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Elizabeth Weintraub
Bath Remodel Update: Quartz Countertops and Lotus Vessel Sinks
We received our quartz countertops at our house in Hawaii last week. I paid for and ordered the quartz in June. The installers said the guy who sold the quartz did not want to ship it until he had a full load. Which could be true. At first he promised me delivery in June, and then suddenly after he cashed the check he had a different idea. What would happen if the shipment was delayed and I had already left for Sacramento? He suggested August shipping would be better controlled.
Now that I ponder my previous conversation about the quartz countertops, I imagine he probably had more clients in August. which would reduce his shipping costs. However, that’s when Hurricane Lane approached Hawaii and all shipments out of Honolulu shut down. After a shut-down of a harbor like that, everything is delayed when shipping resumes.
Long story short the quartz countertops were delivered a few days before I arrived in Kona. Our wonderful neighbor from Minnesota let them into our garage to store it. It is really pretty, too. They call it popcorn quartz, sort of an almond with white exploding popcorns.
I learned it is all right to install quartz directly on the cabinet, if the cabinet will support the quartz. Not every cabinet will. One of the reasons to use plywood is to raise the countertop enough to allow the drawers to open. If we don’t need plywood, I’d just as soon not bring any termite infested product into the house. So we got the quartz countertops installed without plywood.
Once the countertops were in place, it was time to install the Lotus vessel sinks. When I spotted the Lotus vessel sinks with the waterfall faucets on Overstock, no question in my mind that the sinks were perfect. One of the stipulations I made was the contractor needed to install air gaps under the sinks. Well, I was out at Kona Haven Coffee talking story with a couple of friends when I received a text message from the contractor.
Somehow, he decided not to install the air gaps. He had his own ideas about it, and tried to tell me they were only necessary on faucets with reverse osmosis. Look buddy, there is a reason one of my most popular blogs about Sacramento real estate is How to Fix a Vessel Sink That Doesn’t Drain Completely. Because without an air gap, they do not drain.
So I sent him the link. Later, when the construction guys were preparing to leave, they mentioned that their boss finally read my blog. That piece convinced him, and he bought an air gap. Of course, when he shows up on Monday to be paid, he won’t be happy when I point out the medicine cabinet in the guest bath opens into the waterfall faucet. Nor will he like having to switch the hot and cold faucets that are mixed up in the guest bath. Hot on left, cold on right is code these days.
You cannot rely on construction workers to always do the right thing. Everybody has an opinion and workers are only as good as the number of jobs completed. Kinda like real estate agents. If an agent hasn’t sold a ton of properties, they don’t learn much. These guys do a great job installing quartz countertops, but vessel sinks seem to be a new learning curve for them.
Also, I bought 3 vessel sinks in case one of them was damaged in shipping but all 3 arrived intact. Now I have an extra vessel sink with a waterfall faucet for sale dirt cheap, under $200.
Affordable 7 Bedroom Home in Citrus Heights Wildwood Estates
Would you like to buy an affordable 7 bedroom home in Citrus Heights, in Wildwood Estates? This home is located in a desirable tree-lined area, which is north of Auburn and a bit east of Sunrise. What I noticed was an abundance of pride-of-ownership in this neighborhood. I last sold a couple of homes in Wildwood Estates maybe a year or two ago, as I vividly recall all of the Glen-named streets. This particular area has gone through a remarkable transformation for the better.
It’s also not often that I list an affordable 7 bedroom home in Citrus Heights. Generally speaking, most homes featuring 7 bedrooms are much more expensive because they tend to be luxury homes, worth a million or more. In addition, this home is a single story, not a two story or multi-level, like most other 7 bedroom homes. You will also find 3 full baths.
Perfect situation for a multi-generational family, btw.
Basically, the center of home is fairly open and consists of the entry, spacious kitchen with granite, family room with breakfast space, and a large separate dining room with a pass-through window to the kitchen. Off to the left is a front bedroom with a fireplace, and down the hall are 2 more bedrooms and a full bath. Off to the right is four more bedrooms, including a master suite, and a full guest bath in the hall.
In addition to the main entertainment areas in the center of the home, there is also a large deck that bridges the exterior span between the two wings. It is simply enormous. And if that’s not enough, the lot is also huge with a couple of creek beds and a small footbridge.
You can also view the virtual tour here. Or, you can come to our open house on Sunday, October 21st, from 2:00 to 4:00 PM and view this affordable 7 bedroom home in Citrus Heights for yourself.
8113 Glen Creek Way, Citrus Heights, CA 95610 is offered exclusively by Elizabeth Weintraub and Lyon Real Estate at $405K.
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.
Short Review of Won’t You Be My Neighbor?
Before I tell you about my reaction to the documentary movie, Won’t You Be My Neighbor, you should know I did not want to see this movie. OK, I am a person who admits when she is wrong. Fortunately, it’s not very often, but when it happens, I own it. When my husband suggested we go to Tower Theatre in Land Park to see Won’t You Be My Neighbor, I ridiculed that idea. Just like I did when my friend and team member Barbara Dow bought a RING for her door.
I asked her how can anybody be so lazy that they can’t bother to get up off the sofa to see who is at the door? What have we come to in America? It’s because I had a completely different idea about how a person would use the RING, and now I have one on our house in Hawaii. Eat my words. Main drawback with the RING is it runs out of juice. But the company made a RING solar charger for its original model (not yet available for 2nd generation), so that problem is now resolved. Providing I can get the stripped screw out of it, which I’m working on tomorrow.
Along with uploading photos to put a new listing on the market in Citrus Heights. First, I’ve got to make my new listing live in MLS, and then I’ll work on the RING. Priorities.
