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Elizabeth Weintraub
Thoughts of an Elk Grove Listing Gets an Agent Through an MRI
Who would have thought that thinking about Elk Grove listings could help an agent get through an MRI? If the MRI technician at UC Davis had never mentioned anything about breathing to me, I probably would have been OK, but he had to tell me. It was just a small rotator cuff tear I was there for. I’ve had a bunch of MRIs over the years, and I had never before been informed about the breathing. I’m not sure if that was an oversight or maybe I just looked like a person who would do a lot of heavy breathing inside the machine. Perhaps it was my Dry Tortugas t-shirt, which the technician also commented on because he used to live in Key West.
That boat trip to Dry Tortugas is now firmly embedded in my brain as an experience for which I am extremely grateful that it now belongs in my past and not in my future.
The problem breathing causes inside the MRI machine, he said, is if your breaths are too deep and big it will make the image bounce. Ditto if your breaths are short, fast and choppy. There is also the claustrophobia some people experience inside an MRI but probably would not happen if nobody ever mentioned it. Not only am I lying quietly and still, but I’m wondering why I’m not feeling claustrophobic. Plus, I am paying special attention to my breathing. Not too slow, not too fast.
Uh, oh, it feels like my breathing is suppressed. I wonder if it’s too slow? Relax, relax, in and out, in and out. How many breaths is that per minute? Too many? Aaaahhh. See, there is nothing else to do while the machine is doing its thing: DING DING DING DING, dot, dot, dot, dot, dot, dot, Bing, Bing, Bing, Bing. It’s not like you can sleep.
What is that on the side of my face? It feels like a tear. Why do I have a tear rolling down my cheek, ever so slowly? I can’t wipe it or touch it. What is making my eyes water? Uh, oh, how many breaths is that per minute? BOING BOING BOING BOING BOING BOING. Speaking of moisture, now I have to swallow. I definitely feel a big lump sitting there ready to go down my throat. If I swallow, will it interfere with the imaging? Probably. Just like the breathing. I have to lie perfectly still.
What the hell! My nose feels like it’s going to drip. It’s not like I can snort, which is so unladylike anyway, much less blow my nose, even if I had a Kleenix, which I don’t. What is building in my nasal passages — a master suite with its very own waterfall? Gah. Breathe slowly and steadily. Perhaps I should think about something other than what’s happening at the moment. I could think about any of my present escrows and upcoming new listings. Maybe that burned-out house in Elk Grove I have to list next week? Yeah, that will do the trick. Focus on my new listings in Elk Grove.
Dealing With Unreasonable Buyers After a Home Inspection
A home inspection is only for a buyer’s edification and not a license to ask for repairs after a home inspection, but what do buyers know? When it comes to advising clients in a real estate transaction, this Sacramento real estate agent is direct with her advice. There is no skirting around the issue. I try to present a balanced picture for clients, pros and cons of actions they could take or ignore, especially when it comes to the dreaded Request for Repairs, which are often a buyer’s response to a home inspection. I wish often that agents would provide a better education for their clients, but then that would involve recommending top-notch home inspectors at all times, and that’s just not a reality.
Sometimes, the buyers don’t want to hire the agent’s home inspector because they don’t trust their agent. Which is always a lovely situation. They might think their agent is likely to recommend some doofus home inspector who won’t do a thorough job or who will gloss over some stupid repair, which is idiotic thinking, but what are ya gonna do? You can’t easily change how a stubborn person thinks, especially if they won’t listen. Therefore, often what perpetrates a problematic request for repair is a home inspector’s bad home inspection report.
It’s not bad in the way that a buyer would think in that a home inspector was covering up an issue. To start with, home inspectors don’t cover up issues. They expose issues. The main problems are some that home inspectors expose issues that don’t exist or insist that items are broken / need repair when said whatchamacallits are perfectly fine.
