Email ElizabethChocolate Tour at Kokoleka Lani Cacao Farm in Kona
We missed the tour of the cacao farm in Kona last week because I used the wrong GPS and was halfway the wrong way when I figured it out. But the owners were nice enough to reschedule us for the following week. The cacao farm in Kona was fascinating and inspiring. Above is a photo of me holding a pod I just cracked in one blow with the raw seeds inside.
Of course, I immediately shot a photo of a cacao pod and sent it to my husband, asking if he knew what it was. That’s because he is in California while I am in Hawaii. Although, we did tour the Vanillerie together not too long ago, and I imagine he would really enjoy this particular tour as well.
His reply to me was “deformed papaya?” Followed by “hand grenade in disguise.” Then he wanted to know if I had found this pod on our property, as there is an entire area down the hill that I have not yet explored due to improper shoes at my disposal.
Greg Colton, co-owner of the Kokoleka Lani Cacao Farm, planted more than 2,000 cacao trees. They have many locations, and the chocolate they make is different depending on where it was grown. Each microclimate on Big Island is unique, and we have 8 basic climate zones.
After the tour, we cracked open our cacao pods, which we cut off ourselves from the tree. Inside are raw cacao nuts. At the moment, I have a plate of them on my kitchen counter, covered with wet paper towels, waiting to sprout. They need a canopy, like a madre de cacao, to provide filtered light, and we have perfect conditions on the lower side of our home in Kona.
Don’t plant one of everything, is sound advice for gardeners in Hawaii. It’s just so danged hard to choose.
At the end of the cacao tour in Kona, we sampled a wide variety of freshly made chocolate. Which a visitor can also buy in the gift shop. Each variety was slightly different. Our guide asked for a show of hands regarding favorites and hands shot up at random, making it very clear that tastes are personal.
You can find chocolate tours in Kona that cost more than a Ben Franklin, or you can sign up at Event Brite for $25. See the Puna Chocolate Company for more information on its Cacao Farm Tour in Kona. They are located just past the Central Bark Dog Park in Kona, by the Water Plant off the highway.
What It’s Like to Be a Sacramento Home Buyer’s Realtor
To be a successful Sacramento home buyer’s Realtor is a very important job. Because many agents sell homes, it does not mean they are excellent at their job. Selling homes takes two agents: a listing agent and a buyer’s agent. Often the stronger agent will get the job done for both sides. How can a seller’s agent help a buyer’s agent? Great question.
As a listing agent, we make sure the time frames and contracts are completed, along with all the disclosures and reports. We can explain in detail how and why we are taking action. We make sure we have a 100% complete file and stellar record of all communications. Even if the buyer’s agent doesn’t know what she or he is doing, we will get the transaction completed, regardless. They can’t miss an important milestone, as we won’t let them.
Another great question along this same theme is a post written by my partner, Elizabeth Weintraub, in September 2012: What it’s like to be a Sacramento home buyer? An excerpt is in italics below.
It’s up to real estate agents to explain to potential home buyers what the market is like in Sacramento. Tell them what they can expect. I tell it to them straight. I figure it’s better that they be prepared than shocked. Don’t need anybody having a heart attack and dropping dead at my feet.
Because, maybe this is NOT the time for them to buy a home. I know I would NOT want to be a home buyer in Sacramento today. That’s the truth. Because there is tremendous competition for the same homes. It’s an extreme seller’s market. Many buyers, little inventory. Many all cash buyers who will outbid an FHA or VA buyer. Multiple offers are normal right now. This is a sizzling hot market! — Elizabeth Weintraub
To be a Sacramento home buyer’s Realtor is a lot more than writing contracts. It is about knowing the inventory and knowing the numbers. If your agent doesn’t know the amount of inventory, the pending sales and days on the market, how can the agent possibly guide you effectively through the process and write successful offers? Our buyer’s agents are seasoned pros and they study the market daily.
