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Elizabeth Weintraub
Which Do You Prefer: Apple or Google Maps?
Not really sure what kind of mapping system I have in my Mercedes C300, but it is not Apple nor Google maps. It is something else, and it pretty much sucks. It is a clunky system to enter a destination, some maps won’t let you change back to your original view, and it doesn’t deserve to be installed in Mercedes, yet is is. I simply despise it, so I rarely use it, instead I rely on my iPhone maps, which comes down to Apple or Google maps.
In fact, I didn’t even realize this was an issue, to have to decide between Apple or Google maps, until yesterday. Before I took off for lunch, I verified an address on my computer in Google maps. Never before have I ever checked the box that lets Google maps send the directions to my cellphone, but for some reason, I decided to do exactly that. And then I forgot about it.
So when I picked up my bag to leave the house, my phone began giving me directions to the restaurant we were all meeting at for lunch. Well, that was weird. How did it know I was going there?
Got into my car, put in the name of the restaurant in my Apple maps app and took off. By the time I reached Broadway, I realized I had dualing apps going. One with a female British voice and another with an American voice. They were competing with each other.
Everything was OK until I got on Business 80 freeway. My Apple Maps GPS told me to go down 99 and get off on Power Inn, which presumably I would then head north on all the way to Arden Park. My Google Maps GPS told me to get on Business 80 and slide over to Highway 50. This is when I began to feel a bit frustrated and confused because both directions were so completely different from each other.
Since I had not yet realized which GPS was taking over my phone and directing me, I decided to drive by my own common sense and ignore those two voices demanding opposite actions. As a result, both GPS systems yakked at each other until I got there and could put an end to the madness.
Although I will admit that Apple Maps has better sounding voices than Google. To change my Google Maps to a British voice, I had to delete the app, change the language under general on my iPhone and then reinstall the app. Because in the war between Apple or Google Maps, I think Google wins.
The Best Days of an Elliptical
Funny, but I do not really recall the best days of an elliptical, except that when we bought the Precor EFX 523, it seemed the best model available. Exciting time. If I recall correctly, we bought it from one of my clients who worked at a store that sells exercise equipment. You would think I would have learned from a previous purchase of the treadmill coatrack but no, I thought an elliptical would be different.
At first, I used the elliptical almost religiously, for at least a month or two. Then something interfered and changed that schedule. Maybe work, I’m guessing, because I was working on 75+ escrows at a time when we bought the elliptical. The best days of an elliptical were probably right after the second market crash of 2008. Short sales consumed my life back then, and almost all of my transactions were short sales.
Because I personally sold and negotiated so many short sales, I was putting in days from 5 AM to 9 PM at night, sometimes later. With butt planted in chair, I hardly moved or left my desk. Exercising on an elliptical in the next room seemed the answer. If I could get to it.
That was about the time I wrote a book. The publisher demanded 60,000 words, so I figured if I wrote 1,000 words a day, I would be finished in two months. And I was. But it left no time for the elliptical. I was also still creating homebuying content for About.com, which is now The Balance. Further, by 2011, I was selling more than 150 homes a year.
At one point, the best days of an elliptical for me were the spring and early summer of 2014 when I decided to drop 20 pounds. I worked out on the elliptical for an hour and then hopped on my bicycle to zoom around the Land Park golf course. In mid-June, my team member Barbara Dow and I took off for 10 glorious days in Maui, living high on the hog on the top floor of the Fairmont Kea Lani in Wailea.
It is with a bit of sadness that I part with the elliptical now, but I have not touched it for 5 years. Time to find a new home. I have discovered the best exercise program for me is the one I will actually do, which involves driving to the gym or to my yoga class.
We hauled it out of the house on Sunday and it departed in a big red pickup truck for its new home at a friend’s house. Recouped only about 10% of what I paid for it, but that is OK. The best days of an elliptical are when you first buy it, and when you sell it. Kinda like a boat, I guess.
The Top Agents At Lyon Real Estate Downtown Office
Here is the line up of the top agents at Lyon Real Estate downtown office, serving the greater metro area of Sacramento. I only know this because I found it on Facebook. We did not receive an email about it, and nobody on the Elizabeth Weintraub Team was notified that we rank #1 at Lyon Real Estate downtown office.
But you know what they say, if you find it on Facebook it must be true. No, seriously, this is the ranking for our office because it’s pretty much the same every year. Same players. Still, a call or an email would have been appropriate.
I was not in the office the day this was posted to Facebook because this top Sacramento Realtor was still on vacation in Hawaii. My team members were not in the office, either, as they were out showing homes. They are busy as little beavers this spring, running ragged to meet the increasing demand.
