Email ElizabethLipitor, First Class Meals in Flight and Saving Whales
It’s hard to say which was worse news yesterday, that the airlines will no longer serve meals in first class or that my cholesterol level shot back up since I stopped taking a statin. Well, yeah, I know what you’re thinking. You’re thinking, hey, there’s the whole Gaza thing and Ebola concerns and our severe drought going on, and this screwball Sacramento REALTOR has her knickers in a twist over the scarcity of meals in flight, especially in light of the fact she gets stainless utensils and not plastic, on top of enjoying TSA Pre-Check. Where’s the beef?
She should be happy her eyes open in the morning instead of yakking about her cholesterol level and no in-flight meals. The problem is I had set such high expectations when my last test results showed such a dramatic drop due to my new lifestyle diet. I have to say “lifestyle diet” so people don’t think I’ve switched to some fad like 16-ounce steaks smothered with sides of bacon. Fruits, vegetables, lean meats, reduced sugar, whole grain, healthful stuff. It dropped my cholesterol dramatically but it was by accident.
I was hopeful that I could stop taking a statin to reduce cholesterol but no such luck. Without a statin, my cholesterol level jumped to a dangerous height and more than doubled. Ah, the joys of being over 60. Yet, still, there is a silver lining of such in that Lipitor is available at a reasonable price because its patent protection expired, and I can switch back to Lipitor instead of taking a generic.
Since 1997, Lipitor has earned Pfizer $81 billion, making it the best selling prescription drug in history. My doctor prefers Lipitor, says it’s the better cholesterol medication for me but because of its patent, I could not afford to buy it. This is America. All we had to do was try not to die while we waited for the patent to expire.
My positive outlook doesn’t do a thing about the flight meals, though. It’s American Airlines that is starting this but you know how that goes. All of the airlines will follow suit soon enough. It’s bad enough that they made coach class so unbearably uncomfortable that passengers would rather crawl naked through broken glass. I suppose the best way to fly is to be sedated. Once on-board, get an injection, have your hands tied and be hung from the ceiling like a pig dripping blood at a meat processing plant; simply go to sleep until the plane lands at your destination.
Think of all the money the airlines will save. American companies are in big trouble today because they are not making enough profit. Some are setting up domiciles overseas to avoid taxes. We also have to pay some of them just to do the right thing, like the cargo and freight shipping companies who operate off the coast of Santa Barbara. The government is now paying 6 global shipping companies $2,500 a pop for each ship that slows down and tries to not run over a whale. Saving the whales should not mean we have to bribe corporations but it does. These are probably the same types of people whose parents had to pay Johnny not to whomp his sister.
The whale-saving speed reduction program is expected to reduce emissions of smog-forming nitrogen oxides and help to protect the lives of our ocean mammals, which is hard to argue with. On the other hand, the hand with the sticky fingers that hasn’t been washed for a while, we’ve subsidized the airlines for years, and we still can’t seem to save that industry. Not even for beef tenderloin with a side of asparagus and a limoncello raspberry torte.
Where to Find Good Deals on Foreclosures in Sacramento
Just what is the deal with all of those Sacramento foreclosure listings potential buyers find online and get all excited about? Man, you’ve got your auction houses, trustee sales, preforeclosures, short sales, bank-owned homes, HUD homes, the list goes on, and it’s enough to make a poor buyer’s head spin. Let’s not even talk about Property Radar because that’s way too confusing for even licensed real estate agents to navigate much less a poor first-time home buyer, but talk about it I suppose we must.
For starters, you can pretty much discount at least 90% of the stuff you find posted online, unless it is posted on a reputable website in which all of the information on that website is screened for accuracy such as MetroList — but even the public can’t access all of the up-to-minute information available from MetroList like a real estate agent can. We pay big bucks for dues to these businesses for a reason. They have a monopoly.
The preforeclosures that look like listings are typically not for sale. Some buyers spot preforeclosure homes on a website like Zillow, which buys a feed from third-party vendors that downloads listings of homeowners in default. It generally means a homeowner is behind in making payments. A preforeclosure does not mean the home is for sale or will ever be for sale, nor does it mean anybody has the right to start poking around the property, looking in the windows, unless they want to get shot for trespassing.
A short sale listing could be for sale or it could be a contingent short sale or a pending short lender approval status, in the latter cases it means somebody else beat ya to the punch and has already written an offer that the seller accepted. Some short sale status information, especially those advertised in MetroList, are very confusing and laypeople can’t figure out whether they are for sale or not.