I received an offer yesterday and it was 10% low on a property that is priced for a quick sale. No letter of explanation nothing. I asked the agent his strategy about why he wrote such a below-market offer? The answer, oh that’s what the buyers wanted to offer. This means the buyer’s agent didn’t inform the client that the inventory is 35% low compared to last year. The listed properties are selling for 97% of list price throughout Sacramento. Had this agent educated her client they might be looking at acceptance in-lieu-of rejection.
You can count on our team, so call today. We at Weintraub & Wallace Realtors, with RE/MAX Gold, look forward to helping you obtain home-ownership. Call us today at 916-233-6759.
— JaCi Wallace
November 2019 Sacramento Fall Home Sales
Our November 2019 Sacramento fall home sales is an interesting time. The article below in italics, “Welcome to the Sacramento Fall Home Selling Market,” was written in 2012 by my partner, Elizabeth Weintraub. So, let’s now look at current interpretation of current market trends in 2019 and you will see how similar they are to conditions in 2012. It’s uncanny.
Our November weather has been many warm sunny days, high 70s and even a few 80 degree days. This has extended the fall selling season as it is busy right now and we are fast approaching Thanksgiving.
The 2019 quarter, compared to the same quarter last year, shows 2,059 homes for sale in Sacramento County. Further, 1536 are pending, and 1461 homes are for sale. They are selling for 97 % of the selling price at an average of 34 days. We only have 1.4 months of inventory, which is down by 31.8% compared to the same fall quarter of last year.
What does all of this mean for our Sacramento fall home sales? Homes are selling quickly, and demand is high, but buyers are still looking for a deal. I’m receiving meager offers on some properties.
Yesterday, we received an offer 10% low from the list price, and the home is one of the best values in the area. The Realtor submitted nothing with her offer as to why she felt this was reasonable. There were no comparable sales, nothing. It leaves one to wonder what Realtors are telling their clients! If they showed buyers the market trends right now, they would stop wasting everyone’s time. Much like the fall of 2012 in Elizabeth’s article below, this is a seller’s market as far as the numbers go. With such low inventory, the listings should be selling like hotcakes.
The buyers are somewhat hesitant writing offers and cancel the same day or the next day. Wake up, Sacramento, as we have minimal homes for sale. If not one Sacramento listing agent listed another house in the next six weeks, the existing inventory would be zero. As we move into December, I suspect even less property for sale so that December could be a good month for sales, especially 1031 exchanges. — JaCi Wallace
After the vacations are over. After the kids are back in school. After it’s no longer considered cool to wear white, that’s when your real estate market in Sacramento takes off. The only problem with this is the market was already steamin’ hot in August. It’s a seller’s market in Sacramento, for those of you who have been living under a rock. It’s no longer a buyer’s market and hasn’t been for some time.
The conditions in Sacramento are tough, almost as tough as driving down the hill from Lake Tahoe after Labor Day in crawling bumper-to-bumper traffic. I swear, we probably would have been better off if we had turned off at the intersection and drove out of our way to Jackson than continuing to inch along Highway 50 from Tahoe.
We have tough conditions in Sacramento because we have about 10% of the number of homes for sale that we had five years ago. Mix that with low interest rates, below 4%, and throw in first-time home buyers on top of cash investors, hit the chop button, and you’ve got a blender full of something inedible.
If you would like to hire a real estate team (pictured above) to sell your property in this robust Sacramento fall home sales bonanza for sellers, please call Weintraub & Wallace Realtors, with RE/MAX GOLD. We will maximize your profit! We can be reached at 916-233-6759.
— JaCi Wallace
Multiple Offers are Happening in Sacramento Real Estate
Multiple offers are happening. The Sacramento real estate market in 2012 VS 2019 is similar in so many ways. The article below in italics, A Twist in the Sacramento Real Estate Market, was written in 2012 by my partner Elizabeth Weintraub. So let’s now look at my interpretation of 2019. I just sold an investor-type listing; we had 6 offers, all investors. Several were over the list price. The final selling price was 10% over list. This was the same thing happening in 2012. Multiple offers are happening on properties priced to sell. Low-interest rates, too, at 3.75%. Rents are matching purchase price monthly payments.
Rentals pencil.
