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Elizabeth Weintraub
Carmichael Pool Home in Shelfield Estates at a Great Price!
Finally, the pool home in Shelfield Estates I’ve been working on is ready for the market. We just went “live” in MLS last night around midnight. Such a tremendous property, and I’m very excited, thrilled actually, that the sellers chose me to market this home. It is a successor trustee sale, as many of my listings seem to be lately. My hope is a buyer will love the home as much as I do. It’s so much easier for a listing agent to market properties when the agent feels passionate about the home as well!
What makes this home unique, apart from the fabulous price for this neighborhood, is the fact it’s a Mid Century home with many original features. Of course, we know some buyers will rip all of that out, but others love the purity of the style. It’s a single-level, with parquet floors off a ceramic entry.
This Carmichael pool home in Shelfield Estates is superbly oriented in a wonderful location, nestled on a quiet cul-de-sac. Shelfield Estates is a sought-after neighborhood in Carmichael, made up of mostly larger sprawling estates with many trees.
The formal living room above features built-in shelves and a rock fireplace. Across the entry way, you can view the separate formal dining room with grass cloth walls.
Look at this beautiful all-white kitchen. I suspect somewhere along the line the cabinets were upgraded or recovered, and some of the appliances are somewhat newer. Wow, a double oven! It features an open floor plan with a family room / kitchen combo, sort of a great room concept.
Will you want to remodel the kitchen at some point? Most likely, knowing tastes today and, if you do, you can budget for that remodel when you buy this house. With a Guild Mortgage renovation loan, you can roll your remodeling monies into one purchase-money mortgage, easy-peasy and it can close in 30 days.
The family room has wood walls that the only way I think to describe them is hammered. As though a combination of hammer and wood chipper made those walls. Do you like the beam ceiling, Roman brick fireplace, not to mention the beautiful view outside of the pool? There is also a wonderful view of the pool from the enormous master suite.
Check out the gorgeous back yard of this Carmichael pool home in Shelfield Estates. So private, too! The yard is almost 1/3 of an acre, and the square footage, according to the Sacramento County Assessor is 2,342.
You will find four bedrooms and 3 baths, a great layout. Other homes in this neighborhood are selling over $750K, but this home has been discounted to allow for the improvements a buyer may wish to make. Remember the adage in real estate: location, location, location! You can remodel a kitchen or bath but you can’t change location.
Don’t take my word for it. Come see for yourself at our open house on Sunday, December 2, from 1:00 to 4:00 PM. Or, check out the virtual tour.
2023 Lux Court, Carmichael, CA 95608, is offered exclusively by Elizabeth Weintraub and Lyon Real Estate at $674,950. Call Elizabeth for more information or a private showing at 916.233.6759.
The information in this advertisement, including, but not limited to, square footage and/or acreage, has been provided by various sources which may include the Seller, the Multiple Listing Service or other sources. Lyon Real Estate has not and will not investigate or verify the accuracy of this information. Prospective buyers are advised to conduct their own investigation of the Property and this advertised information utilizing appropriate professionals before purchasing this Property.
Taking a Friend to Kaiser in Honolulu for a Colonoscopy
It’s not often a person asks me if I will go with them to Kaiser in Honolulu for a colonoscopy. In fact, never. But how can you say no to that kind of request? At first blush it seems innocent enough and, after all, what are friends for, right, but to impose upon with odd requests. Because a stranger off the street probably wouldn’t do it. And further, it’s one of the reasons we are on this planet, you know, to help one another.
This person happens to be a friend, too. She could have asked any other number of people to accompany her, but she asked me. So, I guess it is an honor along with a privilege to do this. I also happen to be quite the colonoscopy preparation expert. Having done it twice, and all. By now I have it down to a science and have eliminated most of the nasty aspects of it.
Now, you might not realize, but to get to Kaiser in Honolulu for a colonoscopy, we had to hop a plane. Surprisingly, Kaiser paid for it. My friend’s insurance paid for her round-trip ticket on Hawaiian and Kaiser picked up my fare, too. The first thing I noticed on the plane was, hey, I’ve never sat in coach on an island hopper.
Those are really tiny seats. Three across in a space meant for two. No free newspaper. A tiny tray was available on the back of the seat but it didn’t have any lip edges. That means a drink could go sliding off into oblivion. Not only that, but if we had to make a crash landing, I would break my face on the hard seat back in front of me. But, hey, I got free miles and my Pualani status got us into the Premier Club lounge.
Not only did my friend’s insurance pay for our transportation, but it included vouchers for a cab. Kaiser found a cheaper cab than Charleys. Because I had planned to book on Charleys, which was $20 flat fare. Eco Cab was $16. When we got off the plane, we found the cab but the driver was not in the cab.
Hey, it was my responsibility to accompany my friend to Kaiser in Honolulu for a colonoscopy, and I take that responsibility seriously. First thing I did was discover the cab door unlocked, so we helped ourselves to a seat. Then I called the cab company to see if they could track down our driver.
Our driver finally showed up. No excuse for the delay. Then he held us up by saying he had another passenger. No wonder they are so cheap. They double book. Why should we share a cab with somebody else? He tracked down the guy’s friends who said he wasn’t coming. I pondered if the cab driver deserved a tip. On one hand, he has a crummy job, barely a step up from Uber. But on the other hand, not my cab, not my trip and he irritated me.
All in all, though, it doesn’t take that much longer to go to Honolulu for a colonoscopy than it does to drive up to Waimea. While I sat in the waiting room, I worked on two new listings. Obtained one listing and sent it off for our office assistants to input into MLS. It’s not like I didn’t have anything to do.
