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Elizabeth Weintraub
A Glimpse Into the Life of a Married Real Estate Agent
Married real estate agents seem to be far more productive than single agents. It’s not like I have any statistics to throw at you; just my observations. I suspect it’s because we get to a point in our lives where we have fewer activities to keep in checks and balances. For me, it’s pretty much: job, husband, cats and Elizabeth Weintraub Team members. Not always in that order but not a lot of distractions. However, last week I seemed to have caused a big ol’ ruckus with one of my banks, and not sure how it happened.
It began when I could not download transactions. A few days earlier, the bank had called to say it had forgotten to make a large deposit for me. I don’t know how the bank forgot. The manager apologized. When I signed in online to check my account, the bank showed zero accounts. Nothing. The possibility I was hacked crossed my mind. I called tech support. Dude said I had not authorized my new debit card (although I had) so they removed all of my accounts from online access. Bit extreme, I thought.
Without going into boring details, although I woke the dead in the Land Park Cemetery yelling for a representative, the bank sent a new card but no PIN. After much screaming, I got the bank to set up a new PIN for me over the phone. But to get that PIN number, they asked a whole bunch of personal questions. Some of which the correct answer was none of the selections. One of the questions was do I know a, let’s say, Bernardo Telephone . I said no. The tech support sputtered under his breath. Seemed like a wrong answer.
OK, hmmm . . . I was married once to a man with the last name of Telephone, I offered. But Bernardo was not his name. Oh, wait, he went by a nickname. So I guess Bernardo could have been his first name. I revised my answer. Yes, he was probably an ex-husband. Hey, it’s not my fault, I’ve had 6 weddings. Can’t keep ’em all straight. Too long ago.
I guess I floored the tech guy on the phone. He didn’t want to ask. I could tell he didn’t want to ask. But he couldn’t help himself. You know, when you’re in your mid 60’s, you don’t remember with great clarity all of your ex-husbands from 30 or 40 years ago. I’m not just one of those married real estate agents, I’ve been married to my last husband — I hate to say final because what if he died — for almost several decades.
Tech guy then had another question. How old was Bernardo? I barely recall being married to him, do you think I know his age? Holy moly. But when he gave me the category of 80, I suddenly recalled he was a lot older than me. Gosh, I’m so glad I’m not married to him now. That’s pretty old, LOL. Fortunately, I picked the right answer, but it was a bit of a long shot.
When I shared that story with my husband, he could not believe it. But he is a different sort of character. I’ll give you an example. After he walked in the door last week carrying bags of take-out food for dinner, he called me into the kitchen.
I’ve got something to show you from this morning, he mentioned, there is a spot of cat puke on the floor over here. At least it looks like cat puke, not sure.
I bent over to see what he was pointing to.
That could be a spot over here, he continued, and pointed to another area. But this spot right here definitely looks like cat puke.
I could not believe what I was hearing. The tone of his voice sounded as though he thought I should clean it up.
Leaning even closer, I prodded him, “Are you sure?”
I was waiting for him to say he would clean it up, but those words never left his lips. Sometimes, ya gotta take the direct route.
Do you think I am the cat puke cleaner upper?
Well, he just got home from work, and he brought dinner, and who brought all of these cats into the house in the first place? He is a smart man. Not a person to dig himself a bigger hole. He loves those cats just as much as I do.
Finally he grabbed paper towels, the Resolve and cleaned up the cat puke.
And that’s why I am still a married real estate agent and not married to some doofus whose name I can’t even recall when asked a bunch of security questions.
Signing With a Power of Attorney for Sacramento Real Estate
One of the most commonly used and often misunderstood documents is the power of attorney, especially when used in conjunction with real estate. Basically, we use two different types in California: a specific or a general power of attorney. When it comes to real estate, many title companies prefer the specific power of attorney. This comes up a lot, especially with trusts. People seem to think you can use a power of attorney any old time and you can’t. You can’t use a power of attorney with a trust. That’s why a trust names a successor trustee.
Also, for example, a person can’t sign a power of attorney giving another authority to sign on her or his behalf if that individual is not in full control of her or his mental abilities. In other words, if the person suffers from dementia and is unable to manage her or his own affairs, that person does NOT have the capacity to sign a power of attorney. The time to sign a power of attorney is while the person still knows what’s going on and understands what she or he is signing.
It also goes without saying, a person can’t be dead. A power of attorney terminates upon death. Dead people are not capable of entering into agreements; I don’t care which SYFY show you watch.
That’s all the basics you need to know, except the specifics of signing with a power of attorney. Here are the general rules:
- Sign the other person’s name first
- Then use the word “by”
- Followed by your name, and
- then “as her (his) attorney-in-fact.”
Say, we’ve got a married couple like Neil Patrick Harris and David Burtka. If David were to embark on an African safari while he and Neil were buying a home, David could give Neil his power of attorney. Neil would sign as follows:
David Burtka, by Neil Patrick Harris as his attorney-in-fact.
