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Elizabeth Weintraub
Going to a Sacramento Open House Without an Agent
There is a reason why a Sacramento real estate agent might be reluctant to talk about mortgages. It’s not that we don’t know anything about mortgages, because we know a great deal; it’s because we are not a mortgage broker, and what we don’t know about mortgages can be very important to a buyer. Same thing when the tables are turned. Most mortgage brokers know a lot about real estate, but the things about buying real estate that could be very important to a home buyer, a mortgage broker might not know.
I have the utmost respect for Michele Dillingham at Big Valley Mortgage. She writes about mortgages and finance for the Sacramento Bee. However, her piece this Saturday contains a confusing error. She basically told home buyers that they should not go to an open house. She says: “The problem is that if you don’t tell the agent at that house that you already have your own real estate agent, then your agent may lose out on the deal — and you lose out on having your own agent. The agent who has the property listed would be representing both buyer and seller.”
It’s not true. Not true how a Sacramento open house works. It’s true that not telling the open house agent that you have your own agent could cause bickering among agents, but you are under no obligation to write your offer with the listing agent or even with the agent who is holding that Sacramento open house. You can go to an open house without your own agent, and you’ll be OK. If you have an agent, it’s a good idea to tell the host or hostess of the open house that you are working with an agent, but that’s more for your own protection. If open house agents know you have representation, they probably won’t ask for your personal information, nor will they be likely to hound follow up with you.
Moreover, many of the agents who hold an open house are not the listing agent. That’s because many listing agents do not actively represent buyers themselves. They might prefer to focus their business on seller representation. In that event, they would allow an agent on their team or in their office to hold the home open. That way, the agent holding open the house can also pick up some residual business from home buyers. They can try to represent the open house guest by writing an offer on that home or maybe they can show the buyer other homes. But you, as an open house guest, have no obligation to work with the open house agent nor the listing agent.
The only exception to this is new home sales. Don’t even think about stepping foot on a new home subdivision or new home sales office without your agent. If you are considering a new home, call your agent FIRST. But resales and previously owned homes are a completely different story.
If you are looking for an agent to represent you, going to open houses is a good way to meet a variety of real estate agents and, in a casual way, figure out whether you might want to work with any of them. If you do, then ask that agent to be your own representation. Be prepared to sign a Buyer’s Broker Representation agreement, which is a legal agreement, a two-way-street, between you and the agent’s brokerage.
But whatever you do, don’t put off going to a Sacramento open house just because you are worried that the agent will have dibs on you. Nobody can have dibs on you without your express written permission.
Here are a few of my Sacramento open houses that you might want to visit this weekend:
- Saturday, April 13th, 2013, 6800 Bismarck Drive, remodeled for $215,000.
- Sunday, April 13th, 2013, 3627 T Street in Med Center, Craftsman for $225,000.
- Sunday, April 13, 2013, 1620 Sutterville Road, Land Park, 5 Bedrooms, for $519,000.
- Sunday, April 13, 2013, 6800 Bismarck Drive, remodeled for $215,000.
- Sunday, April 14, 2013, 576 4th Avenue, Land Park, w/addition for $375,000.
Spectacular View of William Land Park From This Home
The view isn’t all this home has going for it; but it’s a definite desired feature on the home shopping list of buyers for homes in Land Park. I can’t say the view gets any better than from this home. It’s in the perfect location for it. As a Land Park agent, we agents know that it’s uncommon to find homes over 2,000 square feet, and especially not at this price range, in Land Park. If you want space and view of William Land Park, this Land Park home has both.
If it has a drawback, the only drawback would be the ZIPcode is not 95818, which is why you won’t find it if you’re searching for Land Park homes on the Internet. The ZIPcode for this particular location near the park is 95822.
This home has 5 bedrooms, yes, 5, count them, and they’re all pretty good sized except for the bedroom at the back of the home, which is probably better utilized as an office. Everybody needs an office these days. Plus, it has 3 full baths. The master bedroom is huge, too, with space for 3 dressers, if you need it. According to the assessor, the square footage is 2,265.
When you walk into the tiled entry, the first thing you notice is the gorgeous built-in fireplace and raised hearth. The brick is immaculate. Attached to the fireplace is a built-in showcase cabinet with glass doors and shelving. There is another built-in China hutch at the other end by the dining room. Both offer a marvelous view of William Land Park.
The kitchen is open and features hardwood floors. They are the original hardwood floors from 1957 and are in great shape! This room contains probably far more cabinets than you will have a use for, but you will manage to fill them up anyway. The stove is a delightful antique vintage. Off the kitchen is another space that could be used as a family room or another formal dining area, whichever fits the needs of your family.
In addition to all of this magnificent space, you’ll find two extra rooms. One is utilized as a laundry room, with hookups for a full size washer and dryer. The other is an enclosed patio area, completely enclosed with glass walls. It’s a great place to watch the rain fall in the winter while staying dry or utilized as a playroom for children.
The gardens are breathtaking. Flowers are in bloom everywhere now. And, oh, my gosh, the fruit trees are beginning to bud. There are orange trees, persimmon, grapefruit and tangerine. Imagine strolling the gardens barefoot before breakfast and plucking your very own juicy orange.
Of course, there is a two-car attached garage with a garage door opener, workshop area. And now, for the price. That’s the amazing part. It is listed at $519,000. That is very affordable and a wise investment for your future.
Your search for homes in Land Park is over. Please call your Land Park agent, Elizabeth Weintraub, at 916.233.6759. I will be happy to arrange a private showing for you.