One can also throw into that mix an agent who whips out a pad and starts writing down all of the buyer’s concerns without so much as lifting the pen from the page or discussing them. Being an order taker is not what a buyer’s agent is all about. I would shrivel up and die if I presented a Request for Repair to a listing agent like some of the documents I receive. Some of the requests are just a list of every defect from the home inspection. What that tells me is the buyer’s agent either has absolutely no guts or else no clue — either way it’s bad. Sometimes agents behave like they are order takers and not real estate agents.
Maybe they’re simply exhausted and worn down by the buyer? That can happen. But then the rest of us are stuck with explaining why the home inspector was wrong in the report and why we can’t perform the repair requested. Besides, sellers are not required to fix anything the buyer complains about. Every home in California is sold AS IS. But most sellers want the buyers happy with their new home, so we try to find a way to keep everybody on the path to closing.
I just wish buyers would select one or two major issues like most sensible buyers would do. But then, this is Sacramento real estate wherein expecting things to make sense could render one a crazy person. You know the definition of insanity, right?
Guiding Sellers to Correctly Complete Seller Disclosures
Talk about dumb and dumber regarding seller disclosures and an irate buyer. I don’t know what’s worse — that a buyer could think that a real estate agent would be so dumb as to complete a set of disclosures on behalf of the agent’s seller or that the buyer could believe that an agent could be so much dumber as to complete them incorrectly. On top of which, it’s against the law for an agent to prepare a seller disclosure. But that’s what a buyer accused a Sacramento listing agent of doing without so much as batting an eyelash. That’s enough to make one feel incredibly empathetic for the poor buyer’s agent who probably has to put up with much worse crap from the guy.
When I take a listing, I discuss disclosures in depth with my clients. We talk about material facts and whether something small and insignificant needs to be disclosed. Most of the time, the answer is yes when you wonder if it needs to be disclosed — unless it doesn’t apply at all, and I’ve seen a few of those. The seller might ask about a fire that happened years ago on the other side of town, something that doesn’t affect his property. But if something affects your property in any form, shape or manner, then disclose it.
I once made a seller so paranoid about disclosing that he composed a small horror novel and delivered it to me — pages upon pages of stuff that might happen, ending with the foundation could collapse and the walls could cave in. He was just thinking about stuff that could happen, which wasn’t at all what I meant when I told him to disclose. Now I was stuck with that disclosure because I couldn’t send it back or pretend I never received it. I was required to give it to the buyer.
You might wonder why, why would I have to do such a thing when I represent the seller? I have to do it because I am required to disclose everything I receive. I must also treat both sides honestly. I can’t take it upon myself to choose which documents the buyer sees and what the buyer doesn’t see. The buyer sees everything.
If a neighbor calls to say his fence is on my seller’s property, I disclose it to the buyer. You’d be amazed at how many neighbors are defiant about such matters and wrongly believe that agents care about their opinions. I don’t disclose it as a fact because I don’t know where the property lines fall, but I do tell the buyer the neighbor says the property lines encroach. It’s up to the buyer to investigate or otherwise perform due diligence.
Still, guiding sellers to complete disclosures correctly is sometimes a little bit like herding cats. If you have a question about a disclosure, be sure to ask your agent for help. That’s what we are here for. Sellers tend to fret far more about the disclosures than buyers. Except for that one guy who is probably making his buyer’s agent’s life a living hell.
Reflections on Music and Bell Tolls of Sacramento Real Estate
This morning I’m thinking about music and for whom the bell tolls in Sacramento real estate. Way to make an old person feel old is to read headlines in the About.com newsletter: What to bring to a music festival. If you don’t know, maybe you don’t deserve to go. Oh, damn, I left my stash at home, along with my sunscreen, whatever shall I do? Most of the music festivals I ended up at like Kickapoo Creek were all at the spur of the moment. Hey, ya wanna go? Yah, sure, why not? Perhaps I should put on some clothes?