But I digress. I arrived at our house in Hawaii yesterday. On the plane, I’ve already watched most of the movies on Hawaiian Airlines’ entertainment iPad, so I picked Won’t You Be My Neighbor for lack of options. Holy crap. It is pretty emotional. Why is that woman in seat 2A sobbing her eyes out? Other passengers looked the other way. Sniffling and deep breaths. Honestly, I’ve never watched Mister Rogers Neighborhood, barely even knew who Fred Rogers was.
Fred Rogers had a goal, a mission, and he wanted to work with children. To help them become better people. Oh, media said he lied to kids and it’s his fault whiny-ass kids grew up with an absurd feeling of entitlement, but that was not true. He simply wanted to help children grow into loving, caring and responsible adults. It was very clear from the documentary that he possessed a great sense of humor, was extremely kind, very stable, measured and calm. That’s just who he was. A genuinely authentic person.
He seemed to surround himself by genuine and authentic people such as family and friends. When I watched him go before Congress when Nixon was in office, it was extremely moving. Congress was ready to cut funding for educational television. It was a done deal. However, after Fred Rogers spoke from his heart, calmly and collectively, explaining why his show is important, they gave him $20,000 to continue.
He was super talented. He could sing. Play piano. He wrote all the music for the show, the scripts and created all of the characters, including voicing the puppets.
There were also a few scenes that still resonate with me today, yet watching them happen also brought on the tears. Like the Challenger. Bobby Kennedy. How do you explain what happened to children? But Fred Rogers could do it.
With so much hatred, anger and hostility in the world today, if you would like a reason to feel good about humankind, this movie will do it for you. It’s out on DVD and BluRay. I give Won’t You Be My Neighbor 2 thumbs, all my fingers and all 10 toes up. Heck, I’d throw in the paw of endorsement from our 3 cats as well. I should have a graphic for this. Sorry, I do not.
Spotted a Red Shafted Northern Flicker in Sacramento
When I showed my photo of a Northern Flicker in Sacramento to a friend yesterday, she asked accusingly: how do you the name of that bird? Like I’ve been holding out on her. Um. Because I know the names of birds. Cannot help it; I make it a point to be aware of the wildlife around me. It’s the same fascination I have with most products of nature: the trees, flowers, rocks and certainly the tropical fish in Hawaii waters. But it’s birds that got me started. Both my husband and I became obsessed about the same time. It just happened. One day we were normal people just like anybody else, until one day we realized nope, we are not normal. We are birders.
This would have been a better photo if I wasn’t on the phone talking with a new client about selling her home. She had asked me if she couldn’t simply raise the price a little bit so she could make more money. This is not the first time a seller has asked that particular question. It seems like an odd question to me, but it can’t be that odd if many sellers ask the same thing. Sellers are really asking whether they could inadvertently leave money on the table — that is the underlying fear. The fear of pricing it too low.
So the natural instinct seems to be to raise the price over market value. Which is a bad idea. There isn’t much chance of a home selling too low. Reason is it’s on the market at a particular price based on comparable sales. That price may or may not be the price at which it will sell. That price should be the price it needs to be to attract an offer. To make buyers interested in buying the home. Raising the price above market only increases the possibility that buyers won’t make any offer at all.
Maybe if we held a Fukuburkuro sale. Yeah, I’m just kidding.
I’m explaining these concepts while I’m standing in my family room staring out the window at the red shafted Northern Flicker in our back yard. He’s foraging and singing. Not enough time to grab a camera with a zoom lenses, and let’s face it, my conversation with the client was more important. Still, I can’t really say, hey, would you mind holding on for a moment while I snap a photo of a Northern Flicker? Well, I suppose I could say that. But it wouldn’t be appreciated.
As a result, I snapped a few pictures through the glass window with my cellphone. Multi-tasking. Above is about the best photo of the Northern Flicker. How do you like the black phoebe to the right that I shot a while back in my front yard? Big difference when one uses a zoom lenses and a quality camera that is not a cellphone.
Noted on List of Top 15 Agents in Sacramento
Got the screwiest new offering for Realtors yesterday when I received an email to congratulate me on placing in the top 15 agents in Sacramento. As though my production was news to this Sacramento Realtor. But even weirder than that was the way this company has gone about trying to promote itself. Of course, everybody is always trying to make a buck off of Realtors. It’s rampart in this industry. Blatant or otherwise, it is always present. Feeling like somebody’s mark.
What makes this company different is it is wants to sell a product that does not exist to a Realtor. It claims it can improve a Realtor’s SEO ranking by paying to be included on a website that doesn’t really rank very well in Google. Unlike the guys who swoop in at Annual Agent Awards time, stick you on their list and then try to sell you a plaque. Because these guys just go for annual membership of $250.
The company is STL, which is an acronym for States Top Leading News, kinda hokey. At first glance, I thought it was for St. Louis, and maybe it is since the company is based in Missouri. More power to these guys. They’re not roping me in, but I imagine they will find a lot of other agents. Primarily because most agents do not understand how SEO works. I barely know it myself, and Google constantly changes algorithms. Panda almost killed me.
This company simply goes to Zillow, pulls out the top 15 agents in Sacramento, whether they are agents or not, and puts them on a list. I was a bit astonished when I saw how one real estate company with about 30 agents in their office signed up to be a Premier Agent and Zillow took their money. To me, that is misleading. Maybe there should be a category for brokerages? Separate from agents?
I suppose the thinking of STL is agents pay to be Premier agents on Zillow so they will pay STL to be on some weird little website? I guess. Never underestimate the Bell Curve.
In any case, they are republishing what already exists on Zillow. Skimming data. Mixing it up some, though, and they can’t be reading the stats correctly because some of the agents on their list whom they rank above actually rank below me. So I don’t know how much credence I put into their list of top 15 agents in Sacramento, except I know my spot is earned.