1620 Sutterville Road, Sacramento, CA 95822, offered at $519,000, by Elizabeth Weintraub, Land Park Agent, Lyon Real Estate.
Evaluation of a Sacramento Short Sale Offer
There are so many reasons to scrutinize and evaluate an offer for a short sale, I hardly know where to begin. I guess I will start by saying there are people in this world, buyer’s agents among them, who wrongly believe that all offers should go to the bank. They also tend to believe that the seller is lucky to receive any offer at all and should not care what the offer is or who it came from or anything else about the offer; the seller should just sign it and shut up.
You might scoff and wonder who could be so incredibly ignorant, but I can tell you that a lot of people fit that description. I help my sellers evaluate purchase offers because they don’t sell a house every day. They also, knock on wood, will only do one short sale in their lifetime. It’s my job to see that the short sale closes.
I am looking 3 months down the road at short sale approval when I examine a purchase offer from a buyer. I consider the odds as to whether that buyer will still qualify for or still be interested in buying that home when we get approval. I consider the financial strength of the buyer, the motives of the buyer, the way the offer was written, who the buyer’s agent is and that agent’s experience level; I also look for signs of cover up or deception. There are a lot of crooked people running after short sales.
I won’t tell you exactly what I look for to determine whether there might be fraud because the crooks will read this and make sure they don’t do it.
In a seller’s market, a seller can also be very choosey as to which offer the seller elects to take. All offers are always sent to the seller, but only one offer receives the recommendation to accept it.
If you are thinking about considering a short sale, call this Sacramento short sale agent first, Elizabeth Weintraub, 916.233.6759. Yes, I will take your short sale if you have listed with another agent who could not get it approved; but I’d much prefer that you call me first.
New Doors on an Old Land Park Home
All my friends know what a remodeling nut I am. I love to remodel homes almost as much as I love to sell them. I know how to do many home improvement projects myself and have personally tackled skylight installations, putting in a fireplace, building a garage, along with the normal drywall, framing, tiling and gutting kitchen and bath stuff. There is not much I can’t do. Not because I’m some super creature but because home remodeling is not a terribly difficult task for a person with intellect, patience for do-overs and a bit of creativity.
I’ve been working on my home in Land Park practically since the day we moved in almost 11 years ago. There was not much left to do. In fact, when we ran out of things to do inside, we ripped out the sorry excuse of a weedy front lawn and laid new sod. The only thing we had not done was buy new doors. I don’t do doors. The last door I installed, I could not for the life of me figure out why the doorknob was so low. Until it dawned on me why. So, scratch the part about intellect. You just need patience and creativity.
We bought our doors from Home Story in Rocklin. Mike, the owner, came out to measure and make suggestions. The Craftsman style blended nicely with the age of our home. We replaced 14 interior doors and 3 exterior doors. One of the back doors was so badly burned by the sun and worn that it was beginning to crack down the middle. One hard slam would have split it in two.
Take a look at our before and after photos. Don’t you think they make an immense difference, not only in the appearance but also in the warmth of the space? If you’re looking to buy or sell a home in Land Park, call your Land Park agent, Elizabeth Weintraub, at 916 233 6759.
A Twist to Online Plagiarism
Seven years ago next month I started a part-time gig writing for About.com as its Home Buying & Selling Guide. Now, 7 years might not seem like a long time to some people, but say that to an 18-year-old graduating from high school, who would have been in grade school 7 years ago, and it’s a long time. It’s not long enough, though, for some people to forget when they have plagiarized.
Oh, some are bold enough to simply copy content from the web onto any other page they so feel free to choose — word for word — and they don’t realize they are plagiarizing or they simply don’t care. They often don’t care because they think nobody will do anything to them, but people do track them down. They are traceable. They have domain names and IP addresses. Everybody has a face on the Internet, if they participate. Stealing content online is a crime just the same as grabbing an old lady’s purse and running off with it. It’s maybe even more severe because it’s done on a grander scale.
There are some who think as long as they give the author credit for the work, it’s OK. But they are dead wrong. Unless the author has given permission, it is not OK. It is still theft.
Others, take words and reuse them, and they swipe thoughts and rework them, which is OK as long as it’s not identical. When it appears identical and there are direct phrases and bullet points used, a plagiarizer is treading on thin water. The correct way to use another person’s content online is to quote a few lines and then link directly to that article. That’s permissible.
I have sold some of my About.com articles. Or, maybe I should say the New York Times, which owned About.com until recently, sold them for me. Because words have a dollar value and articles are proprietary.
You can see how I might have been a bit shocked yesterday when a person out of the clear blue wrote an email accusing me of plagiarism. I was in shock because her accusations were impossible. I looked at the article she referenced, which was a piece I wrote when I started at About.com, in May of 2006. I then examined the article on her website, which she thought was plagiarized. It was very similar to my article. I could see the concern. The only problem was she or her website had stolen my content, not the other way around. She was the plagiarizer.
Sometimes, these things come down to your word against their word. Even if you are innocent, you have to prove you are innocent. I noted the copyright date at the bottom of her website, which was 2008. That was 2 years after I had written my article. I also sent her screen shot of the date the article was archived.
Now the story is she might have rewritten the content for a writer who had stolen my article. But the thing is people who swipe other people’s material and belongings are thieves. Thieves are so used to lying that they begin to believe their own lies in order to survive. As such, this plagiarizer most likely has no recollection of stealing my content. She did apologize for her brashness, so I give her that, but still. No excuse. Her stolen content was removed.
Of all the odd things that could happen, this incident really took the cake.
