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Elizabeth Weintraub
50 Shades of Grey and the Real Estate Purchase Contract
Our California residential purchase agreement is not an iron-clad purchase contract.
Sacramento real estate agents primarily use purchase contracts developed by C.A.R. as agreements to buy a home in Sacramento. It seems that with every new case law, generally originated by some disgruntled buyer, the contracts are revised. There are also obvious revisions because the language is often confusing. In an attempt to be clear and speak with a human voice, lawyers can sometimes royally mess up legal contracts because they lose sight of their audience and get all hung up on courts and judges.
For this reason, no purchase contract is typically not without a way to sue somebody over something. There is no black-and-white language in a purchase contract, regardless of what a person might be led to believe. A person can read one paragraph that defines a situation, seems to set the boundaries, and then a second paragraph can bring that first paragraph into question. By the time you reach paragraph 27, the 14th paragraph might appear ambiguous. It’s one of the reasons we have an 8-page California Residential Purchase Agreement and Joint Escrow Instructions (revised April 2013), coupled with its sister, the two-page Buyer’s Inspection Advisory (revised October 2002).
I look at that and I think what? C.A.R. could not come up with one single revision for the Buyer’s Inspection Advisory over the past 12 years? Here, C.A.R., have another glass of grappa. Also, when I started in real estate (you kids get offa my lawn), we had a choice between a one-page or a two-page contract. In fact, at one point, I created my own purchase contracts and professionally printed printed my brokerage’s purchase contracts in 3-part NCR — which at that time seemed like a brilliant move but was probably one of the dumber things I have done in my life. Hey, I was in my early 20s, so I had an excuse for my ignorance, not to mention, the 1970s was like one long LSD adventure.
I am astonished that buyers today sign this paperwork without engaging in a minor heart attack. It would almost be better in some ways if an agent just put blinders over a buyer’s eyes, stuck a pen in her hand and directed her to draw squiggles as her signature. Don’t read, just sign, would be the message. Yet, we encourage our buyers to read the real estate purchase contract and they don’t understand a darn thing in it.
Don’t even get me started on ZIPforms and why there is no field for the ZIP Code, of all things. I have brought this matter up to ZIPforms, but it has not been changed. Nobody else probably cares but I realize it’s a problem because of short sales. The bank negotiators do not like the fact there are no ZIP codes carried forth from page to page. Why don’t the C.A.R. lawyers spend time looking at this situation and fixing it? They should also fix the listing agreement fields so subsequent addendums match.
Bottom line, if a buyer or seller wants to challenge a portion of the purchase contract, a smart lawyer will find a way to do it. There is nothing black-and-white about our legal system. It’s more like 50 Shades of Grey . . . in more ways than one. But don’t ask your Sacramento real estate agent to define the real estate purchase contract because we don’t practice law.
Waiting Periods Are Over for Buying After a Short Sale
You might be able to immediately buy a home right after closing a short sale
Having personally helped hundreds of sellers in distress close Sacramento short sales — to the tune of more than $65 million since 2006 — and put the entire horrid nightmare behind them, I often hear first-hand a seller swear she will never buy another home ever again. I caution with a grin, “Oh, I wouldn’t be so certain about that if I were you.” Those are often famous last words. If that were true and we all had long memories, women would never get pregnant a second time.
Believe it or not, there is joy and pain in a short sale. Over time, the pain and frustration from the short sale dissipates. Not only that, but the minute a short sale closes escrow, there is a huge sense of relief that suddenly appears out of nowhere. It’s almost as though the clouds stopped raining and tulips instantly bloomed in technicolor. You can hear angels sing. At least that’s what my sellers tell me.
Today, many short sale sellers are returning to buy a home after closing short sales. How soon can you buy after a short sale? The good news is if you have 25% to put down, you can buy immediately. Further, if you have completed a HAFA short sale without a Notice of Default nor late payments from the summer of 2013 forward — and if the lender reported your short payoff correctly as PAID IN FULL — you should be able to buy immediately under any financing program, including FHA with minimum down.
But FHA also has implemented its own Back to Work program for sellers who have “Paid in Full for Less Than Agreed” reported on their credit reports and who experienced an economic event, which allows a repurchase within one year. That’s pretty incredible as compared to the lengthy waiting times from the past. It used to be 7 years, then 5, then 3 years, (2 under Fannie Mae).
See, with time, lenders finally come around. I suspect they had to eventually because short sale sellers are not like foreclosure recipients. Short sale sellers are responsible people who struggled to do the right thing. They have a conscience, generally, and do unto others as they would have them do unto them. That’s a special breed. And these people deserve a second chance. I’m thrilled to see home loans available for them, without a big scarlet S hanging around their necks.
If you would like more information about buying again after a short sale, call Dan Tharp at Guild Mortgage, 916.257.1470 or email him at dtharp@comstockmortgage.com. Then, call this Sacramento real estate agent, and we’ll get you started on looking at homes to buy: Elizabeth Weintraub, 916.233.6759.
W X Downtown Freeway Closing Coming to Land Park
Highways and roads in Sacramento like the W X freeway, for the most part, are in far better shape than say those in Minnesota. There is a standing joke in Minnesota that there are two seasons in that state: winter and road construction. But we don’t have to deal with huge potholes and overpasses collapsing in Sacramento, just the impatient jerk-offs who tailgate.
A jerk almost hit me while my husband and I were at PetSmart in Natomas this week. Apparently, this guy in a white pickup truck thought my husband was driving too slowly, so he sped around us. My husband honked at him because he should not have passed us doing 55 in the parking lot entrance. Then, as we were walking in the crosswalk up to the sidewalk of the shopping center, the pickup truck circled back around and missed hitting my huge butt within inches as it zoomed by again. Looked like it was on purpose to me.
