Email ElizabethDid You Forget to Sell Your Home in Sacramento?
Did you forget to sell a house in Sacramento last year?
You might not think it’s possible for a homeowner to forget to sell a house in Sacramento but as a real estate agent, I can assure you that it happens. I often joke that if some agent just followed me around and picked up the real estate business I leave lying on the side of the road, they, too, could be a top producer. My biggest drawback is I don’t continue to ask sellers if they are ready to sell. I don’t want to insult their intelligence. But I also realize that sellers sometimes forget which agent they have called, much to my dismay.
It’s completely arrogant to assume that a seller will think only of calling this Sacramento real estate agent when she’s ready to sell. I mean, many do and wouldn’t dream of hiring any other agent because they believe I am the best Sacramento real estate agent for them, but people are different from each other — what one person does, another does the opposite. Not to mention, they have other things going on their lives than simply concentrating on selling a home. They have children, families, vacations, illnesses, financial complexities, career demands, political distractions, community involvement — complications to everyday life that often take precedence.
From now on, my plan for 2014 is to not let any business slip through the cracks. I will politely stay in touch until the cows come home or sellers tell me they no longer have any interest in selling a home.
Sellers don’t always use analytical criteria when hiring an agent. They sometimes believe by mistake that all agents are the same, so hiring the guy across the street or their Uncle Joe, doesn’t make any difference, when it can make ALL the difference in the world. They don’t know that the top 10% of agents sell 90% of all the homes in Sacramento or how to find that top 10% or even why it makes a difference.
And whose fault is that, that they don’t know? Fortunately, I know the answer to that question, and my focus in 2014 is to answer it for clients. If you’re getting ready to sell your home in Sacramento, call Elizabeth Weintraub at 916.233.6759.
Here is an Odor Free Litter Box Cats Actually Use
Jackson can make his own litter box.
Our cats are in for a real treat or, as my husband calls it, a true motivation for them to take a crap on the kitchen table. While I was in Serrano last week checking out a home a seller at the last minute now may or may not want to put on the market, I met a charming tenant and his equally captivating two cats. The cats use a different kind of litter box system than I’ve been exposed to, and unless you see it in action, you might not believe that it works.
It’s called Breeze. Have you heard of it? It’s an odor free litter box. No tracking of dust or clay, either.
The tenant showed me the litter boxes, the pellets and a special pad that lines the bottom tray. The pellets are made out of something foreign but they call it a natural mineral. The deal is you fill the box with the pellets and change the pad once a week by sliding out the tray and removing the pad. I’m a little unclear as to how the pad actually leaves the tray. It’s not something I’d want to pluck with my bare fingers, and I’m not sure if one could try to dump it into a garbage bag without perhaps leaking liquid in an undesirable place such as on my shoes, but I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it.
This odor free litter box system is made by Tidy Cat, which apparently is owned by Purina. My very first real job, because waitressing doesn’t count, was working as a secretary at Checkerboard Grain, a division of Ralston Purina, on the 4th floor of the Minneapolis Grain Exchange. They gave me the job because I answered the question of why do you want to work at Purina with: “My cats like Tender Vittles.” I have always had a soft spot in my heart for Ralston Purina. So, I thought I’d give the Breeze litterbox system a try.
This guy in Serrano — his house was odorless. There was no cat litter tracking dust anywhere. I cannot imagine a world without cat litter sprinklers on the floor, but I’d sure like to give it a try.
I did not buy enough boxes to properly make the transition, so I ordered two more systems from Petsmart with free shipping. You can’t just get one odor free litter box and see how it goes, like maybe you would with a first husband. You’ve got to make a real commitment. However, they are on sale, only $29.99, and you get the litterbox, pellets and four pads. Replacement pads are $1.50 each. I filled the first and only box that I have so far with the pellets. First thing our little kitten Tessa did was try to eat the pellets. She could not believe her good fortune: a smorgasbord of pellets laid out in a huge trough. None of the cats has yet to use the box, but the trick is to stop cleaning their existing boxes so they will be forced to use the pellets.
You can see this will be delightful for a few days. I’ll let you know how it progresses. Or, as my husband says, another fine mess you got us into. If this actually pans out, I will recommend Breeze to all of my clients when it comes time to put their cat-occupied homes on the market. Because selling a home where pets live can be tricky. The only downside is I can see myself in a back alley trading bitcoins for pellets when Breeze stops manufacturing them.
If You Aren’t Ready to Buy a Home in Sacramento
Don’t be afraid to tell a real estate agent why you are calling.
When a person calls a Sacramento real estate agent about buying a home, there are basically two things that agent wants to hear. Either the person is ready to buy a home in Sacramento or the person is not ready to buy a home. Either one is OK. We are not answering a phone solely to make a sale and push a buyer into making a decision that perhaps a buyer is not yet ready to make. But it’s helpful for us to know what the buyer hopes to accomplish by talking with us.
We are not standing behind a desk at an office, monitoring a candy dish for those who walk in. Most of the time, when a buyer calls a real estate agent, we are busy selling real estate. We are with a client showing homes, writing purchase contracts, shooting photographs, driving out the W X Freeway on our way to a listing appointment. We could also be walking the dog, comparing cold cuts at Taylor’s Market or picking up our car from Midtown Autoworks after an oil change.
We don’t work retail. We work from our cellphones.
I’m one of those agents who tries to answer her phone, which seems to blow away many callers. I have to admit that, yes, they have reached a real live person, which astonishes them. If a buyer wants to buy a home in Sacramento, I am ready to help. But if it’s so surprising that an agent would answer her phone, when buyers do reach voice mail and leave a message, why don’t these same buyers answer their phones or return the calls agents leave for them?
