There's a saying that if you want to know where lines of ants are coming from, you've got to watch the ants. Because of all the rain we've received in Sacramento over the past 48 hours, I presently have an ant invasion in our bedroom. They are crawling up from the baseboards and down from the window sill. I've sprayed them with Windex, planted Grant's Ants stakes both inside the house and outside, but they keep coming. My cats are fascinated by the ants.
The solution here is to find the caulking gun, load it up and go to the source.
Yesterday, the source came to Lyon Real Estate. The manager of Wachovia's Sacramento short sales department did a presentation at my Midtown office. She's pretty much a one-woman show at Wachovia and handles all of its short sales.
I've been battling the intake department at Wachovia on 2 of my short sale listings for longer than should have been necessary. What should have been easy process was not. One file had been submitted in August, 3 times, but was never acknowledged. The other was submitted early September and is presently under review. The manager gave me her card and suggested that I email her with this information.
I wondered how the Wachovia short sales manager could handle the vast volume of files all by herself. She actually meets with each homeowner and assesses both the property and the homeowner's qualifications during this meeting, rendering a decision on the spot. She must be organized. I have had agents ask me how I can possibly handle the volume of short sales that I do, and it's because I'm organized. As a Sacramento short sale agent, I have systems in place.
After the meeting, I emailed the manager and attached the executed offer and HUD-1 on each of my 2 Wachovia straggler short sales. She responded immediately. We'll probably receive a decision on one short sale by the end of the month; she submitted the other and I'm meeting the Wachovia short sales manager at the property on Tuesday for an evaluation.
Instant communication from the source! It doesn't get any better than this. I would love to do even more short sales with Wachovia. In fact, I'm putting out an open invitation to all Sacramento short sale sellers with a Wachovia loan to call me. Wachovia is the gold standard for short sales.
Now, I've got to stop typing and go look for my caulking gun. Those ants are NOT going to win this battle.
---
Certified HAFA Specialist
My Sacramento Real Estate Listings
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 the four-county Sacramento area. Call Elizabeth Weintraub at 916.233.6759. Put 35 years of real estate experience to work for you. Broker-Associate at Lyon Real Estate. DRE License # 00697006.
The Short Sale Savior, by Elizabeth Weintraub, available at Amazon.com.
Lyon Real Estate is not associated with the government, and our service is not approved by the government or your lender. Even if you accept this offer and use our service, your lender may not agree to change your loan.
Photo: Unless otherwise noted in this blog, the photo is copyrighted by Big Stock Photo and used with permission.
The views expressed herein are Weintraub's personal views and do not reflect the views of Lyon Real Estate.
Disclaimer: If this post contains a listing, information is deemed reliable as of the date it was written. After that date, the listing may be sold, listed by another brokerage, canceled, pending or taken temporarily off the market, and the price could change without notice. It could blow up, explode or vanish. To find out the present status of any listing, please go to elizabethweintraub.com.
;)
;)
;)
Great reminder to go to the source -- and how nice that your Wachovia negotiator made herself available. They're usually "man behind the curtain" because no one sees the great and powerful Oz.
As for the ants, if the caulk doesn't work, there's a great little product called Terro that we use when spring rains bring them knocking at our door. Here's a link: http://www.terro.com/
Happy hunting!