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Elizabeth Weintraub
My Liliko’i Opera Cake Makes a Fine Christmas Dessert
Liliko’i opera cake features 6 layers from Daylight Mind Bakery.
Let’s make one thing clear upfront — I did not personally create this liliko’i opera cake. In fact, I could barely order it because I had no idea what type of cake I requested. I’ve had a slice of liliko’i cake many years ago, and I loved it. Liliko’i is passion fruit. When my neighbor down the street invited me to Christmas dinner, she suggested I bring a dish I like. I figured I could find a liliko’i cake in Kailua-Kona. I’ve seen it at Costco. Except when I was there looking for it.
It is not really of Hawaiian origin, though. Liliko’i opera cake originated in Paris when I was three years old, in 1955. The story goes that the baker’s wife mentioned the cake reminded her of the opera. So he named it opéra gâteau. But there are many stories about the origin of opera cakes. None of which I knew when I entered Daylight Mind Bakery in Kona to order my cake.
The baker at the counter seemed a bit confused when I asked for the cake. She had a bunch of questions such as what type of liliko’i cake? Um, are there different kinds? I did not know.
With great conviction I replied: A traditional liliko’i.
So, layered, then?
Yes, layered.
For how many people?
5 or 6.
Do you want it in slices?
No. Just a layered liliko’i cake.
A few days after I ordered the cake, I relayed the story to my manicurist and asked if I had done something wrong. The woman next to her, not the least bit worried about eavesdropping, leaned over to put in her two cents: the employees are new and don’t know what they are doing. How does she know the people who work at the bakery, I wondered, only for a moment, though. We have about 12,000 people who live in Kona.
Well, I didn’t see the cake when I went to pick it up yesterday. It was in a box, and they never opened the box and, in fact, struggled a bit with ringing it up. One would think they would want to make sure the customer got what she ordered and there would be some sort of elaborate presentation involved. But no, they just handed me the cake in the box. Oh, this is just how Hawaii is. No fussing around, and that’s just fine.
Very gingerly, I carried the liliko’i opera cake into my house. Opened the lid. Wow, what was this thing? There was no chiffon, no whipped cream, just a flat stacked cake, like maybe it was downsized from that Matt Damon movie? I carefully removed it from the box to study the creation.
The more I stared at this liliko’i opera cake, the more I enjoyed the artistry that went into this piece of work. There is sponge almond cake, chocolate, something crunchy, buttercream and maybe a mousse, including a liliko’i glaze on top. I can’t wait to taste it. This is far more beautiful and gorgeous than a chiffon cake.
Hopefully I won’t drop the champagne nor the liliko’i opera cake on my way to the neighbor’s today.
Mele Kalikimaka!
Why Agents Should Explain all Home Selling Documents to Sellers
Explaining all home selling documents to sellers helps to avoid confusion later.
Home selling documents are not as simple and straight forward as some of us like to believe. Especially when you’re been in the real estate business for as many decades as I have, I have probably forgotten about more documents than the existing home selling documents we use today. We Sacramento listing agents can become complacent and assume sellers know everything when sellers usually know very little.
Even if the seller has sold homes in the past, almost every transaction is different, unique in some way. The home selling documents can also vary from transaction to transaction.
My client reminded me of this yesterday. I was working away on my computer set up out on my lanai, often pausing to look out at the white sail boats on the horizon when my phone rang with the song Sigh No More from Much Ado About Nothing. That’s my clue that I have a text. I love that melody. It makes me receptive to text messages. See how I set up those things?
My client had just arrived in Boise, Idaho, brrr. She texted me photos of the snow and remarked about the cold weather. We talked about a few things and then she said she was working on fixing an electrical problem and correcting something else in the house. I wondered why. So I asked her. She said the buyer put defects on the home selling document so she was fixing them.
Hmmm . . . I reminded her that the buyers did submit a Request for Repair, but that was for pest work, and we rejected it anyway. Her home is sold AS IS without any repairs. Certainly no electrical. My client said she found the repairs noted on the CR. That did not make sense to me. I asked for an explanation.
Well, she sent me the buyer’s agent AVID (agent visual inspection disclosure). The agent noted a few things that he knew did not work properly. This is why my client thought she needed to fix those things.
No, she doesn’t need to fix anything. I explained the home selling document is simply a disclosure. Sure, there have been times when a seller has argued with me over my listing agent AVID, demanding I change disclosures I made, and it can’t be done. Each agent makes his or her own disclosures and they stand on their own merit. It’s not a request for work. It can even be wrong. It’s just an agent’s observation.
