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Elizabeth Weintraub
Black Witch Moth and Wild Turkeys in Kailua-Kona
You can find a black witch moth and wild turkeys in Sacramento just as you will find them in Kailua-Kona. A black witch moth is the largest noctuid in the world, with a wing span of almost 7 inches. I discovered this black witch moth in the upper corner of our lanai cover, just sitting there quietly in late morning. Moths are most active at night, so it was odd to see it during the day. However, I’ve never seen one of these before in my life. Don’t they look a lot like bats?
Black witch moths, ascalapha odorata, are not native to Hawaii. They migrate from Mexico in the spring. If you look really closely at the forewings, you can spot a pair of matching commas in reverse. Look at the upper left and right. This black witch moth is a female, due to the white band, which features bits of iridescent purple. You can also note the size by comparing it to the small Christmas tree light bulb to the left of it.
There are all sorts of folklore and superstitions about black witch moths. From the marisposa de la muerte (butterfly of death) to winning the lottery if it lands over your doorway to the belief by native Hawaiians that a black witch moth may appear after a loved one dies as a way to say goodbye. Because I am a crazy person, sometimes I wonder that about hummingbirds. As though a hummingbird spirit is empowered by those have passed on. Even though I know for certain that is a crazy thought. It brings comfort at times to consider it.
This photo is of a wild tom turkey in Kailua-Kona, and boy is he mean. He runs with a harem of 7 other wild turkeys strutting through the streets of our subdivision, just above Hualalai and Nani Kailua Drive. I chased after them, trying to shoo them out of our yards, but damn turkeys don’t care. Because they are wild, they probably are not tasty, either. Nobody around our HOA owns a gun anyway, only because no board members have been threatened. Darn critters jump on your car, on the roof and, if provoked, will chase you to retaliate. The turkeys, I mean, not the HOA board. Delivering the message: don’t mess with the turkeys.
I thought about these creatures when our ragdoll Jackson freaked me. It was my first night back in Sacramento from Kona. We have no cats in Hawaii. Jackson stepped on my ankle while finding a comfy place to nestle in the covers and, for one fleeting moment, I thought I was still in Hawaii. Well, geckos don’t weigh that much. Still, for one instant, I thought it was a creature in our Hawaii bedroom that landed on me. Had to stick my foot into his fur to be certain. Only then could I go back to sleep.
The Journey Home to Sacramento from Kona, Hawaii
Yesterday, I made the journey home to Sacramento from Kona, Hawaii. As I packed up my computer from the lanai, this green anole lizard stopped strutting up the siding and elected to stare at me. Then he did the most amazing thing. He flirted with me. He blew this mating bubble thing out of his neck, 4 or 5 times. Guess he did not want me to leave.
The journey home to Sacramento from Kona, Hawaii, usually involves calling an Uber from our house in Hawaii. But since I am mad at Uber for utter unresponsiveness and its lackadaisical attitude after some crook swiped my credit card number and began joy riding on my dime, no way, Jose. Uber fraud, and they didn’t care. My friend, Linda, down the street, took me to the airport.
There, I caught a 12:25 flight to Honolulu, which like usual put me at the wrong concourse, miles from my gate. So I stepped up my pace and hoofed it past all the glorious designer shops at this airport to catch the 2:40 flight on Hawaiian Airlines home. This last leg of my journey home to Sacramento from Kona, Hawaii, finally let me relax.
Yes, I will have a Mai Tai, thank you. Where are my Mac nuts? Entertainment Center. Ear phones. Fabulous dinner. Dessert. Maybe an interesting seat mate to chat with. You never know. I just sat back and for 5 glorious hours, I luxuriated in a private world. Comfy seat. And all too soon it was over, plane landed in Sacramento.
I text my husband: rabbit in sight. So he knows to come around to the door to pick me up. Big hug, squeeze, kisses. My journey home to Sacramento from Kona, Hawaii, ends when I walk in the door of our home in Land Park, and all 3 cats came to check me out.
Who are YOU? They said in unison. Do we know you?
How to Find the Perfect Home in Sacramento
Today I am honored to bring you some extraordinary wisdom about how to find the perfect home in Sacramento, written by our exclusive buyer’s agent, Josh Amolsch. This is from an agent who shows on average 40 to 50 homes a week in Sacramento. He is not some retired agent who works only on referrals or an agent who sells a measly 1 or 2 homes a year. Josh is an agent down in the trenches who works every day, 12 to 14 hours a day.
How to Find the Perfect Home in Sacramento
by Josh Amolsch
The traditional and overused Sacramento Realtor marketing gambit is that they will “help you find your perfect home”. Well, I am here to explain why perfect homes are a fairy tale. A perfect home does not exist. But the good news is you can come close. The truth is even if I gave you a million dollars to build your own home from the ground up, afterward, there would be things that you wished you had done differently.
We too frequently hear from folks that a home will not work for them because of one or two features that they don’t like. One thing we can’t fix is the location, which is why location is always the most important aspect of a property. Aside from that, most characteristics of a property can be altered and renovation loans can make a so-so home a wonderful home that you will love and be proud of. It takes vision, and a little work, but anything worth doing or having requires effort. The key is to make the numbers work. Fortunately, we are entering a market in Sacramento where the numbers are starting to working for you.
Another factor is feelings can change from day to day and trends change from season to season. The point is to focus on finding a home that is about 80% what you want. Not about the 20% you don’t want (80/20 Rule). Even more astonishing is the fact the 80% homes are more plentiful. Why? Because most buyers won’t accept the 80% home when they are trying to find the perfect home in Sacramento. Their limited vision gives you a leg up on the price. Less demand = better deal for you.