When dealing with Sacramento real estate and a purchase contract, make sure your agent also prepares a RCSD, representative capacity signature disclosure. This lays out who can sign for whom. It may also require a copy of the power of attorney.
One important caveat, though, concerning signing with a power of attorney that I discovered last week. DO NOT PRINT your signature. You would think nobody would have to say this to another person, but you do. There are people who will print a signature. Especially those millennials who never learned cursive writing in school.
We had a closing held up last week because the buyer printed her spouse’s signature with a POA! The buyer signed in front of a mobile notary, and the mobile notary did not know enough to know the buyer could not print a signature.
At least the buyer’s grade school taught kids to print. I’d hate to think that in this day and age a person could not communicate without a computer or cellphone. But some millennials, apparently, could be stuck drawing stick figures. It’s like we’re back to telling stories through art on caveman walls because nobody can write anymore.
I clearly recall in third grade receiving a very low grade in cursive writing. Big trouble, not allowed to bring home low grades. I had resisted moving from printing to a new form of communication. Didn’t hurt I printed beautifully. Block letters, easy to read. Now I had to learn a new way of communicating. My mother forced me to copy a chapter from a book in cursive. And I embraced it. Perhaps I’m jealous that today’s kids aren’t forced to make that transition. You kids get offa my lawn. But it does come in handy.
Closed Another Woodside Oaks Condo in Alicante Villas
Some agents have implied that selling a Woodside Oaks condo is too difficult because they believe the HOA dues are too high, so they take too long to sell and agents won’t get a fast sale. Me, I’ve never worried about fast sales. Like I told a seller today, he should go on the market by early June to capture what’s left of our spring market, but he can also wait until he’s ready. Now is optimum for highest concentration of buyers. But if he’s not ready, I’m not gonna push. I’ll wait until next year. Makes no difference to me, although it might to him.
The story of the sale of this Woodside Oaks condo started in January, when I was still working from our second house in Hawaii. I talked with the seller about her objectives. Studied the photos. The flooring was painted cement. A few of the accent walls were deep purple. Nice urban vibe but not right for the market. I suggested painting the walls and installing engineered wood.
This seller had called me because she found out I had just closed another Woodside Oaks condo in that complex. I was happy to help, and I love this complex. It’s so quiet, especially with speed bumps up and down Sierra, and most of the layout is not aligned with Sierra. The HOA amenities make it feel like you’re living at a resort. I’d gladly take any condo listing in Alicante Villas. They are apartment conversions but you’d never know it to look at the units.
We went on the market in early April and immediately attracted an offer from a referral. The referral was a Realtor. Who should have known that she can’t buy that condo as an owner occupant when her first home had not yet sold. There is a 70% rental occupancy in that complex, so no non-owner occupied loans allowed. No sooner did we go into escrow than this situation reared its head and the whole thing quickly canceled.
Enter next buyer, a few days later. This buyer did not offer list price, which was aggressive pricing, yes, but this a seller’s market. We countered at full list price and the buyer accepted. Now, one of the stipulations was the home is sold AS IS, no credits, no repairs, no renegotiations. Sure enough, the buyer asked the seller to repair several plumbing leaks and replace an electrical receptacle, which the seller refused.
However, the appraisal came in $2,000 low. The reason being an agent at my own brokerage with another listing in the complex blabbed to the appraiser and divulged the the sales price of her pending sale. Which was less than ours. So the appraiser came in $2,000 low. Why do appraisers do that, do you think? He could have certainly given us $2,000 for the new flooring and excellent condition of the condo. Petty.
Since we won rejection of the repair request, the seller appeared willing to split the difference in the appraisal with the buyer. Although I suggested she make the buyer pay the entire difference. It was not the seller’s fault the buyer was forced to get a loan. But I also leave these decisions up to the parties. It’s not my house. She can follow my advice or no.
Ultimately, the seller’s choice was to eat $1,000 and the buyer paid $1,000 more. We closed on the Woodside Oaks condo a few days early, on May 10th. Then, the evening of the 10th, the buyer’s agent emailed me a notice that was attached to the door. Guess he did not do a final walkthrough with the buyer or he would have caught this a few days earlier, and not after closing. When there is no seller liability over an unknown circumstance.
It was a notice from the Sacramento Building Permits and Inspection Code Enforcement. Which means some anonymous person contacted the County and filed a complaint, claiming there was unpermitted construction going on at this condo. Except, of course, there was not any unpermitted construction. Was it a neighbor? Was it another agent in the complex? Agents are fiercely envious and would throw their own grandparents under the bus.
Doesn’t matter. It’s the buyer’s problem now. Thanks, friendly good-doer, NOT.