One thing that we do not suffer on our team is to sacrifice superior service. Our clients always come first. Sometimes even before lunch.
But, hey, now you know who is the top agent at Lyon Real Estate downtown office, along with my esteemed colleagues who rank #2 and #3.
Give me a jingle, why doncha, and let’s get to work making your real estate dreams a reality. Call Elizabeth Weintraub at 916.233.6759.
Elizabeth Weintraub Team Wins 5 Top Awards from Homelight
Big surprise yesterday when we received 5 top awards from Homelight for 2018. Pictured here is Amy McMullan with Elizabeth Weintraub, and we sure miss Amy (who has since moved to Los Angeles). Homelight is a website company that refers sellers and buyers to agents in Sacramento, and they work only with top producers.
All agents are not the same. Clients are wising up to the fact that 90% of agents sell only 2 or 3 homes a year. Not us, of course.
Further, in the digital age, many websites compete for eyeballs on the internet, and those with the best SEO are winning. The Elizabeth Weintraub Team prefers to align ourselves with winners, so we stick with the companies our clients like. However, we were not expecting to win 5 top awards from Homelight. One is plenty, actually.
So thank you, Homelight. We appreciate the recognition. Below are the top 5 awards from Homelight we received. Our exclusive buyer’s agents on the Elizabeth Weintraub Team won the first award below.
All of these awards just goes to show that if you want a top seller’s agent, you can call Elizabeth Weintraub at 916.233.6759. Elizabeth wins the awards for top seller’s agent, top negotiator, top producer and a listing agent whose listings sell for more than others.
If you are looking for a top buyer’s agent, team members Josh Amolsch and Barbara Dow are the best in the business. Homelight would know. It is a website you can trust.
Do Not Ask What Else Can Go Wrong
Asking myself what else can go wrong was not the way to start my first day back from vacation. In fact, I had lined up a specific time to workout at the gym, and that was my second appointment of the day, soon as I finished at the dentist’s office in Midtown. Did not want to rush back into work in Sacramento real estate on a Thursday after returning from vacation. Thursday is sort of an unofficial Sacramento Realtor Day off.
Further, there is the notion that if you start asking what else can go wrong, you will find out soon enough. Something about karma, if you believe such.
In that photograph above, you probably cannot help but notice my two assistants: Ziggy on the left and Tessa on top of my monitor. Tessa’s paw is directly over the fob device in the video. For some reason, how to replace the battery in a Mercedes key fob was veeeerrry interesting in an Arte Johnson sorta way to my assistants.
Because wouldn’t you know it, I went out to my garage and my fob was dead. It would not open my car door. This is why I don’t really like all of these gadgets that need to run on batteries, and wish I just had a key I could slip into the lock and get into my darn car. But noooo, I have keyless entry and keyless ignition. And at that moment, I was about to be late for my dental appointment.
The first thing I do is open my Uber app, even though I can’t stand that company after the Uber fraud, and tried to summon a ride to the dentist. My password won’t work, and it’s the only one I seem to have. I tried that 34 times and finally decided I had just better hope I had an account set up at Lyft. Turns out I did. So, got the dentist trip got handled.
Came home to google how to change the batteries in a Mercedes fob when our other cat, Jackson, jumped quickly out the cat box of pellets. This is the icky part. As I bent over the box to scoop up the poop, there was something alive in the box. WORMS. Tiny white things that look like rice, squirming. Oh, this is disgusting.
I did not have to ask what else can go wrong, because there it was. My vet’s office phone system went to voice mail. But I decided to go there anyway on the off chance the phones were on voice mail for lunch. Sure enough, they were open, and the receptionist insisted that I bring in the cat.
No, I am not hauling the cat out in the rain. Jackson is too sensitive to go to the vet for this. He works himself up into a tizzy and then develops an inflamed bladder. Instead, I plopped the bag of cat poop on the counter and demanded she check it out. The worms were still moving. Here, look at it! Oh, please, I am begging you, give me some de-wormer.
After a bit of fussing, I walked out of the vet’s office with the de-wormer product and a six pack of Revolution. Although the cats do not have fleas, the vet was very insistent that a flea caused the worms. Whatever.
When I got home, I noticed Tessa poking around in the bedroom where a plant sits. Sure enough, after I had watered it, an overflowing reservoir leaked all over the bamboo floor. Which meant previous watering over the 3 1/2 months I was away from Sacramento must have been a bit excessive. More than I would water it. But hey, at least the plant is alive. Gotta look on the bright side.
Further, I was able to wipe it up and caught it before much damage could occur. Even managed to correctly change out the battery in my key fob. Stuck the de-wormer on Jackson and called it a day. No way am I asking what else can go wrong. I’ll go to the gym on Friday.