If you plan to bid on a trustee’s sale, you’ve got to figure out if the minimum bid is reasonable or the opening bid is unreasonable. If it is unreasonably high, it means the bank doesn’t want anybody to bid on it and prefers to take the home in foreclosure because the bank might make more money to foreclose than to sell at market. If it is reasonable, then you better be prepared to bid with the courthouse steps’ sharks, those guys chewing toothpicks and sticking unlit cigarettes behind their ears. They know what they’re doing; you don’t. Plus, you’ll needs lots of cash. No financing.
There are always auction websites such as auction.com where you can go to buy auction homes online, finance those homes, and you can name an agent to represent you. Be careful of shill bids and reserve pricing, figure out incrementals, and know whether you’re bidding on a short sale, foreclosures in Sacramento or a flipper.
If you like, you can look at those overpriced homes HUD lists online at Homepath, where there is no appraisal because the home probably won’t appraise at that price. The government doesn’t care if you’re upside-down the day you buy.
Or you can just cut to the chase and talk to your Sacramento real estate agent and ask a professional to find you a good deal. But bear in mind we have very little inventory and stiff competition for the well priced stuff. Maybe your best bet is just to try to buy a home? Not everybody needs to get a smokin’ deal to do well. Those searching for smokin’ deals often end up with nothing but black hands and shredded beliefs based on getting something for free.
Buying a Fixer Home in Elk Grove Presents Opportunity
As long as that fixer home in Elk Grove has not lost its integrity, I would consider buying it, providing the price was right. Many people would agree with this premise — I should more clearly define “many people” as the people who don’t mind doing repairs or fixing up homes. Because not every buyer wants to buy a home if it presents a few challenges. As with life, I suspect most don’t enjoy challenges. They would prefer a challenge-free life, a marshmallow life.
On the other hand, I love challenges because for me it’s a very clear set of purpose. After I study what’s presented, I can envision the conclusion, the outcome, the goal; it’s crystal clear. Take home improvement projects, for example. I love to remodel homes and turn them into pieces of artwork, and I’m just about done with my own home so you know what that means. It means I need to work on somebody else’s home because my husband is not yet ready to move.
I’m too busy, though. Which means my improvement urges are suppressed. I sell real estate in a 4-county area in Sacramento, and that career keeps me plenty busy working with clients. When I spot a fixer home that is begging for work, I can’t help but feel pulled toward it. It’s a sickness of sorts. Like my dead ex-husband who liked to start new companies always had a problem driving past a “for lease” sign because it called to him to rent the space, remodel it and open a business. See what I mean? Stupid. You catch that home improvement bug, and you yearn to tackle new projects; like a chocolate craving, you can’t help it.
This Elk Grove agent has listed a home in Elk Grove that is crying out for such a project. It’s a short sale, but it’s pretty much a guaranteed short sale for reasons I can’t go into. Trust that if you write an offer, it will close. There is a little bit of dry rot, it needs a new roof (approx $10,000), I would replace the carpeting (because it’s stretched, dirty and an icky color), and the seller says the toilet upstairs needs a new seal and had leaked, which is why the water is turned off.
This home is priced roughly $70,000 below its fixed-up market value according to the 1/2 mile comps for a 3 bedroom, 3 bath, over 2100 square feet in Foulk’s Ranch. But the flippers nowadays seem to have higher profit margins, they want steeper discounts, which a short sale won’t necessarily offer. Some don’t seem to understand that banks aren’t figuring in the flipper’s profit margin when determining value on those BPOs. At $255,000, it’s a great deal for an owner occupant, though, especially a first-time home buyer.
Slap on a new roof through an energy-efficient mortgage, perhaps fix the few spots of dry rot to get a mortgage, and deal with the rest of the stuff later. Even a 203K loan would suffice and handle all the repairs. But many homebuyers want turn-key projects, and don’t care about the quality of the work. I’ve always figured I’d rather have the home fixed up according to my own standards and not those of some guy out to make a fast buck, but that’s me, and I’m not normal. Remember, I love home improvement projects.
So, here’s the deal. Either buy the home today, do your own repairs the right way and pocket the leftover equity, or buy it later from a flipper and pay a premium for the opportunity.
Check out 7113 Ballygar Way, Elk Grove, CA 95624, offered by your Elk Grove agent, Elizabeth Weintraub, Lyon Real Estate, 916.233.6759.
