Email ElizabethDo You Really Have to Interview 3 Agents in Sacramento?
A home seller in Elk Grove figured he should interview 3 real estate agents in person because, well, he didn’t really know for certain, because somebody said that he should interview 3 agents. That somebody might have even been me; I write a lot of online content about real estate. But that advice doesn’t apply to me, I laughed. For starters, most people who call me to come over have already decided they want to hire me.
They’ve read my Weintraub reviews; my clients love me. They’ve perused my website and know I’ve got 40 years of experience. Flipped through my blogs. Studied the photos of my cats, checked out my travels on Pinterest. They know who I’m married to, the places I’ve previously worked, the addresses of hundreds of homes I’ve sold, the type of vegetation in my garden, what kind of Nikon I use, how late I sleep in, the awards I’ve won, and they know more about me than my husband knows and more than I will ever recall.
They probably also know about the day my underwear fell off in the middle of Albertson’s grocery store in Costa Mesa. Yeah, the elastic just went kaput while I was pawing through the potatoes. There I was in the produce aisle, in a yellow sundress under bright lights, when I realized a catastrophe was about to hit. I felt the elastic go ka-ping! Squeezing my legs together in an effort to keep the fabric from slipping and toting a bag of potatoes on my hip, I tried to quietly slip around the corner. Maneuvering a grocery cart with one hand is difficult, especially when the wheels go every which way.
Then, right there at the corner where canned tomato paste meets canned tomatoes, my underwear fell to the floor. First and last time that’s ever happened. I quickly kicked the cramped fabric under the ledge, along with loose rolling wasabi peas. I figured if I kept my eyes level and did not look down, that runaway garment did not belong to me, and I did not to have claim it or even pretend to recognize it.
Now, I’ll do an interview over the phone, but much of the time when somebody says they want to interview 3 agents, they only want to pick my brain. They want to know how they should stage their home, how much it is worth, along with tips and tricks for selling it. They aren’t really looking for a real estate agent because they already have one, but the one they have isn’t as experienced so they call me. Such a waste of time I spend chasing supposed leads.
This means I have to find a way to explain what I do and give people a reason to choose me as their real estate agent without necessarily meeting in person. No easy task. Of course, there is FaceTime, and that works well for people who feel the need to stare into my brown eyes. Unless, of course, I have fooled them by inserting my brilliant blue contact lenses. Or, they can just decide to hire the Sacramento real estate agent all my clients trust. You don’t have to interview 3 agents in person.
Hop the Light Rail to Folsom Historic District From Midtown Sacramento
When my husband suggested we pop over to Midtown to hop the Light Rail to Folsom on Sunday, I was a bit less than enthusiastic about the idea. The first thing that sprang to my lips were unkind and unfair words about sharing space with stinky people. My sole experience with Light Rail was a long time ago, from Midtown to the California State Fair, and let’s just say that I fully support funding for public transportation but even my cat’s litter boxes are less foul.
Of course, if my husband had first suggested that I install the game app Ingress on my iPhone, my level of enthusiasm would have edged up a notch. It would have drawn my attention away from the dude who was bugging strangers to ask if they’ve gone to church and then bouncing back and forth, repeatedly, in his seat.
The light rail runs parallel to Folsom Boulevard, all the way from Midtown Sacramento to the end of the line where the historic shops in Folsom are located. We could have just as easily driven from Land Park to Folsom, but then we could not have played Ingress. Our eyes would have been on the road and not our iPhone screens. To be fair, Ingress is a game that you’re supposed to play walking around Sacramento, but riding the Light Rail to Folsom from Midtown moved me from a Level I to a Level II fairly quickly.
There are Ingress portals all over Sacramento, which you can hack and blow up and swipe. You have to choose immediately upon signing up whether you want to be Enlightened or the Resistance. I’m a rebel, so picking a side was an easy decision.
Upon arrival on the Light Rail to Folsom, it’s just a short hop, skip and a jump to the shops in the historic district. Rows upon rows of clothing, jewelry, wine tasting rooms, bars, restaurants, antiques and specialty shops. I can see how the Light Rail to Folsom would be a popular mode of transportation for kids in their 20s desiring a night out to pub crawl.
I wasn’t planning on doing any holiday shopping but when you’re in Rome, you know. It’s not like I didn’t have a credit card stashed in my wristlet. Since I will be out of the country in the South Pacific this holiday season, it was as good a time as any to shop for friends and family. We stopped for lunch at the Hop Sing Palace, one of those Chinese restaurants that seems wedged in a certain time period, unchanged for decades, plushy booths, pink napkins, skinny Singapore Sling cocktail glasses, and the cuisine alone is worth the trip to Folsom.