Probably because they are not yet ready to buy. Many are “just looking.” Just looking seems to be a phrase for describing curiosity. Technology makes it easy to contact a Sacramento real estate agent. If a buyer is simply curious about a sales price or some other aspect of a home she has just driven by, it’s OK to say so when calling. Just say: I am not ready to buy a home in Sacramento.
She can also search the web from her Smartphone and get the answer just like she finds out which is the top downloaded song from iTunes and the present weight of Kardashian’s beehive butt.
Because so many callers forget or are afraid to mention that they are not really buyers, this becomes the reason many agents don’t answer their cellphones and send all unknown calls to voicemail. But I can’t help myself, when my phone rings, I tend to answer it.
50 Shades of Grey and the Real Estate Purchase Contract
Our California residential purchase agreement is not an iron-clad purchase contract.
Sacramento real estate agents primarily use purchase contracts developed by C.A.R. as agreements to buy a home in Sacramento. It seems that with every new case law, generally originated by some disgruntled buyer, the contracts are revised. There are also obvious revisions because the language is often confusing. In an attempt to be clear and speak with a human voice, lawyers can sometimes royally mess up legal contracts because they lose sight of their audience and get all hung up on courts and judges.
For this reason, no purchase contract is typically not without a way to sue somebody over something. There is no black-and-white language in a purchase contract, regardless of what a person might be led to believe. A person can read one paragraph that defines a situation, seems to set the boundaries, and then a second paragraph can bring that first paragraph into question. By the time you reach paragraph 27, the 14th paragraph might appear ambiguous. It’s one of the reasons we have an 8-page California Residential Purchase Agreement and Joint Escrow Instructions (revised April 2013), coupled with its sister, the two-page Buyer’s Inspection Advisory (revised October 2002).
I look at that and I think what? C.A.R. could not come up with one single revision for the Buyer’s Inspection Advisory over the past 12 years? Here, C.A.R., have another glass of grappa. Also, when I started in real estate (you kids get offa my lawn), we had a choice between a one-page or a two-page contract. In fact, at one point, I created my own purchase contracts and professionally printed printed my brokerage’s purchase contracts in 3-part NCR — which at that time seemed like a brilliant move but was probably one of the dumber things I have done in my life. Hey, I was in my early 20s, so I had an excuse for my ignorance, not to mention, the 1970s was like one long LSD adventure.
I am astonished that buyers today sign this paperwork without engaging in a minor heart attack. It would almost be better in some ways if an agent just put blinders over a buyer’s eyes, stuck a pen in her hand and directed her to draw squiggles as her signature. Don’t read, just sign, would be the message. Yet, we encourage our buyers to read the real estate purchase contract and they don’t understand a darn thing in it.
Don’t even get me started on ZIPforms and why there is no field for the ZIP Code, of all things. I have brought this matter up to ZIPforms, but it has not been changed. Nobody else probably cares but I realize it’s a problem because of short sales. The bank negotiators do not like the fact there are no ZIP codes carried forth from page to page. Why don’t the C.A.R. lawyers spend time looking at this situation and fixing it? They should also fix the listing agreement fields so subsequent addendums match.
Bottom line, if a buyer or seller wants to challenge a portion of the purchase contract, a smart lawyer will find a way to do it. There is nothing black-and-white about our legal system. It’s more like 50 Shades of Grey . . . in more ways than one. But don’t ask your Sacramento real estate agent to define the real estate purchase contract because we don’t practice law.
Waiting Periods Are Over for Buying After a Short Sale
You might be able to immediately buy a home right after closing a short sale
Having personally helped hundreds of sellers in distress close Sacramento short sales — to the tune of more than $65 million since 2006 — and put the entire horrid nightmare behind them, I often hear first-hand a seller swear she will never buy another home ever again. I caution with a grin, “Oh, I wouldn’t be so certain about that if I were you.” Those are often famous last words. If that were true and we all had long memories, women would never get pregnant a second time.
Believe it or not, there is joy and pain in a short sale. Over time, the pain and frustration from the short sale dissipates. Not only that, but the minute a short sale closes escrow, there is a huge sense of relief that suddenly appears out of nowhere. It’s almost as though the clouds stopped raining and tulips instantly bloomed in technicolor. You can hear angels sing. At least that’s what my sellers tell me.
Today, many short sale sellers are returning to buy a home after closing short sales. How soon can you buy after a short sale? The good news is if you have 25% to put down, you can buy immediately. Further, if you have completed a HAFA short sale without a Notice of Default nor late payments from the summer of 2013 forward — and if the lender reported your short payoff correctly as PAID IN FULL — you should be able to buy immediately under any financing program, including FHA with minimum down.
But FHA also has implemented its own Back to Work program for sellers who have “Paid in Full for Less Than Agreed” reported on their credit reports and who experienced an economic event, which allows a repurchase within one year. That’s pretty incredible as compared to the lengthy waiting times from the past. It used to be 7 years, then 5, then 3 years, (2 under Fannie Mae).
See, with time, lenders finally come around. I suspect they had to eventually because short sale sellers are not like foreclosure recipients. Short sale sellers are responsible people who struggled to do the right thing. They have a conscience, generally, and do unto others as they would have them do unto them. That’s a special breed. And these people deserve a second chance. I’m thrilled to see home loans available for them, without a big scarlet S hanging around their necks.
If you would like more information about buying again after a short sale, call Dan Tharp at Guild Mortgage, 916.257.1470 or email him at dtharp@comstockmortgage.com. Then, call this Sacramento real estate agent, and we’ll get you started on looking at homes to buy: Elizabeth Weintraub, 916.233.6759.
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