548 Woodside Oaks, #5, Sacramento, CA 95825 closed on May 10, 2018 at $174,000. If you’d like to sell a condo in Woodside Oaks, call Elizabeth Weintraub at 916.233.6759.
Why Sacramento Apartment Buildings Are Springing Up All Over Town
Because I drive all over the city to list homes for sale, I notice Sacramento apartment buildings being built throughout my travels. I can tell you the number of new apartment buildings seems to be increasing. For example, when building stopped in Elk Grove after the 2008 market crash, everybody just assumed that builders eventually would continue someday. What owners did not count on was the type of new construction. Goodbye single family, hello apartment buildings.
How would you like to have bought a home on, say, Donson Court in Elk Grove, that presented you with a lovely view of fields and nature? Then 10 years later, whammo, apartment buildings in your face, overshadowing your yard.
When I sold one home over there on Donson, the Caterpillars were just breaking ground. I quickly sold it before any buildings were constructed. Everybody thought it would be new homes but it wasn’t. They put up apartment buildings. That was a big deterrent when I got another listing on Donson.
Ha, then that buyer canceled when he discovered Sacramento apartment buildings were behind his property. Very close, closer than a house. But he soon realized there was no other home to buy, so he decided to rescind his cancellation and close escrow. And, of course, we made him pay more for that untimely maneuver. It must be horrible to live there for so many years, always thinking new homes would go in behind you and then discover monstrous apartment buildings.
The thing is if they are building new Sacramento apartment buildings instead of new homes, it is probably more cost efficient and profitable to build apartment buildings. According to Colliers International, the average rent in Sacramento is $1,723 for 874 square feet. Conversely, $275,000 would buy a home twice that size for about the same PITI, if a buyer chose to live in lower-income neighborhoods, which is why many rent. Because our median sales price in Sacramento is now $370,000.
However, if you look at a new survey by Forbes, Sacramento ranks #10 as the hottest place in the country to buy an investment property:
10. Sacramento-Arden-Arcade-Roseville, Calif.
Average home price: $327,073
3-year population growth: 3.7%
2-year job growth: 4.8%
1-year home price growth: 10%
3-year price growth forecast: 33% source: Forbes
Midtown is no stranger lately to new Sacramento apartment buildings, either. Look at the 263 units going up over on 21st and Q Street, and the new 68-unit building for 19th & Q. Just hope we don’t turn into a city like Stockton in which rentals outnumber homeowners. According to the US Census, our home ownership rate in Sacramento is 55.2%. On par with California as a whole.
But then you’ve also gotta look at the hedge fund Blackstone, which bought up more than 1,500 single family homes in our residential resale market during the crash and turned those homes into rentals. Blackstone is the largest owner of single family rentals in Sacramento. Demographics of some neighborhoods have changed. Almost 100,000 Sacramento homes are rented, according to a KCRA report, which make up about 25% of single-family homes.
We desperately need to build new single family homes in Sacramento as our demand has outpaced supply. We have slightly more than 1 month of inventory for sale in Sacramento. And I just don’t see a lot of new single family homes being built, do you?
Solar Panels Mandatory by 2020 for All New California Homes
The California Energy Commission adopted yesterday new energy efficient standards that will make solar panels mandatory by the year 2020 for all new residential construction. Not only will new California homes need to have solar panels installed by January 1, 2020, but the standards also affect insulation, ventilation and lighting. California leads the way as being first in the nation to require such improvements.
However, the first question is how much will it cost? The state says the new standards making solar panels mandatory, along with other energy improvements, will add about $9,500 to the cost of a new house. We are already in dire straits, desperately needing new construction. Inventory is so low. Our housing market needs a fresh boost, and this might not be it. They say adding these improvements and making solar panels mandatory will pay back $19,000 in saved maintenance and energy costs over 30 years.
Although, I can’t say I know very many people who have owned the same home for the last 30 years.
I am all for reducing energy and saving our planet, a big proponent of green, reducing carbon footprints, but I do wonder how this program will be implemented. Like, how much of the additional costs will be passed on to the buyer? I imagine all of it, if builders can get away with it. Plus, you know how much buyers really love solar panels these days, NOT. It’s a chore and a challenge to sell a house with solar panels to reluctant buyers, but I manage to do it.
Will the solar panels last 30 years? How often will they need to be updated or replaced? What do repairs cost? And why can’t solar panels be affordable anyway? When they first came on the scene, solar panels delivered enough energy to run a house and the rest was sold back to the electric company. You can’t do that anymore.
Solar companies need to make more money so now they often lease solar panels. But technology wears out and goes out of date. Sometimes leases cost more than buying electricity directly from the electric company. Further, the real savings might happen 5 years or more down the road, providing you don’t need to change out the solar panels.
My feelings are mixed. Just hoping the positives outweigh the negatives in this case. It’s definitely a giant step forward for California. Let’s hope it’s not two steps back for Sacramento real estate.
