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The Days are Getting Shorter and Showings are Getting Longer

By Elizabeth Weintraub Sacramento Broker

Real Estate Agent with Elizabeth Anne Weintraub, Broker DRE #00697006

November 06, 2008 04:06 AM

Buyers for Midtown asked if I would show them property yesterday afternoon which, as Chris Ann Cleland points out, is a lot more fun than beating your head against the desk after hammering loss mitigators and negotiators all day. The buyers were from out of town and didn't know the Sacramento Midtown area very well, so I decided against suggesting that I drive with them. I drive a roadster, which holds all of two people, so I typically drive with my clients (if there are more than one) or I borrow my husband's car, the oh-so-economical and environmentally friendly Prius.

Driving my husband's car is OK during the day, but I suddenly realized at about dusk that I didn't know how to turn on the headlights. Are they on? Are they off? "I think they are on," said Miss Buyer, "because your dashboard is brighter." I drove around like that for a while before I realized they weren't on. Hey, it's hard to tell at dusk if the headlights are on; it's much easier when it's pitch black.

I suppose they were wondering how they managed to get so lucky as to end up with an agent who couldn't tell if her headlights were illuminated!

Since many of the homes we toured were REOs and / or probates, some had no electricity. If the house did have lights, most of them were burned out. It's a good thing I carry around a portable flashlight in my bag. In one home, I spied a furry ball on the floor. Spotted it with the flashlight. Is it what I think? Stay calm, stay calm, don't freak. I shoved it a little with the toe of my boot. Whew. It wasn't alive nor dead. Just some wad of hair and lint.

Gosh, I just can't get used to the fact that it gets dark so early now. I suppose it could be worse. I could be living in Minnesota or some other state where it's cold and snowing. Sometimes, you've got to count your blessings.

In fact, right now I have to run because Miss Buyer just called to say she wants to buy the house with the scary wad on the floor . . .

Photo: Big Stock Photo

The Short Sale, by Elizabeth Weintraub, coming from Archer Ellison in January 2009

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Fred Chamberlin

Guild Mortgage Co - Oak Harbor WA - Oak Harbor, WA

Oak Harbor/Whidbeynulls, #1 Experienced FHA Mortgage Consultant

Is the scary wad on the floor included or is it extra. :-D

It is harder to get used to shorter days, and ours are shorter than yours, but good thinking to carry the flashlight.

Nov 06, 2008 05:02 AM

C Tann-Starr

Tann Starr & Associates, Inc. - Palm Bay, FL

Shorter days have been freaking my kids out. I'm getting e little weird too. I don't like running around at night a lot with them so I have to rush more to get them back in at a decent time after sun down.

Nov 06, 2008 05:19 AM

Tom Braatz Waukesha County Real Estate 262-377-1459

Coldwell Banker - Oconomowoc, WI

Waukesha County Realtor Real Estate agent. SOLD!

Elizabeth

In Wisconsin we have a thing called "Day light Savings". It makes for a mess in adjustments of time and light.

Sincerely

Tom Braatz

Nov 06, 2008 06:19 AM

Debi Ernst

St. Charles County, Missouri - Prudential Alliance Realtors - O'Fallon, MO

GRI, e-PRO, Broker/Sales Associate

Elizabeth - I need to get a better flashlight. (My cute little bitty one just isn't enough... ) Thanks for reminding me! :)

Nov 06, 2008 06:21 AM

Terry & Bonnie Westbrook

Westbrook Realty Broker-Owner - Grand Rapids, MI

Westbrook Realty - Grand Rapids Forest Hills MI Re

It is so difficult to see everything now with the days so short. I'm not sure how I would show with out my trusty flashlight.

Nov 06, 2008 09:02 AM

Elizabeth Weintraub Sacramento Broker

Elizabeth Anne Weintraub, Broker - Sacramento, CA

Put 40 years of experience to work for you

Hi Fred and C: I've been sleeping in longer, too. My body just isn't used to the change in time. Well, I did wake up at 5 AM this morning because I heard a loud THUD. Our cat Pia was up on my dresser looking for treats, and she knocked my water bottle the floor. Which opened and emptied onto my bamboo flooring. Good thing I got up to clean it up or I'd have a swollen floor about now.

Hi Tom: We have daylight savings, too. And it ended last week. So we turned our clocks back an hour. I assume you do the same thing in Wisconsin, don't you?

Hi Debi: Oh, yeah, never leave home without a trusty flashlight. I also have a mini flashlight on my keyring so I can see to insert keys into locks.

Hi Ter: Flashlights do come in handy. I also use them for looking around in dark basements. I got mine from REI, so it's compact, lightweight and powerful. Used it when we were scouring caves in Provence and thought it worked so well I'd use it for showing homes, too.