Inventory is still low. New construction is adding inventory, but they can’t build them fast enough. When investors pay 10% over the list on a fixer,it contributes to higher appraisal values. While many people are nervous about the political climate, people still have to find housing. Wages need to go up to help people afford homes. I think 2020 is going to be a bumper crop year for real estate. 2012 was a big year and eight years later, we are experiencing very similar market conditions. Currently, the economy is doing quite well and unemployment is very low.
–JaCi Wallace
I prepare offer tracking sheets for each of my listings. That way, if I need to know years from now about the offers I had received for any particular real estate listing, I’ve got that information at my fingertips. Each of these sheets give me an overview of what happened. For the first time since 2005, I’m receiving over-market offers from investors who are paying cash. That’s the sign I’ve been waiting for. I disregard the first-time home buyers. It’s the investors I watch.
For months now, multiple offers are happening in Sacramento and have been the norm. That’s due to low inventory, low interest rates and high demand. It’s cheaper to buy in the buy or rent scenario. When it’s cheaper to buy than to rent, it also means investors will get positive cash flow even if they finance a home. So, investors and first-time home buyers have been competing, often for the same home.
Here is something to understand about first-time home buyers. When a first-time home buyer bids over list price for a home, that home buyer is not taking extra money out of her pocket. She is rolling the excess into her mortgage. So, it’s not really costing her a lot of extra money to make a purchase offer over the seller’s asking price. If she offers an extra $5,000, her mortgage payment changes by about $30. That’s peanuts. Using that formula, at 3.5% interest, she can bid $15,000 over list price and still not change her mortgage payment by more than a hundred bucks. Of course, it might not appraise at that amount, and therein lies the major problem with first-time home buyers overbidding.
If there are no comparable sales available at that price, the appraiser won’t submit a value at the purchase contract price. If the buyer gets a low appraisal, her only solution to move forward is to pay the $15,000 difference out of pocket, in cash. Most don’t have that kind of cash and, if they did, they wouldn’t pay over market with it. Not just for the opportunity to buy a home, nope. Unless they would. Unless they were that desperate to buy a home.
Not only am I seeing owner occupants who are willing to play all loosey-goosey with cash, but now investors are, too. Investors are no longer guarding their cash like a precious commodity. They are willing to pay above market value, because that’s the last thing to give in negotiations. It’s no longer enough to pay cash. Now, it’s got to be over market. That’s what it takes to make prices go up. An investor who is willing to pay more than the going rate. Investors who pay over market result in higher comparable sales. Higher comparable sales pave the road for higher appraisals, which opens the flood gates for first-time home buyers. — Elizabeth Weintraub
This is a great time to sell. Cash in on how multiple offers are happening today. Call Weintraub & Wallace Realtors, with RE/MAX Gold. 916-233-6759
My Sellers Are In Europe Using WhatsApp To Close Escrow
My sellers are in Europe using the WhatsApp. They tried several times to sign documents by email. The iPhones are not working there well except when using the WhatsApp. The property located at 8109 Sloughhouse Road in Elk Grove, CA 95624, was all set to close escrow, or so we thought. Before the sellers left for an extended vacation to Europe, we signed everything at the title company, and we checked in with the buyer’s side for any additional documents. They said nope all good on their end.
Unfortunately, a few things came up that needed signatures from the buyer’s agent though it was a three-month-long escrow. She had waited until the end to send in her buyer’s Agent Visual Inspection Disclosure forms. There are three residences, so she had three forms that needed seller signatures. Additionally, her buyer decided to change one of the terms her buyer had insisted on from the start, so I insisted they submit an addendum to keep my seller protected if there were any issues after the close with the tenant.
We tried again by communicating through the WhatsApp at midnight California time, as it is 8:00 AM on the cruise ship. The good news, the sellers were able to sign the documents. Finally, with these last steps to close escrow, we should not have any further issues. Twenty-five years ago, I could not have imagined how technology would change our industry.
Call Weintraub and Wallace Realtors, with RE/MAX Gold, if you are thinking of selling. Even if you are in Europe, we are using WhatsApp to do business and close escrows even if it’s Midnight. Call us today at 916-233-6759.
— JaCi Wallace
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