I cannot begin to tell you how relieved my client sounded in her text message. I’m glad that I probed and discovered which of the home selling documents she misinterpreted. We Sacramento Realtors can’t take any document for granted. Sellers don’t work with these daily like we do. We need to stop and explain more. Nobody is ever offended when an agent tries to help.
Third Time is a Charm for These Sacramento Real Estate Sellers
Third time is a charm for Sacramento home sellers.
You know where I learned how to say “third time is a charm” in Sacramento real estate? Twelve years ago when short sales were getting started in Sacramento as the market began to crash. Because nobody back then wanted to buy a short sale. Soon that was pretty much all there was to buy, so that attitude changed. Now that we have almost no short sales at all in Sacramento anymore, you would think a Realtor would never have to say “third time is a charm” ever again. Ha!
Listen to this story. I first listed this home in Natomas in August, just as I headed out to Hawaii for a few weeks. Although this home has many nice features, the drawback was it faced the freeway. It didn’t just face the freeway. The freeway was in its face. You could see big trucks on the overpass and cars whizzing by the front yard. Oy, this will be a challenge to sell, I thought.
But then I brightened up. I’ve sold a lot of homes that face the freeway, now that I paused to reflect. We have low inventory. High demand. Sure enough, we received an offer. The agent typed the wrong seller’s name, which made me wonder about multiple offers. I could tell how much this excited the sellers. We just closed on their new home, which involved paying more than list price, so they thought they could apply that principle to this offer.
I didn’t want to burst their bubble and say do you know how lucky you are to have an offer for a home that faces the freeway? But I did discuss why protocol suggests not demanding more than list price when you have only the one offer. Then, suddenly the buyer’s agent withdrew the offer. Turned out her buyers purchased something else. Did they write multiple offers? Possible.
A few weeks later, whammo another offer arrived. IIRC, the buyer’s agent partnered with the buyer’s lender, and they were both out-of-area. That makes transactions more difficult because they don’t know local custom. Sacramento is very much its own local marketplace, unlike the Bay Area or Southern California. Also different from Placer or Yolo.
The lender sent the offer, too, which made it even more confusing. When escrow did not receive the deposit, we issued a Notice to Buyer to Perform and only then did the buyer finally wire funds. Too many red flags with this file but you cannot cancel a buyer for red flags.
We came to regret the whole ordeal. Shortly after the home inspection, the buyer flipped out. Some of the windows needed to be replaced. Since they were under warranty, the sellers hopped on getting new windows ordered. These things are never easy to do because builders pass the buck and the warranty companies pass the buck. So a seller needs to be really diligent, persuasive and committed to the process.
The buyer did not like the fact we ordered new windows. Say what? She made no sense. She then demanded that the sellers re-stucco the 8-year-old house. Why? Dunno. Nobody knows exactly why, and her agent / lender didn’t seem to help the situation. Next thing we know, the buyer canceled. To us it appeared to be cold feet.
Well, third time is a charm. A few weeks later, we received an offer in early November. Another buyer agent / lender situation. I am not in the minority when I say you could can be a fantastic Realtor or a expert mortgage loan officer but you can’t wear two hats. Something has always got to give in this situations. I don’t believe you can be an expert at both.
Sure enough, this buyer loan file ran into delays. Delays, loan conditions that were undisclosed, and extensions. We had four extensions with this escrow. That’s positively insane. But you know what? We experienced a Christmas miracle. We closed with the third set of buyers last Thursday, all the while I am back in Hawaii for the winter. Third time is a charm. It is weird, though, to start work on this in Hawaii in August and still be working on it in Hawaii in December.
Further, who figured 3 sets of buyers would want to live in a home that faces the freeway. In a buyer’s market, that house would probably still be for sale. In a seller’s market, no such thing as a bad location.
How I Got Ripped Off by the Bedford Fair VIP Plus Scam
Looks like so many people got scammed by the Bedford Fair VIP Plus they don’t allow new members.
Nobody sets out to willingly become a victim of the Bedford Fair VIP Plus Scam. It happens by accident to most of us, I believe. Hopefully by me writing this blog, it won’t happen to you. The money is not enough to go after the company to get it. It’s not worth complaining to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau because that arm of the government has come under attack by our present administration.
Doubt the government cares about such ripoffs like the Bedford Fair VIP Plus Scam. They probably applaud the slickness. To start with, this is not a website I would usually shop at. I tend to stick to familiar websites and luxury brands. But I was looking for “old lady shorts” and didn’t want to spend a lot of money on this purchase. Liz Claiborne used to make “old lady shorts” and then about 20 years ago she stopped.