Nov 06, 2008 09:07 AM

Gary Woltal

Keller Williams Realty - Flower Mound, TX

Assoc. Broker Realtor SFR Dallas Ft. Worth

Elizabeth, you are right with the darkness settling in early you have to schedule those showings earlier or turn on the interior lights.

Nov 06, 2008 10:19 AM

Kristin Hunteman

True Title Company - Clayton, MO

Escrow Closing Officer

Really glad that your furball was just a hairball and not anything that was alive or previously alive.

Nov 06, 2008 10:26 AM

Marie Meyer

Keller Williams Realty - Central Valley, NY

Orange County New York Realtor

Hi Elizabeth ... I am not liking the dark either. It really does shorten the showing day. Nothing like dark houses with mysterious wads :)

Nov 06, 2008 10:38 AM

Thesa Chambers

West + Main - Bend, OR

Principal Broker - Licensed in Oregon

those homes are not only dark here - but cold... and you never know what or who might be learking to stay warm....

Nov 06, 2008 12:03 PM

Barbara S. Duncan

RE/MAX Advantage - Searcy, AR

GRI, e-PRO, Executive Broker, Searcy AR

I truly hate showing property after dark. You truly deserve to sell that wad on the floor after all the trouble you went to. REO's with no lights and a flashlight only. Ugh. I'm glad it was you and not me!

Nov 06, 2008 12:11 PM

Tammy Lankford,

Lane Realty Eatonton, GA Lake Sinclair, Milledgeville, 706-485-9668 - Eatonton, GA

Broker GA Lake Sinclair/Eatonton/Milledgeville

Elizabeth- I hope Miss Buyer makes a great offer on the fur ball, I mean house with the fur ball. And the dash is brighter when the lights are off because it assumes it's bright outside and dimmer when the lights are on, it assumes it's dark outside and you will need less illumination to see it. I have a Toyota hybrid highlander. I bet your husband's car also has an auto setting for headlights that lets them come on when needed. Tell him to put it there for you and leave it next time you have to drive his car. LOL

Nov 06, 2008 01:32 PM

Elizabeth Weintraub Sacramento Broker

Elizabeth Anne Weintraub, Broker - Sacramento, CA

Put 40 years of experience to work for you

Hi Gary, Kristin, Marie, Thesa and Barbara: Yup, showing homes in the dark sorta sucks, but it's what we do in November through February! We forget because the spring / summer months have been so much easier!

Hi Tammy: Well, Miss Buyer did make an offer, and it was accepted. She got a steal of a deal in East Sacramento, I guess I live vicariously through my clients, but I am thrilled for her! I asked my husband about reading his owner's manual, and he only growled at me. :)

Nov 06, 2008 03:05 PM

Colleen Fischesser Northwest Property Shop

NextHome Experience - Chelan, WA

A Tradition of Trust in the Pacific NW since 1990!

LOL....well I don't think I would have been brave enough to have tested "the wad". I would like to think I would have been, but I know better. November is our darkest month here in the NW, at 4:30 today I thought it was 7. YUK

Nov 06, 2008 03:11 PM

Myrl Jeffcoat

Sacramento, CA

Greater Sacramento Realtor - Retired

Elizabeth - I like your statement about "living vicariously through your clients." I love doing that - especially with first time buyers.

Nov 06, 2008 03:25 PM

Michelle Pine

Kris Weaver Real Estate Team - Virginia Beach, VA

ABR, GRI, Hampton Roads Real Estate

My my my, you are certainly brave, I can't believe you nudged it with your boot. I know those clients were impressed, I am. I know I probably would have screamed, and ran backwards!

Nov 07, 2008 01:55 AM

Chris Ann Cleland

Long and Foster Real Estate - Gainesville, VA

Associate Broker, Bristow, VA

Elizabeth: Thanks for the plug! I hate having to show properties in the evenings this time of year. With the number of REOs on the market, you really do need to bring everyone a flashlight. I just know I'll fall down and bust my rear in one of these dark REOs one night.

Nov 07, 2008 02:02 AM

Elizabeth Weintraub Sacramento Broker

Elizabeth Anne Weintraub, Broker - Sacramento, CA

Put 40 years of experience to work for you

Hi Colleen: If the "wad" had moved, I'd have had a good excuse for my clients feeling sorry for me. LOL.

Hi Myrl: I wish I had oodles of cash to buy property right now. I can honestly say that every home clients have purchased this year, I wish I had purchased. :)

Hi Michelle: My clients didn't see me kick the wad. Heh, heh, but I was prepared to scream bloody murder if need be.

Hi Chris Ann: Some of those REOs call for wearing those headlamp lights on your forehead. Can't you just see us handing them out before entering those houses?