I recommend the Light Rail to Folsom as a fun way to spend a Sunday afternoon. There is even an ice-skating rink, which was melting in the Folsom summer sun. Plus, if you’re not interested in shopping, eating and drinking, or watching ice skaters, you can also walk through the adjacent neighborhood and admire the homes in Folsom in the historic district. For more information on homes in Folsom, call Elizabeth Weintraub at 916.233.6759.
How Not to Be a Real Estate Radio Star in Sacramento
Real estate radio has never really appealed to me but that didn’t stop the Real Estate Radio Network from calling this Sacramento real estate agent. They offered to make me a radio star. Yup, put me on the air and allow me to share my knowledge and humor with all the people who listen to radio on weekend mornings. Like me, you might be wondering how much you can earn being a real estate radio star. First question I asked:
How much can I earn? I’m not shy.
Oh, they have one person who makes $250,000 a year, the caller assured. Well, that certainly sends up a red flag, doesn’t it? When was the last time somebody called you out of the blue and offered you a quarter of a million bucks?
Second question: Why are they calling me?
What makes me stand out from all of the other real estate agents in Sacramento? Apart from the fact that my name is plastered everywhere, and you can’t click around online without stumbling across my content — and of course the fact that I have a big mouth coupled with 4 decades of real estate — but I wanted to hear it from the representative at Real Estate Radio Network. Why was I targeted?
She fumbled a bit and then mentioned my interviews with the Wall Street Journal and CBS News. She must be looking at my bio page. That sounds a little lame.
How much time does this entail, being a real estate radio star at Real Estate Radio Network?
I already rank as a top-producer agent in Sacramento and move a ton of inventory every year, on top of being the homebuying expert at About.com, I don’t really need a third job. I earn a sufficient income. Time is a precious commodity.
An hour a week. It was flexible.
How does it work, exactly?
This wasn’t entirely clear and would be explained at lunch. It has something to do with sponsors. What if I don’t have any friends or coworkers or associates who would like to appear on the show as my sponsor, then what? No worry, the Real Estate Radio Network would help me and teach me how to do it. All I have to do is commit to a lunch date. Turns out the lunch date wasn’t really a one-on-one lunch date, it was some sort of seminar, a grouping of other real estate agents, although they did promise to feed us.
Nah, if your leader dude wants to meet with me, he can make an appointment and come to my office. I’ll give him 30 minutes to explain his program. See, I offered up, I’m already being a problem. I am not conforming. I want you guys to meet at my office and not in some group setting out by Sacramento State. I don’t think you want me. I am most likely not your targeted radio star.
Sure enough, hunting online, I found a former real estate radio star who had signed up earlier this year with the Real Estate Radio Network. I wondered if she was still broadcasting. No, she quit. She said she can do her own radio show for less money, and she did not need Real Estate Radio Network, nor did she need to pay $1700 per month for airtime plus another $995 as a monthly fee to Real Estate Radio Network.
Well, that quarter of a million income went flying out the window pretty quickly.
Buying a Sacramento Home Parked in Shadow Inventory
When inventory is low and the quality of available homes for sale in Sacramento is spotty, it might seem like there are no homes to buy, but that’s because nobody is looking at the shadow inventory. Shadow inventory can be defined as a lot of things — it can be homes that have been foreclosed upon and not yet on the market, or it can pertain to the pending sales, active release, short contingent and temporarily off the market listings, among other select status modifiers.
You might find gold in those listings.
I’ve noticed that some real estate agents are diligently digging through MLS to try to uncover shadow inventory for their buyers. Buyers can’t find these listings on their own, for the most part. Oh, they can find homes that closed escrow a few months ago on websites like Trulia and Zillow, but much of that stuff is dated. Even our own MLS, MetroList, hides the status of some listings down at the bottom on the right-hand side, so buyers get all excited and think homes are available to buy when they are actually under contract.
This is when it pays to get in touch the listing agent to find out whether the agent and her seller might welcome a backup offer. The thing about a backup offer is it guarantees the buyer that nobody else can step in to snatch the home should the existing pending sale blowup. If the existing buyer cancels, a backup offer, properly prepared, would put the second buyer into first position, effectively locking out the competition.