Old lady shorts are light-weight flannel with an elastic waist and drawstring. It’s like jogging pants, only shorts and roomier. Easy to step out of, no fussing with zippers or snaps or buttons. And the only place I could find this product was at Bedford Fair. They were cheap, too, like $15. So I bought a bunch in a variety of sizes.
How You Get Suckered into the Bedford Fair VIP Plus Scam
Bedford Fair then offered me a discount, and said I could apply a $15.00 credit toward my purchase. Like most people, I’m a sucker for good deal so I said OK. Little did I realize that I was being sucked into the Bedford Fair VIP Plus Scam. They applied my discount and that was that. They had my gmail address but I did not set up an account.
Yesterday, I noticed on my November credit card a charge of $14.97 for the Bedford Fair VIP Plus scam. Hmmm . . . seems I had noticed that before, if memory serves. Yes, on my October statement, and I had planned to check it out but forgot about it. It started in September, I think because I recall wondering if it was a charge for a single shipment.
Turns out for a good 3 months, Bedford Fair has been collecting $14.97 a month from me. For what? I searched my gmail account for a “welcome” notice and there was none. Oh, wait, what is this, in my promotions folder? Back in August, an email that laid out the entire program which, if I had received the email, I would have immediately canceled.
Well, it’s my own fault for getting suckered on a slick website. But I know when the discount offer applied to my last purchase, none of the terms was disclosed in the offer.
I’m generally pretty thorough. I don’t click on links by mistake and I pay attention to my shopping online. But this little gimmick has tricked a lot of people, it seems. I never got anything for it except I’m out 45 bucks and I learned a good lesson I won’t repeat.
On top of all this, their old lady shorts don’t fit well. The small is too small and the medium is too big, and the length is too long. So it wasn’t a good choice anyway. Wouldn’t be surprised if they were made in China. My suggestion is if you want to buy cheap clothing, go to Target.
How to Avoid Mistakes in Sacramento Escrows
My goal for clients is to avoid mistakes in Sacramento escrows.
When you hire a Realtor like me with 43 years in this business, you would hope to avoid mistakes in Sacramento escrows. Because experience matters. I could go crazy naming all of the ways I help my clients by heading off problems at the pass before they get down the hill. Regardless, as much as I want to predict what horrible thing can occur and stop it, sometimes, despite all caution, crap still sneaks through.
It’s like trying to keep those baby geckos out of my house in Hawaii. I can make sure the door is always closed securely, and then I come home to find my housekeeper with her head in the toilet and the front screen door wide open. No wonder I later found an adult Gold Dust Day gecko upside down on my window blind.
Gold Dust Day gecko
You would be surprised at how good I’ve gotten at using a broom like a hockey stick and sailing these guys out the front door. First I sweep the gecko off the window to the floor, and before it knows what’s happening, I swing at it with just a slight twist of my wrist to send ’em flying.
So it’s not always preventing problems as much as it is swift action to resolve the issues when, despite an agent’s best intentions and effort, they happen anyway. For example, one of my clients is in the UK. I prepped her on how to get an appointment at the Embassy to sign and notarize a deed. A seller doesn’t have to be in Sacramento to sell a house. Just like your Sacramento Realtor doesn’t need to physically be in Sacramento, either.
I asked the escrow company to please write on the FedX package a description of the legal documents to avoid a delay. The authorities in the UK can retain packages for x-ray if there is no description noted on the airbill. Escrow promised. Then the escrow officer went home sick and her assistant took over. I asked the assistant to please make sure she writes a description.
Even though I was very hopeful my client would receive the FedX package, she didn’t. I verified with the assistant that she indeed had provided a description. Yes, she had written on the package with a sharpie . . . but she did not put the description on the airbill. So you know what happened. The package is delayed and in x-ray.
No biggie. The larger issue is the appointment at the Embassy. My client wants to avoid mistakes in Sacramento escrows as much as the next person.
We are also replacing a half dozen windows in this house that failed. The windows are under warranty, and my seller is probably one of the few homeowners who has been proactive enough to get her windows replaced. None of her neighbors has been able to. But her windows were ordered and arrived at the glass company yesterday. However, one of them is the wrong size, so the installation will be delayed into mid-January while they reorder.
Our initial hope was to start the process early enough so the windows would be replaced before we closed escrow. Although we did not count on the shipper messing up and sending the wrong window, it’s a fact of life that somebody along the line will screw up. The silver lining in this situation is the buyer is getting new windows and his neighbors are not.
Despite our focus to avoid mistakes in Sacramento escrows, we cannot control third party actions. We can just clean up the debris as best we can and move forward to closing. Because there were so many other things that could have gone wrong but did not.