From Aerosmith to Tori Amos, the nostalgic ’90s tour. Hey, the 1990s were my second wave of really good music, after moving out of the 1960s, and now it’s nostalgic? Crap. Plus, I hate to tell those guys but Aerosmith to Amos is still in the A’s, they didn’t move very far. Whatever happened to ZZ Top? Oh, right, they morphed into those Duck Dynasty guys. I can’t tell them apart. I doubt anybody else can either.
You miss a lot when you’re an agent selling real estate in Sacramento. If you sell a lot of homes like I do, something has got to give in your life. You can’t do it all. There are priorities. Fortunately, I have a husband who continually introduces me to new music or I would live in a perpetual vacuum.
I noticed also this morning that my number of listings in Sacramento are quickly dwindling and moving into pending sales, which means I need to pump up new listings. Back in the old days, like a couple of years ago, it wasn’t unusual for me to manage 70-some listings, but due to the low housing inventory in Sacramento this spring, that number has dropped into single digits. I’m still on target to sell another 100 homes this year, just like last year, which amazes me even as I type. It sounds so unreal.
The price points are up in Sacramento real estate, however. That’s excellent news for sellers. And I sold two more homes over Memorial Day Weekend, which will make for a huge June closing month, in the double digits. Just about any real estate agent can flip a home into escrow these days; it’s getting those sales closed that takes extra effort and expertise. Laser-sharp focus. Fortunately, I have 40 years of real estate experience under my belt to draw upon.
A client emailed me over the weekend to say she is ready to start looking for a home to buy. I have hundreds of clients who have sold their homes as a short sale a few years ago and now some want to buy a new home. She was delighted that I immediately responded to her request and commented on how much she appreciates that level of service, just like the old days. That’s what a top Sacramento real estate agent does. She responds and doesn’t leave people waiting.
And then she fondly recalls that long ago summer cruise down the St. Croix River with the Goo Goo Dolls. It seems just like yesterday.
Are Real Estate Appliances Included With the House?
A thorn in the side of many Sacramento real estate agents is when home sellers and buyers decide to include personal property such as a refrigerator, washer or dryer in the purchase contract and make the real estate appliances included with the house. Other buyers sometimes go after after furniture. A funny story: I was guilty myself once of asking the seller in the purchase contract to give me her dining room table, and she refused. Then, when we were up against closing, she suddenly discovered the table would not fit into her new home and desperately wanted to leave the table behind.
What made you think I wanted the table? I asked, completely spacing out that I had previously demanded it. I didn’t want the table. I asked for it so I would have something to give up in exchange for a better price. Her stinkin’ table was ugly, too. I would have had to pay somebody to drag it out of the house or post it on Craigslist as a free item to the first person to come get it.
Leaving the appliances behind or taking the appliances with you is a double-edged sword. You’d think a buyer would be happy, for example, to possess a free and working washer and dryer, but not everybody is thrilled if a seller leaves behind the washer and dryer. I had a home in Elk Grove close a few weeks ago in which those appliances were not addressed in the purchase contract and the seller left them for the buyers. The buyers made a big stink and didn’t appreciate the gift. Too bad, so sad, as we used to say as kids.
On the other hand, if a buyer seriously lusts after the refrigerator, it should be noted in the purchase contract by checking the box that the refrigerator stays unless, of course, the seller doesn’t want to leave it. Then it could become the contention point during negotiations. That seller might suddenly arch her back against the ‘frig, arms spread, palms down: uh uh, this is my cheesy poof. During multiple offers, if one offer demands the refrigerator and the other does not, the seller might gravitate toward the buyer who is willing to purchase her own danged refrigerator.
Every transaction is different. If the MLS listing notes that the refrigerator stays but the seller takes it, there is not much a buyer can do about it. A buyer cannot rely on MLS notes. The court says if you want that refrigerator, you better get the transfer of that refrigerator in writing. A refrigerator is personal property, it is not a fixture and it does not automatically convey with the house.