This is how investors operate and become rich. Well, your riches can be in the form of a terrific home that you got for a good deal and added value to. Any outdated features can be fixed before you even move into the home. Walls can be knocked down to make the living spaces more open, can lighting can be installed. In fact, you can likely be living in your newly purchased/renovated home much faster than waiting for that “perfect” home to come on the market which, as we know, isn’t really isn’t perfect anyway.
Remember, perfect homes don’t exist. But wasting time and money chasing a fairy tale does exist. I encourage you to talk to your lender about a renovation loan. The best lender I know is Dan Tharp along with the renovation specialist Howard Nordberg. These two are industry diehards, local to Sacramento, and the best in the business. You can tie in the renovation loan with your new mortgage and close both at the same time.
The market is softer right now, so we can very likely get you into a home for under the asking price, giving you (and your contractors) the opportunity to renovate the property to your SPECIFIC needs. Much closer to your desired home than you will find just by waiting for the “perfect” home to come onto the market.
Maybe something close to the “perfect” home will come on the market, but by then, interest rates will have gone up even more (Fed Reserve Meeting Schedule) and prices will have gone up more. The market is not going down in Sacramento. We can talk about this one on one if you would like. Call Josh Amolsch at 916.224.2756.
Do You Know Your Neighbor Can Print on Your Printer?
Are you aware that the odds are your neighbor can print on your printer? I discovered this by accident. So what, you might say. If a neighbor prints on my printer, I won’t give him any documents. But they could set your printer to produce the Grapes of Wrath while you are at work. Using up all your paper and ink.
At home in Sacramento our network has a firewall and is better protected most likely than the setup at our house in Hawaii. In fact, I’m not even sure how our printer works here in Hawaii. I just bought an HP, plugged it in, stuck in cartridges and it works. Not all the time, though, and sometimes I need my laptop to be closer to the printer instead of out on our lanai.
It’s a touchy thing. Which is why I had no idea that a neighbor can print on your printer. Sometimes I have to turn off the HP and turn it back on to get it to print. It’s an annoyance, and I use for so very little in Hawaii. An occasional property report in case I am preparing listing paperwork. OK, I also print boarding passes with it because I like a plan B.
Any little thing can screw up your cellphone, and I don’t want to be boarding a plane and discover my phone is messed up. I don’t trust technology to work all of the time because it doesn’t work all of the time. And then there is user error, too. Not immune to that.
The way I discovered a neighbor can print to your printer is because I heard a strange noise in the house. Clicking, clacking. Maybe it came from outside, some new strange crawly or flying critter. I went from room to room, and as I got closer to our den, the sound was louder. Sure enough, the printer lights were blazing, and it was printing.
A page flew upside down on the floor. I picked it up. Hmmm. Thanksgiving Day Menu. At first blush, I thought it was an HP error. Because seriously, who would serve Stove Top stuffing when you could make your very own sausage and sage dressing? But then I figured it had to be local, Hawaiian, because it contained taro rolls.
How did this happen? I guess my printer showed up on my neighbor’s printing menu. I figured it had to be the neighbors to the north of me because they were closest to our den where the printer lives. Just to mess with them, I went next door and set the menu on a chair by their front door.
A few days later, I spotted Mrs. Neighbor coming home from work. Did you get your Thanksgiving Day menu? I asked. She looked very confused. I put it on your chair, I said.
She burst out laughing: OMG. She couldn’t figure out how I knew it was her.
I did the easy thing. I unplugged the printer. There is something you can do about turning off wireless direct. I didn’t do it, though. Because knowing me, I would fix it so I could never print to it again. Unplugging it is safer in my case.
A Look at Average Days on Market in Sacramento Real Estate
The average days on market in Sacramento are edging up as we move further into our slower season of the year. I see it in my own listings. Homes that would have flown into escrow a year ago are taking much longer to sell, especially in the $750K to one-million market in Sacramento.
My thoughts in examining that particular segment is it is the luxury market. This segment seemed to do better last year. Further, our average state workers in Sacramento, including first-time home buyers, are often reluctant to spend that amount of money for a home.
I took a look at the last 30 days in the $750K to one-million price ranges in Sacramento County. This is how it breaks down:
Activity $750K to 1 Million over the last 30 Days in Sacramento County:
- 270 homes for sale
- 174 Active
- 52 Pending
- 44 Sold
The average days on market in Sacramento for the sold homes in our luxury market show 52% sold at slightly more than 100% of list price within 30 days. My professional opinion is those homes were either priced under market or they were renovated. The other 48% sold between 60 days and 120+, dropping off list price by about 1% for each month on the market.
Now, in contrast, the under $500K market in Sacramento is a different story. Here are the statistics I extracted from MLS:
- Number of homes: 5,067
- Active 2,378
- Pending 1,488
- Sold 1,201
Since so many pending sales blow up lately, I don’t put a lot of credence in the pending numbers. Too nefarious. Prefer the hard cold stats of sold. However, the average days on market in Sacramento for the under $500K market is 60% sold within 30 days at an average of 99.62% of sales price. Another 23% sold within 60 days.
What all of this means is sellers need to be priced right at inception. Don’t put homes on the market to see what kind of activity you will get because it’s a waste of time if it’s not priced right. To sell, you may need to be under market or renovated.
Even though the average days on market in Sacramento may be growing, it also gives plenty of ammunition for buyers to use. We have enough inventory that everything is not selling. In the under $500K market about 1 in 4 homes sold. In the luxury market about 1 in 6 homes sold.
Buyers will be hard pressed to find a better market as we move forward into the new year. Prices are still moving up, interest rates are going up, too. When homes do not sell, eventually sellers will take them off the market, and when inventory drops, there will be fewer choices.
