy of the recording status of the home, and the email asked if the home had recorded. Since I was viewing this on my BlackBerry -- which has very small print on attachments, even if I zoom the image -- I stopped at my home office to look at it on my computer.

Sure enough, the document included a book and page number. But it also had Thursday's date, not Friday's. I contacted title. Whoa. The title company goofed up and recorded the wrong deed. That loan had just funded Friday morning, but title recorded the deed in error on Thursday. This didn't affect my buyers much, but it certainly affects the buyers who thought they had closed escrow on Thursday and probably moved in already. Just goes to show that even title companies make mistakes.

Sometimes, buyers make mistakes as well, especially when they are moving to Land Park from out of the area. Many homes in Land Park are unique, and their values can vary dramatically, depending on a plethora of indicators. That's why it's important to hire an experienced Land Park agent or it's possible that a buyer may overpay for a home here.

Unfortunately, some appraisers have no idea how to appraise a home in Land Park. They don't seem to know where the boundaries are for each subdivision or how crossing some boundaries can have an affect on value. So buyers can't always rely on an appraisal to substantiate value.

The sellers of my new Land Park listing paid $515,000 in the spring of 2005, probably the hottest market ever on record for Land Park. It is presently assessed at $429,236 by the County of Sacramento. So, if you're looking for a short sale in Land Park -- and there are only 3 active short sales available in Land Park at the moment -- you might want to check this out.

1000 Fremont Way is offered as a short sale at $325,000. This Land Park Tudor features 3 bedrooms, 2 baths, and according to the County Assessor has 1,471 square feet. It has refinished hardwood floors, barrel ceilings, nooks, crannies, built-ins, crown molding, a fireplace, formal dining room, breakfast nook, master suite, a bonus room off the garage, partial basement and attic storage. It was updated in 2005.

Plus you get boat storage, RV access and a garage that will hold 2 small cars. The back-yard has a covered patio that is made to look like a beach, with a sanded concrete floor, the sides of the overhang adjust and a ceiling fan. There is also a lawn in back that you will never need to mow.

Although the home has an address on Fremont, it actually faces 10th Street, and is a corner lot. But the back yard has a southern exposure. The A/C was new in 2005. It's got everything a Land Park buyer could want.

1000 Fremont Way, Sacramento, CA 95818
Offered exclusively by LYON REAL ESTATE as a short sale at $325,000
Elizabeth Weintraub, Land Park Agent, 916.233.6759

Photos: Elizabeth Weintraub

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Photo: Unless otherwise noted in this blog, the photo is copyrighted by Big Stock Photo and used with permission.