A Weekend at the Crest with Bill Medley and Roger Ebert
Somebody said the other day that the meaning of life was to be with family and friends — oh, wait, it was Bill Medley who brought that up on stage at the Crest Theatre Friday night. The sentiment seemed odd to me, almost self-centered in a way, although everybody in the audience applauded. But then Bill Medley was born 12 years before me, lost his singing partner Bobby Hatfield to a cocaine overdose right before the Righteous Brothers were due to go onstage, and has had an array of experiences completely foreign to my own, so who’s to say; it’s just a different point of view.
I think the meaning of life is to try to leave the world in a little bit better place than when you arrived.
Then, not entirely surprising, my husband and I were at the Crest Theatre this Sunday to watch the premier of Life Itself, a documentary about Roger Ebert, the famous film critic who died last year after a long battle with cancer. People always say that those who survived cancer or didn’t immediately die from it are courageous or brave, is there really valor in choosing life over death? In Ebert’s case, I’m also not sure valiance is a necessary ingredient for pugnaciousness. When his time came to go, he slipped away willingly. It was a beautifully intimate portrait of his life, tears and all.
Both Roger Ebert and Bill Medley were born about the same time, give or take a couple of years. Roger, I should note, also lost his TV partner, Gene Siskel to a brain tumor. Both of these guys lost half of their act and weathered the agony and loss. They both also were no strangers to how laughter can help to pave the way when the road gets rough. My husband was poking fun at Bill Medley as I got ready to go to the show with my girlfriend. He kept singing: I lost my god damn car keys. Medley himself played off perceptions of old age by pretending to pull out his back when going down on his knees. Just wait until my husband gets old. He thinks he’s old now but he’s not.
I have this image of myself as an old lady. And let me insert here that my definition of being an “old lady” changes every year. When was in my teens and hitchhiking across the country, I thought 30 was old. When I turned 45, I thought 60 was old. Now that I qualify for a senior discount at the Crest Theatre, I think 75 is old, maybe 80. But when I’m old lady, I see myself sitting on the front porch of my home in a rocking chair, rocking a rifle in my lap, ready to take aim at the intruders who try to stick me into an “Old Folk’s Home.” Bear in mind I would have to learn how shoot a gun and purchase said firearm, if I intended to really shoot somebody, so it will more likely be a toy rifle I found online at Target, like a rifle Matt Dillon would keep on hand for official marshall duty, but ssshh don’t tell the cops.
Or maybe it would be over eminent domain. They might want to bulldoze my house to put up a casino. I’d sic our cats on ’em, point that rifle and scream: get offa my land. Hey, hey, You, You. No seriously, I will be a force of nature. I hope my husband is around to enjoy it.
Selling a Probate Fixer Home in Sacramento
Not every fixer home in Sacramento much less a probate fixer home is priced in line with the amount a flipper investor wants to pay. Especially not my short sales, for example, because I want them to close. But in any perceived distressed situation, whether it’s a foreclosure, short sale, probate fixers, preforeclosure, what-have-you, investors crawl out of the woodwork looking for a “good deal.” Because it’s all about the spreadsheets to them, and there’s nothing inherently wrong with working with investors who are fueled by the greed of money unless they get in your face about it.
It can be trying at times to maintain composure as a listing agent when investors are swearing, in the literal sense, on the phone that they can buy a home for less in the same damn neighborhood, to which my reply is go ahead then and quit torturing me. Particularly when I am confident there are no other homes for sale at that price. They’ll use whatever tactics they can because it’s their business to buy low and sell high. I get it.
That doesn’t exactly fit well with my business of representing the seller to the best of my ability who wants to obtain the highest price. Therein lies the sticky wicket. I just closed a probate fixer last week that was that kind of sale that generated a ton of calls from investors, all demanding that we slash the price. First, it’s not my call. Second, the seller understands there are two basic types of pricing: that which attracts homeowner occupants who will pay market and that which will attract the flippers.
Perhaps this home is not priced for a flipper investor? But that does not occur to them.
People in general are under the impression that banks give away homes because they ran out of toasters, but it doesn’t work that way. Banks want market value just like regular sellers with equity want market value. It’s a tough market for a flipper. But they are better off finding their own homes to buy than trying to squeeze the integrity out of a Sacramento listing agent.
That probate fixer sale sold at list price. Just like the seller, the executor of the estate, expected. As Is condition, no repairs and all cash.
Sorry we are experiencing system issues. Please try again.