Can I List With Another Agent If My House Does Not Sell?
Only out of the heads of sellers comes a question like can I list with another agent if my house does not sell? I seem to be hit with a lot of odd questions lately. Another seller yesterday enthusiastically mentioned that she found a tenant to rent her house (meaning she does need to sell now) and would I prepare all of the legal paperwork for free? She was very worried about getting sued by the tenant. Because tenants have all of these god awful rights now.
Holy shit! Am I a fairy godmother?
Last time I looked in the mirror, I saw a Sacramento Realtor looking back at myself. Realtors get paid commission when they sell a house. We don’t work on rental properties. And we do NOT prepare legal documents without a law degree. Maybe she’d like me to prepare her family’s will, too, while I’m at it. But I said none of those things, ‘cuz why. What I said was you are so lucky we have a property management company!
The seller who asked can I list with another agent if my house doesn’t sell wasn’t really paying much attention to how his question would be received. Now, another agent might have answered that question with a response that says absolutely and let it go. They do nobody any favors with that approach.
But not me, because I feel a desire to educate and enlighten. Yes, I will go there.
I explained that if his house doesn’t sell, another agent won’t be able to help him, especially not when he’s already hired one of the best agents in Sacramento. If his house doesn’t sell, it will be because buyers no longer want to pay what it is worth or the market has tanked. It will have nothing to do with me.
He responded by disclosing he’s been burned in the past. See, call me out on stating the obvious, but isn’t that purpose of hiring a top producer? So you won’t get burned? Damn those scum-ball agents messing it up for the rest of us. I promise automatic cancellation for all of my sellers if any are ever so upset they want to cancel the listing, which has never happened. Knock on wood, LOL.
I just told him he’s safe because in my 40+ years of selling real estate, not one client EVER accused me of burning them. But I am not unsympathetic regarding his former situation. Further, it’s sad that sellers have to ask this kind of question to start with.
But that’s what we are up against it. Former bad experiences that clients survived with some agent who screwed them over. Well, that kind of lowlife agent is not me.
Flurry of Thanksgiving Holiday Sales in Sacramento
Just when you think Thanksgiving is only about under-cooked turkeys, we have a sudden flurry of Thanksgiving holiday sales in Sacramento. I joke about the under-cooked turkey because my husband bought an organic turkey this year, and I’m not sure it was done all the way. We used a thermometer, and it registered 175, but when we tested it a second time, it dropped below 165. It becomes tempting not to trust the device.
The last time I did not trust a device was in 1988, out on my boat in Maine, in the early morning fog, when the guy I was married to at the time refused to trust the compass. His intuition told him to head left toward shore, unless he was completely turned around. I could have ended up in England by relying on his intuition. It was terrifying.
I trust gadgets.
But my husband and I didn’t trust the turkey thermometer.
We also roasted a smaller turkey. 18 pounds. That threw me off in calculations, too. I’m used to 24+ pound turkeys, to feed a big crowd. It’s been more than a decade since I prepared a turkey. Further, have you any idea how much organic turkeys cost? I surely did not. $4.00 a pound. I recall those newspaper ads at 29 cents a pound. You kids get offa my lawn.
Almost as insane as our Thanksgiving holiday sales. I sold two of our listings, and my team members did all right, too. Usually this time of year is slow. Buyers were feeling optimistic over the holidays.
I’m ready, of course, to get back into the rhythm of the islands for the holidays. Because I sell Sacramento real estate in the winter from Hawaii. But I have a feeling that the Thanksgiving holiday sales might very well carry over into December. May as well. Not much else going on.
Well, I did pick up this protea magnifica today, after my long flight to Kona. Such a sweet fall floral arrangement. I’m giving it to our neighbors in Hawaii who watch our house when we’re gone.
Pending Sale on Thanksgiving Day is Not Unusual
It is not unusual to have a pending sale on Thanksgiving Day, but there are years it doesn’t happen. This year, though, for some reason, buyers seem to be rather active over the holiday. If we are really lucky, it will carry through Christmas, and maybe we’ll sell a few more houses on Christmas Day! You know, my favorite day of the year to buy a home is Christmas Day. Best day ever. Everybody is in a good mood, and it’s hard to say anything negative about the warm fuzzies that circulate on that particular day. Complete strangers yell out holiday greetings and hug you. Maybe it’s the eggnog.
Whatever, I love selling homes and especially making a pending sale on Thanksgiving. I know, people criticize and smugly blither: why are you agents working on Thanksgiving? But hey, what is the big deal with answering a call? My husband went to the airport to pick up his brothers from Chicago and, during that time, I contacted the seller, and we signed the counter offer. This is a seller I personally know. She is the mother of a former agent on the team. We used to go out to lunch when she was working. I wanted nothing more than for her to sell to a nice family.
And voila. The counter offer had appeared suddenly in my email signed by the buyer on this very special day. It wasn’t what she had been expecting at first, nor what her daughter wanted, but we worked through it. We were a bit astonished that the buyer quickly accepted and we had our pending sale on Thanksgiving Day.
Not only did I thoroughly enjoy visiting with my brother-in-laws, but it was the icing on the cake for the day. Especially since we had no cake. Just a mince meat pie and my husband’s mother’s special apple crisp. Was a nice way to round out the day.
2729 Via Villaggio, Sacramento, CA 96854 is presently pending at $349K.
If you look closely at the photo you will see me in a Cub’s t-shirt in the mirror.