I realize that the Natomas Marketplace can drive just about any sane person crazy but this was a bit nutty. Hey buddy, it’s not our fault your wife left you, your dog hates you and you’re out of Budweiser.
Just wait until the construction begins, though, on the W X freeway closing in Sacramento in a few months. They call it the W X freeway because it parallels W and X Streets. During May and June, we’ll have lane closures, from 14th Street to 26th Street, which stretches through downtown / Midtown / Land Park and Curtis Park. Caltrans is spending $46 million to fix the crosstown highway. Plans are to alternate lane closures in one direction at a time, so some hours eastbound traffic will have more lanes than westbound, and vice versa.
I wish the WX freeway closing would fix that horrible onramp problem at Riverside. My neighbor’s husband in Land Park was killed in a terrible traffic accident while merging at that spot. He crashed into a telephone company cable truck and died instantly. When merging from the Riverside onramp, you’re fighting traffic in the right lane, which is trying to get off on Highway 99; the middle lanes are heading for Interstate 80 and the far left lanes to Highway 50. This interchange is a nightmare.
It’s not much better merging to get off heading westbound to Land Park from Business 80, either, and trying to exit on 16th Street or 10th Street. My husband won’t even drive in that direction because he doesn’t want to merge and take a chance on death. He exists on 26th. I’m more of a risk taker, and my Porsche has more horsepower than his Prius, so I’ll do it, but I don’t much like it either. You’ve got to speed up to cross, and sometimes the traffic in front of you is at a dead stop. But that’s the beauty of living in Sacramento, more people = more problems.
I usually drive from my home in Land Park to my real estate office at Lyon in Midtown Sacramento in 8 minutes by taking the W X Freeway and cutting over to Business 80, but now I guess I’ll use the surface streets. Another minute or two on my travel time is not gonna kill me, but getting on the W X freeway closing might.
The Consequences When Buyers Write Multiple Offers
When sellers discover that a buyer’s agent had allegedly written multiple offers for Sacramento home buyers — both of which were accepted — it can be normal for sellers to want to express outrage and direct those feelings toward the buyers. Because the buyers should not play games, the sellers might say. The sellers might feel deceived, believe the buyers are dishonest, when all the buyers are really doing is following the ill advice of their buyer’s agent.
Some brokerages in Sacramento recommend this practice, I hear. I can’t believe that any reputable real estate brokerage would advise their agents to write multiple offers for buyers but I don’t know what goes on inside every brokerage in town. I know what Lyon Real Estate lawyers advise, and that is: don’t write multiple offers. They say there is a good faith covenant inherent in the residential purchase agreement that could be breached if a buyer can’t afford to own both homes and tries to simultaneously purchase.
Now, if a buyer came to me and said, for example, that the wife wants to buy one home but the husband has his eyes on another home, I would never in a million years tell those buyers to write offers on both homes and then decide later. Yet, that is what can happen in Sacramento. Nope, I would say go home and sleep on it and if you lose both homes because somebody else steps in while you’re deciding, that’s the way life is. Or, write an offer on the home you like best right now.
But that’s just how this Sacramento real estate agent operates. I try to give my sellers the best advice available and, at my age and experience level, I better be right. My reputation and credibility are at stake, not to mention, buyers who write multiple offers could get sued by an irate and damaged seller. It will happen someday. Mark my words, and then buyers will be crying at their agent and asking why, why did you tell me to do this?
Hope the agent’s E&O is paid up.
Granite Bay Home for $12 Million or East Sacramento Home?
Who would pay nearly $1,000 per square foot for a home in Sacramento? That’s the question many are wondering, I imagine, when they see the 12,600-foot home once owned by Eddie Murphy in Granite Bay is on the market for $12 million. And let’s not even think about all of the upgrades one would need to do and how much that would cost. Everybody wants to add their own special touch, because a buyer would probably feel compelled to swap those purple marble floors for perky pink and then add that missing bowling alley. All that money adds up.
Like the listing agent says, we should get our heads out of the hard clay soil in Sacramento and look at this from a global perspective. Sheiks, princesses, oil heirs, they could all come running to homes in Granite Bay because, um, it’s so close to Lake Tahoe and let’s not forget, a limousine ride away from the San Francisco airport. All good reasons, as we Sacramentans know, to live in Sacramento.
But if you can’t afford to buy a home in Granite Bay, why not look at a more modest abode? How about a stunning 1941 home that also sits on a hill yet near McKinley Park in East Sacramento? This home is very affordable at $399,000. Think of the money you’ll save. It features 2 spacious bedrooms with hardwood floors, generously large windows, overhead fans and roomy closets. The kitchen is updated, ceramic tile, newer cabinets, a creamy white dishwasher, gas range and free-standing refrigerator, plus there is space for a table and a towel warming drawer, if one so desires.
You’ll discover period tile in the bath, an original tub and a separate shower, including extra storage in both the bath and the hall. This East Sacramento home boasts an indoor laundry room and ?best of all the washer and dryer remain. There is even a sink in the laundry room for heavy duty dirt, perhaps tracked in from the back-yard garden. The lot is deep, and at the back fence line sits a free-standing storage shed. Wait until spring, and you’ll spot many fruit trees in bloom such as orange, lemon, apricot and loquat. A one-car garage is attached for your convenience.
675 40th Street, Sacramento, CA 95819 is offered exclusively by your East Sacramento real estate agent Elizabeth Weintraub at Lyon Real Estate at $399,000. Call 916-233-6759 for a private showing.