You might wonder how many pending sales blow up? It’s hard to pinpoint exactly but it’s not unusual for some listings to sell 3, 4 or 5 times before they close. Part of that problem is unscrupulous buyers writing more than one offer when they can’t afford to buy two homes. Part is due to tightened lending restrictions. Whatever the problem might be in an existing transaction, having a backup offer can give the seller peace of mind and it can also be a bonanza for a buyer who missed out on making an offer for that home.
If a buyer has not lifted contingencies and the transaction is still influx, it might be a good idea to check out a few pending sales to see if there is an opportunity lurking in the shadow inventory for you.
Sacramento Midtown Parking and Hair Stylist Woes
Once the city of Minneapolis towed my car because it was parked across the street from the Star Tribune during rush-hour traffic. I had an appointment at the paper with the advertising staff to review an open house ad for selling my home. This is how we had to do it in the old days, physically go to the newspaper, or at least those of us who didn’t want to discover a surprise in her print advertising come Sunday morning.
Right after 4 PM, I found myself paralyzed on the sidewalk on Portland Avenue, staring at the spot where my car had once been. It was gone. This is when you have that shocking realization that first, well, perhaps you’re in the Twilight Zone. Or, maybe, just maybe, there’s a hidden camera stuffed into the fire hydrant and Allen Funt is about to pop out of the Strib doors to holler: Smile, You’re on Candid Camera. Then, a bit of paranoia creeps in, and you begin to explore the possibility that you had parked elsewhere, and not across the street from the Star Tribune. Is it early dementia?
Finally, I did what any self-respecting girl would do who was about to mushroom into full-blown panic, now contemplating that it must have been the Mafia who swiped my Miata, and grabbed the first intelligent looking woman I spotted to ask: Dude, Where’s my Car?
Perhaps the towing company took it, she surmised, pointing at a tow truck a block down Portland Avenue, toting a little white Miata. I tore off running. High heels and all. Panting, panting. Good, the guy was stopped at a light. I screamed at the driver but he didn’t hear me. Dangnabit. I grabbed the door handle and pulled my body up on the door frame, fists pounding the passenger window: that’s my car!! I offered him money but he refused, nope, he had to go directly to the towing yard, shaking his head, crazy woman.
My eyes swept the scene in a frenzed panic. Cars whizzing down the one-way like no tomorrow. No wonder you can’t park on that street. Aha, I spotted a cab. I waved him down, and he ignored me. It’s so irritating to be ignored. I dashed after him, opened his door and plopped myself in the front seat. Ma’am, I’m off duty, says he. Ha, ha, like that would deter me. We’re going to the towing yard.
That was a $200 lesson.
This experience of having my car towed crossed my mind yesterday when I was searching for a parking spot at the hair salon on J Street in Midtown. The parking lot in back was jammed full of vehicles parked every which way and some in line as though they were waiting to pick up their kids from nursery school. It was a zoo. All of the parking spots in front were nabbed. Aha, I spotted a few spots across the street, so I pulled my self-allotted real estate maneuver, but officer, I am a Sacramento real estate agent, is what I figure I will say if caught, and I spun a 180 in the middle of the street, across a double yellow.
Grabbed a fistful of quarters and got out. The parking meter digital screen read: No Parking Before 6 PM. There were other words below it that seemed confusing. If they had just said no parking, I would understand, but they added confusion. I glanced around. Other cars were parked on this side of the street. They didn’t have tickets on the windshield. I inspected the meter next to mine. Same thing. OK, well, maybe it’s a malfunction. I inserted a quarter. Flashing 00. Maybe THAT was a malfunction or a bad quarter, you know how sometimes you end up with quarters that some doofus has obviously repeatedly smashed with a hammer or run over with a Hummer?
I inserted a second quarter. 00. OK, that does it. Around the corner and down the street, I located another spot to park. Inserted my quarters and the meter flashed: Time limit, 1 hour 4 minutes. Wait a minute, this is 2-hour parking. I can see why people might kick a parking meter or pound on the machines or maybe just collapse on the sidewalk and sob. Then it dawned on me that 6 PM is free parking, so while the meter will accept more quarters, it won’t give you any extra time if it’s not required.
Beats having your vehicle towed, I sighed.
I dashed into the hair salon for my monthly appointment with minutes to spare. This is when my long-term hair stylist drops the bomb: she is pregnant, moving to Winters next month, and I’ll have to find somebody else to do my hair.
Well, my new hair stylist ought to offer a good-sized parking lot.
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